Lest We Forget-November 11, 2010

Rick remembered all veterans in his blog today so I'm just going to ask people to go to his blog today. He's much better with words than I am.

Tuesday & Wednesday November 9 & 10, 2010

Tuesday

This morning was cloudy again with a bit of a breeze so even though it was 2C (36F), the windchill made it -1C (30F), still not half bad and certainly didn't hinder my morning walk.

Other than doing some cleaning this morning and putting up a new piece of border (which fell down AGAIN), I just read and spent time on the computer. I think I might have had a nap late this afternoon.

Wednesday

It was only 1C (34F) this morning but the sun was shining brightly and it was a warm sun! I took my camera with me today and headed over to Old Sly Road where there are two locks. Of course, the locks are now closed for the season but I wanted to see if I could get anywhere near the falls since the foliage has died back. I was able to see them but not clearly as there are still tree branches and stuff in the way. I took my camera along.

This is as close to the Falls as I could get without being in the water. You still can't get the full view.

 Since it was such a beautiful day I suggested we go somewhere. I packed a lunch and after some discussion on where to go (I had suggested Morrisburg, the area where I grew up). I indicated to Gordon that it was the journey, not the destination but we decided to go to the pretty little town of Westport in the Rideau Lakes District. It's about 58 km (36 mi) or so from here so not a great distance.

We stopped a few times on our way to take some photos.

Horses playing

I think the two brown ones were mother and son, they seemed to be having a good time.

View of the town of Westport from Foley Mountain

An old pine tree

The road at Foley Mountain

Westport view

Bridge at Westport Harbour

The bridge above leads to this picnic area

Adirondack chairs in a row

Colourful seating

Interesting shed

We had a nice time today. It was so good to see the sun again!

Saturday to Monday November 6-8, 2010

Saturday

No rain, knees feel better, on with my walk!

After breakfast and my usual morning computering, I was looking at a local flyer and decided I needed to go out. They had blueberries on sale! So away I went and by the time I got back my heel was hurting again!

This afternoon was spent relaxing and reading and trying to stay off my heel. Now that my knees feel better, my heel feels worse! I can't win!


It was quite chilly all day and by 7 p.m, it was already 0C (32F).

Sunday

It was cloudy and -3C (27F) when I got up for my walk this morning. The sky looked kind of interesting so I took my camera but didn't see any photos worth taking my gloves off for!

A few days ago I posted some problems that a couple had with Heartland. I've been asked to post this rebuttal by another couple I know who are owners of a Heartland fifth wheel.

I would like to make a comment regarding the comment that was added to your blog regarding Heartland Products.
Mac and I purchased a 2010 Heartland Landmark Augusta in February of 2009. We have had a few issues with our RV but Heartland stood behind everyone of them! We had a list of items that neeed to be checked while we were in Elkhart Indiana at the Escapees Escapade in September of this year. Here are a few of the items needed checked...leak in back cap, outside steps tilting, wear on one of the tires,leak in the underbody, basement doors were not level, and some paint issues on our full body paint.
We talked to Steve Kennel, at Heartland, and he made arrangements for us to bring our RV to the Heartland Factory, not a dealer, to be checked. We took it to the factory, and they had it for 4 days...everything was fixed, plus they put a new axle on where the tire was wearing, and even found a leak in one of our tanks and also fixed it. Our RV was out of Warranty as of Feb 28th 2010, and they fixed everything at no charge!
I can understand that every RV will have issues, but Heartland has stood behind every one of the issues that we have had and we would definitely buy another one without question.

I got ambitious this afternoon and made some peanut butter cookies. These are the best ones yet. You'd never know they were made with gluten free flour.

Monday

It was cloudy and chilly again for my walk but no where near what it's going to be.

This morning I made my Monday morning grocery run but didn't find anything I wanted in the Manager's specials at the grocery.

After lunch we went to get our flu shots and stopped at the library so I could load up on books. By then the sun had come out. It was sure nice to see it for a change.

Monday to Friday November 1-5, 2010-We Had an Anniversary!

Monday

A new month, a new week, sun shining and cold 0C (32F) this morning as I headed out with my toque and warm gloves. It sure was nice to see the sun again!

My typical Monday morning is now going to the grocery store. They have lots of Manager's specials then so I bought some meat as well as other things that we needed. I made several stops and was home shortly after noon.

