Two Days in One, Finishing the Yardwork, Fiddling Around, Quiet Day, Guests with Gifts

On Wednesday, June 20^th Bill and I were up with Clemson at 6:45. The sky still held some lingering clouds and it could be a mixed bag weather day. I actually felt chilly when we got up, the Suite sitting at 64F/18C, and outside at 56F/13C. Funny what you get used to. Strange Ontario weather. We had our tea and coffee together reading blog posts from yesterday before Bill headed out first to do some weed trimming. Me next, so I got dressed and got my mower out.

Bill does a great job as usual

That didn’t last long, after a few swaths around the yard finishing the main area and, in the corral, the battery died. It couldn’t have been fully charged. Bill did all the trimming so I didn’t have to get my weed eater out at all. Big smiles there! While Bill was finishing up the trimming, it was around 10 when I got our breakfast ready. 

remember the long grass the other day?
this looks much better

The only other thing on my list was to weed my vegetable garden and went up the hill with the hoe. Everything seems to be coming up ‘roses’, well, no not roses but healthy veggies! Bill puttered around with his planes for a while and the rest of the day was pretty lazy for me and eventually Bill joined me. We sat out under the awning after  reading and chatting until our eyes got heavy.

My garden  is now weed-less
Carrots and onions are coming along

tomatoes and peppers too

It was a gorgeous day and when Bill crawled onto the hammock for a snooze, I curled up beside him. Amazingly, we didn’t tip the thing over! We’ve had it since 2004 so are old pros at getting on and off it, I guess. If Clemson had been outside, he would have been in the middle. That is when it gets funny and a little more challenging moving around. We do have fun!

Bird feeder is full, it will likely only last a few hours

At 3 I had my shower and Bill soon after had his. We had a fun evening planned. First, at 4:30 we picked Rob and Pat up in Durham and drove to Walkerton. We met my two sisters, Donna and Gayle and their husbands at Joe’s Old Cabin for supper. Us sisters, Bill, Gerry and Rob (I think) ordered Caesars and Pat had a cooler and although the meal took a while coming, it was delicious! I do believe everyone ordered something different off the menu.

it was a great meal

Bill enjoyed the Fish and Chips and I enjoyed my 1/2 Quesadilla combo which came with a bowl of creamy potato, bacon and chive soup. Um-ummm that was yummy! We headed out of there by 6:20 and drove around the corner to St. Paul’s United Church. 

Waiting for the band to grace the stage
Love the beautiful woodwork in the ceiling of the church

Scott Woods and the Band were performing Fiddling Up a Storm. Because we knew our ‘invitees’ would enjoy him as much as we do and because a portion of his revenue goes to the church, we were excited to go again.

"Minnie Pearl? No, Minnie Kendra!"

No let down here at all, even though it was the same performance. Leo, the young 13 yr. old has certainly come out of his shell since we saw him last, 4 nights into their tour. We all had a great time and I’m sure many of us would go again for another show in the spring on a new tour. The church ladies put out wonderful refreshments in the next room so we had a bite, some chit chat with Scott and Kendra before going our separate ways.

Brother and sister
Scott and Kendra

Ron, I thought you'd appreciate this one of Kendra playing
the accordian

3 part fiddler harmony

Blurry but trust me, it was difficult to catch Scott in slow motion

A nice spread set up by the church ladies

A picture with the talented entertainer and friend

Rob and Pat pose with Scott as well

I still think there must be a hinge in the middle
to get around corners at an intersection
Scott does all the driving and they have travelled 14,000 kms on this tour already
The began the tour on April 13th/18

It was shortly after 10 when we arrived home and we joined Clemson in bed right away. That was a great day!

The sky was pretty on the drive home

Thursday, June 21^st we woke up around 7 again and I felt the chill of the air again. It was great sleeping but when I felt Bill rising, I wished for another blanket to curl up under. However, since I was wide awake, I quickly slipped warm jammies on and joined him downstairs for my tea. The clouds moved across the sky like an unbroken canopy this morning but while sitting reading posts, the blue sky made occasional appearances. Did someone get their wires crossed in the weather department? It was supposed to be a sunny day.

We finished our coffee and tea and talked about whether to drive to Hanover today. Bill has a list of items to pick up for 2 or 3 small ‘projects’. He’s the project guy around here! With no other necessary stops in town, he didn’t need me to pick out wood stuff so I remained behind and gave the Suite a quick dusting downstairs.

I boiled, cooled the syrup and filled the hummer feeders today

I know it is kind of pointless but I stirred the dirt/stone area where I’ve previously cleared of large rocks. Because we have a huge bucket of grass seed, I spread some. We need some top soil to level it out good but putting that $ out right now isn’t top of the list. If some grass grows in the meantime, I’ll be happy. If it doesn’t, no loss. I watered a few things just to be outside with Clemson and then put him inside and drove to Durham. We needed a birthday card.

Clemson sits in the sunshine

When I turned off North Line into our drive, there were 2 geese families with babies way up at the corral. Their sense of ‘warning’ is very evident as they immediately began herding the goslings to the water. We creep up the driveway so as not to freak them out but they still sense ‘danger’ in our presence. I stopped and tried to get a picture with my phone. No sooner did I back Ptooties in her spot when I noticed Bill coming up the lane behind me with his purchases.

The Geese Families are certainly keeping us entertained
If they sense you, even from a long distance, they begin moving the children

He unloaded the wood and because it was 11:30, I began making toasted westerns for brunch. They are always so good. We made plans for a supper meal that would provide leftovers for Bill’s supper tomorrow night. You guessed it, he’ll be working tomorrow. We cleaned up dishes, I made a small Costco grocery list and he went out to do any number of things.

