Doctor and Decisions

When I woke up this morning it was bright and sunny. We had slept with the windows open last night and the breeze was beautiful! We managed to hit (27C) 80F today and most of the day was bright and sunny at least up to the posting of the blog.

I walked and sat outside and read this morning. This afternoon Gordon had an appointment with the specialist who basically said everything was looked good and although he does want another CT scan in September as far as he's concerned we have the 'all clear' to go south this winter. Good news!

After the doctor, we stopped to take photos of the flowers at the Ornamental Gardens. I hadn't been there since the peonies were first coming into bloom and now with all the rain we've had they're just about finished although there were lots of other flowers in bloom, most of which I couldn't identify.

This is definitely a rose.

Columbine

Japanese lilac
One of the flower gardens

I have no idea what this is but thought it was interesting. Looks like a milkweed gone to seed.

A really big peony

Pink fox gloves, they are so pretty!

This baby bunny was munching on grass in the rose garden.

Another flower garden


Geranium garden

So, we made some decisions after being at the doctor's office. This afternoon I canceled our insurance with State Farm and got set up with Wayfarer for both the RV and the truck. Wayfarer insure RVs only and they don't care that we don't have a Class A license and I have that in writing. That will take effect mid July. From there we're going to carry on and wait to see what the new legislation is that's coming out with respect to RV licensing in the Fall. So after 37 years of being insured with State Farm, I called the lady that I always deal with at the agent's office and canceled. She has always been wonderful and I told her if we ever get a car again, I'll be back to see her.

After that I called and got the RV insurance and the fulltimer's policy put on. They're still finalizing the truck insurance so everything should be ready to go by mid July.

Housework and a New Trail

I heard on the news this morning before I got up that there wasn't supposed to be any rain today however it was cloudy for a lot of the time. Since no rain was forecast I set off through the industrial park for my walk returning on the busy Prince of Wales Drive.

After breakfast and as much procrastinating as possible I cleaned the bathroom, vacuumed and washed the floors. Sure am glad I worked most of my life and was able to have someone come in to clean. I would have made a lousy housewife! I wonder if there's someone that will come in to clean an RV?

My lower back is always unhappy after vacuuming so I lay down on the couch and read for a while and of course, drifted into a nap and was awakened by my phone ringing. It was Manulife Financial, Gordon's travel health insurer wanting the name of our family doctor so they could get her records. Apparently they've finished their review and are only now starting to gather information. I guess that's a good thing as it usually means they are going to pay although they haven't received the bills from St. Mary's Hospital yet. They've also requested the hospital records. I asked why they needed our doctor's records for a diagnosis of Valley Fever as that isn't something one contracts normally however it is their 'practice'.

It's such a hassle getting involved in using the travel medical which is the main reason I didn't have my foot looked at while we were out of the country. It just takes sooooo long for anything to happen and in the meantime we get bills and phone calls although I must say we've only gotten two bills and maybe one phone call from Tucson. When I had my breathing problems two years ago and went to the hospital in Cincinnati we were hassled all the time for payment. It took all summer and into the fall and I had been in the hospital in early April.

This afternoon it was noisy here because of some pressure washing being done at the plant behind us so since the sun had come out we decided to do a new trail. We headed west to Kanata to the Old Quarry Trail. It was a pretty trail and lots of wildflowers but no critters. There were quite a few common birds, little butterflies and lots of dragon flies which probably accounts for the fact that we didn't see many mosquitoes, thank goodness!

The trail

The ferns with the sun shining on them looked silvery

Waiting for Gordon, I sat down in the crook of this tree

Pretty wildflowers

The boardwalk through the swamp

Huge mushrooms
Today was a beautiful day after the cloud went away. Nice blue skies with fluffy white clouds and a high of around 25C (77F). Perfect for walking a trail!

Errands, Wildflowers, Birds

This morning's rain started just before I was due to get up, so I didn't. I stayed in bed for another 45 minutes or so. When I got up it hadn't quit but had slowed substantially so away I went for my morning constitutional. Luckily it didn't rain very hard all the time I was out but it certainly was humid!

After breakfast I went out to pick up some groceries in the rain. Nothing very exciting there! I also bought Gordon a couple pair of jogging pants and a light t-shirt for summer but they didn't fit so after lunch we went back and exchanged them. Then we had to go to our financial advisor's to sign more forms. After that it was off to the Ottawa River Parkway specifically Remic Rapids to take some photos shown below.

Roosting seagulls

Water droplets on a goose feather
Lots of wildflowers



We didn't have hardly any sun today, lots of showers and clouds. Not a very nice day for photography!

A Restful Day and The Log Farm

It started pouring rain around dawn this morning. I had opened the windows last night so I heard Gordon come in to the bedroom to close them. He had already been up for quite a while at that point as he usually is.

I got up around 8 a.m. thinking no walk for me this morning but the rain stopped for a while and I was able to get out but not for the full 30 minutes as it started to drizzle again. We had some bright spots on and off during the morning.

We reached about 27C (80F) today and had a variation of sunny and cloudy skies but no rain in the afternoon although we did see some thunderheads when we went out.

I napped a lot of the morning and even into the afternoon. I was exhausted from yesterday and I had taken a muscle relaxant last night as my back was killing me from sitting in a restaurant for three hours!

Mid afternoon Gordon and I went to see the Log Farm. Gordon had gone there last week but I didn't go then. The Log Farm is a designated historical site. It is a fully functional working farm that has been restored to depict a local family homestead as it was in the 1870’s. They have 2 horses, a donkey, and 3 sheep that we saw. There was no one else there however the couple that looks after the place arrived while we were looking around. Interesting that the horse is called Mr Bo Jangles!

The house and barns in the background

The donkey, isn't he cute?

Mr. Bo Jangles



One of the sheep

Wild daisy



Heading back to the parking lot from the Log Farm.

There were two woodpeckers in a tree on my way back to the parking lot. We think it's a Downy but could be a Hairy Woodpecker.

I talked to my sister this afternoon. They are at the cottage near Lindsay, Ontario but she is coming down next weekend for a visit. She'll be staying with my younger sister so at least we'll have a few days together as it doesn't look like we'll be going to spend our usual month in Lindsay this year due to the license fiasco!

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!