Sunday, May 30, 2021

Walk for Alzheimer’s with Family, A New Porch, Bike Sale

The Ridge

On Saturday, May 29th, the day had arrived for my walk. I’ve been registered for a few weeks now and have pushed for sponsors, all for a great cause. So, today, I want to make you proud, myself proud and Mom, in heaven, proud. 😊 Bill was up around 5:30 with Gibbs and they were crawling back into bed behind me soon after. I didn’t move and within a couple of minutes, they were both sleeping. Aah, cute!

The first big thing was our Walk for Alzheimer's
Donna, Patsy, Joanne

We all got up shortly after 6:30, or maybe it was closer to 7. Bill went outside and began gathering tools and the wood required to build the stoop/porch for at our Suite door. It was a cool morning with some wind but the sky was blue and that sun would surely warm things up quickly. It was hard to know what exactly to wear so I layered and topped it off with a jacket.

There were some beautiful homes along the lake

I arrived at my niece Joanne’s place shortly after 9:30. She was having the same queries “what to wear?” Joanne is a teeny gal so feels the cold even more than I do. When my sister, Donna, arrived we set out walking from there. It is a beautiful area that she lives in but no streets connect with others so even though we walked over 8 km/5 ½ miles, we only walked on 3 roads around the lakes to the dead end and retraced our steps each time.

A flower I'd like to look for this Snow in Summer plant
for our rocky hill

And Allium, another great idea

To make it more enjoyable, we called it our Alzheimer’s Garden Tour. That was fitting since we are all looking for new ideas for garden plants in our plots at home. It was about 2 ½ hours before we all agreed that we were ‘done’ and none too soon. I’d passed a couple of yard sales on my way and thought I’d top on the way home but it was later than I thought it would be when we finished. No worries, it was great fun!

A free bird for the fence or Bunky

We did find that a homeowner had put some ‘free’ items out at the road so we each found something to remember the walk by. 😊 I said goodbye with hugs and drove home.  It was around 1:15 when I pulled up the lane after having met Billy just leaving the Ridge. He’d been helping Bill since 9:30. Mike was taking over in his place and I know Bill was very grateful for their help and expertise. These are the guys he works with every day.




A good spot for a picture using my funky tripod

Boy was I thrilled to see the porch done and only the steps to complete when I got home. I couldn’t get inside for a while, until the risers were up and a couple of steps in place but when I got in, I made Bill and I a meat, cheese, lettuce and tomato bunwich. Mike wasn’t hungry but we were starved! My legs were really feeling the extra effort I put in this morning but a good feeling that I’d completed a nice walk for a great cause. Our proud Mom was watching over us, I’m sure.

Donna cleans for the owner of this place
A nice couple who love dogs
There are biscuits in the container

Go fish!

The home stretch, we are de-layered and tired

All the roads we walked on said No Exit

During the final ‘steps of  the steps’ (haha, I kill me!) I made connection with Liz and Brian. They came from Alliston to check out Bill’s folding bike that we had for sale. We left them alone and sat with Mike while they tested it and made a decision. They were looking for two, of course. Hmmm, I wasn’t going to sell mine just yet but they were such a nice couple and we weren’t going to be taking it south anyway…………so, for the right price, they bought both. It was a good deal for all of us.

I sat with Gibbs an supervised the steps going in πŸ˜‚

Their cutting station

After Mike left, we sat for a while and rested before going out to clean up the mess. 😊 It was a good mess, worthwhile I mean. I picked up the wood pieces and took the ones for burning to Bill’s fire pit and the good ones to stack by the Hangar. We won’t be burning the pressure treated wood in our ‘community’ fire pit. Since we hadn’t eaten lunch until 2:30, neither of us were too hungry but we agreed on toasted tomato, bacon, cheese and lettuce sandwiches for supper.

Yummy and easy

It was very good and we finished off the bit of black cherry ice cream with some strawberries for dessert. I was tired, too tired for a movie and/or too tired for reading so at 9:30 I went up to bed. Bill stayed up until 11, took Gibbs out and he went in his crate easily. He was also very tired from the day supervising the boys while they worked on the porch.

Gibbs seldom sits still so Bill was enjoying
this cuddle moment

Checking out the new steps
Telling me to come and get him

He was a little devil though when Bill first left him ‘free’ inside for a couple of hours. He was upset enough to chew at the bell string and had them all loose on the floor. He also chewed on the little flower in my clogs so obviously he was ticked at us. 😊 We need another few 8’long boards to finish the steps and to close them in but is it ever nice to just step out onto a platform. Bill will have to hone his backing up skills when we return from pulling the Suite each spring.

Just some touch ups to finish

I love it! The boys did a great job!
Good night!

This was a wonderful day with a lot of things taken care of. I’m a happy camper and walker! Thank you for stopping in.

10 comments:

  1. Congratulations on your walk, you certainly picked a lovely route to explore.

    The little stoop will be a nice addition to the Ridge. I'm sure Gibbs will appreciate it too.

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    1. Thank you! We had fun together on our walk exploring new flowers.
      The stoop is making access so much nicer. :)

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  2. Congratulations on the Alzheimer’s Walk. That is truly a great cause.
    The steps Bill built look great and will be safer on the platform. Instead of using the Cement pillars if he used Wood Skids it would be easy to move away when you leave then to push to the Suite when you return.
    It's looking like Gibbs is trying to train the both of you.
    Be Safe and Enjoy!

    It's about time.

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    1. Thank you Rick. Having fun, getting exercise at the same as raising money for a great cause is a bonus!
      We discussed making the stoop movable with locking wheels but neither of us wanted that. We wanted it permanent and he has had to be in the exact position every time he returns to meet up with our gray hose dispensing system anyway. :)

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  3. What a nice little porch and step!

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  4. Great little platform and steps...will make the summer easier! And a year to forget about the worries of backing up to it next spring! Enjoy....Gibbs will be coming up them soon I'll bet.

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    1. Thank you, JudithK. You're so right about it being easier for the summer usage. He is so anal that he has always had to back up onto the exact same boards for the last 4 years. This will just add a bit more challenge. ;)
      Gibbs will be up them soon, I'm sure. We need a couple more boards to fill in some gaps and he'll be able to walk right out the door onto them.

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  5. Nice steps!!! That will make it so much easier for all of you!!! I'm telling you, handy men are like GOLD!!!

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  6. Very nice steps sis! We were very happy when we built ours, and still love them.

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