Today is our 5th anniversary! My how times flies, eh?

We are off to have our anniversary dinner at the Birchwood Hotel on the way to Victoria Beach, and enjoy what is shaping up to be a nice hot weekend. Hope I can do a lot of swimming and relaxation!

Click here: HBSMC.com/victoriabeach/

Unfortunately, the pictures are sorting alphanumerically and not in date order so, the pictures might be a little mixed up .. but, there are now 300 pictures uploaded

I took my banged up tire expecting something .. but not repair. I thought this person could direct me to a place where I can reasonably buy a new tire and get it out to Victoria Beach as soon as possible.

Lo and Behold, he took the tire apart and replaced the spokes! That was the first cool thing I saw.

Then, he pulled a machine out that attached the tire to it, and tried to spin it. It was all wobbly. Then, he pulled out a little circular device, like a .. mini wrench, and he played with the spokes until magically all the bent tire rim became straight and whole again.

Bottom Line: $28.65 CDN to repair and the tire is perfect and I’ve got a bike again! WooHoo!

I didn’t have much cash on me, as I really wasn’t prepared to think that a fix was available .. but I did have $35.00 cash on me - I gave it all to him. He definately deserved this and I would have paid more .. if he charged me!

MY BIKE IS WORKING AGAIN! YAAAY!

What Luck.

Normally … we fill up the BBQ tank once a year, or maybe even twice in three years. We were quite shocked it was empty, but you know - ever since we’ve been having potatoes on the BBQ and cooking for about 1-1/2 hours each time .. well, it kind of made sense from the 10 minutes BBQ hamburgers and hotdogs.

Anyway .. I took the propane tank up in the bike with the “dog trailer” and drove to Traverse Bay to get it filled.

When I came back, I was taking the propane tank down in the trailer .. which is downhill. There was a clan of about 10 bikers coming up the hill so I moved over to the side of the roade out of there way. My trailer tire hit a bump, the propane tank jolted a bit, it moved the back of my wheel, the wheel jammed against the back fender and froze up, the back wheel stopped with the bike and it fork-knifed, I flew and somersaulted over the bike into the ditch, the dog trailer arm twisted into the spokes and broke about 10 spokes, and the back wheel is all bent up and doesn’t spin anymore.

Yvonne went ahead home walking the dogs while I drove the bike back, and was mad that I took so home, thinking I had a heart attack or something.

The reality of it was, I was trying to straighten out the wheel and take the fender off so it wouldn’t jam the tire, but all I had in my bike kit was a lousy pliers … and I needed a “star” screw driver

Mental Note: I have to create a nice tool kit that has a tool for every piece that’s on the bikes .. a wrench, pliers, screw drivers, etc etc.

I’ll upload pictures eventually to hbsmc.com/victoriabeach/ .. after our vacation from the desktop home computer (it takes up too much bandwidth to do it via the EVDO cell high speed access)

It’s definitely out of commission for the summer. I’m afraid to think what it might cost.

Yvonne was watching the flyers and it seemed that the best deal was at Sears Home Appliance Store. I met her there last week, but was early - so I walked across the street to The Brick. On display was one of the nicest fridges I’ve seen! I really really liked it! It was about $1400 with the Ice maker and stainless steel, so working backwards to a white fridge without all plumbing would be about $1250 or so. The nicest thing was, it was 24″ depth. The spot where the fridge went (the left edge wall) was sticking out 28″ and the door handle was currently sticking out past that. We had an island to worry about, and didn’t want the door to hit.

Yvonne and I finally met at Sears .. I just didn’t like the fridge that was on sale. DIDN’T LIKE IT AT ALL! I convinced her to go out for dinner across the street at Zesto’s Subs and then walk over to The Brick.

Yvonne agreed to go across the street to The Brick and see this magical fridge I was talking about .. and SHE DIDN’T LIKE IT AT ALL! I think it was because of price.

Okay! So, we were even But - then in the clearance room - we saw a fridge we both liked. Firstly, it was a BOTTOM FREEZE FRIDGE .. and it had a few ZINGS on and was discounted quite a bit! Sale price: $798.00 CDN and it’s a MAYTAG. WE ended up buying a 5-year warranty with it, only because if it was banged up - (probably from a fork lift) - you just never know.. $109.09 CDN Warranty … plus Taxes and Delivery. The salesman screwed up and forgot to write on the bill to haul away our old fridge, and the delivery drivers wouldn’t do it - unless we “tipped” them $20 for their troubles. Ah, whatever …

Yvonne is happy .. so HART is happy too

* The freezer is at the bottom (which is great because we don’t have to bend down as much)
* The fruit and vegetable containers have a slider to let air in depending if it’s vegetable or fruit (A new invention since the late 1970’s I take it!)
* All the shelves are adjustable (to fit our needs, not organize the fridge to fit its needs)
* Clear shelves! (So, you can see what’s in the fridge)
* Lots of space for our fridge magnet collection! (WooHoo! Now we have to collect more)

So - we bought this fridge on Friday before close, and delivery was supposed to be on Tuesday July 31. Well, we totally forgot about the island where the stove is .. and Yvonne was quite sure that the door would NOT open because it was too big. We looked up the model on the internet and according to the dimensions, it was pretty well convincing that it would not fit. I thought it would fit, and for the record - I stand by that comment!

We scooted over there Saturday morning and remeasured the fridge - and, *whew* it fit! We were prepared to finally buy that 24″ model fridge if it didn’t fit, even though it would have been about $500-$600 more. But, it’s all relative… Yvonne was eyeing some furniture - I had to get her out of there - Fast! (although, I did find the bestest loveseat in the world which was two leather reclining chairs attached together, but that’s another story!)

