Wednesday June 3, 2009

Now that's better! It was 10C (50F) and bright and sunny when I left to go on my morning walk. I do so love these kinds of mornings!

Today we had to go in to Ottawa for Gordon to have bloodwork done, then we went to the chiropractor and then to Bayshore Shopping Centre to pick up a few things. From there we stopped at Giant Tiger (a Canadian department type store) but they didn't have what I wanted. Then we stopped to get Gordon some corn tortillas as we're running out of the ones that I brought from the U.S. A final stop for Gordon at Henrys (Canadian camera store) where he purchased a new camera body - you'll have to check out his photos at www.pbase.com/merriwolf over the next few days to see if you can see a difference in his photos. He bought a Canon Rebel T1I with 15 megapixels. Thank goodness for photo sales!

We got up to about 21C (70F) today. We had sun, clouds and even a few rain sprinkles but all in all it was the nicest day we've had in a while.

After dinner, Gordon wanted to try out his new camera so we went out for a drive. There were some beautiful skies with the clouds but as sunset approached the clouds started to leave as they often do.

I just love this log house!

Clouds over Jock River

Dead tree and geese

More clouds over the Jock

Shed in a field

Old log barn

Tree-lined driveway

Bucolic scene

Tuesday June 2, 2009

It was cloudy and chilly this morning 7C (45F) but no rain in the immediate forecast.

After breakfast I took the laundry in to Carleton Place and when it was done I went to several different stores for some groceries arriving home around 1:30 p.m.

Gordon ordered our new tires for the truck today so they will get put on sometime this week.

We had both cloud and sun today and it warmed up quite a bit to around 19C (66F). That temperature I can live with. I prefer it to being really hot and humid.

After putting the groceries and the clean clothes away, I lay down to read and fell asleep for a short time. I knew I had to get up to get dinner on the stove and I wanted to make a 'from scratch' cornbread since I have gluten free all purpose flour. It turned out good although I prefer the one from the mix as it doesn't contain flower and isn't as heavy.

Before dinner, I took a walk around the park and took some photos.

Mountain Bluet

Sparrow on the gate

Pretty pink flower with a bug on it

Staring match with the chipmunk

Rhubarb gone to seed

Bee on a flower

Monday, June 1, 2009

At 8 a.m. it was only 7C (45F). Pretty chilly for the 1st day of June! The sun was shining though so that made a difference.

Gordon made an appointment to go to the Dodge dealer this afternoon to see if our tire can be repaired, get the oil changed on the truck and get my window fixed. The switch for my window hasn't worked since we were in Texas this winter but Gordon can open it from the driver's side so we haven't been in a big hurry to fix it. It sure is a pain though when I see a photo that I want to take through the window and I can't open it!

So we spent the afternoon at the dealer. They fiddled around with the window switch and it works now but might have to be replaced. We also priced new tires for the truck and I think we're going ahead and replace them.

There were two lamborghinis for sale at the dealership.

Downtown Smiths Falls

We got home about 5 p.m. On the way home the temperature in the truck was reading 8C (46F)! This area set quite a few records in May for low temperatures. Sure doesn't surprise me. It's been downright chilly!

Today's photos aren't very good as I took them from either inside the dealership or inside the truck and it was rainy and cloudy.

Sunday May 31, 2009

It was bright and sunny but chilly at 10C (50F) and there was a bit of a north wind that I discovered when I started heading north for my walk on the Appleton Side Road. But it was a lovely morning for a walk and I enjoyed it.

This morning I just played around on the computer and cleaned the bathroom. I had done vacuuming yesterday. Can't do too much cleaning in one day!

Last night after the get together at the rec hall and my blog posting, the owner of the park came over to pump out our tanks. While Gordon was outside, he noticed that the driver's side rear tire on the truck was quite low so he pumped up what he could with our little air compressor that we carry in the truck then went in to town to a garage to fill it up. This morning it was down 8 lb. so he drove in to Canadian Tire and they found a screw in the tire so he got that patched but when he got home he realized they only put 34 pounds of air in it.

By late morning the skies clouded up and it started to rain again. It was supposed to be a sunny day!

Around 1 p.m. we left to put air in the tire that was just repaired and to head into Ottawa to see my sister and her family. On our way into Ottawa the temperature dropped to 4C (39F). I almost expected to see snow!

We were on the western edge of Ottawa when all of sudden Gordon pulled off the road. Just as we were pulled off I heard the whap, whap, whap sound. We had another flat tire! This was the front one on the same side. I called our Emergency Road Service and it took about 1 hr 15 min for Glen's Towing to arrive and put on the spare.

It's only flat on the bottom!

