I've Got Flowers

      I've been watching posts of flowers for months now. My flowers have finally come into bloom. Now I know you've seen these flowers before. I know you know what they look like. But I just wanted to show you that it finally happened here. We are late but at this time of the year we have long days so plants advance rapidly.

I've Been a Busy Boy

      For the last three months I've had to struggle with my blog. I've posted less and had to work hard to keep up with reading posts. And at times it was a struggle to make comments.

     However, I have a brand new roof. No I didn't do it myself. I had a very able contractor redo my house roof.

    So why has this taken so much time?  I have a micro manager. Grocery shopping takes a long time. If there are 100 tomatoes in the bin, the micro manager has to look at all of them. If there are 100 apples in a bin...yes you guessed it. The micro manager has to look at all 100 apples.

    So when reroofing came up, it was a field day for the micro manager. So first of all you have fun with the shingles. You have to get every last detail about all available shingles. Then if people from the same company say something different you're on a crusade to find out what the shingle spec actually is. There is also a product called ice and water shield. You guessed it, Each product has to be researched and compared. Choices take a long time.

    If there are five shingle outlets in town you have to go to all outlets and some of them twice. This is after numerous phone calls have been made to each outlet. These outlets know the micro manager very well.

    Then you have to get estimates from contractors. Each contractor is give specifications over and over again. There are questions about each contractor's bid and you phone them back.

    We had intended to get this job done in April. We've been working at it since March. It was finally finished Mar 7. 

    So I've been very busy with this project and many other aspects of my life have been getting second place. 

    Now I haven't got any photos of this project. I'm not supposed to go on the roof. Now I have been up on the roof, but don't tell anybody. 

   So the project took almost 4 months. Most people would get a couple of quotes and chose one and a few weeks later the project would be finished.

    Maybe some day the micro manager will buy three tomatoes and only have to look at six of them!

Ducks But No ducklings

      Last Saturday morning I visited the Michael Obrien Wetlands in town. This is a series of man made ponds. Some pond are about 7 acres and some are smaller and very irregular shapes. It's a great habitat for ducks as the pond edges have a heavy willow and grass edge.

     I was able to get some distant shots of ducks.

A lesser scaup that's trying to ignore me

A couple of mallards putting in time around their nest sites.

  Soon there should be ducklings following parents as the goslings were 

Curious Geese

       On Saturday I went to a wetlands with my Saturday morning bird group.
  
       We decided to try something we often talk about but never do. We would sit on a bench and look at went by us. The pond we chose was about 3 hectares( 6 or 7 acres). When we sat down there was a pair of geese with some goslings on the far side of the pond. There was some goose chattering. the pair slowly moved , all the while being very alert. We didn't know it but they were deciding whether they should come and visit us. After about 15 min the geese and their goslings were right in front of us. I think they were looking for  handout but we had to disappoint them.

      There were a number of ducks on the pond and some sparrows were in the brush along the pond. we got glimpses of the sparrows but not enough to make an identification. they did have a beautiful song.

Congratulations Miss Courtney

      One of my hard working neighbors across the street has reached a  very important milestone. Courtney has just finished her nursing degree after four years of hard work.

     So congratulations Courtney. Have a great career.  I'm sure you'll make a fine nurse.

     Now years of hard work have to go into succeeding at a nursing program. Courtney was a hard working and competitive student all through her public school experience. Courtney had to get "A" and she did.

    Many people who succeed in degree programs have special challenges. Courtney has her special challenge that made it harder to achieve her goal but also gave her a big incentive.

     Courtney has neurofibromatosis (NF). What's that you say? I've never heard of it. I had never heard of neurofibromatosis either  until Courtney decided to go public with her condition.  Courtney decided that she would publicize the condition so that people would be aware of it and that there would be support for people with NF.

     NF is a nasty condition of many faces. Courtney writes a blog on NF. I will let you read about NF from Courtney's blog. She's excellent at explaining NF. Many doctors are like the general public and have never heard of NF so Courtney has had to do a lot of research on the condition and educate many a doctor.

    So as well as getting a nursing degree, Courtney has had a life altering condition that she's had to face. So along with headaches, constant worry about what NF will do next she's met with success.

    Take a look at her blog and find out what NF is. By the way , she's an excellent writer.

That Old Dishwasher Works Again

      So one little roller was not going to let me throw out my dishwasher. With the broken roller I could only use the bottom rack.

     So I finally found an old top dishwasher rack at the Habitat for Humanity store. The rollers looked similar to mine and they said take the rack if it works okay and if it doesn't throw the rack away. The rollers did look much like mine in size and shape. 

     So I took one roller off. Now dishwashers they make these days are crap but try taking the thing apart.

     When I put the new roller beside the old roller I thought there would be nothing to it. Wrong! I found the roller was too thick so I had to grind it down more than half. The hole for the shaft was too small so some reaming out took place. Then the screw that attaches the roller caught on the railing. So grind out a bit so the screw is inset. 

    And there you have it . A lot of work to alter a roller to make it fit. 

    And away goes my dish washer.

    Now there are only two of us so we don't have a big pile of dishes. I do all the dishes. So around here it wouldn't be disaster if I didn't have  dishwasher. 

Accidental Theme

     It seems that once in awhile I have several posts in a row on the same theme. Sometimes it's planned and sometimes completely unplanned. Today's post is an accident.

     My last post was on a house being moved and saved from the wrecking block. It seems many readers feel the same about wa

sting resources and energy by throwing material away that is still in good condition.

     So this morning when I filled the dishwasher the top rack wouldn't come out. When I did get it to come out it wiped out the dishes on the lower rack so something had come off so that the top rack was hanging down.

     Now it took quite a few looks before I saw what the problem was. A small roller that runs in the slide that is part of the mechanism to pull out the top rack had broken. More to the point this little roller had almost disintegrated. 

      I phoned the best appliance parts place. No, these rollers are not made anymore. I tried a used appliance place. They didn't have a roller. They gave me the bad news that appliances only last 3-5 years before they need repairs.

    I went to Habitat for Humanity and dug around in the mountains of used dishwashers and parts. I couldn't find anything.

     Now for the wise use of resources and energy. I bought my dishwasher in 1987! That's right. My dishwasher is 29 years old and I'm not going to part with it yet if I can help it.

    I've done repairs on this appliance but have never taken it to a repair shop. I've changed a little control valve twice as they get corroded and then seize up and won't work. There are a couple of zip ties holding things together, I've painted racks to cover the rust. For most of the time only two of us have been using the dishwasher. I don't wash pots and pans in it. Sometimes I run vinegar in it and other times some margarine. I also clean out the screen for the water outlet.

     I wish that more quality was put into today's appliances. I hate to see things thrown away. However, if everybody used their dishwasher for 29 years the making of dishwashers wouldn't be very lucrative and the fat cats wouldn't make their millions of easy money. 

    I will not throw my whole dishwasher out just for one small roller that is missing!

This is my central vac motor that needs a talking to once in a while.