Friday, March 27, 2020

Helping Hands, Outdoor Day on the Ridge


The Ridge - Home
On Friday, Mar. 27th we were happy. First off, our CPP and Old Age pensions were deposited overnight. That is important to us as for the last 5 months we’ve been living out of our US bank account. We didn’t expect to be back yet, so had moved most of our funds over at the beginning of the month. We were up by 7:30ish and downstairs with our morning brews.

Rob came to pick up the bottles for us
 Bill went online and took care of our monthly expenses and I also went into our account to pay Donna for our Ridge rent. With that taken care of, we caught up on blogs. It was a cold morning, just around the freezing mark and it didn’t rise too quickly. Outside it was very foggy and it took a couple of hours for it to burn off. Rob texted that he could come out in 30 minutes to pick up our 40lb propane tank and empty 5-gallon water bottle.

We had set this up on Wednesday so Bill went out and set them outside at the nose of the trailer. I had also asked if Pat had a couple of Canadian stamps that I could ‘borrow’. It is so kind of them to pick these items up for us this week, we’d have no other way to get them. When he arrived, he had stamps for me and within an hour, he was back with our bottles both filled. Thanks Rob!

The sun wrestles with the foggy sky
Bill bundled in outdoor clothing and went out to attack the rest of that dead tree. It truly was held together by the vines but he got it down much easier than the first half. He cut the rest of it up into firepit size logs and after a walk down the lane to put an envelope in the box, I came inside. I had my own project on the go. Each spring, I put together an Excel sheet of our winter expenses so I began totaling things up.

You can hardly see him in there
but he is busy

Now you can see him better
Around 10:30, Bill came in for a glass of water and a peanut snack bar. I knew he was busy so I got the vacuum out. While doing that, I had our breakfast cooking on the stove. I guess it was noon hour. Upstairs was done and the bacon was too when Bill came inside. Time to eat! After dishes he went back out and I finished vacuuming. I sat and worked some more on my document and then also bundled up to get out.

Now the tree is down with just clean up to do
The sun had come out, thanks to Pat (she says she sent it) and I wanted part of it. I got the wheelbarrow from behind the Restroom and went around picking up the raked piles of twigs and leaves that I’d created on Wednesday. I took my time, back and forth to the brush pile and when that was done, I walked down the laneway for a second time. 

The grader went down North Line today
Still lookiing after our roads

This is a lovely day and maybe our last sunny one for a while. I didn’t want to come inside. Bill was down in the Hangar but first made a call to our neighbours who offered to help us out with anything we needed.

Bill was next door getting water
Looks like he is just finishing up

Coming home with water to tie us over for another week
Bill and I had been thinking about when we’d need more water that it would make sense to get it from them instead of driving into Durham to Rob’s. Not a lot of people know us in town but we wouldn’t want anyone who knew we were away all winter to see us if we don’t need to take that risk. Bill called Karl and we were told that we were welcome to go and get water from them. They are all on wells out here so they don’t pay for their water.

Look at these little cuties

They're enjoying the suet
 After Bill drove over, I started burning the bag full of redundant personal paperwork that we’ve been collecting all week. Once that was going, I added a few pieces of wood and thought I’d just enjoy the outdoor time. It probably took about an hour to clean everything up and then I grabbed my book. It was good and it put me in mind of sitting outside at Pilot Knob reading. It was that nice!

Burning a lot of papers to start
Before coming inside at 4:30, I took one more walk down the lane. For some reason, it hit me that I wasn’t walking behind a little wiggle bum. In the spring, Clemson and I would walk down and back many times. I got teary-eyed and had a real heart to heart with myself about a new pup. Still undecided, I put it from my mind, folded my chair and came inside.

And then, moving out of the wind, I sat with my book

The winds picked up this afternoon
but it was still a beautiful day
The ice on the pond is almost gone
It is nice to see the reflections again
Bill had NCIS on and I realized that I hadn’t even started my post. LOL That is how I forget what happens during the day! So, I got caught up and then prepared the burgers, bacon and cheese for grilling. At 6, Bill lit the Weber Q. First time here at home and the perfect night for it. The burgers were delicious, better than Harvey’s! Crispy bacon, cheese, lettuce, pickles and homemade green tomato relish.



It was already 6:30 so we had our ice cream right away and then got the dishes out of the way. The sun was making its slow drop below the horizon so I kept an eye on it as it dipped behind the few lingering wispy clouds. We settled to watch some tv together and I always had my book to read. If there is something interesting on the boobtube, I might even get working on the front panel of my sweater – again.

No more skating

I love their reflections too
This was a wonderful spring day and we enjoyed the out-of-doors to the fullest without breaking any isolation rules. I hope yours was just as nice.

And the sun drops

It did get prettier but i didn't wait for it tonight
Have a good evening!
Thank you for stopping in! If you wish to leave a comment, please do, otherwise you can always just click a reaction button so I know you’ve visited.

16 comments:

  1. Our spring ended after 2 days. Been cold, windy and overcast ever since. You’re not missing a thing!! It’s getting hard to stay busy. Been a long two weeks sitting around. Love the birds!!

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    1. It will return, we have a few days of dull and rain plus the temps will drop here and there. Another quilt?
      The birds excite me too!

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  2. After reading your entry last night I was going to ask you about possibly getting a new fur buddy. But I hesitated, thinking it might hit a tender spot.
    Don in Okla.

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    1. Aah, thank you. It isn't out of the question but probably not this summer. One more winter and we'll know. Some have to do it right away but atthis age, we are more hesitant since Clemmy was our first little bum. :)

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  3. Bill looked like he was almost buried in the vines while working on that tree...glad to see he won the fight with the tree and made it out of there! I love the birds. We kept our poles to hang feeders on. I mentioned to Dean that we need to get at least one out and set it up here on our site so we can enjoy them. I would set outside more if I had something to look at. We should get our hummingbird feeders ready too. We usually start seeing them around here in mid April. It looks like we will be here until mid-June, maybe longer depending on how this virus situation is. The picture of the pond is so pretty.

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    1. Yes, I couldn't get a clear picture of him no matter where i stood but that at least shows what he was in to! haha
      I love the birds and have more feeders buried in the back of the storage shed. Soon, they will be coming out. Even after our quarantine period, we will be spending a lot of time outside here at home.

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  4. Its little things that remind me that Rocky is no longer with us. But we are not getting another dog. We still have Skitz and love her to death. Our weather here in Apache Junction was cold yesterday and cold again this morning. But by next Thursday we are going to be up to almost 90.

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    1. It's a tough decision and we loved having that little guy with his unconditional love. I spent a lot of time alone with him and those are the moments now that he is missed most. For now, I appease my yearnings by looking at the videos of him. :)
      Strange weather for sure.

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  5. Well you both are certainly finding things to keep you occupied there! Hoping it warms up for you both soon! Dinner looks wonderful, we've got a pound of hamburger in the frighted to be cooked either today or tomorrow..now I really can't wait! LOL.

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    1. We are doing our best, Shirley! :)
      Hamburger/ground beef is my favourite thing to have in the freezer. So much can be made with it!

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  6. We're having some lovely weather this weekend, so I'm hoping to BBQ too. The burgers are so good off the grill! Definitely better than Harveys. :)

    Have a great day and stay well!

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    1. Hope your weather works out for you and you get those grilled burgers!

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  7. Glad things are going well with projects to do while doing your Isolation Period.
    Be Safe and Enjoy!

    It's about time.

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  8. Sounds like you're making good use of your enforced downtime!

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