Stay of Home Chapter 3 - Day 6

 Tuesday April 13

After my walk this morning, I tried to make some labels for my new file folders.  I followed the instructions on the Avery website, typed up all my 23 labels and then tried to print.  I saved my file, I can see the file in its folder on the computer but do you think I can open it to print.  No.  I cannot.  It was so frustrating I had to put it aside; I'll try again tomorrow.  

I got a call from my mechanic this afternoon with the happy news that what they thought was causing the leak of oil was not causing the leak at all.  The real leak was coming from a part underneath the suspicious part which would cost another 300 bucks to fix.  When I got there to pick the van up, he showed me the broken part and pictures of where it was in the engine.  I'm not sure why he was so intent on explaining it to me because I didn't know what I was looking at and he's never done that before.  He also told me that a wheel bearing would need replacing at some point soonish for 200 bucks.  Good news all round.

More good news from the provincial government whose left hand doesn't seem to know what its right hand is doing.  The public school system is on its March  Spring break right now and the Minister of Education Steven Whatshisname has been telling us that the schools will remain open after the break.  Only the Premier Dougie Ford came out 24 hours later to say that no, the schools will stay closed after the break.  Do these people talk to each other?  Maybe as they're standing at the urinals Steve might have said to Dougie - "Hey Dougie I'm keeping the schools open after the break.  Schools are safe." And Dougie could have said, "Sorry Stevie, I'm shutting 'er down because... I don't know why but I'll think of reason."  It's another example of the inconsistency and confusion that has plagued this government since the beginning.  Private schools who are not on break right now, like Hogwarts (HB's school) are back to on-line learning on Thursday.   If I had a kid in the public system, I'd be tearing my hair out.

This is the pond I walk past every time I do my big walk.  It doesn't have a stream or source of water feeding it; it just fills up with rain. There's a name for it - storm reservoir?   It looks kind of sketchy actually but It supports a lot of wildlife though. 

If you look closely, in the middle of the picture, you can see a mummy goose sitting on her nest.  I counted about 4 nesting pairs but there will be more off somewhere not as open.  A red-winged blackbird flew off just as I tried to take its picture; a turtle was sunning itself on the edge of the pond the other (he slid into the water before I could take his picture) and if you're really lucky, you might see a Great Blue Heron standing in the water at the edge under a tree.  There must be some source of food in there.  I like to watch the progress of the goose families as the summer progresses.  There's something calming about watching animals go about their business without a care in the world.

Until tomorrow.  Stay sane.