Quiet Cool Day

The Ridge

On Sunday, June 30^th we woke up to another dreary day. It was a misty rain from the time we got up for most of the day. Even though the forecast said only a 1% chance of precipitation, that misty dampness hung around. The temperature started out around 10C/51F and rose to an amazing high of 13C/55F by 5 o’clock. Reminder to self: This is summer. Wow! ☹ At least tomorrow promises to be sunny and warm.

We just basically hung around inside all morning, and I made up a batch of my Keto Oatmeal. We had lunch and then took a drive into Durham. I forgot to pick up a loaf of bread yesterday (all those places we went!) so I popped into Foodland. One more stop at the Home Hardware, chatted with Josh, the owner, and I treated myself (and our feathered friends) to a sunflower bird feeder and some trail mix. The normal bird seed would just fall through the holes.

I made up more hummer food, filled the 2 feeders and again, hung indoors. I watched tv upstairs for a couple of hours and Bill and Gibbs settled downstairs with their own movie. Bill vacuumed for me since tomorrow is our Canada Day and we’re expecting company. There isn’t much more to write, I took no pictures so I’ll leave it at that. For supper, we’ll have Pork Ribettes, vegetable and fried potatoes for Bill. 😊

I hope your weather was much improved from ours and that your day went well. I wanted to mention something about our running around yesterday. From the first store we stopped in to the very last one, here in town, I encountered the most cheerful, friendly people. Not only staff, but every patron as well. What a wonderful experience and it continued this morning in Foodland and H.H. Everyone seems to be in a great mood. Yay! 💖💖 So often, all we do is gripe about discontented people, shoppers, and employees that I thought it worth a mention about what I've witnessed. 😃

Happy 157th Birthday, Canada!
Good night.

Thank you for popping in. Happy Canada Day to my fellow Canadians! 

We’ve Been Everywhere, Man, We’ve Been Everywhere

The Ridge

On Saturday, June 29^th, that is exactly what we felt when we stopped around 2 pm. 😊 We were up by 7, clothes sorted and I drove into the Mat to clean for the last time….this month. With clean laundry, they were small loads this week, I stepped out of the building and the cloud dropped bucketfuls of rain on me and the recently dried clothing. Rats!

Good morning!
An 'intermittent' wiper kind of drive.

Off and on, off and on
but nothing heavy until.............

My original thought to stop at Foodland, for a few of their weekly specials (again), changed, since I was quite damp, and I drove home instead. It had stopped raining by then, for the moment, and I was able to bring them inside. Bill was replacing the screen on our door, this time with the good screening. It fits so much nicer than the last stuff we bought down south. The top window was done and we both relaxed for a bit.

We stopped for a late lunch at Jenny G's
and this couple did the same.
Now, that is a big dog! Only 1 year old,
already 39" to his shoulders. Very calm Dane though.

At 10:30, we hopped in Ptooties and began running errands that would last 3 ½ hours. First, in Hanover, we visited Donna and Gerry for 20 minutes, dropping off some coffee beans Bill had picked up at Costco on Wednesday. Between us, we went to Giant Tiger, Canadian Tire, Home Hardware, and Walmart. We left Hanover and stopped at Jenny G’s for lunch since it was 12:45. We each ordered just the fish, a large piece of halibut, and split (I had about 8) a medium order of fries. 😊 Yum.

Our fish lunch was delicious!

By now, it was humid and the air was very still so we found shade from a picnic table umbrella while we ate. The fish was awesome! We drove back to Durham and Bill ran into the Liquor Store for wine and he dropped me at Foodland for the sale items I mentioned above. He drove across the street to FS Co-op and picked up some bags of white stone for the area around the flag pole, saving $3/bag from Hanover’s prices.

Dark clouds hovered most of the day

I think that was it, we were done running around and returned home to The Ridge. There are watches out for more thunder storms including high winds so we’ll be paying attention to that tonight. Oh brother! Although humid, we opened windows to receive the lovely breeze to cool the Suite down. Bill dozed and I sat and watched some of those funny reels on Facebook. Some made me laugh right out loud, hilarious!

The storm watches passed
but we'll still get more rain overnight
and tomorrow. (Yay! - 😌)

At one point today, I transplanted my patio tomato plant into a bigger pot, as the tomatoes are starting to come and I want to give it room to expand. 😊 On one hand, it is not great getting so much rain (as a joke we say “yay, more rain”) but it is nice not to have to water our gardens, right? It has been a week since I’ve done that. I did add some water to this transplant as I added new soil to the pot.

