A Birthday for Someone Special, Temperature Drop and Rain

The Ridge

On Wednesday, Sept. 30^th we woke to even cooler temperatures. Bill was already up, shame that he has to work today but we can’t all get a birthday off. Yes!! It is Bill’s birthday today and although not a milestone #, it is for a very special someone. Downstairs, I peeked out the kitchen window behind the blind at 6:30 and said “ooh, it’s so dark out there”. Picture those words in a scared little girl voice, it has more effect. 😊

Happy Birthday to my handsome guy
Picture taken at Canyonlands National Park, AZ

In Le Claire, Iowa
The home of American Pickers

Bill opened the cards that he’d had drifting in and mine as well and then I had to say goodbye and get on the road to Durham. Cleaning day! The sky was very interesting this morning. As I cleaned, it changed colour a couple of times and ended with a gorgeous full rainbow, doubling up at each end. Lovely! It was a simple cleaning day but I still had to leave Jamie a text about a couple of things that I can’t look after. I was out of there by 8.

The sky this morning was quite interesting
from 6:45 am forward

No need to stop anywhere else so I headed home and relaxed until 10 to 9. I did some taping, papering and sanding today at the shop and made a trip into town for something that we couldn’t get yesterday. This truck will be ready for Mitch to start painting at 2. I stayed until 12:30 to make sure the sanding was all done and the body smooth to the touch. At home, I made my lunch with a coffee before once more going back into town. I needed to get greeting cards and stamps that I'd forgotten about earlier.

From inside the Mat, the area turned pink
and the northern sky was brilliant

I had to pop around to a couple of stores in town to find the cards I wanted and for the price I wanted to pay. I refuse to pay a stupid amount for anyone’s card. It ends up in the recycle bin so the less I pay, the better. The meaning is the same. A couple of times, the rain caused me to put the wipers on intermittently and when I stepped out of the I.D.A. Pharmacy, I had to wait for a downpour to pass overhead. Funny, that was the brightest sky of the whole day!

We had a sick washer that needed to be marked "Off Limits"
The front panel had come loose and could fall out on an unsuspecting customer

Back home, I did the dishes and then decided to bring my paints in from the Bunky and test them all. If they weren’t any good, out they went. No point in taking them to Paisley if they were garbage. I found a handful, maybe 6 bottles so that wasn’t too bad, leaving me with lots to choose from. 

Now I have to hope the mail pickup works with me and they go
out on time

Two containers of paints thinned down a bit
but not a big change

As I was working on that, the birthday boy returned home and opened his cards from Mitch. Yes, my boss didn’t forget him either. 😊 We got a chuckle out of that.

It started with just a portion

Here you can see the second one to the right

And the whole enchilada was there

For supper tonight, we had chicken thighs, shared a potato and some veggies. The rain started again around 4:30 and the air temperature dropped even more. It was a chilly 11C/52F outside most of the afternoon. 

We finished with our supper which Madame IP was happy to cook for us. The potatoes and cauliflower on top of the thighs were perfect and Bill’s corn in the microwave complimented his dinner plate. Once more, a banana split was for dessert. Bill went down to the Hangar to work on his Corsair some more. He is making progress bit by bit and is doing what he loves.

And the sky remained interesting throughout the day
Good night everyone!

I think Bill will concur when I say this was a good day and now Hump Day is over. Thank you for popping in!

Our Cooler Weather Arrives, I Finally Got a Walk In!

The Ridge

Last night, I went up to bed at 9 as Bill was into his classic car shows. I found the Movie Coal Miner’s Daughter and watched it with Sissy Spacek and Tommy Lee Jones. That was a good ‘before bed movie’. That meant it was 11 when I rolled over to sleep. Bill was up to bed soon after. Today, Tuesday, Sept. 29^th he was up and washed when I fully came awake. I joined him downstairs before 7 and saw him off to work.

Pretty clouds this morning on my walk

They have some outside work to finish this morning and then maybe some indoor stuff. The weather is iffy this week with more rain in the forecast so they will have to work (or not work) according to what we actually get. At 7:30, I’d finished my tea and blog reading, I bundled up a bit (it’s so hard to know how to dress on a windy 11C/52F morning) and went for a walk. Once I got on the road, I was glad I did as it has been quite a while since I’ve got out there for a nice walk.

No special sightings other than this chubby character down by the dock area. I believed it was a raccoon but it was hard to tell by the time I got my camera zoom set. He wasn’t there by the time I got to the end of the lane. My picture confirms what I thought. 

Yup, it's a raccoon

I sat inside for the half hour before work and read emails and played some online games. ScrabbleGo replaced Scrabble but it can only be played on our mobile phones. It is better than nothing so I have a few opponents, including a cousin-in-law and a friend from Arizona.

