Tulips and Forms

It was COLD this morning 3C (38F) but at least it had stopped raining. I bundled up for my walk. This morning was cloudy but the sun did come out although it was windy and the temperature managed to finally reach 10C (50F).

Late this morning Gordon decided we should to and see if the tulips were out. On our way there we drove through the Dominion Arboretum as it has not been open the last couple of times we've tried. I guess the snow hadn't gone away yet. Today it was open so here are some photos taken from the truck.





This photo of the Arboretum was taken from across Dow's Lake.


The Canadian Tulip Festival is a yearly event here in Ottawa and it starts this Friday so we thought we'd beat the rush as it's really hard to get parking in the area when the festival is one. There were quite a few out as you can see from the photos but still a lot to come out yet. The tents are starting to go up. It's so pretty around the tulips, too bad they put up those ugly tents!






This afternoon I succumbed to another nap then decided I needed to get my Canada Pension Plan forms done. I completed the part on line that they allow and printed off the Declaration page to be signed and mailed. We had decided to do pension splitting for our pension plans so another form had to be printed off and completed. Now I need to find our marriage certificate. Nothing's easy! When I find it, it has to get certified but there's a Government place to do that not far away so rather than bug our lawyer about it, I'll go there when and if I find the marriage certificate.

I really hate doing all this stuff but unfortunately if you want the money, ya gotta do the work!

On a Fulltime RVer's Mail....and Other Stuff

Yesterday when I was at my sister's I picked up our mail. Since we hadn't seen any mail since we left last Fall, we had quite a bag full. I always hate picking up the mail because I don't know what to do with it. All the Visa bills have been paid. I can access all the bank accounts from the internet. The junk mail can just go in the garbage. Then there are the magazines that I get from our Canadian RV Explorer Club and Good Sam. I usually scan them but don't really read them as I would if I were receiving them monthly.

Last year I went to the banks that I deal with and tried to get them to stop sending me things. I did succeed with some items but one of my credit cards insist that they must send me my bill in the mail. I have no idea why, it's their 'policy'.

Good Sam are always sending me junk even though I've asked them not to. I told them, 'we're on the road, we don't get our mail sometimes for months'. They still send me stuff. I threw out two bags of envelopes and junk mail last night. There goes a couple of trees!

Now I have all the bills to file - where? That's one of the major problems I have with RVing - where to file all this 'stuff'!

Well, it rained all day today so I didn't take any photos myself. Our high was only 10C (50F). This is more like the weather I expected when we got home. It's going to be like this and even colder for the next 2-3 days.

The only thing we did today was go the chiropractor. Between the manipulations and the pills for my allergies, they seem to be quite a bit better. My eyes aren't as blurry as they have been. After the chiropractor we stopped at the Sony Store at Bayshore Mall but they didn't have the lens Gordon was interested in. He then stopped to take a photo for today at the Central Experimental Farm. You can see it here.

When I got back I followed the advice on Jenny's blog - Eleven Foot RV and had a nap.

When I got up and checked my email I found that Schmap want to use one of my California photos in their California Schmap on-line magazine. Cool!

Since I didn't take any photos today, I'm posting one of one of my favourite places, the desert with the Pima County Park on the left and Tucson Mountain Park on the right.

Visiting Family

After last night's rain, today was bright and sunny and quite warm. I walked through the industrial park this morning and down a residential side street that I hadn't been on before. In the industrial area I took a photo of these tulips.


This morning I just hung around. Our TV reception wasn't very good last night. We thought it was because of the storm. That may have had something to do with it but the trees are also budding and Gordon thinks that was the main problem so he took the satellite dish down off the ladder and put it on the tripod and we're again getting excellent reception.

This afternoon I went in search of Jif peanut butter. I still didn't find it so I bought Truly which is a Zellers brand (Canadian store recently purchased with The Bay by a U.S. Company). They have a lot of the same brands that Target has. Truly doesn't have any maltodextrin in it like Skippy and Kraft do. Maltodextrin in the U.S. and Canada isn't supposed to have gluten in it but if I don't have to have it in a product, I'd prefer not to.

