Pinhey Forest

The rain yesterday and last night kept knocking out the internet satellite and thus knocking me out of the rv-dreams chatroom. It was really very heavy at times. It even knocked out the TV satellite which is pretty rare.

This morning when I got up the sun was shining but we still had some cloudy periods. Being Saturday I got to walk on the other side of Prince of Wales in one of the residential areas.

We didn't do much this morning but I did sit outside reading my latest book 'Fire Sale' by Sarah Paretsky. I only have one left to read after this one of the ones my sister, Betty, brought down with her when she came for Canada Day. I'm sure she'll have a pile more of them when we get to Lindsay.

We decided this afternoon to go and walk on a trail since it looks like the next three days are going to be rainy. When Gordon went outside he found that our neighbour, John was out so he went over to find out how he did on his Class A license yesterday. He said it was a piece of cake so he is now licensed properly to tow his Mobile Suites.

We sat outside with them for about 1/2 hour before taking off. We settled on Pinhey Forest which is behind the Nepean Sportsplex. We walked there for about an hour but only saw one squirrel and a blue jay. It's very shady in the pines so we were out of the sun but there were mosquitoes. Luckily I had mosquito repellent in my backpack.

Trails through Pinhey Forest

Moss covered log
Red leaves

After we returned, I started reading again and we both had our afternoon nap.

More Rain and Humidity

We had heavy rain and a thunderstorm at around 4 a.m. I got up to close the bedroom windows and be sure my computer was unplugged but Gordon was already up and had unplugged it. When I woke up around 8 this morning it was cloudy and humid so I cut my walk short.

We had no plans for today so I spent the morning reading and finished '7th Heaven' by James Patterson. I was doing jigsaw puzzles on Jigzone.com when it started raining which it did for most of the afternoon causing the internet to go out due to the heavy cloud. So I started a new Sarah Paretsky book, my fifth book this week winding up falling asleep for most of the afternoon. That was much more than a nap!

Since we didn't go out today, I'm putting up a photo that I took of Parliament Hill from Victoria Island earlier this week. The large round area on the left is the Library of Parliament.

We only have three more weeks till we head to Lindsay! Can you tell that I'm ready to be on the road?

Shopping Day

Today was another hot, humid day. Thank goodness for the breeze. Our high was 29C (85F).

After walking and breakfast and a couple of hours on the internet reading blogs and surfing, I left to do some shopping. I had quite a few places I needed to go to so I was trying to think of an area where they were all close together so wound up going to Barrhaven and I managed to get almost everything on my list!

When I got home I sat outside and read. I'm now on James Patterson's "7th Heaven". This will be my fourth book I've read this week. If the book is good, it doesn't take me long to get through it!

I took the leaf photo yesterday when we were at Westboro Beach. Looks like some sort of beetle is eating the leaves on this bush.

Appointments, Errands and A Photo Expedition

Today was a lot more humid with temperatures of 27C (83F), some cloud, some sun, rain, thunder, the whole gamut!

Gordon finally got through to Social Security this morning and they claim they tried to call and couldn't get through. What's with that? They're calling from the U.S. to a U.S. cell phone. Anyway he made an appointment to go down to Ogdensburg next week and see them in person. Hopefully it will be easier that way. They can get copies of what they need, in person.

I had another chiropractor appointment this afternoon. While we were out we got fuel and ran a few errands and also went to Victoria Island. Neither of us had been there before. They have aboriginal festivities there during the summer and there were lots of natives camping there in tents. They have a fenced off area that they charge to get in but mostly we wanted to just get some photos of the downtown skyline. There were too many trees to get much but I did get this photo of the downtown area with skies starting to look thunderous!

This old building is on Victoria Island. We think it was once part of a local paper mill.

Dragon Boat


We also stopped at Kitchissippi Lookout where Westboro Beach is. Here is a photo of the cafe that overlooks the beach.


After all that, we came home and had a nap! Just after we got home we had a lot of rain and thunder.

Social Security, Class A license

I woke up to just a beautiful Ottawa summer morning. This is what Ottawa summers are usually like, clear blue skies, a light breeze and bright sunshine just like Arizona. I thought I'd better enjoy today as tomorrow turns humid and will be like that for about three days.
Our temperature got to 27C (80F) today with no humidity.

I'm not as sore today as I thought I'd be after my chiropractic adjustment and my muscles aren't nearly as sore as they were so I guess he's doing his job! I did go for my morning walk/run and this morning went to the industrial park as there was no threat of rain.

Gordon was supposed to receive a call at 9:00 a.m. today from the Social Security office regarding applying for Social Security. We waited all day and they didn't call so he started calling them late this afternoon. The line was busy, busy, busy, then closed! Really annoying!