I don't need to tell you who he was watching.
Not Bill, this time.

We chilled for the rest of the day. Bill went to the Hangar and I watched a movie. I never do that in the afternoon but today called for it. It was called The Storyteller, a bit of a fantasy but also a love story and I enjoyed it. We weren’t too hungry for supper so Bill opted for a toasted tomato and cheese sandwich, Gibbs opted for his kibble with some cheese for encouragement and I also had cheese with salmon and 8 low carb crisp/crackers. Yes, I counted!

Looks great out now.
10 minutes later, clouds came back. 

The evening was quiet and I’m afraid my pictures are quite boring today – the weather, the sky, the sky again, oh and a couple of our little treasure. ♥ I hope you had a good day, we did. We are stocked up on a few more items and prepared for company on Canada Day. 😊 P.S. Bill and Gibbs are both showing improvement with their legs/feet. It was a 25C/76F day and around 11C/52F overnight. Nice for sleeping.

This time he is watching Bill
go to the Hangar.

Gosh, I love this little squirt.
Good night!

Thank you for your visit.

Rounding up the Week Together

The Ridge

On Friday, June 28^th when I woke at 6:30, Gibbs was a warm little body beside me and Bill’s spot was empty. They’d been out and I never heard a thing, unless the return to bed by the little bum is what woke me. 😊 I did my bed stretches and opened my blind. Then I got my snuggles, as he laid across my chest, before we both got up. ♥

Good morning!
Canada Day weekend is upon us.
While backed into the Beer Store lot for M,
I watched Dollar Store Dave put his flag out. 😍
Nice job, Dave!

Bill was in his chair when we came down and the day has begun. Outside, it looked clear from my window but did not last for the morning. The temperature was low so Bill had turned the furnace on for a quick warm up cycle. His first order of duty was to go to the Acreage for water and while there, he was going to also fill the fresh water tank in Mike’s trailer. I lounged with my tea and my pooch before getting washed and dressed for my morning.

Yesterday I had an ouchy.
OMG, it hurt! Moving my folding lounge chair
in the Bunky, it closed on my thumb. It throbbed all day
and bruised immediately. Thankfully, the nail.isn't damaged.
It's just tender today, already healing.

Bill was still moving dirt. He can't sit still
when there is work to be done.
No wonder he's losing weight! 

Bill returned and had a bit more weed trimming to do and I left before 10 to drive M into town for his ‘pre-weekend’ errands. Bill was down at the end of the lane, moving more dirt, when I returned and asked me to make him a coffee.

Oh, the captions I could put on these pictures!
Let's just say:
"I'm so happy!"

Gibbs and I walked down to the front field as he finished up before lunch. Madame Kildeer was still screeching her warnings to keep us away from her nest, which we still haven’t located, even after cutting the grass. Strange.

The best things on my lunch plate?
salmon, cheese, olives, avocado, all good fats.

Gibbs was funny, rolling in the grass and chasing the feathers and his rope that I tossed for him. We had our lunch, Bill and Gibbs dozed for an hour while I went back out to tackle the puzzle. I sit and stare with frustration for a few minutes before finally one piece drops into place. Then a few follow that one and so on. 😊 Maybe you’ll understand more about my frustration on this one if you see what kind of pieces I’m dealing with.

Not much done as you can see.
Bottom picture shows how odd these pieces are.
You don't know if you're looking for one or three!

At 2, we took my Bernina (no longer in production) sewing machine to a repair shop not too far from here, in Mt. Forest. Nancy, oh my, you would love it. It is called Creekbank Sewing Centre & Fabrics and do they have fabric? Oh yes, they do. It is a Mennonite business and when she told us the cost to have it checked over, we agreed to leave it. I’m not sure what is wrong, something minor we hope, or we may as purchase a new machine. It will be 3 weeks before they even look at it, they are that busy.

Nancy, we thought of you while we toured
the 3 or 4 room store.

Beautiful quilts were displayed on the walls.

We wandered around and I took some pictures for my favourite quilter, just for drooling purposes, and I promised the young lady at the counter that I would bring Nancy if she ever made it to our country again. 😊 

Bill liked the star on the left.
I liked the 2 hearts in the right picture.
Um, can you say Long arm? At least I think that is what it is!

We drove home a different way, stopping at an out of the way property that I’d found on line. Not that we’re in a position to buy but I was curious and you know what curiosity does………. The property itself was small yet had possibility. The mobile home on site was a disaster, I'm sure the inside was gross.  If we could win money to build, ha ha, I'm so funny!