After that I went over to my sister's as they were to be back from a lunch out for my brother-in-law, John's sister, Marie's birthday (that's a mouthful). I arrived early so spent some time with my soon not to be a teenager niece, Danica. She'll be 20 tomorrow! She was busy studying for her last exam which occurs on Tuesday, then she's finished until September when she starts her 3rd year in Biomedicine at the University of Ottawa.

Margie and John arrived about 15 minutes after I got there so the ladies sat outside where it was beautiful and chatted. Danica opened her birthday gifts. Here she is in the orange scrubs that I bought her in Tucson. She really loves orange! They are quite a bit too long. That's what she gets for being born into a short family!

My older sister, Betty returned from her trip yesterday so she called this afternoon and both Margie and I chatted with her for a bit.

I made Gordon a pizza for dinner. I had bought a couple of pizza crusts the other day when I was out so he was happy!

So, Happy Birthday tomorrow Danica!

Getting Stuff Done and an Interlude

It rained off an on for most of the night but had stopped by the time I got up this morning. Rather than take a chance of getting wet by walking a long distance away, I did loops around the campground. You do a lot of loops in 1/2 an hour!

After breakfast I got ready and went out to pick up a few groceries. I decided while I was out to go to the bank and get the dreaded income tax paid, then I went to the shoe store where I've bought my sneakers for the past two years only to find out that they've discontinued the ones I like. The girl did manage to come up with one pair in my size but when those are worn out, I'll have to find something else. I got the groceries except for Jif peanut butter which I couldn't find in any of the three grocery stores that I went to. What's up with that? We had Jif here when I left in the Fall.

My niece was on MSN Messenger this morning telling me that our doctor's office called there this morning. They have our cell numbers but they'd rather call a local number, I guess. Anyway, the gist of the conversation is that yes, I do have a fracture in my foot and also arthritis in the big toe of the same foot. I knew about the arthritis and after the last few weeks had suspected the fracture. I'll have to call on Monday to see if she wants to do anything about it. She also said that Gordon's chest x-ray looks like the infection is almost gone however it didn't originally show up on the chest x-ray in Tucson which is why they sent him for a CT scan. We still don't have an appointment for a CT scan, hopefully that will come on Monday as well.

I got the laundry together and since the laundry room here only has 2 washers and 1 huge gas dryer I only did two loads but because the dryer works so fast it barely took an hour.

Gordon needed a photo of the day and we needed fuel so got the fuel and I washed the windshield. It was still all buggy from the last leg of our trip last week. Diesel was 1.28/litre. Trust me, that's expensive! Then we went to Chapman Mills Conservation Area which is only a short distance from the campground and took some photos. I considered it our interlude for today.

This is a view of the Rideau River from the pathway.

The Boardwalk.

A red-winged blackbird in flight.

The pathway.

Trees in reflection.


It got to 25C (77F) again today but look out....they're calling for snow showers on Tuesday with a high of 6C (43F). I knew it was too good to be true!

Income Tax - there should be a law against it!

I walked around the industrial park again this morning and finally found a way across the railroad tracks when I came back. The path on the other side of the tracks isn't much but if I cross the double set of tracks on the other side, I'm in another industrial park so maybe I'll check that one out too.

The path.


This cardinal was way up in the tree singing for me this morning.

More spring trees.


We had an appointment today to sign our income tax forms. Unfortunately we have to pay! How does that happen? We're not making any money and we still have to pay income tax. Doesn't seem right somehow that retired folks have to do that. So we got that overwith, now I just have to go to the bank and part with the funds.

After that we stopped briefly at my sister's but my niece was the only one home and Gordon wanted to go and get his picture of the day and get home so he could rest. So we left without waiting for my sister to get home from work. I'll see her this weekend hopefully.

We stopped briefly at Hog's Back Park and caught several photos of this cute little raccoon who was helping himself to the garbage in the garbage container as well as some photos of Hog's Back Falls.





Another day in the life of a fulltime RVer.

