Saturday 16 May 2009

Saturday May 16, 2009

Today was cloudy and wet with a couple of claps of thunder far away so the forecast storms didn't really happen which was good.

It wasn't raining when I got up so I did my 'up the hill' walk.

Other than spending time on the computer and reading, this afternoon I watched two movies - Little Black Book and An Accidental Witness.

Not a terribly exciting day!

Friday 15 May 2009

Friday May 15, 2009

Item one on today's agenda was to get bloodwork done. Having fasted for 14 hours, I was off to the phlebotomist shortly after 8 a.m. When I got there I had to wait nearly 45 minutes for them to relieve me of my blood and then I was off home for breakfast!

I spent what was left of the morning and the afternoon on the computer or reading. It was a beautiful sunny day but we didn't go out and take advantage of it. Just lazy I guess! Gordon did go out and get propane and filled the truck with diesel at 78.9 cents/litre.

Since there's not much going on today, here's another joke:
A wealthy man decided to go on a safari in Africa. He took his faithful pet dachshund along for company. One day, the dachshund starts chasing butterflies and before long the dachshund discovers that he is lost.

So, wandering about, he notices a leopard heading rapidly in his direction with the obvious intention of having him for lunch. The dachshund thinks, "OK, I'm in deep trouble now!" Then he noticed some bones on the ground close by, and immediately settles down to chew on the bones with his back to the approaching cat. Just as the leopard is about to leap, the dachshund exclaims loudly, "Boy, that was one delicious leopard. I wonder if there are any more around here." Hearing this, the leopard halts his attack in mid-stride, as a look of terror comes over him, and slinks away into the trees. "Whew," says the leopard. "That was close. That dachshund nearly had me." Meanwhile, a monkey, who had been watching the whole scene from a nearby tree, figures he can put this knowledge to good use and trade it for protection from the leopard. So, off he goes.

But the dachshund saw him heading after the leopard with great speed, and figured that something must be up.

The monkey soon catches up with the leopard, spills the beans and strikes a deal for himself with the leopard. The leopard is furious at being made a fool of and says, "Here monkey, hop on my back and see what's going to happen to that conniving canine." Now the dachshund sees the leopard coming with the monkey on his back, and thinks, "What am I going to do now?" But instead of running, the dog sits down with his back to his attackers, pretending he hasn't seen them yet ... and, just when they get close enough to hear, the dachshund says..................

"Where's that darn monkey? Sent him off half an hour ago to bring me another leopard."

The campground is really filling up today - must be the weekend!

Thursday 14 May 2009

Yay!

I was up early again this morning. Rain was in the forecast so I did my walk around the park. I was only out about 15 minutes when it started to sprinkle so I came in and started to get ready for another doctor's appointment.

Today we had to go to downtown Ottawa for my gastroenterology appointment. I have two problems - acid reflux disease and irritable bowel syndrome. The appointment was a consult to see if I needed a colonoscopy. The last one I had was 2004. We chatted for a while and I showed him the Renew Life products that I take for IBS and told him I seem to do well on these plant based products so he said in his opinion I didn't need a colonoscopy unless I wanted one. DUH! Who is actually going to say they want one if their doctor says they don't need it? I am extremely happy about that. Gordon drove me and went and parked on a side street where parking is free. Parking in downtown Ottawa is more expensive than buying a new truck. Well, maybe not quite but you get the idea.

Anyway, here are some photos that I took of downtown Ottawa from the truck.

Going north on Metcalfe Street toward Parliament Hill

Parliament

The Peace Tower

West Block of the Parliament Buildings

Going west on Wellington Street - this is the street that runs in front of the Parliament Buildings

Supreme Court Building

South on Lyon Street-when I first came to Ottawa in 1971 (well, actually my second time returning to Ottawa, the first time was in 1966) I lived in this area. At that time these high rise buildings weren't here.



Sorry the photos are so dark, it was that kind of morning!

They had closed the freeway going from where we are in to Ottawa this morning at one spot due to a fatality that occurred at 4:30 a.m. so we took some back roads (the scenic route) to downtown. When we came back on the freeway, it was just reopening and it had started raining while I was in the doctor's office.

I have a couple more medical appointments and a dental appointment booked over the next week.

After lunch, I went in to town to do some photocopying. I also needed to find new microwave bulbs and get some groceries. It rained most of the time I was gone and was quite windy.

With all that accomplished I returned home to nap.

Wednesday 13 May 2009

Wednesday May 13, 2009

I was up way too early this morning - 6:15 but I'd been awake for about an hour. We had our annual medicals today at 10 a.m. and since we're at the far east end and our doctor is in the west end we had to start out early to get there on time. It was only 4C (39F) when I got up. I was shivering in my chair as I was having my breakfast even though it was (66F) inside and the furnace was cycling on and off. I was thinking of having to take a shower when it's so cold and not relishing the idea.

The good news is that we passed our medicals, after turning in our prescriptions at our pharmacy, we treated ourselves to a late breakfast at the Fairlawn Restaurant where they serve breakfast all day. After that we went to the store where I buy most of our gluten free stuff, Rainbow Foods, then a couple of other stops including picking up our prescriptions.

From there we went to the Ornamental Gardens. There were some flowers in bloom so, of course, we shot some photos.

These tulips looked luminescent in the sun.

The next two photos are of miniature iris.



Pretty treesGarden and trees

I have no idea what this flower is but it was so yellow!

