Spring in NS

April is finally over and its into May. I thought for sure that the cold weather would never leave. Then, it got warm for a couple weeks, and it only took about a couple days for the flowers to start growing.

I had some peppers growing on the window sill too. They look pretty dangerous.

We finally got Nathan's garage floor poured too. I wasnt much help due work, but that floor is damn nice.

So, then Melissa comes over and wants to use the computer. No problem. Turns it on and nothing... monitor turns on for a split second and then disappears.

I know some people would make fun of me for this, but I am "curious" I guess. I dont really want to spend $200 on another monitor. I'd rather spend $800 on a flatscreen TV that I can route the computer through, and since I can't afford that yet, I decide to either fix the monitor or disconnect the internet and put the computer away.

So, I tear the monitor apart (it snaps together, not many screws) and pull out its guts. There is the control board for the screen and a power supply board.

Looking closely at the board, there is a discoloured part with a nice toasty black capacitor on it. Hmm... Its supposed to be yellow, I thought.

Looked for a couple days and finally found another capacitor to replace it. (its the blue one sticking out from under the board).

Plugged it in and crossed my fingers... Jackpot!

So, similar to what I have said before... If you or anyone you know needs a monitor repaired... for god sakes, take it to a professional!

Touring around...

I was trying to think how I could post this and make it the most interesting post ever, when I realized that as always, everyone would just plain be excited to read it. Yes, both of my readers.

I got the chance to finally hang the shelf on the wall at Melissa's parents house. It was a little tricky to get the shelf level without a... uhh... level. Turns out a round tube of lipstick and some eyeballing work just fine. I was originally worried about the load on the shelf, so I wanted to use some heavy duty hangers. I dont think there's gonna be more than 150lb of coats on this shelf, so I think it should be ok.

Looks pretty good if I don't mind saying so. The trouble is that I know all the imperfections in it, however, I dare anyone to find any of them.

Before hanging the shelf, we walked out on the ice and found some rocks on the shore in Toney River. Despite how nice it looks in the picture, it was FREEZING here.

The next week, we wanted to find some waterfalls in the area. I used to take my days off in Alberta and hike out to waterfalls and take pictures of them. So, I was looking forward to this. The waterfalls in Alberta, in the mountains and foothills around 300+ feet tall. The largest waterfall in NS is only 100ft. The ones near here are around 40 ft. I was skeptical.

Every day at lunch, I see these two windmills on Fitzpatrick Mtn. in Scotsburn through the cafeteria windows. I've been dying to see them in person. So, I tried to find out how to get to them. I had no success, but it turns out there's one in Tatamagouche about 100m off the road. Sweet. We got to the windmill, but there was signs everywhere that said no trespassing. A little farther up the road was a path through the woods that lead to a clearing right beside the windmill. Nanuk, Melissa and myself walked up there and had a little photoshoot.

The hub of the windmill (the part the blades attach to) is literally the size of a house. I was amazed at the size of the thing. And, you hear all the time about the noise these things make and how they're so disruptive. I will just say that I had to concentrate for a long time just to be able to hear the thing. I think the people who say this probably have supersonic hearing or something.

From there, we went through Tatamagouche (right past Sara Bonnyman's) out to Wentworth. On the way, we took some pictures of an old lobster boat (check melissa's blog, i'm trying not to post the same pictures). Also we stopped at a bakery and got some bread and date squares. Luckily we ate at least a couple, as Nanuk found his way into them later on.

Just past Wentworth, not too far into the woods is a waterfall. It was nowhere near as tall as the ones in Alberta, but I'll admit I was impressed. Nanuk didnt like being drug through the water for all the pictures though.

Leaving there, we went back through Truro, stopping at the cave right by the train tracks. Again, I think Nanuk was getting tired of having to pose.

Ended up back in Toney River for Easter supper. It was great. It snowed a bunch that night, and went tobogganing the next day. Dogs running through deep snow are quite hilarious.

