A Bit of Both, A Few Errands

The Ridge

Today, Thursday, Aug. 8^th, my day was filled with a bit of work outside the home, a bit inside the home and a bit of relaxing. Bill was up at 6 and on the road to work by 7:15. Gibbs and I watched him go and then I made my tea and headed for town to clean the Mat. Ptooties needed a fuel fill up so I was happy the price had dropped 4¢ overnight. "Slurp!", she was thirsty!

Good morning!
This was last night's sunset.

No surprise here and 3 more to follow.

I wasn’t there long and the little Newfie (he doesn’t mind that handle) arrived at the front door. He already walks with a walker but today he was fighting to get in the door. I helped as best I could to reach around the laundry laden walker to hold the door and he told me fell and euchered his hip. Anyway, he put his laundry in and then walked across to the gas station for scratch tickets. LOL I guess he’s okay. 😊

These clouds are so pretty!
The sun is valiantly trying to break through.

Another first-time customer came in and asked for assistance/opinion on a few things. Nice man. I see more men in there than women, which I find interesting. It’s probably like a 3:1 ratio. I finished up and drove to Foodland and then to fill our water bottle at Battery Pro/Water Store. When I returned home, it had warmed up so I opened windows.

He isn't crazy about it, but he does
stand quite well. Don't put my front paws in though, Mom. 💗

I know he'll just lick himself dry.
Oh dear. I massaged the itch spray into his tummy and
will keep watch today.

I had planned on making cheesecake but decided to wait until after lunch, instead I created an Epsom salt bath for Gibbs. He has been scratching his tummy a fair bit so I wanted to see if this helped. Then I read some of my book. It will be finished today, come hook or crook! 😊 I fried up the last of my keto bread and took the advice from one of my readers. I ate 3 pieces and put the rest in a freezer bag. Thanks for that tip!

This was a good way to use up the keto bread.
I'm done trying, I shall wait until we get to Arizona!

I was too full to try it so Bill was the guinea pig.

A walk down the lane to check mail

and to deadhead and count dahlias.
53 left today. 💖
I'm tickled pink/purple and red!

Our only clear view of the messy pond
and only because Bill cleared a path.

I made Instant Pot Cheesecake but found I had to substitute some yogourt for sour cream and then again for 1/3 cup of cream cheese. Geesh! I thought I had enough ingredients. They were acceptable substitutions according to Google so it should still taste okay. For supper, I figured, since it isn’t supposed to rain until after 7, to have barbecued sausages. A bun sounds good so I may have one too.

The Sedum (with many names)
is not very tall but ready to
become 'showy'.

Gibbs and I were in and out a few times, each time my book went with me and a few more chapters got read. Bill was home by 4:30 and we relaxed until it was time to start grilling. The clouds had moved in but no precipitation forecasted now until 10. 😊 The sausages were good and filling. Bill had a piece of the cheesecake and gave it a thumbs up.

No words, just lots of LOVE

After the few dishes, I finished my blog and turned the tv on. Last night, I watched Miss Virginia, a movie recommended to me by my sister, Cathy. It was heartwarming, heart wrenching too but a good watch. Many are based on true stories so that makes them a bit more interesting. If you like Maggie Smith (Lady Grantham from Downton Abbey), The Lady in the Van is good.

This pot of mini petunias is a strange one.
One week it is glorious with red fllowers
and the next it looks deader than dead.
The stems look dead but today I have a pretty presentation.

This has been a good day, warmed up nicely to 24C/75F, with a slight breeze. Did you get the kind of day you wanted?

Sausage on a bun with cheese, mustard and onion.
Good night!

Thank you for popping around.

Gorgeous Friday Plus Retirement = Wonderful Life!

Friday, May 12^th I was up around 7ish to a beautiful blue sky. Opening the blinds brings a smile to my face to see the sun beaming in. Another few low wind days are forecast for these upcoming days. Yay!

At the end of our lane, my iris' and day lilies are coming up nicely

 After a tea and reading comments on my post Clemson and I did our mile walk down the road. He is getting better at walking on a leash, it hasn’t been a strong point of his. I find the faster I walk the less he stops to sniff along the roadside so that is the trick.

Taking a detour off the road to look for morels

When we got back, Bill and I drove into Durham to fill up a gas can for the mowers and weed-eaters as well as the car needed topping up. A stop at Home Hardware for some vegetable seeds and a rain barrel nozzle before stocking up at the Beer and Liquor Stores. We like to have some on hand for company and the season is starting when we can expect visitors more often.

