Ready to Leave!

This morning was cold -.5C (31F)! Luckily there was no wind so I put on lots of layers and away I went.

The rest of the morning was spent surfing and reading some magazines that Betty had given me and still tried to get into the book that I was reading yesterday.

More of the same after lunch. Gordon fixed the sewer hose that had come apart when we left Lindsay earlier this summer. I started watching 'Honeymoon in Vegas' with Nicolas Cage and James Caan. It was ok.

I downloaded some photos from Gordon's son's photobucket of the grandchildren and I'm using Gordon's Photo of the Day for my photo.

Lilly, Caden and Iris

Iris

I'm ready to get going!

Ken Reid Conservation Area

I had to bundle up for my walk this morning. There was still frost on the grass when I went outside at nearly 8:30 a.m.

After breakfast I got a little housework done, then Gordon and I went in to town. Gordon had to get some plugs and screws to fix the valance that is coming down behind our recliners so our first stop was Canadian Tire. We also stopped at Food Basics to get some bananas and while there saw toilet paper on sale. We have tried Cashmere toilet paper and it seems to work well with our sewer system so if you're in Canada, it's a good product.

From there we stopped at a campground that we had stayed at our first year in Lindsay. It's called Alpine but we were told that they are now closed to transients. Betty and Garth liked us to stay there as they could pick us up in the boat without going through the locks however our preference is where we're staying.

On to the Ken Reid Conservation area where we hiked on a few trails. There were lots and lots of these little red dragonflies out today. It was still a bit chilly but the sun was bright and we had a good time. Here are some photos of our walk today.








When we came back I lay down to try to get into a book that Betty gave me called Doors Open by Ian Rankin. So far it's not doing it so of course, I fell asleep.

Gordon got the valance rehung behind our recliners this afternoon so it should stay put for at least another four years.

Our high today was only about 11C (52F) and there was a chilly wind. A prelude to winter!

A Generally Boring Day

There's not much going on here today. After my morning rituals, I went in to town. I needed to get our travel medical insurance. I decided to go with deductibles to make it less expensive. Hopefully this year we won't have to use it at all.

The laundry here at the campground is closed so I went to check out a laundromat in town. There's one I usually go to but it doesn't have a washroom but has good parking for a 1 ton truck. There are two others, one right downtown which isn't good and one on the west end which doesn't have very good parking for a vehicle the size of ours so I'll either wait till we get to Sherkston Shores or go to the one without the washroom. Darned inconvenient not to have a washroom in a laundromat if you ask me!

I got a few groceries and generally looked around, arriving home shortly after lunch time.

I lay down and read, had a nap. Got up and cut up the strawberries I bought yesterday and made a meatloaf.

I borrowed Gordon's photo of the loon on Sturgeon Lake that he took yesterday as I didn't take any photos today. The good news is Gordon sold three photos today. I don't usually comment when he does but since this is a slow day, thought I'd tell you.

Dinner at the Cottage

It was really foggy this morning when I went for my walk so I took a few photos in the softer light.

This hawk was also flying around.

The fog burned off and the rest of the day was supposed to be sunny and nice but we had a lot more cloud than sun. I went in to town to pick up some groceries.

We were supposed to go to the cottage for lunch tomorrow (Thurs) as Betty and Garth were going out of town to visit someone today however the man they were to visit apparently had a stroke so Betty called this morning to see if we could come for dinner instead. They are planning on returning to Toronto tomorrow. They're closing up the cottage for the season. Bummer!

So after I got back, I had a nap, then we got showered and went to the cottage. Betty, Gordon and I went for a walk around and saw this loon on the water.

This is a very large cat which is owned by one of Betty and Garth's neighbours. His name is Ralph and he weighs 22 lbs. His poor little legs will hardly hold him up.

Here we are after dinner. Gordon is taking the photo.


I took this photo of Betty and Garth for my sidebar.

From Carleton Place, ON to Lindsay, ON

We left Carleton Place around 10:35 this morning and headed west. We were late leaving as we had to go to the library to return my books. Although the library didn't open until 10 a.m. they had the box outside for returns, thank goodness!

