Family Day

Years ago, when I first moved to Alberta, I used to scratch my head at a provincial holiday that we didn't have in Manitoba known as 'Family Day'. As a young newly wed with no immediate thoughts of kids on our minds we would often chuckle at the provincial law makers saying that they were desperate for a day off and had to invent a reason for a long weekend. But, the politicians had perspective that I did not, and could not, until I had walked a mile in the collective working family populations shoes.

Now....I have perspective. When I'm at work I work hard and I love what I do. But make no mistake, should I be financially able to I would spend more time with my beautiful wife and my amazing kids.

It seems that as they get older and closer to spreading their wings and flying off to start their own lives, I get more anxious about spending time together. Mostly that comes in the form of driving them to and fro to their activities, but once a year there is the opportunity given to us by the powers that be....Family Day

And so we generally get away and make the best of the time we have.

This year,Ron and Verna came out to join us and increased the generational enjoyment of the long weekend. Ron was unable to join in on the skiing, but was more than able to don on some work clothes and get his hand(s) dirty putting a few more coats of finish on the cupboard drawers

While Ron worked in the cozy confines of the shop I was pulling seats and such from the bus so I can work on the flooring.

It took both Ron and I with numerous tools and holding our breath just so to get the bolts holding the airbase undone. Makes me wonder how the hell I'm going to re install it one the flooring is down!

Sunshine and caffeine

Ahhhhh, CBC on the radio, hot coffee on the counter, its bright and sunny outside. Pretty much the recipe for a perfect afternoon in the shop.

I have progressed with Michelle's window seat as far as I can, I now have to wait for paint colour selection. We are primed and ready for final paint application.

But being that the new shop is....uhhhh...cozy.... pieces not actively on the work docket, must be relocated to a storage facility...aka: outside on the shop trolly

Now its time to reset and get reacquainted with the cabinetry in the bus.

I had rounded the corner of the drawers, now it was time to create drawer fronts.

one mishap along the way, remember to measure twice, cut once. Even after all these years, I let me guard down for a minite and mistakes happen. Thankfully they were fixable, but frustrating none the less.

And of course no job is ever smooth sailing on Fillmore, there is always some challenge that makes me scratch my head and think...."Huh! how are we going to fix that?
Here the issue was mounting the drawer latch hardware, my shortest phillips screwdriver was too tall to fit into the space...

But thankfully, I had purchased a special attachment for my driver last fall in anticipation for a need just like today!

After an appropriate amount of complaining about access, eyesight and lighting, I finally got things to the point that I was happy with both form AND function.

Of course being happy meant it was time to tear things apart again so that I can prime and paint!