Thursday, October 8, 2026

Focusing Inside, Focusing on Planes

The Ridge

First things first on Thursday, Oct. 8th. I was up shortly after 6:30 and headed in to town with our bed linens to clean the Mat. I went straight to Battery Pro to fill our water bottle. When I arrived at the laundromat, it was empty and remained that way during my stay.

Good morning!
Our little imp likes to squeeze behind our chairs
and 'nest'.
Last night, he got stuck. 😂I couldn't stop
laughing at him peeking out until I realized it.
He barked, backed up, laid down...repeat.
Such a little chubby butt!
The picture on the left is after.
He looks ticked with me, no?
💕💕

I missed seeing Trudy, which was the plan, because she messaged that her sweet dog, Tony, was sick.😢 It is awful when our pets are not feeling well because they can't tell us where it hurts. She didn't want to leave him alone and wanted to take him to the vet. Hope he just ate something that didn't agree with him and that he is okay. 

This is the monkey she wants to buy.

Meet Tony

I finished up and on the way out of town, dropped pillows and Lost and Found clothes outside Rethreads door. I had bought a couple of lottery tickets early last week and surprise, surprise, they were winners.......I stopped at Eckhardt's to cash them in. No big win but 2 free tickets with Encore works for me!

This is the sky I saw when I 
headed into town.

It is a windy day today and the sky is a complete mess. One minute it is sunny, the next, cloudy and at one point, Bill counted 6 drops of rain. LOL It isn't exactly cold though, maybe 15C/59F when the sun is out. Bill captured a picture of the rainbow after I left this morning so sent it to me. 💕

This is what Bill saw back home 
after I left.

He had the empty propane tank loaded in Black Beauty when I returned and left soon after for town. I had no real draw to go outside today, the berm garden may or may not get cleaned up. Instead, I wanted to focus on inside the Suite. 

A couple of odd photos when in
Durham.
The clouds are very unusual this fall.
Bottom pix is what I saw in the distance
when filling our water bottle.
Thought they were real!

I put my homemade books up in the upper cupboard and the knickknacks that I set out for the season as well. Bill went to the Hangar. He has done everything up here to do with our travel 'check' and storage so now he needs to focus on fitting planes and hobby equipment into Black Beauty.

Jazz has no home right
now so she sits beside the
Suite.
She's going away Friday.

Inside, I pulled our big chairs out for easy access and washed all windows and vacuumed behind the chairs. When I woke up, a twinge in my back gave me a bit of concern and it worsened on the drive home from town. However, I took an Advil capsule and within 20 minutes, I was good as new.

I was Molly Maid with a cleaning & packing
vengeance today.
Windows inside washed and ledges dusted
and vacuumed.

No, that didn't mean I used common sense when I decided to pull the chairs out but I suffered no more pain after all that tugging, reaching and pulling. Huh! Goes to show that sometimes we baby ourselves too much. I try to keep moving and I'll take a back pain over sciatica (dare I say the word?) anyday.

Not much left downstairs to
put away on move day.

I went to the Bunky to bring some of my novels in for the road. I might find more down south to read, if I read that much at all, but grabbed 4 just in case. My sister, Gayle, had given us a nice Arizona themed carpet that they no longer wanted so I also brought it in to use this winter. We love it.

We have to roll it up while
we travel  because the slide
comes in there.

I made toasted Western sandwiches on buns for lunch and that hit the spot. We are going out for supper with Bill's 2 sisters and hubbies so it will tie us over until then. Bill went back to the planes and I went upstairs to finish the windows and dusting up there. I've put the knickknacks up there away - almost. Clemson will sit out until our last day. ♥️🐶

Gibbs and I walked down, in the wind, to check for any mail. Just 5 more delivery days before Bill brings the mailbox in for the winter. I think it will sit in the outhouse. No sooner did we get out there and partly down the lane and I felt rain drops. Crap!

Yum, lunch was tasty!

There was no good mail, junk, so we hustled ourselves back up to the Suite. Gibbs wasted no time running up the stoop to the door. Hurry, Mom! It didn't last at all but it sure cooled me down. I'd planned (just before going out) to wear an above the knee casual dress tonight. I changed my mind about that! I'll wear a long skirt and a warm sweater instead. 🤭 

I sat at my laptop and perused some of the Harvest Host locales that might be on our route. Until Bill tells me our direction, I won't know for sure. I'm going to have to renew soon, our membership is due in December. I'm looking forward to some new places.

I made myself a cup of tea around 3 and Bill and Gibbs went upstairs for a snooze. We have a 45 minute drive to get to the restaurant in Teviotdale (at the roundabout) so no real rush. He had his shower when he got up and at 4:30 we were ready to head out.

Hot beef sandwich.
Half came home with me,
so much beef! Yummy!

