Rain, Lots and Lots of Rain!

Danica, taken last night at her High School Band Concert

Yuk! I woke up to rain on the roof this morning but luckily when I got up to walk Bib it had stopped so I got Bib’s walk and my walk without getting wet however the ground is very muddy! It’s impossible to keep the RV clean!

This morning Gordon had his appointment at the Ottawa General Hospital to get the growth on the inside of his lip removed. I went along for moral support. It required one stitch and he has to go back on June 23^rd to have it looked at and stitches removed if they haven’t dissolved by then. He actually broke down this evening and took a Tylenol #3 so it must hurt!

After lunch, I went over to Bayshore to do some errands and then to Food Basics in Kanata to pick up some groceries. I came back, unloaded and put groceries away, read a bit, and did some internet surfing.

It’s been pouring rain since shortly after I got home this afternoon. I took Bib out for a walk around 8:00 p.m. and he got soaked!

Graduation, Dinner and Concert Band

Nick and Becky after Nick's graduation ceremonies

This morning was mostly cloudy but we did see a few hints of sun. We had to pick up our nephew, Nick and his fiancée, Becky at 12:30 p.m. so other than checking out some things on the internet and getting showered and prettied up, we didn’t do much. I did sit outside with Bib for a while and read while waiting for my hair to dry. It started to get almost cold when I was sitting out as there was a good strong breeze.

We picked Nick and Becky up at 12:30 for Nick's graduation from Algonquin College as a paramedic and headed for Scotiabank Place (formerly the Corel Centre) as Nick had to be there for 1:00 p.m. to get into his gown and get lined up. There sure were a lot of graduates today! The graduation ceremonies ended around 4:00 p.m. and we waited for Nick to come out so I got a photo of Nick and Becky. Unfortunately my camera is not good enough to get photos of Nick receiving his diploma. Maybe I can steal one from Gordon when he gets his processed.

We then headed home to feed and walk Bib and were to meet Nick, Becky, Nick’s parents and Becky’s parents at Swiss Chalet for 5:30 p.m. We didn’t arrive till about 5:45 p.m. due to traffic but Becky’s parents came in right behind us. It was nice to finally meet them. Nick and Becky have been together now for nearly two years. They actually started dating after high school graduation.

After dinner we headed with Nick’s parents, my sister, Margie and her husband, John to Merivale High School where their daughter, Danica was performing with the high school band. All the bands were very good but of course, the Senior Concert Band was the best. Danica even had some solo parts. She also played in the Jazz Band and the Intermediate Concert Band. I had the same problem with taking photos of Danica on stage with my camera!

It’s been a very long day!

By the way, blogspot is giving me difficulty with uploading a photo of Danica so I'll save that for another day.

Ah! Sitting Under a Tree

Another photo of our site at Ottawa Municipal Campground

Today was another bright, sunny day but all that is supposed to change. The forecast is for cloudy conditions this afternoon and rain for the next three days but the weather forecasters are rarely right so hope they’re not right this time too.

This campground is much more conducive to walking that Rideau Heights was so I had a nice long walk around this morning. Gordon had a doctor’s appointment this morning so we went out for that and while we were out had a coffee at Bayshore Shopping Centre.

This afternoon we were torn as to what to do. Gordon talked about going to Morris Island Conservation Area at Fitzroy Harbour but it was quite hot, too hot to take the dog and leave him in the truck and also I didn’t want to put on long pants and a long sleeved shirt to keep the mosquitoes away, so I decided to stay here and sit outside and read. So out I went with Bib, but he wouldn’t stop rooting in the grass so had to put him inside. Gordon also decided he wasn’t going to go either so that was the end of that.

I did sit outside for a lot of the afternoon and it was beautiful under the tree. Bib and I went for a walk and he got to sniff around, his favourite pastime. I also realized about that time that I had either lost a filling or part of a tooth so on the phone to the dentist and set up an appointment for Monday.

After dinner, I vacuumed out the truck and cleaned the windows and seats as we’re picking up my nephew, Nick and his fiancée, Becky for Nick’s graduation tomorrow afternoon. The truck badly needed it!

