By Billy Rainford
Another Monday, another weekend spent learning how to do things around the house for this pretty major renovation. This time it was popcorn ceiling removal. Yep, we’re hitting all the classic jobs around here. Last week it was removing the hardwood and this week we looked up to the roof and attacked that.
I asked last week if you’ve ever done hardwood removal because it was so brutal. Well, guess what? Taking down popcorn ceiling may not be any better!
The stuff in the master bedroom was about as good as this job gets – it wasn’t painted. Emily and I spent the better part of the morning and early afternoon spraying it down and then scraping it with wide putty knives. It was bad but it wasn’t the worst thing we’ve ever done.
Once it was done, we headed out in to the living room/dining room area with all the knowledge we’d acquired from the bedroom.
Uh oh… It seems these areas were painted.
Another quick search on YouTube and we found a few “solutions” so this situation and tried our best to replicate the technique. No luck. We couldn’t even get the knives to break in and start to peel it off! Now what?
It was Sunday afternoon and we had electricians, drywall, subfloor, and cabinets showing up on Monday. We had to do something, and we had to do it fast!
Em went on Kijiji and left messages for a couple “popcorn ceiling removal” guys. One guy said he could come have a look Monday and the second guy said he could come that afternoon. Bingo!
He showed up, took a look, gave us a very reasonable quote, and was dressed and ready to go right away. This was our guy. We were saved.
And he did. He pulled his tools and equipment out of his vehicle and hunkered down while we wept with joy.
He stayed until late in the evening and will have to return to finish the job when the current crop of tradesmen do their thing. He didn’t end up peeling it off. He puttied over it all and taped the 2 pretty big cracks in the main ceiling area. I’m sure it’s nothing…
Anyway, I tell you all of this because it meant I was stuck in the house while the sunny, 18C Sunday came and went. I wasn’t able to get over to the Open House at Gopher Dunes on Saturday and then I wasn’t able to get over and ride and take photos and video on Sunday. Hell, I didn’t even get out for a MTB ride with Greg Poisson like we’d planned! I really hate missing rides.
So now we’ve got 4 different trades in the house while I try to get some things done. I’m not getting very far. Fortunately, it’s a week off in the Monster Energy AMA Supercross series and I was able to actually be here for all this. It would have been Dog House City otherwise.
We had Kate Kowalchuk over in Italy for Round 3 of the 2024 MXGP World Championship of Sardegna over the weekend. Kate is getting known for her style over there at the races and this past weekend she captured a bunch more really memorable moments. She’s really getting the hang of this stuff!
Triumph got their 2nd podium in the 25…er, the MX2 class with Camden McLellan. Of course, he’s South African so he has to have a nickname like this: call him “Mackey.” Check out these shots she grabbed of him:
Kate is on her way up over there and making a name for herself at the races. Of course, there are those who feel threatened and he appearance at these races hasn’t sat well with some of the other longstanding photographers. One in particular actually threw a fit on me at a MXON a couple years ago. You know what? I’m gonna tell you the story:
It was the podium celebration at Red Bud and all 3 teams were gathering on the stage as the crowd went absolutely berzerk. I forced my way somewhere close to the middle of the chaos to get a nice shot. I got to a place and, in very Canadian fashion, took a look over my shoulder to make sure I wasn’t in anyone’s way.
As I did so, this same photographers threw an absolute fit on me. She accused my of pushing my way in front of them on purpose and blah, blah, blah.
Now, Canadians are known to be nice to a fault. You want to know one of the few ways to make us angry? Accuse us of not being nice. That’s how I took this incident. There is just no way I would walk up and stand in front of other photographers on purpose. I was turning around to see who was behind me when she threw this fit. Here accusing me of not caring about it was what set me off.
I told her that was why I was turning around in the first place and she just wouldn’t accept it. I told her I was Canadian and that I wouldn’t do something inconsiderate like that…ever.
Like I said, this is pretty much the only way to make me angry and she pushed all the buttons on me. I explained exactly what I just typed here and it was like she didn’t believe me. Calling me a liar is equal in offensiveness to a Canadian.
I moved out of the way, as I was planning on doing in the first place, and she went about her business in a huff.
I tried to apologize in the media tent later and explained the situation again. I’m not sure if it sunk in, but I had to try. I’m not one to leave conflicts unresolved, so I did my best. Very Canadian, I know.
Long story short (way too late for that!), this is the same person Kate has had issues with over in Europe and I find it pretty hilarious. She doesn’t.
Another thing I told Kate is that you’re everyone’s friend on the way up, and that’s where she finds herself now. The new person doesn’t know all the connections, the cliques, the feuds, the drama, the behind-the-scenes stories that accumulate over time. It’s actually a lot of fun being “the new guy.”
As you move up, it all changes. Suddenly, you’re not the one chomping at the heels of those who came before you, you have become one of those being chomped at. You get more defensive and a little more jaded after all you’ve seen.
You’ve seen new people come and go and you get the feeling you need to defend your territory. It’s just different, and that’s the point I tried to impress upon Kate in one of our chats not long ago.
I’m guessing it’s the same no matter what line of work you’re in. If you’re trying to advance, you have to step on a few toes and maybe even lose some “friends” along the way. It just happens.
With all that being said, Kate is doing a great job in her photography and is capturing the emotions of the victories and losses like few others are doing. Heck, it makes me think harder about what I’m trying to accomplish when I’m at the races.
My conundrum is that I’m also trying to report on the action as it happens and so the “artsy” flavour of some of my coverage suffers because of it. I find it to be a pretty tough balance at times.
Hey, I warned you at the top that I wasn’t at a track this weekend, so this is what you get! Enjoy your coffee!
#25 Daniel Elmore tagged Direct Motocross in a post on his Instagram page over the weekend. A little while ago I mentioned how it seems more and more riders are trying to do laps without putting their feet out. I know it’s a technique that’s always been done, but it just seems like more people are being instructed in it.
He just did a 30-minute moto with feet on the pegs while training in South Carolina at SOBMX. Check it out:
#551 Guillaume St Cyr is also at SOBMX as he gets ready for more Supercross. He jumped in with his old buddies at CREO KTM for St Louis. He’ll line up in Foxborough to race the 450 class on his 250 before heading home to Quebec.
#71 Cole Thompson is getting ready for another East/West Showdown in Nashville April 20th and is so enjoyable to watch practicing SX. Check out his buttery style here:
#500 Julien Benek was the top dog in Washington State over the weekend. He was at Horn Rapids MX for racing Saturday and Sunday and looks to have won every moto but 1. He went 1-1-1 on Sunday. They will host a Loretta Lynn’s qualifier this coming weekend.
You’ll notice he’s not wearing his usual OGs gear. He drove to Washington State and forgot his gear bag! Classic.
OK, enjoy the total solar eclipse today but don’t look straight at it! Here are some tips on how to catch it in Canada:
I’ll be in Foxborough this coming weekend for some Supercross and Supercross Futures racing. Jordan Wilsey from RussOgraphy will be onsite to help me out. He shot a few AMA Pro Motocross Nationals last season for DMX and did a great job. This will be his first SX with photo credentials so it should be a lot of fun.
Have a great week, everyone. I hope that got you through another cup to get the day going.
No comments!
There are no comments yet, but you can be first to comment this article.