And these are miniature pansies


We stopped by the Tulip Festival but there were way too many people there and cars lined up all over the place so we decided not to even try to go there.

On to a little birding area on the Rideau River within the city where we saw lots of geese, ducks, seagulls and pigeons including this beautiful wood duck and a pair of geese with four goslings.

Here's the wood duck, they're such a beautiful bird.

A pair of geese with their goslings.

A red wing blackbird telling someone off



Then we stopped at Hogs Back Falls. More photos.

Lots of water here today.


Pathway at the falls
My sister was home from work by this time so we stopped there to see them for a while and at 4:45 p.m. we started our trek home arriving about 5:50 p.m. There is just no easy way to get to the east end of the city at rush hour but at least I did get to see all the new stores they've put up in the last few years. It's really built up.

Now, we're home and tired and I still have three hours of Lost to watch tonight!

It was a beautiful day today 22C (72F) and sunny. Perfect!

I was too tired to cook tonight so we each made our own dinner and I had cereal! I love cereal!

Tuesday 12 May 2009

Tuesday May 12, 2009

I made it 'up the hill' without stopping this morning. The secret is not to run on the approach to the hill. I walked a little earlier this morning and there were more cars on the road but I also saw a deer. Two cars had to stop so she could cross the road as she seemed determined to do. I had thought about taking my camera with me this morning.......

After breakfast and some computer time we decided to go out and drive around some of the back roads around here. Unfortunately a lot of them are unpaved and if they're paved, they're not in very good shape. So after about two hours, we stopped in Rockland and washed the truck and came home. Here are a few photos I took.

Beautiful Catholic Church in the little town of Clarence Creek

Old shed out in a field

Pretty little church in Clarence

Dandelions and a stump

I did a bit of rearranging this afternoon. I put all my jewelry making supplies in a tote bag and put it in one of the big cupboards above the recliner which meant that I had to move that stuff and so on. I really should get rid of my tole and one stroke painting stuff. I haven't really used it since we started on the road. That being said, I'm not sure I'm ready to do that yet. I also have a few stencils, and glass and fabric paints as well as one stroke painting books, paints, brushes etc. I have some one-stroke brushes that have never been used. What to do, what to do?

After that I settled down to read for a while and that about passed the afternoon. It was another beautiful sunny, cool day with a high around 18C (64F).

Monday 11 May 2009

I Found One!

I added another blog to my site - Natasha. She's another chatter on the rv-dreams site. I need to get through my list of chatters and make sure I have them all on my blog sidebar.

It was coooold last night - 1C (34F). Sure glad I had my electric blanket! This is way too cold for May! But the consolation was it was beautiful and sunny even though it didn't get very warm.

This morning I waited till it was 6C (42F) to get up. I decided to go 'up the hill' again. I'm hoping to be able to climb it without stopping before we leave here (a week from tomorrow). I managed to stop only once again this morning.

After breakfast we first stopped at Petrie Island to see if we could find any beavers. No luck there and the area to go to the trails is still flooded.

Road to the path

Still way too wet

Then we went to a little computer store that I found when I was out the other day. I needed an external hard drive to back up my photos as the one I was using (the hard drive that was originally inside my computer) no longer worked. So we found one for less than $100 (2 1/2 inch IDE to fit in the enclosure that I already had). Then when we got home, Gordon realized we had bought the wrong one and it doesn't fit the enclosure, so I still don't have a back up hard drive......

After that we stopped again at Princess Louise Falls. I was ready this time with Miss Pinky and my walking stick. I knew if I could get across the Falls that I could find the geocache. With my trusty walking stick I was able to make it across the falls and up the rocks, and, guess what? I found it! And it was big enough to give Ducky Love his new home. So for now, Ducky Love is in a new geocache home in a new country!

Found the cache

And put Ducky Love in it


Princess Louise Falls again

When I got back, I got ambitious and cleaned out the truck, washed the inside, vacuumed it and used carpet cleaner on the removable rugs. Now Gordon has to take it to get it washed, hopefully tomorrow.

I also got the inside vacuumed. I'm bushed!

Sunday 10 May 2009

Happy Mother's Day!

My Mom passed away in 2002 and I can't remember posting a photo of her so here she is. Happy Mother's Day, Mom! I think of you often especially when I see a cardinal.

Vivian Aldema Merrikin - 1918-2002


Yesterday's rain brought in a cold front so it was only 4C (40F) and cloudy when I got up this morning. I bundled up and did the 'up the hill' walk today. Boy that hill sure makes my lungs burn!

After breakfast I started getting the laundry ready. We changed the bed yesterday in preparation so all I had to do was get the rest of the stuff together.

I decided to have a shower so everything would be clean before I headed to the campground laundry room. Since it's Mother's Day - Happy Mother's Day to all mothers, mothers-to-be, grandmothers, mothers-in-law and any other mothers that I've forgotten, I thought it would be a good day to get the laundry room all to myself and I did mostly. Someone was drying a load when I arrived and someone came in when I was drying. It was so cold in there - no heat - that I came back to the RV and put on an extra layer of clothes and took a blanket out of the truck to keep me warm. I like to stay with my laundry.

I also added a couple of new blogs to my sidebar - Lisa and Dave. Both are now regulars on the rv-dreams chatroom.

I didn't take any photos today so here's one I took of the tulips when we were there last week.

After bringing the laundry home, I went out to Walmart to pick up a few things. Then home to put the laundry away. Women's work is never done!