Friday September 10-Monday September 13, 2010

Friday

I thought it was supposed to be raining this morning but the sun was out although a bit chilly. I went for a long walk despite the aches and pains I have that started a couple of days ago. This is over and above the shoulder problem. My body definitely knew a birthday was coming up!

I did some cleaning this morning. When I looked outside someone had put a big red bow on the door of our neighbour's house. Our new neighbour was to move in today. There were balloons and things tied to the porch as well.

Around noon I decided to make some cookies. I've had a sugar craving so this probably wasn't a good idea but I made some gluten free peanut butter cookies anyway using Nancy's recipe and gluten free flour. They turned out very well and aren't all that difficult to do.


While I was baking cookies the neighbour arrived with, I think, her Father. I guess it was her Dad that put the bows and balloons around the house. She came carrying a vacuum cleaner and later went back to her van for bucket, mop and cleaning supplies. That's always a good sign. She's quite young, 20s or 30s. She also has a child but I didn't see him/her yet.

Saturday

Today was an absolutely beautiful early Fall day. After my morning walk and breakfast Gordon said he wanted to drive to the Baxter Conservation Area. It was a beautiful day for a drive.

We parked, paid our money and started out on the hiking trails. We haven't done any trails this summer due to the heat and my eye surgery so it was so nice to get back to it.

Here are some things I spied with my little eye.....












On our return we had a late lunch and then a nap.

Sunday

I had taken a muscle relaxant last night as everything was hurting so I slept about 12 1/2 hours. Even for me, that's a lot!

Although it was cloudy with the threat of rain, I started out for my walk but developed a new pain so made it a short one.

I spent the day with my book.

Monday

More rain but we did get some sun in between showers.

I put a loaf of bread in the breadmaker then headed out to do some errands this morning. When I got back I made some stew. It seems like stew weather! Then I coloured my hair. I'd been toying with letting it go gray but after I got a haircut today, I decided not to.

Tonight we decided to go out for our birthdays. We wound up at Chuckles Jack. It's in the same building as the Comfort Inn but they aren't affiliated.


We were celebrating our two birthdays. Mine was last Thursday and Gordon's is this Thursday.

The restaurant was very accommodating. I had the Jambalaya (Cajun style) and he removed the tomatoes. Everything is cooked from scratch. It was very spicy so I've taken some Divol tonight!

It was a good night, a nice restaurant on the water and I expect we'll be back. I like restaurants that accommodate our food problems.

Wednesday & Thursday September 8 & 9, 2010

Wednesday

It was cloudy this morning but fairly warm for my walk. The sun did come out and then we had some rain later in the afternoon. A real mixed bag. It's been the same all week.

This afternoon I attended the Volunteer Fair. I registered as a person who is interested in volunteering then went around to the various booths to find out what might interest me.

The first stop was the Gordon Pipe Band. They have need for people to run them back and forth on parade routes, people to carry flags at the head of the parade and such and they also tried to talk me into learning to play the bagpipes. Apparently they teach for free and there's only eight notes so it's not that difficult. Since I already know music...well I took two years of lessons when I was about six. Hmmmm, maybe.....

I moved on to several other booths but the next one that caught my eye was researching genealogy at the Heritage Museum. Apparently people come in with requests to have someone search their family tree - right up my alley!

My next interest stop was at REAL. They are all about recycling. Something else that I'm interested in. There was even talk of crafting. Wow!

Thursday

Happy Birthday to Me! Too bad the weather didn't cooperate. I woke up to a rainy day so took the day off from walking. I received lots of Facebook greetings and emails. It's so nice to be remembered!

After wearing glasses for over 50 years I decided to splurge today and went and got my eyebrows tweezed. I can't do it myself, it hurts! She offered to wax but I thought this time I'd go with tweezers. They look great!

When I got home I got a birthday phone call from my stepdaughter in Columbus. Thanks, Michelle!

