Where Was I? Where Were You on This Special Day?

The Ridge 

On Wednesday, Mar. 31^st, the last day of the month, I have a couple of things to mention. Firstly, most importantly, my little sister, Wendy, reaches a milestone!! Ha ha, not to mention any number but turning ½ a decade isn’t anything to sniffle at. 😊 Woops, let the cat out of the bag. As she said, it sure beats the alternative and don’t we all know too well how lives can be taken far too soon?

Could she be any happier?
Meeting one of her very favourite people, Jack White
Aaah, they're so cute together
Happy Birthday, Wendy!

Bill was off to work around 7 and I was up to see him drive out the lane. I turned the infrared heater off and the bf heater up a tad. I didn’t need to touch the furnace this morning, sitting at 65F, it will keep the Suite regulated quite nicely. Smaller spaces are much easier to heat than big houses, obviously. I had my tea and sat to finish my blog.

What do you think of my turtle light?
A BizyBee auction find, so I tried it in the dark
this morning

I really have to sit down and catch up on everyone’s blogs, it seems I just can’t stop my brain long enough to focus. Each day, I read a few more trying to see where everyone is and how they are doing. Healthy and happy is the main goal in this crazy world. The temperature this morning was hanging around 4C/40F and stayed that way for most of the day. The sun made an appearance while I was cleaning the Mat but soon disappeared for the day.

Left the Mat in pretty good condition
The floor needs to be stripped and rewaxed

While in town, I got our RO water bottle filled and then drove to Hanover to Walmart for some of our regular items. Now that I’m used to it, it is worth me going the 20 minutes when I need more than 1 or 2 things. Otherwise, I’d shop here at Foodland where the prices are typical of a small town. Up ↑. I ended up with much more than I had planned but it made the drive even more worthwhile.

Driving back through Durham
The hill at the far end of the town never seems that steep

I was home by noon and quite hungry. After putting the food away, I went about making another healthy lunch as well as my coffee. After 2 days, I enjoyed it, but already know that I don’t want it tomorrow again. I may make up the eggs into egg salad for sandwiches to give Bill a change. After today, he’ll only have one more day before the weekend, with Good Friday at the end of the week. So, he can eat it on his days off. 😊

Fields are getting ploughed in our area

I was happy to get a text from Wendy that she received the delivery of succulents that I had ordered to be delivered today. I love surprises and love giving them to others. She said she loved them so I did good. Wendy is a naturalist, really down to earth in her likes so this was perfect, in my eyes. Well, as perfect as it could be when ordering from a florist online.

Baptist Church Road is greening up

I mentioned in my first paragraph that there were a couple of things today I wanted to talk about. Wendy’s birthday being one. The second is very special to me and only me, really. It was 5 years ago today that I retired from the London school board! 

Walking in on my last day

I can’t believe that it has been that long already and can vividly remember the joy I felt in those last months, weeks and days. It’s hard to put into words but if you worked a full career, you know the feeling.

It was a fantastic last day

Bill was home from work around 3, which was nice. They’d finished the job they were working on today. He dozed for half hour and I finished my book. Oh my goodness, The Silent Patient is another good read! We went to town to get a bladder full (45 – 50 gal) of water from Rob and Pat’s. They are very generous and since Gerry doesn’t have his water turned on at the Acreage where we usually get it (for obvious reasons) this is really appreciated.

Lunch today

Bill backed in to get the bladder filled up
and I wandered to take pictures

When we got back, Bill began the transfer and then I had a cup of tea. He had a big lunch with Billy before coming home, they went to a restaurant in Tiverton, so a simple supper tonight of grilled cheese sandwiches. I’m good with that, mine will be fried in plenty of butter. The greasier the better for me, a believer of good fat in my diet. 😊  I know, you screwing up your face right now.

Across the road from Rob and Pat's house

And down their street, the three bears are dressed for the cold winter

well, this little quilt rock in Pat's garden looks familiar!

So, at 6, we each had a grilled (fried) sandwich and I added olives to my plate. We finished the apple crisp for dessert and had whipped topping with it tonight. I remembered to make some. 

