Rain, Wind, Sun, Jazz and Dahlias

The Ridge

On Wednesday, Oct. 9^th Bill was up of his own accord. No alarm and I’m sure that is feeling pretty darn good. 😊 Mind you, it was still about an hour earlier than my get up time and I had to go to work! I came down just after 7 and got washed, made my to-go tea and was out the door by 7:30.

Good morning!
Another beautiful sky to start the day.

But wait!!
Another rainbow this morning too!

Bill hopped in the shower and while I was gone, drove to First Choice Haircutters for a haircut. He missed out on the low-cost church cut so had to pay the big bucks. After my normal routine in the Mat, I got out the Swifter duster to reach all the high areas along the ceiling and walls. By the time I finished, it was an hour and a half later but it was a job done. I don’t know if/when Allison will do it next.

What a perfect time for the Canada geese
to fly over.

I left there and went for water. I like how comfortable I am with people I’ve met in Durham. My face is recognizable by some, after 8 summers up here it should be! When I walked in to Battery Pro (Water Store)/Impact Tire’s building, Mark teased me about having my keys on me. 😉 I knew this would not be forgotten any time soon but I love the banter and these are great people.

And on the way home from cleaning
the Mat, my 3rd rainbow.

Back home, it wasn’t long before Bill texted that we should take a chance between rain showers, and get Jazz over to Murray’s storage barn. He was home by 10:15 and bundled up in his leathers and I followed him the 25 minutes to his destination. Of course, 5 minutes after we set out, it started spitting and then as we got to the other side of Durham, it poured. Yes, he got wet but kept on going.

The weather forecast appeared
stable for the next hour +

Within 5 minutes, that changed.
I felt bad for Bill but it did start to
clear out on the drive.
I took the bottom picture because of the
lovely fall colours.
See him up there?

The sky was unforgiving but soon cleared and it was ‘intermittent wiper’ weather the rest of the way. Surprisingly, covered as he was, he didn’t get that wet. Rain doesn’t stick to leather. 😊 Back home by 11:45, we had lunch of bacon and eggs for a change and then went outside. I thought I could brave the winds and go move some of the logs Bill cut yesterday but changed my mind.

Watching the sky and in the field
beside us, there were hundreds of geese
gathering and discussing 'their' winter journey.

Feeling like a wimp, I stayed out and dug up my glad and dahlia bulbs on the property. Yes, the wind was nasty and cold, but I just kept digging and bagging them up for storage. Bill worked away at his airplane stuff, fitting things in the box he made last summer in Black Beauty’s bed. I should have taken a jack hammer or bull dozer down with me instead of the little garden trowel because the bulbs at the gate garden were huge!!

Bill and Jazz goes into the bar
She's all covered up until April or May

Live and learn but I was too lazy to walk back up and get the spade. Well, not lazy, I worked even harder because I didn’t do that. I now have probably a hundred dahlia bulbs for next spring! Bill suggested putting some at the back of the Hangar where it gets lots of sun and that should use up about 10. 😊 Ha ha. They sure multiply! I cleaned out the firepit today and stored it in the outhouse. The last 3 bird feeders will be emptied and stored in the Bunky as well, but not until after the weekend.

Lunch

We will take the shelter down when it is not wet or windy. Another day of many accomplishments, tomorrow morning being another busy morning along the same vein. We are expecting some overnight company tomorrow so that will give us a break and a good visit with great friends, once more, before we all depart for our journeys. Gibbs was in and out, in his jacket, even he is feeling the cold wind biting into his little body. ♥

The dahlias and glads are dug
Some of the stalks were very large and brittle.
My small clippers and trowel met their match
today!

We woke up to 4C/39F and reached a not so lovely high of 9C/49F by the peak of the day. It felt a lot colder than that with the 28.9 mph gusts of wind. I stopped working at 3 and came in for a hot cup of tea. Bill carried on, starting the arranging of underbelly (basement) storage. We’ll not be bbq’ing any more, the rain in the forecast has determined that, so the Weber Q and the table it sits on went away.

Told you it was windy!
This is my sheet for covering the plants
drying.

He quit before 4 as well. For supper, I cooked a butt chop inside to share with some potatoes and a vegetable. A hot meal for a cool day is always nice. Everything turned out good, although I forgot to cook Bill his corn. Woops! He doesn’t like the Brussel sprouts that I cooked for myself. 😊 We cleaned up dishes and had a quiet evening. I’m still having a hard time remembering what tv programs are on ‘live’ with our fire stick/streaming set up but manage to find something to watch.

I believe I'm blessed!
4 rainbows in 2 days.
💓

This has been a good day. Cleaning up the messy job of digging bulbs and I’ve tossed the vegetable plants since I’ve collected the last of the tomatoes and peppers. We’ll see if there is room in the Bunky or shed for the canvas bags that still have dirt in them. It is acceptable to keep them that way for another season, at least.

