Too Much in One Day, I'm Whipped!

I was up at 6 a.m. today as we had things to do, places to go and I had people to see. I went for a short walk then came in to start getting ready.

We were taking the RV to the local gravel pit to get it weighed. I can sum this up very quickly. Either Gordon gets a Class A license or we park the RV!

After packing up, getting to the gravel pit, getting back and setting up again, I was already tired as I didn't sleep very well last night. Oh if only I had time for a nap. Instead it was into the shower, get my hair dried and styled and then off to meet my friends Sandy and Nancy for lunch at Chances R, a local restaurant that's been around for a long, long time (although I remember when it first opened).

I had a great afternoon chatting with Sandy and Nancy, pictured above. I met both these ladies when I worked with them at Nortel. Sandy was my 'go to' person when I first was hired. She knew absolutely everything about Nortel from an admin perspective. Nancy came in as a temp to replace a lady on maternity leave and we've been friends ever since.

I got home around 5 p.m. after a three hour chatfest. It's been a long day!

A Productive Day

This morning was partly sunny for my walk and I managed to get in quite a few short bursts as well. It doesn't seem to be bothering my foot to run anymore. Other than that it was mostly cloudy till noon and although it wasn't overly warm 21C (70F), it was humid.

This morning I spent making phone calls to different places the most important was to Wayfarer Insurance. They are the company who insure most of the RVs here in Canada. I got a replacement cost coverage from them (our State Farm coverage does not include replacement cost) with a Fulltimers package and the quote was $1193.40 for the year. I'm awaiting a quote for insurance on the truck so I can compare it. The good news is the RV is covered regardless of what license you have as it's not insured under an automobile policy which it is now with State Farm. I also asked for a quote on the truck and they are to send that to me via email.

I got another email from the Ministry of Transportation with further explanations of what is required to determine the weight of our trailer and with that determination finding out what license we need.

It appears that if the weight of the truck and its contents (including us) plus the weight of the 5er itself with it's contents does not exceed 11,000 kg providing the trailer and contents do not weigh over 4600 kg. we are ok with our G license which we have now. If the trailer while attached to the truck weighs over 4600 kg. then we need an A license. This is now starting to make sense.

So, we went to Greeley Sand & Gravel today and he said to bring the RV in tomorrow morning and he will weigh it, no charge and give us the weights in writing. I've been busy cleaning out the things that we don't need or don't usually travel with this afternoon. I've stocked up on some stuff thinking that we were going to be here for the summer.

We also went to our dealer, Vos Trailers this afternoon and they have the same information that I have with regard to the weight of the trailer being the big factor. We also picked up a new seal for the toilet while we were there as our toilet hasn't been holding water now for a couple of months even after scraping the guck off it.

The photo today I took of the clouds as we were out and about.

Keep your fingers crossed!

Errands, Critters, More Rain

Last night on the rv-dreams chatroom the heavy rain and cloud kept knocking out the satellite so I finally gave up. It rained all night and was still raining this morning but I did manage to get in about a 15 minute walk/run between the drops. We're starting to feel like we're in Texas with all the cloud we've had. Not that it's always cloudy in Texas, just when we're there it seems.

We're also having below normal temperatures although our new little electric heater is well able to keep up with keeping the RV warm enough. We had cloud and sun all morning but no real rain to speak of.

Gordon went out early to do some photography but I elected to stay behind as I really need to get my niece's trumpet painted. I tried painting notes, they didn't turn out well, the lines are too thick so if she wants to she can wash them off. I did little flowers around the inside and outside of the horn part. I'm finding my hands too shaky to do much fine detail work these days so maybe it's time to put the paints to rest. In searching for the paints I did find a couple more things I want to do before I give the paints and books away forever though!

Here's the trumpet:


Since I had a bag of carrots and some bread that I wanted to give to the animals so we went to Bate Island this afternoon. Max, the groundhog, was so cute. He will come right up and gently take the carrot from your fingers then sit there and munch on it. We soon had a whole crowd of ducks, geese, seagulls and squirrels too. The geese are very aggressive coming right up to you. I was afraid to put my fingers anywhere near it's mouth!

Max with his carrot
If you want to see Max, The Movie go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIf7xPcTzGU

Me feeding the critters

From there we stopped at our financial advisor's to sign some papers then Gordon dropped me at the library so I could get some reading material while he got a haircut. Then on to my sister's where I dropped off the trumpet.

While we were there my sister and her husband were having their new living room furniture delivered. It looks really nice and comfortable!

We also found a place to weigh the rig thanks to my brother-in-law however when we got back to the RV I had an email from State Farm saying we need a Class A license so I guess they take the definition literally rather than actually reading what it says. I know State Farm don't often insure RVs so I expect they didn't research it very well to give me an answer. I'll have to do some more research myself and call another insurance company that insures RVs specifically and see what they say. Nothing's ever easy, it seems!

We no sooner got home that the rain started again! Time to build an ark! Just to let you know I might not be on chat tonight because of the rain.