Carol, Brian and Liz were already sitting in the restaurant but we didn't realize that until 5:20 when we walked in. LOL We were there at 5:05! Oh well, we ordered a drink to join them and soon placed our meal orders. This is a great little truck stop with good food.

Meeting with Bill's sibs
for dinner at a truck stop
restaurant.
It was quiet and delicious!

Three of us ladies had hot roast beef and mashed potatoes w/coleslaw. It was a lot of food so I brought half of my beef home. It was delicious! We had a nice visit, had Katie, the waitress, take a picture for us before we left. It was 6:50 when we started back to Gibbs.

Leaving Teviotdale, more of
the strange cloud formations began.

The sky was magnificant on the drive home so I snapped photos while Bill drove. Gibbs greeted us with his smiling face (🥰) and wagging tail. It was cool inside so I turned the Blue Flame heater on to ward off the 5C/41F overnight temperature. I put our flannel sheets on the bed yesterday so we'll be warm.

Good thing Bill was driving or
I would have had to pull over to 
get pictures.

I will be finishing my blog post in the morning.......just too tired. 

Arizona skies are beautiful
but Ontario skies can be too!
Good night!

Thank you for the visit!



Wednesday, October 7, 2026

Slept In! More Fair Weather Packing Up

The Ridge

On Wednesday, (hump day), Oct., 7th we all had a sleep-in. Bill and Gibbs slept until 6:40 and although I woke enough to hear them, dropped back off until 7:40. It was 11 pm when we all went up to bed last night because NCIS Origins wasn't on until 10.

Good morning!

We did enjoy all 3 of the NCIS programs and very happy they have started again. However, even though I was feeling the strains of the day in my muscles and was extremely tired, I couldn't drop off. What the heck is with that? Bill had no trouble, no did Gibbs.

Wiggle wiggle wiggle

I did have some chocolate around 8:30 and I'm wondering if that was the culprit? I saw 11:30, 12:06, 1:00 and 1:40 before the night went dark. 🤷‍♀️ I slept well after that! So, we had our morning brew together and discussed the day's plans.

Things are looking a little bare
in our front yard,

Bill was energetic and went out to do the front field trimming along the fence line. It is the last of the landscaping we'll (he'll) be doing this fall, this year so he wanted to get it done. He proceeded to load the metal frame from our shelter into Black Beauty and took it to Robin's. 

By the time he returned, I was pretty much ready to start doing something productive as well. My job today was to remove our folding chairs from under the bed. We haven't used them for the last couple of years, well, since we removed our couch. We've had a couple of extra wood dining chairs in here.

The mats are put away, everything
except Gibbs' bed and our barbecue

This year, with a new table in that area, the space under the bed can be used for my crafting materials. I'm glad I thought of that, rather than trying to fit things around the table. I don't take my paints anymore, they stay at Pat's for the winter.

I had a visitor when
sitting in the sun

I sorted once more, a little more diligently, through the paper I have. I removed a couple of the heavier booklets and packed everything else in the bed cavity. With just over a week left, I may not need to access my quilling before we leave but if so, it is easy to get at. 🤭

Still in the shade so he's
happy to keep an eye on us.

We are in great shape as far as being ready to go. We finished in the Bunky except for emptying the freezer. IWe are going out for 6 of the remaining 10 days so I'll have to get planning those dinners!

Woops! The security guard
fell asleep on his shift.

Bill moved on to checking and greasing the tires of the Suite and we are in good shape there. I notified Robin when I'm available to clean and when I'm not. It isn't too busy right now so I may not be required at all, which is fine. 

It was a mostly sunny day

I will be cleaning the Mat 4 more days and hopefully training someone on one of those. That ball is in Sandy's court, I told him I would and to let me know when to see if it worked for me. Time is short. ⏰

The Bunky was sufficiently
stuffed.

Yesterday, along with my vacuum bags, I received a Bluetooth speaker. Bill got one a while ago and my sister, Audrey, had one playing a lot of the time during our Ladyfest. They have a great sound.

We'd moved the King chairs, 6 patio chairs, propane fire pit, folding Suite chairs and our folding Cub chairs (they are so big to take along) into the Bunky and I closed the door. It was 2:30, the sun was lovely and warm, so Gibbs and I sat out for a while before I walked down to check the mail.

My new Bluetooth speaker

We were both (all) done for the day around 3:30 and came inside. I had my shower and made a cup of tea. Supper will be grilled sausages but I will have mine with cauliflower on the side rather than a bun. It was very good and we finished the last of the bread pudding. 


Supper was good

Tonight is Survivor so we'll watch that at 8. It has been a really good day. I can almost say we are about 85% ready for our winter adventure. Almost. We reached 18.3C/65F this afternoon with a low expected of 7C/45F overnight.

A nice day comes to a close.
Good night!

Thank you for coming by!