I had put pork tenderloin, veggies and rice in the crockpot this morning so didn't have to worry about dinner. Since Gordon's birthday is exactly a week later than mine (although he's much older LOL) we usually go out for dinner on the weekend between.

Sunday to Tuesday September 5-7, 2010

Sunday

It was much cooler for my morning walk. I even had on a sweater and was still chilly till I got moving!

I was out of eye drops so I headed over to Walmart to get my prescription filled. While out I did a few other errands.

After lunch, I went out and washed the interior of the truck, then tried to get the bugs off the grille. Gordon came out and cleaned the hubcaps and then washed the outside of the truck. While he was doing that I washed the car. We went out to get some Armorall and some For Sale signs but they were all out of them at Dollarama and they wanted $5.99 at Canadian Tire so we'll wait till we go to Ottawa next week and get some there. Why pay $5.99 when you can buy them for $1.00?

And then, of course....it rained!

Monday

Happy Labour Day!

It was sunny and cool for my walk this morning. I took a different route and walked a bit through the eastern part of downtown. In walking past the Comfort Inn I saw that they have a deck built for outdoor dining. Might have to look into that!

I got one thing done today - I put mactac on the shelf below the bathroom sink. Other than that I read.

We had more rain.

Tuesday

It was raining when I got up this morning however it turned into a beautiful sunny, warm day.

I was up early as we had to go to Ottawa for an appointment with my periodontist's office to have my teeth cleaned as well as one to get our shots for shingles. We got that out of the way and ran a few errands then headed home.

I even got to sit out on my front porch and read for a while today (and listen to my wind chimes). It was just a beautiful afternoon which turned into a really awful evening with lots of heavy rain and thunderstorms.

Today I'm done with eye drops in my right eye which was the first one done on August 4th. It will be two more weeks for the left one. It's been said that the worst part of the cataract operation is the eye drops and I have to agree with that although having someone poking around in my eye wasn't fun either but at least it didn't take long!

Wednesday to Saturday September 1-4, 2010

Wednesday

Today was another hot, sunny day. I did go for my walk this morning as my shoulder is improving greatly. I can't say enough good things about A535! I did notice when I was out this morning that a lot of the green trees now have red leaves. How does that happen when it's been so hot?

I went out for groceries this morning. Thank goodness I took the cooler with me!

When I got back I did some couch time with my book. I got regular print books instead of large print at the library this time for the first time in about 2 years.

Thursday

It was cloudy and humid when I took off for my walk this morning. We had sun, cloud and rain today, a real variety.

We made one trip to Home Hardware this morning but other than that stayed home all day and read or was on the computer. I have a huge amount of stuff piling up to do, one of which is posting all my receipts to my spreadsheet which I have only done once since we moved here. That is going to be a very tedious job.

Friday

It was sunny and humid this morning as I set out for my walk.

The plan for today was to head in to Ottawa, go to Ikea to get some bookshelves to surround our TV then go to my sister's for birthday dinner for Gordon and I. I had a sleep test scheduled at the Queensway Carleton Hospital so Gordon was dropping me off and going back to Margie's to spend the night as I was to be released between 5 and 6 a.m. and it's too far to drive for that sort of timeline. Originally I was going to drive myself but when Margie suggested the birthday dinner, other arrangements were made.

We had a nice dinner at Margie's. Danica had to leave to referee an old timer's soccer match but Nick and Becky and 'Bean' were there along with friends of theirs and their baby.



I arrived at the Queensway Carleton Hospital early for my sleep test, sat and read my book for a bit, then filled out the required forms when the night staff showed up and was given my room and wired up for the night. It's not easy to sleep with all those wires hanging off you!

Saturday

I think I slept about 3 1/2 hours so hopefully they were able to get enough information. I was roused at 5:30 a.m., filled out more forms, called Gordon to come and pick me up and we headed home.

It was much cooler this morning after the rain we had last night and the wind today was almost chilly. This morning was also the first sunrise I have seen in quite some time but there was quite a bit of cloud so it wasn't spectacular. We did stop along the way and took some ground fog photos.