I appear to have plantar fasciitis. I've been having heel pain for a few days and looked up what it could be so I've tried to stay off it most of the afternoon and have done some stretching exercises and applied ice.

Tuesday

I decided to forego the walk this morning and give my foot a bit of a rest. It was sunny but -2C (28F) this morning. When I looked out the window I saw lots of frost on things.

I had purchased a roast of beef a couple of weeks ago so put it in the crockpot this morning with some carrots and green beans. Since I can't eat potatoes any more, no potatoes in the crockpot!

Wednesday

It was -3C (27F) but sunny when I went for my morning walk. My heel wasn't too bad this morning. It seems to come and go.

I received an email this morning from the coordinator of chatroom IRV2. She had gotten notification from one of the chatters about a Heartland product they had purchased. Read below:

Hello everyone. Hope everyone is well. Just want to let you all know about Heartland Products.  When we purchased our new 5th wheel we were very happy with it.  3 months later we found a crack in the side.  We finally got a dealer to fix it and found out it was a factory defect.  They stated someone got crazy with a router...at least it wasn't a structural defect.

Now we have another problem.....the back cap separated from the whole camper.  You could actually pull out the rear.  We called Heartland and the first thing they said....it's not under warranty.  It's over 1 year old.....but you can take it to a dealer and have it fixed at your own expense.

We did take it to a great dealer, Fretz RV in Pa.  They took it apart and found only 3 screws holding the whole back on.  One of the screws was broken.  The molding was to have sealer in it, which it didn't.....what does Heartland say......too bad, we are not doing anything about it.

Can you imagine what would have happened if it came off completely while we were going down the highway at 65 - 70 miles an hour?  It would have caused one terrible accident.

If anyone is planning on ever buying a trailer, stay away from Heartland Products.  They do not stand behind their work.  If you know of anyone that is thinking about buying one, tell them my story.....stay away from them.

 Just another thing to be aware of when purchasing an RV!

After an hour or so of lining shelves, my heel started to give me grief so it was back to reading my book for most of the day. I'm continuing to ice it and do exercises.

Thursday

It's amazing what you get used to. It was 2C (36F) this morning and it actually felt warm! Today was not a good walk for me. I was walking along and all of a sudden I fell flat on my front! Surprised the heck out of me! Anyway I don't seem to be too badly damaged. Both knees are scraped and swollen and hurting. That seems to be the worst of it but I won't be running any marathons any time soon. 


I took it easy all day using ice and heat on my knees. 


Friday

Happy 20th Anniversary to us!

Our wedding November 5, 1990

Today November 5, 2010

 Yesterday while resting I was looking online for a nice restaurant for us to go to for our anniversary that we hadn't been to before and I came across The Shipwreck at Rideau Ferry. Rideau Ferry is about 10 miles from us. I think we might have been there for lunch years ago but not lately so I called them and they have a gluten free menu! The lady went over all kinds of things we could eat and items they could adapt for me for my food sensitivities so I made a reservation for us.

Shipwreck at Rideau Ferry is a very nice restaurant. They don't have a real website and I think they are missing out. However, the chef came out and talked to us and made us dishes that would agree with us. Gordon had a steak with pasta and I had pasta with sea scallops and bacon with a lovely sauce. It was excellent!

Shipwreck at Rideau Ferry Restaurant Sign

Restaurant entrance

View from our table (it's getting dark)

My pasta dinner with Sea Scallops, Bacon, Roasted Red Peppers

Gordon's steak and spaghetti

 It was snowing as we were driving home but the snow was melting as it hit the ground.

Saturday & Sunday October 30 & 31, 2010

Saturday

The threat of rain was in the air again as I set out for my morning walk but it stayed away until after I was back and had breakfast.

After breakfast, Gordon wanted to go out and look for movie DVDs so we went to the flea market on Victoria Street. I found a music CD (The Big Chill) and he found a video and we also got a dryer cover for outside. Ours is broken. From there we went to LW (formerly Liquidation World) where he got two more DVD videos so he should be set for a little while. We also stopped at the REAL Deal where I gave them my application to volunteer. The volunteer coordinator has her office there.