Not a whole lot exciting has happened since then. I've been working a lot of hours and spending quite a bit of time out on the "other side of the harbour". My new plans are to build some more furniture and finish off the backhoe that we've been working on for almost a year now.

Oh, and Bret, don't get jealous... you're still my buddy!

More finished projects

So, a long time ago, Melissa decided to build a shelf. Then with a variety of circumstances, including a VERY cold winter, the shelf sat dormant on the... shelf in the shop.

I finally decided that Sandi's tray and Melissa's shelf, along with Brandon's garbage bins needed to be finished... literally. Spent the week of St Paddy's day with about 2-3 hrs every night at the wood shop. I would spend about 30 mins spraying the stuff, then have to clean the sprayer and do it all over again the other night.

Here's the play by play:

Originally, I had 1 coat of varathane on the back side of all the parts for the shelf. So, I sanded and put on another coat.

Then flip the parts and spray them. (keep in mind, its about an hours work to clean the spray gun). Then sand out the rough spots and spray again.

Then the shelf got assembled into the "upper" half and the "lower" half. One more coat of varathane.



Then the assembly. All went well here once I figured out the fasteners to use. The back of the shelf got 5 pocket holes in it, and 4 counter sunk screws. In all, you should be able to sit on this shelf with no fear of it breaking. So, the shelf is in two halves, should be easy to assemble... only about 12 more nails. WRONG.


I took out the finishing nailer and drove in the first nail. BANG! Nothing. Tried again. CLICK. Nothing. So I thought it was jammed. Took the gun apart and realized the pin that drives the nail was slightly rusted and stuck forward. Weird, it should return on its own. I pushed it back and lubed it with some oil. Went to drive the next nail. BANG. It worked on a test piece. Better try it twice though, I thought. CLICK. Nothing. Hmm... the pin must be stuck again. I'd better check it. Opened it up again. Yup, its siezed. Pushed it back. BANG. One nail. BANG. Two nails. BANG. Three nails. I'm on a roll. CLICK. Nothing. Opened it up again. Pin is stuck again. But this time its not moving.


After a phone call, I decided to tear the gun apart and fix the siezed part. Took the back off of the gun and little pieces of plastic fell everywhere. Turns out the front part of the cylinder that the piston rides in had completely shattered. 8 more nails to go... no air gun. I was definately not pounding them in by hand. So I put all the tools away and just as I was about to give up. I found slightly shorter nails that fit the smaller gun.

So, I was able to finish the shelf.


I tried ordering the part for the gun. Turns out you have to be a certified 'repair' person to order parts for the nailer. I guess most people just pay to have people fix things. Not this guy. Its only gonna cost me $30 or so to get the part. Finding the part is a whole story in itself.

You came up with one pretty nice shelf, Melissa. I had to put up with a lot of heckling because of the heart in it though.

Safety first :)

Just Chillin Out

This week was OK. It started off with me trying to watch a movie from Blockbuster. I rented Crank and Little Miss Sunshine. Little Miss Sunshine would not play in my DVD player, so I got the idea to fix my old DVD player that I havent used in a year. I did some research on the internet and finally decided what was wrong with it. The spindle motor had gone out of it. Apparently 9 times out of 10, you can oil the motor and get it working again. Time to tear it apart.

The good news is that it now turns, but the bad news is it doesnt turn fast enough. Not quite good enough to read the DVDs. Oh well, wasted a couple days anyways.

Went up to the shop and helped Nathan and Billy do some wiring for a couple nights. We ran the piping to the lights and to the plugs, etc.

Friday night just took it easy. Saturday went to Truro and bought myself a new jacket. Saturday night we went to the shop and had a "pub night". Brandon brought his portable oven and deep fryer and we cooked chicken wings, mozza sticks, etc. It was good. As usual, didnt make it to sleep until about 3am after a few games of darts. Got a good action shot of mike throwing darts.

The coolest guy you'll ever meet.