I add onion slices to mine - yummy

After dishes, we relaxed for the evening, enjoying the green/brown view out our windows. By the sounds of it, the overnight cold temperatures could very likely be bringing more white stuff. Not as much as other areas, but we will have colder weather, meaning it may stick around longer. ☹

Wendy liked her log planter
Kudos to Owen Sound Flowers

This was a good day. I got another hour of work in and I texted Jamie to let him know how many March hours I have. It would be nice to see him sometime this weekend. I hope you are all doing well and I’m curious, where were you 5 years ago? 😊

Today's memory
Mar. 31, 2016
Good night everyone!

Thank you for popping in.

Easy Going Day Off – Purging Like Crazy! Wild Winds Up Here

The Ridge

On Tuesday, Mar. 30^th we woke to a decent spring morning. Bill was off to work by 6:30 and I was up by 7. I had the inner debate with myself about whether to walk now or wait. Well, it was 4C/40F so not too bad out but it was windy, quite windy. Our meteorologist suggested walking early ‘if’ we were going to walk today (does she know me?) because the wind speed would increase to 70 km or higher by afternoon.

The moon was in a waning Gibbous phase 
Pictures from inside a trailer don't show the magnificence of it at all

The morning sunrise was beautiful as I sat at my laptop

But I decided that I would have my tea and then head out. The wind was biting for sure and walking south on Baptist Church Road put it right in my face. I’m glad I stopped at the Bunky for my scarf and hat. I walked fast and took a walking stick, easing along pretty good in my running shoes. Nice to have dry roads and I didn’t need my boots for warmth. It was a lovely walk and by the time I got to Turbine Lane, I was plenty warm.

Our friend from London, who gave us
Goose the Spruce contacted us yesterday
to see how we and Goose are doing. 😁
What a wonderful surprise to hear from Dave Gosset!

Almost to Turbine Lane

My turning around point today

Turning back, I actually had to loosen my scarf around my chin as the sun warmed and walked along with me. 😊 My coat was half undone as I came up the lane. I remembered that my little sister was celebrating a big birthday tomorrow so went online to find something to send to her. Our card should have reached her by now, but with the Royal Mail, who knows. She sent me a lovely home-made booklet on my 50^th, something I will treasure forever and wanted her to feel the same 💗.

These red-winged blackbirds are so hard to capture on camera
but I got him!

The pond is really high right now making we wish we had our kayaks

This is from farther up the lane, almost to the corral
Lots of little 'islands' in this section

I was feeling hungry and even though it was only 10:30, I set about making something to eat. I’m gearing for April 1^st to ‘really’ get back on track for eating right again. No fools joke, I need to smarten up with some of my choices. So, Madame IP boiled some eggs for me and I cut up peppers, cheese, tomatoes, the eggs and added pepperoni slices to my plate. Along with a coffee with creamer and coconut oil, I had a filling brunch.

5 - 5 - 5 always works well for me

If I ate like this every day, I'd be right on track with my keto/paleo
lifestyle but.............I don't.

With the few dishes out of the way and supper semi-planned in my head, I went upstairs to the closet. The dreaded, over-stuffed clothes closet. Slugging clothes back and forth from house to house sure makes you realize what you have and don’t need. Bill will say that I can still get rid of a lot but I’ve done well and have 2 garbage bags packed with all-seasonal clothing. Some were harder to put in the bags but other things went from hanger to bag with no shedding of tears. 😊

Last fall, I began the process but I wasn't very serious
today, I got right into it

In the middle of that process, I heard a door and then a knock. Crap! I was only half dressed as I usually try everything on – everything, to make my decisions. By the time I quickly threw a dress on and ran to the door, the postal lady was back in her vehicle and had left a box for Bill at the door. I waved at her to thank her. We weren’t expecting it until tomorrow but this is better with me home for sure. I texted him and carried on with the job at hand.

There it is, a favourite view and it looks
like our neighbours are having their trailer removed

An example of how windy is got
This heavy iron gate is hard to move but it had lifted off
the post by mid day

I lifted it back in place so it doesn't block the entrance for Bill

With that done, I lugged the two bags out to the Bunky. The winds are playing havoc up here so I’m glad we have everything battened down. When I hear a bang I wonder what it is and yet when I go out to check, things are still in place. The satellite dish is still standing and that is important. I have other things to purge, like the coats and jackets in the hall cupboard as well as things in the bathroom cupboards. All for another day.

I break up crusts for the birds
Finally, after tossing it out yesterday, the birds found it all

You're welcome!