Ground fog

The sky lightens

And the sun casts a golden glow on the trees

The sun coming up behind the trees

We thought this cloud looked like a piece of blueberry pie with a scoop of ice cream

After unpacking the car, putting away presents and having breakfast we headed out to see if there were any garage sales. I managed to find a corner shelf that I've been wanting. There weren't too many happening today. It was supposed to rain all day so I guess people decided not to bother. When we returned home we both lay down for a while but I couldn't sleep so after lunch I suggested we start getting the truck cleaned up in preparation to sell.

Somewhere in there I had to have a shower to get all the goop out of my hair from the electrodes. YUCK!

We cleaned all the stuff out of it and Gordon moved that to the basement while I did the best vacuuming job I could with the little shop vac we have. It looks better but there's more to do!

Gordon also hung my shelf and I have put some stuff on it already!

The shelf is a good match for the woodwork

After that it was time to relax and I was able to have a nap while listening to the wind chimes that my niece gave me for my birthday tinkling from the front porch. A very pleasant sound......

Saturday to Tuesday August 28-31,2010

Saturday

What a beautiful day we had today, warm and sunny with a breeze and no humidity. After my morning walk where I stopped at a couple of garage sales, we had breakfast and then went out to more garage sales. Today was actually quite a productive day. I got four chair pads that are more gold than yellow but with blue in them, a couple of rooster ornamental things for my kitchen, a small shelf that I want to redo for the bathroom and Gordon got a small Jobmate, all for about $16.



We also went for a little drive and saw this great blue heron

and this tiny turtle trying to get across the road

to the swamp


After lunch, I went back out again mostly to go to the library but I did visit a few other garage sales but didn't see anything. I also stopped at a thrift store downtown that I hadn't been in before but it was mostly junky stuff.

When I got back I sat on the front porch to read for a while.

Can anyone identify this tree for me?



Sunday

Today was a little warmer but mostly a carbon copy of yesterday. I even got to wear shorts for my morning walk. I've been wearing pants the last few days!

Gordon had gone on a long photo shoot this morning and he was arriving back just as I got home from my walk.

This afternoon we decided to go in to Carleton Place. Home Depot had a sale on garage door openers. However when we got there, they didn't have any. While there we stopped by Tranquil Acres Camping for a while to see how things were going there. We chatted a bit with the owners and the people that have parked next to us for the last couple of years, walked around the park and came home. We didn't even take any photos!

When we got home I put a loaf of bread to bake in the breadmaker. Margie, John, Danica and Jasper (their wire haired terrier) stopped by on their way home from visiting John's sister in Brockville. Danica hadn't seen the house yet. They didn't stay long but it was nice to see them.

I had a question from Karen wanting to know how our fireplace animated .gif was done. Actually, Gordon did it but the instructions were on google and can be seen here. You can also buy animated .gif software like Easy Gif Animator.

Monday

Yesterday I had planned to get so much done today! It wasn't to be. I woke up about 4 a.m. with the same shoulder problem I had before we moved here only this time it's in the right shoulder which is even worse since I'm right handed. I can't get comfortable anywhere. If I lie down, I have trouble getting up. I'm feeling really useless about now!

Tuesday

No shoulder muscle spasms today, still a bit sore but spent the day sleeping off the muscle relaxants. It was very hot today here. It's not usually so hot here at the end of August. I stayed inside in air conditioned comfort!

Wednesday-Friday August 25-27, 2010

Wednesday

Today was mostly unexciting.

I did have a telephone interview for my application for social security benefits. Now as long as the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa will certify that they have met me and I am who I say I am, certify my documents and my application, I should be good to go! I have to call and set up an appointment as soon as I get the application from the Social Security Office in Ogdensburg, NY.

I finally got out for my morning walk. It was cloudy and cool but humid. Most of the day was cloudy with sunny breaks. Thank goodness it wasn't hot as it was humid!