I spent most of the day outside in my lawnchair reading and enjoying the day.

Our neighbour, John came over and said he had spoken with his friend and that we didn't need to get the Class A license. There is indeed something new coming out either this Fall or next Spring regarding RVers. Since he's already booked his appointment for his driving test and passed the written, he's going ahead with it on Friday.

Not much new here!

Getting Out and About!

Today started out cloudy but it cleared later in the day and we had 24C (75F) for a high which was lovely. I went for my normal morning constitutional.

This is Gordon's favourite house to photograph. It's all by itself surrounded by fields.



Gordon called our RV dealer this morning about our door lock and they had one in stock so we went out to pick one up and on our way back stopped at Jack Pine Trail for a while. Then back to the RV so he could install the new lock.

A streak of blue in a dark sky

Black squirrel on the boardwalk

This frog was croaking at us


We both had chiropractor appointments this afternoon. This is the first time that it's actually hurt to have an adjustment. I don't know what's up with my back but the muscles are very sore and my back is tender. I expect I'll be even more sore tomorrow but he wants me to go back again this week. I've been having some headaches the last few days and that's something that I haven't had much of since retirement.

After the chiropractor we stopped at Ikea so Gordon could get some boxes to hold his back up photo DVDs, then we stopped to pick up a few groceries and home!

When we arrived home our neighbour was washing his truck and he says that the A license with R restriction has been rescinded. He was scheduled to take his driving test on Friday so he's waiting for a call from someone he knows that's high up in the Canadian RV Association to see if he can find out anything about it. He will keep us informed. What a supreme screw-up! I sure wish the goverment would get their act together on this!

Another Low Key Day at Home

We had a lot of rain overnight. Every time I woke up it seemed it was raining. This morning was humid although it didn't rain while I went for my walk/run. I didn't know if I should run or not as my back has really been bothering me but what they hey? So away I went and it hasn't seemed any worse for the rest of the day.

The day continued to be cloudy, humid and rainy so not much got accomplished except I finished my latest book by Jeffrey Archer entitled "A Prisoner of Birth". It was another excellent book. Where do people come up with these plot lines? Guess that's why I haven't written any books. I have trouble writing my blog!

Wildflowers

I got a phone call from my older sister yesterday while I was outside reading. She gave me some hints to check out for the monthly Where Are You contest that we try to solve each month. Her hints, however, were wrong! I did manage to solve it and submit my answer and no, I'm not going to reveal the answer! I called her this afternoon to give her the information so she can mail in her reply. Sure wish she'd get a computer and learn to use it! Email is so much better than using the phone. Many of you probably don't know how much I hate the telephone. I spent 26 years as an automobile claims adjuster much of it by telephone and I still cringe when I hear it ring!

This afternoon I started another book and it seems like it's going to be another good one. I also took a little walk around looking for some photos this afternoon after the rain stopped.

A flowering bush

I was sitting outside when Gordon came out and then tried to get back in and the door wouldn't open! Luckily he was able to get in through a window. Our lock is broken so we'll have to get another one ordered. He's fixed it temporarily in the meantime but it's not something that we can rely on now.

Around the House

Today was a beautiful day weather-wise, sunny, no humidity and temperatures reaching 27C (80F). I went to bed very early last night as I was exhausted and managed to sleep almost to my normal arising time. There was lots I wanted to get accomplished today so set off on my morning constitutional thinking about what needed to be done.

First on the agenda, after breakfast, was getting the refrigerator defrosted and taking everything out of the fridge, washing everything and pitching what I didn't want. That job took a lot of the morning. After that I relaxed outside and read for a while.


After lunch, I got the vacuuming done but I'm afraid that's all that will get done today as my back isn't very happy with me. It has never recovered from my July 1st Canada Day downtown trip. I'm afraid I'll have to break down and see the chiropractor. That's enough for one day anyway!

The photos today are from our trip to Merrickville this week.

Lunch with an Old Friend

It was a beautiful evening yesterday, no humidity, no air conditioning so why did the power go out at 8:30? I was chatting merrily away in the rv-dreams chatroom when our backup power supply started to beep and the TV shut off. I had enough time to sign off chat saying the power went out. Gordon went outside to see if anyone knew what was up. All he found out was that it was widespread, not just the campground. I found some candles, lit them, then went out too.

Gordon was standing outside talking to our neighbour who just did the written test for the Class A license. He failed the first one and tried it again. Apparently the tests aren't the same every time you go so he passed that one and his appointment for his driver's test is July 18th. He said the questions were all related to commercial rather than RVing. There is word going around that a new license is coming out in the Fall, should we wait?

The bugs were coming out so we came back inside and decided to go to bed. I read for a while and noticed the power came on around 10:30 p.m. or so as I had turned my fan on that's beside my bed so I'd know. The TV also came back on and there was this ghostly blue light shining all over the RV so I came out and turned that off.

