Another Award for Donald

We've been having lots of rain and there is nothing but rain in the foreseeable future. It is fairly warm and the rain, so far, hasn't been heavy, just a persistent drizzle. Don played in it this morning as it was the final Winter Session for the St Fillans Senior Golfers. After the first 9 holes, they repaired to the clubhouse for a buffet and the end of season prize-giving. Believe it or not, Don won his second Most Improved Golfer award (the first was from the Comrie Club Seniors). This time he brought home a book on improving putting as well as a plastic device called a "swing guide" as his prizes. He also won the door prize: a chocolate bunny and a bagfull of little chocolate Easter eggs. After the brunch, he and another fellow went out for another 9 holes and Don did very well indeed and, for a while, was in the lead. He ended up only 2 strokes behind Tom who is one of the club's top scorers.

Yesterday we spent the day selecting and/or ordering supplies for the renovation. We started out in the morning picking up some empty boxes at Somerfields Supermarket in Crieff. Next we went to Strathearn Lighting (also in Crieff) to look at both indoor and outdoor lighting. We got lots of help and advice on what would work best where and left with all of the outdoor lights that will be attached to the house (we may also go back and get some on-the-ground lights). We also picked up the lights to be installed in our new shower room once it gets reconfigured and we made some decisions about the type of lighting we'll use in the sitting/dining area as well as in the studio.

Next we traveled to Perth where we visited a couple of plumbing supply stores to look at taps, wet walls, and shower doors. We are narrowing down our search and the next step is to see how much better we can do price-wise online. From there, we had lunch and then went to the place where we bought floor coverings back in early 2004 when we first moved into The Rowans. We ordered more of the existing sitting/dining area carpet which is light enough that we think the new and old will blend fairly quickly. We also selected new cushy vinyl for the studio (a wood-grain), shower room and entryway (pebbles), kitchen and utility room (rustic tiles). We tried to find another place to look at wet walls but kept getting lost. We had already seen what we thought was the one we wanted at one of the plumbing supply places and so decided we'd go with that.

As we were heading out of Perth, we had an interesting adventure. It was 3:30 or so and afternoon rush hour was just starting. We were in the downtown area and when we stopped for a red light, our brakes were juddering and Don (who was driving) said it didn't seem as though he had full control of the car. What was going on? The light changed and we continued on and through a roundabout near the police station. Being cautious, Don was going very slowly around the roundabout when it felt like the car was fish-tailing. When he touched the brakes, they began to judder again. Very odd. The next two times he tried the brakes, they didn't seem right. So we decided to drive immediately to our car dealership, about 2 miles down the road.

When we told them what was going on, they called for a service man right away to come test drive the car. Our salesman came over and was most solicitous and concerned. The service man came out after a few minutes and wanted to test drive the car with us in it, but we had loaded the back completely with boxes and light fixtures, so Don went with him and I stayed back in the showroom. Our salesman, Kerr (pronounced "Care") made me a cup of tea (the antidote to any distress). I sat down in the waiting area where a man was also waiting for his car to be test driven by another service rep. After about 5 minutes of waiting, a woman rushed in and up to the service desk. Very distressed, she blurted "Can someone please look at my car? I've just lost control of my car. I was going around the roundabout near the police station when the back end began to fishtail and when I touched the brakes, they just juddered." The man sitting next to me looked at me and said "Sound familiar?" I said "Yes indeed." We started asking the woman questions and it turns out that the same thing happened to the man in his car 5 minutes before it happened to us. Kerr, hearing all this, came out and said his guess was that a lorry that had just gassed up had gone around the roundabout too quickly and spilled some diesel fuel and then dripped it down the road where we first encountered it. He said spilled diesel fuel is just like ice on the road surface and that is certainly what it felt like.

After another few mintues, Don and the service fellow came back saying the brakes were working fine, the steering was no problem, and there didn't seem to be anything wrong with the car. Then we told them what had happened to the other two cars. There must have been people running into all the car dealerships up and down the road (this area is known as the Mile of Cars)! Still, the service man said he wouldn't feel good about our getting on the road for Comrie without his putting our car up on the rack to check it out. He did and everything checked out just fine. We got back on the road for Comrie feeling a whole lot better about things.

We've had no workmen for the past two days (Thursday and Friday) but Don met with Bill, our contractor, last night while I was at chorus rehearsal. Barclay's whole crew of joiners is due back on Monday for the week to get the utility room finished and all the cupboards and countertops built and installed so that we can move things from the kitchen cupboards out to the utility room prior to our leaving for the States a week from Monday. Once we're gone, they'll push on to get the kitchen, entry, shower room, and studio finished. The brickies need to come back and pour the slab for our verandah before the roof tie-in can be done and then the sitting room extension roofing completed. Once that's done, that area can be broken through and finished. The thing is, we're not going to be gone that long so the brickies better come soon.

My recovery is almost complete. I have no pain and the scar is healing very nicely. If you didn't know I'd had the surgery, you probably wouldn't notice anything different about me to look at me. I went for a haircut this afternoon and had to prepare my hairdresser, though. She was very gentle and gave me just what I needed to keep the scarring covered as it continues to knit together.

Sunday afternoon the chorus has another rehearsal, this one with the soloists and orchestra. The performance is that evening. I think it's going to turn out quite well. The orchestra is an excellent one and if the soloists are as good as those we've had in the past, they too will be excellent. Once the concert is over on Sunday evening, there will be no more chorus until late next August. One by one, the routine activities are stopping for the late spring and summer.