On Clotheslines.... and other things

There's a big controversy going on over the last while apparently on clotheslines. With people wanting to fight global warming they're now wanting to bring back the clothesline instead of using a clothes dryer. However most communities these days view clotheslines as a blight on the landscape it seems. Growing up we didn't have a clothes dryer. Our clothes were hung outside on a clothesline in spring, summer and fall and even sometimes in the winter if it was a nice sunny day. Otherwise they were hung on clothes racks in our large spare room upstairs. Folding clothes dried on a clothesline is often a chore. Folding towels that are stiff as cardboard isn't easy to do but the fresh smells that these days are provided by dryer sheets were amazing! My sister who lives in Ottawa has always hung her clothes outside. There are a few things she puts in the dryer, like towels. However some parts of Ottawa (like Kanata) banned such archaic things as clotheslines from the time the suburb was built. Personally, I think they're a great idea and I've been in RV parks that have clotheslines available for people. Great idea!

I walked a bit through the industrial area this morning. I sure can tell a difference in my back since I got back. Walking in the desert seemed to be helping it but as soon as I got back here and started walking on pavement again, I'm back at the chiropractor. While I was there I asked him to do an allergy treatment on me. The last two years I've noticed my allergies getting worse. My eyes get all blurry this time of year. He did the chiropractic adjustment for allergies and also recommended a naturopathic medication called Allergiplex. I'm trying that and have taken one today so I'll let you know how it works. If it works, it's well worth the $20 for 10 pills!

This plane flew right over my head on my morning walk.

This is what traffic was like on Prince of Wales this morning.


One of the RVs that is stored here in the park.


After the chiropractor we drove to the Ottawa River Parkway as Gordon needed a photo of the day for his pbase.com site. There were lots of geese and ducks as well as seagulls around. I also noticed that the weeping willow trees are starting to bud so it's looking like spring!

Here is one of the weeping willow trees. It looks so pretty against the blue of the Ottawa River.

Mr & Mrs. Mallard.

People feed the birds on the parkway. As soon as they see you they head right for you. No fear!

Here's a flock of geese heading out into the river. Note that the river is still flooded. Parts of the walking/bike path are still underwater.

This is a pretty old tree.

A seagull in flight.


Sitting outside and reading made me tired so in I came and lay down on the couch. A couple of hours later I managed to drag myself out of a deep sleep. So much for that afternoon that I didn't see!

Chest X-ray, Rain and Relaxation and Birthdays

I was up at 6:30 this morning. Gordon wanted to get to the hospital early for his chest x-ray but apparently not as early as I thought. I dropped him at the hospital at about 8:50 a.m., then drove to a nearby shopping mall, parked the truck and started out on my walk since I hadn't gone when I got up. I hadn't gone far when the phone rang. It was only 9:05 a.m. and he was done already. Rather than have me drive back to the hospital, he decided to walk to the mall so I changed direction and met him along the way.

On our way to the hospital we had noticed daffodils and tulips were out where there hadn't been any two days ago so we stopped to take some photos. Here are some of them.






Although we had some sun this morning, shortly after we got home it started to rain and it rained on and off for the afternoon but it didn't rain all that much.

Two people in the family have birthdays today, Gordon's son, Ian and Nick's wife, Becky. So, Happy Birthday Ian and Becky!

Other than reading and making a couple of bracelets, that was our day!

Today's Summary

Gordon left early this morning to have breakfast at Perkins restaurant with a photographer friend who is in town for a couple of days. I got up a little earlier than usual and had my walk. While I was out I saw someone cycling on the other side of the railroad tracks so there must be a path there. I walked over to the tracks but couldn't find an easy way to get across them as there's a ditch on this side that's quite narrow and deep and I don't want to hurt my foot any further. I'll have to keep looking.

There was a new tenter here this morning.

Gordon got the truck back in lots of time for me to go to my doctor's appointment. I left early and stopped at Rainbow Foods. They have a good selection of gluten free foods so I picked up a couple of pizza crusts for him and a bag of ginger snaps. I also found a that the Sears Home Store had a Spring & Summer catalogue so I brought that home as well. I looked in Michaels but their beads are more expensive than the ones I purchased in the U.S. There's a store I passed by the other day in the industrial park that's close by called Canadian Bead Company. I'll have to check that out.

I got to the doctor's early and she actually took me early. Just as I arrived, her nurse was just hanging up from making Gordon's appointment with the infectious disease specialist. He goes on the 30th.

