Our wedding

 Yes, we finally got married despites all the evolving changes due to Covid-19 and last minutes paperwork's SNAFU.  Which continued upon our return from our short honeymoon.  Apparently we forgot to signed a sworn declaration of our intend to be married.   So we did afterward, got to keep the paper trail in due form :-)

The other hiccups were about, proving both our former spouses were dead.  For which, one required a death certificate, with out one it is apparently easier to kill someone in person than on paper. 

And being a Catholic wedding, needed a more recent copy of my baptistere.  The last one I have dated from 1962, the year I started school.  Never needed another since :-)

Should had been a easy task, contact my church and ask to be send a new copy.  But with the current pandemic situation churches have been shut down for a while.  Of the only two churches I went to in Quebec, one burned down and the other is manned by little old volunteer ladies, have no web presence, only a phone and a fax.  Took a while to get thru...First I had to get the contact info... Which I finally got by getting in touch with a nearby church that had a web presence and talking to a nice lady.

They say it takes two weeks to process my request; Go down to the archives, dust off the right albums, folio etc hand transcribed the info, have someone sign it off as being a certified true copy and bla bla.

It was Sep 9th before I finally got thru, rushed my money to them and waited 2 weeks, on the third started to get anxious (me and the father, without it cannot be married in church).  Turns out they did not mailed it, expecting me to come picked it up... Noooo, I'm in Nova Scotia!  Then they called me back cannot find it.  Somehow they made a new one on the same day I last spoke to them and mailed it the same day.  It arrived on the last Friday prior to wedding...just in time.

Meanwhile, we went along with our wedding plans.  We thought of rescheduling at a later date, but we thought: No idea how long this pandemic will last and the after effects, so postpone until when??

It quickly became obvious also that most of my family could not be present, being from Quebec and Ontario, they would have to spent 14 days in quarantine prior to wedding, only to repeat the same back home.  We cannot asked anyone to spend almost a month (28 days) in quarantine, especially if they are still working... :-(

The next big hurdle was waiting to find out IF we would be even allowed inside the church and under which conditions?

Here inside our Atlantic bubble, our churches have re-opened, but only to a limited number of persons.

First it was 10, 15, now 50 persons maximum allowed inside.  That meant every times trying to figured out who would be allowed inside??   To that number of 50 subtract the Priest, the Deacon, and 2 helpers, down to 46.  And of course, everyone that was allowed inside had to give their contact info for tracing purpose, if God forbid, someone test later positive for Covid.

All that to say, we made it :-)

Our two grand daughter's at the table with us

Here's a few pics from our wedding taken by friends, we have not seen our official pictures yet, we just got back from our honeymoon.

Our good friend Nadine, getting Jean ready

Jean on her way to the church.

One of  Covid restrictions: No processing down the aisle.

We came thru the side door, masks on.

Once in place, the wedding party can take its masks off, 

the ones in attendance had to keep theirs and keep social distancing between each bubbles

BTW, the ring I gave her previously in Feb, when I proposed?

 I replaced it with the real bling, first time she sees it :-)

Gave her the real engagement ring on her birthday in Sep, 

but she never saw the matching wedding band until now.

Oh, that left a big hole in my tool buying budget for a while :-)

Making it official

You can now kiss the bride... without a mask, yeah :-)

A good friend of Jean made the scrumptious cake

Our little family unit from NS, 

missing two sons and two grand kids from Ontario :-(

The next day we left for our little abbreviated Honeymoon.

The original plan was a Viking River cruise down the romantic Danube river, but may be a while...

Instead we had to stayed inside our Atlantic bubble.

We made the best of it, travelling the country side in Cap Breton, checking out restaurants on our way.

But we spent our first nite in Halifax at the Prince Georges hotel, then a lazy drive along the south shore back home before taking off for Cap Breton.  Meanwhile, the dogs were staying with the other set of our grand kids grandparents and had the visit of the kids in the week end.  They were fine :-)

Had a lovely lunch at the Grand Pre winery estate, 

on our way to Halifax.

Our suite at the Prince Georges.  

Great location down town Halifax.

Covid restrictions?  No valet parking and restaurant closed :-(

That was about the same everywhere BTW.

Love the 1PM check out time, no rush in AM.

 

First time I noticed this new place, Rogers centre

Lots of eatery and bars to discover around, we did not go hungry :-)

The old Halifax clock tower.

Once ruled the day to day activities in town.

Then we took a leisurely drive on the south shore (along the Atlantic Ocean)

 on the way back home.  Had lunch in Mahone bay. 

The following day, we took off for Cap Breton, hoping to see the fall colours.  

Same thing at home, the only reds left are the oaks and the burning bushes

We were about one week out to see the reds from the maples, but still lots of colourful vistas.

