Saturday September 26, 2009-More Visiting

Today was our last day of sunshine for a while. The rains are coming again. It was sunny but only 4C (39F) when I got up to go for my walk just before 8 a.m. The hunters were out this morning and you could hear the shotgun blasts so I didn't see any deer this morning. Although it's not deer season yet, I expect they were hiding.

Frost on the grass this morning


A great blue heron across the river this morning

Tree reflection


After breakfast I got ready to go in to Ottawa. I wanted to visit my sister and I also needed to pick up a package that Gordon's daughter, Michelle had sent him for his birthday - homemade gluten free cookies! I spent a couple of hours with Margie, John and Danica, and Margie made me lunch. I took off around 2 p.m., made a stop at Zellers (what used to be a Canadian department store but is now US owned) then on to visit my friend, Nancy who I mentioned in my blog the other night had broken her back last month.

She is getting around very slowly and very gingerly but she is moving! I also got to see her house. We usually meet at a restaurant when I'm in town so I'm glad I got to see it before she sells it and buys another one to fix up. This lady can do anything! She paints, she builds, she wires and loves fixing up houses. We had a nice chat for a couple of hours then it was back on the road to get home for dinner.

By this time the clouds had come rolling in. Rain is to start later tonight.

Friday September 25, 2009 - A Day By Myself

When I got up this morning it was only 7C (45F) but bright and sunny with some clouds around. I set off on my walk and was heading south on the farm road when a deer jumped out in front of me. He took me by surprise as I've never seen a deer there before so no photo but it was a nice surprise! He headed off into the bush.

Fall Scenery


Gordon was going out with his friend, Jim this morning so he left the RV park around 5:00 a.m. to meet Jim at his house at the south end of the city.

While he was gone I got the vacuuming and cleaning done and got our expenses spreadsheet updated. This month is NOT going to be a good one for expenses. I also received a call from my doctor's office. The results of my food screening that I had done last week is in so I'm going in to see her and get the news next week.

After lunch and a brief nap I went out for another walk to the same area I was in this morning, this time ready with my camera but no deer! When I came back I stopped at talked to the fellow who is two sites down from us. They're fulltimers from Austin, TX.

Fluffy white clouds and changing tree

A line of poplars

The trees by the Mississippi change a little more every day


Gordon arrived home somewhere around 3 p.m. He and Jim had a good time driving around the countryside taking photos.

It's supposed to be a cold one tonight at 2C (36F).

Thursday September 24, 2009 - Around Home

I downloaded a new blog counter last night and started it at 93,000. Let's hope it doesn't crap out on me!

I woke up to a nice bright sunny morning but a bit cooler than we've seen the last couple of days at 11C (52F).

The low lying clouds look like mountains

changing leaves

the path in the morning light


I sat outside in the sunshine reading and then decided that I needed to do something so I got the shopvac out and vacuumed out the truck. It was pretty dirty! Later this afternoon, Gordon took the truck out and got it washed. I wish I could say it looks like a new truck again but unfortunately there are too many dents and marks on it for that!

I had just finished when a fifth wheel came in and attempted to back into the site behind us, without success I might add. He then decided to go around the loop and come at the site from a different angle and hit a tree. I haven't seen him since so I guess he decided not to come back. I have to give Gordon all kinds of kudos for driving this rig and getting us into our sites even though sometimes they're tough to get into. Backing these things up on difficult angles is not for the faint of heart!

This afternoon I was talking to a friend of mine here in Ottawa on Yahoo Messenger. She told me that she fell and broke her back mid August. Wow, you just never know what's going to happen. She is getting around a bit now but it's painful!

Wednesday September 23, 2009-Visiting

It was another cloudy, warm morning. I was up a bit earlier since I had plans for lunch today. I still went for my walk but didn't dawdle.

After breakfast I got dooded up and headed for Ottawa, well actually Kanata which is the western suburb of Ottawa.

My first stop was to see my friend, Sandy. Sandy works for one of the Edward Jones Investment offices so our visit was brief. Her Mom is now 92 and having health problems so that has been her major focus other than work for the last months so she wasn't able to make our get together in June when the ladies had lunch.

After that I stopped at GNC to pick up some things, then went to Home Depot to talk to them about my kitchen floor which still isn't fixed from the grapefruit knife episodes. All in good time...

