Saturday, April 4, 2020

Freedom, The Boss Drops By, Beauty of a Spring Day!


The Ridge - Home
Bill and I set the alarm for 6 am on Saturday, Apr. 4th. I’d gone to bed last night before 10 so knew that I would have no problem getting up that early. As it turned out, I was awake at 4 after 6 hours of sleep and that was it. Many silly little dreams were filtering through the last wee hours before waking so I was just as happy to be out of those.

Sneaking off in the wee hours
at least that is what it felt like!
We got up as planned and took turns washing up before making our coffee and tea for the road. We left the Ridge at 6:20, on our way to Hanover’s Independent grocery store. There was a pretty good chance, taking advantage of their senior hours, 7 am to 8 am, that we would get most if not all things on our list. We didn’t know what to expect and truly felt like common criminals just driving down the roads in darkness. Ha ha.  What a weird feeling.

The road to Hanover was experiencing foggy patches
We weren’t alone in the parking lot and with a couple of minutes to spare, we walked up first to the doors. We each had disposable gloves on and neck scarves that could be used as a mask if necessary. They weren’t needed in today’s case; everyone kept their distance. We felt quite comfortable that we were all following the rules and followed arrows up one aisle and down another in the right direction. Hey, it works and we don’t mind the extra precautions. There were no tickets issued for non-compliance. LOL

There were a fair number of us taking advantage of the early hour
Only a couple of items were not available and they weren’t ‘do or die’ items so we paid and left. My only gripe is that as much as I understand not bringing our own bags into the store, I find it very greedy that they charge customers 15¢ for paper bags and 5¢ for plastic. Regular times, I get it. We don’t pay it, instead use our own. These times though? Come on! You can’t give us a break? This isn’t our choice.

At the corner of the highway and Baptist Church Road
is a field of solar panels
They'd been delivered to the field before we left in November
so it is neat to see them up and running
We learned though and after paying an extra 50¢ for something we threw out at home, our items will go loose in the cart and we’ll transfer them to our own bags at the vehicle.  Rant over. Other than that, no complaints about how things were handled. The staff was courteous and friendly. They have a tough job and we appreciated them today, from a distance. At home, Bill brought the bags in and set them on one end of the island.


He went out to off load a lawn raker (?) that we picked up from Rob’s house and to put our destroyed tail gate in the bed of Black Beauty. Inside, I diligently emptied the bags. Each item got a wipe down with Lysol spray and set on the opposite end of the island. The bags were tossed in the garbage. Our gloves were disposed of. The store had these available at the entrance so we’ll use theirs next time. It seems overkill but we know it isn’t. For that extra bit of protection, I don’t mind doing this.

Bill waits while Trevor gets his camera for pictures
With that job done, we hopped in the truck again and drove back to Hanover. We stopped at Heinz Auto Body to see how much of their business they are carrying out and how soon they can look at the truck repairs. Trevor came outside to greet us, from a distance, and took pictures of all of the damage to B.B. He seemed very thorough as he needs to be to order the parts and pieces to replace the whole box. Yes, the ‘whole’ box needs to be replaced. LOL Thank goodness for insurance. He will be in touch. That was step one.

There is Ptooties out of the storage barn waiting for us
From there, we stopped at Donna and Gerry’s place and picked up the cleaned water filter for the pump hookup at the Acreage. We chatted again from a distance, Donna and I sending virtual hugs to each other. Last stop was at the farm where we stored Ptooties for the winter. Murray had her out in the field and Bill gave him a bag with what we owed him. The little Rav4 was all wiped down inside and Bill started her up for me. Aaah, it is so good to get her back. Driving home felt great.

Murray is retired now and has a few fun projects on the go
His son is fixing this plane up for a playhouse for the grandchildren
There is also a firetruck in the barn
In Durham, we both pulled into the Esso station and topped up with fuel. The gas price was 77.9¢/litre and diesel was 97.9¢/litre. I left first and stopped at Tim Summers office to read about his restrictions on Income Tax returns. He does Mom’s for me. He came out and gave me the short version, which I appreciated. Now I know what to do when I get her paperwork ready to go. There is no rush as she never owes or gets a credit.

