Windy Start, Bill Takes on a Job, Suite Clean & Faux Packing

Up On the Ridge

It was around 7 on Tuesday, Sept. 10^th when we got up. We could hear the wind whipping around outside and could see only clouds overhead. No sun, yet. It wasn’t to be a cold day but definitely there were chances of rain periodically, about 50% possibility. We weren’t plugged in to power and the batteries were resting comfortably around 12.2 when we got up.

A pretty sunrise even though the sun didn't stick around

Bill had his coffee while I had a cup of tea and then he had a bowl of cereal. Today he was meeting Jamie at the Laundromat to start washing walls as a paint prep. I put a couple of cold drinks and snack bar in a cooler and he took that along with a thermal mug of coffee when he left just before 8. I read blogs and Facebook posts and then played my Scrabble games with 3 of my sisters. When Bill left, I plugged in as the sun disappeared soon after it rose.

And then it disappeared in the clouds

Now, I’m ready to start dusting the Suite and I see that there is more blue sky than clouds so I may reverse that plug-in action. I took the alone time and got the furniture polish out to dust the woodwork, and cabinets etc. upstairs and down. The sky is driving me crazy! I unplugged again when the sky cleared and within 15 minutes, it clouded over. I’m keeping an eye on the batteries and since I’m not using anything other than the Keurig and my Magic Bullet, I’ll stay unplugged for now. 

Our Roots back packs

 The dusting was done so I’d made a b.p. coffee and went upstairs with my new backpack. For our October trip, Bill says that we ‘shouldn’t’ need to take much more than our packs plus his small handheld suitcase that he takes back and forth to CanAm. That would be our checked bag. Hmmm, that would mean that we don’t have to purchase a rolling bag at all. I did see one at a very reasonable price in Walmart that would be perfect but we’d then have to store it for the in-between few times we’d ever use it. 

And my clothes will fit

I pulled the clothes that I’m 100% sure of for Cancun out of my over the bed cupboard. It doesn’t look like a lot to me but I’m sure to Bill – different story. I’m telling myself that I’m not being unrealistic in my choices especially after listening to his daughters on Sunday. They are all taking a normal size suitcase to check at the airport. Well folks, I surprised myself and have to admit that Bill is right. If he lets me use ¾ of the small bag (he says “I can get pretty much ALL of my clothes in the backpack”) I’m good with that!

I had a visitor this morning

I am taking my laptop and it will fit nicely in the backpack plus I’ll be taking a large bag as a purse on the plane too. We should be good! I would like to take a book, of course, so will take one in my ‘purse’ and also take my Kobo along which has a lot of books on there that I haven’t yet read. Doing this ‘packing exercise’ has helped me a lot and not only is it going to save us $50 but it has also managed to get me more excited.

Hello pretty fellow

Downstairs at 11, I sat and wrote in my post. At 11:45 the rain started. Darn! I’m not plugged into power! We are sitting at 12.4 battery power which is fine except that I wanted to make some Honey Nut Apple Muffins. I guess, I’ll do what I can and then in between the rain showers run out and plug in. Bill hasn’t returned yet and it is 12 noon so I expect to hear something from him soon. He may be home for lunch or they may eat in town and continue working.

I began the mix and then the topping and went out and plugged back in to power. I feel a bit like a yo-yo. I followed the directions exactly and yet instead of 12 muffins, I made 14. The large muffin tins hold 12 and I don’t buy paper cups so used my silicone cups, greased. Two of the cups had to sit on top of the baking tray so who knows how it will all turn out. Into the convection oven they go and boy do they look good!

The batter and topping ready to fill the cups

25 minutes after baking (the required ‘normal’ oven time) the 2 on top have spilled over (of course) and yet the batter is still very ‘uncooked’. Oh dear, I sure hope these turn out. See Nancy K? You aren’t the only one with bad luck cooking fables. I popped them back in for another 20 minutes and will just monitor them closely. The turntable has to be turned off since the muffin tin is too big to turn but that’s okay. That’s why that option is on the oven. They smell good, by the way!

Looking out across the pond

1:30 and still no Bill. I sure hope those boys are getting along! Ha ha. Maybe they decided to start painting. After all, it is a perfect day for indoor stuff. I know it wouldn’t take this long to just wash things down. Jamie is great for coming up with new ideas, even he admits that he sometimes drives Cheryl (his wife) crazy with all the stuff in his head. 😊 So, who knows what they’ve got up to. I’m just very anxious to see it all finished.

At one point, I took a chance on the sky and began to
walk down the lane

 When the convection oven beeped for the second time, I removed the muffins and my oh my do they look good! I removed them from the tin and let them cool for a few minutes before putting them in a cake storage container. It was the only thing I had big enough. These muffins are huge. Bill returned home around 2:45. He and Jamie worked until 2:30 and parted ways for the day. I wondered if Bill had eaten so he told me that Jamie treated him to lunch on Main Street.

But I had to dodge for cover under Bill's Hangar porch
when it started raining

Apparently, the wall washing got taken care of and they moved on to painting one wall. Plans had changed, (told you!) and now I was even more excited in the paint job. It’s going to look awesome! They agreed to meet in the morning again so Bill will go in with me at 7 and I’ll go back and get him when he finishes up for the day.

My chicken supper

Bill's pork chop dinner

I chatted with my girlfriend Brenda and her partner, Randy in London for a bit. Sadly, she can’t make it for the clothing exchange so it is going to be a very small crowd on the 28^th. We like to see these two each summer, at least once but it doesn’t look like it will happen this year. We all get too busy. I did lay out plans with Brenda to do my hair the week prior to us leaving for Cancun. Not sure what yet, but something.  It won’t be pink though; I can guarantee that.

I took a peek in the Hangar while I waited for the rain to stop
Hmm, Bill keeps a clean house!

Bill had his shower and then we shared an apple muffin. They are so good! I might have to make a batch to take for Thanksgiving dinner. At 5:30, I began preparing supper. A very thick pork chop for Bill and a nice sized chicken breast for me. I sautéed them each in Madame IP and then added corn on the cob to the inner pot with our last 5 baby potatoes. We were eating within 30 minutes. Supper turned out great and we decided to finish off the Apple Crumble for dessert.

Clemsons rock has found a place in the little garden he visited late at night
for his last piddle before bedtime (sorry but it's true)

 The bad news is that our microwave stopped working. I cooked earlier with the convection oven and when we went to warm our dessert, the countdown worked but not the oven. Hmm, we got out the manual and began checking online. We also need to dig into the warranty manuals. We ate the crumble cold and I added some cream to mine. It was still yummy!

And the muffins are a hit!

As has been usual during much of the last week, the sun came out late in the afternoon.  Nothing to get excited about as we know that tomorrow is supposed to be another unusual day with some rain and clouds again. Laundry will wait until Thursday when I can hang clothes on the line. There is forecast to be some sunshine. Today, it got to a lovely 73F and even though I was busy inside most of the day, I enjoyed having the outer door open.

Someone else was as confused as I as about today's weather

After we cleaned up dishes, we sat for the evening. I downloaded pictures from the day and focused on finishing my post. This has been a successful day for me and for Bill. Tomorrow, aside from cleaning the Mat, I just need to vacuum in here and the Suite will be sparkling again. How was your day?

The clouds moved away by the time we finished supper
Good night to all of you!

Thank you for dropping in for a visit!