Saturday 6 February 2010

Saturday February 6, 2010-More Bread

Well, I bit the bullet and went for my walk this morning but it was cold, sunny but cold. This is the first morning that my glasses fogged up so much that I had to take them off till they cleared, then they fogged up again. If we have to stay up here again next winter at least I won't have that problem after my cataract operation.

I spent most of the day reading but I did make Gordon another loaf of bread so at least I did something worthwhile today.

Nancy went to visit a friend who lives in a small town about an hour south of here and is staying overnight. She took Max with her so we're by ourselves for the first time in a while. It feels odd!

Last night Gordon went to the opening night of Winterlude to take photos of the fire works. Winterlude is a yearly event up here.

I borrowed one of his fire works photos for my blog tonight. There hasn't been much worth taking photos of lately.

To read Gordon's latest update, click here.

Friday 5 February 2010

Friday February 5, 2010-Another Ho Hum Day!

It was way too cold to walk this morning but it turned into a fairly nice day with lots of bright sunshine.

All I did today was go out and pick up some stuff we needed, then back home to prepare dinner and then an evening of TV.

Thursday 4 February 2010

Thursday February 4, 2010-Trip to Smiths Falls

It was -16C (3F) but bright and sunny when I went for my walk this morning. Thank goodness there was no wind chill but even without it, it was still pretty cold.

Late morning we started to get ready to go to the Dodge dealer in Smiths Falls about 45 minutes away. We were leaving early so we could have breakfast at our favourite restaurant there, The Roosterant. We arrived about 11:15 a.m. as they stop serving breakfast at 11:30 so we were able to get breakfast.

Lots of roosters at the Roosterant





I have been looking at some houses in this town as they are still fairly inexpensive and a reasonable drive to Carleton Place, Ottawa, Brockville and Kingston. Here is one of the houses we looked at.


These houses are mostly bungalow or 1 1/2 storey houses much like the ones built for the servicemen when they returned from WWII. This one was very cute from the outside however you don't have a street in front of the house. The street is more like an alley at the back of the house and that's where the garage is. The lots are very small. There is no real sidewalk at the front either but they had plowed a sidewalk like area. All the houses were well kept.

We're just looking at options in case this immigration problem doesn't turn out in our favour.

The truck went in for service (which was our main reason for going to Smiths Falls) and got the oil changed and a tail light changed and a few other minor things. We were home just in time for Max to go for his walk with Will, his walker.

It did warm up to -5C (23F) when we were on our way home.

Wednesday 3 February 2010

Wednesday February 3, 2010-New Followers

It was snowing lightly when I left for my walk this morning but it was a beautiful morning for a walk. The sun was trying to shine and we eventually did get some sun later in the day. The snow also stopped and we didn't get any significant accumulation.

The housecleaner came this morning and I spent the day reading. I read almost a whole book today.

I see I have three new followers. Welcome, folks!

And that was it for my day!

Tuesday 2 February 2010

Tuesday February 2, 2010-Webinar

It was cold this morning but I decided to go for my walk anyway. I dressed warmly and had no problem being out in the frigid temperatures.

After breakfast the first item on the agenda was to get some groceries. So four stops and several frustrations later, I was home with the groceries.

On to the next frustration. I retired from Nortel. My retirement provides me with health benefits but I took my pension in a lump sum (thankfully). Nortel filed bankruptcy proceedings last January and have sold off most of the companies within. This afternoon the Nortel Retirees Protection Canada was having a 'webinar' together with the lawyers representing the pensioners.

First I tried using Firefox on the PC part of my Mac. I could see the slides but no audio. I switched back to Mac and tried two browsers, still no luck so I put in a ticket to the IT people supporting the webinar. I was told I needed to use Internet Explorer. I hate Internet Explorer! So back to my PC side. I tried to open IE and kept getting an error so I downloaded the new IE. By this time over an hour of the conference had passed. When I downloaded the new IE, I got a window saying I was dangerously low on space on my hard drive. I ignored that and eventually got in to the conference. Now I remember what working was like! I did get some answers with respect to my health benefits and the news isn't good. It looks like we're covered till the end of March. We're not sure what happens after that. I have a Town Hall meeting to go to next week so maybe I'll find out more. This one is in person!

It's just been one of those days!

Monday 1 February 2010

Monday February 1, 2010-Eye Surgeon

If my Dad was still alive he would have been 97 today. Unfortunately he passed away in 1988 of bladder cancer. I'm still thinking of you Dad!

It was too cold again this morning to walk. I really, really hate winter!

Today was the day I had my first appointment with the eye surgeon who is doing my cataract surgery. I really liked him. He said they suck the cataract off the eye (not his words) and replace the lens with a prescription lens that matches my prescription so I should have close to 20/20 vision for distance. He said he could do one eye for distance and one for reading but I said I didn't think I'd like that and I'm ok with using glasses for reading. He gives me a signed form to take to the license bureau to get my license reissued showing I don't have to wear glasses to drive anymore. Since I have such poor vision, he's going to do the eyes two weeks apart so the soonest they can be done is August 4th & 18th. I am on a cancellation list but the receptionist didn't think I could get an earlier appointment due to the two week time frame. Most people wait 4-6 weeks between appointments for cataract removal. Anyway, now that I have the appointment scheduled I'm ok with that even though it will probably interfere with our cottage weekend in Lindsay. I'll have to do a couple of follow ups with the eye surgeon after the cataracts are removed so I'll have to stay in Ottawa. I'll just be happy to have it done!

On our way home we stopped and picked up another gluten free bread mix. Gordon has really enjoyed his bread so we're taking advantage of the breadmaker while we have it!

Sunday 31 January 2010

Sunday January 31, 2010-I'm a Zombie

I was such a zombie all day today. Last night I slept from about 11 p.m. to 1:15 a.m. then got up to check on Nancy's flight. Being Virgos, we decided not to trust what we saw online and headed for the airport arriving there around 2:10 a.m. Wow, what a change! We have a real airport now! When we were last there it was a mickey mouse airport. I had thought about taking my camera but decided that they might be paranoid about people taking photos in the airport so left it at home.

When we arrived we saw that Nancy's plane was delayed and would not arrive till 4:02 a.m. It was originally scheduled to be in just before 3 a.m. so we wandered around and looked at the new airport, found an open Tim Horton's so Gordon could have a coffee. Her flight arrived right at 4:02 a.m. and after clearing customs and putting on some warmer clothes that I had brought we were on our way home. We had to stop for Nancy to get her Tim Horton's fix on the way. There's no Tim Horton's on the Mayan Riviera!

Max was so excited to see his Mommy. He was running around in circles and kissing everybody!

I returned to bed just before 6 a.m. Gordon headed downtown to do some photography. I was up again around 11 a.m. and since it had warmed up a bit I dragged myself out for my walk.

After breakfast I lay down to read and fell asleep for a couple of hours, awoke groggy but I had planned macaroni and cheese for dinner so had to get that made along with some chicken thighs. Dinner is now over and I'm still groggy. I don't do well without my 11 p.m. - 8 a.m. sleep!