We Visit Almonte and Christmas in July!

That's some beard, Santa!

Santa's 'sleigh'

Mill Falls, Almonte

Today was cloudy and cool with a threat of rain all day. Nearly all the cows in the field were laying down, a sure sign of rain.

Late this morning we went for a drive and wound up in Almonte, a little town just north of Carleton Place. It’s a very “in” place to live so the prices of homes are out of sight. Almonte has turned into quite an artsy place with all sorts of little curiosity and art shops on the main street. We parked and walked around for a bit and took some photos. Almonte has a waterfall called “Mill Falls”. The blurb below came from the ‘Waterfalls of Ontario’ site and from the Almonte site:

The town of Almonte was once called Shepherd's Falls, and it contains 2 waterfalls within short distance, each with two distinct waterfalls (see also Grand Falls). Mill Falls is a set of two pretty plunge class waterfalls, a rare class in Eastern Ontario (but see Rideau Falls). Each waterfall is about 8 m wide, with the upper falls about 3-4 m in height and the lower a good 5 m high. A wooden footbridge leads over the top of the smaller, upper falls to a private residence.

Visiting Mill Falls is, unfortunately, not the best waterfalling experience. Both are located on private property, and while you easily view the upper falls from the road, the lower falls is only visible from private property.

Almonte is also notable for being the boyhood home of Dr. James Naismith, the inventor of basketball.

When we got back we had a nap and was doing some interneting when we looked out the window and saw Santa Claus go by on a decorated wagon being pulled by the orange tractor so we got our cameras and headed down to the beach. The campground has a “Kid’s Day” every year in July and call it Christmas in July so we got photos of Santa handing out gifts to the kids. They had all sorts of contests and things going on today. On our walk back from the beach there was a cute little woodpecker in a dead tree that we took some photos of.

Same Old

Clouds over the trees (taken on my morning walk)

I was expecting cloud this morning when I got up as that was what it said on the weather report late last night but they were wrong – AGAIN! However, it’s nice when they are wrong and you wake up to bright sunshine. The weather forecasters had also said it would be humid today but the humidity didn’t hit where we were so the doors and windows were open and we were able to enjoy the fresh air with only the fans running.

Today was spent reading and napping indoors and out and that’s about it so won’t bore you any further!

A Tour of Carleton Place

A little frog down by the Mississippi

This morning dawned bright and sunny again and turned into another hot day with a slight breeze. The breeze kept the bugs at bay so Bib and I sat outside for a while this afternoon.

After Regis and Kelly this morning, I got ready and went into Carleton Place for a while. I had never toured Bridge Street which is the main downtown street so I did that today. There are a lot of used clothing/consignment shops and one nice lady’s wear store. After that I went to First Choice Haircutters to make an appointment for next Friday but they don’t take appointments. She said it’s usually no longer than ½ hour wait so I’ll just take my chances. Then I stopped at Your Independent (grocery store). They have a dry cleaners there so took Gordon’s pants in for cleaning for the wedding and then got groceries.

When I left to go to Carleton Place, I went through Appleton as there is construction on Hwy 7 at our intersection where they are putting in traffic lights. I also understand that they are widening Hwy 7 from Carleton Place to Ottawa to make it four lanes and that will take about four years. On my return, I took Hwy 7 and wound up in a line of traffic for about five minutes as there was only one lane available at our turn off onto the Appleton Sideroad. The four lanes are badly needed but putting up with construction for four years will be a huge pain!

I did more internet checking today for RV parks in Florida trying to find something less expensive. We have some coupons for $149/month but they expire at the end of 2006 so may not be useful to us since I don’t expect we’ll be in Florida until early December.

Tranquil at Tranquil Acres

Bib, laying on the couch this morning (photo by Gordon)

One of the deer I saw on my morning walk

Now this was an Ottawa morning, sunny, no humidity, blue sky and a bit of a breeze. I walked probably an extra half a kilometer or so and saw a couple of deer (picture above). The weather we’ve been having up until today is what Gordon calls Ohio summer. I wish they would keep it down there. I hate humidity!

Another slow day here at Tranquil Acres, or I guess you could say, tranquil. Although it was beautiful outside the mosquitoes and little flies were out in full force so didn’t make sitting out all that enjoyable. I had thought about going into town and doing some errands but never got the enthusiasm level up enough to go. Maybe tomorrow! I’ve got to make a hair appointment for the wedding next Friday, I can’t believe my chubby little baby nephew now a tall slim young man is going to be married in nine days! I’ve also got to take Gordon’s pants in to the cleaners.

