Grass, Weeds, Drywall and Roots

The Ridge
So, Friday, May 31^st (end of the month already?) Bill was awake and up at 6:30. I rolled over for another half hour, not having to get up until I was really ready. When I opened my blind, I smiled. Sunshine. It just does something to me, seeing the sun after such a long absence. I don’t think I’m alone with these feelings and although we shouldn’t let our ‘moods’ be governed by the weather, it does affect most of us.

Bill outside prepping my weed eater

 I had a tea with Bill and read a few blogs before bundling against the 42F and going for a walk. I hadn’t been for quite a few days, not a purposed planned walk, I mean. I’ve been getting over 3 - 4 miles in for the last few days which is always good. Today, it felt good to walk down the country road again and by the time I got to my destination of the turbine road, I was seeing multiple Great White Trilliums. The trillium was officially adopted as Ontario's floral emblem.

The sun started hazy like this and remained this way all day

I walked down into the ditch and up the other side to snap some pictures. Beautiful! The two I dug up last year have not flowered and may not this, their first, year after transplant. They are growing though and look healthy. Maybe next year! When I returned, Bill was close to finishing cutting the front field. I de-layered as I was now warmed up considerably. In my work duds, I did some weed trimming. Bill had filled it with gas and ran it a bit so I would be able to get it started.

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My weed eater is a light weight but today I found it a difficult/tiring chore so didn’t do as much as I’d hoped before putting it away. I don’t trust myself around my newly planted flowers so left it at that. Seems everywhere I went, Chippy #1 or #2 was there. He is so adorable and just sits and looks at me. I came inside and motioned to Bill, who had moved back to this area, that I was starting breakfast. It was 9:30 and I knew he’d be soon gnawing his arm off.

This is the only primrose that looked half decent today

When it was ready, I just stuck my head out the door and saw him watching from the back field. That was easy! No sooner did we sit down and start eating, when I saw the Rona truck coming up the driveway. His drywall was here. For $15 to deliver it from Hanover, he saved himself a bit of extra labour. Getting Rob’s trailer, driving to load it, unloading it at home and returning the trailer takes time and he couldn’t do all that for that.i

I walked past Bill cutting the front 

One of the delivery guys asked about our house and laughed as he told us that he was just this morning talking about doing the same thing! So, a conversation ensued, our rv card was handed out and a lot of his questions got answered before the 3 of them offloaded Bill’s order. It all went into the Hangar and now the rest is up to Bill. He has a job ahead of him. I’m sure he’ll get started at it sooner than later. There were some lingering blackflies, which weren’t around when I was trimming, but we still think they are on their way ‘out’.

Blurry but you get the 'picture'
These were pink and white

I warmed up Bill’s breakfast when they left and I did dishes while he went back out to finish cutting. It is always a job well done and a great feeling to have it completed. The property looks great again! With the grass cut up on the berm, I can see my garden from inside the Suite. After finishing the grass, Bill wanted to so a little bit in the Hangar with the drywall. I knew that meant, he wanted to do a lot but that’s no problem, he can always weed trim another day.

Rona arrived in decent time this morning

The last two sheets going in
Lukas in the truck and 2 Bill's moving the drywall

The next thing I wanted to do is go out and fill my watering can and water the new plants from yesterday. The primrose is looking pretty pathetic and I sure hope they’ll bounce back with a drink. I’d hate to think I’ve killed Pat’s flowers already! So, with the hose still hooked up to the rain barrel, I stretched it out around my flower garden so it is on an incline. Remember we have no pressure. That worked although the sprinkler hose head did not. This meant running up and down to turn the nozzle off at the barrel. Good exercise to say the least.

There he is again, he just wants to hang out, I think

I filled it 3 or 4 times, carting it around to my flowers and then up to the garden a couple of times. All things should be happy now. The black flies weren’t bothering me which was odd as they were sure down by the Hangar earlier. When I finished, I came inside and took care of another type of roots. My gray was showing again so with a full day away with the girls tomorrow I wanted to clean them up. Bill worked away while I took care of that inside.

this is the creation of the 90 second bread

ready to be grilled

 When he comes in and sees me like that, with my hair bunched up in a plastic hair cap, I always give him my best smile and a pose. “Do you love your wife now?” 😊 He knows the end result is worth it so just grins with a silly face. After rinsing, the colour is a shade or two or three darker than my sun bleached blonde but it is nice for a change. I walked down to the lane as Bill said the mail lady stopped at our box. I took my zoom lens in the hopes of capturing some live nature.