His dog greets us on each visit
and then she ran up on this hill 

Isn't she gorgeous?
At home, I made us breakfast and then Bill drove over to the Acreage for water. We are down to approximately 8 – 10 gallons, give or take a few gallons. Are the gauges ever accurate? It felt good to be out this morning, I won’t lie, but it also felt good and safe to return to our home base. We were happy to take care of our grocery needs and get a couple of other things done. We should be good for a while now, all stocked up on basics.

She's smiling now because she's home again
We aren’t expecting that the truck will be going into the shop much before April 30th so it is good to have Ptooties here for day to day scoots. Black Beauty will be used for water and propane fillups. Speaking of which, Bill made 2 trips today with the bladder to give our fresh water tank a full belly. The least we have to go out, the better. šŸ˜Š While Bill was gone the second time, I took my long-awaited-for walk down the country Baptist Road.

breakfast
I loved the marbled rye toast
It was a beautiful afternoon with hardly any winds and when the sun broke through the clouds, it warmed me up enough to take my wind breaker off. I walked as far as Turbine Lane (my name for it only) and turned around. I’ll get back into the early walking soon. Back home, I went into the Bunky and did some more work on the puzzle. I’d missed that this winter. I stayed in there for probably an hour before once more the air got chilly and I decided to move indoors.

This pretty bluebird seemed to be posing outside our window
As I stepped out, the sun came out again and there were more blue patches, so I made myself a tea and sat out at the patio table with my book. It wasn’t 15 minutes later that I noticed a truck driving up the lane. I had texted Jamie earlier and so wasn’t really surprised to see him pulling in. It is his way; he is such a personable guy. Bill came up from the Hangar to see him as well. We chatted from a distance, Jamie and his son, Aaron, didn’t get out of the truck.

Lovely painted turtles sunning

You're going to get tired of seeing them
The season has just begun!

Walking down the road to the west
Turbine lane, time to turn around
Side view of the stone house
We covered a few things before talking laundromat and me working for him. I was suspecting that he would be going through a rough period with this Covid-19 sweeping across the land and small businesses as well were suffering. I wanted him to know that I wasn’t pushing but instead that I respected and understood his position. I hope that made it easier for him to let me know that he couldn’t use my help at this time. It is an open situation though, if things change, he said the job is mine. It was very nice to see him, I miss his nonchalance.šŸ˜Š 

The puzzle is coming along

Through a dirty window, the sun fights to take centre stage
 After he left, I rewarmed my tea up and this time stayed inside. The sun was gone again. We reached a nice high of 15C/60F today and it was lovely. The temperatures will be up and down over the next week or so, typical spring in Ontario. Bill went down to his Hangar and inside I lost myself in The Innocent. It’s another fast read. When Bill came in around 5:30, I suggested barbecuing tonight so around 6, he lit the Weber.



Just burgers but with Jell-o for dessert, it was perfect. The frogs are chirping outside and the temperature is dropping. We still seem to be getting just around freezing temperatures each night. I’m just glad it warms up through the day. This was a very successful day, for our first one back in this ‘real world’. We got things taken care of. I hope you’ve enjoyed your day. At 7:30, we had a video call from Jess, Matt and Easton. What a treat! He is growing up so much!

We got some sweet giggles tonight

Easton is such a little cutie pie
Good night from the Ridge

Thank you for your visit today, from a safe distance. Comments are always welcome!

20 comments:

  1. That is kind of taking advantage of people charging for bags. We went to No Frills who also said no personal bags, but they did not charge for their bags. I didn't throw them out, I put them all out in the garage and because they say the virus only lasts a couple days on plastic surfaces, they will be safe to reuse after that. I'll leave them out there for some time as I don't need them right now. We got most of our groceries but they were out of some things I needed, like flour and yeast. Apparently it's a item that is selling like toilet paper. I plan on heading down to my local Walmart Monday morning, senior hours, and check them out too. I do need some food for the birds too, poor things are giving me the evil eye. I did find shopping kind of stressful though, just thinking about that stupid virus. Stay safe...