As an Avon lady, I end up with all kinds of things stocked up. That isn’t a bad thing at all, as I’m still using a lot of it. However, there are plenty of other things, half bottles of non-Avon stuff, etc. that need to be sorted through. I gave myself a facial while up in the bathroom, as a reward for all the purging, and now my face feels like a million bucks! Ha ha, well, a few hundred thousand at least! I’m not sure if the mail lady had any other mail for us so I walked down around 3:30 to check.

It's too early to put things out in the yard yet but
I did put my bright yellow painted rocks in the little garden

Then it was time for a tea and a few chapters of my book. Bill came in around 5:30 and I started supper soon after. He removed one of our propane tanks and loaded it in Black Beauty so he can fill it tomorrow. Weekly, for a while, we may be doing that. The same for water from Rob and Pat’s for our tank and water from town for drinking. I’ll get that tomorrow. For supper, I wanted to do something different with sausage but the recipe I tried to follow didn’t end up working. Hmmm, I had to improvise.

Our hibiscus is safe from the weather but
that wind sure played havoc with the shelter today
Two winters ago, Goose was still small enough to fit under here
Now he is 5' tall! 🌲

Well, it turned into a kind of casserole with the sausage meat, mushroom soup, cheddar, bisquick and mixed vegetables. It was dry, too dry for my liking but it tasted good. We have leftovers so tomorrow night, I’ll have to add more soup or something to make it juicier. We had apple custard crisp for dessert, again, mine with cream. I forgot to make some whipped cream so tomorrow I’ll do that as well. 

Bill was a good sport again
He had a potato and I had cauliflower rice
He calls things like the sausage casserole 'pussy-muck' 😂
He isn't far wrong!

We took care of dishes and then passed the time until 8 when we put our recorded movie on. The Love Stories of Sunflower Valley one. 🌻 Mushy and far-fetched yes, but cute and I enjoyed watching it with my sweetie. The winds haven’t abated much and probably won’t until overnight. We’ve been lucky that the strong gusty winds have been coming head on from the southwest to the nose of the Suite, rather than broadside. I rocked a fair bit today but it could have been much worse.

Tonight's 'after the sunset' picture is gorgeous

The sun set around 7:35 and it was just as pretty as last night in its own way. This was a good day.

Mar. 30, 2019
We were on our way home with our buddies
Rob and Pat's set up
at Arrowhead Lakes Resort, Wapakoneta, OH

And ours
We'd had some snow overnight there so we knew we were close to home

Not sure how many more memory photos I'll do but I'm enjoying them

Good night!

Thank you for stopping by. Your comments are always welcome.

Watching the Snow Melt is Almost Like Watching the Grass Grow

The Ridge

Monday, Mar. 29^th Bill was off to work. First to Mildmay to pick up the work truck and trailer and then drive it to Billy’s parent’s house not far from Paisley. They were working on a job there today. Bill left around 6:30 and as I watch him pull out of the lot up here, I see that he remembered to get the garbage ready and was carting it down as he left. What a guy, I totally forgot! 😊

He took it down at 6:30 but I left at
9:30 and took this picture

I got up just before 7, just being lazy and enjoying the warmth of our surroundings, in more ways than one. I turned our infrared heater off, we let it run all night on the low rates and had the blue flame heater keep us comfortable through the night. Now, I turned the bf heater up a bit and ran the furnace a few times to keep the floors warmed up. Keeping the Suite around 67F worked well. I knew I had to go to town to the bank, for fuel and to clean but waited until closer to 10 to leave.

I stuck my head out to see what we were left with
after the storm

It doesn't matter what the pond is dressed in,
it is always a beautiful view

Waiting with anticipation for the sunrise

POP!

The snow is already starting to melt but I did have to scrape Ptooties windshield and passenger side windows. I should have parked facing the east but didn’t think of that yesterday in the snow storm! The country roads were snow covered but I was careful until I got onto the dry paved highway to Durham and relaxed. I stopped at the bank first and made a deposit, then the Pioneer to top up with gas and then crossed to the Mat.