Guess who?

No such luck on the nature, well, nothing close anyway. The skittish turtles don’t give me an opportunity to show them in their best light. Slip sliding away they submerge their little selves as soon as they hear footsteps. Plop, plop, plop. 

These are too far from me to be bothered - good!

No luck with anything good at the mailbox either. It wasn’t worth her time stopping nor my time walking down. No, we don’t want Culligan service for crying out loud! I enjoyed the walk all the same and stopped to see how Bill was doing.

And these bigger guys show no fear either

I sat outside for a while and worked on today’s free online jigsaw puzzle and the crossword from the paper. It was a challenge outside in the bright light and finally moved inside to put the last 8 pieces in of the jigsaw. It took me 24 minutes and I know I could have completed it sooner had I been indoors. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. While inside, I decided to try the 90-second keto bread recipe I’ve seen posted a few times. Not that I was hungry, just curious.

I had luck with the crossword this week

With 5 ingredients and 3 minutes, I had a slice of bread. It looks like bread, smells like bread but I held off tasting it until I was ready. It is suggested that if you want a grilled cheese sandwich, this is how you can have one on the keto diet/lifestyle. So, I buttered the halved slices and loaded shredded cheese on top. I will fry it up and let you know. Just not now, I had a handful of walnuts instead.

a Downy Woodpecker?

It was around 2 when Bill texted me to bring him a cold Zero Coke. So, I poured that into a glass of ice, cut him a couple of slices of cheese and took them down. I’ve said before that no grass grows under his feet. He already had a few of the bottom pieces of drywall installed! What a guy! When I returned to the Suite, I poured myself a Diet 7Up and called out the door to him that I was available if he needed me to hold up the top pieces.

This redwing blackbird had something to say

Sitting here, I can feel the muscles I used with my weed eater this morning. At least I didn’t overdo it and all should be well in the morning. Tomorrow is going to be a fun day. The girls, Pat, Donna, Gayle and I are heading into London to our friend’s clothing exchange. A time to reunite with our London friends. We are all looking forward to it and will take the 4 huge bags from the last one here in Hanover. They didn’t come to that one.

Bill cuts the drywall before we move it

Around 3 I went out to see how Bill was doing and he was soon about to text me for some help. We needed to move the 12’ sheets of drywall from one side to the other so he could work on the back wall. With his large rolling cart/table in the middle, it was a matter of shifting it accordingly. Because of their length and the tight fit, he cut 7 1/2” of the end of each one to the required length before we slid them out one side and back in the other side. We finished by lifting the last one up on the bench to make it easier to lift into position when he's ready.

Here you can see the 5 sheets we had to move

Bill had pulled everything out of the Hangar before Rona arrived so the drywall would fit. As we worked, I could see the sky also getting darker by the minute so I checked my phone to see if rain was expected. It was 3:30 by now, we were half way done and the rain was coming at 4. It wouldn’t be much of a shower as the sun was returning at 5. Not wanting to hurry with his cutting, Bill carried on at a steady pace.

This is what Bill did after breakfast
nice work!

We were just nicely inside the Suite at 4 and the rain arrived. Not enough to really get anything too wet but at least his stuff avoided the possibility. I sat and read my book with Clemson while Bill had a shower. He fed Clemson around 4:30 and we relaxed until 5 when I encouraged Bill to start the barbecue. We had pulled 2 New York strip steak out of the freezer. I doubted I could eat a whole one but they were frozen together.

the neat patchwork quilt of our front field all cut

Inside, I fried some mushrooms in butter, steamed broccoli for me and corn for Bill. We were eating a yummy meal soon after. With dishes taken care of, we drove into Durham to clean the Laundromat. I would normally go in the morning but with my trip to London, that won’t be happening. There are 8 older dryers that need a special wrench to open the lint traps. Traps is a great word for it. My goodness, they were long overdue.

