Easier Day, Hardy Mums, Car Storage, Mom

On Friday, Oct. 20^th we woke up together. I was awake at 6 and over the next hour was the first I heard Bill coughing all night. Before I went to bed, I pampered him by rubbing Vick’s on his chest (yes, he could do this himself but……he’s a guy) and then on the bottom of his feet. He put socks on, which is unusual, but it seems to work in preventing coughing while sleeping.

We had our tea and coffee at our laptops before I had my shower. We’re coddling our fresh water more these days as the wells at Gerry’s Acreage are closed off for the winter. We agreed that he do this on Thanksgiving weekend after filling our tank and a spare bladder. If we were desperate we could probably beg, borrow or steal from Pat and Rob. So, a shower today and Sunday before we pull out will leave us with about 25 gallons for travelling.

15 minutes before I hopped in the shower, Bill sprayed the bathroom with Black Flag

 Bill cleaned up and nipped into Durham to get gas for his mower, just enough to cut the rest of the grass and then we’re done for this season. Yay! I’m done cutting grass for a while. We both got our exercise yesterday, our Fitbits were so proud!

Clemson in his morning spot

My first challenge this morning was to put our clean duvet into the cover I had. I wish someone had told me before I bought the cover that I should go smaller than the duvet. We have a king size bed; therefore, sheets and duvet are the same size. The duvet does not completely fill the cover and that makes it slide all over the place. Grrr. Because of that I haven’t had the cover on since the last time I washed the duvet.

Maybe it isn’t a common rule but my sister, Gayle, suggested ‘after’ I bought one, that I should buy a Queen size duvet cover and pin the corners like I am doing now. That way, it doesn’t have sliding room. It just seems one side is always puffier (bunched) than the other. Such a simple thing but it frustrates me. We don’t want a heavy bedspread or multiple blankets; the weight is ridiculous. Been there, done that. The duvet (other than stuffing it) is perfect for us in all weather.

And the duvet is back on the bed with Sergei, Clemson's stuffed friend

I made myself another tea while Bill finished up the back field. We have our leftover omelette for brunch or lunch, whatever, when he is done. I am going in to see Mom this morning before her lunch so can eat when I come back. I don’t feel too hungry yet this morning. I brushed my teeth after having a couple of spoonfuls of yogourt and headed into town.

Once more when I arrived, her door was closed tight and lights off in her room when I peeked. There she was under her blanket on her bed. She was dressed and not in as sound a sleep as the other day because when I said hello, she smiled and started to sit up. I turned her light on and opened the curtains. She said she was so lazy, sleeping so much!

Last time this year

It was a lovely visit and a very nice passerby stopped in and offered to take a picture of us when he saw me trying to do a selfie. Sweet! 

Much nicer than any I take on a self-timer. Another visitor stopped in to see Mom. Bradeep was his name and he is the resident physio-therapist. He wanted to walk with Mom and talk to her about her troubling back.

 This is where it gets awkward with a dementia person, she fluffed her back issues off with a wave of her hand. He asked her questions and I felt for him simply because I don’t know if he realized that she honestly couldn’t remember. It puts Mom on the defensive if you mention dementia in front of her, so I walked quietly behind them. If he caught my eye at one of her replies, I nodded or shook my head.

A very pleasant young man he was and when he offered the simple solution of a hot pack on her lower back for 20 minutes during a day, she flatly refused. Oh my. She said it wasn’t that bad and she would never be able to sit for that long. I tried to encourage her to try it when she is resting on the bed or sitting for her meals but she said she was fine. He said he would come back on Tuesday and see if it is any better. The good news is that the results of the x-rays were negative. None of us know how bad her pain is.

I walked her down to lunch and she was one of the last to arrive. She was in no hurry today. I spoke to Aunt Mary before leaving and said hello to Freida who sits with her. From Rockwood I drove downtown and chatted with Stephanie at IDA about my shingles prescriptions. She wished me luck in Mexico getting what I need at a better price. I picked up some Vitamin D for Bill and got home at 12:30 for my lunch. 

Bill was a busy beaver again today. He finished the grass cutting and cleaned the mower off before putting it and the little wagon away. He was washing the Weber Q and we figured one more use, and it can be stowed in the ‘garage’ of our Suite. 

Clemson gets to go along for a ride

I changed into work clothes and took the Hardy Mum, that Rob and Pat gave me, up the hill. It doesn’t have a lot of healthy blooms left so I hope it isn’t too late to plant. I dug the hole and plopped it in. Fingers crossed it will survive and live up to its name! I forgot to take a picture, maybe tomorrow. The next thing was to compost the tomato and pepper plants. I have 4 little peppers I’ll pick on Sunday to eat up as well.

