Crafts and the postal strike

We're in the middle of a Canada Post strike. I am anxiously awaiting a new camera. They mailed it with Canada Post 3 days prior to the strike. It is in limbo. Originally they said there was a delay, Nov. 15th, on the 21st they admitted they don't know!

💸💰I am getting creative. Many companies want you to sign up for eBills, which are great during a postal strike. What I have found in my work with seniors is that this can get tricky. Usually one person does the bills, right? If something happens to that person, how will the partner know what needs to be paid? I pay all our bill online. During the strike, that is perfect. The trick is finding out what you owe. I made a list after our bank account fraud situation, and it was a quick check to determine what was due when, and which companies demand autopay on a credit card. Life is so complicated!

I spotted a post on Facebook. Then, I remembered I had to pay our Hydro bill. When I did so, I realized I owed $8 and I had mistyped the amount last month. Oopsie. But we're not failing! (Don't tell the kids!)

Then, I realized we'd had a propane delivery (just a top up), and I might as well pay that bill. 

What does someone do when faced with 32.5 mm (25 mm = 1") rain over two days? 

I've a couple issues with this material. It was a panel cut out of a larger flannel piece. The red bleeds, and it was probably not a good choice. She warned me to wash it separately. I soaked it in a vinegar solution, hoping for the best. I may have to do a new one!!! Ah well. That happened to me before. 

I'm not complaining about the rain. It's not like we had a Bomb Cyclone, like Jesse had in Vancouver! He ran out to get new hinges when the door was blown off the shed.

We just had lovely pouffy clouds afterwards.

I've removed the flag on the left. It just doesn't hang well here. It's on the flag pole broken by the arses who stole my Pride flag. I'll have to ponder that one. I don't think I have a seasonal flag. 

I'll leave you with our deer friends. It is rutting season and the deer are a little antsy. There were two here. Later on during my drive I spotted a herd of 5. 

Oh, February, give me strength!

 Here we be. Friday again. Tomorrow is Christmas in February! The kids are coming, finally, now that COVID numbers are down. We will celebrate my 65th, as well as Josephine's 14th birthday from December, too. 

The news is still horrid. Twas ever thus. Canada has a lot of Ukranians, and people of Ukranian descent, many with loved ones there. Our Prime Minister was joined by Deputy Minister Chrystia Freeland, Defence Minister Anita Ananda, and Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly to announce a second tranche of sanctions. During the press conference Trudeau and our three female ministers said that we were with the Ukranian people. Minister Freeland, with a B.A. in Russian history (Harvard), also has her Master's in slavonic studies from Oxford. She speaks 5 languages, including Ukranian. She said some comforting words in that language to the people. 

One person on Twitter wrote:

"Putin just got told off by three Canadian women and a leader better looking than him."

Here is advice from author and trauma survivor, Julie Lalonde, a woman who was stalked for 10 years. 

That said, things are bad in Texas, where their governor is having an all-out war on gay and trans people (Tweet). Abbott is all about charging parents of trans kids with child abuse. He wants teachers, doctors, and caregivers to snitch on them. This is 2022, right? 

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Things have been active here. Lots of birds. They know a storm is coming, I think! Today, more snow. 

🎾 JB has been watching tennis. Happy man. 

I've been watching some other things. For Black History Month, I decided to PVR the Women of the Movement (2022) series (6 episodes) that has been on W channel. It is an atrocious story, but one white people must watch to understand a piece of black history. It tells the story of Emmett Till, a young black kid murdered in the south by racists in 1955. His mother was empowered to make change in those horrid times of Jack Crow. She helped spur the Civil Rights Movement. We don't know how much freedom we have, we white people.

💘I've been balancing that emotional story with the February RomComs. This one, Mix up in the Mediterranean (2021), is a light plot, a competition by chefs, filmed in Malta. The scenery is grand! Nice to see beaches from this frozen north.