On our return we were going to stay in for the day as it was now raining however I was reading, got up and went in the bathroom and my wall border was coming down on one wall so I went out to get some wallpaper paste and put that back up. Hopefully that's not indicative of what's to come!

Sunday

We had some snow last night but it was gone by the time I got up this morning. Although it was cloudy and cold 1C (34F) there was no wind so it was nice for walking. I had gotten out my ice grips last night just in case but didn't need them.

This morning we went out to the local flea market. Nothing there that we liked better than our money!

We seem to go through bread like crazy here so I made another loaf this afternoon. Actually I'm drying parts of the ends of loaves to make stuffing. It makes yummy stuffing!

Well, we had 47 trick or treaters but we ran out of candy so turned the front light out. Next year I'll have more idea of what to expect.

Tuesday to Friday October 26-29,2010

Tuesday

It  looked like it had rained most of the night but when I went for my walk the rain was over and it was just cloudy but warm at 13C (55F). It was lovely for walking and listening to Wayne Rostad!

Last night our fireplace quit. It's only five months old so we pulled it out and Gordon looked at it but he couldn't find the problem so sent the customer service department an email.

By that time the sun had come out.

The good news is that our old mayor got back in office but only by the skin of his teeth. He won by 68 votes! The other good news is four of the six councilors I voted for got elected!

When I was outside the other day I saw that there was some stain on the side of the house. I thought that George's sloppy painting of the deck was limited to the front. Not so! So I took my trusty Purple Power out since it was such a nice day and removed it from the side of the house.

I was getting ready to do some bill paying this morning when I saw that I had been charged $10.19 for data last month on my Verizon bill. When I had looked at the bill last month to pay it, that charge wasn't there and besides, I had the data feature of my phone turned off two years ago! So, I called Verizon. The lady I spoke to said that this data didn't come through the internet (???) and that I had to text them with the word 'stop'. I said I'd never texted before in my life. She suggested I go to the nearest Verizon store to have them help me and I told her that wasn't likely to happen since we're in Canada (I didn't give details) so she removed the charge for the data as well as the $5.00 late fee that's on this month's bill. I always love dealing with Verizon. They're so accommodating and customer oriented. We only have one more month on Verizon and then we're canceling since our contract is up. I'm not looking forward to dealing with cell phone companies up here. In a previous life I've already had run ins with Bell Canada and Fido. We're only looking for emergency service when we get our new cell phones and our cell numbers will only be known to the two of us so we need to get information on what's available. I've been looking for a while but everything is so complicated! We need something cheap but reliable.

We reached a high of 23C (73F) today. This must be our Indian summer.

Wednesday

Today was an absolutely beautiful sunny day and again 23C (73F).

I was up early as we had to go in to Ottawa again. Gordon had an appointment to pick up his new glasses and I had an appointment to get the second coat of resin on my sensitive tooth at the dentist's. I was also picking up our records from the dentist as we will be going to a dentist here in town.

On our way to Ottawa we saw these interesting barns

With a sheep door

We stopped and picked up some things at Natural Food Pantry then on to Leon's to look at DVD recorders. They didn't have what we wanted in stock so we drove back to Kanata and wound up getting what we wanted at Best Buy for less money.

We had lunch at Wendy's. We wish there was a Wendy's here in Smiths Falls but the closest one is in Perth about 12 miles away.

When the appointments were finished we stopped at my sister's to see them and to draw names for Christmas.

On the way home the sun was brutal, not complaining, just sayin.... We stopped for a few photos in the little town of North Gower.

This is the Holy Trinity Anglican Church in North Gower

A closeup of the doors on the church

Thursday

My father used to say "Yellow sky in the morning, sailors take warning". The southern sky was yellow this morning as I went for my walk. Made me wonder what kind of day we had in store.

I got this from Old Wives Tales archives

Red [yellow] sky in the morning, shepherd’s (sailor’s)warning;
Red sky at night, shepherd’s (sailor’s) delight.

I borrowed Gordon's photo of this morning's yellow sky.

Gordon went to our new dentist here in town this morning and had his teeth cleaned and a check up. He has three more appointments next month. He said the people there are really nice. For him to say that, they must be! He doesn't much like dentists.

When he returned I went out on a grocery/errand run but was back in time to make some bread, do some reading, and take a nap before getting dinner ready.