I had my omelette with fresh little tomatoes and now have to decide what to do with the remaining ones in the fridge. I’ll probably make more soup, something I can freeze rather than give them all away or throw them out. That decision ‘to be continued’. I cleaned up dishes and Bill came in for a snooze. He hasn’t stopped with the physical labour since he got up. My activity has been on a much easier level.

After cleaning up the dishes, we were feeling that there wasn’t much left to do. At 3 o’clock we drove both vehicles to Murray Flemings to store the car for the winter. We called last night to let him know what time we were coming. From there, since we were close to Hanover, I popped into The Independent. They have the Kombucha where the Foodland in Durham does not. I like having it on hand because I’m not sure yet where I can get it once we cross the border. 3 bottles for $10.98 so I got 6. Yay!

On the way home, we discussed supper tonight and also supper tomorrow night in London. Tonight, it is all about simple. Bill requested grilled cheese sandwiches and that sounded good to me. I could include sliced tomatoes in mine and maybe even onion. Hmmm, sounds good. Dinner for us has never really been a big deal, we are easy to please. After eating out so much lately, in Toronto, we can take a night off from a big meal.

We have made arrangements to have dinner in London with our kids tomorrow. I think I have told you this. The day has arrived, holy cow, really quickly too! We wanted to make sure that we could stop and see Dad and Marilynne one last time too in Stratford. Without extending our day too much either before or after dinner, we decided to invite them along. They will enjoy seeing all of the kids too and we’ll get a visit in at the same time.

Following Bill down the lane to drop the car off

Back home again, Clemson got his supper and then we relaxed for an hour before starting our own. Not only are the flies still regular visitors in our Suite but now we are starting to notice lady bugs on the outside of the windows. Enough already! Two days and counting!

Crazy busy grocery store today

After supper, we did the dishes up and I sent an email to my siblings about my visit with Mom today. They would be interested in the xray results, especially. At 7 pm it is dark outside but still quite mild at 16C/60.8F. I can’t hear the wind so that has died down as well. I can honestly say that these accomplishing days have been good ones. 

The pressure to get things done was not pushing us at an uncomfortable rate, we spread it over many days. With just two things left to tuck away, one in the Suite and one in the outhouse, we are in a really good position to leave on Monday as scheduled.

This one speaks for itself

I hope this has been a good day for you too. Thank you for stopping in. All comments are welcome!

Phone, Car and Nature Calls

On Monday, Apr. 10^th I was awake at 6 am and stayed put until Bill and Clemson moved at 7. I’m sure I dropped off in that hour for a little extra shut eye. It was another windy day up here in God’s country and fairly cloudy. The overnight low was only 12C so we put our blue flame heater on the lowest setting and had a nice sleep with only the duvet over us.

Woody looking for a tree to peck this morning

By 7 it had already warmed up to 14C (that is 57F for our American friends). I hopped in the shower after my tea and had a yogurt for breakfast while Bill had his toast. We were on the road into Hanover at 9. On our way through Durham, we stopped and renewed our post office box for 3 months. We need to consider how to handle mail for the upcoming winter, the cost is ridiculous just because we aren’t living in town.

Clemson joins me for a walk

The pond is very clear at the dock

Clemson runs

Well, hello there!

"I'm done talking now"

First stop was at Murray Fleming’s farm to pay the storage on my car. I was so happy to see my ptootie. Murray had her stored in his warm barn covered in a blanket and a tarp to keep her cozy.

There is my Ptooties (in case you can't see it, that is what the plate says)

We then dropped in on Gerry to pick up a satellite dish he and Mike had for us and a chair and a couple of other things from Mom’s cleanout when she moved to Rockwood on October 31^st. I had forgotten about those things!

Donna and Gerry's home

Heinz Auto Body

From there we took the truck to Heinz’s Auto Repair shop for them to have a look at the damage to our bumper, from the incident at the casino. These guys were really pleasant to talk to and let me tell you, hearing a grown man say ‘you got an oopsie?’ just added to the experience.

My Samsung phone was at Donna’s for the winter as we needed a one-time communication on it to keep it active. I got the phone with our mail on Saturday. I needed to reactivate it and find a suitable plan instead of the pay as you go deal I had in the past. So, with a visit to Bell, I know some of you shudder at this company, we were happy with Amanda who made it a pleasing quick experience. I’m good to go, yay!