🧊Going to fetch the mail, the ice accretion sparkles in the sun. The trees are happier in the sunshine, although you can hear them creaking and clacking as the wind blows. 

It is crusty snow cover, but the land is covered which is important for the flora and fauna in these temperatures and freeze-thaw cycles. The mailbox had a goodly amount of ice on it. I couldn't bash off the ice at the back. It'll melt. Someday.

The sidewalk is icy, since the warmth of the February sun melted the snow and ice rain. I put some salt down for safety.

I had a plan with the bird bath. I ordered a replacement heater, but they were out of stock. I recalled that John gave me a heated bird bath he wasn't using. (Thank you, John, I couldn't find the right place for it till now.) Anyway, we'll give this a try for now. It's -13 C. this morning, and despite the sun I don't want to fool around too long with the water. 

📱Has anyone been totally bothered by ridiculous phone calls? I had three Wednesday, and another Thursday. Most of them don't engage, and hang up. The one told me there were bad charges on my credit card, press 1 to get them cancelled, 2 you accept these charges. Both numbers are blocked.

I hope you have a descent day. I have some house cleaning to do, although I did bathroom and kitchen floors, there is more to be done with actual family coming! 

Home repairs: computer cord, mailbox, TP holder

 Friday, Jan. 28th

Jesse (my son in Vancouver) told me about Sugru. It's a fabulous thing to mend cords. You'll notice I had some white stuff, back when Daisy liked to chew the cord.[ A funny story about Sugru – 2019] I think I've caught the cord on the mechanism on my chair. Anyway, all fixed! I sent JB in to get it for me. They didn't have any white stuff. Jesse says it matches the black laptop keys! 

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📫Our mailbox was bashed – again

Home maintenance and repairs can be a challenge for me. I watched my dad and he did a lot of this stuff. I have failed to master quite a few things, though. I kept all his useable tools, garden equipment, nuts and bolts. The repair wasn't quite good enough. The door doesn't quite align. I bashed away at it, to little avail. The problem was the riveting I'd done on the fly. I needed a nut and bolt.

Once I was calmer (the next day), I scrounged up some possibilities. The drill bit was in my pocket!  Toddling out to the mailbox, again...

It's a lovely day. We had 2 cm of snow overnight. It's quite pretty. It was much warmer, only -17 C.! 

The second one I tried worked! I told Caitlin that it was awful taking off my gloves, then having to take the other one off! Wow! We don't get a newspaper anymore, but the yellow Citizen box protects it, I thought.

There are still dents from where the blunt force object made a connection with my mailbox. The top hooky pieces are meant to keep it closed. It's not a good fit anymore. 

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Saturday, Jan. 29

I've been looking for a new toilet paper holder. I loved the one we bought in Muskoka. The wooden one is in the downstairs bathroom. 

Time to tackle the new toilet paper holder. The old one was wretched looking. I ordered a new one, just as an afterthought, simply to bring an order up to free delivery (Wayfair). It was the only place I could find new cords for my outdoor Cherry Blossom fake tree. (That project is incomplete. I'm still working on it!)

The kittens quite liked the toilet paper roll, back in the day! Dorah is gone, and Daisy is happy in her rehomed situation. We speak of them all the time.

It took some time to remove the old holder brackets. One screw was stripped (the left one), and I had to drill it off. I didn't totally succeed. 

The white panel came in handy, later. It was from a horrible saga: The toilet issue (2019). We won't use that company again. (Plus they took CERB money, and still complained about the government.)

The next thing was to sand and paint over the white spots, then fill the holes with polyfilla. The paint I found was the right colour, but it was rust paint, and was solid on the top, liquid separated underneath. Whoopsie! Back down to the basement.

Back in the basement, I found the right paint. This was the only room I repainted when we moved in back in 2010. 

Overnight, while I let the polyfilla dry, I popped the toilet paper on a large candle holder. 

 You'll notice the white cover plate. It came in handy.