Playing a drinking game

Mike throwing darts (Had to take 1000 pictures to get this good one)

Brakes are Important

On Wednesday and Thursday past it was -20 and -30 out. On Wed. on the drive to work I noticed that my anti-lock brakes kicked on a bit. I just figured there was a lot of ice on the roads. Thursday as I was coming into Westville, I hit the brakes and went completely through the intersection. Oh well, I just figured it was icy. That night on the way home from work I thought the brake pedal felt weird so I picked a dry spot on the roads and stood on the brake pedal. I HAD NO BRAKES! So I start coming down this hill with stop sign at the bottom. There's a semi-truck turning in front of me really really slowly. I had to stop. I stood on the brake pedal and nothing... I was heading directly for the trailer of this truck. I started thinking about what I could do to get around him. I figured I could probably squeeze past the edge of his trailer if I drove half in the ditch half on the road and turned the opposite way I was going. I geared the truck down and put the front tire over the edge of the ditch. I might have made it past the truck by just a few inches. I had to pull over on the side of the road for a minute so I could collect my thoughts. That and my hands were shaking.
I drove up to Tims and got a coffee, then went to Highland Ford for some brake fluid (the reservoir was empty). Eventually I made it home after the most stressful drive of my life. Took the Escape to Nathans and inspected it all over. We couldnt find any leaks at all in any lines. Then I noticed that the parking brake light was out. It had been on for 8 months or so. As it turns out, the parking brake light is also the low brake fluid light. I had been driving around for almost 8 months with no brake fluid. We finally decided to leave the escape in the heated garage over night to let all the ice and snow melt off it. Nathan lent me his old car to drive to work the next day. After work, went to Nathan's and we started bleeding brake lines. Everything went fine until we got to the front of the escape. The passenger side bled no problem but the bleeder screw snapped out of the caliper on the driver's side. We couldnt do anything more that day. Saturday we went to town to get new bleeder screws. They do not list these parts anywhere. Back to Nathan's. We took the one good bleeder and went back to town. There are no parts listed anywhere (including Ford) to replace those screws. Chevy, however, uses the identical part. Haha. We tried welding a nut to the broken bleeder, but couldnt get it out. The only way to get it out was to remove the caliper, heat it up, drill out the bleeder and use an easy out on it. I ended up putting a used caliper on the escape anyways. We bled the line and I'm back in business. The brakes actually work better than before now.

The rest of the week was pretty dull compared to that.

After seeing pictures of Melissa in New Zealand, I am very jealous.

SNOWWW!!!

Finally, its winter!

No Tickets Left

I got quite excited today at work, cause they said it was going to be a storm. There was going to be a pile of snow come down and there was a heavy snowfall warning. I kept running to the window and looking. Nothing... run to the window and look again... nothing. When I left to come home, there might have been half a cm of snow on the ground. As of right now, theres a little over 10 cm or so. I don't think it qualifies as a heavy snowfall warning though.

I still am pretty excited to see the snow on the ground. It might just be winter here in NS for a couple days.

Mike and I got bored on Friday night so we decided to go somewhere to have a few drinks, but we didnt want to spend too much money. So we decided to go to the Glasgow Pub. That place sketches me out. I ran into the father of the daughter of the girl I dated for like 2 weeks. I thought he was in jail. I probably dont have to explain why I got away from that one.

Saturday, I had no energy at all, so I laid on the couch for a couple of hours after going to Truro. I tried to get tickets to the World's Largest Pub Crawl, but did not succeed. Although, I would like to go and am willing to pay for tickets, so if anyone has any...LET ME KNOW! Oh yah, went to Truro and I was looking at a new Jeep again. I seriously need one. Its not a question of wants, it's mostly needs. So after Breakfast, Jeep and no tickets, I came home and got bored. I called Tasha and Keith and Tasha wanted to do something. I pulled out an old card on this one and tried to convince them to go bowling. No one ever wants to go bowling except me. So, we went to the pool hall. Played pool for 5 hrs and listened to the karaoke. I was drinking Pepsi so I was the DD.

