Good Friday

Well the weather wasn't great but we didn't let that small thing hamper us! It was raining this morning, but we still got stuff done outside. It gave me the ideal conditions to check the new guttering that was fitted to the back of the house this week. No leaks so far!! Apparently when the roof was reshingled last year, they put the overhang on the wrong side of the back of the gutter, which meant a lot of the water was not being directed away. However, all sorted now and it's looking very smart.
Also repaired a french drain that takes water from one side of the house and directs it down the garden. That now seems to be working a treat (until a snowplough wrecks it next winter....)
We had a washing line connected to an old bicycle wheel attached to one of the trees. The idea was good, a pulley on the deck, and a wheel on the tree, allowing you to stand on the deck, hang out your washing and wheel it out to the middle of the garden. Unfortunately, the wheel didn't line up with the pulley properly, so every time you tried to wheel it out, it came off the wheel. The wheel was fixed to the tree using an old piece of bike frame and a couple of steel cables. These were also cutting into the tree, so we decided to take it down. Hopefully the tree will now recover. The dodgy ladder that was left by the previous owner and that I used to get to the wheel has now been put out for the binmen tomorrow - downright lethal!! It had already lost 4 rungs....
After lunch we took a short drive to Laurie Park to give Bella a walk. She didn't throw up, but then it is only 5 minutes away. Lovely walk though, the rain had stopped and we walked round the circular access road. Most enjoyable. When we got home we decided to light a bonfire on one of the old tree stumps. We are going to use this as a firepit. Anyway, we got it going and had a pleasant afternoon toasting marshmallows and getting rid of some old wooden palletts. We came in for some homemade carrot and lentil soup, the kids then had a bath and we went down to the media room to watch 'Robots'. I've just been out with Bella and the fire is still warm. And that was our Good Friday! It's nice to have the long weekend off work. A whole 4 days! Anyway talking of work, one of our team leaves on Tuesday - retiring. We have interviewed a couple of people and have in fact hired someone from the UK who is just awaiting his visa. Should be starting by the end of May.
We've got a meeting downtown tomorrow with some people who have recently moved to Halifax and also some who are here on Vacation/fact finding (I think). All been arranged via the BritishExpats forum online. We'll see if it comes off, but we're going to the Natural History Museum while we are down there anyway so it won't be a wasted trip! I spent one evening this week putting up Matthew & Emma's new Trampoline. This is their birthday present (early) from us, Grandpa and Auntie. It's one of those springless ones - very clever, but a bugger to put together!! However, no pad to disintegrate, no springs to get injured on and an enclosure to stop them falling off. Beauty of it is that you can bounce right to the edge.
Also included a photo of the back of the house - note the crocuses at the base of the tree (told you Spring was here!!) and you can just see the dodgy ladder lying under the deck.