It arrived early Tuesday, because delivery was trying to schedule all the deliveries that night and found out that I work at home, so I would BE at home… it came around 5pm.

Yvonne had me remove the door handle from the left side to the right side to open up facing the kitchen, instead of away from the kitchen .. and let me tell you something - if you don’t have ALL of the right tools - don’t bother! It’s a big pain in the butt! However, if you do have the right tools, I think it’s worth it - if you need it that way .. Ah Whatever..

Yvonne is happy, so HART is happy too!

Here are pictures of our old fridge

Here are pictures of our new fridge

I managed to get the Bike Trailer to work .. but there was a few major problems ..

* the front is slanted and not much room for the dogs .. (I ended up removing that sling where the baby straps on)

* There are some broken or missing pieces where the flaps go and velcro is (I ended up using a lock to hold two pieces together)

* I’m not sure about how it attached to the bike! (It attaches - but, there is no safety attachment - there was - but, it was broken off or eaten off?)

* There is a hole at the front of the chariot/trailer .. and the dogs could escape and tried to escape at first. That is trainable situation and the dogs got used to that over a couple hours of biking!

* There is a hole at the front fo the chariot/trailer .. and sand from the wheel and gravel roads was shooting inside at the dogs! It would have been fine, had they not try to rearrange the blanket we placed in there to stop them from trying to escape.

It needs work and parts. I have to come up with something by the long weekend - maybe with Velcro. All I can think of is something like a car’s front grill cover that covers the Rad so there is heat .. or a surgeon’s mask with stretchy things or velcro attachments on each corner that covers the hole and attaches or ties together in the back.

I’m tempted to buy a new trailer .. they sell these “dog carrier” type of trailers at a local bike shop for around $300 plus taxes .. I already paid $90 for the crappy one we have - but, I’m not giving up on it yet. Here’s what a professionally built dog trailer should look like… I can get a new “chariot” type of kids trailer that might be better for the dogs for about $250 that folds up .. or $400 that is new. Regardless of what I do … I am now a permanent victim of the “I told You So” saying. (thinking I was crazy for getting a trailer to haul the dogs!)

I mean - I want to go bike riding while Yvonne jogs 6-12 KM every day .. but I can’t. The dogs bark like crazy left alone in the cottage, and give up because they get too tired or distracted walking or running along side us.

PS: Went Swimming for first time this year…. Refreshing! I need to work on my tan, lose a few pounds etc etc.. But, I tried that floating chair on styrofoam .. it’s A-O-K!

In my quest to purchase online a used Baby Bike Trailer that I can use for the dogs .. I found that they were going fast, and got tired of getting turned down and waiting. We ended up buying a used one from a Hutterite that was in worse condition that it looked like originally, and up close (hindsight - see next week)

Anyway, today was my brother Brad’s birthday and we were combining Father’s Day and his birthday on Sunday. We didn’t want to stay long at the cottage. I assembled the BBQ in about 1-1/2 hours (compared to about 3-1/2 hours the first time) .. and just dropped off the “DOG-Trailer” in the corner for now.

* RESTRICTION STARTS 0:01 FRIDAY JUNE 22, 2007 beginning of day - until September 4th .. meaning that no cars are allowed inside the restriction zone of Victoria Beach.

PS: Yvonne cut most of the grass .. I cut the front part, that leans towards the lake …

PPSS: The lake was still low - and there was about 3 feet of beach.

I brought out:

* ONE LARGE BBQ - Santa Fe “Fiesta” model, from Walmart ..
* TWO Inflatable Kayaks - from Canadian Tire, with 2 Kayak paddles
* TWO Lounge Chairs from Walmart..
* A Floating Beach Chair cased in Styrofoam from Yvonne’s friend!

I was just going to drop it off, but Yvonne wanted to jog - so I assembled the BBQ. Can you believe it? At the last minute - the part to attach to the propane tank was broken, and it didn’t work. We ended up putting it all back into the MiniVan, fully assembled, with the large box it came in, with all the wrappings and packaging.

On the way back into town, we went straight to the Walmart store and exchanged it for a brand new one. It took about 30 minutes in total - we found a really helpful guy and a flatbed wheeler who sped things up immensely! We even took that old superheavy 1970’s TV that didn’t work into town, and asked him to junk it and he hauled it away for us.

So - Now I had another BBQ (in a HUGE Box sitting in my living room for another week)

The nameservers have kicked in and this blog appears to be ready for new posts. I am in the final stages of testing the database, the permissions, etc etc etc.

We’re almost there .. and back to normal!

Please take a look around, and see if you notice anything different. I would appreciate your comments …

(Q) Does this blog seem to load faster for you?

I guess I’ll have to start posting some more stories about our visits to Victoria Beach .. with more pictures

But - you will be able to view them on the new server … at HBSMC.com/victoriabeach/ … in a day or so .. when I get around to upgrading HBSMC site

* My left forearm is totally sunburt
* My forehead and nose it as red as a rose
* As for the rest of my body .. some color with a “Farmer’s Tan”

And to quote Maxwell Smart from the famed TV show “Get Smart” …

Aaaaaaaandddddd……?

Loving it.

Karen & Warren et all were out there Saturday and Sunday and did most of the work cutting grass and raking and opening up the cottage .. The TV blew up last year during an electrical storm (we believe) and we agreed that he would pick up a cheap 20″ TV from Wal-Mart or Canadian Tire and a cheap DVD Player. This week, I will be picking up a new BBQ to compensate difference. That old one not only SUCKS .. there was only 1 place where the propane was shooting out .. it was quite a challenge to BBQ anything (although not impossible). We just figured - enough was enough .. quit complaining about it and do something about it.

Should be a nice warm Summer! While I’m getting the new BBQ .. I will be sourcing some cheap Kayaks .. they look like fun