Following Bill down Baptist Church road

Funny getting excited about these material things, but I missed having them at my beck and call for the last 5 months. I accept the way things have to be when we travel south but Bill and I are always open to new and cheaper ways to get what we want, especially in terms of back home communication.

I think that was it for our running around this morning and we scooted back home, me following the black beauty back home. I was on a bit of a high, my car, my phone, my camera. The clouds are playing games with us today but it is a beautiful 19C/64F with or without the sun.

My car is home now

We poured ourselves a third coffee and sorted through a bit more paperwork. I love watching the geese floating on the pond and tried without success to capture them dunking their heads under. With their tails in the air, it makes for quite a picture from the back end. Snap, snap, snap!

Across the highway and down the road a bit, our neighbours are building a huge driving shed/barn

Before we left this morning Clemson and I walked to the road and I noticed this little guy at the edge of the laneway. Of course, when I got close he closed up shop and went inside. He was working his way to the other pond, at least I thought, so I picked him and his house up and put him on the opposite of the road so we wouldn’t run over him when we left. No sooner did I walk away and the little fellow was working his way right back where he started! Well, that was a fine howdy-do!

Why did the turtle cross the road?

To get to the pond on the other side

Again, he runs

Which explains his long periods of resting

We puttered around outside enjoying the warmth. I swept out the Ridge Roost and dusted and swept the Ridge Restroom, no more dead flies laying around.  Bill reinstalled the solar sensor light on the Roost (this is our bunky) so it will light up when we walk beyond the Suite. I like this since it gets pretty darn dark up here!

Sensor light installed for the season

Before 2 pm the sky to the west darkened up and prepared for the thunderstorm that was expected. We were captive under lightning, thunder and a downpour for about an hour. That’s okay by me, with my late night last night and early start today I was ready for a snooze. Did I sleep? Nope, but I rested up on the bed with Clemson for a good 45 minutes.

The storm is coming

Our neighbour took advantage of a warm windy day prior to the rain

By 3:30 the sky had cleared for the most part and the sun started to come through. With the rain and storms coming for the next couple of days we didn’t bother getting the Weber Q out yet. I can continue to cook inside for a bit longer.

Goose the Spruce survived the winter without us

And after watching the geese all day, I spotted this beautiful mallard and either a mate or offspring

Speaking of cooking, tonight will be a hamburger stew of some sort. That means most veggie type things that are in the fridge will go in it, with the exception of Bill’s ‘favourite’ (not) broccoli. This type of dinner means there will be leftovers and that is important today.

I cooked and chopped up 3 carrots in advance, browned a pound of ground beef with onion, red and yellow peppers. I added 2 cups of water and 1 cup of beef broth and seasonings. Separately I cooked linguini broken into 2” pieces (I didn’t have shell or elbow pasta in the house) and added that to the mixture. Lastly, once everything was cooked I added dumplings. Things I make out of my head don’t usually taste quite so good. This was yummy and we had 3 containers of leftovers.

Tomorrow morning you will learn why I needed prepared meals in the fridge. After dinner and after dishes I wandered outside and down the lane a bit. 

And a couple more turtles gleaming in the sunlight

For the last 2 nights, around 6 pm, Bill and I have closed our Suite doors and windows to the loud chirping of what I’ve learned is a competition between 'spring peepers'.

Wha?? I couldn’t figure out what they were but we assumed it had to be frogs of some kind and their mating call. It is deafening, with no word of a lie. Usually I love the sounds of nature, but it is steady from 6 until 9 or 10 at least.

I googled it and if you are interested this is what I’ve discovered.

It is a tiny brown frog, small enough to sit on your fingertip. The pond was transformed into a chorus of these frogs, all trying to outdo each other in attracting females.

That huge pouch that you see is a vocal sac, and it inflates up to be nearly as large as the frog. It’s this acoustic resonator that allows this tiny frog to emit such a loud and shrill chirp.

The benefits of being loud are apparent. If you’re a frog and you can call out louder then your fellow peeps, you’re likelier to get the female’s attention.

One way that these spring peepers avoid predators is by emerging from hibernation very early in spring. Early spring comes with bouts of cold temperatures, often dropping below freezing so how does the frog prevent itself from freezing? The frog doesn’t prevent itself from freezing. Instead, evolution has devised a way for this frog to stay frozen alive.

That is my science lesson for today. If you wish to learn more check this site out: https://www.wired.com/2014/04/spring-peeper/

When I came in from listening to the choir the sun was out again and the temperature was back up to 18C. Up and down like a yo-yo today but it has been a lovely day. I hope you have had a great day too.

 

Tonight's sunset

The calm after the storm

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