Weekend Reprieve

It was so nice out on the weekend, especially Sunday.  The garden gnome agrees.

I actually kind of resented staying inside Sat. for George Brown doing Brecht's Fear and Misery of the Third Reich.  It was of course such a downer and so dreadfully didactic.  Usually the Brecht I like succeeds despite Brecht's best intentions, i.e. you care about the characters even though he just wants to unsettle the audience and going on and on about politics or the human condition.  Anyway, this was a really tough slog.  I was relieved it was only a shade over 2 hours.  Also, I rode my bike to and from the theatre (quite a contrast from the previous weekend's ice storm!).

I was a little miffed later in the evening when I found that the Home Depot has cut its weekend hours.  I'm sure at one point it went to 10 pm on Saturday, but I guess it got cut back to 9 pm.  Now it is only 8 pm!  I wasn't the only one stopping by trying to get something.  Anyway, I had to come back early on Sunday to get some material to fix the gate.

This was the main activity of the day.  I was a little worried that the rest of the wood on the gate was so old that it would just splinter as I removed the crossbar, but it held up ok.  It was a bit dicey at the end, as I was fiddling with the latch to make sure it opened and closed smoothly, but I finally got it!

Now I'll have to put some weather proofing on it, though unfortunately it will be raining most of the week, so no point in doing that now.  I guess the bigger question is if I stain the whole fence or not, and whether I pre-treat it.  It's kind of a big job, and I am not really eager to tackle that.

There is another gate I worked on.  I would say it is nearly fixed, but I got the wrong screws.  So I used a different kind of screw and it is holding on, but not nearly tight enough (and the screws are starting to strip).  So I think I'll buy the correct screws and plan to replace the other ones by next weekend.

I wrapped up just in time for the actors (well 4 of the 6 anyway) to turn up and do a full read through.  It went well.  I have a few minor tweaks to make to the script.  I was surprised at how well my son read the alien part (he was filling in).

I wasn't sure if I was going to go to Toronto Cold Reads, but the musical guest was Skye Wallace, so in the end I went.  It was a good time, and they were so short of male actors that I read a small part.  I just wish I had been a bit more productive over the weekend, but that is a common refrain around these parts.  At least the weather was quite nice.