Friday, May 22, 2020

Summer Weather, Connecting with Friends, He-Shed, She-Shed


The Ridge
On Friday, May 22nd, I was up out of bed first and that doesn’t happen often. I opened blinds and then got stuff out for our morning drinks. It was a lovely 14C/57F outside so I slipped on my Arizona hoody and trotted on down the lane. Bill slipped into the shower, I’m sure anxious to get the film of OFF off. Teehee. It was a beautiful morning, clear blue sky and gorgeous sunshine.

Because I don't have a lot of pictures today,
I thought I'd share these that came up on my phone
from 4 years ago. So, our first year up here.
Notice how small the spruce trees are

I can't believe the change
I wasn’t prepared for the black flies though as I never had any on yesterday’s walk. They weren’t terrible but bad enough that I kept my mouth closed while walking as much as possible. I know they are drawn to the carbon dioxide we exhale when breathing. Good grief! I refuse to stop doing that! I was covered from head to foot with the exception of my head and hands so hopefully they didn’t get me.

A different angle of the garden
I touched base with my sister, Donna, while walking and let her know that we are thinking of her today. Without going into any personal details, she is having a procedure today.  Naturally, it makes us anxious until our loved one is out of surgery and in recovery. Not sure when we’ll hear from Gerry that all is well. It is too nice of a day to be stuck in a hospital and yet that is where he would like to be, waiting. They don’t allow that during this pandemic which we think is horrible for anyone

this was another picture from 4 years ago
Donna and I realized we had the exact same top on
I thought it was fitting for today since she was
on my mind a lot

Back home, Bill was sitting with his coffee so I joined him at the table. He covered up, head to toe, with protection and went out to cut the back field. I’m sure that disturbed their grass sitting and explains why his hands were bitten. He forgot to put gloves on until part way through the cut. Inside, I leisurely had my tea and read friend’s comments and blogs.  

A view out the clean window at the back
I told you about the window cleaning yesterday and I’m happy to report that through the sun, the windows are much better for my efforts. I got out the Windex and cleaned the insides and then the bedroom and bathroom mirrors. Aaah, much better! Sitting at the table, it is awesome to see and be able to take pictures without any additional streaks from dirty views.

A view out the side
I have the fun job in the mornings deciding what to have for supper as I need to get meat out of the freezer. Bill is helpful sometimes with this but not always. I was torn but found chicken thighs and pork chops and got a pack of each out to thaw. Bill likes the chops, I like the thighs so I will cook half of each pack tonight and then on Sunday night, do it again. We have leftover lasagna for Saturday night to share with a salad and rolls.

Our peony bush up on the berm is happy
That decided, I went out to water the repotted plants. I needed the hat with netting while at the water pump, the bf’s were thick around me. Then I rushed into the Bunky closing the door behind me. I swept it out and sprayed well with Raid to kill the critters that followed me in. I opened the 2 windows and liberally sprayed the screens. I may as well be as close to the outdoors as possible and the fresh air coming in was wonderful. I got my rocks and paints out before vacating it for 15 minutes.

One of my healthy evening primrose
When I returned, it was a fresh air room with no bugs that greeted me. 😊 Bill was puttering around and eventually ended up in his bug-free environment inside the Hangar. At noon I made our lunch of b & e and after dishes we were back at it. I remembered to put the awnings out this morning, ‘before’ the sun got around to the north side of the Suite. Well, the northwest. This will help keep the interior a moderate temperature.

I made the birds happy today by filling the 2 feeders up here
and putting out orange pieces for the orioles
After dishes, we sat and made a phone call to our travel friends in Tavistock. We want to keep in touch and weren’t surprised to hear they were enjoying a couple of days at their cottage. We were surprised to hear that they were under overcast skies with the possible chance of rain. It was nice to catch up and to hear that they are doing well. Before saying goodbye, Jo-Anne promised to give Higgins a hug for me. He's such a sweet cuddle.

Time to head back out. Wait! It is only 1 o’clock and the mail lady just drove by. Good grief, her schedule is sure willy-nilly these days. I’ll cover up and walk to the mailbox to see if she left anything before settling back in with my painting. I might have forgot to tell you that my Purolator package ‘did’ arrive yesterday. It was shoved in the mailbox sometime in the afternoon and I didn’t see it until I checked on our out-going mail this morning. Glad I did or the mail lady wouldn’t have seen the cards way at the back.