The weather was varied on our way west but windy for the whole way. It is Fall here, you know. We had cloud when we left, rain on and off in a couple of places and sun. The temperature when we arrived at Lindsay was 17C (63F).

Here are a couple of photos of the fall colours that I took along the way.




And here's our site.


Daphne (owner of Double M RV Park) had mentioned a couple of sites for us but when we arrived there was someone in both spots so we're in the spot that we had for two years when we came for the summer. This year she leased it out as seasonal but the people are gone so that's where we are. We used to be able to come in through the back making it sort of a pull thru but there is someone behind us so Gordon had to back in. Not an easy task since there's a hedge that runs along the road. However, we're here and we're set up. We had just arrived when my sister drove in. She didn't stay long since we were still setting up. She thought we would have been here earlier.

Glad we're here, sure am tired though!

Happy Thanksgiving Day Canada!

It was quite warm this morning but cloudy and remained cloudy all morning although the sun
did try to come out a bit. The temperature got up to 23C (74F) today. I went for my walk, did my exercises, had my breakfast, cleaned the bathroom, had a shower and surfed the 'net this morning.

Around noon I went into Carleton Place again to see if I could return my books to the library. they're supposed to be open Monday to Friday from 9-2:30 for book returns but I guess that doesn't apply to Thanksgiving Day. We'll have to take them back tomorrow morning before we leave. Up here everything is closed on Thanksgiving Day. Gordon called me on my cell after I had left to ask me to stop and pick up some plugs to hang the valance around the rear window as the screws are stripped. I told him that nothing is open today so it will have to wait until we're in Lindsay. It seems strange to see big parking lots with no cars in them.

When I got home I decided not to do much today so settled down to a book that I have in my stash. I don't have very many left so sure hope that RV parks we stay this winter have libraries!

Since we've had Thanksgiving type food for three days, I decided to dispense with the Thanksgiving dinner tonight and just have regular food although we did have chicken since Gordon cooked four breasts last night. That should last us for a day or two. I find chicken breasts are so big these days that I can't eat a whole one anymore. After all, I am supposed to be eating smaller meals due to my reflux disease. I just can't seem get my brain around doing that.

I went for a walk around the campground this afternoon to get some photos. You can see from the photo above that our neighbour on the left is gone. They left today. The fifth wheel on our right just came in a couple of days ago but they will be seasonal. They already have a little shed put up.

These geese were flying overhead and making a lot of noise when I was down by the river. Most of the leaves are now gone from the trees across the river.




Today is our last day here at Tranquil Acres, tomorrow we're moving on!

Getting out to Enjoy the Day!

Today was just an absolutely gorgeous Fall day, sunny and warm with a high of 23C (74F).

I didn't do much this morning except finish the book that I started yesterday. My books have to be returned to the library before we leave. We tried to do that on our outing this afternoon but apparently they only have certain hours to drop off books when the library isn't open. Hmmm, never seen that before.

We hadn't been to Pakenham yet this year so on our way we stopped at Almonte and found this view of the Falls next to the old mill which is now a condominium. The falls have a lot of water right now as one section has been diverted due to work that they're doing on them.

The white area on the left is the falls.



From there we headed to Pakenham. The area around the old bridge (pictured below) is quite pretty and the bridge is one of a kind as you will see from the photo I took of the sign (shown below).

A twin for Fillmore

More scenery along the Mississippi River at Pakenham



The Catholic Church in Pakenham


On to Arnprior. I thought that I'd like to have a closer look at it in case we decide to spend some time at Grainger's RV & Tent Park next summer. I thought they had a Walmart but it's the next town west so it would be shorter to come to Carleton Place. There's not a lot in Arnprior.

We got home just in time to get dinner ready and get my blog done before dinner.

A-OK!

We had another beautiful sunny day today and quite warm but I didn't think to look at the temperature so can't tell you what it was but somewhere around 19C (66F).

