Saturday August 29, 2009-Around Home

I woke up last night to a beep, beep, beep and finally realized that it was my new watch. It has so many buttons on it I have no idea what they are all for. I usually wear it to bed as it has the indiglo light but apparently I had slept on it and somehow got an alarm turned on. I thought I turned it off only to be awakened a few moments later with the beep, beep, beep. Again I thought I turned it off but it happened again. During one of the beep sessions, Gordon decided to get up. Eventually I had to look for the instructions to see how to turn it off. Guess I'll have to take it off at night.

About the same time the rain started to fall however it stopped long enough this morning for me to go for my walk then started again. We didn't get as much rain as I thought we would as it was coming up from the US and going north east of us and by late afternoon we actually had some sun.

I was having my afternoon nap when there was a knock on the door. Gordon went to answer it and it was a fan of his from pbase.com who had driven up from Syracuse, NY to see the area. She's looking for somewhere to come next summer and had seen his photos and thought this was a beautiful spot.

This morning I got vacuuming and floor washing out of the way but didn't do much else today other than read and spend time on the computer.

Since the sun came out around 4:30, Gordon and I went out for a walk around the park and I got to take some photos. I thought I wasn't going to have any photos this weekend as it's supposed to rain for two days. It's nice to get a sunny reprieve.

You can tell it's the weekend

A tent is invading our space for the first time - in fact now there's two tents

The green fishing shack across the river

Kids fishing in the Scugog River

Red-wing blackbird

Water lily

Huge lily pads

Lots of boats at the boat slips

Little girl sloshing around in the mud puddle

Friday August 28, 2009 - Shopping Trip

It was bright and sunny when I got up this morning but somewhat cool at 12C (53F).

After breakfast I got ready to go to Peterborough shopping with my sister. Gordon drove me to the little town of Omemee, east of us where we met up with Betty coming from the cottage. I got in the little yellow and black bumblebee (as she calls her mini) and Gordon continued on to Lang Pioneer Village at Keene which is near Peterborough.

We first stopped at Costco where Betty got some vitamins and a book, then since it was nearly noon we stopped at the Red Lobster for lunch. Betty had fish and chips and I had the haddock sandwich with baked chips. It was good!

From there we went to the Lansdowne Mall which is under construction. They're redoing it. She bought some sneakers. I didn't see anything that I liked better than my money. Then to Walmart where I bought a few household items and then back home gain.

Gordon had a good time at the Pioneer Village and he was having a nap. I was ready for one too. All that walking around tires me out!

It turned mostly cloudy this afternoon and we are in for a rainy weekend. Although I took my camera, I didn't take any photos. Malls aren't particularly photogenic!

Thursday August 27, 2009 - Washing the RV-Step1

Brrrr it was cold this morning, only 10C (50F) but bright and sunny. I wore my gloves when I went for my walk.

After breakfast, I boiled some eggs and cut up the potatoes I boiled last night for potato salad. Then I went in to town to pick up some groceries. I needed fruit but somehow came home with about $50 worth of groceries. Stuff sure adds up! After unpacking the groceries, I washed all the fruit, I read that this keeps fruit flies away and so far it's working!

I had my lunch while reading my latest book by P.D. James and had a short nap.

When I got up I shelled and cut up the eggs and cut up an orange sweet pepper for my potato salad.

Betty dropped by on her way back from Toronto to firm up plans for us for tomorrow.

After she left we got busy on the RV. Gordon washed the roof and I finished washing the underpart of the front. The roof always has to be done first due to all the black stuff the comes off the roof down onto the sides. When he was done I hosed down the outside but now we definitely have to wash the side walls. the hosing down didn't take all the guck from the roof off the sides. It's a big job! We'll have to finish it another day.

It turned cloudy later in the day and I don't think the temperature reached 21C (70F) so it was a perfect day for working on the RV.

Wednesday August 26, 2009

We started out the day with a lot of cloud and rain but a couple of hours into the morning the sun was shining brightly.

I was chatting with Dee on Yahoo Messenger when Gordon asked if I wanted to go to the coffee klatch at the clubhouse. I had forgotten it was Wednesday. Every Wednesday people gather there to chat and have coffee, tea or juice and muffins. They charge a nominal amount for the beverages and goodies.

Today we sat with a nice lady who is also a fulltimer but is seasonal in the park for the summer months. Last year she and her husband went on a caravan through Mexico and Central America to Panama. They had a great time and really enjoyed it except she thought there were too many people in the caravan and the wagonmaster and tailgunner weren't experienced enough. With so many rigs it took 8 hours to cross most of the borders. In her opinion, she would like to travel with two or three others. It was interesting, but I don't think it's in our future. She described the potholes in the roads especially in Honduras and we don't even like the roads in Ontario (or Louisiana).