My t-shirt and 2 buffs plus stickers
So, this afternoon went from good to bad. When I was down retrieving the mail at 1:30, I was juggling mail, my phone, sunglasses and the stupid bug hat and dropped my little Canon camera. Oh no! Oh yes.  Of course, I was trying to take a picture when it fell so the lens was out. The lens won’t close and the camera won’t turn on. I’m just sick about it. It is like my right arm and I haven’t had it that long. I walked back all teary-eyed trying it over and over, shaking it in case sand got in it but it just won’t work.

One last memory picture from May 2016
I think this was taken at Rock Glen,
our home park in Arkona
Putting that behind me and knowing we bought a warranty for it (which may or may not benefit) I moved on to more rock painting. I didn’t get any completed so no picture. Speaking of pictures, what I took up until 2 pm is on the SD card in the camera, so you get what I took on my phone and my big Canon since then. I will just avoid taking ‘sky’ photos or we’ll all be seeing spots. When Bill came in, I sadly told him what I did and he felt my pain. His magic fingers couldn’t do any more than mine did.

Bill and I watched NCIS, naturally, and this time
the shots taken in New Orleans had more meaning
We've been up there!
At 5:30, I started Madame IP and sautéed chicken thighs and Bill’s chop. They took 10 minutes of cooking and 10 minutes release time. It was during the release that we remembered we were unplugged from power. The batteries were still an impressive 12.7. On the side we had Caesar salad. Both the chicken and the pork were done perfectly. I need to remember those times, supper was delicious! We finished the last little bit of ice cream for dessert.

We've seen this view
And there are the coach rides that we walked by
After dishes, I worked on my post and then took a short walk out to close up the Bunky. I could leave the windows open but we don’t like leaving the outside door open. We watched some tv while I finished posting. We'd heard from Gerry around 4:30 and then I texted Donna when she was in her room. Things went well so I can relax now (sometimes you just never know, you know?) and she can too. Hopefully, she'll sleep, the best cure-all. 

This looks like dark clouds but they really weren't
This was a great day. I do wish we could have actually been outside more instead of in refuge in our sheds. Soon we hope. The temperature reads 25C/77F. I do believe we lost spring somewhere and jumped right into summer. I hope you enjoyed your day and are all still remaining healthy.

Supper was wonderful!
good night all!

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

15 comments:

  1. Mother Nature sure has been fickle this season. We haven't had any rain here East of Algonquin in quite awhile. Forest fire season has started in earnest.

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    1. It seems we've gone from one extreme to the next this season for sure.
      I was looking at pictures and 14 days ago we had snow!

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  2. I'm glad your sister is doing well. It is fun when you are watching a show and see place you have been.

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    1. We've seen the show a few times without it having any meaning. It was fun yesterday!

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    2. Thank you for the sentiments towards Donna. :)

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  3. Glad to read your sister is doing well.
    Sounds like the weather there has definitely made a turn for the better. Never fun when those little black flies are out. Truly hoping they are gone by the time we get back north. Nice pictures.Take care.

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    1. Thank you, I was relieved once I heard Donna was in her room.
      I hope the black flies are gone too. They were thick yesterday.

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  4. Nice you chatted with JoAnne and Bob (Higgins too) they are really nice people! Nice to hear Donna is doing well. Hopefully she's up and about soon! I love seeing places on tv that we've been before too! Your black flies sound horrible! Hopefully they'll be gone soon! Dinner did look yummy! Too bad about the camera, hopefully the warranty covers it!

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    1. Thank you Shirley. You always manage to touch on everything. I can't remember what I've read half the time although I enjoy the read!
      I hope they can fix my camera under warranty too.

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  5. What a relief Donna is doing well. Glad to hear it. Those black flies, are they gnats or big like flies. I hate those no-seeums around here. You never see them, but you feel their bites itch for days. Sorry to hear about your little camera. That's so frustrating. Hopefully the warranty works!!

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    1. Thank you Nancy. The black flies are like baby house flies. Their bites don't itch until the next day and then if you touch them, they are worse.
      Fingers crossed for my camera.

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  6. Glad Donna's procedure went well, and I wish her a speedy recovery.

    Darn those black flies - it must make it pretty darn uncomfortable to be outdoors. Thank goodness for the bunky and Hanger.

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  7. So much in this post.. first, I'm very glad things went well for your sister.
    Black flies...I hope never to experience them from all I've heard and read about them? Is there a season for them, will they move away at some point?
    Good idea spraying the screens to keep them away.
    Im so sorry about your camera. I do hope you might have some coverage with your warranty.
    I think we mumight have been watching the same show... did they show Cafe de Monde?

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    1. I tend to ramble. :)
      I hope you never experience black flies either! Usually mid May for a couple of weeks here in our area.
      Yes, we were watching the same show! Cafe de Monde and she left some beignets on her plate!!

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