Note: if you are interested, Bill has posted his first blog of the summer! Check it out here.

Supper was good.
Good night!

Thank you for stopping by! I feel blessed that I have seen 4 rainbows in 2 days. ♥

We Share Everything! (Huh?) Busy Morning, Jazz

 

The Ridge

On Friday, Apr. 26^th I woke up when I heard Bill telling Gibbs how good he was for sleeping in. That was at 6:30. It was another blue-sky morning and I knew it would last all day, according to the weather guessers. 😊 Good news! Sunshine just makes everything better. I got up just before 7, really, just a couple of minutes.

After getting washed and dressed, I made my tea-to-go. Today is government pay day for seniors so Bill was at his laptop taking care of business. On our first month back from the winter trip, we are always very anxious to get this first deposit into our accounts. I think the extra expenses on our return trip is to blame this year especially. I left the Suite at 7:30 and drove to Durham to clean.

The Foundry 1872
The fellow in the Mat told me that years ago it was
a restaurant of this name. Cool

I remembered to take a picture of the building across the road. It was in major construction last year, the outside parking area and building getting a makeover. Now, it is inside that the work goes on. A bar/restaurant should be really good for the town, we need a nice place to eat and to keep the locals from going to Hanover, Mount Forest and further. Not sure when it will open but it is looking very nice.

Today, was the first time a customer has come in since I’ve returned. He’s familiar, I don’t know their names, but he said “the Arizona lady is back!” It amazes me what people remember, he’s older than me! My memory is terrible. I had no issues today and finished by washing the floors again. Bill and I got changed and left for Hanover for our busy morning around 8:45. First stop was Healthy Computers to drop my laptop off. It is running ridiculously slow so we want an estimate.

Turning onto Murray's road, just one lone
goat in a field of horses

Tim assured us he’d call this afternoon, that we likely have a few options available to us. Then we went to the Hanover Medical Centre/Clinic. We talked to a nice gal about getting on a list for a new doctor in the area. It is a bit of a rigmarole because of few doctors available BUT we left there with things to think about in which way we want to go. So far, things were going good.

A horse for Nancy
Can't ride a goat, right?

From there, we drove to a motorcycle place where we can get Jazz checked out. Her fuel gauge is not working. It may cost a bundle so we have to again make a decision. How important is it? We’ll wait to find out the cost before ordering one. I think that was the last thing before we drove to Walmart for a few groceries. This is where I first noticed a hike in some food prices and opted to walk past a few things today.

On our second stop at Murray's
Jazz was ready to come home
Bill walks her out of the barn.

We picked up a couple of things for M and on the way home, stopped in to pick Jazz up from storage. Bill had all of his gear in the back of Ptooties. We are expecting rain for a week at least and this day, although windy, was the best day before the end of the month. Murray was generous and didn’t charge as much as we expected. 😊 Unfortunately, Jazz wouldn’t start. Her battery wouldn’t turn the engine over. ☹ She wasn’t ready to come home?

It's a heavy bike, much concentration
required after a winter's break.

Back into Hanover to Car Quest, we picked up a new battery (ouch!) and things went smoothly from that point on. I dropped M’s items off and met Bill back at home. He said it was a nice ride, not cold at all. ♥ I love seeing him on the bike and I love being on behind him too! Jazz is parked in her shelter and all the groceries were put away. 1 o’clock, time for a late lunch. Clam chowder from the cupboard worked well. I was starved.

It was difficult after seeing him in his
leathers, but I let him get back on Jazz. ♥

For some reason, we/I was especially tired. Last night’s 11 pm bedtime was a bad idea, getting up so early. Not my usual hours for sure. We had a snooze (Bill in his recliner and me upstairs) and I was surprised that I was gone for an hour! I felt much improved when I came down at 3:30 but neither of us felt like starting anything outside at the stage. The winds today were making the 13C/57F feel colder.

Here is Bill's Dad's birdhouse, repaired
and installed. Looks great!

Just chillin'

Our whirly-jig is up and twirling today!

I finished my book, it was so good, and at 5:15 Bill barbecued his famous burgers. Our first bbq since we left Park Place RV Resort. 😊 They were goooood, as usual and really sloppy. ♥ Bill went to the Hangar and handed over his laptop so I could write today’s blog post. I'm glad he was happy to share! The good news is that Tim called and is installing a new hard drive in my Lenova! Woohoo! He said my original (8 yrs old) was working at less than half what it used to. 😊

Gibbs found a goose feather
and likes to chew on the 'plastic' spine.
I tossed one away and it landed in this bush.
Eventually, the wind blew it down so he got it again.

I’m so happy! The cost will be about $600 less than a new laptop – at least. This has turned into an awesome day. Now if I can manage to download pictures into my post, I’ll be feeling pretty great too!