After lunch I found myself reading and taking a nap so when I got up I decided I didn't want to waste the rest of the day and there were things that needed to get done so I set about defrosting the refrigerator. I don't think it's even been this bad before! It took closer to 1 1/2 hrs to get the job done rather than the usual 45 min. But it's done!

I borrowed a photo from Gordon today entitled "Sunrise Sunrays".

Not much else to report for today. We did reach a lovely 24C (76F) under beautiful sunny skies.

Maybe tomorrow after I pick up some groceries we'll get some of the RV washed???

To read Gordon's most recent updates, click here.

Tuesday August 25, 2009 - Looking for a Watch

We had a beautiful sunny, breezy day today with a high of 26F (79F).

When I woke up this morning my watch had stopped at 5:25 a.m. Although I think I just replaced the battery last Fall, I thought it might need a new one. We had to go in to town anyway to set pins for our new credit cards with the chip in them. After that I picked up some strawberries at the grocery then to the Mall to have my watch checked. They don't change batteries they send them out with a 3 week return. That won't work for me. So, she sent me back downtown to Johnson's Jewelers. We could have walked there from the bank! Anyway, it's not the battery. So we drove back to the Mall to see if I could find a new one at Zellers. Didn't like what they had. So we came home and had lunch and headed the 30 miles or so in to Peterborough to Walmart. There I got a watch, not the one I wanted, but it will do. While there I picked up some groceries and stuff. It's not a Superwalmart but has a Grocery Shelf as they call it so I was able to get most of my non-perishable items.

After that we drove to the Riverview Park & Zoo. It's a free zoo and quite a good one considering the price or lack thereof. Here are some of the animals.

Pig

Goat

Emu

Lemur

Monkey

Barbary sheep

Two humped camel

A really big yak

This baby yak was just born on August 4th

I took this photo on our way back. We thought it was pretty with the cows in the foreground.


The plan today before the watch fiasco was to wash the RV. Needless to say that didn't get done.

Monday August 24, 2009-Ken Reid Conservation Area

First of all, I'd like to congratulate my cousin, Bob and his wife, Deb on selling their house in Ottawa. They sold it themselves through Grapevine. They're hitting the road on September 24th.

It was supposed to be sunny and beautiful today but I woke up to clouds and we didn't have much sun till around noon. I did my walk/run this morning although it was tough. Too much food this weekend! I have to learn to just say no!

After we had lunch and a nap, we headed over to the Ken Reid Conservation Area. We've been there before but we've never done the Point Trail. It's almost 1.6 miles return up to a point with McLaren Marsh on one side and Sturgeon Lake on the other side. (See map - the trail is the blue marked trail out to the point.)

We saw this Mennonite cart along the way

It was a nice trail but there was quite a bit of tree roots so you had to be careful where you were walking. Here are some trail photos.

A Monarch butterfly


McLaren Marsh

Swans in the marsh

The Point



Cedar Waxwing among the berries


Our neighbour left this morning. He also had a Titanium. Today when we got back there was another Titanium parked beside us. It's nice to see Canadians buying Canadian!

I went outside to read and they came over and introduced themselves. That doesn't happen all that often up here but these were nice, friendly folks.

By the time we got back to the RV it was nice and sunny so I hope we have more of this kind of weather this week. Our high was 24C (75F) with a nice breeze, perfect for a hike.

Sunday August 23, 2009 - Cottage Weekend is Over!

Today begins our fifth year of fulltiming. Five years ago we headed back to Ottawa from the cottage to pick up our brand new 2004 Titanium 33E38TS, go through our 'getting to know your RV' with our dealer and then taking it to Tranquil Acres Camping at Carleton Place. Our Titanium has served us well and is still going strong and we still love going to Tranquil Acres. In fact we'll be heading there on September 10th.

We headed to the cottage around 11 a.m. I had to stop to pick some bananas up for Betty and we arrived around 11:40 a.m. We met everyone but Garth walking down to get the morning paper. We drove on and spent a few minutes with Garth before Betty and Margie arrived. The others decided to walk further.

Lunch was served inside today as the skies looked pretty iffy and it was cool. So we had more corn and hamburgers, more birthday cake, peaches and ice cream. We certainly ate well this weekend and as a result I feel sleepy and lethargic.