They have wicked winds in the Highlands, most maples are now leaf less

Since we were staying a few nites in Sidney, we went to nearby Fortresse Louisbourg.

It was out of season, they are getting the place ready for winter and it was drizzling rain, but it makes for great photos with no ones around and the rain makes the colours more vibrants :-)

Of course being a woodworker, I tend to looks at things with a different eye...

This fortress is a complete reconstruction, started about 1961.  It was totally demolished by the British after taking it over so it would not rival with the newly established Halifax port.

The last time I visited was with my father in the late 70s, been a while, lots have changed since.

Being on the Atlantic ocean side, salt water and time has also taken its toll on the structures...

Empty mortises

Being reconstructed, again

That would need replacement soon

Driving around we stopped at a small park.  I got so excited after what I saw :-)

Its been a long time since I saw a large white birch tree.

And it looked healthy to boot, bonus!

They used to be plentiful, but have been harvested to near extinction to make white paper :-(

The boardwalk along side the wharf in Sidney, behind our hotel

After another leisurely scenic drive and a few more stops, we are now back home, reunited with the dogs. 

Mr and Mrs Demers with the furry kids

We can now take a deep breath and say, we made it :-)

Thank you to all that could attend and to our family and friends that could not be there because of Covid, we will renew our vows in Quebec or Ontario later on, so you could be a part of it.

We missed you and love you.  Hoping to be able to see you soon  

Bob, Jean, Rudy and Diva

Last smalls projects before we get married...

 Yes, you read that right, I kept busy till the end,  needed the distractions.

Because of last minutes paper work snafu, waited anxiously for some papers to arrived from Quebec, just to find out, need another??   Wedding is supposed to be on Wednesday, Monday is a holiday (Thanksgiving), Tuesday AM we will be at the door of the Vital Statistic office for the province to get the final piece of the puzzle.  Note to readers, when you die, make sure your estate fill all the required paperwork's please.   :-(

Besides lots of re-arranging , clean ups, the only two big undertaking I took on was to install the chandelier medallion (only had it for about 8 years now :-), and moved the TV Flat screens around.

The current TV in the living room is a Panasonic 32 In, we often talked about upgrading it.  In the mean time it has been wall mounted in that corner for over a year now, and the biggest this space would accommodate is around 40 ish inches.  So the biggest and best screen in the house, in the Man cave, is coming upstairs to replace it. 

Which meant some small repair on the wall were the wall mount was for the 32 incher, going down to the gym.

A few small (big) holes to take care of.

Prime plus two coats of paint, it disappeared

Between waiting for drying, mud coats, primer, paint coats, took a few days

In the mean time the 50 incher was removed from its wall mount in the Man cave and installed on its pedestal upstairs.  Had to run temporary cable connections, would need to change it later.  I am closer to antenna, but using extension from former TV corner to here.  Waste of Dbm if you ask me :-)

One of the many furniture combinations we went thru in the last few weeks ;-)

We also steam washed the carpet .

Which Rudy always takes it as a challenge after I put away all his toys, 

to re-arrange his decor to his liking :-)

The chandelier was awaiting all that time, what we were going to do with our textured ceiling.  We long thought it would be best to scrape it flat, but that for sure would entail some scraping, sanding, purging, sanding and etc.  Which would have meant living in a cloud of plaster dust for a while, not happening.  We even considered drywalling over, but to make it look straight would required furring strips or knocking the stalactites flat all over the ceiling.  

Years ago Heather experimented on one of the hallways end some scraping techniques, we just knocked it down flattish, not trying to remove it all.  Jean and I finished the job by finishing the hallways first before tackling the living room, dining room.  Happy with the results, looks a lot better to us, but still had the chandelier with a loose hanging cover cap (left room for medallion).

So, time to finished the job :-)

I installed it a year or so after we moved in, 

left some space on the rod for the medallion.

 

Which is a tad dusty after all these years :-)

Used my trammel points to score a circle the diameter 

I have to scrape clean to install my medallion 

Used a spare electrical box cover, draws lines to indicate center, 

did same on a small piece of wood, used those lines to lined them in the center, hot glued.

Poke a hole in the middle I have a good solid point to swing my trammels points around.

The outside line represent how big my medallion is.  

While scraping, I try to stay close to my line to help me centered the medallion

But first it had to come down.

It is a tad on the heavy side, so it is solidly attached to the electrical box which is in turn, securely attached to the rafters.  Yah, won't go anywhere :-)  But it is no fun for your partner (not married yet :-) to hold it while I disconnect power and detached it from the ceiling.  

You wanna test a relationship? 

Do some renovations together :-)

Finally down on the table, getting ready to install medallion after ...

...my scrapped area has dried .  