It rained over night and was still cloudy this morning as I went for my walk and run. I did my usual blog reading while having breakfast then got ready to meet a friend that I haven't seen in about 17 years for lunch. I left early and picked up a few things at Westgate Mall before meeting Marilyn at Monkey Joe's for lunch. Monkey Joe's has been around for years. Gordon and I used to go there for breakfast occasionally but I haven't been there in a very long time.

Marilyn arrived right on time and we got seated in their outdoor patio which turned out to be pretty noisy. We got caught up on the 17 missing years and left the restaurant at about 3:15 p.m. having arrived at 11:45 a.m. A lot of things have changed in that time. Her son is now 27, last time I saw him, he was about 10 yrs old and many other things have happened in her life which I won't go into.

We had a great visit and now that we have email addresses for each other, we'll be able to keep in touch.

On the way home, I stopped at my sister's and picked up our mail. This was the traffic on Prince of Wales as I was coming back to the RV Park at about 3:45 p.m.

Laundry and a Drive in the Country

Last night after dinner we drove the short distance to the Stormwater Facility which has walking paths. Gordon needed a photo for pbase.com. We just had a short outing as it looked like a thunderhead was building. Lucky for us nothing came of it except to bring drier temperatures. We then did a quick run to the grocery store.

Thunderhead

Path at storm facility


The humidity went away over night and today was a perfect 23C (74F) so I had a lovely walk/run this morning.

On to more mundane things, I got the laundry done and out of the way.

Gordon wanted to go for a drive in the country this afternoon so we took the scenic route to historic Merrickville, Ontario. Merrickville has apparently been voted the prettiest village in Ontario and has more heritage buildings than any other community of its size. It even has a Blockhouse Museum

as well as locks as the town is right on the Rideau River. We took some photos and continued on to Burritts Rapids, another hamlet in the area which also has locks. They were just about to let some boats out of the locks so we took some photos there too.



Watch out for that first step - it's a doosey!

I wonder what's behind the pink door?

There was a really big Santa at the front of one of the stores. I managed not to go into ANY stores!

Me coming out of a badly maintained British phone booth.

Merrickville is located in Merrickville-Wolford Township. This is the same spelling as Gordon's lat name.

There's also a Wolford B&B.


From there we came home arriving about 5:30 p.m. Now for a quiet night. Looks like a good night for sleeping with the windows open!

Some Reminiscing

First of all I woke up with a massive headache and a sore jaw which means I must have been grinding my teeth last night. That hasn't happened in quite a while. I also woke up just after midnight with acid reflux which isn't fun and hasn't happened since we had the head of the bed raised last year so I hope that isn't a sign of things to come! Next thing I realized was that it was raining. Yuk! No walk. I really hate that and it was also still humid.

So, after breakfast I did a root touch up. My hair is still really dry from being in the desert so I didn't want to do an all over colour. I had bought a root touch up kit yesterday. It's the first one I've done so the jury's still out on whether I like it or not.

I also got a pork tenderloin browned and put in the crockpot with potatoes, carrots and onion soup mix.

I realized then that it had quite raining so I did a very short walk/run as it was very humid out. My headache had subsided but was not completely gone. When I got back I took a bit of muscle relaxant which made by afternoon go away completely in the form of a nap.

I didn't take any photos today so I've gone through some older photos. The one at the top right is one of the Christmases that we used to have when I was a kid. In fact I am at the head of the table (in my mother's arms) so my guess is that it's Christmas 1948.

The photo on the left is my younger sister, Margie, her son, Nicholas and myself. Nicholas was about two years old in this photo. He's now 23! Boy was I younger and skinnier! The photo was taken at my Mother's house in Morrisburg, Ontario.

A Pretty Ho Hum Kinda Day

Today was hot, windy and humid with the threat of rain and thunderstorms this afternoon. The day started off bright and sunny with a lovely breeze which makes for great walking conditions. After breakfast I set out to do errands.

I had to go back to the pharmacy to pick up the rest of Gordon's medication today. They never have the full number of pills for the month that is prescribed so I did other errands while I was out which encompassed the library, getting a fax sent to our new insurer and two shopping malls. On my way home I stopped at the Canada Beading Supply that I saw when we first arrived. It's quite a store and they have beading classes which start, of course, when we're in Lindsay in August but maybe I'll be able to get one in before we leave to go south for the winter.

I got home shortly after noon and finished the latest book that I started the night before last. I love Lee Child's Jack Reacher series. They are books that you can't put down! I sat outside for a while and then thought I'd take a nap but I couldn't fall asleep so back on the computer I went taking time out to go out and try to find a photo for my blog.