It had started raining quite heavily when I first got to Ottawa so I was glad I had my umbrella as I had quite a walk for my next stop. I was going to my old office at Breconridge to have lunch with Najat, one of my friends that still works there. They have visitor parking but there weren't any spots so I had to park way at the far end and walk trying to keep my umbrella from turning inside out with the wind. Needless to say, I was damp when I reached the office but we had a nice lunch, thanks Najat! There are so many unfamiliar faces there after being away for five years. My boss is no longer there so it felt kind of strange but it's always good to see Najat and Sue!

My final stop after lunch was for groceries then I headed home. Luckily the rain had stopped while I was in the office.

No cameras are allowed in the office so my photos today of where we'll be coming up soon!

Matagorda Bay on the Gulf Coast of Texas

Pyro, the campground kitty & Gordon

Powderhorn Lake

It won't be long.....

In another vein, I'm really ticked off. It appears my counter has stopped working and just as I was getting close to 100,000 hits. I know last time I looked I was just under 93,000 but the last few days it hasn't been there even though it still shows in my layout. I'm so annoyed!

Tuesday September 22, 2009-Relaxing

Although it was cloudy this morning, it was a nice day for a walk. It was much warmer than it's been at 18C (64F) however there was a threat of rain so I just walked around the immediate area and didn't take my camera. Of course when I was down by the river I saw a deer on the island across the way. I went back for my camera but by that time it was long gone.

I was on the computer most of the morning, did some reading and after lunch started out for a walk as the sun had come out and found myself down by the river sitting at the picnic table and looking at the water and listening to the wind in the trees. There were no other sounds, no humans around, no dogs barking just the wind in the trees.

A pot of mums

And a dahlia


More fall colours

Looking stormy!

Red leaf on a lily pad

Another photo of our huge yard

This is what I was gazing at


I used to do things like that when I was a kid on the farm. I'd roll up on the lawn in an old quilt and look at the sky and listen to the wind.

Throughout my adult life I guess I was just too busy with 'life' and 'work' to enjoy those things much.

We've had a mix of cloud and sun but no rain so far although I see some activity on the local satellite.

Monday September 21, 2009-Getting Things Done

We had another absolutely gorgeous day today and reached nearly 24C (75F) although when I started the day it was only 5C (41F).

So I had my morning walk in bright sunshine down the farm road taking photos along the way. I've discovered that if I carry my camera under my arm with the strap around my neck it doesn't bounce when I run which was the main reason I don't carry it in the morning.

This little pony was watching me

Walking along the corn field

Lots of log buildings around Carleton Place

I came to a curve in the road and turned back the way I'd come

After breakfast I got the laundry packed up and went in to the laundromat in Carleton Place. An hour and a half later I was headed home with it all done.

We had lunch and then drove into Ottawa. We had some tests that we had done and had to drop the results off to the lab there. On our way back we stopped at our RV dealer and made an appointment to get a few things fixed and checked out before we leave the area. We had also brought our empty propane tank along so got that filled at the local Canadian Tire in Carleton Place. Then off to Bulk Barn to get Gordon some peanuts and Reese's pieces and to get some bulk brown and white sugar, then home!

When we returned it was still beautiful out so I sat outside and read and took a walk down by the river, then inside thinking I might nap but that didn't work out.

The trees along the river are changing quickly


For the past three days I have been off eye drops which I had been using now for a couple of years due to allergies. However, the eye drops seemed to be causing problems that were worse than the allergies so I decided to stop them to see what happens. I still have some blurriness and dryness but the headaches have pretty much stopped. I'll see the eye doctor next week so will discuss this with him.

Sunday September 20, 2009 - Around the Park

Today was an absolutely gorgeous bright sunny day with a high near 21C (70F) although when I left for my walk this morning it was only 6C (43F).

I took this photo on my walk

I saw this kitty stalking some mice in the field so I called kitty, kitty

and he ran over to see me

There were lots of spider webs along the way

I've watched this house being built along the Mississippi since last year. It's in a flood plain, sure hope they built it high enough.

More spider webs

and still more

These trees were green yesterday but you can see they're starting to turn after our cold night



We didn't do much today. I sat outside for a while and the female owner of the campground, Shonah came over to visit for a while. She's only here on weekends as she looks after her grandchildren while her daughter is going to school to become a massage therapist. It was great to see her again. She is such a lovely person.

Shonagh coming across the field to see us - Gordon going to meet her

We were talking the other night on the RV-Dreams chat about sewer set ups, here's ours


Other than that I had a nap this afternoon and we had stew and cornbread for dinner!