She checked my foot and sent me for an x-ray. She also told me that if it was a simple hairline fracture even if I had had it looked at right away they probably wouldn't do anything about it, just let it heal on its own. She thinks casting it is 'overkill'. She said since I've aggravated it four times since the initial occurrence it will just take a long time to heal. If it's worse than a hairline fracture, she'll call me and then it will probably have to be casted.

I had planned to stay and make an afternoon of it and maybe visit my sister but with some food in the truck that needed to be refrigerated so I came home.

I got comfy and started to read my book when Gordon announced that he wanted to go to Henry's new store. Henry's sells cameras. I needed to take mine in to see what they said about the dirt on the sensor so away we went. He tried out a couple of cameras and had taken a camera card so he could compare them to his Canon 20D. He didn't buy anything....yet. I asked about repair for my Sony and he referred me to a Sony repair shop where all repairs are done on premises. Henry's would have to send it to Toronto.

After leaving there we stopped at the Sony repair store. Initial cost is $50 plus tax which allows them to do the repairs up to $150. After that, they call you. My camera is only one year and three months old but we didn't think it was worth the possibility of $150 repair so I've decided to live with it for now. I could buy the model down from mine for $150 at Staples right now. We saw it yesterday. I'll just have to learn to take out the marks in Photoshop or crop them out.

When we got back I sat outside and read for a bit and took some photos of 'views from my lawnchair'. Then I got sleepy so had a long nap!



Now, I've made cornbread for dinner to go with my stew and....

That's a wrap!

Doctor and Lots of Errands!

Last night's sunset was quite pretty.


I was up early again this morning. I thought I wouldn't have to do that anymore now that we're not traveling but I wanted to get in my walk, breakfast and such before Gordon's doctor's appointment. We left early as all good little Virgos do and were early for the appointment.

This is our neighbour's palm tree.

These seed pods from the white birch remind me of the ocotillo flower.



Our doctor had never heard of Valley Fever however she takes everything in stride and sent him for a blood test to check his liver function and gave him a requisition for a chest x-ray at the local Ottawa hospital. She is also setting up an appointment with an infectious disease specialist and arranging another CT scan of the affected lung.

Travel on our local freeway called The Queensway AKA Hwy 417.



We got all the receipts in the mail for the travel medical insurance for Gordon's Emergency visits in Tucson and our dental claims from Mesa to my extended health care. While we were out Gordon also got a much-needed haircut and a chiropractic adjustment. I'll leave mine till another day.

While at the doctor's I made an appointment to see her tomorrow to have her look at my foot - yes, finally I'm getting my foot looked at from when I sprained it before Christmas. I can here cheers from all the people in the rv-dreams chatroom. We also stopped at Sears to get Gordon's watchband replaced and had a noon breakfast at the Carlingwood Restaurant located in the mall. After picking up a few groceries and driving through the Experimental Farm on the way home including stopping at the Ornamental Gardens in the Experimental Farm for a few photos of spring flowers.

The road that goes through the Experimental Farm.


One of the barns in the Experimental Farm.



Part of the Ornamental Gardens. Come June this area will be alive with peonies.

Crocus in the gardens.


A bed of spring flowers.

More spring flowers.

And white ones.


We got home around 3:00 p.m. (we left at 9:00 a.m.) and the manager of the RV park was just about to pick up the leaves that I had raked on Saturday.

I got a lot of items crossed off my list today!

Paper Work!

It was only 7C (45F) when I went for my morning walk today but it didn't feel that cold. I walked along Rideau Heights Drive which is the road in front of the RV park. As I was walking down near the end, this little groundhog stood up to have a look. The people in the other Titanium were out with their two dogs (I met her yesterday on my walk). The dogs are English setters. When I got back from my walk, they had gone. I guess they're on their way to Vancouver Island. She said yesterday they summer on Vancouver Island and winter in Florida. That's a long drive every year!



I then decided to walk on a residential street across Prince of Wales Dr. since there was no traffic being Sunday morning. The houses on one side back on the river and they are very, very nice homes. There are a lot of old trees there and I saw a couple of cardinals flying around. Here's what the street looks like. Still quite a bit of snow there, probably because it's so shady with all the trees.