Sunday watched Talladega Nights at Keith's, had breakfast, came home. Nathan dropped in and we went and picked up some paint and brushes at Central. Stopped at Tims for the usual and went and painted the trim around the windows in the garage and around the beams. We're running out of things to do in the shop. I managed to get Sandi's tray finished in the wood shop, but I need a day with NO HUMIDITY so I can paint it. It will only take like 20-30 mins to paint, but since Nova Scotia is turning into the tropics lately, there's no way paint will dry without me staying at the shop for like 5 hrs running the furnace.

I don't think I have any pictures I can post right now.

But I'll leave you with this thought. Why do people always keep the window scraper INSIDE the car at night?

Christmas, New Years & Everything Else

Since the last update, I've worked, been to Ontario for Christmas, and been back in NS for New Years

It was great being home. Its really weird, but you really appreciate having family around when you only get to see them once or twice a year.

I flew into Hamilton on the 21st and went out with my sister and her friends that night. I kinda felt singled out, cause I was the only person who wasnt a doctor. Have you ever been in one of those conversations where you just keep laughing and nodding your head cause you don't know what anyone is talking about. On top of that... its plain english, you just don't know what any of those words mean. I found out that night that I dance like a person from the East coast. Hmm...

Got to chum around with Dad a lot and put up a lot of signs and do some welding. We had some good chats over Tim Horton's coffee (which is wayyy better in NS). I much more enjoyed Mom's home brewed stuff tho. We had a "company" dinner which involved everyone who helped the company in the last year.

I think I may have gained a couple of pounds when I was home, but you just can't beat my mother's cooking. I will challenge anyone to try. She gives pretty good hugs too :)

Got to visit my cousin's and aunts and uncle's too. Ryan was busy washing cars while I was borrowing their shop to try and put a door lock back into Meghan's car door. It was a family event that involved Uncle Larry, Uncle Bo and myself. Good times. We even had Christmas eve "snacks" at Aunt Kim & Uncle Bo's. Can't beat the food :)

Christmas was everything I expected. I got all I wanted and got to see Bret chew on his present all day. Sometimes I wish my life was as simple as his. Ooo a rawhide bone... I'm gonna chew that all day!

Boxing day was christmas at the Cooks. We opened presents and stole them from each other (the Cooks are funny like that). I spent a lot of time exchanging stories with Colin and Ryan.

After the Christmas rush was over... things relaxed quite a bit. Just lounging around the house with Mom and Dad. Watching movies... playing online... getting the vinyl cutter working. Dad and I welded together a stand for sign legs. I'm definately not a good welder with a stick. Dad seems to know what he's doing. Went out for supper one night and had perch and frog legs. MMMMMM....

On the 31st I flew back to NS and when I got home, I showered and went straight to Nathan's for New Years. Dave was there, so we played guitar till our fingers hurt. We managed to stay up till 6am and even danced on the tables for old times sakes. I had a blast.

The next week was slow... I worked and tried to catch up. I may have even succeeded. This weekend was a blessing when it came. Spent friday night at Nathan's playing darts. Saturday I ran around town (bought a new shop vac) and went to Billy & Ellen's that night to play Monopoly. I came in 3rd I guess. Today I left Nathan's at about 8:30, came home and started laundry. I went to town and got coffee, dropped some for Mike & Nathan and then I went to the wood shop. I cleaned for about 5 hrs. It needed it, we'll leave it at that.

IT FINALLY SNOWED THIS WEEK! (its all melted now tho)

So, Christmas is coming soon and I have yet to finish my shopping. Can't wait to get home and see the family and eat some real good food. Its funny, when you know you should go shopping for presents, how you can always find something better to do.

Thursday night we had a get-together with some of the people I work with out in Braeshore. Played a couple games of pool and got to do some "bonding". I definately ate wayyy to many appetizers that night though.