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    1. I know, I agree with you I didn't think it was very nice at all. I did throw them out, I have tons of plastic bags under my cupboard already. :)
      I still have lots of regular bird seed and still some of the bell hanging but out of suet which they loved and devoured! :)
      Thanks Ruth, you stay safe too.

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  2. We also went shopping today and it was okay, and they don't charge for plastic bags right now. I wasn't able to get milk or toilet paper :-(

    That's to bad about needing to replace the whole box on your truck!

    What a cool idea for a playhouse ... what kid wouldn't want to play in a plane. And that dog was so cute!

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    1. We were lucky with getting what we needed. We didnt need tp but looked for antiseptic wipes and hand gel but they were all gone.
      Yah, didn't think the whole box would need replacing. LOL
      Wouldn't that be fun in the plane? :D

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  3. Welcome back to the real world. I don't think I'll be going to early shopping runs :)) Sounds almost like the Boy in the Bubble with all your precautions. Good luck. A plane for the kids. Now that is different. Great idea! Too bad the whole box needs to be replaced. Insurance should take care of it.

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    1. Thanks Doug. We don't mind the restrictions at all, it was just intimidating the first time not knowing what to expect. Walmart will be different again but open early for seniors starting Monday.

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  4. Glad all is getting relatively back to normal; box damage as well is unusual- perhaps a bird house with the right size hole would encourage that bluebird to stay around; they’re getting rare due to climate change & urban encroachment.
    All the best,you are in a perfect location.

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    1. Thank you for your comment. we were surprised about the box replacement but they know best. Good idea about the bluebird. Might have to google what they like. I've seen them just a few times since we've been living up here.
      Take care A!

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  5. They are not charging for bags here. I don't know what the baggers are thinking. I guess not to overload the bags. So they literally put ONE item in each bag. I ended up with TWENTY FIVE bags. Talk about a waste!! I threw them all away. I'm not sanitizing anything. For one, there's no spray anything to be found around here. The hoarders have taken it all.

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    1. Isn't that silly too? LOL 25 bags is nuts!
      Stay safe, Nancy. You must have nice outdoor weather now, send some our way. ;)

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  6. It's a shame that you have to replace the entire box. But, as you said, it's good to have insurance.

    Love the posing bluebird and the turtle. Take care and stay well!

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    1. thank you Maebeme. Love it when the critters start to arrive.

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  7. It must have felt good and strange at the same time being able to do your own shopping.
    Know what you mean about job prospects at this time. The main thing is keeping yourselves Healthy.
    Be Safe and Enjoy the nature around you.

    It's about time.

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    1. It sure did! As for our jobs, well, I can't see either of them happening anytime soon. :(
      Stay safe!

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  8. Being out in the country is really the best place to be right now, I think. Not surprised that you also had to use the store provided plastic bags as they do that here in our area too. The Real Canadian Superstore didn't charge for it, nor did Walmart. Food Basics still let me use my own bags. It is no wonder that some items are not to be found since we are all supposed to stay home and have to purchase groceries for longer periods of time than usual. So we all purchase more but the stores didn't keep up. Most people don't have the freezer capacity for extra bread so the idea of baking your own crosses the minds of many people, hence no flour or yeast. Good thing the insurance company is taking care of the repairs for the truck. It will look like new.

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    1. It is obvious that stores are governing their own buildings as they are all a bit different how they do things. All for everyone's safety so we appreciate it.
      Glad to have a country hideaway and hope the weather warms for some more outdoor time at least. :)

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  9. You had quite a busy day! Sorry you lost your job, but glad the turtles and bluebirds are back. We saw those solar panels going in over the winter.

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    1. We did! After 2 weeks of hanging out here, it was certainly weird. A few changes in the area and we were excited to see the solar panels finished. :)

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  10. Baby Easton is just too cute! They grow so fast! Love the airplane, lucky grandkids! Nice that Jaime stopped by and I'm sure when he can you'll be hired back. This whole thing is just killing the economy everywhere. Really feel for the small business or new businesses. I hate shopping now! Your meals look yummy!!

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    1. Isn't he adorable? We wish we could hug him in person but that could be a while yet. Facetime is the next best. :)
      I feel bad for Jamie's business and others. I totally understand if he can't hire me back - maybe later in the summer.

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