I didn't do much but read this morning and this afternoon we had to go into Ottawa to our doctor to get Gordon's blood test results. Everything is A-ok and she gave him a clean bill of health.

We had other errands to run including picking up prescriptions for 7 months so almost $1800 later we had all our prescriptions and it was off to Staples to photocopy the receipts and get them sent in to our insurance.

We were home just in time for me to get dinner ready.

I've also found out that my MacBook does have a built in camera but it only works with ichat and also only when we're on someone's wifi as we don't have enough bandwidth with our satellite so now hopefully I can do video on the odd occasion. Dee from Tumbleweed and I are going to try it before we leave this campground as the next couple of weeks we won't have any wifi access at the campgrounds where we'll be.

Today's photo is one Gordon took of one of the beavers that we have here in the Mississippi.

Our Thanksgiving Dinner

It was another bright, sunny morning, not as warm as yesterday but at 14C (57F) quite respectable considering some mornings we've had lately. There are still lots and lots of noisy geese around. I wonder what makes them so noisy this time of year. Maybe they're celebrating the corn harvest and the leftovers that they get. I also saw this deer across the water when I was doing my exercises.



This morning I had to finish making Gordon's stuffing to take to my sister's tonight for her Thanksgiving dinner.

While I was taking a nap this afternoon I had the radio on and happened to hear that the Canadian dollar dropped 4 cents today against the U.S. dollar. If the U.S. economy is in such bad shape, I don't understand why the Canadian dollar is dropping against it. The Canadian economy isn't supposed to be in bad shape.....yet. It seems everything is going against us these days. When we first started RVing diesel prices went way up, now investments are tanking and the Canadian dollar is falling which means for every dollar we spend in the U.S. this winter if the dollar stays where it is or heaven forbid falls further we will spend a further 15 cents. This is, however, good for export businesses here in Canada which might make our investments worth something again.... maybe????

I really try not to dwell on it but it's terribly depressing nonetheless.

Flowers I took to my sister's house today.

The Geeks (Gordon and Danica)

We had a lovely turkey Thanksgiving dinner at my sister's tonight. Turkey is one of my favourite foods. I'm glad everyone could be there since we're soon leaving. My older sister, Betty called while we were eating to wish us a Happy Thanksgiving. Our Thanksgiving isn't actually until Monday but who says we can't have it early!

We got home late so I'm cutting this blog short tonight.

Mississippi Riverwalk Trail

I couldn't believe the temperature when I woke up this morning 17C (62F)! I guess this is our Indian Summer. I had a nice walk. The geese were out partaking of the leftover corn in the fields after it's been harvested.

Geese in the cornfield
The leaves are falling
Earthworm making his way along the road

My tree is losing its leaves



This morning I cooked and mashed some potatoes in preparation for making stuffing that Gordon can eat for Thanksgiving. Monday is Canada's Thanksgiving Day but we're celebrating it on Friday at my sister's house.

After that I made a couple of necklaces and read for a while.

Since the day was sunny with cloudy periods and we had some interesting clouds we went into Carleton Place to walk on the Mississippi Riverwalk Trail. It was a beautiful afternoon 20C (68F) but windy. The trail runs along the Mississippi River but you can only see the river in spots due to the dense trees and bushes. We walked there last year but this year we walked as far as the trail runs along the river then it takes a right turn away from the river where there was lots of construction going on. Carleton Place is a very happening kind of place, all kinds of homes and businesses are being built.

The trail

Trees along the Mississippi

A black squirrel runs across the trail

Lots of geese in the river

Someone with a sense of humour

Boardwalk through the swampy area

Autumn leaves

More trees along the river
A couple of nice looking folks along the trail


This is an apartment retirement home that's being built along the Mississippi

On our way back we drove onto Glen Isle which is right across the Mississippi from the campground and took a few photos there, then drove through the little town of Appleton on our way back to the campground.

Leaves in the water



When we got back I read some more and had a brief nap.

Tonight is Gray's Anatomy, one of my favourite nights for TV.