Moving Day

Our site at Ottawa Municipal Campground

Gordon setting up the internet satellite

Today again dawned bright and sunny and quite warm but we were just glad that the rain originally forecast for today is bothering someone else. We took our time packing up, we had to be out of Rideau Heights by 11:00 a.m. and I think we were pretty close to that by the time we left. After saying goodbye to Roger and Anne, our neighbours for this past month we headed west to the Ottawa Municipal Campground arriving at about 11:30 a.m.

The guy who had occupied our site had just left so we were able to drive in and set up right away. Check out time here is 1:00 p.m. I vacuumed which was badly needed and then we relaxed for a while.

I got my second wind and decided to go and exchange my books at the library and pick up some groceries. That done, I returned home and had a nice shower at the shower house. We have no sewer connection here so we’ll be using their shower house instead of our own. Then sat outside for a while and enjoyed the scenery and read my book.

Photos above are of our campsite.

A Trip to Morrisburg

House mover takes up both lanes of Hwy 31

Morrisburg dock on the St. Lawrence River

Path runs along St. Lawrence River at Morrisburg

Gordon White Sands Gallery slid to #3 today! He had an 8 day run as #1 so he's gotten more than his 15 minutes of fame!

Yeah! Sun! I woke up this morning to bright sun shining through the blinds in the bedroom. Seems like a long time but I guess it’s only been a couple of days.

I had planned to go out and do errands today but since most of my errands are in the west end and we’re moving to the Ottawa Municipal Campground on Corkstown Road tomorrow, I decided not to bother.

I’ve finished the 7 books that I got at the library just over two weeks ago, actually I finished 6, one I had already read so the library will definitely be one of my first stops after we’re set up tomorrow. From Wednesday on, we have a fairly busy week. Gordon has a doctor’s appointment on Wednesday and then the hospital on Friday to have his lip surgery. Thursday is my nephew’s graduation from Algonquin, then out for dinner with he and his fiancée and his parents and then my niece is playing in a concert at her school on Thursday evening. On the weekend, I’m meeting up with friends, Nancy and Sandy for our get together. Next week is fairly low key. The only thing planned is a visit to my former employer on Tuesday to see all the folks. Past that, we’ll have to see!

Late this morning I asked Gordon if he wanted me to book a campsite at the Upper Canada Campground at Morrisburg. He has a pass for Upper Canada Village and he wants to do some photography there. He said we should go look at it so we jumped in the truck and headed to Morrisburg.

For those of you that don’t know, Morrisburg is my home area, not my home town as I lived all of my young years just west of Williamsburg but all my high school years were spent at Morrisburg High School. I also lived for a while after graduating high school in Morrisburg but that was another lifetime. So, the area is quite familiar to me even though I’ve been gone for some 35 or so years. My mother also lived there up until she passed away in 2002 so we were often in that area.

We first drove west of Morrisburg to Caravan Camp. It had been built years ago but I didn’t know if they accepted short term stays or not. We got there and it looks like a trailer park. The road in was so rutted and unkept that we just left and from there drove down to the Morrisburg dock as it’s quite pretty overlooking the St. Lawrence River. Then east where we stopped at a provincial campground at Riverside Heights. No one was in the booth but we drove around and it was very wet so on to Upper Canada Campground. I had emailed them last week and was told that they had a site for us with a clear view of the southern sky so we checked it out and it should work so we booked it for arrival on the 4th of July to stay for a week.

We returned to Morrisburg and drove down to the dock again and we able to pick up the Verizon signal so we could update our cell phones. When we’re in Canada most of the time we get only Extended Network so all of our calls go onto our 500 minutes during the week or 1000 evenings and weekends. When we’re in a Verizon area you can call another Verizon customer for free. So Gordon called his daughter to see how they all were and how the new baby is doing. Everything there was fine so we headed home arriving in Ottawa around 4:30 p.m.

On our way back all of a sudden vehicles were pulling off onto the shoulder of the road. No wonder! They were moving a house and it was taking up both lanes of Highway 31 – photo above. That’s the first time I’ve seen that in some years. You often see half of a modular home on a truck but that only takes up one travel lane. This was quite something!