Friday night the power was out so I went up to Nathan's (he has a wood stove). We didnt do much until the power finally came on. When it did, we watched the butterfly effect 2 on the dish. Got to play around in the snow in the escape too.

Saturday, got up at about 8am and had breakfast at Tim Horton's. Then went and helped Nathan put up plywood in the garage on the ceiling. It was about -12C in the morning. We luckily had a kerosene heater in the garage running most of the day. There was a huge difference in the temperature inside once the ceiling was finished... much much warmer. My shoulder hurt quite a bit after all the overhead work. I had a date with my magic bag that night.

The garage in the snow

The source of heat in the garage

The finished ceiling.

Sunday was a little slow to start off. Went to town and helped Val and Brandon put a door on a trailer. Then we went to the wood shop and started moving some parts. Eventually, we are going to tear down a wall and have the shop twice the size it is now. Then... MORE TOOLS!!

Nathan's Garage and the last few weeks...

I've been quite busy lately. Helping out on quite a few projects.

I spent a week or so in Pictou putting shelves in a closet. The closet was not square and it made it slighly difficult, but a good challenge just makes it that much more "interesting", I guess.

I've been helping Nathan with his garage (minus my time in Alabama and Waterville, and the few sunday mornings when it was difficult to get up). Its coming along great, and despite the fact that its snowing now... I think we succeeded in getting it up before winter started.

Went to St. John last weekend and spent some time with JD. Turns out that the bartender's name was Lindsay, not Jessica. Oh well, she didnt seem to mind :P

Last few weeks have been kind of fun. I get to go to Ontario for Christmas... Dec 21-31... I get to see the fam... and the dog!!

Good Weekend...

Went to Brandon's on Friday night. Broke out the guitar. Got to see Mike's new car (2002 Civic SiR). Mike, Terri, Sara and myself went to Glasgow Pub after a couple beer and then to the Cabaroo... had a great time.

With a face like that, I at least hope I'm singing.

Worked on Nathan's garage in the morning. Shoveled gravel, ran plate tamper and even got to drive a tandem.



Sunday was a repeat of Saturday with a lot more people there. We hauled a lot of fill and tamped a lot of ground. I even got to be the first person to park inside the garage.

JD and Erin's Wedding...

Thursday

Thank god thursday came, cause I was getting myself into a hole at work. 10,000 things to do and no end in sight. Must be a good reason to get some time off.

Thursday we went and tried on tuxes and then got a haircut. Then we were off home to prepare for the bachelor party.

The best man's flight was delayed for ~30-40 mins so our bachelor party was delayed for a little bit. JD and Darren got here at about 11:00 and we got JD dressed up as a blue-bumble-bee. It was a good laugh, and we had to make him stand out somehow. We got to Sam's at about midnight. We didnt miss anything though, it didnt start having people till near 1-1:30. We made sure we had some interesting challenges for him. Each challenge to be followed by a shot. If you've never tried a frozen alligator, I suggest it.

Mike JD and Darren

Then we made it to the cabaret. The shot girl followed us there. We had a few more drinks and then at about 4:00am we decided to head home. All in all, it was a great night and there were plenty of laughs to go around.

Friday


Mike and I had to get our tuxes and then get to Nathan's to help with the pouring of the garage.


Tip: If you have to shovel and trowel a lot of concrete, don't plan it for the day after a bachelor party.


We ended up being a little short on the concrete and had to lower the forms and move a lot of it. It ended up working out perfect though.


Immediately following this, we rushed to Pictou Lodge and went to get our rooms. As we arrive, we notice that everyone around is wearing nice button-up shirts and fancy clothes. We go to the front desk covered in spattered concrete asking for a room. Oh well, I guess the hillbillies just arrived.


We went through the rehersal and then had supper with the wedding party. The food was EXCELLENT and JD and Erin have very friendly family and friends.


Bedtime came around 3:30am (i think). The homemade wine was delicious (thanks, Brian).