While I was out, I also checked into more cell phone plans. They're selling phones at pharmacies now and I actually got more information from the lady at Shopper's Drug Mart than any other place we've been.

We had both sun and cloud today but it was windy for most of the day. It was also cooler than it's been the last couple of days.

Friday

It was cloudy this morning and while the radio said there was a misty rain, it wasn't raining here so I had my walk.

After breakfast I had to go out and do some photocopying. After only about a month, our fireplace quit working so the repairman is coming this afternoon to fix it under warranty and he needed a copy of the receipt.

While I was out Gordon was busy hooking up our new DVD recorder. It's working but we have to figure out how to set it to record by time.

This afternoon the repairman came and fixed our fireplace. After a month of use, one day it wouldn't turn on. Turned out to be a bad fuse. Now it's working so we hope that's all it was.

It looked like we might have a sunset tonight. Unfortunately the sun has moved a lot in the last few weeks so we'll have to find a new spot for sunset for winter. There was a lot of pretty golden light though.

Thursday to Monday, October 21 to 25, 2010

Thursday

It looked wet out when I got up but my trusty radio station said that it wasn't raining so I got dressed for rain anyway and headed out. It started to clear when I was out and I didn't get rained on. I added a couple of new residential streets to my walk this morning. 

The power head on my vacuum kept cutting out on me this morning. Gordon looked at it and the wire for the power was broken so I packed it up and took it to the Vacuum Shop. Christine, the owner, is really nice and promised it would be ready today. I continued on to the grocery store, then home for lunch and a nap. Mid afternoon I went back and picked it up, all done. Thank goodness. I'd hate to be without a vacuum with this burgundy carpet! 

It was chilly today but we did have some sun. If we were still in the RV we'd still have about a week to go before crossing the border. Way too cold for that this year! 

Friday


It was way cold this morning. I could even see my breath when I went for my walk. It was cloudy too but later in the morning the sun came out although it remained cold.


I found a recipe at the optometrist's office the other day for Health Bars and decided to try it with a few adaptations to accommodate my food sensitivities. Unfortunately the basis is oatmeal so Gordon can't eat it. Here's the recipe for anyone who would like to try them.

Health Bars

 (The photo is before they were cut up into bars)

1/2 cup all purpose flour (I used gluten-free AP flour)
1/2 cup uncooked old-fashioned or quick-cooking oats, not instant
1/4 cup wheat germ (I used flax seed)
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup unsalted sunflower seeds (I used walnut bits)
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
1 cup dried fruit bits (I got dates and cranberries)
1/2 cup honey
2 Tbsp molasses

• Preheat oven to 325F
• Grease a 13x9" baking dish. Line with wax paper; grease paper.
• In bowl combine flour, oats, wheat germ and salt. With your fingers rub butter into dry ingredients until blended.
• Stir in next five ingredients until well blended.
• Wet hands and press into pan.
• Bake 35-40 minutes until golden.
• Cool in pan on wire rack 15 minutes.
• Invert onto cutting board; Remove wax paper while still warm.
• Chill on cutting board 1 hour.
• Cut into 12 bars.
• Note: Store chilled in airtight container up to 2 weeks. Place sheet of wax paper between bars when storing.
• Makes 12 bars.

Note: These bars are awesomely good! 

I spent the afternoon snoozing on the couch. Don't know why I'm so tired today.

Saturday

We had some s*** overnight as evidenced by the roof of our shed (see below). It was cold and cloudy this morning but at least there was no wind so it wasn't bad for walking.

This afternoon I took a couple of boxes of stuff we don't want or need to the Thrift Store. They were happy to get it.



We did get some sun today but it wasn't very warm. It's the last day we'll be seeing sun for the foreseeable future, probably Friday. It will be warmer though!


We actually turned the furnace on today. We've had it on briefly a couple of times but not to leave it on.




Sunday

Yup! Woke up to rain this morning. I went out for a little while but only about 15 minutes. I was wet! 


After breakfast I was trying to organize the broom closet. It looks slightly better. That lead to putting something on top of the cupboards to make it more level so I can put my roosters and stuff up there. Gordon got that done. Then cleaning up and vacuuming. 


It rained all day. I read and did computer stuff and made some chicken coated in bread crumbs for dinner. 