Back to Mer Bleue

Mer Bleue Boardwalk

Evergreen tree with reddish blooms

Two turtles on a log

Marsh

Since we got some sunshine today, we decided to go back to Mer Bleue and walk the boardwalk. So shortly after lunch, away we went although there was some cloud in the sky. We took the dog as it was cooler today and decided we could leave him in the truck. I put the windshield protector up so the sun wouldn’t come in. He wasn’t happy about being left and started to howl. I said that when we came back the Humane Society would probably be there and take us away for leaving him in the truck however on we went!

The first part takes you through the marshes and eventually you wind up in the forested area. That’s where you get attacked – by mosquitoes! Needless to say when we reached that part, it didn’t take us long to get out of there. I had sprayed with Off before we left and they don’t usually bother me too much anyway but they really like Gordon’s blood! All in all, the one kilometer walk only took about half an hour complete with photography. Other than some red winged blackbirds, we saw a couple of little turtles, photo above but no other wildlife to speak of.

We did see some interesting evergreen trees with what looked like little buds on them. I don’t know if they are some sort of cone but some trees had reddish ones and others were more pinkish brown. A photo is above of the ones with the red buds. There were also lots of white birch and the smell of peat especially in the forested area.

On our way back, we stopped at Shoppers Drug Mart to pick up some Sprite which was on sale today only but they didn’t have any and Gordon didn’t want to try another store so we came home.

Not much else happening today!

More Rain!

Raindrops on my window

Today was a very lazy day. Having had back problems all week, I’ve resorted to taking ¼ muscle relaxant at night making me groggy in the morning so I read and slept till about 1:00 p.m.

Then while having lunch I turned on the TV to find “The Man With One Red Shoe” with Tom Hanks so we watched that while surfing the internet. Then we watched “Ghost” with Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore and Whoopi Goldberg. Definitely a TV day!

I’m also reading the blog of a family with two kids who have a website called “Away We Go”. They bought a motorhome in July 2005 and are home schooling their two boys. Each state they go to they visit the capital for a history lesson. It’s an interesting blog complete with lots of photos. If anyone is interested, here’s the link: http://www.awaywego.us

I did my walk this morning despite the rain but was pretty wet when I got back!

Mer Bleue

Boardwalk at Mer Bleue

Mer Bleue

Gordon on the Mer Bleue pathway

Not much happening today. This afternoon we did take a drive to the Mer Bleue Conservation Area which is off Anderson Road in the southeast end of the city. We took Bib with us as he was itching for a change of scenery. When we got there, no dogs were allowed. Sure wish they had posted that on their website. I walked him around the parking area while Gordon went to take some photos. Then I put him in the truck and took a quick trip down to the boardwalk to see what I could see. I didn’t go far as I didn’t want to leave him in the truck although it was parked in the shade.

Mer Bleue is a major element of the Capital’s Greenbelt. It is first and foremost a huge acidic peat bog but it is also a series of marshes and sand ridges that provide a habitat for many aquatic birds, so the National Capital Commission out of concern for the survival of the fragile ecosystem has designated it as the Mer Bleue Conservation Area.

We didn’t stay long as it was cloudy and not a really nice day for photography.

Photos above were taken at the Mer Bleue Conservation Area. The boardwalk is one kilometer long. I would like to go back and check it out but will have to leave poor Bib at home!

Oh, and Gordon's White Sands Gallery is still #1 on pbase!

Visiting

Today was humid but not as hot so we didn’t use the air conditioner, just the fantastic fan and our two fans so it was quite pleasant in the RV.

I went out for groceries this morning and had to have my glasses adjusted so went to WalMart in Barrhaven. They have also opened a Food Basics there so got my groceries.

I was back home around 2:00 p.m. My afternoon then consisted of reading and napping.

Tonight we were invited to our former neighbour’s house, Bridget and Jim. We hadn’t seen them since we moved out of the house in 2004. They are getting ready to pack up and move back to British Columbia for the end of June. They’ve been in Ottawa for three years and don’t really like it here so when their landlord told them they had to find a new place as their son wanted to move into the house they decided now was the time to pack up and go back to the west coast.