I called my sister and told her we wouldn't be making it today. After the tire was changed, we continued in to the nearest place to be sure the spare had enough air in it, then headed home and stopped to get some water. We had planned to fill our jugs at my sister's place as I love Ottawa water! We didn't make it home till nearly 5 p.m. It had made it up to 12C (53F) by then. Very strange weather!

Today didn't turn out as we'd planned but it could have been much worse and on the way home I saw this beautiful deer at one of the interchanges which made me think that the day was okay after all.

Such a beautiful, graceful creature

May Expenses

Here are our expenses for May. We did really well considering we bought quite a bit of computer stuff and also dental and medical. There might be a slight adjustment when I send our chiropractor bills in for payment.

Saturday May 30, 2009

Well, we reached (65F) today from a low this morning of (51F). I stayed in bed longer than usually as it kept raining on and off, finally when I got up it had stopped but I took a small umbrella with me just in case as the rain I'd been hearing on the roof wasn't just sprinkling.

I didn't do much today, spent time on the computer, read and had a nap and went for a walk around the campground when the sun finally came out late this afternoon. Here are some photos.

Water droplets on a leaf

Clouds above the horse barn

Boat by the river

Our yard


Since I don't have much going on here's another joke that a friend of mine sent to me titled:

Girl on a Plane

A stranger was seated

next to a little girl on the airplane

when the stranger

turned to her and said,

'Let's talk. I've heard that flights go quicker if

you strike up a conversation with your fellow passenger.'

The little girl, who had just opened her book, closed it slowly

and said to the stranger,

'What would you like to talk about?'

'Oh, I don't know,' said the stranger. 'How about nuclear power?'

and he smiles.

'OK,' she said.

'That could be an interesting topic'.

But let me ask you a question first.

A horse, a cow, and a deer all eat the same stuff - grass - .

Yet a deer excretes little pellets,

while a cow turns out a flat patty,

and a horse produces clumps of dried

grass. Why do you suppose that is?'

The stranger, visibly surprised by the little girl's intelligence

thinks about it and says,

'Hmmm, I have no idea.'

To which the little girl replies,

'Do you really feel qualified to discuss nuclear power when

you don't know shit?

When I went out for my afternoon walk, I noticed that the campground were supplying hotdogs tonight at 6 p.m. so we decided to go over to see if there was anything Gordon could eat. We usually try to attend at least one food function when we're here in the summer to meet some of the people. It was a good turnout and the hot dogs were good but the homemade carrot cake was great!

Gathering for hot dogs

Friday May 29, 2009

This morning was 17C (62F) cloudy and somewhat humid as I headed out for my walk. Since the skies looked like it may rain any minute, I went three different ways and only a short ways each way but I didn't get wet.

I had decided that I wanted to go to Brockville, Ontario to see my Aunt Ruth today. Last Fall, her family felt that since she had fallen so many times at her apartment that being on her own was no longer something they could live with. Due to her fall she wound up in the hospital until they could place her at a Long Term Care Home. It's a beautiful, new, very clean facility.

We stopped for diesel and filled up at 78.5/litre.

On our way, we stopped at our favourite restaurant in Smiths Falls, The Roosterant for breakfast and met a couple there that we know so we sat with them and caught up on what's happened since the last time we saw them.

Inside the Roosterant


From there we stopped at a little RV park right on the river in the town and had a look at it. It's quite expensive but apparently a monthly price can be 'negotiated'. It's another park where you have to be pumped out. These parks close to the water don't have sewer.

On to see Aunt Ruth. Her Long Term Care Home overlooks the St. Lawrence River so she's back where she started life as her father, my grandfather, ran the waterworks in Morrisburg (east of Brockville about 45 min) and the family lived on the canal bank there. She enjoys looking at the boats on the river.

Myself and my Aunt Ruth

It's always difficult seeing a person that you love get older with the inevitable loss of short term memory as well as health problems and she has indeed succumbed. When we arrived, she knew who we were but not our names and suffice it to say that she is no longer the Aunt Ruth that I've known all my life. There were still traces of her humour but it was a difficult visit (difficult in that it was hard to see her like this).

I had stopped to buy her a plant and selected a little red rose plant in a pot as I know how she loves flowers. I also took her the necklace I made yesterday which she liked and some photos taken during the winter so she has those to look at.

We had some rain driving both ways but it wasn't too bad today and the temperature remained pretty much at 17C (62F) for the day. We even had a couple of showing of snn, brief though they were.

We got home around 3:30 p.m. and Gordon went to make a cup of coffee and the microwave wouldn't work, you push the start button and nothing happens but everything else on it seems to work so we called our dealer and I dug out the paperwork for when we replaced the microwave two years ago in Texas and hopefully it will be under some sort of warranty. It's a Dometic product and each microwave has lasted two years although it's been a different problem both times. Bummer! How do I cook without a microwave?

