Puttering at Home Base

The Ridge

So, on Tuesday, July 11^th it was my quiet day here at home. No cleaning, no body work. We were up by 7, of course, Bill was up earlier with Gibbs and stayed up to do his exercises. His shoulder is coming along but that is because of his persistence at doing them twice a day. I give him credit, they take a while yet he sticks with it. 😊

Last nights sky was pretty
in pink

It was another mild morning, 15C/60F and sunny with a breeze. Almost a duplicate of Monday’s weather. We’re waiting for Alex, the gravel/digger guy to come and dig post holes but so far, he’s a no show. Hopefully Wednesday. I went out and got Bill’s help to start my weed trimmer before he went down to the Hangar and Gibbs hung around him while I weed whacked around the front lawn here and the gardens.

One job Bill wanted to do was
mount our StarLink dish up on 
the ladder
Not for travelling, just while sitting.
It didn't take him long

Once more, it was a humid day, especially doing that job, so I wasn’t surprised to see it reach 26C/78F by mid-afternoon. We had lunch and after working on the puzzle for a bit, I moved some of the wood along the fence. Bill wants to burn the pile that is sitting there now, probably the last week of July, and we’ll add new stuff. It didn’t take me too long and just as I was finishing, the 20 drops of rain decided to fall. It felt nice, actually. 😊

I thought Gibbs would want to go down
and check the mail but he stopped way
back there at the corner of the corral.
He's the teeny black dot in the right hand picture
and then he ran back to Daddy.

With the patio umbrellas folded down and the hammock put away, I brought the awnings in, expecting the ‘storm’ that was in the forecast. Huh! Thankfully, it missed us although the rain could have stuck around a bit longer. I worked in the Bunky on the puzzle for quite a while and made good progress before it was time to come in for supper.

The evening primrose
and one of my Sedum bushes
You can see the rocky ground that I talk about
on the corral hill.

After trimming around the garden and 
our shovel, you can see the growth
More primrose, glads and dahlias
mixed in with the hostas and tiger lilies

Tonight was leftover meatloaf, one meal of it left, mac & cheese and I had squash. We also finished the rice pudding. Bill did his exercises and went to the Hangar. Last night, I didn’t watch any tv and now that the pages in this mystery are turning quickly, I think I’ll stick to it again. J.P. never lets me down. I needed to print off more tags for the Mat (well, I’m sure Kaitlin would have) so copied those and made up a few to take tomorrow.

From this morning to this afternoon,
soon all I will have left is the blue sky and blue water.

I moved the black box of small kindling
from where the windows are
and eventually, we'll add new wood there.
There is one more pile further to the right
that needs to be burned first. 

a filling supper

M texted me with a time for work tomorrow so my Wednesday morning will be full. This has been a quiet but good day. I’m glad the weed trimming is done at least; still waiting on our riding mower. We are in for a cooler night, 9C/48F, so I guess we'll have some windows open but leave the duvet pulled up. 😃

A commenter asked about the collar
we bought.
There are shock nodes you can attach
but we don't use them.
The sound and vibration are
controlled by a remote.
It is for many situations but mainly
to keep Gibbs close to us.

Tonight's sky.
The storm warnings are gone. 
Good night!

Thank you for popping in.

A Little of This, A Little of That, Apples and Jelly

 The Ridge

I crept out of Bill’s arms at 6 am on Sunday, Sept. 1^st and out of the bedroom without waking him. He had a late night watching movies (that’s what afternoon snoozes do to him or ‘for’ him). It felt cool this morning and indeed it was. Only 58F inside and 48F outside. I wore long pants for the first time since June to go and clean. It also seemed dark out still and that reminded me that it would soon be fall even though it was a very distinctive cloud cover.

This morning's sky

Driving on Baptist Church Road where I’ve encountered deer, I’m anxious so decrease my speed to about 60 kmph. I’m sure I am over-worrying but I visualize how nasty it would be to hit one. Once out of the trees and bush area, I relax and find myself turning onto Hwy #4 without mishap. The little town was waking up already for a Sunday, cars and trucks out and about. It was closer to 6:45 by the time I arrived at the Mat.

A customer came in right around 7 and another soon after with her little 1 yr. old. Parker was adorable and very smiley. He was intrigued with my mopping the floor and followed me around each corner. He didn’t bother me and brightened up the day with his wily little looks. His barefeet left footprints on my newly washed floor but so did Mom’s flip flops. No worries, it happens and I know it is clean now and won’t remain that way long.