Talked to my older sister early this afternoon. I used the Google Voice function through gmail to telephone her as I had to call her back to tell her something. It works really well! They say on the link above that it's only available in the U.S. but it works here too! You can also call other phones not just other computers which is handy.

 

Monday


Another gray day but at least it wasn't raining when I went for my walk.


After breakfast I headed out for more groceries. I can't believe what we eat! It was mostly for perishables but I always manage to find something else. I even bought some Hallowe'en candy as I expect we'll have some munchkins on Hallowe'en.

When I got home I found that the two Wayne Rostad CD's that Gordon had ordered for me last week had arrived in the mail. Since I had to go out to the library, I took them with me and went for a little drive to listen to one of them. 

Wayne is local so all the songs he writes are about the local area. They a folksy kind of music. He's well known around the area and across Canada as he had a television program for a number of years called 'On the Road Again'. He's been called Mr. Canada and Canada's Storyteller. When we had the house I had the LPs but, of course, sold them when we went on the road and I've missed his music. It's not something that you can pick up on any radio station. He used to perform live in the area as well and I've gone to see him often. He's a great entertainer! Unfortunately he doesn't do that any more, he's more involved in the community, especially the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario and the Ottawa Heart Institute Telethons. The photo to the right is Wayne, he's just a good ole boy!


These are the two CD's

If anyone is interested in hearing him sing and entertain he's on You Tube.

Today is Municipal election day. I mailed my ballot in a couple of weeks ago. I like the idea of not having to go somewhere to vote.

Sunday to Wednesday October 17-20, 201

Sunday

It was very cloudy when I woke up. I chose a different route for my walk today. I'd not been on these residential streets on foot before.

After breakfast Gordon wanted to go for a drive since the sun had come out. It turned into a beautiful day. Here are some photos:

Lone tree

That's one long horse!

Pretty little church

Stewart Park, Perth

Dead tree

Old shed and pretty trees

Little red barn

This afternoon I got my October expenses spreadsheet updated. I still haven't finished July. It's a nightmare but all the other months are done and now that the house is furnished we seem to be doing ok budgetwise. 

Monday 

A lovely day but cool for my morning walk. After breakfast I went out to do some shopping. I was surprised that the grocery shelves didn't seem to be better stocked. Guess I don't often shop on Monday mornings!

This afternoon I unpacked my china and crystal that we brought home from my sister's last week. A few casualties with the china but I don't expect I'm ever going to use it that much. I have plates galore, I didn't realize how many. The teacups took quite a hit and I didn't have too many of them to begin with but again, rarely used. 

I thing the blogging community has made a group decision to give access to our blogs to someone who can update our blogs should anything happen to us. After the untimely deaths of Bruce and Margie, the situation has caused all of us to realize that none of us are immortal. I decided to give my passwords and instructions to my younger sister and my niece. Since Gordon and I are usually together when traveling, I thought this was the best choice. 

Tuesday

It was nice to see the sun again this morning and again I headed downtown for my morning constitutional. It was 0C (32F) when I woke up and it had only warmed to 1C (34F) when I left the house.

We carried this Mola (above) with us all the time while we were fulltiming so I decided it was time it got hung on the wall. It's now in the bedroom and adds a punch of colour to a beige/brown room. We purchased this Mola on our cruise to the Panama Canal. This was bought on a side trip to the San Blas Islands.

 After breakfast, I got out the breadmaker and made a loaf of gluten free bread. Since we had some bananas that were getting ripe, I decided I may as well make some gluten free banana bread too. It turned out really tasty but pretty crumbly.

We got the results of Gordon's MRI, no changes in his lungs so that's a good thing. 

 The rest of the day passed with little getting done. I now have something on all of my bookshelves. That didn't take long!


Wednesday


I was up early today as we had to go into Ottawa for some appointments. The forecast had been for rain but this morning the radio said that we wouldn't have any till tonight but it would be windy. 

We set out early as we had a few stops to make before our eye appointment. First we went to my favourite radio station when I was in Ottawa. Oldies 1310 is no more and has now converted to a news station. I had a bunch of points to use up so I had ordered a baseball cap, two t-shirts and a coffee mug that I had to go and pick up. That done, Gordon wanted to go to Henry's Camera Store as there's a new camera out that he wanted - the Canon 60D and it was on sale. So we stopped, he bought the camera. From there we stopped at a couple of grocery places to pick up things that I can't easily get here in town. 