Evidence that the soybeans have been harvested

Those beautiful red leaves are dropping already

It’s a dull day out there with a sky full of gray clouds. I assume that means I’ll be working inside today or running errands for Mitch. When I arrived, I worked on hand sanding and then taping for an hour before going into town for an hour. Errands. 😊 It gave me an opportunity to pick up Bill’s prescription while there so why would I complain? The last hour of work was taping to prepare for painting. That means another pick up truck, seems to be our main business, is soon out the door.

Pretty, huh?

Back home at noon, there were brief patches of blue sky showing but the temperature didn’t get much above 14C/57F all day. Still not bad at all as it remained dry and outside work was possible. If I wanted to do that. LOL After lunch, I washed the dishes and then received a phone call from an rv resort in Vancouver, B.C. I’d called over a month ago to see about a site and what their rates were. That was when we were in panic mode. She had a site for us but it’s too late, I told her, we’ve moved on. Maybe a couple of weeks ago, we’d have considered it.

Our little neighbour, Jacob, catches the school bus

When I was talking to her on the phone, I looked out and saw my sweetie walking up to the door. I didn’t even hear him drive in. It was only 1:30 so I was pleasantly surprised to see him. They’d gone as far as they could at a couple of job sites so rather than start a new one, took the afternoon off for things to dry and set. He informed me that the mailbox flag was up so I could take a walk down to get it. He knows better than to collect it. 😊

Our verbena is still beautiful

It wasn’t important, just a TSC flyer but the walk is always nice. Soon, I will be bundling up a lot more to collect mail! We will be forwarding our mail to Paisley this winter, instead of to Donna’s, so will get a walk out of collecting the mail as often as I want. After Bill had a snooze, he took the water bladder over to the Acreage for a fill up. We were getting low. While he was gone, I delved into my next book.

Looking north, blue sky

Looking south

Michael Connelly’s The Brass Verdict was one that Bill had read on my Kobo but I hadn’t yet. Now I can read it in hard copy instead, which still is my preference. As is typical with a Harry Bosch/Mickey Haller story, I was into the 6^th chapter almost immediately. I love his stories. The last book, The Dressmaker…was different, an interesting true story, but I still prefer these detective type mysteries for a quick read.

The last harvest this year

Supper was good

With the water hooked up and being transferred, Bill went down to the Hangar to work on his Corsair and I made myself a tea and turned on my Animal shows. Dr. Oakley, Yukon Vet on the Ntl. Geographic channel is a favourite. Pigs, porcupines, reindeer, dogs, cockatiels, guinea pigs – oh my! 😊 For supper, tonight, sausage patties and fries. I steamed a bit of cauliflower with mine. Needless to say, supper, topped off with a banana split, was great!

Although there wasn't much sun,
we had a nice sunset somewhere over there
Good night!

We did the dishes and just enjoyed the evening together. It was another good day. Was yours? We will be experiencing a low of 7C/45F tonight so will leave the fireplace on low. We can do that now!

Thank you for the visit!

 

Regular Work Week, Into Every Life, A Little Rain Must Fall

The Ridge

Monday, Sept. 28^th Bill and I easily fell back into our regular work routine. One day, we will once more leave the work world behind but for the time being, we will do what is best for us in getting ahead of our game. I left Bill eating breakfast and drove to the Mat. It took an hour and a bit more as I had some inquisitive customers about a couple of things that delayed me.

This little birdie was having his bath

All clean now!
But it must have felt good as he did it over and over

Back home by 8:30, I had finished my tea and then drove to Mitch’s, who I believe was happy to see my return. The 3 hours went by pretty quickly and I got some work done on the red and white F700 truck. It is going to need a lot of sanding so I hope the forecasted rains don’t hinder that process too much. It will be nice to get it done. The black Silverado that I worked on last week is still inside the bay and Brian was doing some welding on that before Mitch can paint.

The finches  are enjoying right down to the last seeds

I'm glad they're still visiting
Look at his little legs stretched out!

When I returned home, I had my lunch of sardines, yogourt and a bit of a lettuce salad with my coffee. Bill called about a parcel he was expecting. He’d received a message that it was ‘out for delivery’ meaning it would come today, Canada Post. Okay, I’ll stick around until she comes. It was 1:30 that she pulled in the drive and hand delivered the box.

Priceville's Kincardine Street has a lot of historical buildings
I'd love to see inside these homes now

I drove down and around town waiting for a call back for the boxes that
didn't come

We had a nice chat about my recent complaint about missed pickups. She informed me that she takes the pre-holiday weekend days off so it was her fill-in who keeps screwing up. She is a nice girl and I’m glad we chatted as it has forced me to recant some of my earlier grumbles about her. See, I can change! 😊 I returned to Durham to drop off Bill’s winter coat (something he’ll need for the first time in 4+ years) at (get this) Mrs. Sew & Sew’s shop. It needs a new zipper.

