Sunday to Wednesday October 4-6, 2010

Sunday

It was nice and sunny this morning but I decided to forego my walk as Gordon wanted to go and hike one of the trails at the Marlborough Forest. The one we were on was the Cedar Grove Walking Trail at Roger's Pond.

Cedar Grove Walking Trail

White birches/blue sky

Roger's Pond

We didn't see anything of interest on the trail. Gordon wanted to see the pond and he decided it's a good spot for sunrise photos.

From there we continued traveling around looking for pretty leaves. It's funny that the prettiest ones are in town but then you have to contend with all kinds of wires.

Church at Burritt's Rapids/Tree with brightly coloured leaves

We arrived home around noon.

After a brief nap, Gordon got the new pressure washer put together and we washed the car. Then we took it to the front of the house to wash the dirt of the eaves. It looks soooo much better! I cleaned up a bit of the flower bed from when the deck was built. I'm still deciding what to do with the bare spot. I expect I will wait till spring now to do anything.

Monday

Although the day started out sunny it rapidly deteriorated to cloud. This whole week was supposed to be bright sun but that was yesterday's forecast! Now, not so much. I had a nice walk, even checked out a new street.

After breakfast I went out to get some groceries. While out I found some flannelette sheets on sale so I bought one set. We always used them in the winter in the house but I had gotten rid of them when on the road. I like that they feel all warm and cosy.

We found out last night when we turned on the furnace that our temperature control isn't working properly so Gordon called our electrician and he's coming tomorrow. In the meantime, the electric fireplace is doing a good job and the house, at least at this point, appears well insulated.

I managed to get my hair coloured this afternoon, got some laundry done and went to the library. That about wraps it up for today!

Tuesday

Today was pretty much a beautiful sunny day but other than my morning walk I was inside all day.

The electrician came today and put in our new thermostat control. He also changed one of our breakers as our microwave has been blowing the old one lately.

Laundry and cleaning got done today as well. YUK!

Wednesday

We had a lot of rain again today but it didn't rain this morning so I could go for my walk.

I ran a few errands this morning. This afternoon we headed into The Brick in Carleton Place to pick up our new bookshelves. We managed to fit them in the car although I was laying down for the drive home. Gordon put them together as soon as we got home.

Saturday October 2, 2010

I woke up to bright, beautiful sunshine although it was cold at 4C (39F). Luckily I had gotten out some winter things last night so I was able to cover my ears when I went for my walk.

Since it was sunny today the plan du jour was to go out leaf hunting. We had both cloud and sun on our drive toward Clayton, Almonte and Carleton Place. We got a few photos.

Someone was burning something. The flames were pretty high. Sure hope they were looking after it.

Lilac Lane, Franktown

Horse barns behind the church in Franktown

Along the back roads

Some turkeys - they'd better watch out, Canadian Thanksgiving is next weekend!

One of the Falls at Almonte

While we were in the area we stopped at Tranquil Acres but the trees on the other side of the river weren't as pretty as usual. While there we stopped by our former Titanium. Warren was there closing it up for the winter. He again reiterated how much they love it. That's good to hear. We didn't have any nostalgic feelings while we were there so I guess we've moved past it.

Then it was on to The Brick where we were looking at bookshelves that were on sale. We found ones that we liked and put them on order. They should be in on Wednesday.

Thursday & Friday, September 30 & October 1, 2010

Thursday

It was cloudy with the threat of rain in the air and we did indeed have rain and lots of it all day. I had a short walk with just a bit of drizzle but we had to get ready to go in to Ottawa. We had errands to run, I had an appointment with the eye surgeon and the company that looks after our retirement funds had a Customer Appreciation BBQ.

We got our errands done. I was at the surgeon's office in lots of time only to wait for an hour to be seen. Everything with the cataract surgery is fine but my optic nerves are not 'normal' looking so he sent me for a glaucoma test. He said to take it to my optometrist so when I left there we went straight to the optometrist's office to drop that off. We both have appointments in mid October.

Then it was on to the Customer Appreciation BBQ. They have these little parties about twice a year. We usually get to go to the one held in the summer. It was a bit late this year. We've only been to one Christmas one.

Retired people will show up even in the pouring rain for a free meal! LOL We did!

Apex Jazz Band

They had a good jazz band called the Apex Jazz Band. We had some food, spoke to our financial advisor to say Hi and then left to go to my sister's for a few minutes before heading home in the rain. While there I picked up some of my china that she had stored there. It's my grandmother's set that she got as a wedding present in the early 1900s and a very pretty pattern. It's very difficult to find pieces but I have done so at flea markets and have added to it over the years.