Just as a note, Gordon is still #1!

That’s it for today. No photos again.

Last Day of May

Photo today is of a hand made thank you card that Gordon’s daughter, Michelle made for us. It’s a very pretty card. She showed us some that she had made when we were in Ohio and she’s doing a good job. She also does scrapbooking and this ties in with it. Don't know where she finds the time with three kids!

Today was another hot, humid day. I decided to get the laundry done anyway. The laundry room in the campground is located at one end of a concrete shed. It’s very small holding two washers and one very large gas dryer and a folding table. There’s little room to even sit in there so I sat outside in a lawn chair. It was quite pleasant as there was a breeze so it wasn’t too bad until you start unloading the dryer. That done, I actually set up some towels on the counter in the RV and did some ironing. I must be nuts! We do have the air conditioner on and it makes a lot of difference. It was 23C (73F) in the RV at about 5:30 p.m. and it was very cool. In the house that would have still felt warm.

This afternoon, after my ironing, I lay down on the couch to read and fell asleep for a while, then worked on the computer getting May expenses updated, then sat outside and read for a while till I started to hear thunder. Our thunderstorms here in Ontario are nothing like the one we had in Branson, MO. Thank goodness! That kept me awake most of the night. Usually I sleep through the thunder storms we have here.

May Expenses

Campground Fees - $528.40
Groceries - $400.22
Laundry - $83.55
Wine - $31.95
Entertainment - $0.00
Snacks - $7.83
Eating Out - $92.21
Fuel – Truck - $293.00
Propane - $36.91 (includes buying 3 bottles of propane for BBQ)
Dog Food/Vet etc - $212.00
Repairs RV/Truck - $0.00
Misc. - $443.67 – includes safety deposit box rental & 17” flat panel monitor
Insurance - $153.74
Internet - $114.99
Cell Phones - $112.06
Medical/Dental - $445.83 (over and above what extended health care pays)
Gifts - $30.00
Total - $2951.96

We did okay for the month of May but June and July will be a total washout with a birthday, a wedding etc. and also our campground for June is more expensive.

Another Hot Day!

Today was very hot and humid but there was a slight breeze so it wasn’t too bad.

I left around 10:30 a.m. to go to the periodontist. My appointment was for 2:30 p.m. but thought I would look around some before my appointment. I went to Bayshore and picked up a prescription and then to Carlingwood and looked around there before heading to Westgate which is right beside the periodontist’s office.

I actually had my teeth cleaned by the man himself as his hygienist is on disability. He suggested that while we’re away I should consider having my teeth cleaned as having it done twice a year instead of four times a year which I had been doing prior to our nomad lifestyle apparently isn’t cutting it.

On my way home, I stopped at my sister’s to pick up our mail and have a chat.

When I got home I found out that Gordon had lunch out with the guys. They came and picked him up and went to the Greek Souvlaki House at Baseline and Prince of Wales.

For the third day in a row, Gordon's White Sands Gallery is #1 on pbase!

That about covers today. Again, no photos.

Hot!

It was very hot today. Even when I went out to walk this morning, it was showing signs of being a hot one. So, I took advantage of it by sitting outside under the awning and reading my book. Late in the morning we went to Superior Propane to get our propane tanks filled. They wouldn’t fill the small one that we use with our BBQ as it had a broken weld on the collar and they wanted $90+ to replace it so we decided against replacing it. Instead we went to Canadian Tire and got some propane bottles. They are easier to carry around. We also stopped at the post office and the bank and then came home. Back out to my lawn chair.

We did turn on the air conditioner today before we went out and it did a pretty good job but at 30 amp service we’re just borderline on being able to run it and anything else at the same time.

We got our reservations at Tranquil Acres firmed up for a month beginning July 11th.

Gordon is still #1 on pbase. He’s very proud of that!

No photos for today.

Gordon is #1

Faith and Grammie taken April 06 by Grandpa

As far as I’m concerned, he’s always Number 1 but his White Sands Gallery is now #1 on pbase (that's worldwide)!

Link below to his White Sands Gallery:

http://www.pbase.com/galleries?view=popular

Happy 3rd Birthday Faith! Photo of Grammy and Faith doing kissie face when we were at her house in April.