Jamie suggested every 2 weeks and we’d not done them for 3 simply because it isn’t something I will do on my own. No way could I do those plus everything else in a reasonable amount of time. The place was busy but we worked around everyone as best we could before putting things away and heading out. It was an hour and half with both of us so I’m glad Bill was able to help me out. We topped up Ptooties and made a withdrawal at the RBC before hi-tailing it for home.

From our back corner window, I can see my vegetable garden now

I had bought Chapman’s Black Cherry ice cream and that sounded good to both of us. First, I hopped in the shower and then dished some up as a treat. We hadn’t had ice cream for a very long time. I finished my blog post and then sat for a while with Bill and Clemson before calling it a night. 

And the hazy sun was with us as we left Durham

We have had a busy but enjoyable day. It was perfect weather reaching 68F/20C and we didn’t once have a complete sun. It always had a bit of cloud or haze blocking the view but that was just fine. I hope you had a great day too.

And it wouldn't be fitting ending with anyone other than Chippy
Good night all!

Thank you for stopping in today. Your comments are always appreciated.

Some Work, Some Visiting, Some Hangin’ Out

Life on the Ridge

It was 5:30 when I woke, again before my alarm, and then dozed until 6. We got up together and I left for work by 6:15. It was a tad foggy but clear as I got out on the road. Bill had an appointment in Hanover at Speedy Auto Glass to get Black Beauty a new windshield. A stone chip from sometime that neither of us recall, turned very quickly (we think) into a backward ‘j’ smack dab in the middle. Finally, biting the bullet, this morning at 9 he took her in.

Bill took a picture of me leaving for work

 I finished at the Laundromat by 8 or shortly after and drove home. I made my tea and relaxed for an hour catching up on blogs. After seeing what our friends were up to, I chatted briefly with 2 sisters and my buddy. I had half of my omelette sandwich from yesterday so fried it up and had that for my breakfast/lunch. Bill would be 2 ½ hours in Hanover and then going directly to help Rob with a roof tear up on his carport. He had cereal before he left and took a sandwich and drinks for lunch.

I had to slow down because the Geese family was ahead of me

By 10:30 I was cleaned up ready to go and visit Mom. The temperature is creeping up from the 54F first thing to now 61F. The sun hasn’t had success in breaking through the clouds, not for lack of trying, until now. Almost 11 o’clock and I see some blue patches in the sky. We are all crying, praying and hoping for some sunshine to dry things up and boost our spirits in the meantime. Enough of this dreariness, already!

It is rare that Bill takes a picture of me leaving for work!

I left the Suite around 11 and found Mom in her room, in her chair facing the window, sound asleep. So peaceful. When I knocked on the door, she woke slowly and finally realized who I was. Well, realized that I was a familiar daughter at least! We hugged and I suggested a short walk to a room with a table where we could work on a puzzle. That was fun, she was doing quite well and we had fun, which is the whole point.

Mom didn't have her glasses, but she was doing well with the 100 pc. puzzle

Before I knew it, it was 12 noon so we had to leave it unfinished and go down to her lunch. She was in very good spirits and chatted with the lady at her table when she sat. She didn’t even need to wave to me a hundred times today, she was happy. 😊 From there I drove to the I.D.A. pharmacy to print off my pictures for Smitty but they no longer have the machine. Hmm. So much for that. I’ll have to do it in Hanover one day.

Here she realized that the noise she was hearing was the camera
counting down

Bill was already at Rob’s so I drove there and they were just finishing up and ready to take a load of shingles to the dump. I joined my little buddy inside and we chatted until the guys returned. Pat had some egg salad, pickles and buns for lunch and kindly invited us to stay. Yes Ma’am! We haven’t had egg salad since we were on the road so it was a delightful ‘fall from the Keto grace’. The buns, I mean, they were delicious!