Another Day in the Life.....

Today was another cloudy, cool day with some rain late in the afternoon. We had a few brief teases of sun.

After my walk and breakfast, I went out to do some shopping, this time going to the nearby bedroom community of Barrhaven. Barrhaven used to be strictly houses and one small shopping centre but has been built up over the years and now has numerous shopping areas.

I stopped at Walmart then walked from there to the outdoor shopping center across the street to go to Bulk Barn. I also managed to find some yellow beads at the local dollar store. Yellow beads are quite hard to find. From there it was off to the grocery and then home.

Not a terribly interesting day, I'm afraid!

I didn't take any photos today so am borrowing one from my husband of some wildflowers outside in our yard.

A Little Laundry, a Little Cooking....

Happy 30th Anniversary today to my sister, Margie and her husband, John!

Today we had some cloud, some rain, some sun and cooler temperatures with our high being somewhere around 18C (64F). It didn't rain while I was on my walk but I was no sooner back than it started.

Once I got myself squared away, I decided to do a couple of loads of laundry. It's pretty cheap to do laundry here. The washers are $1.50 each and 75 cents gets you about half an hour drying time in the huge gas dryer so it doesn't take long to get it done. I just hate spending two hours doing laundry and having to go outside the park to get it done, consequently I only go every 2 1/2 weeks or so. Lucky we have enough clothes! Anyway, that's done for a week. While I was out in the laundry room I noticed this duck by the pool.

While I was doing laundry Gordon went to the Ornamental Gardens to take some photos in between raindrops.

After lunch I decided to make some cereal bars. I've had the ingredients for a while so I thought I'd better get them done. At least I know what ingredients are in them so Gordon can eat them.

Other than making a meatloaf and mashed potatoes for dinner, I spent the afternoon reading and perfecting my napping. I'm getting really good at it!

Errands, Taking Photos, Storms

We had quite a thunderstorm last evening with lots of rain. One of the new houses going up not that far from us was hit by lightning causing damage to the tune of about $400,000 and one firefighter injury. The Prescott Hotel, a long standing Ottawa icon in the Italian District was hit as well but no damage there.

I got up late this morning. Just felt like staying in bed a while longer so I did! When I got up it was a bit cloudy but no rain so I got my walk in.

After breakfast Gordon had to go and have some bloodwork done so I went along for the ride. He also needed a new cell phone holder as the clip broke on his so we stopped at Carlingwood for that. Then we drove to the Ottawa River Parkway and stopped at one of the parks by the river and took some photos and walked a bit then back to Bate Island. There didn't seem to be as many 'critters' today but there was a couple feeding birds and groundhogs. The groundhogs were coming right up to them and taking food out of their hands.

Driving east on the Ottawa River Parkway

Part of the Champlain Bridge which connects Ontario and Quebec

We walked along the pathway that runs along the Ottawa River Parkway

Just some pretty clouds.


Taken from Bate Island - downtown Gatineau, Quebec on the left and downtown Ottawa, Ontario on the right.


A flotilla of geese

Duck and ducklings swimming in the Ottawa River


Geese in flight


There was a couple at Bate Island that were feeding the animals and birds. These groundhogs would take food right from their hands.




We also stopped in the Experimental Farm and took a few photos. The sky was showing signs of a thunderhead coming our way for this afternoon as was forecast.

A storm brewing over the Experimental Farm


A road in the Experimental Farm


After lunch we both lay down to read and nap and the storm came late in the afternoon bringing more rain and thunderstorms.

Hiking, Visiting and a Gift!

Today was bright, sunny and warm when I got up but by about 2 p.m. we had thunderstorms.

I had a nice walk this morning and after breakfast we checked out some trails. The first trail we didn't even get going on as it's now a private golf course and the entrance to the actual trail is now down the road where there's no parking!

From there we did another trail off Davidson Road in the south end of the city not far from us. Other than a lot of trees and a bit of swamp that was difficult to see because of trees we didn't see a lot of interest but it was a nice walk listening to the wind in the trees.

We only saw this one swamp iris.

The clouds were really pretty.


Then on to Conroy Pit although we found it's no longer a pit but is used for a tobogganing hill in the winter so it's now all grassy with no water. This is an 'off-leash' spot for dogs to run as well. I'd like to go back there as there are lots of trails off the main one that we didn't get to explore.

This little schnauzer came over to say hi. She reminded me of Jasmine.



Someone did this dog sculpture out of wood.



This butterfly kept flying around us and teasing us but it did stop a few times so I managed to get a photo.


This afternoon I went to my sister's house for a while. Both Nick and Danica were there and Becky (Nick's wife) stopped by after she finished work. I got to spend a couple of hours with them. I picked up the mail when I was there and Ellie's gift to me was there!



Here's a photo of it (taken by my husband), it's a saguaro cactus and a roadrunner. It is so delicate and pretty, thank you Ellie! I love it!