Sewing Room Is Finished - Carrie And Mason Are Home

After several days of hectic rushing back and forth to the hospital in Victoria to visit with Carrie and the little man, Mason, Paulette and I were able to spend the entire day at home yesterday.  Carrie had told us that her doctor was coming in to see her Wednesday morning and there was a good chance she would get the o.k. to go home with Mason.  That was great news on the one hand ….. but, on the other it meant back to work to get Paulette’s sewing room finished!

All that’s left to do now is to fill the tiny brad nail holes with oak wood filler

One of the jobs I wasn’t looking forward to in the sewing room was installation of a 12’ oak transition piece as well as 3 smaller ones around the universal gym.  In the past, I’ve tried drilling, hammering, glue and blasting along with big tools, small tools and power tools but have had little or no success with getting nails or screws to connect to a concrete floor. I tried again using a masonry bit to drill a hole and then a Tapcon screw to secure the transition piece to the concrete.  Nada!  Zilch!

Even using brad nails on the laminate floor side only still held it solid

Rummaging around in my workshop, I happened upon a small box of brad nails that were only 19mm in length.  A quick calculation of the combined thickness of the laminate floor plus the oak transition showed it to be 20mm.  A new plan was born!  I found my brad nail gun and compressor, loaded up the small brads and fired in a couple of test nails.  The oak transition pieces stuck like they were welded to the laminate.  It worked perfectly, it’s solid and took only 15 minutes.

Carrie and Mason were given the o.k. to leave the hospital late yesterday morning.  That meant at the ripe old age of 4 days, our Little Man got to experience his first real adventure – a car ride.

From the looks of the cellphone pic Carrie sent me, Mason was not terribly impressed by his first ride in a car … he fell asleep immediately and stayed that way all the way home!

Carrie said that although she really appreciated all the help and tips she received from the nurses and staff at VGH, she was really looking forward to getting home to her own bed and her own schedule.  One thing she did say that surprised me though was she liked the food as she had several choices for each meal and it was pretty good.

Before leaving the hospital, Mason was given a full physical and blood tests and checked out perfect in all categories so we were happy to hear that.  Yesterday was the first day Paulette and I haven’t seen the little man since he was born just last Saturday.  I think we’ll have to fix that with a trip down to Victoria Thursday!

Google now redirects from Picasa Web Albums to Google+ Photos

If you happen to have tried to access Picasa Web Albums lately, you may have been surprised to find you were directed instead to Google+ Photos.  This was no accident as Google deliberately put in this re-direct not long ago.  It’s not a big deal as you can easily click on a message that will take you back to your old Picasa Web Albums site.  Once you do that, you won’t be re-directed again.

The Google+ train continues to roll along …..

Why do this?  I don’t know other than it might be a subliminal message from Google that Picasa Web Album’s days are numbered. 

Have a great Thursday, and thanks again for visiting!

The Rest Of The Story – Our ‘Little Miracle Grandson’

Our first Grandson, Mason, was born last Saturday through the miracle of artificial insemination. I know if I had been one of you reading my blog for the past several months, and especially since Mason was born followed by all the photos, I’d have been wondering “where’s the Dad and how come he’s never in the pictures and is never mentioned”?  It sure would have piqued my curiosity that’s for sure. I have to say, you are a very polite and respectful bunch of folks!

I did receive a few emails wondering the same thing and I replied to them.  I realized pretty quickly that sometimes imaginations can run wild and the straight facts are always best.  

Since Carrie became pregnant last September, we have shared her story with a few close friends as well as some RVing friends so this was no big secret we were keeping.  It was the “high risk” factor, Carrie’s age (42) and the process itself, that kept us fairly quiet.  While not being overly superstitious, we didn’t want to feel responsible for “jinxing” things.

We desperately wanted everything to go well mostly for Carrie’s sake as she had her heart and soul set on being a Mom.  Nothing else was of importance to us.  The details could wait until Carrie had a healthy baby.  We were on pins and needles right through Carrie’s first trimester but her Doctor kept saying that all was well.  Then, a series of tests in late December gave us terrific news and relief as well – the baby was a boy and by all measurements was very healthy.  

With that wonderful news, I announced in a post on January 23, 2013 It’s A Boy – Our First Grandson Due This June.  While still a bit nervous and aware that any pregnancy is fraught with unknown complications, twists and turns we gradually gained confidence that Carrie having a healthy baby boy could actually turn into a reality. 

Still, the apprehension remained right up until the very end when a nurse walked into the waiting room at the hospital and said “it’s a healthy boy”!  Wow!

Monday evening, while visiting with Carrie and Mason at the hospital, I asked her if she would mind if I shared her story with my blog readers.  Carrie simply said “go for it, I’ve got no problem with that”. 

