Hershey's

Late yesterday afternoon the rain finally stopped and I got to go for my walk. The temperature rose to 19C (67F) and the sun finally came out around dinner time.

I woke up to bright, sunny cloudless skies and a temperature of 17C (62F). I had a nice walk but didn’t see much, only the goldfinches and a couple of butterflies. The wind was a bit cool but walking soon warmed me up.

This morning we got ready and headed into Smiths Falls. Here are a couple of photos I took along the way.

The prime objective for this trip was to visit the Hershey plant. I've lived in this area for almost 59 years and had never been there so away we went and picked up lots of Reese's pieces, Gordon's favourite candy. Note the street lamps in the shape of Hershey's kisses. When we arrived you could really smell the chocolate even in the parking lot.

We did a brief tour from the observation deck but not much was going on. I don't know whether it was because it's Saturday or the fact that the plant is closing sometime in the near future.

After Hershey's, we were hungry so we went in search of a restuarant serving all day breakfast and found one on Hwy 15 called Roosterant. We had a really great breakfast, excellent tasting eggs and it even agreed with Gordon and it was probably the most inexpensive breakfast we've had in some time.

We picked up a couple of other items we were looking for including a weather station that Gordon has wanted. The last one we bought in Kentucky didn't work properly so we had to return it. He spent the afternoon putting it together. I had wanted to walk around the downtown area but with all the chocolate we bought (I picked up some baking chips for the lady that owns the campground) and the sun shining, we thought we'd better come home before all the chocolate melted! We'll have to go back again!

Today was a beautiful, warm, sunny day with no sign of rain!

Rainy Day

We had torrential rains and revolving thunderstorms from about 2:00 a.m. this morning. It continued into the daylight hours so no walk for me this morning. During the morning we also had some wind gusts. We watched our neighbours pack up and leave. YUCK! What a day to have to move. If we have a choice, we don’t move when it’s raining especially in something like a monsoon! That’s one of the reasons I hate making campground reservations. If you’ve made them you almost have to move.

I took today's photo out the back window of the RV.

Most of the morning I just surfed the internet. Luckily the rainstorm hadn’t interfered with our satellite reception but Gordon said it was down during the night when the rain was heaviest. Our high today only reached 16C (60F). Needless to say it was not a nice Ottawa summer day!

About the only thing I did today was make a batch of cornbread. The oven managed to heat the RV up. Other than that I finished my Rosamunde Pilcher book. I think I’ll have no problem finishing my list of books that I have to return to the library on July 28^th. In fact, I may have to get more.

I emailed the library in Lindsay and got a reply stating that for people not paying taxes to the city the charge is $30/year but they will pro-rate for the 5 weeks that I’m there. So, I’ll be able to get books there as well. Now if they would just do that in the U.S. when we’re there!

Around the House and News!

This morning was 20C (68F), cloudy and humid and looked like rain might be imminent so I took my rain jacket and did my three point walk (three directions) so I’m closer to home if it starts to rain but don’t give up my 30 minutes.

This morning I got the vacuuming done, washed the floors then had a nice warm shower. That felt good!

Yesterday I had bought a roast of beef and put it in the crockpot with carrots, potatoes, onion soup mix and a little cooking wine so we tried an experiment at eating our big meal at lunch today. I know it’s better to eat your big meal earlier in the day but we’ve never done it before mostly because of working and we’re usually doing something mid day which would preclude eating our large meal at noon. So, the jury’s still out on whether this continues.

This afternoon I decided I had better back up my hard drive as it’s been over two months since it was done.

We had a few brief rays of sun and then rain this afternoon and we only reached a high of 22C (71F). That was higher than the weather report had said it would get. I spent the afternoon reading my book by Stephen White “Manner of Death” which I finished and then started "The Empty House" by Rosamunde Pilcher.

During the afternoon we received a phone call from Gordon’s son, Ian with good news. He and Tracy are expecting their third child next spring. That will be grandchild #6!

Since the weather didn't cooperate today, these photos were taken yesterday in Almonte.