Today it was apples first
washing, cutting, coring, slicing

Before I came home, I drove to Foodland and picked up some more Zero Coke for Bill. It is good to stay stocked up while the sale is on. Soon enough, now that the children will be back in school, those prices are more likely to disappear. I made my tea at home and sat with Bill for a while. We get into some pretty good discussions, he and I, as I’m sure you do with your spouse. September seems to bring winter travels to the forefront and we toss ideas back and forth.

I wanted to get my jelly made today but realized that I didn’t have any more Pectin. Instead of jelly, I dumped the apples into the sink and began cutting and slicing them up for freezing. I remembered that Donna, who was at the Acreage and just a few kilometers away, was going into town to see Mom this morning so I asked if she would pick me up some Pectin. I’ll pick it up later. She has some berries growing on their property that she’d like to know what they are.

and all this turned into 6 nice size freezer bags of dessert
sometime over the winter
(and more apples to pick!)

It took me probably an hour and a half of steady chopping apples so it was a good thing we had breakfast first. Otherwise, Bill would be gnawing on his arm. Or mine! He went down to the Hangar and made ‘patterns’, for lack of a better word, for the wings for his other planes. We had enough quilting material to make it work so he pieced it together with my opinion thrown in every so often. He pinned some sections and I guess tomorrow we’ll get the machine out again.

I drove over to see Donna and get my stuff around 2:30. When she showed me the berries, we were both disappointed that they weren’t choke cherries. She was all keen to make jelly! When I left their place half hour later, I drove slowly, checking out all the bushes along the concession. I was excited to find many choke cherries growing along there so texted her to check it out. They were busy chopping wood from three downed trees their son-in-law had chopped so it wouldn’t be today that she’d be picking cherries.

The bunky is all put back into a 'sitting' she-shed again

Back home, I packaged 6 bags of apples for the freezer and then set about sterilizing 3 jars for more jelly. The cherries simmered and then came the fun part of squishing them into the colander to make the juice. Bill came up and dozed in the chair after a cheese and cracker snack. I made my tea and caught up on the blog while the juice oozed through the small holes. It takes time and I use the colander ‘plunger’ as well as my big scoop. Jelly bags are the ideal thing, apparently, but not in my cupboard.

Apples in the freezer

I had to set it all aside while I began making supper. Following a recipe for Hamburger Stew but really making it up as I go along, I got out Madame IP. Of course! That is the way I’ll try anything once and since it is a cloudy day, why not cook inside. I browned the ground beef with onions in olive oil first. Then I added mushrooms, beef broth, spices, mixed veggies and finally small potatoes. I set the timer for 10 minutes and go from there. Bill, my guinea pig again for supper.

The slow process of smushing

He was sitting in his chair reading his Stuart Woods novel and I’m sure he couldn’t wait to see what I’ve come up with tonight. Ha ha, I’m doubting that very much but it sounds good. After supper, I will finish the jelly and fill 2 or 3 more jars for the fridge. Moving on, within 20 minutes of starting the stew, I was dishing it up. I toasted our dark rye toast and with butter, this was an absolutely wonderful meal! Even if I do say so myself. Madame IP does it again!

This was yummy and I'll make it again

We cleaned up dishes and I finished my jelly. Bill couldn’t believe that after 6 ½ cups of cherries, I only got 2 sealer jars of the preserve. I wasn’t expecting any more but was just pleased to have more of the tasty treat. These jars are bigger than the first ones so hopefully it will last us through much of the winter. Doing the final stage of boiling the filled jars makes me the most anxious. It will determine if I did everything right and whether the jelly will set.

Looks like I've got a dahlia ready to pop
(and beside it in the pot, an oak tree ready to croak)

When it was finished processing, I removed the jars to sit and cool for 24 hours. Tomorrow, we’ll find out! The rest of the evening was just relaxing together with our books and the tv. My book isn’t turning out quite the way I expected, not like the movie in so many ways so a bit of a disappointment. Sometimes that works the other way around, with the book being better but when the movie is a favourite – good luck with the book living up to those standards.

And I thought I'd share a picture of Clemson a few years ago at
one of Bill's flying events

This was a busy but good day. I hope yours was too. Thank you for your visit today!

Cloudy Start, Beautiful Finish, Sad News

On Sunday, June 4^th when we got up, the cloudy sky was as expected. Not sure how much rain we got overnight but my new plantings needed it. It was 12C when I rose around 8:30 (again, but I feel I needed it) and shortly after 10 it has risen to 15C and the sun is coming out. Bang! Weather people are on the money today!