After breakfast I started to finish up getting the paperwork done for Gordon's medical claim and he completed the form for submission to the travel medical insurance company and well as an abbreviated synopsis. What a job! Paperwork galore and I still have to photocopy all of it, just in case!

I also got the paperwork from the hospital together for Gordon's doctor's visit tomorrow and he prepared a longer synopsis of what occurred for the doctor as well and we got that printed out.

While I was at it I decided I'd better enter our April expenses into my spreadsheet. Some of my receipts will be going with Gordon's claim so now was the time to get it done. I take all the receipts and check my Visa statement marking each receipt with the Canadian $ amount, then transfer that amount to my spreadsheet so it takes FOREVER! It will be much simpler now that we're home and everything is in Canadian dollars.

After that was completed, I took some time to sit outside in my chair since it was 23C (74F). We've had a mix of sun and cloud today but it's been a very nice day. I did a bit of a walk around the park.

Yesterday when I was at the grocery store, I had picked up ingredients to make my Tattie Stew as my Scottish girlfriend used to call it so I made the stew. It's wasn't for tonight. I like to let it sit for a day or so before eating it. It's much better then. However, it was ready just at dinner time so I decided we'd eat it tonight and it was delicious!

First Day 'At Home'

Today was another beautiful sunny day. I went for my walk this morning and since there wasn't much traffic on the main road (Prince of Wales Drive AKA Highway 16), I crossed the road and walked down by the river. I found out it's still pretty muddy down there but on the way I did meet the female part of the owner of the other Titanium in the RV park. They arrived yesterday just after we did and she was out walking her two dogs. They're beautiful dogs but I'm not sure what kind they are. They look like some kind of large spaniel.

This is the street I usually walk along in the morning.

This is the road I have to cross to get to the river. On a weekday morning at this time it would be bumper to bumper.


There's an RV sales place just down the road from us. They don't sell Titaniums though.

And here's the Rideau River.


After breakfast I set out to get some groceries as I hadn't gotten much the last few days since we were crossing the border and you never know what they're going to tell you that you can't take across. Traffic was horrendous which made me sorry I didn't stop yesterday when I was already out at the bank but I made short work of it and got back in about 1 1/2 hours only to find out that my watch battery died. Some fulltimers can go without a watch but I'm not one of them so that's something else that will have to be looked after. Gordon broke his watch band a few days ago so we'll have to get that replaced as well.

Yesterday when I was talking to the travel medical claims department I asked them to email me the forms as they hadn't yet arrived at my sister's although they had the correct address and I found out what I needed to send them with the claim. They wanted proof of travel, ie. airline tickets or gas receipts. When I was going through receipts for the border I hadn't been able to find my October receipts so after much searching I finally located them and got all the gas receipts to get us to Tucson and back. So I worked all day with very little to show for it!

I've also worked up a list of things that need to get done over the next few days as well as over the summer. It's becoming daunting. One item is to apply for my Canada Pension Plan which should start in October. Gordon also has to apply for his Social Security so we'll be that much richer anyway! It's nice when it's time for the government to pay you for a change!

A while ago when we were in Tucson I was talking to Ellie of Just Travelin and mentioned Toronto being nicknamed Hogtown but I wasn't sure why. Thanks to Wikipedia I found out that in the 1920s Toronto was known for its vast pork processing plants and even though these are no longer in existence, Toronto's nickname is still Hogtown. There's your little bit of trivia for today!

This afternoon Gordon and I went for a walk around the area. If you go through the parking lot of the plant behind us, you get to the industrial park on the other side of the plant. So I'm thinking that might be an easy place to walk (until they put up a fence, but right now there's no No Trespassing signs). Better than risking life and limb trying to cross Prince of Wales on a weekday morning!

While on our walk, we came across this snow dump. This is one of the places where the dumptrucks bring the excess snow from the streets and sidewalks in the winter. It seems really strange to be out in a t-shirt with that much snow still around!



Just before I left, our neighbours, Pierre and Francine were out raking their site. I had thought about doing that yesterday so I talked to Pierre and he said that the rake belonged to the park so he'd leave it for me when he was done. The Manager will come with some kind of machine that eats up leaves and pick them up later so when we got back from our walk, I did some raking. It's not perfect but better than it was.