Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Put On Your Thinking Caps


We're looking for a slogan to go with this picture, Andy is blowing it up and putting it on the wall of his office.



A panel of expert judges will pick the winning slogan and the winner will receive a jug of genuine gm washer fluid and a travel mug (for coffee)!


Do your best.


~~

Monday, December 14, 2009

Making The Deal

So here are the pictures of the car deal. We signed the final papers, shook Andy's hand and drove way in our new ride. Froggie said it was the smoothest deal he's ever made.


Nice!

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Our Friend

The six of us get together about three times a year. We laugh, sing and play music, eat lots of food, drink a bunch of scotch and stay up really late. Our friend Pam died yesterday. I'm so glad that last time we were together, we took this shot of the six of us. It's the only one we have.




See you on the other side Pam. We're really going to miss you.

Tuesday, December 08, 2009

Finished



~~~~ PRESENTING ~~~~

My violin is completely finished. The one I made is the one on the left.



Monday, December 07, 2009

Swish Thump Thump

Last night I was driving to an event about 1/2 an hour from our house. It was snowing heavily, and the road was slippery. I was behind a medium sized truck (somewhere between a dump truck and a large pick-up), it was hard to tell because it was dark.

We were both taking it pretty easy because of the road conditions. He started to gaining speed and leaving me behind. As I went into a bend in the road the back of the jeep began to fish-tail. I tried unsuccessfully to recover. I went off the road and into a 5 foot ditch, and rolled onto the side, then onto the roof.

As I started into the ditch, I thought to myself, there's nothing you can do now, so best to relax and don't tense your muscles. It happened so slowly.

As I hung upside down from the seatbelt, I thought, first find the emergency flashers and turn them on. When I did that, I also turned off the engine. Then, remembering conversations from past incidents, I cautiously attempted to undo my seatbelt, but it was locked up, so that took some time. I was able to slowly let myself down and not fall on my noggin.

It's incredibly disorienting being in an upside down vehicle, especially in the dark. There was a log outside the one door, so I didn't even try to open it. I tried to kick out the other window, those windows are tough. So I thought, well just maybe the other door will open, and it did, just enough to get my head out and wiggle the rest of me out.

So I gathered up the stuff I needed for the event I was attending, climbed out and flagged down a passing motorist. No point hanging around as cell phones don't work and I wasn't hurt, so I went to where the event was taking place and called the police from there.

The officer didn't need me to attend the scene, if I could fax a statement, so I arranged towing from there.

This morning, I have a couple of twinges, but no big hurts at all, so guess my instructions to myself about relaxing paid off (and it was all so slow). I went over it and over it in my head afterwards, and it's odd though how difficult it is to picture yourself in your vehicle when it's upside down and you've righted yourself, despite having actually been there.

CRAP!

~~

Tuesday, December 01, 2009

My Fiddle - Update


After all the hassle with the varnish and having received a new batch, I've finished varnishing my violin.

It's a little shiny and not as dark as I had envisioned it, but it's done. I'm letting it harden up for another couple of days before I put the bridge and all the other stuff back on. Once it's all together again, I'll post a pic.






Now I can start losing sleep over my viola. Honestly, it hasn't been nearly as stressful. I guess it's knowing what to expect.

After I posted the above pix, I thought of doing this. This is my violin that I've been playing while I've been making my new one. Surprising how similar the colour turned out.





My Fiddle