Chop Saw Perić and the Shelving Burns Street Blues: Wednesday, April 26th!

Oh, the comfort -- the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person -- having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all right out, just as they are, chaff and grain together, certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and with the breath of kindness blow the rest away. -Dinah Maria Mulock Craik, poet and novelist (26 Apr 1826-1887)

A turtle swims below a school of sardines in Moalboal, Philippines

Photo: Henry Jager

Not up until 8:00 am after a boozy night with the return of Lady Dar and arrival of The Master Carpenter!  Over dinner that night, we had discussed a plan of action for the various projects that I hoped we'd be able to complete over the course of Ragin's stay., coordinated, of course, Dear Reader, with Lady Dar's own set of priorities. This being the case, after I'd prepared java I turned my attention to readying the wall in the Rumpus Room where new shelving was to be erected. Lady Dar wanted to paint if before we put the shelving units in place so a number of light fixtures had to be taken down, along with the baseboard.

Mme Coriandre had been up quite early so she had decanted the large armoire, which would be displaced by wall shelving, and moved it, all by her lonesome, out of the way. Didn't take much to pry the baseboard away from the wall and she helped me store it in the garge until we had time to chop it into manageable lengths. Ragin' Bull was up by this time and once he'd had a stiff hit of caffeien we bundled into The Marriagemobile  and made our way to Windsor Plywood to look at shelving. Found what we wanted, 8' x 12" laminated pine, but wanted to compare prices at Rona first so we headed there next. Turned out, same material was $2.50 cheaper, per board, there so we took seven lengths, to start with, along with some spruce 4" x 8' planks to use to extend our vegetable garden plot.

As it happened, chap we asked about planking showed us some planter blocks which had just arrived. These have slots for the planking so will make the extension easy peasy, lemon squeezy! Now all we have to do is remove the lava rock and cut back the heavy plastic underneath, put the frame in place and then beg Jugos Dom Pedro to haul us a trailer load of top soil. Heaven for our new red kale bedding plants! Seemingly, all of the garlic, from JDP, last Fall, which we planted in early November, is shooting towards the sky so am absolutely delighted with this. Rhubarb is growing like a house on fire so we'll certainly need the extension for the other vegetables we have in mind.

Back home Lady Dar made us tasty corned-beef sandwiches, [Thank you, Nancy Halpern!], while I unloaded the car and Branko started on the base for the the first shelving unit. She had a computer training session for GFA, [Group is in the process of choosing/designing a new website.], so while she and the others were so engaged, I helped Ragin' until about 1:30 pm and then we drove over to the Shatford to watch the documentary Last Days in Vietnam: "During the chaotic final weeks of the Vietnam War, the North Vietnamese Army closes in on Saigon as the panicked South Vietnamese people desperately attempt to escape. On the ground, American soldiers and diplomats confront the same moral quandary: whether to obey White House orders to evacuate U.S. citizens only--or to risk treason and save the lives of as many South Vietnamese citizens as they can."

Incredible film! Back home to leave Branko at the work bench while I returned to Rona to buy eight more shelving boards, sandpaper and a couple of bags of screws. It was close to 5:00 pm by the time I was back and had unloaded the car. While Branko was setting up the jig for his next set of cuts, I cleared, with Lady Dar's help, the front patio of the settee and glass topped table, as we were planning to move one of the large storage lockers to the other-side of the house and needed as much room, as possible, to manoeuvre the heavy, awkward unit.

Photo: Alex Yosifov

Once this was done I helped Branko while he cut all the side supports for the three units and then we "tacked" together the first one to see how it looked when in place, in the Rumpus Room. Very pleased as level was bang on so we called Lady Dar for the final inspection. She was more than delighted with result and once we have the next two units ready, and in place, she will "design" the placement and height of the individual shelves to go inside each one, starting from the bottom and working up. 

Seal of approval given we moved outside to deal with storage locker. Decided to take off the doors for easier handling and once that was accomplished, (but four hinges to unscrew), we tipped it onto its side and then using two, 2" x 4"'s, we pushed/pulled it to the front patio, then onto the front sidewalk and into place on the other side of the house. Felt a bit like one of the Pharaoh's slaves, erecting the pyramids, although Ragin' mentioned that at least they had wooden rollers to move the quarried blocks! Pleased as punch as this large, upright locker will be perfect for storing all sorts of garden tools, (rakes, brooms), and our two snow-shovels, etc. Will even have enough room for a shelf at the top for more storage of sprays and the like. Unit fits just below the roof overhang so it will be very well protected from rain and snow. 

Then it was time for a dinner of overlefts. I had made a quick trip to Cannery Brewing after I returned from Rona and bought two growlettes, an IPA and a Pale Ale. Mad Max, Luigi's son served me so I had a brief chat with him. She is in our book club and we meet this coming Monday. Had not seen Mad Max since last Fall si it was a pleasure to bump into him. Lady Datr had already eaten so she watched a bit of TV while Ragin' and I enjoyed our meal. Unfortunately, Cora Lee seems to have caught a cold while in Vancouver so headed to bed around 9:00 pm, to read and snuggle with a black cat! Branko had some paper work to do so he beavered away at his computer while I listened to Ideas on CBC One. Simply fascinating program on the Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster. Part Two in on tomorrow night so I want to listen to it as well. 

After I'd "herded" both Duke and Etta back inside, around 10:30 pm, I repaired to bed, to read myself, as it had been a long, full day. Beforehand, took advantage of them being outside to brush and floss without benefit of feline dental hygienists. Both have now taken to jumping up on bathroom counter and waiting while I brush so that they can pounce on the floss when I take it out! One thing to hide malt bottles but quite another to become a secret flosser, Dear Reader!