Pretty ferns

This is what we call an MBB - miscellaneous brown bird.

There have been lots of tents in the park lately.

Vine climbing over the wall that runs behind us

Please say prayers for rv-dreams members, Tim and Robyn. Robyn was badly burned in an accident in mid-June and is still in hospital in Augusta, GA on a ventilator. She will be there for a long time yet.

That's it for today, folks!

Ah........

Today I spent a very restful day. I did go for my walk and run and this is the first day in ages that I haven't wrapped my foot. I'm seeing a lot of improvement in it lately.

After breakfast I took myself out to my lawn chair with my book and a cold drink and there I stayed for hours eating my lunch there. I did take a walk around the park and took some photos of the beautiful lilies. Here are some of them.






I've been wanting one of these days for ages and with the warm temperatures and the beautiful breeze it was a great day for it! Unfortunately this kind of day doesn't make for very good blogging!

Oh and by the way, I checked and my figures for June are correct! I had some comments about us only spending such a small amount on fuel for the truck and also indications that my bookkeeping may be incorrect but it's not. These figures don't happen very often but I'm hoping to see more like it this winter in Texas, that is, after we get there. I'm sure the month of October and probably November will be high due to fuel costs.

End of June Expenses, Museum of Civilization

With all the computer problems, I'm not entirely certain that June's figures are accurate but I think it's relatively close. We had lots of general expenses this month, our Visa card annual fee, our ERS, our new insurance for the truck and RV, a new hard drive (not for my Mac) so I'm pretty happy with the overall total. We also had truck service and new brakes

I had thought today would be a quiet, relaxing day sitting out in my lawn chair but it didn't turn out that way. I started off as usual with my walk/run plan. After breakfast I went to sit outside but Gordon wanted to photograph something pretty. I suggested the day lilies in front of the white birch trees I had seen this morning. He went and photographed them but when he came back he still wanted to go out. He did take time to finally put out the awning so I put down our new mat that we purchased in Mesa, AZ this winter but hadn't used yet. While looking for tie downs he realized we only had one. We had to pitch one a few months ago so we needed to go and buy one of those.

His cordless drill had also bit the dust a while back. It needed replacement batteries which were almost as expensive as the drill so he decided since he doesn't have need to use a drill very often anymore just to go with a basic drill with a cord. Our first stop was Canadian Tire. We found some drills but their ratchet tie downs were expensive. By that time it was time for lunch so we stopped at Wendy's for a little sustenance then off to Home Depot where we found the tie down we needed and a drill.

I had suggested while we were eating that we go to the Museum of Civilization in Gatineau, QC for some photos. We hadn't been there this year yet so away we went. It's a very pretty spot with paved trails running along the river for bikes, joggers, walkers and roller blading. The Museum of Civilization itself is an interesting building with lots of curves and it is in a great location being right across the Ottawa River from the Parliament Buildings and downtown Ottawa.

The Museum of Civilization

Parliament Hill

National Gallery

Pathways


On our way home we came back through downtown Ottawa to Colonel By Drive. It's a beautiful drive along the canal on the south or east side of the canal depending on where you are on the drive.

Along Colonel By Drive



When we got back I sat outside with my book for a while. It was hot but there was a very nice breeze. Here's a photo of our chairs and our new mat.

New Hard Drive and Mer Bleue

Today was one of those perfect Ottawa summer days 27C (80F) with a light breeze and very little humidity. I started out the day with my daily walk and run around the neighbourhood.

After breakfast we got ready to take my computer back to Leroy, the fellow we bought it from and got a new hard drive. This is 40 GB more than the old hard drive so I'm back in business! After that we stopped to do some errands, picked up our mail from my sister and back home for lunch.

Gordon set up my computer to get all the data back on it and we had lunch. Then we took off to get some photos. We went to Mer Bleue for our walk. The Mer Bleue Bog area is a very nice walk mostly on boardwalk as it goes through a swampy area and then through a large bog area. This area is significant as the flora and fauna here are much the same as it is around Hudson Bay. It's the only spot like it and is not normally found this far south.

Cat tails in Mer Bleue


Mer Bleue


Boardwalk through the bog


The bog

Beaver lodge

Tiny lily pads with tiny water lilies


We also walked briefly on a couple of other trails in the Mer Bleue area but one was too wet, one had too many mosquitoes and the other one wasn't very interesting.

I managed to get a photo of this little toad before the mosquitoes almost picked me up and carried me away!


By the time we got home, the computer had finished copying my data from the Firewire drive back onto my new hard drive so now I'm back in business! We just have to decide now if we're going to try to format over the old drive. We got a casing for it from Leroy so if we can get it reformatted and it works I could use it as back up (but can it be trusted) or we can send it back to Apple - things to think about!