We went to Home Hardware to buy another doorbell, this time a wired one since the wireless one didn't work for long. Batteries ($13/each) don't last long in the summer so I can't imagine how long they'd last in winter! It should be installed tomorrow.

Sunset looked like it might be a good one so we went out and instead caught this pretty partial rainbow. The sunset itself turned into a non event.

Our pretty rainbow

Golden light, dark sky

The marshy area on the Jasper Road at golden light


Thursday

I went for a long walk/run this morning. It feels really good to get back in the swing of things finally.

We had strange weather today as little pockets of rain were all over our area on the radar map. It was quite cool as well with quite a breeze. Our high might have been somewhere around 20C (68F). I didn't really look.

Late this morning our plumber/electrician came by as scheduled. He put in our doorbell with both front and back bells and our dedicated plug for our electric fireplace but most exciting for me was finally getting my bathroom counter and sink in!

Note our 'working' fireplace

And our new bathroom counter, sink and tap

The taps that we had installed a couple of months ago wouldn't work with this sink so while our plumber was putting in the pipes under the sink we took off to find new taps. We got some that are quite different.

Due to the width of the counter and the size of the sink we had to offset the taps but I think it looks cool!

Friday

My day started with another walk/run in the cool sunshine! Definitely a feeling of Fall in the air the last couple of days. It was only 11C (52F) when I was out this morning. The weekend however is supposed to be hot and humid.

Our plumber was here bright and early to install the taps that he took out of the upstairs bathroom downstairs in our half bath. His bill wasn't all that bad considering the work he did. He was much cheaper than the guy who came a couple of months ago and he also did more work!

The rest of the day was pretty quiet. We did have to go to Home Hardware again (our home away from home) but other than that my day consisted of reading and napping and computer time.

Tuesday August 24, 2010-Checkup and Obituary

It was cool and foggy this morning but it had mostly cleared up by the time I left and the sun came out as I was on the road. I was up early as I was driving myself to Ottawa for my one week checkup at the eye surgeon's office.

The surgeon is happy with the way the eye looks so I don't have to go back for a month.

After my appointment I ran some errands and picked up some groceries in the city. It was while I was driving around the city that I found out that Dick Maloney, a local crooner and celebrity who sounds a lot like Frank Sinatra passed away late last week. He had been a quadraplegic for the past four years and although unable to move managed a radio show every Sunday morning from 6 a.m. to noon called Sentimental Journey. I've missed it since I've been in Smiths Falls. I really like listening to him sing although most of his music was from the 40s and 50s.

I arrived home just in time to get dinner ready.

Monday August 23, 2010

We had more rain this morning but by noon we were getting some sun, thank goodness!

We had planned to go and pick up our bathroom vanity counter today but they're closed on Monday. Instead I went out and paid the last tax installment and got my license changed to show that I don't have to wear glasses for driving any more. I had to have a short eye test first but I passed that with flying colours! I checked out a couple of thrift stores but only bought another pair of reading glasses and a couple of funnels at Dollarama. Big purchases today!

Today is my sister Margie's birthday. Happy Birthday Marg!

Thursday to Sunday August 19-22, 2010

Thursday

We're still waiting for the repairman to come and fix the furnace blower. With his busy schedule and us being unavailable because of eye surgery we just haven't been able to get it done.

Today we had to go back to Ottawa for my 24 hour eye checkup. Since my eye doctor was scheduled to operate today we had to go back to the hospital for my checkup rather than his office which is much closer for us. My appointment was for 4:15 p.m. and it was raining. Rush hour is bad enough but with rain, you just can't get anywhere.

Rush hour



We left early as Gordon wanted to take a few photos along the way and I wanted to stop at Natural Food Pantry to pick up some bread mix among other things. That done, it was only 3:30 but since it was raining Gordon dropped me at the hospital. The eye clinic was a zoo. There had to have been 50 people in the waiting room, luckily not all for my eye doctor. I didn't get in till nearly 5 p.m. but my visit was short. He was happy with the eye. I do have a small wrinkle in the retina (not related to the surgery) but he thought that it should be okay. He was happy that I was able to read so soon but expects that within the next week things will be clearer.