Turning onto Hwy 23 towards home

And just can't stop enjoying the view

She is also a very nice lady and can replace it for under $20 which is well worth it to us. There is nothing else wrong with the coat. Then I drove to Priceville in the opposite direction but still only 10 minutes from home. I’d noticed a sign in the post office the other day that someone in town had packing boxes for sale. I assume, for sale, it didn’t say. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my phone or camera so didn’t get a picture of the phone #. Today, no one answered when I called so I left a message and returned home.

I decided to take a new country road home

There are a lot of tributaries of rivers on these back roads
and I love the bridges

You can't  blame me for taking this back road

I think these trees have seen their last summer

It was 3:30, time for a cup of tea. It had been on my mind for a few days to send an email to my siblings about things to do with Mom so I took the time to compose that. While waiting for Bill, I turned NCIS on around 5 and just before 5:30, he came up the drive. There had been some light rain within the last half hour but nothing heavy by any means. Tonight, was leftover night with stew, dumplings and some chili to warm up. I even have some of the vegetables leftover from Wednesday that I need to eat! They should still be fine.

Cleaned up 3 leftover dishes from the fridge
and it was delicious

Around 6, I started heating things up and I fried the cauliflower, broccoli, carrot mixture. Sometimes leftovers just taste better the second time around.  We enjoyed our supper and took care of dishes before answering a phone call from friends near Toronto. Birthday wishes and other stuff. The evening was spent in front of the tv, together. This was a good first day back at the jobs.

One last picture of the country road
Good night!

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

Windy Sunday, Second Walk Through

The Ridge

We were ‘lazzzy’ Sunday, Sept. 27^th and didn’t crawl out of bed until 7:30ish. It was/is the only day when neither of us had to get up early for something. Our only time frame was a 10 am departure. I could have gone for my walk but even though warm and it would have been enjoyable, I decided to have a tea instead. My blog was late so I wanted to finish it and have a shower too. Maybe later today.

There were obviously classic car shows or drives today
This 57 Chevy was only one of the classics we saw on our drive

It was disappointing to me and my own fault that I lost my pictures that I took yesterday but duh, don’t we kick ourselves! I scrambled and retook some, as you saw, and downloaded others. My post is dull enough let alone having no pictures. Hope you got a kick out of my purchases at least! So, for today, I’ll try not to lose any that I take. It was a quiet morning. I showered and Bill got washed up and had a bowl of cereal.

This was in Hanover, I think, there are so many
and they are all well done

At 10 am we hopped in Ptooties and drove the hour to Paisley. We were scheduled to meet with Wes and Susan (our winter hosts) for another walk through the house and to decide on what to bring. We got things figured out and we were happy to be told that they were purchasing an upright fridge for us. That is the one thing I have been stressed about, what to do with the partial jars, condiments etc. etc. in our fridge. We are both very relieved and it also a relief for Susan too. She doesn’t have to share her fridge either.

It was a lovely day as we drove through the small towns

They had planned on us staying for lunch and it was very nice to have a first meal with them. It was 2 hours later when we said goodbye. I guess you could say that we get along very well. 

I'm loving the colours this fall

Bill drove home and in Durham we stopped at Rob and Pat’s to deliver something Bill picked up for them at CanAm. Then one more stop at IDA Pharmacy and home. We both felt tired and I know that my excuse is not having a great sleep last night. My fault, I’d taken a mug of tea to the fire.

The farmers have a job to do but it can be frustrating if you get behind
one their big machines on a busy highway

We rested in our chairs and then half hour later we both went out and started packing some things away. Bill managed to get the free lawn mower he got from a customer started. Bonus! I worked on the garden stuff and Bill worked in the  shed, organizing things for winter storage. We got quite a bit done in the couple of hours we worked, leaving less to do over the next couple of weeks. It isn’t that far away and time will go quickly.

Supper turned out really well, especially
since I had no idea what I was making!

Inside, I put together a hamburger stew with dumplings, cooked on the stove and it was delicious. We got caught up in a couple of 80’s movies, Uncle Buck and Bodyguard but managed to get dishes done somewhere in there. The evening was quiet and I didn’t stay up too late. I have two jobs in the morning so will want to get a good sleep. This would be our last ‘warm’ night before temperatures drop off for another week.

This different Chapman ice cream was yummy
Recommended by Donna and Gerry
It's called Premium Saucy Spots
Caramel

Good night!

Thank you for stopping by!

A Bit of Regular Stuff, But Mostly Fun Stuff! THEN! I Lost My Pictures!