The guy accidentally sliced through the toilet stack: The toilet issue (2019). It required repairs. And a cover plate. Being able to see the studs was helpful. I knew the toilet paper holder would need to be anchored to them, not just in the wall. I was looking for a long piece I could screw in, and then secure the holder to that, when I came up with a better idea. 

Fitting it, making JB sit on the toilet to ensure he could reach it what with his sore arm, I figured we were good. I secured the heron carving to the studs, with JB's help holding it, and it is much more secure. The old toilet paper holder was flimsy and loose and would fall off the wall at will. In hindsight, I should have bought a sturdier one, but this will do. There is even a spot to hold your cell phone, if you take it to the bathroom! 

Ta da! Today's project is sealing the front door. We could/should replace it, but we're a bit tight right now. I'm still having issues with 💰Canada Revenue Agency😓. After that, and the new driveway, I keep telling myself "it's only money!"

📫Our mailbox was bashed – again

 Here we be. The end of the week. Where do the days go? 

I had a wee breakdown Wednesday. I discovered that the mailbox was ripped sideways. When you are feeling sad and depressed, or defeated – everything seems worse. I didn't think it was the snowplow, as we haven't had snow in a couple of days. (I phoned the county, to ask if snowplows had been by. No response after my phone call.)

You can see evidence of a strike, it looks like one point of impact. It is discouraging, the violence. There is no reason. No purpose to it but to cause citizens problems, and ruin property. 

I was so upset. I've had to replace it a couple of times, once it was the snowplow. Another time, a baseball bat. [Maintenance during a lockdown] 

JB went into town for errands. I set to work. It was -14 C., and not the kind of weather you want to be working on the side of the road. That, and my anxiety trigger is noise. The large trucks roar by. Few slow down. 

Kind people move over the centre lane in their vehicles, if I'm fetching the mail, barring oncoming traffic. Others speed up, after coming around the corner. 

JB went into town and on his way saw that several other mailboxes were smucked, one was gone. That was Wednesday. By Thursday, I was determined to conquer this.

I did a bit of a workout and after I was warmed up, I bundled up and went out to the mailbox. Awake at midnight, I'd planned what I needed to take down the driveway. Removing the box, I thought it was OK to reattach it. The 3" screw had been bent, the other pulled out from the base. I hope the juvenile bastard who did it had a fine jolt and whiplash!

The more I looked at it, the worse it looked. It clearly needed a rivet, but I don't have the right size for it. My drill battery died (at midnight I'd planned on putting in the fresh battery before I began, but I forgot. Sigh. JB'd arrived home, took in the groceries, came back to check in on me and helped by carrying the box. He has one good arm! I had to go back up to the house dragging my tools, just in case I couldn't repair it.

I had to remove the original rivet, as it had been pulled out. Replacing it with a plastic wall anchor and screw, I shall hope for the best. I don't have a rivet or a proper nut and screw that would fit. You can't go to the store and buy just one, either. 

I hammered away at it, to get out the dents, but the door still doesn't fit right. I gave up. I think it'll work, for now. The traffic was horrible, the wind fierce as they flew past me. I had another cry, but it is done to the best of my ability. There is an empty lot behind the mailbox. They were working on burning some brush.

This noise I could hear coming. The engines rev, they prepare to pass slow moving vehicles, and they speed on by in the oncoming lane. 

 

Cold enough for you? The wind was whipping the rainbow flag and the snow about.

Oh, yes, and to add fuel to the fire, I broke a nail! 👆

Deep breath, hot shower. Feet up. I've a new toilet paper holder to attach, and the dustbuster has fallen off the wall in the pantry. Maybe I'll think about that today. I'm horrid using wall anchors. Hubby nuked me some premade dinner, and I calmed down. We watched The Repair Shop, and I hoped for some tips. 

I've more snow to shovel, and the bunnies have been busy in the yard in the dark. Of course, it helps if you turn the camera on before leaving it out for the night. 

Happy weekend. I hope things are quiet for you!