Saturday


Golf started at 10:00am immediately following a run to Timmies (breakfast sandwich and coffees). We played 9 holes at Pictou Golf Course. I now understand Heart-attack hill.


We ran into a lot of people I work with at the golf course. We were playing best ball and ended the day at +3 i believe. Not bad for amateurs. After the golf, we had to get home, get showered and get some pictures taken. It was a great choice on the tuxes. Everyone looked great. Top hats and canes topped it all.


The wedding was next at about 4:00. Lots of people showed up and Mike and myself ushered them all to their seats. Then, we escorted the grandmothers to their chairs and stood up front to watch it all happen. You couldn't have asked for a better day.

Groomsmen and Bridesmaids

The Bride and Groom And Minister

The wedding party.

Following the wedding were a couple drinks and then the speeches and dinner. Darren, Mike and I managed to tell a few good stories (PG of course) to embarass the groom. I think it worked well.

After supper was the dance. Nathan showed up and helped us break it "old-school". And let me tell you, there was dancing. Got to meet everyone and the DJ even called Mike, "Mike the Hillbilly Campbell". At least we were wearing top hats and tuxes, I think it disguised it some.


The dance ended near 1:00am when we went to the afterglow party. The guitar came out and we all enjoyed ourselves. Bedtime came near 4:30am.


Sunday


Sunday brunch at Pictou Lodge is amazing. Lets just leave it at that. I've never eaten that much after having a couple beer in my life. As soon as the food was over, we went and watched the bride and groom open some presents. Then, it was all over. Time to make it home.


Congrats, JD and Erin, It was a great time. Thanks for everything.

Mike and I

Nathan's Garage...

Nathan has been trying for a few months now to start his garage. Everything finally fell into place.

We started by digging ~350 ft of a trench for drainage which then involved digging a ditch. Brandon and Nathan found their homes in the excavator and tractor respectively while Keith, Mike and I were levelling and shovelling dirt. We dug the trench and then dug the hole for the footings for the garage.

Nathan and Brandon Filling in the hole

The next week we made the forms for the footings and poured them. Some "interesting" calculations we will call them made for a bit of extra work. All said and done, we are now in the process of forming up the frost walls. Its going to be a decent garage (shop, sorry) for Nathan and I expect there to always be some beer waiting in the fridge for me :P

Nathan, Billy, Mike and Keith

Nathan Working.

Mike Working

Its been a while...

It took a long time to get the pictures working again. However, we are now back in business. Not a whole lot has gone on in the month of August.

It started out with the riverfront Jubilee in New Glasgow, which was great.

We then started building a device to be used to pull out alder bushes in a field. Of course, most people would just pull the bushes, we had to build a machine.

Mike cutting the "tree puller"

Brandon's sister was home for a while. When her boyfriend, Chris (we call him Steve) arrived, we went surfing in Halifax. Surfing was a blast. Although my shoulders didnt agree as much. The next day we went fishing in the mouth of halifax harbour. We caught mackarel and polluck. Caught about 10-15 fish. Only 3 or 4 of us ate them. I thought they were good.

Helped Brandon a couple of nights start to put together an entertainment centre. It looks good. Terri drew up the design. Oak Veneered plywood. I have no pictures, but I will eventually.

Melissa was home for a week and a bit. Her and I hung around quite a bit. I really like her dog. We went and saw Talladega nights, started building a shelf. When someone says that they want to build a shelf, picture one in your mind. Now picture something GIANT with three compartments on top and 5 hooks on the bottom. This is what Melissa pictures of a shelf. I will admit, it does look really good, and she is good at woodworking. Also, its kinda hot seeing a girl use all the equipment. No, wait... it is hot.

We then had a weekend in Goshen where we sided the camp. We also spent some time in Country Harbour playing guitar and telling lies around the fire. I really feel at home sitting around a campfire and playing guitar. It seems to make a person really relax. There's no pressure and you can pretty much play anything and forget the words to anything as well.

Mike Gettin the fire going

The camp sided