Light winds today as you can see from our flag

I stopped to get the pond reflections as I left

I was pretty used to these roads by now AND I only had to be
on them for 5 minutes. 😀

It wasn’t busy when I arrived, one of our regulars was just folding his laundry. We chatted about the weather and after he left, little miss ‘slumber’ walked in. She is the gal that gave Bill and I grief (and Jamie at various times) over the spring of 2019. She used the Mat to sleep in and got belligerent when we asked her to remove her feet from the washers. Anyway, I didn’t see her last summer at all except to come in and use the bathroom, wash her face and leave. 😊

The sky and roads were great on my drive home

Today, she washed a few items in the sink, by hand, and then very politely asked me if I had a couple of quarters. I would have given her a handout since she was pleasant but she had the dimes and nickels to offer in exchange. She was no trouble and even the chattering she does to herself didn’t bother me. I heard that a lot over the winter, right Susan?

I have more broccoli in the freezer so will make this again soon

Half way through cleaning, 3 family members came in with about 6 (or was it 8?) full bags of laundry and blankets. Their machine at home broke so they decided to do everything here. They filled 9 machines and I stuck around long enough to make sure everything worked well for them before taking my leave. It felt good to be driving home to the Ridge instead of all the way back to Paisley. The sun had come out and the blue sky was welcome. It had warmed up by about 4 degrees until the clouds moved in.

I walked down before tea time to check the mail

Father Goose has his head turned and Mama isn't visible from the
right yet

They started scurrying ahead of me, even though
I stopped and waited

At home, I made a cup of coffee and then at noonish warmed up my last bowl of homemade cheddar/broccoli soup. It was good to the last spoonful! I need to make another batch soon. I had some online banking to do, sending $ to Donna for rent and then I placed a couple of orders. As an Avon representative, I need to keep my status alive so place a small order every 2 or 3 campaigns. I don’t make $ since I only sell it to my sisters and myself but it is worth it to me – for now with my discount.

And as if she changed her mind, she turned back to the pond
Now you can see her tail feathers

I also placed an Amazon order, now that we are back home again. I like to keep the watch face covers for my Fitbit on hand as they get dirty and scratched up a fair bit from me working, especially at the body shop. It’s better than scratching the face of my watch as I don’t think I can buy the Alta type anymore. With that done, I washed the dishes from breakfast and lunch and pulled a bag of my apple slices out of the freezer for dessert tonight. 😊

You've heard the term "silly goose!", this is why

Apple custard crumble sounded pretty good so I made up a batch and cooked it in our convection oven. While it was in the oven, I went down the lane to see if there was any mail and to bring the recycle bin back up. It seemed like I was playing hide and seek with these two geese, they are very spooked (or ticked off?) by seeing us, as they came in from the pond to cross to the field but went back in when they saw me. On my return, they were trying again so I stopped and let them go.

They really wanted to cross to the west pond so on my way back up
I stopped again and waited until they got across

Another of my favourite view that you'll get tired of 😂

I’ve been trying to finalize Mom’s estate settlements but it is being made difficult by the bank allowing only a certain amount of $ per 24-hour period. I was hoping to deal with all 8 by e-transfer within a day or two. No such luck. Mailing cheques out to family just didn’t seem plausible with the time in the mail system taken into consideration. I really thought I was doing the right thing and saving time, getting the cash into their hands asap. Oh well, it will just take longer and they understand. I'm halfway there and now it has another limited amount for a 7-day period so more delays. LOL

Hoping to see a pretty sunset tonight

I relaxed in my chair after making a cup of tea around 3:30. My book is very good and I’m flipping through chapters very quickly. Bill texted just before 5 that he was on his way home from Mildmay, about 30 minutes away. 

This didn't quite turn out as I'd planned, 
drier than I expected but Bill liked it
I added 35% cream to mine, maybe whipped cream tomorrow night

Supper was leftover roast, potatoes and carrots with dessert. It was good and that took care of our leftovers. After dishes, Bill packed his lunch and I sat and worked on my blog post. I downloaded pictures and snapped a couple of photos out my window of the sun disappearing.

The sun disappeared in the clouds during the setting process
but I was rewarded with this 😍

The day turned out better than it started, the sun came out a fair bit and the temperature warmed up to about 5C/40F. We watched some American Idol together, if I can stay awake. Turns out, it was Bill who crashed first, he worked a full day. This was a pretty nice day and we’ll have a much nicer one tomorrow. Kind of a diamond in the rough. Tune in then and see what I mean.

Mar. 29th, 2018 - Second winter
Arrowhead Lakes RV Park, Wapakoneta, OH

good night!

Thank you for your visit today.