Now that I have my new storage unit I have one empty side to store the china in.

I caught up our monthly expenses tonight. This is the first month since we moved in that we've actually come in under budget even with things purchased for the house. Finally!

Friday

We actually saw some sun today although it was cool. I went for my walk, thankful that there was no rain in the forecast for this morning as we've had enough rain for a while. The ground in spots is saturated. Gordon went out after breakfast to take some photos.

While he was gone I unpacked my box of dishes and did some cleaning. My throat felt a little scratchy so I decided to rest today.

Gordon has been scratching his head for the last few days wondering why the garage door opener didn't work. So today, he was back out in the garage to try again. Well, something he did worked and he has no idea what it is but we now have our car in the garage. The photo (above) is of him looking quite pleased with himself.

Wednesday September 29, 2010

Today was mostly a cloudy day with one little patch of blue sky this morning so we headed over to Poonamalie locks for some photos.

Houseboats leaving the locks

On the grounds of the locks

Flowers at the locks

I did go out for my walk this morning and wound up going downtown. I don't often go that way because of traffic crossing Queen/Elmsley Street. I'd rather just keep on truckin' on the side streets away from traffic.

My doctor's office called this afternoon with the results of my sleep test. I have mild sleep apnea but only when sleeping on my back so the recommendation was to sew tennis balls in the back of my nightwear and lose some weight.

Tonight we went out for sunset. Another photographer had mentioned this spot to us and Gordon checked it out and it's right in town, just a stone's throw from the RV park!

Sunset throws golden light on the new water treatment plant

Sunset

The old train trestle bridge at sunset, lots of pink sky

Sunday to Tuesday September 26-28, 2010

Sunday

Although it wasn't raining it was damp when I went for my walk. It didn't get very warm today and we had some drizzle on and off.

I've wanted a pressure washer to wash the outside of the house so since they were on sale, we went out today and got one. I was also looking for a wheelbarrow on sale but couldn't find one so I got a yard cart instead. I think it will serve the purpose.

Gordon has been wanting chili for some time. Since I can't eat it due to the tomatoes, I wanted to wait till I got a freezer so I could freeze some. Now I have the freezer so today was the day to make the chili. He had it for dinner and was very happy!

I also made a huge meatloaf and cut it into sections for freezing as well.

Monday

Today was another cloudy day with rain descending upon us late this afternoon. It looks like that's what we'll have for the next day or so. Even if it was cloudy I did enjoy my walk this morning.

This morning I went out to try to come up with something for hanging my shower curtain. Before I wallpapered we had the tension rod on the wallpaper but I don't want to tear the new stuff so with the wooden cabinets above the tub I decided we could put up some hooks like for draperies so I went in search of some and found some at Canadian Tire (they sell all sorts of things besides tires).

While I was out I picked up some other stuff and since lean hamburger was on sale at Your Independent and I have a freezer I stocked up. I also got some other meats that were on special.

One of my purchases was some of those new fangled light bulbs. When I got them home two were broken so I had to go back and exchange them. While I was gone Gordon was starting to get things together to put up the garage door opener.

I did some reading and repackaged the meat I bought. Not a very interesting day nor a very nice one. This is what the radar looked like. At least it's mostly green!

Tuesday

It rained pretty much all night but by the time I got up this morning it had stopped and if we didn't get sun at least there was 'brightness'. So, I went for my walk. It was actually quite warm at 16C (61F).

Gordon had to go to our home away from home, Home Hardware to get a metal strap to hold up the garage door opener so he could continue with getting that installed. It won't be long before we need it!

This dock with the seagulls on it reminded me of the docks at Rockport, TX with pelicans and cormorants on them.

This afternoon while Gordon was working on the garage door opener, I was thinking about how to get the stain off the siding at the front from our contractor splashing it all over when he painted the deck. I thought I'd try the Mr. Clean sponge, that didn't work. BUT I had kept my Purple Power from the RV so I sprayed it on the siding full strength, let it work for a couple of minutes and the stuff wiped right off! It's amazing!

I came across a site for Smiths Falls this morning that I hadn't seen before. Click here to see it. For those of you that have limited bandwidth, there are six short videos.

We went for a short drive late this afternoon when the sun came out as there was an interesting sky.