We spent a lot of this morning trying to decide our itinerary for the rest of the summer and I think we’ve got it down now to the beginning of September. Most of the time will be spent here in Ottawa but we plan to spend a week in the Upper Canada Village area, a month at Tranquil Acres near Carleton Place and a month in Lindsay, ON and from there probably go to Pt Pelee area for a while before coming back to Ottawa to get things ready to head south again the last week of October.

Sat outside, read, tried to get through all the magazines that we got over winter. We don’t have them mailed to us because of the cost. Sure wish these RV clubs would put all their magazines on line instead of sending them to us!

When I finished with the magazines, I took some over to the laundry room and was talking to a lady from Houston, TX. They have been in the park for a couple of weeks in their Class B. They call themselves ‘sunbirds’ as they follow the sun but their purpose is to get away from Texas’ summer heat. They plan to spend July and August in Nova Scotia.

That’s about it for today!

Feleena's Yummy!

Fountain at The Garden of the Provinces and Territories

Lilacs along Bay Street

This morning was busy. I coloured my hair, cleaned and vacuumed, got showered as I was hot and sweaty and then sat outside and read for a while. The sun had come out around 10:00 a.m. after starting out as a cloudy day.

Yesterday afternoon I cleaned out under the bed and found a coat that I didn’t know I had kept. I’m really happy about it as I really liked that coat. I had bought another one at the Thrift store but it wasn’t all that warm and it was bright red so I’m glad I found my own. I was sure I’d given it away. You’d think with the small amount of storage space we have I’d know everything that we have but obviously not! Unfortunately it’s almost out of time for wearing this season but I’ll be happy to have it in the Fall.

This afternoon, I sat outside and read again. Bib sat with me for a while.

Late in the afternoon, Gordon decided he wanted to go downtown to take abstract photos so off we went. We parked on Bay Street near Wellington and took some photos in the Garden of the Provinces and Territories then walked east on Wellington, south on Bank and back to the truck through the Sparks Street Mall.

We decided since we were downtown to head south on Bank Street and have dinner at our favourite Mexican Restaurant, Feleena’s in the Glebe. Bad move – today was the Glebe Garage Sale. They were really busy and had two parties besides but we only waited 10 minutes or so for a table. We didn’t get to sit outside but that’s okay. We’ll be back!

Then back home for our usual TV and internet. Bib was glad to see us. He couldn’t come with us as it was too hot in the truck to leave him and he’s scared walking on the streets downtown. Too much noise!

Cloudy & Rain

This morning I decided I had better get the refrigerator defrosted before it gets really hot. It doesn’t take that long to do, it’s just to get at it. Thank goodness that’s done.

At about 11:00 a.m. I went out to pick up a few groceries and some wine before the weekend rush. Also got some photocopying done to send for my extended health care. It had been mostly cloudy but when I was out there were a few sprinkles of rain.

No heavy rain up until posting time just sprinkles and cloudy.

Photo today is of Bib. I just caught him as he was licking his chops.

Chapman Mills Conservation Area

Rideau River from Chapman Mills Conservation Area

Pathway running through the Chapman Mills Conservation Area

Boardwalk running through Chapman Mills Conservation Area

Downy Woodpecker (cropped photo)

I stayed up till midnight last night to watch the season finale of Lost so I was still tired this morning. After walks and breakfast, I went outside to read but it was too hot in the sun and very little shade on our site so I came in and fell asleep.

When I woke up, Gordon wanted to go south on Prince of Wales (Hwy 16) to the Chapman Mills Conservation Area where he had gone yesterday so Bib and I went with him. Photos today were taken there. It's located on the west bank of the Rideau River just south of Black Rapids and off Winding Way. We walked for about an hour and then came home. It's a nice walking area. There is a pathway but most of it is boardwalk.

I sat outside when we came back for quite a while and read my book.

Our neighbours were at a rally at Stratford, Ontario this weekend and on their way back stopped at Lindsay and got their satellite dish from 3i Communications so we made a quick $100 for the referral!

It’s TV and internet tonight!

A Beautiful Day!