The futon mattress came in a big box

Bill left around 1:30 and after Rob digging me up some primrose from Pat’s side garden, I wasn’t too far behind. More flowers to plant and these are perennials so that is even better! Back home Bill had offloaded a purchase I made online from Walmart. The futon mattress arrived 8 days earlier than expected but that was good timing, with Bill being back in Hanover. No charge for shipping and now our guests will sleep even better, I hope!

the couch is now double thickness with both mattresses
and will definitely be more comfortable for sleeping

Inside the Suite, I made a coffee and could easily see that Bill was worn out. Even though not all physical labour, waiting, running errands etc. tires a person out. Sometimes doing nothing has the same effect! He went upstairs with Clemson and I wrote some of this post before going outside to peruse the mattress situation. I was pleased with the thickness of the 6” mattress. I’m sure that is what the old one is/was but has to be close to 10 yrs. old and flattened quite a bit.

The new one will make a big difference and I won’t have to blow up an air mattress when we have company. Not only was it challenging for me, but being vinyl on all sides, noisy and hard to keep sheets on. Bill doesn’t quite agree but he’s never been comfy on a futon where I have.  With that done, I went out and planted some primrose plants. I spread them around the flower beds and then watered them from our rain pails. Not an easy chore but there wasn’t enough rain in our barrel to use the tap.

first, I browned the chops

I moved inside and switched from capris into shorts. Bill came in earlier and opened most of the windows. It was quite warm inside. After naps, some reading and some tv, it was 6 and time to make supper. I had pulled 3 pork loin boneless chops from the freezer and realized these are my least favourite of all the chops on my ‘don’t like’ list. So, the decision to cook them in Madame IP was an easy one.

I love the smell of onions and mushrooms cooking

I browned them in butter on Sauté, removed them while I cooked some onions and mushrooms. Returning the 3 chops on top of the vegetables, I added chicken broth and cooked for 10 minutes. When I removed the lid after a Natural Release for 10 minutes, the smell was overwhelming. Oh my! After sitting for a few minutes, I removed the chops and thickened the liquid. On the side, I put a Caesar salad together and we were eating by 7.

And Voila! Supper is served and it was very good.

We didn’t see any real sunshine today although were teased a few times. It was warm enough during the day, hanging around 66F/18C. We’ll take it. Supper was good. These loin cops came in a box of mixed meats from West Grey Butchers but live and learn, next time we’ll swap them out for more sausage, chicken or butt chops at least. They’re pretty good doing that for their customers. We cleaned up dishes and there came the sun.

And the sun pops around the clouds

I finished my post and we sat with our books and the tv on in the foreground. This was a great day with a lot of things accomplished. The nice thing is, as I sit here at 8 pm – it doesn’t even seem like I worked this morning. That was a long time ago, it seems. 

Clemson, outside on one of his many piddle runs

The prognosis for tomorrow is sounding good with some sunshine earlier in the day. Other than waiting for a delivery of drywall for the Hangar, it will be a nice relaxing day here at home.

I hope your day was half as good as mine. 

I'm so glad the sun came out to give us this beautiful sunset

Good night from the Ridge
Beautiful, huh?

Thank you for your visit into our day, we enjoyed having you! (PS - frogs are still singing, nightly. I'd miss them if they stopped).

Successful Shopping, Gardening, and Jell-O Day, Family Birthdays

The Ridge

Early, around 4:30, on Wednesday, May 29^th I woke up when I heard Bill and Clemson. Clemmy was gagging, about to throw up and Bill was hustling around trying to get him outside. Once that episode was over and Clemson seemed fine again, we all settled down to go back to sleep. It was 20 after 7 when I woke next and it has been a while since I’ve slept that late. It felt nice to just relax.

2 hanging planters, marigolds, peppers and tomatoes

Bill was already up with his coffee made when I moved downstairs. I made a tea and as I did so, checked the weather. Our station said it was 52F/11C and it was cloudy again with little to no wind. Not too bad of a day and maybe we'd see some sun later. We finished our drinks; Bill had already checked our banking and was happy that our CPP pensions had gone in. Yay! Finally, we would be able to fill the fridge and cupboards again.