We Visit Almonte

This morning was 20C (68F) with hazy sun. The sky looked like we would have rain today and indeed we did! I walked my two miles and all I saw were a couple of goldfinches sitting on the electrical wire. I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I had seen what I thought was a wolf in the ditch on my walk. When we were at Murphys Point Visitor Centre the other day, I saw a stuffed animal that might have been what I had seen on my walk – a fisher! It had the same little face and although I didn’t see the body really well, I think that’s what it was. I borrowed this photo from the internet.

I had decided yesterday that I was going in to Almonte to look around and get some groceries. Gordon decided this morning that he would go with me. So while I looked around the shops in the main shopping area he was off taking photos. I looked in almost all of the stores but didn’t find anything I wanted to buy. I might also mention that Almonte is where James Naismith, the inventor of basketball is from.

We met up for lunch at the Iron Works Pub on Little Bridge Street. They have a nice patio and we’ve walked by there before but had never eaten there. Gordon had a really good burger and I had a taco salad. Both were excellent!

After we finished there we drove around town for a bit and stopped at the library then on to The Bargain Shop which has just opened recently. While I was there Gordon drove home as a storm was threatening and all the computers were still hooked up. So I walked across the street to the grocery store and he drove in just as I was going through the cash. From there, Gordon came home and I then went back to Carleton Place to finish grocery shopping. I had some heavy rain on my way in to Carleton Place, then it stopped long enough for me to get into the store but it was raining quite hard when I came out so I managed to get a little wet.

We’ve had a couple of power outages and as I’m writing this we have more rumblings of thunder. Apparently we’re under a severe thunder storm watch but that’s from Ottawa and we don’t always get the same weather they do.

Up Early, To Ottawa, To Nap

I was up earlier this morning as we had to go in to Ottawa for Gordon’s dental appointment. At 7:00 a.m. it was already 16C (60F) and very sunny and bright with no humidity. Today was a mostly beautiful sunny day. We had a few clouds in the afternoon.

While there I cleared up the U.S. Visa problem. The credit is now deposited where it should be so I called when I got back and got the card cancelled. That’s one headache overwith.

When we got home I sat outside to read (photo is view from my lawnchair) for a while as it was so nice but then Roger started mowing so I went inside and had a very long nap. The life of a retiree!

Murphys Point Provincial Park

This morning was beautiful, warm and sunny and 18C (65F) but I only took a short walk as we had plans to go to Murphys Point Provincial Park near Perth today.

We arrived at the park somewhere around noon, paid our $11.00 admission fee (highway robbery) and drove around one of the campgrounds (too many trees for our satellites), the road is also quite narrow with trees lining the way so it would be difficult for us to get in and the sites aren’t any too large. We had our picnic lunch that I packed at a picnic table at the boat launch on Big Rideau Lake. We then looked for a trail but some of them aren’t very well marked. We walked on the Loon Lake Trail and part way on the McParlin Trail. The Provincial Parks really need to mark their trails better. We didn’t see anything other than a few black squirrels, chipmunks and the usual robins, red wing blackbirds etc. We could have done any of the trails in Ottawa for free and seen just as much or more. Anyway we arrived home around 4:00 p.m. I then sat outside for a while under the tree to read but it got cool so I came in and finished my Rosamunde Pilcher book.

Here are a few photos that I took today.




It was a beautiful day today with temperatures reaching about 27C (80F).

Lazy Sunday

After 12 hours of sleep last night I walked my two miles this morning (those muscle relaxants really do you in). It was 18C (64F) and sunny when I started out, then turned cloudy and then sunny again. I didn’t see any wildlife this morning as there was quite a bit of traffic for a Sunday.

This morning I washed five of Gordon’s ball caps that were in pretty sad shape. I put them out on the picnic table to dry and they were dry by dinner time.

I spent the day relaxing and reading. I finished my Kathy Reichs book and got half way through one by Rosamunde Pilcher.

Just before dinner I went around the park to take some photos. Other than that it was a quiet day.