Bugs Palace!

Winter is HERE. Well, it was and then the rain came and now its just a muddy sloppy mess. We got hit pretty hard by the white stuff mid-week. Not nearly as bad a Buffalo who were hit by 5-10′ of the stuff. Pretty insane snowfall over a 24 hour period. Thankfully by shoveling every time I came in-out of the house I was able to keep ontop of it and never let it get too bad. My shoulders would disagree however.

Happy 60th birthday to my Dad! Yesterday was Dad’s 60th birthday. We all (who were available) went out for dinner and had a night full of laughs and fun just being together. Love you lots old man! Hope you had a good day. 60 gets you to the next round of senior discounts, doesn’t it? 😉

Shannons 4 days away for work has come and gone. She was up in Alliston and missed pretty much the entire snow storm. Kids were fantastic while she was away made the time much easier. We are however all very glad that she is home safe and sound again. I can’t thank my parents and sisters enough enough for the help while Shannon was away. With me working a couple of the evenings, I had to rely on them to bring my kiddos home and put them to bed for me and watch the house till I got home. Thanks again guys! Love you very much!

Bug and Bike are officially sleeping for the winter 🙁 I hate putting them down for the winter as it means no more hoping in/on either of them for a quick boot when I feel like it. Maybe we’ll have a freakishly early spring starting in February again. A guy can dream, right?

The Sierra has been dropped off at Paul’s place to start the body work! Over the next couple weeks he will be taking care of the little bit of rust that is there, swapping out for the Silverado front clip, installing the SS bumper, shaving the tailgate, installing the roll pan and freshly painting the truck a nice coat of black. Can’t wait! Gonna look amazing when he is done. The man does incredible work. Once it’s home I can install my Bedrug, replace the cracked windshield and it is DONE till spring time. Once spring rolls around, the hunt for some nice 20″ summer wheels, complete slammed suspension and a rear sliding window will be completed and I will finally have my vision of a sport truck sitting in the driveway.  Then project Bugs’-Toy-Box begins. Need a 3rd bay to put this thing in 😉 Once that is complete, I can start thinking v8 swaps 😉  — no — my projects never end..

I know I should have posted ON the day, but I did so on Facebook, and completely forgot to update here. So for the record in the future if/when she ever looks back : Happy birthday Abigail ! Daddy loves you very much.

Kids have been doing AMAZING this school year. Attitudes towards going, ambition and just willingness to do what is expected of them has been incredible. Abby has officially started down the path for her first communion at St. Mary’s church. She stood at the front of the church and did her first reading. She looked about as scared as I remember being any time I had to do things like that. Hopefully she outgrows it and takes on some of her moms personality where public speaking is concerned. I suspect Joe will have fewer problems with that as he seems to love the spotlight.

Halloween has come and went and it was a Super hero good time 🙂 My little Batman and Batgirl were adorable. As were their cousins Reese (Tinkerbell) and Holden (Nemo). I think they all have a good time. They were certainly zonked by time they got home.

With November officially in full swing, I’m sadly starting the preparation to put the Bug and Bike away for the winter. My dad has kindly been working on his garage and setting up a small area for me to put my toys in for their winter nap. Odds are the Bug will be put down this weekend.  And unless the weather warms up a bit, I fear the triumph wont be too far behind.

Project SSierra is under way. I’ve got the stereo system in as well as the power windows, seats and door panels complete. I haven’t ‘finished’ it 100% yet as I’m still doing some work on the transmission and having an alarm installed. Don’t want to button it up knowing I will have to pull stuff apart again within a couple weeks. Once the alarm is in, the interior can be finalized and put together 100%. During the same time, the new transmission should be installed so I can re install the shifter boot to the floor pan. Once that’s all done : off to Paul’s place to have the body work complete. My goal is to have the interior and body work sorted by December 1. Gonna be a busy month.

Been a busy few weeks. After pricing the cost to repair/repaint the body work on my truck and building it into what I envision, I decided to continue looking for a solid replacement. I found one. And it was amazing. Made and deal and left a deposit just so the seller could back out of the deal the next day when I was ready to go get it. I was beyond pissed, but in the end it worked out….

I started looking deeper and actually came across a 2006 GMC Sierra in black with a MUCH cleaner body. Went and checked it out and ended up buying it on the spot. Following day we picked it up and dropped it off at Smouts for a safety inspection. Hopefully they’ll get to it before the weekend. Basically its a continuation of the plans I had with the pewter truck but without wanting to do a full colour change paint job. Can’t wait to get it home and migrate some of the stuff into it and get the project going again! Hopefully it don’t need much for safety 🙁 Pictures to come once I actually take some 🙂

The Triumph has finally got some street time over the month of September. Only did 3500kms all summer — and then did 1500 in the month of September alone. Sitting around 5100km right now. If weather allows, I’m hoping to ride for a least another 2500km. Time and mother nature only know for sure 😉 Loving it still.

Bug updates are small. Nothing to report really. Haven’t driven much in the last month or so. Looking for a good dry day to run to Pauls place to get the bumper brackets sorted out. Hopefully able to get hem mounted  up before winter hits. Be nice to have them on when it goes down for storage so I will have no down time come next season.

House : broken hot tub has been removed and hauled away. Now I have to get a couple bucks together and re-deck over the area that it used to sit. Goal is to do before winter hits. Also, I’ve removed the front walk way to the house and layed down interlocking stones. The walk way is complete, just need to take some time and figure out a permanent step to get up to the front door and a load of dirt for the new garden. That too will come soon hopefully.

Kids have been in school for about a month and both loving it. Makes me happy knowing how much they enjoy being there. It’s funny on the weekends hearing Joe complain that it’s not a school day. I guess he’s bored with us. Hopefully their love for the place never changes. Proud of you guys!

Oh, and there are 225 days till Florida. Not that anyone is counting.