Farmers working a field


We did some maneuvering around to get out of traffic just so we could keep moving and wound up at Little Italy.

Sunset on the way home



I can also now go to the license bureau and get my license changed so I no longer have to wear glasses for driving.

I called Gordon to pick me up and we headed for my sister's house in the west end, very, very slowly. Luckily it had quit raining but still the traffic was tedious. We stopped for some dinner at Wendy's and then to my sister's for a short visit and to pick up some things that they had brought for me from the cottage.

Thanks to my older sister Betty's friend, Diane for the housewarming gift.

Friday

Today was a nice sunny day.

I'd hardly had breakfast by the time I had made a loaf of bread and put dinner in the crockpot. I'll be so glad when I can do things for myself again. I have to get Gordon to do all the lifting - getting the breadmaker and crockpot out of the cupboard. I can't do my own vacuuming or cleaning other than pushing around the swiffer and that doesn't really clean much! It's so frustrating!

This afternoon I did take the car out to pick up some things that don't weigh much. It was nice to drive again.

Saturday

Looks like we're going to have a rainy weekend. When I woke up it wasn't raining but the radar showed rain all around us.

Gordon called the furnace repair guy again and he said he'd be here this morning. He did arrive but it wasn't only the pulley. He had to replace the shaft as well. He also took part of the furnace to the car wash and washed it. Now it works like a charm. He's coming back later in the week to do some other stuff for us.

I don't feel so much like I have something in my eye this morning so I guess things are healing up okay.

While waiting for the rain to start this morning and since it was cooler I decided to bake some blueberry/walnut muffins. I had an El Peto mix on hand. They turned out pretty well, some of them are strange shapes. I find that gluten free baking doesn't level out the way gluten does but I don't much care how they look, it's how they taste that counts.




Sunday

Rain, rain, rain! This is what the radar looked like this morning.

Sure looks worse on the U.S. side of the border though!

Wednesday August 18, 2010-Cataract Surgery

Up early to head to Ottawa for cataract surgery on my left eye. It went well and I am able to do computer stuff without glasses. I am still using glasses to read for the moment but I expect the eye will get better than it is right now. I'm happy with it!

I seem to have an ache around the eye that I didn't have with the right one but that is common apparently. So a tylenol and rest for me!

Sunday to Tuesday August 15-17, 2010

Sunday

Today was cloudy and cool with rain on and off. It stopped this morning long enough for me to walk.

Gordon was into more handyman duties this morning. He put up the new light fixture and fan in his office.

This afternoon we went for a drive and took some photos, then stopped at the Flea Market here in town where I bought a pitcher. We had one of these on the farm and I had one at the house as well. We called it a pudding milk pitcher on the farm. It's very plain but I've always liked it.

Some cute little wooden animals in the field

Lots of purple and yellow

Lone tree

Old barns & sheds


Yellow wildflowers


My pitcher


When we got back we had some heavy rain so I finished my latest book. I think I've read about four this week.

No updates on the furnace blower problem today.

Rain and some storms overnight.

Monday

This morning was bright and sunny again, warm but with a nice breeze for my walk. I even tried some running this morning on sidewalks I know are flat so my depth perception doesn't cause a problem.

I read most of the day. I think I've read four books this week so another trip to the library is in order tomorrow.

We went out for sunset again tonight and it was another pretty one!






Tuesday

Another beautiful day!

Today would have been my Mom's birthday. There are quite a few of my friends on Facebook who celebrate their birthday on the 17th as well so to all of them - Hope you had a great day!

I had a package of Soda Bread sitting here and we needed some bread. The instructions said to bake in the oven but I didn't want to heat up the house so I made it in the breadmaker. Hmmm, not such a good idea.

Tastes good though!