Joiner's Musings

Arthur Pequegnat Canadian Time clock  I collect clocks. I love them. I love the sound and the constant reminder of the passage of time. When I grew up we probably had one clock in the house, an electric one located in the kitchen. Nowhere else! Daniel Dakota, though Chinese it runs well However, my grandmother had an old school house regulator style time-only clock in her kitchen and I loved the sound, a very loud tick-tock that seemed to resonate throughout their house. Although the clock said "Regulator" on it, it was not a true regulator since it was spring wound whereas regulator clocks are quite often weight driven and hence, very accurate. My grandmother's clock was high on the wall in the kitchen and above the sink and I often wondered how it got wound once a week since my grandmother was all of 4 foot 9. She must have had to climb on something to reach the winding hole. Anyway the clock went to my cousin after she broke up her home and I haven't se...

 My wife and I decided to get out of the house Saturday last. What to do? Go to the mall? Go for a drive? Well, partly. Looking east We packed a lunch and headed to Rogart Mountain which as you can see by the photos is not really a mountain. In fact nothing is really a mountain in Nova Scotia. We just have big hills, lots of big hills. Rogart mountain (elev. 1125ft) is located about 40 minutes from our home and is in in Earltown, Colchester County. As far as I can tell the name came from a place called Rogart in Scotland. Panorama of Rogart Mountain It is a 6.2 kilometer wilderness loop trail. The trail was built by the Eco-Trails Society and is part of the Cape to Cape trailIt is indeed a wilderness trail and all that implies; wet, muddy, fallen branches, rocky, and steep in some sections. Old stone wall At the trail-head warns that it as "for those who are fit". Are we fit? We don't really think so, but what the heck, we did all 6.2 kilometers and ...

Before the addition At first glance you might not see a difference in the two shots of the front of the cottage, the before and after shots. The intent was not to change the look of the cottage too much. The middle shot shows what it looked like midway through the construction phase Look closely and you will see a different colour door in the "after" shot and white corner boards. In fact, the front of our cottage which is located in central Canada has been pushed out almost 5 feet, though it would be tough to see this from a casual observer standpoint. Indeed, this was my summer project and my biggest summer project in 10 years. During construction We had talked about extending the screened porch out a few feet and it was meant to be a retirement project. However, the more we talked about it the more we felt that while we had the time, the resources and the energy, we would do it now rather than later. We did have to get municipal approval beforehand and we did ...

Doggie inspecting the boat Just got back from a wonderful two-month stay at our cottage in central Canada. I must say that it was very relaxing but busy at the same time. We managed to connect with extended family and meet up with friends and acquaintances during July and August. The highlights were the three visits from our kids (well, they are adults) and our trip to Calgary Alberta to see our oldest daughter.While in Calgary we did the tourist thing and even spent a couple of days at Waterton National Park in the southeast section of the province. The weather was quite variable but not entirely disappointing. Yes, we had some warm and sunny periods punctuated by stretches of rain and cool weather. It did not stop us from going for a swim most days. Indeed, we have had better summers, weather-wise. One of the highlights of the summer that I did not mention above was the building of our screened porch extension. It was a little more work than I thought complicated by waiting...

Toolbox  Thanks all to those who come here frequently. I hope you enjoy my little stories and my photos. I am taking a little break from the blog this summer as I have some other projects on the go.I may post once or twice when I have some time but keep I encourage you to keep coming back to read my many older posts. I plan to do some construction work this summer and my mind will be on that project exclusively. The center photo shows a screened-in porch that I intend to extend outward towards the shoreline of our lake. According to the local inspector I can go up to 5 feet and that will be enough to give us a nice 20X10 section to enjoy from the roughly 20X6 feet that is it now. The plan is to make the space more usable by extending it outward and to enjoy it as a summer dining and gathering area and also to free up some space inside the cottage which is not all that big to begin with. Screened-in porch  Yes there will be tearing down, constructing, nailing, sawing...

Cabernet Merlot After six weeks is the bottling phase. At this point the wine is quite clear. We reuse our wine bottles but don't risk washing them ourselves but instead bring them to our local wine and beer supply shop to have them properly sanitized in a steam washer. That works well for us. We bring the bottles home and bottle immediately. We have our own corker which we purchased in the spring and it works like a charm. This particular Winexpert kit comes with attractive labels though the sleeves were purchased separately. The final product is a Cabernet Merlot with Washington grapes. This is a higher end wine kit that requires some additional water but as you can imagine after following my other postings there are a number of critical steps and shortcuts are not tolerated. An attractive label and a wine sleeve complete the process. There was a little wine at the bottom of the carboy which we enjoyed for supper. However, clearly this wine will improve with age.

Canadian Time Clock The Canadian Time clock was made by the Arthur Pequegnat Clock company. The Arthur Pequegnat Clock Company (1904–1941) is notable as the longest lasting Canadian-based clock manufacturer. My particular clock was made after 1917; I know this because it was made in Kitchener Ontario. Clocks made before 1917 were inscribed "Berlin" on the dial face. Kitchener was known as Berlin prior to and during the first World War. It was the town of Berlin from 1854 until 1912 and the City of Berlin from 1912 until 1916. Because the name Berlin was associated with the war against Germany the decision was made to change the name to Kitchener midway through the First World War. Kitchener is the present seat of the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, Ontario. The precise year that my clock was manufactured is unknown, however I believe the Canadian Time clock series was made right up to 1941. By 1941, the demands of World War II armament makers for brass, the es...