Wow! What a change in the weather from the last week. Today was sunny and warm and reached 25C (78F)!

We left the RV at about 6:50 a.m. to go to the lab for Gordon’s bloodwork and then went to Zellers at Bayshore for breakfast. Gordon was going to visit his friend, Leroy so I stayed and looked around at Bayshore and he picked me up around noon.

Neither of us slept very well last night so this afternoon, I sat outside in my lawnchair with Bib for a while and read, then came in and read some more. I thought I would take a nap but that didn’t happen. Gordon went out in search of photos but I didn’t feel like going out again. Consequently, I have no photos for today.

Busy Day!

Flags in front of the War Museum

Downtown Ottawa from the War Museum

Canadian War Museum

Today was fairly busy. I got ready early and headed out and got groceries and some photocopying that needed to be done before I went for my mammogram. OUCH!

When I came out of the grocery store, a familiar car drove by so I ran over and just caught our lawyer, Liz getting out of the car to go into her office. Liz bought our Saturn nearly two years ago when we started our odyssey. It was great to see her again!

I got home around 12:30 p.m. and had lunch in time for Gordon to go for his appointment with the ENT doctor. He has something on the inside of his lip that hasn’t gone away so our GP wasn’t sure what it was and made the appointment for him to see the ENT. He has another appointment in June to go to the Ottawa General to have it cut out. It’s nothing to worry about, no malignancies or anything, just annoying.

After that we picked Bib up and drove down the Driveway to downtown and took the Ottawa River Parkway west. We stopped at the Canadian War Museum and took a few photos. Looks a bit like a bunker. We continued west on the Ottawa River Parkway but it was really backed up at Parkdale so we took Parkdale south and got back about 4:15 p.m.

Just TV and internet tonight!

Last Day of a Long Weekend

I woke up to bright sunshine this morning. Haven’t seen that in a while.

Got the laundry done this morning. Early this afternoon my sister, Margie called. She saw a dress for Nick and Becky’s wedding and wanted me to go and look at it with her. She wound up buying it.

Got home around 3:30 p.m. or so and read for a while.

It’s very cold today for the time of year but at least it didn’t rain much.

Still no photos.

Sick to Death of Rain!!!!!

I woke up to, guess what – rain! Can you tell I’m getting very sick of it? After taking Bib out, I had thought about doing my walk in the rain but then it started to come down more heavily and I changed my mind. So back inside for breakfast and by the time showers and such were overwith and some reading it was nearly noon.

The sun came out for a bit so I did manage to get my walk done but since I hadn’t gone yesterday because of the rain, I’m still a day behind there.

I decided to go out and pick up a few groceries since tomorrow is a holiday. Our holiday weekend here in Ontario is Victoria Day in honour of Queen Victoria. Too bad it’s such nasty weather! I seem to recall last year was much the same on this weekend.

Bib was getting bored being inside so he and I got in the truck and headed out to do some shopping. I went to Merivale Mall with the intention of getting most things at Farm Boy. I met my brother-in-law, John in the mall and he said there was quit a bit of mail waiting for me at the house and that Danica was there so I could drop by. When I got to Farm Boy, I met he and my sister and we chatted for a short time. Next to the Zellers mall to pick up some things and then on to my sister’s house to pick up the mail.

Danica was there and I got some info on how she enjoyed musicfest. One of my friends, Laura asked me if she played jazz trumpet and she does but thinks she’s more suited to concert band. She said she had a great time and loved it but there was evidence of her getting homework done. With going to New York for a few days and being at musicfest all week, she now has to get back to the grind. High school will soon be over and she graduates on June 28th, then on to the University of Ottawa in September!

I didn’t get to see Nick, he was sleeping. He’s been working and it’s a bit of a grind for him having to get all the way to the southeast end of the city at all sorts of hours.

Can you tell I’ve been reading Rosamund Pilcher again? I seem to be adopting some of the British way of writing.

After that, I stopped at Your Independent as I had forgotten to get bananas and I needed to pick up something else I hadn’t found, that done, I headed home.

More reading, naps and getting ready for Desperate Housewives grand finale tonight!

Again, no photos. Just isn’t the weather for it!