On the 27th of Feb 2015, at the prodding of Ralph, I started blogging as a mean to keep myself together while my dear wife of 32 years quickly slipped away under my eyes to the dreaded lung cancer :-(
Did it worked? Someday, others not. The hardest thing I went thru in my life so far...
But I surely needed the distractions. Lots have happened in my life since.
Fell in love, getting married on Oct 14th 2020, my immediate family grew by 1 more son and 2 grandkids plus a daughter and 2 more grandkids. Life is good again. And yes it keep this old Grampa quite busy :-)
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In addition, with the passing of Jean's mother, we picked up her little dog, Diva, who was Rudy girlfriend. So now that she lives with him, 50 % of his treats and toys belong to her :-)
The boy, Rudy is now 5 years old as of June 15th, half the age of his beloved girlfriend Diva
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Tuesday on the 16th of June I pass the half a millions page views.
I never thought in my wildest dreams (not what I dream about anyway :-)
that so many people will bother to read my recollections, tribulations and tools stories.
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Been truly amazing to see were they are reading, thru Google stats on my blog.
How they count, I will never understand, some numbers goes up and down for no apparent reasons.
They also defined "day" as ending at 2000 or 2100 hrs (guessing the difference in time zone from my place) and they come up with countries name I never knew existed. So I decided to start tracking my daily stats for a while to see what shake up.
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Meanwhile:
The water barrel stand has been moved half way across the land to its new spot. Yes, it was empty when I moved it, phewww :-)
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This is were we are today, taking a break from the sun. We have two of those solar pump kits (LV)
One is already cut to fit the Veg Trug, which also in need of a post to mount the other, and set up a barrel stand nearby. Construction project...
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Plus need a two or three barrels stand on the other side of the house (garage side).
Then there is the ring around the fire pit, to built a tiled surface jutting out 8 ft around it.
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All that to say, not finished setting up watering points around the yard.
And no shortage of other projects I don't even know about yet :-)
More landscaping, digging ,leveling, building and setting up. I'll be busy for a while :-)
But cannot be all work and no fun, is it??
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Bob, taking refuge from the sun, figuring out my next shopping list
Did it worked? Someday, others not. The hardest thing I went thru in my life so far...
But I surely needed the distractions. Lots have happened in my life since.
Fell in love, getting married on Oct 14th 2020, my immediate family grew by 1 more son and 2 grandkids plus a daughter and 2 more grandkids. Life is good again. And yes it keep this old Grampa quite busy :-)
In addition, with the passing of Jean's mother, we picked up her little dog, Diva, who was Rudy girlfriend. So now that she lives with him, 50 % of his treats and toys belong to her :-)
The boy, Rudy is now 5 years old as of June 15th, half the age of his beloved girlfriend Diva
The boy as we adopted him, 4 months old
He quickly became my trusted side kick
on tools hunting expeditions
Find one, the other is never far :-)
Tuesday on the 16th of June I pass the half a millions page views.
I never thought in my wildest dreams (not what I dream about anyway :-)
that so many people will bother to read my recollections, tribulations and tools stories.
Amazing
Been truly amazing to see were they are reading, thru Google stats on my blog.
How they count, I will never understand, some numbers goes up and down for no apparent reasons.
They also defined "day" as ending at 2000 or 2100 hrs (guessing the difference in time zone from my place) and they come up with countries name I never knew existed. So I decided to start tracking my daily stats for a while to see what shake up.
I you look at Russia to Belgium, you see two columns of numbers.
The second column is the number shown on Google (the ones that goes up/down the most) as compared to the cumulative total in the first one, which never goes down. Notice some countries are off by about a thousand, no idea why. The only two others tracked further down are Denmark, which has a hard time passing 6616, went up to 6640 once, but always settled back down and Indonesia.
No idea why??
So far, an amazing 173 countries have read my blogs, did not even new there was that many countries... A new one pop up a while back called simply Unknown Region, which as so far read me 1865 times. GO figure!!
The numbers of countries intrigued me, I could not fathom that many reading Franglish (English with a french accent Heh!) around the world. And sure enough, thru the magic of Google translate, my blogs shows up in various Language. I have no idea how good my Franglish translate but, apparently it must be readable...
Top read blog entries are no surprised, the tool history related one.
By far the most all time read is the Part 2 of the Bob's illustrated Type study of Bailey bench planes.
Top reading list, last updated May 30th
Google anything Stanley, my blog pops up in the search, amazing.
Meanwhile, life beyond Excell spreadsheets, is moving along. Quite busy with yard projects right now. This past Monday we set up the soft top shelter as a refuge from the heat and bugs. Works like a charm and so nice to retreat inside to cool off during work breaks. We are currently in the middle of a heat wave, pushing up to 40 later in the week. Was not that long we were bitching at how cold it was??? Go figure :-)
The portable, 10X10 gazebo, second location.
Nice breeze from two sides. Would never last in stormy winds like the one
Yes, we have power, lights around the inside perimeter and
a large reflector light fixture on top in the middle, bright!!
On this wall, I will set up the large projection screen.
I need some sort of audio portable set up, tired of lugging an
older receiver and speakers. Something Bluetooth??
Meanwhile:
The water barrel stand has been moved half way across the land to its new spot. Yes, it was empty when I moved it, phewww :-)
Changed barrel, installed a tap at about 3 in up from bottom.
Barrel is full (48 US Gallons), no leak
Good pressure but a tad windy, oh surprise.
need to raise filling platform closer to tap
Calling this almost done...
Now need to install solar pump, let it recharge, and install tubing's.
One is already cut to fit the Veg Trug, which also in need of a post to mount the other, and set up a barrel stand nearby. Construction project...
And yes the sink, has its own shut off valve, good thing, cause
I have yet to find a replacement tap.
Plus need a two or three barrels stand on the other side of the house (garage side).
Then there is the ring around the fire pit, to built a tiled surface jutting out 8 ft around it.
Chairs pushed back to the 8 ft circumference
Actually, 8 ft plus half the fire pit dia, but I digress... :-)
That dia may expand or reduce depending on stones/bricks I used....
Need to figured out what and how many.
Oh, and refill on Voltareen :-)
And no shortage of other projects I don't even know about yet :-)
More landscaping, digging ,leveling, building and setting up. I'll be busy for a while :-)
But cannot be all work and no fun, is it??
West Nova Scotia Regiment, a storied regiment, still around.
Some of Heather's relatives (Jefferson) lived thru some of those stories.
That is with the ceiling fixture on.
Bob, taking refuge from the sun, figuring out my next shopping list