Sunday, April 1, 2018

All Four Wheels Fell Off Our Suite! Sunny Day Though, Happy Easter,What's the White Stuff?

It was another sleep-in day for me, just 10 minutes before 8 again when I crawled out of bed on Easter Sunday, Apr. 1st.  Goodness, I hope this isn’t getting to be a habit! Well, actually, Clemson had Bill up and me awake again at 4:30 for a piddle. Now, I hope that especially isn’t getting to be a habit!


Oh, about the title of my post today? APRIL FOOL’S! Sorry, about that. Thankfully all 4 wheels remain intact on both vehicles. I was just reliving a childhood, days of trying to come up with the absolute BEST way to trick my brother, Bruce. It got silly during a day, with numerous little jokes. “There’s a spider on your shirt” he’d say knowing that was the all-time freak out for me. Or I’d say “Mom wants you in the kitchen”. I wasn’t ever very good at it.

 Because Bill's heart is very precious to me, I didn't want to play any of the tricks on him that ran through my mind. "Our pipes froze!" "Black Beauty's tires are flat!" "Somebody hit our truck!" It would have worked since it didn't cross his mind at all.

Yup, this is me!
The morning is a beautiful start to any day because it means we are vertical once more (as Jim says), with no toe tag (as Dad says). But a morning when you wake up to blue sky, sunshine and no wind is an even more beautiful one. I bundled up when I saw it was only 35F and went for a walk with my tripod and our small Canon. The weather aside, this is the best time to walk. It is so peaceful and quiet.

Seriously, good morning!
When I returned, 30 minutes later, I thought I heard Bill move but it was 10 to 9 before they got up to stay. We had our drinks together and a grapefruit while catching up on what our friends are doing. I ate some almonds with mine, fat vs sugar. I know I’m beginning to sound like a broken record but it is also good for me, like a mantra that what I’m doing is right.

I love walking this quiet secluded area of the park
Today, the beginning of a new month of 19 gb of data, we have to start taking care again with our wifi usage. It isn’t free here in the park, seldom are they this close to home and they certainly aren’t at home! We are back to not opening videos in emails again, we’ve been spoiled.

But, I wasn't alone
We still managed to do the things we like to do in the morning, answering blog comments and playing our few games on Facebook. Bill isn’t a games person so to ask him to play Scrabble, the actual board game, would be a waste of words. However, on Facebook, we have an ongoing challenge of Scrabble with each other. I have Scrabble games with 2 sisters on FB as well as 4 Words with Friends games with my daughter and 3 friends. It is the closest I can get to playing games.

Cold but a beautiful morning for a walk
 We bided our time and then I prepared half of the corned beef for supper. I retained half of the juices and pickling spices and bagged them for the freezer. Each meal should be plenty for 2 nights at least. There is a lot of meat in 1 ½ lb. 


At 11:30 am I put the roast in the crock pot
I then put a large cut up potato, an onion, celery and carrots into the bottom of our crock pot. Placing the meat on top, adding the juice, spices, water to cover and turning it on Hi got the process started. The packet says 4 hours but I’ll cook it for 6, keeping an eye on the temperature. First time so I hope it turns out!

They tried to cut this old tree trunk down
Perhaps it just needs a push
Bill got the vacuum out, figuring we need to do a real good clean in the Suite. Four hands do better than my two and even though I dust weekly, there are things I don’t pay attention to each time. My hubby has the itch to do it today and with nothing else planned, I can offer no reason not to. We’ll see how far we get with the chores. There are a lot of campers leaving today so we will be busy watching them leave and others arriving.

And the tree branches disappear in the sun's glow
He suggested cooking the last pkg of Cinnamon Buns that we had in the fridge so as much as I don’t want to eat them, I agreed and at 11:30 prepared them for the oven. I know I shouldn’t be eating them but decided with lots of butter, cream cheese for my icing instead of that sickly-sweet stuff that comes with them and some cheddar on the side will make me feel better. Again, the good fats alongside your carbs or sugars deter the meal from turning into ‘tummy’ fat.

Cinnamon buns before they are cooked
I managed to only eat two
We cleaned up the dishes and let our minds wander a bit about plans when we return to Ontario. Making lists and the such and discussing what possible visits we can get in while in London for a few days. Nothing is cut in stone but that is normal for us and we’ll just play it all by ear. We sat for a while in our recliners with our books and Bill gave in to his heavy lids for a doze.

The water is not rushing as much this morning as yesterday
When Clemson indicated he wanted his supper at 4:15, trying hard to put him off, I took him for a walk around the park. As we returned home, I took him across one of the wooden bridges that leads to the basketball court and Perch Lake. There are 3 small lakes here and that is where the name Arrowhead Lakes comes from. Each one is a nice size and during the season of May 1 to October they would be great for kayaking, or tubing. I see the park has these ‘floatables’ to make use of.

The back lane to our site
Watching Clemson walk across the bridge with gaps showing the creek water below was quite funny. Remember that he doesn’t like water unless it is in his dish for drinking or unless our friend, Nancy, is bribing him with treats from 3’ out. I still remember how easily she coaxed him into the lake at Bullhead City Park. When we got back to the Suite, Bill had prepared his supper so he went straight to his dish. It was 4:40 so we’re getting closer to 5 pm, normal Ontario eating time. LOL

The corned beef roast smells so good and I’m sure we are getting close. George suggested 8 hours but I’m thinking it will be ready by 6 or so, 6 ½ hours. I’ll get my meat thermometer out shortly to test it. In the meantime, I’m going for some more reading. No pool again today. Lazy bones. Something about the cold weather takes the thrill out of it for me. And I’ve always preferred a pool where I can sit in the sun to dry off.