As I’d hoped earlier, at 7:30, the blanket of clouds were swept away as the day woke up. These are beautiful days, 69F/21C, not too hot, not too cold and as Goldilocks says ‘Just right!’ I have a bit of lawn up on the hill to finish cutting where Bill can’t get with the rider so I’ll either do that today or tomorrow. I still have visions of last night’s fun entertainment in my head and it makes me smile. We had such a great time with family and friends.

If the geese aren't entertaining enough,
these two chipmunks fighting over the bird seed certainly are!

Quite frankly, I don’t feel like doing much of anything. I vacuumed the Suite and that just makes the place look spiffier. We’re not slobs by any means but a clean sweep and/or vacuum lifts the carpet fibres. Bill placed the box of ‘handy things to have in a vehicle’ in the back of the Rav4. They’ve been sitting in the bunky since we emptied the Corolla.

They sneak up on each other, chase each other
I love the right hand picture, this guy is peeking over the edge looking
for his competitor

Upon reading the manual, Bill also discovered that there IS a second 12v plug-in adapter so he is still able to keep the gps connected as well as plug our 12v cooler in for his drives to London. That was a bonus. So, he added an extension and fed it through from the front console where it plugs in, under the seats to the trunk area. We’re loving the space in there and having access to it from the back seat is a bonus.

Brunch, yum

We’re experimenting with the sunroof, I know some people love them and others prefer not to have them. It seems we often buy things in an ‘as is’ state without making adjustments, cars and trailers at least. I don’t know if we would have added a sunroof if purchased new. Saying that, we did have cruise control added to the Corolla and it was a demo on the lot. We dealt with the manual windows.

Our drawer dishwasher is handy to have 

But 3 drawers instead of an oven

The Suite was ‘come as it is’ state and we made no adjustments. Dealing with the no oven with ease and gee, the added dishwasher is tough to take! A feature we added to the Suite décor was our lift-top coffee table. We love it! It takes up a fair bit of space but the storage option in the cubby and underneath in our baskets is priceless.

We love our coffee table for storage

All closed up you can't see the 'stuff' hidden inside

There is a slight breeze out there that every once in a while, becomes stronger, flipping the hammock bed, over and over. It doesn’t take much of a wind to catch the edges and send it topsy turvy. We got a text from Donna that they were on their way to the Acreage and as much as I’m so glad we don’t have that packing up procedure to go camping, I’m glad that we are having good weekend weather so they can enjoy their property over there.

At 2:15 we took Clem and drove over. I have coconut oil for Donna from Costco and she has Avon for me that was delivered here last Monday. Oh yes, I must remember to pay that bill. So, we drove over to the Acreage in Black Beauty to top up our fresh water tank. Donna was inside their fifth wheel so I went in. Clemson took a good hard look at their new steps and decided quite quickly that he wasn’t going up them. No carpet, no Clemson. Funny guy, he is.

As we left to go to the Acreage, Papa, Mama and Baby were taking their
sweet old time moving out of the way

Papa's head was bouncing and I'm sure he was swearing at us

Donna and I exchanged our goodies, oil for Avon and cash in the pocket. Good deal! We took a look at her flower garden and I fell in love with the primroses, such a bright yellow and I definitely want some in my garden here. I’ll get some from her in the fall. Donna made us all a Caesar and I had to basically ‘chug-a-lug’ when Bill said, ‘okay, let’s go, it’s 10 to 4’. So, we said our goodbyes and drove back to the Ridge.

A beautiful day for sure

Inside, catching up on this post, Bill wanted to lift the Suite, side to side, so he could place boards under the tires. He did tell me he was lifting one side of the Suite. Well, I wasn’t prepared for the multiple lifts! After a Caesar!? After a tilt this way and a whirl that way, I felt I was on an amusement ride. When it stopped for a few seconds, I scooted out of the rv and sat on our King chairs to realign my body and my head. Too freaky! Next time when I get that warning, I’m outta’ here!

comfort food and leftovers

Back inside, I pulled up my recipe for Easy Meatloaf and threw the ingredients together in a bowl. I can almost (almost!) do this blindfolded now but that is a good thing. It means it is a favourite of Bill’s and mine too. As the name says, it is EASY. Even though our batteries are fully charged, we’ll plug in to bake it in the convection oven. One day I will prepare it early enough and thicken it up a bit more so I can try it on the Weber Q.

With the loaf cooking, I prepared potatoes and corn, timing them so everything would be ready close to the same time. Rob texted me around 5:30 and asked if we’d be around for a visit after supper. He had a treat for me. A bag of freshly picked rhubarb! Oh my! Jibberish came out of my fingertips in my response to him. You know, expressing undying love, everything I could think of to kiss up. We have both craved stewed rhubarb, rhubarb pies, crumbles and cheesecakes.

Now that is a mess of rhubarb!
Thank you, Rob, Pat and Sandra :)

While Bill finished washing the dishes, Rob drove up in his GMC. Clemson ran to Rob first and then Pat to welcome our visitors. What I had my eye on while hugging Rob was the overstuffed bag in his arms. They came inside for a short visit and we shared our day’s non-adventures. None of us got into too much, at least nothing too strenuous. Clemson cozied up to Pat while she sat on the couch. He does love his 2^nd parents.

sorry for the blurry picture, Pat

After they said goodbye, I finished my post and downloaded some pictures. I didn’t take too many today so had to spread them from the last couple of days. Not all days offer the same photographic delights. This has been a rather calm day but a great one. I hope you can say the same for yours.

goodnight from the Ridge

I want to thank you all for taking the time to read my posts. Sometimes we don’t have much to write about but you should know that we are making the best of each day that comes our way. Life is too short to waste a single one. Your comments are always appreciated.