Love seeing the moon in the middle of a day

After our coffees and blog readings, I made up a toasted western for Bill and one for me without the toast. He has a couple of minor projects today and I plan to visit Mom at 11. I emptied the dishwasher while breakfast was cooking. I love how this thing cleans and dries! We don’t use it often but when we have company, we’ve vowed to ourselves to put it to use.

Mom reading her book to me

It only uses 4 gallons of water and when we have hydro, it is no big deal. Many think ‘why do you need a dishwasher in an rv?’ Well, we don’t NEED it, it was in the unit we bought and we love it. We have lots of storage space in the Suite and since I have a convection oven instead of a propane oven, there are 3 large drawers in that area.

 I got myself cleaned up and drove in to visit Mom. She was out of her room, at the nurse’s station with her walker. When she saw me, she put her arms out and said “I knew someone would come if I waited here long enough!” The nurse at the counter laughed and said that Mom was just telling her that she wondered if someone would visit today.

We walked down the hall to the far end and back to her room. I asked if she wanted to go anywhere else and she said “no, I’m in a hurry to get home”. She is such a card! In her room, she pulled out a book my little sister made for her called Paper Kisses.

The man who stole Mom's heart
and then the hearts of 6 other girls
(his daughters)

Mom, on the right with one of her two air force buddies
They were Smitty, Davy and Whitty

It is a conglomeration of Mom’s letters to Daddy before they married and letters to and from her air force girlfriends. It is adorable. She read to me for 30 minutes and we laughed a lot together. I love times like these. The words my parents used, as they dated, to each other are worth millions. My heart was filled when I said goodbye at her lunch table.

Don't you love when they pose?

I came home and changed into garden clothes. Bill was still puttering around with things when I returned so I found where I wanted to plant the two hostas, two rose of Sharon’s, three small corabelle and where to transplant some of my winter geraniums. Lots of digging involved but I took my time.

My corabelle is looking a bit sad
(let's give it a few days)

 The sun was in and out throughout this process but I was still very hot when I finished and brought the wheelbarrow up from the end of the lane. The geraniums would look nice along the fence line near the road. Bill and Clemson had finished working and moved inside to the recliner.

Rose of Sharon, on the right

I instead read my book outside for a while until the clouds took over and the air cooled down. I was in shorts and tank top, appropriate when I was working but not for sitting still. This has been a productive day. I hope to help our friend, Pat a bit tomorrow if that works out, they didn’t need me today, with family around to give them a hand.

Hello again

It got to 22C today when the sun was out so a great day to work around. I get a kick out of the turtles around here, you have probably guessed. This fellow visited us all last night right beside the bunky but I didn’t see where he disappeared to. This afternoon as I walked to the restroom, there he was again. When Bill went out to take pictures, he saw that Yertle had moved down the driveway making his way to the pond.

Making HER way to the nest
But it took a few times going in a circle to find it

Mertle's nest

I’m ever curious, such a long way for the turtles to crawl up the hill to our grassy area. I walked out about 10 minutes ago wondering if he made it back to the water and there he was, on the west side of the lane facing east and his back legs had dug up a nice little pile of sand and gravel. I will now call Yertle, Mertle, excuse me!

I have 5 of these geraniums and although they spread, they remain in a nice round ball
These are the ones I stole from for my new area by the fence

Bill was actually writing a post today, woohoo! So, I lit the Weber Q for supper and proceeded to make up our salad. When he finished his post, he barbecued a couple of mild Italian sausage. 

Even though the wind was already minimal today, it died down even more by 6:30 so I took one more walk down the lane. This is how I get a lot of my exercise, not long walks but frequent ones.

So at the front of the property, along the driveway is a good spot for them

I think they will fill in nicely here along the fence

 After dishes were done up, we watched a bit of American Pickers. Now I can’t help thinking of some of the antiques and other old stuff Rob has found at the house he is clearing. Too bad they weren’t closer. 

Wouldn’t you know, the day is winding down and the sun comes out in its full glory. Just a few clouds. I need to get out and try and catch our 12 resident geese returning for the night.

These last two hostas from Rob found a home closer to our sitting area

An hour later and the boys aren’t coming home. It is past 8:30, don’t they know it is a Sunday night? Anyway, I enjoyed the fresh air but I wasn’t about to wait any longer for the geese.

I think I made a good choice for this pot
The yellow Evol are gorgeous!

I hope you have had a wonderful day. The downer for today, we heard from Bill’s cousins this morning that their Dad, Uncle Ray has passed away. He has been sick for a while but being a very private person when it comes to illness, we didn’t know until last week. Rest in Peace, Uncle Ray.

Thank you for reading. I enjoy reading your comments.