Fortunately, the textured ceiling was never painted, 

so spritzing water softened it to scrape it easily (?)

Ready for gluing.  I installed a longer rod, 4 inches versus my original 2 inches.

Going to use it as a clamp to hold medallion.

There you go Dear, all Done! :-)

Using another screw bar on the rod to screw tight the medallion to the ceiling.

Temporary light, because its gonna take a few days of scraping, mudding, sanding etc.

Days later it is starting to look good.

A couple more touch ups and I'll be be happy 

So after I was done prepping the ceiling and had the medallion secured to the ceiling, I came up with a better plan to re-install it...

NO pics, since we were both a tad busy :-)

 I had slide the dining room table close to the medallion under it (still need room for ladder), put on a coffee table on it (Ducan Phyfe), then a smaller side table on top (pie crest) to finally deposit my prepared chandelier on top of it all.  That OSHA's approved apparatus (Hey, you guys lowered most of your standards so it should be approved :-)  held the chandelier high enough to enable me to work on passing the wires up the tube after taking time to line up all my required hardware in the right order... 

Meanwhile, all she had to do was to put a hand on it to make sure nothing is going anywhere.  A lot easier on her than holding the whole thing.   Oups sorry Babe should had thought of it sooner.

By then I had figured out that I would need a three inch rod, but I only have a two and four inch rods. 

So cut, filed the rod then screw the mounting plate and rod securely, locked in place 

During this time, our youngest grand daughter's got dropped off here for a short time, and kept asking me if I was done... If you know me, you know I have lots of patience while I am busy working :-)

Put it all together just to realized, I forgot to unscrew the final nut from the fitting before installing it before the cover.  Which meant, cannot screw cover, it has to all come down and re do it all over again, fishing wires and all.  At that point the chandelier was still on top of the tables, so thankfully it was not a biggie but... Ohh annoying miss-steak, if I ever had one :-)

The hardest was to refrain to swear in both official language while she asked again: Are you done yet :-)

Gave her my best smile, Soon sweeties :-)

Why her rush?  She was anxious to play on Gramma's phone, she knows better than ask Grampa for his phone :-)

Second time went without a hitch, cleanup my messes, re-arranged some furniture...while my Fiancée  went shopping with the grand peanut.  Thanks Sweeties :-)

Almost done, covers need a good clean up

 and I broke one, somehow, oups.

OK now I'm done.  Tag you're it Babe, 

I do not know which table covers you want :-)

In between all of these still managed to find a marking gauge in my bureaucratic travels, which I gave a quick clean up before storing it.

As found.  Look pitiful, hence low price.  

There was another one on another table for $20, in much better condition.

Yes, it is a Stanley No 65, one of my favorite design, 

Because of the beam shape it locks better and straighter than most.

Having its patent date still, makes it an early one.

Brass plate is sticking out, brass plated steel screw is badly rusted,

the point is ... something like a finish nail??

The all important brass shoe is present.  

Earlier models were cast, later thinner and stamped.

It is oxidizing, the green stuff you see.

That little screw at the end of the beam is what kept that brass shoe in place all along.  

The head cannot be removed unless you first unscrew it..

As long as head is on beam, brass shoe is safe from going MIA.

A few rust stains, here and there, brass plated steel screw is in rough shape

Screw holding the cutting bit is about to be lost to rust

All the metal bits are soaking in fresh Evaporust.

Yes, even the brass parts.

Got another 4 Ltr of the stuff in my bureaucratic related travels :-)

24 hrs or so later, rinsed under water, brushed with a brass brush

A tad small for the wire wheel...

See the round spot in the middle of the Brass shoe?

That is the Achille heel of this design.  The cast brass shoe is supposed to prevent damages to the beam from the screw, but being brass plated steel, not brass, it is harder than the cast brass and will invariably drill a hole, deflect the shoe so it is now scratching and binding on the beam etc.

On the stamped brass one they can really get damaged badly.  Always check the shoe condition.

Which you cannot do without removing a screw, but

you can get a reasonable idea by feeling how the head slide on the beam.

Now, if it wasn't for Ham fisted people, these should not see much damages, that design lock solid without Gorilla strength... Honest. 

  

That shiny but heavily eroded surface is what remains of the good metal, 

all the rust is gone, leaving pits.  Will make a new scribing pin later.

After some file works on head, re-installed screw.

Plates were pressed in the steel vice, you can see why one end of the brass shoe 

always had an opening in order for the pin to lay flush at zero on the head.

All put back together, de- rusted, cleaned, lubricated (oil and wax, metal and wood)

Done, put it in storage in the Basket - O - Gauge 

Yeah, I know, I am overdue for a gauge till :-)

A project for later in my married years ahead...

Bob, awaiting Tuesday anxiously...