Then to the eye doctor. He said he could give me a prescription for glasses that would make it easier to read but since I don't have a problem reading I decided not to get them. I do have to go back mid November for a visual field test.

Gordon had his eye test and decided he wanted glasses for the computer so he picked out some frames and we'll have to go and pick them up in a few days.

We had some time before the dentist so Gordon put his new camera together and we went to the Fletcher Wildlife Garden. It had clouded up but we still took some photos.

Next stop - the dentist. I have a tooth that has been sensitive for years and every so often I go and my dentist paints a resin on it which helps a lot. There is now a new procedure out so I have to go back next week to have a second coat done.

I hadn't gotten anything out for dinner so we went out to the Smiths Falls Restaurant and Deli. We had some problems with getting the food right but it was good when we got it. Lucky we weren't in a rush. Just hope it agrees with us!

Thursday to Saturday October 14-16, 2010

Thursday

The threat of rain was in the air and in fact it had rained during the night but I went for my walk anyway. We had a few sprinkles on and off this morning.

My Immigration lawyer had requested that we print out the statements that we had prepared for him, sign and date them and mail to him so we got that done this morning, then I went out to the post office. While out I stopped to get a key made (it doesn't work) and picked up a few things, one of which is a kneepad so hopefully this will save wear and tear on my knees for jobs like gardening.

We had to go out and put gas in the car so took the key back and the lady made another one. This one is tight but it works.

I was looking around in blogger this afternoon and found they've updated it. You can now apparently upload as many photos as you want and move them around so I've switched. I'll have to take some photos to give this a try!

I made a meatloaf for dinner and we just hung around for the rest of the evening. Gordon had an appointment for midnight for an MRI at the Ottawa Hospital so we had to go out in the rain to go to Ottawa. Neither of us likes driving at night in the rain and on the way in to Ottawa it really rained. It felt like we were hydroplaning at times. But we arrived, safe and sound, about an hour early. He was taken early and we were headed for home about 12:15 a.m. It wasn't raining as hard then and we arrived home around 1:30 a.m. The MRI is to check his lungs from the Valley Fever and also to look at some fluid that they found in his spine the last time they did an MRI. The thought is that it's congenital. Hopefully,  nothing serious.

Friday

Needless to say, I slept late this morning and it was still raining. I decided to take the day off from walking.

This afternoon we had an appointment with our local bank to get all our accounts transferred here. They were very accommodating.

After dropping Gordon at the house I went on to Walmart to pick up some things, Zellers for a prescription and a grocery store. Very exciting stuff!

It rained all day and was still raining when I went to bed. On the radar it looked like we had a stalled system.

Saturday

I was surprised to see some sun when I got up this morning. I had an enjoyable walk and took some photos of my walk downtown.

The oak tree in front of the house is pretty now

Red & green leaves

 

 

 

Autumn sky

This is an interesting bridge

Downtown-Beckwith Street

I walk by this door often - the art is cute!

Plant cycle

 While I was cleaning out the front garden this morning, Gordon went off in search of something to cover the air conditioner for the winter. I got all the garden debris boxed up and Gordon came home with weather stripping and nothing to cover the air conditioner BUT he had found a tool chest that he wanted. So off we went to the dump site for garden waste, got rid of that and went and got him his tool chest.

While we were out we went to the cemetery beside the dump site. The trees were pretty.

After lunch he installed the weather stripping and did some caulking on the front porch roof so our mail doesn't get wet. Then we started putting away lawn furniture for the winter. It was a nice day to get things like that done.

While he was outside putting together his new tool chest,  I did some inside cleaning. I use my swiffer with either wet or dry cloths usually but every once in a while you need to actually mop (with something other than my socks walking across the floor LOL) and I love the smell of Pine Sol!

When he finished the tool chest he put together my yard cart so it's ready for spring! The yard cart is cool. It even has a dump feature!

I just read that the RV community has had another tragedy. Bruce and Margie went out for a walk this morning and were struck down by a car, neither survived. Apparently the driver of the car was trying to commit suicide. They will be missed by their family and by the RVing community among others, myself included.