Taking the opportunity to grill supper.

To this, I added pickles, onion and tomato.
Real messy - real good!

Happy birthday to my sister-in-law, Carol, today. We had a few laughs during our phone call this morning. ♥

Because I'm on Bill's laptop, I don't have access
to my gallery of pictures.
This is an old one of Carol from Bill's collection but it defines her
powerful giving nature. ♥
You deserve a wonderful day, Carol!

Good night!

Thank you for popping by!

And the End of the Week is Here, Getting 'Jazz'y

The Ridge

On Friday, May 13^th, (oh-oh Friday the 13^th!) Gibbs and I were up again before Bill left. We went for a walk to the corner and then I left him in charge while I went into Durham to clean the Mat. 

The front field looks great after its cut

It was a nice morning for a walk again

It was in pretty fair condition but the big dryers needed to be cleaned of the lint. There are only 3 big dryers now, since Jamie made his changes. He had 6 of the oldest ones removed over the winter. I got my bonus by finding $1.65 in the lint drawers. 😃

On the drive home, I stopped at Turbine Lane
and walked up to the forest

I wanted to see the trilliums over the fence

I was finished in an hour and had even cleaned up the garbage from outside behind the parking lot. Yeuch! From there, I drove to the Water Store and filled a 5-gal jug before returning home. I’d made a cup of tea in my to-go mug and there it was sitting on the counter. Still warm enough to drink. I missed it as soon as I arrived in town.

I had to zoom in since there is a fence
keeping me out

I had some yogourt with raspberries and sat to encourage Gibbs to eat. It didn’t work as well for me as it did for Bill last night but by noon, when I was making my lunch, he eventually ate it all. A little bit of cheddar encouraged him too. It’s the only people food he gets and only on occasion. 😊 

A healthy lunch again today

For the biggest part of the day, Gibbs was outside, either on his rope leash at the picnic table or on his leash with me in the SS.

Then we went back out to my craft

He was a good boy today
always under my watchful eye

He was so good all day and we actually found it quite comfortable in my haven. I worked at painting the new Ridge picture for our sign down at the road. I was trying to copy Donna’s original picture but my artistry is not anywhere as good as hers so the bullrushes didn’t quite look as real. Anyway, from a distance, I’m sure it will be fine and I’ll coat it tomorrow to preserve the paint as much as possible.

It's not perfect and doesn't look as natural
but it should be fine

M drove over around 2:30 to see if I was interested in planting his 8 planters at his place. I usually deadhead for him on occasion as part of my work for him but I have no interest in actually planting the petunias. My gardening interests don’t go much farther than our home base and he was fine with that but wanted to check with me first before he went ahead and did it himself. Works for me!

It was pleasant with breezes coming in the door and 2 windows

Gibbs was overjoyed to see his Daddy come home and greeted him with enthusiasm, as usual. We sat for a while and at 6, I lit the bbq and began grilling the sausages. It was a good night for sausage on a bun with pineapple cheesecake for dessert. Yum. 

Ooey gooey good!

I've been catching glimpses of this gorgeous
blue bird and finally was ready enough for photos

Just a single bird and he doesn't seem to want the food
from the feeders
Help me out, is it the aptly named Bluebird?
He is small like a chickadee

and I was tickled that he visited me 💓

When dishes were loaded in the dishwasher, Bill said to go up and get dressed, we were going for a ride. Yay!

Ride time!

All aboard!

I’d been wanting him to come home early so we could get a bike ride in. This was just tickety-boo! It was a hot day and a ride on a beautiful evening made my night. We left the Ridge at a few minutes before 7 and Bill followed his nose. We went down Baptist Church Rd., Lambton Cty Rd. 4, Glenelg Rd. 23, Grey Rd. 9, crossing Hwy 6 to Grey Rd. 3 then back on Cty Rd. 4 into Durham.

The only cool thing I saw in Ontario's
nature was one lone deer off in the field

Heading back into Durham

It was the perfect time to make a stop at our buddies for a quick visit. We haven’t seen them since we returned home because they’ve been away. We didn’t stay too long but had a quick catch-up chat and we hopped on the bike and returned home by 9. What a great night and the ride was perfect! My first this season/year and Bill’s first ‘pleasure’ trip since bringing Jazz home. ♥

We stopped to see our buddies, Rob and Pat

The moon led us home the rest of the way

Turning onto Baptist Church Road at the solar panel corner

Bill turned a mystery movie on and I wrote my blog post. This was a wonderful day even though all day, I just played with my paints. ☺ We didn’t make it to Port Dover which is the big thing for bikers to do on Friday the 13^th, but we did get out for a ride at least.

We found a couple of places along Grey Road 9
for another day ride
We can't go too far when Gibbs is left at home
Good night!

Thank you for popping by!