I started a new book by J.P.
and the boys snoozed beside me. 💖💖💖

Back home, Gibbs was happy to see us and brought us his rope. ♥ The clouds have moved over the sky and no blue can be seen at all. The air is coolish but when in the vehicle, you need a window open, it feels so humid. I made my tea at home and poured Bill a Coke Zero. Gibbs got a Denta Stix. For supper, we had burgers and I even had a bun! The bathroom scales were being kind over the last few days so I’ll step down off the wagon for a meal. 😊

I took my time 'decorating it' and then savoured every bite.

The burgers were delicious, good job, Bill! Dishes were loaded in the dishwasher and we spent a quiet evening in the Suite. The outside dullness and forthcoming rains make us just want to sit tight. It was a good day though and the long weekend is upon us. Yes, Canada Day is Monday so there will be plenty of celebrations taking place around all cities, towns and suburbs. We had a cooler high of 20C/68F with no real sun appearance. It was muggy though until noon hour and it will only drop to 17C/62F overnight with more rain. 

Last year on this day, I had help reading. 
Wow, I just now noticed she is sitting on my brother's obituary which
is my everyday bookmark. That is from 2011.
Good night everyone!

Thank you for stopping around.

Sprucing up the Ridge

The Ridge

On Thursday, June 27^th all 3 of the Richards were lazy, not getting up until almost 8. That was me. Bill and Gibbs remained where they were until I’d made my tea and left for Durham. They were up soon after, so I’m told. 😊

Good morning!
This was after last night's sunset.
I'm getting good at missing the key moments!!
This was still pretty.

The Mat was cleaned lickety-split in the hour and I’d emptied the Lost & Found box, tossing any torn or stained items that had been there for a while and washing the last 5 or 6 things. They will either get donated in town or taken to the next clothing exchange. I decided to take an extra half hour and wash the windows inside and out before I left. They look much better!

The drive into town was under heavy clouds
The return home on Baptist Church Road
had me waiting for a few minutes until I was
spotted. They immediately moved the dump truck
to let me through. Small towns. 💓

I stopped for water but didn’t see Mark so left my $3 on the counter for him, filled our bottle and left. One last stop at the drug store to pick up a card for M and then home. The rain storm from yesterday afternoon had washed out parts of a laneway down near the main highway and I had to stop and wait for them to move the dump truck on my way home. Some major work had to be done so I’m glad I was able to get through.

3 new Moonflower blooms toay
and they lasted until noon hour. ♥

It was a lot of rain in a short 15 minutes. Bill said we had a hug puddle out here as well. Today seemed to be a mixed bag of sun and clouds but no concern over more rain – yet. That’s what the weekend is for. LOL ☹ Bill was up on the berm, driving more loads of dirt up to where our flag pole is. It is a bad area to cut so we have a plan to rectify that.

Our 'new to us' tractor wagon.
I'll sand it and paint it this summer.

He loads our garden trailer half full, drives it up and dumps it. After raking it, it is finally looking level. There are a few other holes and gullies to be filled in too but it is a long, hard process. The small trailer is not in the best shape so we talked to M about buying one he has. It should be better suited for what we need to move around on flat surfaces. Bill picked it up with the Cub Cadet.

This dirt pile is slowly going down
thanks to Bill's efforts.

We had lunch and then cut grass. Finally, it was dry enough. Bill wasn’t done, although I was, and when Gibbs and I were in the Bunky, he got the weed trimmer out. He’s like that Eveready Bunny. ♥ When he finished, he came in for a snooze with Gibbs and I dozed and read my book in my outdoor recliner. 😊

Around the base of our biggest service berry tree,
these little fungi were growing. I had to Google it:
Scientific name: 'coprinellus disseminatus'
Common name: 'fairy ink cap/fairy bonnet or trooping crumble cap'
How quaint! Imagine how small these fairies are! 😍

When the sun was out, it was hot and yet cool when it was behind the white puffy clouds. It has been a pretty nice day and the property looks great again. I’m reading a novel of James Patterson’s now, that was included in the last book. It is called The Trial and another page turner. Good grief, he is such a good writer, in my eyes. 😊 I came in and made my tea around 4:30, and Woops! planning another simple meal tonight because I forgot to get meat out to thaw.

Pretty white fluffies today

And my bucket overflows with
Evening Primrose (can you tell it is my favourite?)
and a couple of glads.

We both like grilled cheese and toasted tomato so I had one and he had the other with a small garden salad on the side. Btw, we’ve both watched the documentary, ‘I Am Celine Dion’, and wow, what a sad story. Worth watching if you have ever seen her perform. Just be prepared for an honest recounting of her life. 

