Surprise Sunshine, Country Walk, Enjoying Queen Victoria’s Birthday

On Monday, May 21^st I was very surprised to see a blue sky instead of gray when I woke up. I was sure the weather forecast was to be more rain today. Yay! They were wrong! We knew it was going to get cold overnight, 4C/40F so Bill turned our Blue Flame heater on before we went to bed at 11. This morning, we woke up too warm. Slept well but the heater was a notch too high and the Suite was resting at 19C/67F. No worries, but we shut it off soon after.

The pond in the morning skylight

Already by 7 it was a lovely 8C/47F when we sat and had our tea and coffee. Little lazy bones, Clemson, even got up at the same time! After reading blog posts, I slipped on my runners, a couple of light layers, took a water bottle, my phone and walking stick to head out for my walk. Bill had plans to whipper-snip around the larger perimeter of the property so we went our separate ways. My goal today was to walk in the northerly direction to the bridge.

It is hard to see, but the bridge, my destination, is at the bottom of this hill

It took me 30 minutes to get to the bridge, snap some photos, including a selfie, and then the steep climb up the hill. I did well, not stopping once and my heart rate didn’t go crazy. I feel pretty good about that. There are a lot of nice pieces of property along Baptist Church Road, but the ones in the bush just make me think of more bugs and right now they are not my friend!

You are walking out in the country, seemingly in the middle of nowhere
but none of us can really do without our tv!
2 satellite dishes here
Their home is behind the trees

When I got back, Bill was out in the field and said the bugs were not around him at all. We think (sssh) maybe they have moved over to the Acreage. Donna says they have them bad but they don’t get the breeze and are down in among many cedar trees.

Nice country properties

I made it to the bridge

Took a picture facing east where this tree fell over in the last storm

And a blurry selfie to prove I  made it!

From the top of this hill, you see what I had to climb up

I came inside to catch up here and finish my bottle of water. Project #1 for me is to sand down the metal base for our hammock. It needs to be repainted badly. This will be a messy job so I need to put on old clothes.

The hammock stand is in rough shape but will look
good as new with a fresh coat of paint

That wasn’t as bad as I thought, Bill said only to get the loose stuff off so other than messy gloves and bits and pieces of sandpaper to clean up, I was done in no time. Now we’ll have to pick up some Tremclad paint. I washed up from that and sat outside with my favourite pooch to finish my book. It is such a beautiful day and there aren’t as many flies around today. I put my bug hat on anyway and enjoyed the peace and quiet.

Clemson wandered close to home, back and forth to check on Daddy
and me

A commenter from yesterday asked for pictures of the setup in Bill’s cargo trailer so these pictures are for you, Mike. Bill worked outside in the shed and his trailer, I’m not sure what he got up to but he was happy doing it. 

You can click on these pictures for a larger version:

A view from the back drop down door

The left side of his trailer
Bill wanted to tell you that he has changed the configuration
3 times and he thinks now he is satisfied

The right side holds 2 fuselages and 1 sail plane

The white cabinets in the nose of the trailer
that Bill built for storage and thinks he may
close this in completely for more storage

Last summer, he built this sliding tray for wing
storage under the bench

A view from the back with his magnet
screen doors closed

Side door screen

He sat with me for a while but the flies were bugging him in the shade so he moved inside. My Fitbit  vibrated and told me in no mistaken terms to “step it up!” I’d already covered 3 ½ miles today, geesh! No mercy! Ha, ha, so I closed my book (with only 3 chapters left!) and dedicated myself to a walk down the laneway.

When I got back, Bill reminded me that our rent was due but I had a book to finish first. Right down to the wire, this book had me guessing how it would end and it didn’t disappoint. If you want a good, sinister, fast read, I recommend Rules of Prey by John Sandford. Inside, I sent the rent money off to our landlords and then began making lasagna. This is for tomorrow night’s supper.

The Baltimore Oriole returned today and even tried eating
out of the hummer feeder
No zoom lens available at the right time

Instead of plugging in to cook it tonight, we’ll have a simple meal of either toasted tomato or grilled cheese. We have a busy day tomorrow from 4 am until mid to late afternoon. Bill has an appointment in London at 8:45 am to have some tests done as a result of his last stress test. We’re not too concerned, but of course there is always a niggling in the back of our minds. At least it won’t be an all-day thing and we can scoot home to Clemmy immediately after.

There's our little guy enjoying the sun with Mom

With the lasagna prepared and covered, I looked for another book to get myself into. I’ll need something to read while he is in for his appointment. I still have a few to choose from, thanks to Deb and Riley. I found one by Stuart Woods called Fast & Loose that should fit the bill. I went outside and watered my newly planted onions and carrots and a bit to my trilliums. They are almost done flowering anyway.

Donna texted and said that she and Gerry were on their way over for a visit. They will be coming to let Clemson out in the morning for us while we are away. He is usually fine for 6 to 8 hours on his own so a 9 o’clock outing for a piddle would fit in the schedule just fine before they leave the area for Hanover. Bill and I were sitting relaxing outside when they pulled up. We showed them the ‘key’ things to get into the Suite and Gerry and I had a beer margarita before they left.

Donna and Gerry pop over for a visit
Clemson is wondering if it is supper time inside

Not having had anything since pancakes at 10 this morning, the margarita had me floating a bit. What can I say, I’m a cheap date? Inside, since it was only 5, Bill fed Clemson and I hopped in the shower. It reminded me of showers in the heat of Arizona where I didn’t feel chilly getting or getting out. The weather is finally settling down and it is great to have windows open and warm air filtering in.

How could something so simple, taste so good?

For supper, we had grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato slices. In my new T-fal fry pan, they browned up great with butter in no time. I added sliced onions and a pickle to mine and it was delicious. Bill had a glass of milk with his, now doesn’t that sound good? We cleaned up the dishes and then it was Bill’s turn to have his shower. I know it will be an early night for both of us to bed but that means 9 for me and probably 10 for Bill. The sound of the alarm is not going to be sweet.

It was a beautiful calm day as is obvious here

I hope you have enjoyed Queen Victoria’s birthday as much as we have. A little bit of history here about the holiday.

https://globalnews.ca/news/2714339/why-we-still-celebrate-queen-victorias-birthday/

Thank you for stopping in today. I’d love to hear from you!