A nice tasty Easter dinner
Supper was ready at 5:45 and the roast fell apart. My only error was that I didn’t wrap the meat in foil while I rescued the veggies from the crock pot ‘broth’. By the time I nuked Bill’s corn, it was no longer hot. I know what corned beef tastes like and I love it, but for Bill’s first taste, I’m not so sure it made an impression because of that.  I had sauerkraut with mine and he opted to have horseradish with his. Our leftover meal will be hot, I can guarantee that!

Perch Lake, I would be fishing here if I were a fisherman because no one else is
basketball court
There were two containers left of soup broth that I put to the back of the fridge, a container of beef for another night and a container of potato and veggies. To me, this was a great Easter Sunday dinner and we finished off the bottle of Yellow Tail Cabernet with it. I hope you had a good Easter dinner too, with or without a huge family gathering. We cleaned up dishes watching Die Hard 2 with Bruce Willis. The good guy always wins, right?

Let me tell you, Clemson was very hesitant taking this walk

"It's okay, you won't fall into the water"
The puppy brakes are on here
 Looking outside, we noticed teeny spatters of rain. Nope, they are white so I guess the predicted snow for this area is now falling on our campsite. It is minuscule right now but could amount to an inch over night! I’m just glad we don’t have to go anywhere tomorrow. Gee, I might have to go for a walk in the snow, first time in a long time! The only thing on our agenda tonight is to read some more, relax from a relaxing day and watch Madame Secretary at 10 pm. By the way, we didn't get much cleaning done.


"No way, Mom, I'm not crossing it!"
Not sure what Clemson thinks of the white stuff
but our walk was fun and it is surprisingly warm out at 37F
Thank you for stopping by today! I love to hear from you and will respond to every post in time.

19 comments:

  1. Nice day. That corned beef looked really good, might have to dig out my crock pot and do one again. I forget about it for years at a time, but then always love it when I do it. George brought it up for me again, and now you. Yum. Hope you stay snow free.

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    1. The corned beef was so good and enough for a Reuben or at least another meal.
      The snow found us, 2" on the trees and ground this morning. It is pretty though cold.

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  2. Hopefully you won't have too much snow. We've got some in our forecast.
    Glad you enjoyed both these special days together.
    Be Safe and Enjoy!

    It's about time.

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    1. We had a couple of great days! A little snow is too much, ha ha but we will grin and bear it and hope when we're driving it doesn't snow.
      Happy Easter!

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  3. Clemson is too cute!! I'm sure he's not very impressed with the water between the boards or the snow.

    Dinner looked yummy. So did the buns.

    Hopefully not much snow falls. Glad you're tucked in safe and sound for this weather.

    Happy Easter to you and Bill.

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    1. I love that Clemson can still make us laugh. Such a personality!
      Bill loves the cinnamon buns. They are hard to resist for sure.
      2" on the ground this morning, we aren't in Arizona anymore. :(
      Thanks Deb and Riley, Happy Easter to you both too.

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  4. Your corned beef looks yummy. Haven't cooked that in a very long time. Snow is a four letter word!! Looks like it was a nice Easter.

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    1. Snow IS a four letter word!! Hopefully it won't stick around.
      We had a nice Easter, just the 3 of us.

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  5. Glad you enjoyed the corned beef we love it when we can get it as long as it falls apart you will enjoy it, Nicer hot make makes a nice corned beef hash too.
    Keep having fun there in Wapa.

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    1. Thanks George for the tips on the corned beef, it turned out great!
      We'll find a couple of things to do around here. Stay tuned! :)

      Delete
  6. MMMMM, corned beef. I wonder how it would work in the Instant Pot? I'll try it and let you know!
    The park sure looks relaxing. Enjoy!

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    1. Yes, we don't have an Instant Pot but I'm sure it will be yummy!
      Happy Easter, Dave and Cheryl.

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  7. Happy Easter to you and Bill. Hate to see the white stuff falling. Safe Travels

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    1. Thank you, same to you Lorne and Sue.
      I know, this white stuff is what we try to avoid.
      As long as it isn't ice, it's not too terribly bad.

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  8. Sounds like a nice Easter Sunday even with the white stuff. Which will hopefully be gone with the sun. The corned beef sounds good. Something I have never tried making but something to consider.
    Funny title, at first I thought what???? Then I remembered it was April 1st.
    Take care.

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    1. As I said, I was never very good at April Fool's jokes! haha
      2" of snow so it will take a while for the snow to melt. It is pretty though, I must admit. You could make corned beef easy. If I can you can!
      Happy Easter guys.

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  9. The corned beef sounds wonderful. I've never made it myself but I love it and Dean likes it too. I need to give it a try. I love Scrabble too, but Dean will not play it either. I do play Words 2 with my daughter which I enjoy. I recently downloaded a game to my phone - Wordscapes. They give you a circle of letters and you have to figure out the words to fill in - similar to a crossword puzzle. I really enjoy it.

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    1. The corned beef was easy, just put it in the crock pot for 6 hours and you're done! The smell is awesome too just like a roast.
      I was raised playing all the family games, inside and out. Bill wasn't so that is the difference for us.

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  10. When I was a child I loved corned beef hash out of a can. Haven't had it in years and I've never made it. I think it's one of those tastes might take Bill a few dinners to realize that he likes it (or not). I don't even know how to play games on FB and probably better off if I don't haha..Sounds like a good Easter Sunday for you two!

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