Waking up at The Ridge, Busy Day, First Leg of Our Winter Journey

The Ridge and Stratford, Ontario

On Monday, Oct. 28^th things began falling into place. I won’t say that Cancun was a distraction in a negative way because it was wonderful but it was a bit of a detour. Now that we are home again, we needed to take care of a few last minute things. We were up by 6:30 and began discussing the ‘order’ of things that we were doing.

Good morning Priceville

One of the last drives into town this year

 It was our last garbage and recycle pick up so I walked the bag and bins down to the end of the lane. There was a calm about the morning after last night’s wind and at 3C/37F it actually felt good to walk the short distance. 

Driving into the laundromat
(Jamie is doing a good job, it looks great!)

So, our day was going to look like this:

   1)     Take 2 vehicles in to town to do laundry

   2)     Drive to Murray’s to drop Ptooties off

   3)     Fill Black Beauty’s fuel and wash her at Hanover’s Pioneer

   4)     Visit and say goodbye to Donna and Gerry in Hanover

   5)     Visit Rob and Pat on return trip to Durham

   7)     Visit and say goodbye to Mom at Rockwood

   8)     Put laundry away

   9)     Have breakfast, wash dishes

  10)                        Unplug and turn electric power off – lock Bunky

  11)                        Close and secure cupboards, anemometer and satellite dish

  12)                        Around 3 pm dump tanks on our way out of the Ridge

  13)                        Close Ridge gate

Brunch made by Patsy

This is how it really looked:

   1)     Bill found a nail in Ptooties passenger front tire

   2)     I took Black Beauty to do laundry

   3)     Bill drove to Pletsch’s Auto Service, MacArthur Tire and finally found help at       Canadian Tire to repair tire

   4)     Bill met me at Durham Laundromat to help fold 2 loads

   5)     Drove both vehicles to Murray’s to drop car off

   6)     Made arrangements with Donna for them to visit us at the Ridge

   7)     Filled Black Beauty at Esso in Durham (no wash)

   8)     Drove home to make lunch and clean up dishes

   9)                        Donna and Gerry popped out after finishing at the Acreage to say goodbye

   10)                        Drove to see Mom around 2 pm and had a nice visit but I didn’t say anything about our winter trip. She was great for most of the visit but tired quickly and with that came more confusion. She loves my hugs but she REALLY loved Bill’s warm embrace today. 😊 

Because she didn't eat lunch, I encouraged her to eat the layered cookie
the nurse brought
I told her I'd brought it but she still only took 2 bites

She immediately started separating the two layers so we laughed
about that
It was nice to have a photographer along to take our pictures
but I didn't get one of Bill and Mom

   12)                        Visited and said goodbye to Rob and Pat ☹ still sad to leave them behind

1 13)                        Back home, finished closing up inside, outside and brought slides in  

1 14)                        Dumped the Suite’s tanks before pulling out of the lane way at 4:30

All ready to go - gate closed for the winter

So, as you can see, things don’t always go as planned but even these were minor burps. No time was carved in stone. Bill noticed last night that our gas hot water heater was not firing so we needed to use electric for the period that we were here today. We’ll keep an eye on it over the coming days in case we need to get a part from CanAm.

I had to borrow a picture from 2017 since I forgot to take a picture today
Saying goodbye to Donna and Gerry

Leaving the Ridge is always bittersweet for me. I know it will be here when we return but it always looks so sad without the Suite. The sky was a gorgeous blue, clear with no clouds. What a wonderful day to take care of these things and not having to be bundled up in layers of clothing. After Cancun's 30C/86F, Ontario's 18C/64F was very welcome. We know what is coming. Destination: Stratford.

Our buddies - we hope to see them in December

The cows watched us pull out

Varney - A skinny Casper in the chair

 We arrived at Bob’s work shop at 6:15 and texted Jo-Anne that the Suite has landed. Within 5 minutes they drove up from Tavistock, planning to meet and greet us. We were set up so Bob helped Bill get plugged into 50-amp service. 

The sun dropping

We were hungry and drove down the street to A & W for another quick meal. The Mushroom Mozzarella burger and fries were surprisingly delicious! I didn’t have either a burger or fries at the resort. The root beer never disappoints either other than too big a glass for me. That is one soft drink that Bill and I agree cannot be diet.

It was a beautiful day!

Back at the shop, Jo-Anne, Bob and little Higgins came in for a short visit before saying good night. I think, if he will let me, Higgins will be getting a fair bit of extra lovin’ this winter. 

From out spot in front of  Bob's shop
the sun was disappearing after a gorgeous day

Our hosts arrive

Jo-Anne quickly turned her back when she saw the camera
I told her she'd better get used to it (me)!

 On the drive to Stratford, soon after leaving home, a whopping heap of sadness hit me that our little bum wasn’t physically with us in the truck. I couldn’t stop the flow of tears and Bill also was feeling the same void. He loved the rides. Enough about that, or I’ll start all over again.

A nice supper

We relaxed for a bit while I finished Sunday’s post and by 10 we were in bed. This was a crazy busy day but it’s all good and wonderful. We are excited for this week with a few last goodbyes to family and some grocery shopping. I hope the beginning of your week was at least half as good.

Good night everyone from Stratford

 Thank you for following along with us!