And beyond the little nest, a farmer is out in the field

After we got home I lit the Weber Q and made us up some bacon and eggs for brunch. Yummy, it has been a while since we’ve done them outside and it sure tasted good! By now, 10:30, big fluffy clouds have moved in and that is disheartening. We were expecting to get more sun out of the day than that!

The clouds have moved in

Bill went out with his newest rc plane since it is a calm day and I decided to tackle the gray roots in my hair. I dread the process but always like the result. Within an hour from start to finish, I’m 10 years younger. Ha! Well, no that isn’t true but the gray is gone for a while.

Bill gets ready to fly

Bill put the two spigots into the rain barrel so we can now collect water again. The barrel will need to sit up on cement blocks so we can easily access the top one with a pail. The bottom tap will be for a hose.

Our rain barrel with two new spigots
(the lower one is for the frogs to drink from)

And I get ready to colour

While waiting for my hair to dry, I dug my rows for green onions and swiss chard. It is too early to plant tomatoes and green peppers but at least these little guys can get a start. Now I won’t grumble so much when it rains! I searched for 6 stakes to mark the rows and had to basically raid the wood pile.

I'm excited for the first veggie garden I've had in 20+ years

Bill and Clemson curled up inside for a brief siesta and I went out to sweep out the bunky. While out there, it was so cozy that I flipped the tv on and settled down to watch 30 min. of Dr. Zhivago. Now that is an old movie! Omar Shariff at his finest. It was too nice outside, even in the clouds, to sit inside in front of the boob tube (my dad used to call it that) though so turned it off and wandered.

Dr. Zhivago on the tube

With the door closed to block out the light, it was quite cozy in the bunky

With my walk tomorrow I need to prepare things so I can just get dressed, eat and go to meet Donna in Durham at the appropriate time. I’ve gathered my umbrella, my waist pouch, a light hoodie, a wind breaker, our point and shoot camera and the clothes I’ll be wearing. I think I’m ready.

And look what we found in my flower garden! It is too late, dried on top but still a morel!

Bill was out flying his plane again and so I captured some action on my camera. Then he said, “want to carry the kayaks down to the pond?” So, with the 2 kayaks between us we walked to the dock and took them for a spin. A 30-minute spin and it was so much fun! The water was so calm and clear, we could see the muddy, grassy bottom.

Bill moves along so easily and I follow

I enjoyed watching the red-winged blackbirds letting us get so close

We were able to go much farther, from north to south, then we could last summer in our paddle boat. Too bad, the marshes and bushes down in the water will surface the pond in a month or so, but we’ll just enjoy it while we can. Once I figured out how NOT to get wet from the paddling, I was able to move along pretty good.

After putting them away, Bill started a fire to burn some more of our papers and what a lovely fire it was. I lit the Weber for the second time today around 4:15 and put sauerkraut, water and spiced pork ribs into a foil pan covered in tin foil. At 4:30 I started cooking the ribs as per George’s instruction. 90 minutes. At 5 I placed 2 washed potatoes wrapped in tin foil onto the bbq.

My boys enjoying the fire

I hated to go inside when Bill and Clemson did, so stayed out for a bit watching the fire before walking the lane way again. The bugs have disappeared out there so it was an enjoyable walk. When the ribs were done around 6, I removed them from the pan and covered them in sweet and sour sauce for Bill and barbecue sauce for me. Yum!

Bill putting his idea to work

Voila!

Within 10 minutes we were eating the best ribs we’ve had in a while. I’ve tried to cook ribs in the slow cooker recently and they just haven’t turned out tender. I went back to George’s recipe from Our Awesome Travels. You can look on his blog to find it if my detail is not specific enough. They turned out perfect and so did the baked potatoes.

Such a heavy blanket of clouds to the west

When dishes were done, we settled in for the evening. The sky sure looked threatening around 6 when I brought our food inside but it seems to have shuffled around and is looking like a pretty normal sky again. I think it will be a restful night after a busy day.

Clemson runs after Bill

Bill's Timber Stol (short take off & landing) looks like a real plane up there

I hope you had a good day as well, how could you not when it rose to 16C here on the Ridge. 

Perfect landing

I wish you could see the green light on the left wing in this picture and the red one on the right
not to mention the little headlights

Good night from The Ridge

Thank you for reading today. Your comments are always read and appreciated.