After lunch and clean up it was time for our annual cottage photo. We took this one on the dock with the trees in the background (photo above). It sure was windy and didn't do much for our hair!

Soon after John, Margie and Danica started on their return to Ottawa. Nick and Becky are staying for another night. This is their summer vacation.

Today is Margie's actual 50th birthday. We just celebrated it yesterday. So, Happy Birthday again, Margie!

Saturday August 22, 2009 - Margie's 50th Birthday Party!

Today was another day at the cottage. We had a forecast for thunderstorms but we only had some rain when Garth was cooking our steaks at dinner time and then again when we left to go home.

We arrived at the cottage shortly before noon to find a note saying everyone was out in the boat. We went down to the dock and it wasn't long before the boat came along with everyone waving.

Then it was lunch time - hot dogs and chips on the back deck.

After lunch I took some bird photos - this bluejay was on top of the cottage


Nick and Becky were playing with a football out in the water. Nick is diving off the raft to get the ball. Quite a dive!

Some of us had an afternoon nap and Betty and I went for a walk.

Gordon and nephew, Nick shucking the corn for dinner.


An old dock down by the boathouses

Margie will be 50 tomorrow, hard to imagine. She still looks like a teenager. We had blown up some balloons and attached them to her chair.


And here we all are at dinner in the dining room at the cottage

Margie models the fancy box-link bracelet that Betty & Garth and Gordon & I gave her


The night was topped off by fireworks done by John and Nick.



The end of a great day!

Friday August 21, 2009-Ladies Day Out

Today my sisters, Betty & Margie, my niece, Danica and my niece-in-law, Becky picked me up at the RV park for our ladies day out. First Becky wanted to see the RV as she has never seen it. She was impressed!

From there we went in to Lindsay to a little clothing shop that usually has some really good bargains but Margie was the only one who got anything and she got a top for $2.00. Then to Giant Tiger next door to pick up some stuff.

Danica was our driver today so we then headed to Fenelon Falls. Fenelon Falls claims to be the Niagara of the Kawarthas. We had lunch at the Fallsview Restaurant which overlooks the falls. It's pretty but the falls are noisy!

At the Fallsview Restaurant, on the left - me, Margie, Betty and on the right in front is Becky and peeking out behind her is Danica with the Falls in the background.

After lunch we walked around the little town and went in to some of the shops. Betty bought a pair of shoes and Danica bought a small back pack but the rest of us didn't buy anything.

From there we continued around Sturgeon Lake to Bobcaygeon where we again toured the shops and this time none of us bought anything.

We were lucky in that we had some dark clouds but only a couple of drops of rain. It turned out to be quite nice in spite of the forecast.

Around 3:30 we arrived back at the cottage in time to have a nap before dinner.

Some photos of the two cottages

The back of Betty & Garth's cottage - this faces the road

Back and front of the guest cottage


Margie and John made most of the dinner. They were making spaghetti so Gordon needed gluten free pasta and I can't eat tomatoes so I had brought an Alfredo sauce for me. All these food allergies are complicated at a dinner like this. She also made garlic bread, sausage and caesar salad.

Dinner at Betty & Garth's cottage

We retired to the guest cottage for desert which Danica had made, some nice squares and shortly after Gordon and I headed for home. Tomorrow is another busy day at the cottage.

Margie & John's wire-haired terrier, Jasper

Far too much eating today!

Thursday August 20, 2009-More Shopping

It was cloudy and warmer this morning when I went for my walk. Since it looked like rain I didn't venture out onto the road but stayed within the park.

After breakfast I got ready and went in to town. I had some items to pick up. While I was there I found Gordon another vest at Giant Tiger in a dark beige colour. It was on sale! So, now he's set for vests. I had some research to do on some things I'm thinking of buying for gifts so I can't mention it here. LOL

When I was out I bought a new outdoor mat for $6.67 at Canadian Tire. With it you got a $5.00 gift card so the mat wound up costing $1.67. Such a deal! I had been using our old indoor mat and it wasn't very good for outdoor and always seemed to be sopping wet. This one is stiff like an outdoor mat should be so maybe I won't have so much grass and stuff in the RV now.

I took this photo of the Scugog River when I went to dump the old mat in the garbage can.


I got home around 12:30 p.m., spent some time on the computer till I heard naptime calling. It turned in to quite a long nap.

Now to be prepared for a series of thunderstorms coming through the area this evening.

This weekend is our cottage weekend held annually at my sister's cottage at Pleasant Point which is on Sturgeon Lake. I expect my posts will be very late or possibly even done the following morning.