Oh and Happy Birthday, Jenny!

Saturday September 19, 2009-Just Hangin Around

It was cloudy when I got up and only 7C (44F). It didn't get as cold as forecast last night and let's hope tonight will be the same but it was still chilly. By the time I was half way through my walk the sun came out and we had clear sunny skies all day.

Walking on the rail trail again this morning

Scene to the right of the trail

A dead tree

They're building a road into town beside the rail trail as they're making Hwy 7 (Ottawa to Carleton Place) into 4 lanes right now


Red leaves

This part of the field is being leveled - maybe for building houses, not sure about that


This morning I made stew - it's feeling like stew weather again.

After lunch I lay down to read and fell asleep again. I had taken a Benadryl for my eye allergies as I want to stay off eye drops since they appear to be causing pressure behind my eyes and giving me bad headache.

So not much happening again today!

Friday September 18-Emissions Test, Truck Plates

I heard rain this morning very early and it was still cloudy with a few sprinkles when I went for my walk so I didn't take the camera. We did have some sunny periods and some wind this afternoon but it was cool all day. Our high was 17C (62F) and our low tonight is forecast to be 4C (39F). Brrrrr!

Gordon took the truck in for the emissions test this morning. It passed so he went and got the sticker for the license plate. He was home in less than an hour. While he was gone I did the vacuuming and coloured my hair.

After lunch, I went in to Carleton Place to pick up some groceries and get some photocopying done so I could send my claim in to my extended health care for our chiropractor treatments and bloodwork.

CBS pulled the plug on the soap opera "The Guiding Light" today. I grew up watching that soap. Although I haven't watched it in years, it's too bad it's finished. According to Wikipedia, it's the longest running soap - 72 years beginning on radio. Farewell Josh & Reva!

Since I didn't take any photos today, I'm featuring ones taken yesterday in Smiths Falls.

These are the doors to the lock

Looking towards downtown

Rideau River when you come out of the lock


Not a very exciting day today.

Thursday September 17, 2009-Truck Service

Yesterday's blog was done with Blogger's new editor. The fact that there even was a new editor came to my attention in the Bayfield Bunch blog a few days ago so I decided to try it. While I'm sure it has many nice features, I've gotten used to the old editor and I don't have any problem placing photos with it as some do. I didn't like the line spacing in the new editor and I had more problem placing photos than I do with the old one so after only one day, I went back to the old editor.

There has also been talk in a lot of blogs about Microsoft's Live Writer but so far they don't have anything like that for the Mac so I'll continue along as I've done for the past three years. It was interesting to try the new editor and maybe I'll try it again another time.

As I sometimes I write my blog around photos, the new editor doesn't seem to be easier to use in that respect.

Today started off sunny and chilly at 8C (46F) but by the time I got back from my morning constitutional it was mostly cloudy again. The furnace is already running and from Accuweather's long range forecast it looks like we're in for some cold weather over the next couple of weeks. I saw a few very low nightime temperatures coming up and this is still only September! Maybe when we get down to the Ontario Riviera (at Sherkston Shores) it will be warmer but I'm not counting on it!

We had an appointment at the Dodge dealer in Smiths Falls for 1 p.m. to have the truck serviced so we left the RV park early so that we could have a late breakfast at the Roosteraunt, one of our favourites. We got there early enough to have breakfast (their cutoff time for breakfast is 11:30 a.m.) and still had time to kill before our truck appointment so we stopped at the Rideau locks and walked around a bit taking some photos.

The Falls at Smiths Falls



On our way to the dealer one of the sales reps called and wanted to know if we want to trade in the truck since it's five years old. Not likely!

We got the truck in for service and about an hour later the girl who discusses what's being done on your vehicle came to us and said our front brakes needed changing. We just did that last year. Anyway, we had thought that the synthetic oil in the rear of the truck needed to be changed but she said all our fluids were good. Gordon decided to go ahead with it thinking that inferior pads were put on at Southbank Dodge last year.

I was tired of sitting so went out for a walk and went by the truck bay. The rear wheels were off the truck. What the h***! So Gordon went and checked and it's the rear brakes that needed to be done. That's better. We've never had the rear brakes done in the five years we've owned the truck. It pays to check!

Anyway, it sure is boring sitting in a dealership waiting room. I thought sitting in a laundromat was boring and I have to do that in the next few days too.th

I'm also including some more flower photos that I took while at the Ornamental Gardens on Tuesday.





To read Gordon's journal that he updated today, click here.