Change

As some of you know, I enjoy building Theatre Sets. However, they are temporal creations and cannot stand the test of time. Usually they have to last 2 or three weeks, then they get taken down and recycled/thrown away. I have had a few recent sets not even make it to the stage.

The latest constructive casualty is due to the COVID outbreak in BC. All public gatherings are cancelled indefinitely. I had made this particular set for the musical, The Secret Garden. It was quite large, and I had taken extra time to make it easy to set up quickly. But as it can't go ahead, it had to go back in storage. I had a sad (though beautiful) day taking it apart.

While journalling tonight, I caught myself writing the phrase 'God willing' as I described my hope that the set would be useful in the future. I then thought of the passage in James 4:13-15 (NIV) which reads:

Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”

I think this public health crisis is a good reminder that we are not 100% in control of our lives. We do generally struggle along and make our schedules work for us, but there are never any guarantees. And that's okay.

Outdoor Eyesore

An idea that Malachi and I have had for awhile is to build an outdoor pool table in the backyard. However our plans were complicated by the accidental arrival of an air hockey table last September. Our neighbour was trying to get rid of it, and so I gave him a few bucks. It didn't fit in the house though--I had hoped it could work as a coffee table. So it sat outside in the rain under a plastic bag for a few months.

The air hockey table can't really get wet, so it was necessary to build a shelter for it.

This was accomplished with some landscape ties. Later a roof was added that was made of 1x2 and clear plastic. It was soon tested in the wind, rain, snow and ice but survived.

Next the air hockey table was hung from the rafters via pulleys.

This way it could be lifted out of the way and stored in the ceiling so that the pool table could be used.

Lastly the pool table was constructed, and finished with outdoor carpet and wire baskets for pockets.

We still need to buy proper balls and cues but for now we used Malachi's toy set and it worked ok.

Alternator fun

A month or so ago I was driving a friend/customer to Vancouver to pick up a bed. He complimented on my truck, saying how well it was running (for its age). Well, we were in the tunnel under Hastings when I noticed my battery light flicker on. I was a little worried that I'd get stuck in Vancouver, but it flickered right back off again and was fine, in fact so fine that I kind of forgot about it even though it started to blink on with more frequency.

Then last week it was kind of on all the time. I decided it was probably the alternator, or maybe the battery. But it kept starting, no problem.

But eventually I decided I'd better get another alternator. I called around to the scrapyards, if they'd had one in stock it would have been less than $50, and new was $250-$300 from the auto parts places, so I ordered one on Amazon for $170. It was a couple of days shipping, and the day before it arrived my truck died.

I wasn't too far from home so I took the bus home, put an old battery in my backpack, and biked back. I switched batteries, the truck started, and drove for about 3 blocks before dying again. So I bought a new battery from a store nearby and managed to nurse the truck all the way home.

I took out the old alternator and waited until the next day for the new one. It went in without too much hassle. And truckie's been working fine ever since. Well, mostly fine--sometimes seems to run a little rough, I might have to get my fan clutch checked out...

Mario Kart 8/19

Victor and Malachi and I had a race in Harrison. We rented some dune buggy bicycle things. One of them had a side car.

Victor and I were in the lead.

Despite our best efforts, Malachi started gaining in his Malachimobile. (I suspect he got a mushroom)

He pulled even with us! We pelted him with squid ink, turtle shells, and a lightning bolt, but it was no use!

He passed the finish line well ahead of us. We hung our heads in disappointment.

But it was a good day anyway. We cooled off in the lake, headed to the pub for supper, and were home before bedtime!

Winter and Spring Adventures

Again, a dearth of posts lately. Apologies to all four of my loyal fans! Now that I finally joined Facebook, blogging has really slowed down!

On my birthday this past February I took Victor and the kids up Sasquatch for tubing. Here is a picture of us riding the moving sidewalk:

Then sometime this spring the kids went shopping for new shoes. It was a nice day and they wanted to try out their shoes on the soccer field near our house (how many kids have artificial turf a one minute walk away?). I like this picture of Malachi in action.

Tomorrow we are striking the set for Midsummer Night's Dream. No new plays until the fall. Lots of carpentry jobs in the pipe, though.

Hamster in the Sink

I was working away at a customer's empty basement suite, getting it tenant-ready, minding my own business, when I reached for an orange rag in the sink. Imagine my surprise when the rag was soft and warm and wiggled in my hand! It was a hamster!

Huh?

How did a hamster get in the sink? It remains a mystery. I did find a few droppings on top of the fridge. Otherwise the place was spotless...

My customer was equally mystified but adamant that he did not want a hamster occupying his basement suite without a tenancy agreement. So I took it home in a bucket in my truck. Unfortunately he hopped out of the bucket and hid behind the glove compartment, until finally lured out that night with a plate of peanut butter. A colleague of Michelle's happened to have an empty hamster cage handy and my kids were quite excited to adopt him. His working name right now is "Teddy."

Sometimes life surprises you!

A Thousand Thoughts

Ha! Maybe more like two:

I haven't been blogging much. I blame my work blog handyandrew.ca. However, occasionally during my frantic race to make and fix things, I have the Odd Thought.

1. Money:
At one time I used to compartmentalize money in my head by Quarters. I think when I was five I might have got a quarter for my allowance? And I would save up my quarters to buy things. Later it moved to dollars, and by high school I would think in terms of tens (6 tens to pay for internet for 3 months, I think it was...mowing lawns was 1.5 tens for two hours of hard labour). Once entrenched in the working world I graduated to hundreds: about a hundred dollars for a day's work, or $500 for a month of part-time youth pastoring...$300 to fix my car... And now...I think in Thousands. A thousand for rent...a thousand to pay the month's Visa bill...2000 to 4000 income per month depending on how I bill...

I suppose the next move is Ten Thousands! Maybe one day!

2. People:
Something happens when you get to know someone a little bit. They are no longer an other, a stranger. As a handyman I get to know quite a few people a little bit (usually not too well, though--it's the nature of the job). At first all the billions of the world are strangers to you. They are different, even the ones that are similar. You have a few friends like you, a few family like you, but (at least for me) you may not have much interest in getting to know a lot more people. "The more I meet new people, the more I like my dog" With work, sometimes I'm "in and out" of a stranger's house, and there is some mutual trust and respect around the exchange of labour and money, but that's the extent of it. Other times, though, I settle in for more of a long haul job, maybe 3 or 4 days worth, or a few different mornings, or whatever. And I come to realize that People are Cool. Sure, I may not want to live in their house, but I definitely come to appreciate other people and the things they are doing. One family I met adopted some kids from Liberia. Another family had an extra room that they opened to a man who was going through a separation of some sort, and his two-year-old son. Another family grows organic vegetables in their backyard as part of a neighbourhood program. I thank God for the variety of people I've been able to meet, and the ways they love others.