The Ridge

(Note: I was too hasty downloading yesterday's pictures and lost them SO! Basically, what you get is what you see of my shopping spree)

I woke up on Saturday, Sept. 26^th just before 6 and realized that Bill was downstairs getting ready to leave. I know he would wake me to say goodbye, that is one lesson we both learned early when the other is leaving the Suite for any length of time, but I’m glad I woke up on my own. He left soon after, by 6:15, he was out the door. He had close to a 3-hour drive ahead of him and wanted to arrive at the Flying Field soon after 9.

First off: My favourite thing
Donna gave me my birthday card
Yes, that is a real pix of me at the G.C.

She subscribes to a greeting card store and can make her own
I love it!

I had my own obligations this morning so sorted the laundry and drove to town for 7. Three loads this morning since we had our chenille bedspread to wash and put away for the winter. The Mat was really clean with the exception of the recycle and garbage bins. Methinks Jamie might have been in just last night by the looks of it. I felt bad that he went to that trouble but things were obviously looked after in my absence. Even the dryer lint trays were empty.

Adorable earrings from the yard sale
$2

So, rather than put in time, I did the recycle and replaced the garbage bag and a paper towel roll before our loads were done washing. I loaded them up and was on my way. A quick stop at Foodland for bread and that took care of my errands. When I got home the winds had picked up so I had a bit of a fight hanging the clothes on the line but won that battle! Donna and I had plans to visit a market east of here so after my tea, Gerry dropped her off.

A nice 2nd hand sweater from the yard sale
.50

It just so happened that a home I frequent for yard sales was setting up for the weekend. She is a very nice young lady and recognizes me by now. 😊 Donna was excited for the new ‘venue’, we Snelgrove girls are always looking for a deal and perusing yard sales is born and bred in us, thanks to Mom and Daddy. We took our time and each of us spent about $5 for a nice little bundle of things I commended her on her prices.

Wool and little books for someone special
at the yard sale
$2.50

Then into Durham where we stopped so I could pick up a Wet Floor sign at the second hand store in town. I’d been looking for one last summer for the Mat so I’m sure Jamie won’t mind reimbursing me the $10. Either way, it doesn’t matter. We carried on then through Mount Forest and then to Conn, on #89 hwy. Destination: Misty Meadows Market. We’d never been there but would definitely go back another time.

Prices for the fresh vegetables were great and I got the 2 spices that I needed for under $2. 😊  After dropping Donna off at the Acreage, I came home for some lunch. The leaf lettuce that I bought for $3 looked and tasted wonderful! I cleaned up the dishes and brought the clothes in off the line. They were probably dry an hour after I hung them out, it reached 25C/77F today. We had fun shopping together, Donna and I, and I’m glad that we are going out more often.

I seldom buy books but when the price is right
I will
$5

Last weekend, we had emptied our hall closet in the hopes that CanAm could replace the floor from an overhead leak that Bill has since fixed. All of that stuff was stacked in the Bunky so rather than bring it back into the Suite (the unit will go back mid-October to get it done), I organized and piled things a little better. I was able to clear floor space so it could be swept out.

The Misty Meadows Market is a growing concern
pix from website

I went as far as I could and came inside for a cup of tea. Bill has a winter coat that needs a new zipper so with Pat’s recommendation, I called a lady in town and left a message. Hopefully over the next couple of weeks, we can get that taken care of. No real rush, we hope, but definitely before we leave the area. Bill had texted that he was on his way home around 2:15 and sure enough at a few minutes before 5, he pulled in.

Another website picture when the store
wasn't open, obviously
The place was packed when we visited!

He relayed stories of his day and after emptying his lunch cooler, stretched out in his chair and promptly fell asleep. It would have been a long day for him but he truly enjoyed it. The good news is that regardless of the wind, he got a flight in with the Piper Cub before it got too strong. 😊 For supper, we agreed on toasted tomato sandwiches. Bill adds cheese to his on white bread and I added lettuce on spelt bread (something new from the market). It was good and we finished our gooey butter tarts for dessert.

A head of leaf lettuce - Huge!
One lettuce leaf was so big, it overhung my 6" lunch plate
$3

After dishes, we drove to the Acreage for what could be one of our last campfires. Gerry was the fire tender tonight, they take turns, and it was nice again. The winds didn’t die down so sparks would flutter every so often in the gusts but it was a warmer, less damp night because of it. Mike had his daughter’s small dog, Ava, out so she entertained us and took turns cuddling up to the ladies. She’s a cutie and although has familiar traits of Clemmy, she isn’t Clemson. 😊

And a beautiful perfect head of freshly picked cauliflower
$4

We left for home before 10 and crawled into bed soon after. It was a fulfilling day for both of us. Bill was very happy that he drove to London and saw his friends, Keith and Ken included.

Because I lost the real thing, I had to cheat on this pix too
Beside us, at the market parking lot, a great dane
was sitting perfectly in the driver's seat
The pix was priceless and I lost it. Drat!

Hope you had a good night!

Thank you for coming around for a peek!