Bill Goes to London, Leftovers Explained, Fear Faced

Today, Tuesday, Apr. 11^th, will be a change for both of us. We were up before dawn to have our first coffee together. Looking out, we see a lot of Daddy’s ‘black fog’, the turbine behind us is invisible. Bill has packed a bag and after breakfast and a shower is heading into London, well Lambeth actually, to work a couple of days at Can Am.

Last fall he offered to do some orientations in the spring for them, since it is their craziest busiest time when new owners pick up their rvs. It would only be worth his time if they could do a couple or three in a 2-3-day stretch. While there on Apr. 2^nd helping them out they took him up on it and he worked 2 days while we stayed in their lot.

Bill will take the car for the London trip

He will work this afternoon, stay overnight and do two orientations tomorrow and drive home in the evening. It is pocket (hobby) money for him and he enjoys it. I sent a meal with him for supper plus bedding etc. and he will stay in one of their trailers. This works out. He wasn’t prepared for the fog, I’m sure, so I will be waiting to hear of his arrival in a few hours.

Clemson and I will look after the homestead. I will actually enjoy the alone time too, puttering around in my closets and cupboards. The floors need a good wash and I want to do an all-over dusting of the woodwork. All things that are easier when there aren’t two of us inside the Suite. It took some convincing to tell Clemson he couldn’t go with Dad as you can see.

Not without me, Dad.

First things first and that meant into Durham to do the laundry. This was a shocker because we aren’t using a campground’s facility but a town laundromat. The price for the washers is ridiculous but they are what they are and this is better than the alternative. We do not want to be lugging (our word choice) around a washer/dryer.

Our laundromat here is always clean and most times I arrive, I meet Stan, the owner. He is there every day, tidying up and making sure things work properly, including topping up the change machine and the detergent dispensers. Stan opened the laundromat in 1977 as a side business to his regular job. Not sure when he retired from the other job but he is running this one full-time. It was nice to talk to him about Durham, Rockwood Terrace and our lifestyle.

All done, just get it home and put away

Because the day was dull, drizzly and resting around 12C/53F it wasn’t a day to hang my clothes out so I used their speedy dryers. They dry so fast in 20 minutes with the exception of jeans. The dryers are cheap. I was out of there within 2 hours with 3 loads of laundry cleaned and folded.

To go home, I drive by Rockwood Terrace, where Mom resides. There was a nice open spot for me and Black Beauty on the street right out front so I parked and went in for a quick hello and hug. I would much rather do short pop-ins more often than an hour and a half visit every 3 or 4 days.

When I arrived, I was happy to see my oldest sister, Cathy, sitting with Mom. We chit chatted for a brief 15 minutes and after at least 6 hugs from Mom (and 3 from Cathy for practice) they walked down the hall with me to the elevator. I felt good doing that not only because it is so great to see Mom so happy but because now I will feel more comfortable when I go. I almost turned the wrong way when trying to find the elevator. LOL

Mom's name made the birthday list this month
It is April 17 so when the family is all together for Easter on Sunday, we will also celebrate her 91st

I was just finishing putting clothes away and my sweetie called to say he had arrived at Can Am safe and sound. He stopped to see Krystal, his 3^rd daughter, in Milverton, and give her the gift we brought back. I’m sorry to have missed seeing her but hopefully it won’t be too long and I’ll get a chance. She just returned from Cuba on Friday so I’m sure she was all tanned up too.

He popped in to see Dad again on his way and had another nice visit. Only one daughter left to connect with, Jess, and we will work towards making that happen soon. I needed to have a bite to eat so made myself up a Skinny Muffin. That hit the spot, now I can get to work.

This is my tall 'dish' cupboard even though it contains 2 shelves of food

With our small folding stool I was able to reach into the very top of the tall dish cupboard. Dishes on the bottom shelf and food on the top. These shelves are so deep, which is great for storage, but food items tend to slide to the very back while travelling and I lose track of what is up there. Sometimes I put an extension bar across the middle to hold the food to the front. This means wasted space but it isn’t a big deal when we are south.

Bill is going to make me a shelf so things don't get piled on top of each other
this cupboard is hidden by the table

I moved things around, rearranged, debated on which things to purge and moved on to the hutch cupboard under our table. I love this storage space because it is out of sight, out of mind. Things that are in here are a handful of sealer jars for apple sauce and jam, a couple of serving dishes, casserole dishes, an electric kettle and our little deep fryer. I removed quite a few things that were in there that we will never use.

I also removed these two pictures of Bill and I. They are favourites of mine from our trip out west to see Michael and Colin. That was in 2011, seems so long ago.

they look good on this wall

The sun appeared briefly

I made some progress inside and got the Suite woodwork all dusted. By then the sun seemed to be poking through the clouds so I wanted to get outside for a bit. I hung the pictures plus a coat hook in the Ridge Roost (aka motel room) and I also hung this metal sign that I fell in love with at the thrift shop in Imperial Dam, California. Pat Aljoe, you will remember this, we had fun shopping in there. The sign blends into our Ridge Restroom décor perfectly.

My Imperial Dam purchase

While in the outhouse I remembered that our sawdust bucket was almost empty so I filled it up. In case this is unknown to some of you, if you sprinkle or scoop sawdust shavings into the hole after using the ‘toilet’ it helps to break waste down as well as helps to eliminate odor. The things you learn when your bathroom is an outhouse!

Prettiest little outhouse in Durham

 Lastly, outside I opened up my folding bike bag thinking I could take a ride down the lane way. Once I got it opened up and sat down it was easy to see the tires were flat. I got Bill’s air compressor out and noticed there was some available air according to the gauges so filled them up. I had no idea how much to put in so just checked the tires after each ‘spurt’.

I’ve always wanted to try and bike with Clemson alongside me so with his leash on, we did just that. Next time I’ll use a longer leash so he has a bit more freedom but he trotted along like a trooper. We down the lane and down the road for a bit. That was fun! If he runs away from me the next time I suggest it, we’ll know that he didn’t enjoy it as much as I did. He sure seemed to like it.

I hate to miss a moment on days like this

The air is cooling down outside and we are expecting more rain here tonight so I’ve set pails out under the eaves spouts of the Suite to catch what we can. We have a rain barrel near the Roost that is about ¼ full from the winter. This water is great for watering my garden should we have another dry summer.

Patsy, Patsy, how does your garden grow?

I’m not sure if Clemson misses Bill, but he never bothered me once to get his supper for him. Weird. At 5:10 I finally asked him if he was ready for it. He ate it up but I’m sure he is wondering “where is Dad anyway?” I’m having leftovers tonight too and since I haven’t eaten anything since my Skinny Muffin this morning, I think it will be sooner than later.

My corabelle is going to be plentiful in this scoop

Tomorrow I will tell you about my night, here, alone, with my watchdog. I’ve spoken to a few of you about my fear of the dark, especially when I have to take a dog out around 9:00 or 9:30 for his last piddle. Well, I’m going to face that fear tonight, I’ve been practicing a bit while Bill was here. Sounds silly to some of you, probably, but we each have ‘something’, don’t we?

The choir is practicing for tonight's encore
I must try and record it later when they are all in attendance.

I hope you have had a great day as I certainly have. I think tonight will be a cool night so I have turned the Blue Flame heater back on low. 

My pussy willow bouquet

I want to thank you for following along today. Your comments are always welcome.