Thursday May 28, 2009

It wasn't raining when I got up so I got to go for my walk but it was only 11C (51F). The rain didn't start till late morning today. Another cool, dreary day.

After breakfast I decided to brighten my life and got out my jewelry making supplies. There was one necklace (the first one I made) that had come apart and needed to be restrung so I started with that one. Then I made two more. Here are some photos.

This one I made for my Aunt

This is the one I restrung

And a blue one



In between times, I played on the computer, got some computer banking done and read a bit.

Then I lay down to read and woke up about 1 1/2 hours later!

Wednesday May 27, 2009

I woke up to 11C (51F) this morning but it was cloudy and it started to sprinkle during my walk, then got a little heavier so I cut the walk short by a bit. It looks like the next three days will be rainy.

After breakfast I went in to town to pick up some groceries and stuff at the SuperWalmart. I also went to Dollarama where I found some small digital timers for the kitchen for $1.25 each. I had one before and it wore out after about three years but that's not bad for $1.00 which it cost at that time. They, like everything else it seems has gone up in price. Dollarama is no longer 'all things $1.00' but their prices are still pretty good. I was back in time for lunch.

I had bought fixings to make stew as the next few days are going to be cool and rainy so I got that on the stove before laying down to read my book and inevitably, falling asleep.

We had the stew for dinner. It was the right thing to have on this rainy, miserable day.

Tuesday May 26, 2009

My day started out at around 7:30 a.m., 5C (41F), cloudy and windy. It apparently got down to about 2C (36F) last night. This is the coldest spring that I can remember in this area. In fact we usually don't have spring, we go from winter almost directly into summer. Anyway, I had a nice walk since with the cold there were few mosquitoes around.

The rest of the morning I spent on the computer and reading.

I saw this cloud and thought it looked like a calla lily.


We had to go in to Ottawa this afternoon for Gordon's appointment at the dermatologist to check him out for skin cancer. He gets checked once a year as he has had a couple of episodes of basal cell skin cancer. He had a couple of spots on his face treated with liquid nitrogen.

While there we stopped again for a few minutes at Andrew Hayden Park as we were early having gotten through our errands that we needed to do.

Trees in bloom

Bridge in the park

Groundhog

Things are getting very green

Apple blossoms

After the doctor, we headed home.

We did get some sun today but only got up to about 17C (63F).

Gordon updated his web page today, to read it, click here.

Monday May 25, 2009

It was 9C (49F), sunny and windy this morning. The wind was coming right out of the north. I had to put the hood up on my jacket to keep my baseball cap on. I wore my gloves again....on the 25th of May! Here's are some photos of my morning walk.

The end of the road

On the way back to the RV park

Wild strawberry flowers along the road

Pretty canopy of trees over the road

Back on the paved road


The horse barn

Beautiful horses

Back at the RV park

Walking toward the river in the RV park

The RV's across from the river


Going up the hill toward our RV

While I was sleeping Gordon got the Windows part of my Mac working again so I should now be able to run my genealogy software. I also got some programs put back on the PC side so I can synch my PDA. I installed Microsoft Office and my old Streets and Trips software.

Other than that, a nap and a short walk around the RV park, that about made up my day! It never did get too warm today and the breeze was cool all day. The highest I saw was 18C (64F) but it was sunny all day!

My walk around the RV park

Along the river

The Mississippi (Ontario) River

Pretty little blue flowers - no idea what they are

Pretty little violet

Sunday May 25, 2009

It was 14C (58F) and sunny at 8:30 a.m. today, now that's better. I did my walk in a short sleeved T-shirt.

When I went out Shonagh, the female part of the campground ownership was just riding by on her bike so I got a hug from her and we chatted for a few minutes. They always make us feel so welcome.

I always take photos of this tractor when I'm here


After breakfast I sat outside for a while then decided to make potato salad so came in to boil eggs and chop up the potatoes and other ingredients. While that was on I had some black eyed peas here so I cooked them up.

I was intrigued by the Chocolate Mug Cake recipe on Dee's blog last night. Since Gordon can't eat chocolate, I decided to try it as a Gluten Free Butterscotch Mug Cake. I semi melted some butterscotch chips to replace the cocoa, used gluten free flour and it turned out pretty good. It didn't all come out of the mug well but it sure is tasty. I love trying easy things!

I sat outside some more this afternoon, read my book and called my cousin in Brockville to see where my aunt is. She is now in an old age home that's on the water. She's happy there as she grew up on the water and that is apparently where she thinks she is. We have to get down to Brockville and see her now that we're both feeling better.

Pretty flowers around the campground






Couldn't stop myself this afternoon, had to have a nap again! This is getting to be a habit!