A Beauty of a Change! Go-Go-Go

The Ridge

On Monday, Apr. 22^nd there was no dilly-dallying. I was up at 6:30. I could see a clear blue sky out my window and wasted no time at all. I started sorting dirty clothes into two piles, came downstairs and made my tea in my to-go mug. Bill busied himself by getting the garbage emptied since today was our pick up day. He loaded Ptooties with the basket and empty water jug. I had a few errands to run but first was laundry and cleaning.

Good morning!
Bill took this for me
Sunday night's after sunset sky

I arrived at the Mat at 7:30 and I guess today was initiation day for me. ☹ The floor was littered and the garbage container and recycle bin were terrible. There are things that need to change in there and I guess I’m the one to push for them. Sandy, the owner, needs to either buy larger garbage bags to fit the container or he needs to give me the go ahead to do it for him. I’m sure he will. Because they are too small, they get pushed down in and added trash ends up all over the place.

When Bill took the laundry basket out to
my car, Gibbs rebelled. He's pretty good
at handing them over (Drop it or Give Daddy his slipper)
so we know it is an attention tact.

I’ll deal with that and the recycle bin in due time. I loaded our 2 washers, retrieved the $7 to pay for them from his cash bin (my laundry is included in my wage, which is great) and then swept the floor clear off the dryer sheets, papers, and everything else people drop. With the sunshine today and a stiff breeze, the clothes were going to hang dry at home. 😊

A beautiful morning but chilly
Exhaust from BB and pond reflections as I go down our drive

I left the Mat at 9:00, popped in to Foodland for milk, stopped at the Water Store to fill a jug and then lastly, dropped off our Income Tax forms at the accountant’s. We are always late so never expect it to be filed on time, April 30^th. Not a big deal for us. Tim is very good at processing our returns and doing the necessary exchanges from American/Mexican receipts into Canadian currency. I just wish it wasn’t so expensive to have him do them. We’d miss some key benefits otherwise.

Ptooties' shadow on North Line gave me a smile.
Look at her ears!
Beautiful Baptist Church Road

Back home, Bill was finishing up with the shelter. It’s really a two-person job but, of course, he did it himself. He was trying to get it up before the stronger winds hit, which they did, late-morning. We need to do something with that shelter this summer, the covers only last a few years and are costly to replace. They aren’t easy to install either. While I finished up, I hung our clothes on the line and Gibbs ran around between us, making sure we’re doing everything right.

Look at that sky!
A view of our summer home from the hill top

We just kept going, from one thing to another and emptied the Bunky and the storage shed. It felt good to have the weather to work in, although I admit to being double layered in hoodies against the cold wind. It wasn’t even 10C/50F yet. I moved on to the gardens and surrounding areas, now that I had access to our leaf rake. I started with my big garden, moved to the corral garden and corral. Boy, was I out of shape! I needed to take numerous breaks and moved back to the Bunky in between. I warmed up though and removed my top layer while I worked.

Gibbs keeps watch over us
The rhyme 'I'm the king of the castle' comes to mind.

Bill went into town and got a propane bottle filled, and got right back into work when he returned. He hopped on his mower, attached the harrow and did the gravel area that we park on. There were no weeds and the gravel was soft so it was a good time to do it. He cleaned up some branches that he’d cut last fall, on the west neighbour’s fence line. Mostly evergreens. The trees are on their side but they reach across the fence impeding our ability to cut grass along there.

From the top of the berm looking to the corral
My garden along the lane
Our gravel lot all harrowed.

We did stop for lunch at noon, I was famished, although I regretted sitting as soon as my butt hit the chair! It felt too good, so we pushed some more and got out there again as soon as we were done eating. 😊 I know, we’ll feel it tomorrow, at least I will, so I’ll do my yoga stretches tonight before bed. Lastly, Bill hooked up the little wagon to the mower and we loaded up the 6 or 8 piles of leaves and dumped them in the brush pile.

The shelter is up so we moved tires,
bike shelving, mower and wagon inside.
The wagon comes out when Jazz comes home.

Wow! Things look so much better, my gardens never get such early attention! The leaves end up mixing right in, I’m sorry to say, but not this spring. It was 2 o’clock when we put things away and came indoors. Bill snoozed and I played my first Word games, after missing the morning’s run. I didn’t feel tired, yet, but sure felt some soreness in my arms, lower back and thighs. I realized that I'd been on my feet since 7:30, unusual for me. Bill had his shower when he got up and at 5:30, he left for a pre-scheduled MRI at the Owen Sound hospital.  I brought the clothes in off the line while he was showering so they are all put away.

Where's Daddy going now????
this little bum melts my heart.

This is a follow-up, if you can believe it, from his rotator cuff injury last June. They aren’t planning surgery anyway but booked him in so who was he to argue? It’s just stupid, in our opinion, but perhaps he’ll see from it, just how well it has healed. It sure isn’t back to normal, which wasn’t good to begin with (his upper arm strength has been poor since doing custodial work for 9 years), and he still can only lift his right arm so high without discomfort. ☹

While waiting for Bill, the sky
put on a show.
Our Canada flag on the hydro pole flies proudly

We had the last of the stew/ghoulash for supper but it was late as I waited until he returned around at 8 before we ate. It was easy to heat up, at least. I didn't take a picture. It looked the same as the first and second night we had it. I did make up a small batch of 5 more biscuits to eat with it though. I had sprouts, Bill had corn. 😃

We reached a high of 13C/56F but only felt like 10C/51F with the cold winds. We are very grateful for the day, as we got a lot accomplished. We had a very low key evening, both too tired to do much else! Ha ha. We watched our NCIS and NCIS Hawaii programs live. For the first time since we got home, we were able to use our solar power to charge batteries and save a bit on hydro/electric. Bonus!

It was much prettier in person but I hope
you enjoy it from my pictures

Thank you to the ladies who offered suggestions for my sweater disaster. I think I’ll try Nancy’s as it was something I wondered if I would be able to do. It is nice wool, IF, and I hope this isn’t the case, IF all else fails. 😊

Now, to the west.
The waning gibbous moon lights up the sky.
It is 21.08 days old today.
Tomorrow, it will be full. 

PS – Gibbs has been outside with us all day too. Not once did he stray from our sight and only a couple of times did we hear him bark – not sure at what – but he is being the best little guy up here. He is happy. ♥

Good night!

Thank you for the visit!