08/27/2012, Shelburne NS
....stuff happening, stuff happening....
Son and daughter arrived for a visit last week which occupied pretty much all of our time. Daughter arrived with a huge rambunctious dog and a small child, and son arrived with two of his buddies from work so the days were packed as you can imagine. In the evenings I was dragged out to the local drinkeries with son and buddies so I could witness their skill at picking up babes. I got to arm wrestle one of the buds who I think let me win and to talk to a totally GOTH lady complete with pale skin, a silver skull on a chain nestling between her breasts, a black dress, a silver skull on a chain nestling between her breasts an aversion to sunlight, o and did I mention a silver skull on a chin nestling between her breasts. I don't think that I would have liked to be the one of son's buds who took her home that night and next morning I looked closely to see if he had two little holes in his neck. I think he was OK.
This past week was supposed to be a vacation but what with the visitors and with getting called back into work I didn't get to relax much. Next vacation I will be leaving town.
Today we are interviewing for a new staff person. This one is particularly of interest as it will replace the water plant operator and we are looking for a certain set of skills and qualifications. Could be interesting especially as we can't pay as much as these people are used to getting in larger centres.
We went out for a day sail on Nelleke and had a picnic at McNutt's Island only to discover that there is something wrong with the anchor windlass. It would power down but not up. Ain't that always the case with boats? As soon as you fix one thing another crops up. Sigh!
I was able to work out the staff changes here at work with general promotions all round and a clear chain of command in place. It wasn't without some hiccups as a couple of the fellows felt that they didn't get enough, but after a day or two to think about it everyone got in line. One of the contributing factors to the small problems was that the history of personal management here has not always been great. In fact I might even go so far as to say that in some cases and instances they were abused by any definition of the term. In such a case I would imagine that they were concerned that some off the same would be perpetrated on them now. Once they realized that wasn't the case they seemed more accepting of the changes.
Barb and I are beginning to work on the varnishing of the bright work on the boat and I am finishing the electrical paneling. Hopefully we will get much of that done in time to put the boat to bed for the winter. I figure that we still have at least a month and a half or more of time with the boat in the water that we can do these things before winter sets in.
On Friday we are setting off for another week's vacation with the motor home. Our plan is to visit vineyards and museums, beaches and scenic drives, and generally get away. Then we should be back in Shelburne by Tuesday or Wednesday and, weather permitting, we will try to take Nelleke out for a cruise.
About time!
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Comments [1]
essayhouse
08/16/2012, Shelburne NS
....for too long.
I am definitely addicted to writing stuff whether or not anyone actually reads it is completely inconsequential to me I just feel the hyping to get on typing! Here the only writing I have been doing is multiple reports and numerous articles to the local newspaper and I have been sadly neglecting the blog. So, time to rectify that.
Yesterday number one son arrived with a couple of his buds from work who are traveling about the countryside with him getting a glimpse of Atlantic Canada or at least the bars. They haven't been here for a full day yet and already they have dragged me out to one of the local grog shops and played a drinking game of cards with Barb. Ohhhh, my head! Even Herself is walking slowly this morning. If it wasn't for the fact that I have two meetings this morning I would have called in sick. I think from now on I will leave the power boozing to the 30 year olds.
Our plans for the rest of the week and over the weekend are for them to play some golf and go to a cottage to play with some girls and then on Saturday we are going to go out on Nelleke to try some fishing. We'll troll a bit and then find a hole to bait fish and see if we can get something for the freezer.
Other than that there is loads of stuff happening. We are looking to hire a new Water Plant Operator, we are starting a civil engineering project to pave a road in town, I am also trying to set up a drainage project for part of town. Busy, busy, busy, I am supposed to be retired!
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08/09/2012, Shelburne NS
....and visits from the kids. It's only a week away from the first arrivals. In fact, we heard today that Chris and two of his friends have already left Kingston on a ROAD TRIP - dun-da-da-daaaaaan - to travel down to Atlantic Canada. Since they aren't planning on getting here until the 15th I guess I would interpret that to mean that there will be numerous stops along the way. They are all guards for Corrections Canada at Kingston Penitentiary which will be shutting down in a couple of years so they are all looking at different pens to be posted to. Chris has chosen Springhill which is en route and I would suppose that the other guys are looking at that too. Add to that Halifax is the place that Chris went to university and there are one or two of his college pals still there and I know he won't be satisfied until he has re-christened the bars that he used to frequent. Sooner or later he is going to come up against what I call the Grey Wall. That's the point in time when you go to those places where you spent many happy hours and discover, in his case, that the girls there see you as old, that really pretty waitress that used to think you were so cute is now married with a couple of kids and significantly overweight, the current staff don't care that you used to be a bouncer there, and in some cases the places don't even exist anymore. That hasn't happened to him yet but I know that it has to the rest of us. His day will come.
Yesterday I accidentally stumbled over a blog written by someone in town who was carrying on about one of the staff leaving and how it showed that the elected officials and the folks working here were totally incompetent, etc., etc. It's funny how some folk have come to see the internet as an anonymous or privileged platform from which they can say anything with impunity. In this case since the guy leaving was the fellow that ran the water plant this clown was talking about how the town will soon be under a boil order and how the town will fall into complete anarchy now that the water plant operator has left. This particular fellow apparently has a history of putting up the most outrageous BS on his blog trying to incite. He has occasionally tried to run for public office. In fact his most recent blog chain is entitled "Who should be mayor in Shelburne?" and then goes on to explain how everyone else is brain dead. I have a feeling that he is hoping that someone will say, "You should be mayor. Why don't you run?" What a bottom feeder! It's similar to people in cars being very brave inside a ton of metal, shooting you the finger, screaming insults at you, being tough all with the confidence that they can roll up the windows, lock the doors, and drive away. With the internet it's easy sitting in your living room saying whatever you like, feeling that you have sorted out the world from the safety of your own home. I have been told that this guy has run for council before and garnered all of a dozen votes. You'd think that would tell him something, it certainly would me. But I guess it doesn't, so he returns to sniping at others who do have the public confidence and personal courage to actually get elected. I know that I will never run for public office. I value my marriage too much and I wouldn't put my wife through the turmoil of having people walk up to her in the supermarket and unload on her which is something that I have seen people do to the spouses of politicians.
Oh well. Enough rant. Please forgive me using readers of this blog as a sounding board. Sometimes I just need to vent.
Well now. Are plans for the weekend are solidifying in every aspect except for the weather. AS of right now the weather witches are calling for rain on both Saturday and Sunday, but as my dear old Dad used to say, 'the weather witches are lying bi@%#es!', so we are keeping our fingers crossed that this time the weather will change for the good. Regardless, we will be heading out unless a full blown storm is called for, just to get off the dock.
The other day I finished the splicing job for a friend's boat that he sold to a doctor from Halifax and made a few pennies from the job. It was good to get back into the swing of splicing again, but sad to see it being done for a boat that was departing Shelburne as a sale rather than a sail. We first met Windlore in New Smyrna Beach on our first cruise when Rick, the captain, saw our Shelburne Harbour Yacht Club burgee and walked up to see who we are, being as we were outport members at the time and he had never seen the boat. Now Windlore is off, in the hands of a new owner, and Rick is dirt bound. I gather he is in the market for a smaller boat that he can putter about in during the summer and let he and his wife fly down to Florida where they have a condo for the winter. A slightly different version of what we intend to do ourselves.
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