My stump planter still has bark on it
A couple of marigolds will brighten it up

By 9 we were on our way into Hanover. I drove Ptooties and Bill drove Black Beauty. We had so much to do and different stores to visit so this made the most sense. First, I went to Rockwood Terrace and signed the paperwork to get Mom on the Foot Care Schedule. That was easy. Bill had left after me, but was most likely ahead of me by now. He first went to First Choice Haircutters to get his ears lowered and then carried on with his other stops.

My handsome guy with a new haircut

I drove directly to Walmart and picked up a few groceries and also a couple of hanging planters that were marked $9.99. I was happy to pay that price. One is a pink geranium and the other a name that I can’t remember without looking at it. From there I drove back through Durham, stopping at Foodland for some 4-pack annuals. Marigolds were my choice this year. I got tomato plants but she didn’t have peppers so I wasn’t done yet.

Geraniums and marigolds in my new garden
I think Chippy approves

The truth? Chippy is hanging around for the dropped seeds only

Home Hardware was my next stop and I used our gift card from Scott and Ellen to buy a bag of mixed bird seed. Lastly, I stopped at the garden centre in North Wellington FS/Co-op. They had the green pepper plants that I was looking for. At 11:45, I texted Bill that I was on my way and he was already there ahead of me.

These marigolds found a home in the flower box Bill made
It is in our seating area so maybe will keep skitters away

By the time I arrived home and got the groceries put away, I was hungry and since Bill only had a yogourt at 8:30, he was as well. I made us each a toasted egg omelette sandwich. I wasn’t thinking about carbs at this point, just wanted to satisfy a hunger. We cleaned up dishes and went back outside. I first surveyed my purchases before making plans on where to plant. In each planter there are 3 rooted plants so I split the geranium for individual planting. I only have one hanging location so Bill got one in his pot by the Hangar along with a couple of marigolds.

The hanging planter in another sitting area

The rest of the 12 marigolds were spread out in different places. My new little flower garden got 4 along with the other 2 geraniums. I may purchase more annuals but time will tell. The price of $1.29 for 4 is almost too good to resist. Next, I filled the bird feeder so the bigger birds will be happy and spread some out for Chippy, our little piggie chipmunk. Note: by the end of 4 hours, one feeder was empty. LOL

And this is the flower that I can't name but it is very full and looks good here

 I went up to the garden with 16 tomato plants and 8 pepper plants. I’m quite pleased with the progress on my radishes, even though 5 had jumped ship into another row. I have sunflower seeds that are pushing up through the ground around my garden and that is also exciting. Now the rain expected tomorrow can do its magic. If nothing else, it will save me from watering my new plantings. I put everything away and found Bill closing up the Hangar.

To put the above picture in perspective, this is where it is

Returning inside, I mixed up my Creamy Jell-O and now we have an edible keto dessert again. 😊 8 of them, in fact! I caught up on my post, which I hadn’t started and sat with Bill and Clemson until he lit the Weber for grilling. Tonight, we are having sausages and Caesar salad for supper. It feels good to have choices again, rather than the same thing over and over. Supper was great! And because the sausages were so long, half of mine is in the fridge for another night.

Bill was sad that he only got one planter back when he gave me two

And lastly, in a movable pot, 2 more marigolds

Just before we finished eating the sun popped through the clouds. The temperature hit 60F/14C and we look forward to many more sun appearances in the days to come. We had our Jell-O later when watching Mash reruns. I sat with my crocheting, did a few rows and turned to my book until the new season of Private Eye began at 9. This was a terrific day!

My garden today looks a lot happier!

And an experience - this is a watermelon plant

The weather wasn’t warm but at least it is dry and the G-R-E-A-T news, (picture Tony the Tiger here if I had one) the black flies were no where to be seen the whole time I was outside working! Woohoo! Before posting, 2 very special birthday wishes go out to our son-in-laws. Dennis and Cory, the husbands of Bill's two oldest girls. What a coincidence that they share the same birthday. 

Happy Birthday, Dennis!

Happy Birthday, Cory!

I hope you enjoyed your day as well.

Supper tonight

And the sun breaks through on time for a sunset

Dessert was yummy

Good night everyone!

Thank you for popping in to see what Bill and I were up to today.