Simple but still good.
I will have to see about making some
sour dough bread. Hmmm.

The sky is clearing out now, more blue than white which means a cooler night. All is well up here on The Ridge. 😊

And after supper, the air cooled off considerably. 
We had a nice high of 20C/68F and
we'll be dropping to a low of 7C/45F overnight.
We'll have the duvet pulled up for that.
Good night!

Thank you for the visit.

London for Bill, Williamsford for Patsy, Home for Gibbs

The Ridge

On Wednesday, June 26^th it was a surprise to see sunshine when we first woke up around 6:30. I stayed in bed until 7 but Bill was up getting washed and dressed. He had an appointment with our family doctor in the big city at 1 and so planned a few other stops in around London while he was there. 😊 His blood sugar numbers were up a bit and the doc wanted to chat about it.

good morning!
Gibbs and I took a walk this morning.

Because Bill is already diabetic, kind of right on the border line and because the number didn’t jump by much, there was no real concern and no need for any medications. Yay! That’s what we were worried he might do and Bill was prepared with his ‘we’re going to change a few things in my diet first’ speech. It wasn’t even necessary. This is a fairly new doctor to us; we’ve only seen him a couple of times each – but he is growing on us.

We've all probably seen the performance
this bird puts on.
She/he thought we were just too close to her nest
so did everything in her power to take us in another
direction. So brave!
All the while calling 'kildeer, kildeer!'

So, I had the morning to myself with Gibbs and on first thought, ‘my’ grass area needs cutting. It had rained overnight (again) and things were still too wet for my little mower, so Gibbs and I went for a walk almost to the corner instead. Then I sat in the Bunky at the puzzle for a while, working on the sky area. Still not a lot of progress BUT 3 more border pieces were located! They are really skinny and odd shapes so that’s my excuse. Only 2 more to find. I think. 😊

Well, this is supposed to be a picture
of our pond along the lane.
It's through there somewhere but the sun is pretty.

At 10:30, I fried up a couple of pieces of egg plant in butter for an early lunch/late breakfast kind of deal and left Gibbs in charge at 11. 

I don't even need to bread it or add parmesan,
it is so good just like this.

I drove to Williamsford to clean the bed and breakfast for Robin. She will be flying home tonight from Nfld and has had guests every night since she left on Monday morning. It was 1:30 when I closed the door behind me.

Driving along North Line towards
the highway

It's a pretty drive, on a dry day.
In or after the heavy rain, it wouldn't be fun.

I dropped the heavy bath towels at her place, putting them in the dryer there. They don’t dry well with 3 full sets of sheets, as I found out when I arrived. Jessica had kind of overloaded them when she left yesterday. Some guests don’t use any bath towels, others use 4 or 5 or 6, the latter being odd because there are only 4 guests – usually.

Looks like unwelcome guests.
It was empty though so I removed it.

The day had clouded over but was still very warm and humid by the time I returned home. I hopped in the shower immediately, it was very hot and sweaty, I’m hoping they’ll put a/c in that house. 😊 For the remainder of the day, we stayed indoors. Bill had messaged after his appointment that all was well and he was coming home with a good report. I could have canceled and gone with him but he didn't 'need' me and he deserves a free day to toot around without me sometimes too.♥ 

The entrance improves with the Tiger Lilies
in bloom

At 3, the sky opened up and we had a very heavy downpour for about 10- 12 minutes. It got windy, the rain was driving across the Ridge enough to make things white outside and the thunder was rumbling all around us. It didn’t get too windy, to the point of me being frightened, but I was still glad when it stopped! Bill was home at 5 and by then I’d finished my J.P. book. Oh my, it was so good!

These are at 2:30

For supper, we had pancakes and little sausage. My pancakes were keto and once more, they were delicious! The syrup was a treat and we discussed how it’s a good thing we only have them once a month. 😊 

The beginning of the rain

Our pails get filled really fast!

At 3:00, you couldn't see anything for a few minutes.

After cleanup, a lot of dishes to hand wash and then Bill went upstairs to watch a movie. Methinks he’ll be asleep in no time. He is getting a break from work, which we are both looking at as a blessing right now. Things to do at home and time spent together.

A tasty supper.

This was a good day and another bit of cash in my account. The weather continues to be ‘funny’ (no other word for it!) with a couple of cool days & nights again. LOL and around the corner a new month.

Chippy is trying to hid in the long grass.
Good night!

Thank you for popping in.