During her 20s and 30s, Carrie had boyfriends and was in two fairly long term relationships with guys who were nice enough but in the end it turned out that they were either not ready, or unwilling, to commit to wanting children.  That was a deal-breaker for Carrie.  So, in her early 30s Carrie set out to establish a career for herself in sales.  She was very successful but still desperately wanted to be a Mom and the biological clock was ticking away!.  

I was the ‘burp-master’ again at the hospital last night

Paulette and I weren’t shocked, maybe a little surprised, when she declared about 2 years ago that “I’ve decided I don’t need a man in my life but I do want a baby”!  Carrie then advised us she was looking into the process of artificial insemination.  Even though we knew of the challenges faced by single Mom’s, we were very supportive of Carrie’s decision from the get-go.  Deep down, I was very worried this procedure wouldn’t work and Carrie would be left heartbroken.

What do I know?  Nothing as usual.  Carrie began preparing for the procedures required and signed up for 3 sessions she hoped would result in pregnancy.  Fertility drugs were used so Paulette and I joked with Carrie that we might end up being the “Octo-Grandparents”!  Miraculously (that word again) Carrie became pregnant after just 1 single session.  A month later she was told she was pregnant with a single child – no Reality TV series for us, thank goodness!

Mason was sound asleep last night during all these contortions!

So, now you know “the rest of the story” and its happy ending – actually, the story is just starting for little Mason and us but it will be a happy one I know.  In Canada, new Mom’s can take up to a year off with full Unemployment Insurance Benefits and Carrie is taking full advantage of that.  After that, she will have to decide how she wants to return to work and under what conditions.  No matter what, she and Mason will have the full love and support of our entire family.  Carrie and Mason will most likely be going home from the hospital Wednesday morning.

Have a great Wednesday, and thanks again for visiting!

A Busy Day Of Laminate Flooring, A Hike And A Visit

Our first order of business Monday morning was to get back to work and try to finish up the sewing room project.  The next job on the schedule, and close to the last, was to install new laminate flooring in the expanded area.  While I went to Home Depot to try to get flooring matching what we put in the original sewing room, Paulette got busy putting the underlay in place.

Paulette did a great job of putting down the underlay for the floor

Luck was with me at Home Depot as I found some Canadian Oak laminate that is nearly identical to what we used in the original room a year ago.  I had calculated that we needed 6 boxes of laminate at 20sq. ft. per box – so, just to be sure I bought 7 boxes as I was tired of having to go back and forth to Home Depot and other stores to get more supplies or tools.  When I got back home, Paulette had finished putting the underlay down on the cement floor so we were set to go!

An Oak Transition piece will be used to join the carpet and laminate floor

With my table saw right next door in my workshop, and Paulette doing the board measuring we started laying the floor about 10:30am.  We kept up a steady pace and developed a good system so we were able to finish laying the last piece of flooring at 2pm!  Boy, did that ever feel good.  All that’s left now is to install oak transitions between the carpet and laminate floor and the transition to separate the two adjoining rooms as there is no easy way to join the floor otherwise. By the way, I used 6 boxes so I now have to go back to Home Depot to return 1.

Hey Judy, any idea what kind of birds these are?  They have red heads!

We both knew if we sat down at all we’d probably be done for the day so we went for our afternoon hike as soon as we put the last board in place.  Neither Paulette or me felt like climbing up a trail with steep grades so we chose the Cowichan River Estuary trail as it’s nice and flat.

More of these big birds

There were a group of close to a dozen large birds, with red heads, in the park and I don’t believe we’d ever seen them before.  They were larger than Hawks and close to Eagle size but they had red-tufted feathers on their heads.  Maybe the Bird Lady of Blogland knows what they are?  I’m sure Judy will know.

It’s been a while since I’ve been called on to ‘burp’ a little baby

By this time it was 3:30 in the afternoon and I still had one very important item on my agenda.  Guess what it was?  I’m sure you all guessed correctly that a trip to the hospital to visit Carrie and little Mason was something I would never pass up.  Unfortunately, Paulette had a bit of a sore throat and was totally exhausted so she felt it might be better if she stayed home and got some rest. 

Just making sure Mason knows who his Grandpa is!

When I got to the hospital just after 4pm, Mason was wide awake, very alert and looking all around.  Carrie said he had just finished nursing and needed a burp – so that was my job!  I picked Mason up and walked around the room with him for a while and sure enough he did his job and as an added bonus, I didn’t have to stoop and scoop! Gotta love that!  It wasn’t too long before he fell asleep in my arms so I gladly sat down with him. 

I stayed at the hospital and held Mason while Carrie had her dinner – it looked good actually as it was roast beef with potatoes and gravy!  By that time it was close to 6pm and time for me to head home following a pretty long day.  I’m hoping for a bit quieter day on Tuesday but I doubt it will happen.

Have a great Tuesday, and thanks again for visiting!