I spent some time this afternoon looking at RV Resorts in Florida for our upcoming winter trip. Some of them are hideously expensive especially for February, like $1100 ++ electricity. Those are for the Sun Resorts. I’m sure we can find something less expensive. We’re just not sure when we’ll arrive in Florida as Gordon wants to make some stops on the way down in places that we didn’t see last time we did our east coast trip.

I also did some painting on the dog that goes with the sign with our names on it. The dog sign will hang on the big plaque with Bib’s name on it.

Tonight was another pretty lousy TV night. I’ll be glad when we get cable!

Not Much Happening Here

Our handsome dude

After yesterday’s trip to Gananoque, we elected to take it easy today. It was cooler today with a breeze but it started to rain when I was on my morning walk, so I cut it short. Later the sun came out but even though it was cooler, we turned on the air conditioner as it didn’t seem that we were getting a breeze inside.

This afternoon I mowed the area around our unit as they use a riding lawnmower to mow the grounds and they don't like to get too close to the trailers. Since we're here for a month with all the rain we've had the grass would be knee deep. They have an electric mower that they keep around for the seasonal people to use.

I’ve been working on trying to find an answer for the Conde Nast Traveler Where Are You Contest. My older sister and I try to do this monthly but this month’s is really difficult. If any of you want to give it a shot, here’s the URL: http://www.concierge.com/cntraveler/whereareyou/contest_2

If anyone wants to give me some help, I’d appreciate that too.

Our Day Trip to Gananoque

The restaurant where we had lunch today

Today was really hot! At one point this afternoon the thermometer in the truck read 34 C (93F). We left at about 10:00 a.m. this morning to take Bib to Gananoque to the groomers. During the winter he has to go to three or four different groomers so in the summer we try to take him to one he likes which happens to be in Gananoque. So now he’s a handsome dude again instead of a wooly bear. It’s much cooler for him too.

His appointment was for 12:30 p.m. We got there about an hour early. Typical Virgos, always early. I had some errands to do, so got that done while we were waiting for his appointment time. We dropped him at the groomers and then took off down the Thousand Islands Parkway to look for a picnic area as I had packed a picnic lunch. We couldn’t find even a picnic table. We went just east of the Thousand Islands KOA and then turned around and came back to Gananoque and decided to eat lunch at a restaurant. We found a little restaurant called Anthony’s on the main street that had an outdoor covered patio so we ate there. It was okay but nothing special.

Gananoque is a very pretty little town on the north bank of the St. Lawrence River just before it flows into Lake Ontario. The following was taken from the town’s website.

Gananoque is the entry point to the picturesque 1000 Islands. A classic example of a quaint Ontario town, Gananoque offers its visitors a welcome change of pace. From its five star restaurants, convenient lodging, and unique shopping opportunities, to its daily excursions on the St.Lawrence River to view the 1000 Islands, Gananoque offers all those who pass through its gates an experience which makes the town a destination like no other.

Gananoque, pronounced GAN-AN-OCK-WEE, was first identified in 1686 on Deshaise's chart of the St. Lawrence as “Gananocouy”. The town itself was founded by Col. Joel Stone, one of the many United Empire Loyalists who relocated to Upper Canada following the American Revolution.

When I was at my sister’s yesterday I picked up our mail and I had a letter from the hospital where I was admitted in Cincinnati in April saying if their bill wasn’t paid in 30 days, I would have to pay it. I had also gotten a statement from the medical insurance showing that the hospital hadn’t been paid. So, I called the insurance after lunch and was told that they are in the process of negotiating the bill and that it should be paid in 1-2 weeks. It turns out that only about 30-40% of the bill gets paid whereas if you or I had to pay it, we would pay the full amount. I would really like to find an insurance that would pay up front and not leave this hanging over my head all summer but you never know that when you purchase the insurance before you leave Canada.

Anyway, we got back before 5:00 p.m. We went a roundabout way as there is construction on Highway 7 right at the Appleton Side Road. They are putting in traffic lights and yield lanes so when we left this morning traffic was backed up so we decided to avoid the backups on our return and returned to the RV park the back way through Carleton Place and Appleton.

Tonight has been quiet although the forecast is for thunderstorms that may produce tornados!

Visiting and Shopping

Sparrow on a fence post (taken on my morning walk)

Another very hot day but I headed into Ottawa anyway leaving around 10:00 a.m.. I stopped by my younger sister’s first as they were going away, then on to do my shopping. I had lots of stops to make, one of them being Bayshore Shopping Centre as they had a sidewalk sale. Other than renewing some prescriptions and getting my shoe fixed, I didn’t buy anything although there was a skirt on sale that caught my eye. However, no room for more clothes, not to mention no money!

After all my stops and picking up some groceries, I got home around 4:15 p.m. with a very sore back. Too much walking around!