Photos of the interesting skies this afternoon

Friday & Saturday September 24 & 25, 2010

Friday

I want you to know that I was wrong. It doesn't happen often! When I said that I wouldn't be able to wear sandals anymore I didn't realize it would get so hot today! Not only hot but humid too!

It rained most of last night again. Things are getting saturated! When I got up this morning it was cloudy but not raining so I started on my walk but didn't stay out long.

I got some cleaning done in the basement today so it looks a little better. I put my Lone Star quilt that my Mom made for me on the quilt rack, did some laundry and vacuumed upstairs.

This afternoon Gordon decided he wanted to go in search of Fall foliage. So we headed southwest out of town and took some side roads. We found a lot of pretty spots but the colour isn't very pretty. Lots of trees are yellow and brown. The sumac is red though.

Our first stop was a pumpkin patch where we bought a couple of small pumpkins for our front porch.

This is a snake gourd - apparently only good for painting or decoration

A pretty road

Getting into heavily treed area

An apple tree

We found this old barn in a cottage area

Red sumac against an interesting sky

Since it was so nice, I sat out on the front porch when we got home. It got quite windy although it was still warm. It was enjoyable.

Saturday

I thought it was going to be rainy today but I woke up to sunshine! Gordon wanted to go out for more Fall foliage photos so he went ahead while I went for my walk. I took my camera with me and took some photos along the water and in the eastern part of town.

I thought this was quite pretty

Along the Rideau going toward the locks

Looking toward the downtown bridge

The bridge over the Rideau at the locks

More of the Rideau with a bit of Fall colour

As I was taking a photo this dragonfly landed on my hand

The Rideau Canal Museum

Chambers Street downtown

Some pretty purple flowers in front of someone's house

I gave the weeping mulberry tree a haircut this morning. The previous owners had wound tiny Christmas lights all through it (in fact they are all along the eaves, through the mulberry tree and the evergreen tree) so I cut out some of the lights at the same time.

After lunch, I lay down with my book and slept for a couple of hours.

Tonight we're watching Sherlock Holmes.

Tuesday to Thursday September 21-23, 2010-The Truck is Sold!

Tuesday

After my walk in drizzle and breakfast, I decided to make Nancy's recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookies substituting butterscotch for chocolate since neither of us can eat chocolate any more. At first I thought they didn't turn out well as they crumbled easily but when I left them to sit for a while they were much better. I've decided I need two more cookie sheets!

The rest of the day was spent napping and reading.

We did go out for sunset but just to the park down the street. It didn't turn out to be very good but the wind was blowing and it was mild. Gordon suggested we pretend we were standing on the bow of a cruise ship. We used to do that every night after dinner when we were on cruises.


Wednesday

We had quite a lot of rain last evening and overnight but when I got up it had stopped so away I went for my walk. The sun even came out.

Just as I was fixing my breakfast a loud knock came to the back door. It was the bylaw enforcement officer. We have our truck parked in the yard by the road which is apparently town property and we aren't allowed to park anything let alone anything for sale there. Bummer. We were getting most of our calls from drive bys. So, Gordon moved it back into the driveway. It can't be seen easily from the road there.

The bylaw enforcement officer is also an RVer. He told Gordon that the AR license for RVs had come into effect this summer so if we had continued he would have had to go for the license test. I guess we quit at the right time. This license would allow you drive a semi cab but not with a trailer attached, only the truck with the RV attached.

It was warm today. I got to wear sandals probably for the last time this year!

Today is my last day for eye drops. Finally! Everyone says the worst part of getting cataracts removed is the eye drops. It has been tedious but necessary. I still have an appointment for a check-up with the surgeon at the end of the month and if all is okay, I won't have to see him for a year!

I went out to run some errands this afternoon and I had a surprise call from my friend, Laura tonight. Great to hear from you, Laura, thanks for calling!

Thursday

It was cooler this morning but mostly sunny. I headed toward the Old Sly Locks as I wanted to get some photos of the Falls. The grass was very wet! I wasn't able to get a really good vantage point unfortunately and had to take the photo from the top of the Falls. It didn't turn out very well.

This is the grounds around Old Slys Locks

More of the grounds

Looking toward downtown

An early Fall scene

We sold the truck this afternoon so the RVing era is now officially over. It was sold to a nice guy from the Kingston area, the same one that was here this past weekend so everyone's happy!

Goodbye Big Larry!


I made gluten free pancakes and sausages for dinner tonight! It was a yummy change but not particularly nutritious.