Funny Kind of Day Here, Another Family Birthday

The Ridge

On Saturday, Aug. 22nd, we were in for a real mixed weather bag kind of day. We were all (in this area) expecting a full day of rain, some thunderstorm and more rain. Not just today but Sunday as well. So, when we woke, all before 7, our plans weren't for outdoors.

Good morning!

We sorted laundry together, I made my tea-to-go and was headed into town at 7:15. This is the 3rd week of laundry that I will be drying clothes at the Mat. I was just unlocking when a 'new' regular arrived. This fellow stutters quite a bit but is very comfortable around me and talked a lot! 😉

That was it for the sun (mostly)
and it was swallowed up.

His stutter is quite challenging for him, and for me, sometimes but we had a decent enough conversation. He's new to town (2 years) and has no family so a bit of a loner. I was happy to hear him talk of a new lady friend who enjoys some of the same things. That does my heart good. 

Yesterday, there were 3 buds on this
container plant. Here they are!
5 more Moonflowers today.

When I finished cleaning the Mat and folding our dry clothes, I headed straight home. I needed to make no other stops in town but I did stop at Eckhardts Shell station on the outskirts of town, on my way, and picked up 7 tags for the fair entries. One step closer!

There is just something about a
sky like this that I love.
I do prefer clear blue but,
this is lovely.

While I was gone, Bill took a quick trip to Hanover to the Canadian Tire store. He needed a filter and bags for his shop vac and sanding disks for my table. 😊 I call it mine, only because I found it and struggled to get it home. We have a bond. He is, however, doing the work on it.

All done, ready for entry.

I worked on my Easter card before lunch and Bill popped over to the Acreage for a bladder of water. When our tank was full, we emptied the remaining water (about 12 gallons) into a pail of which I carried up to my rain barrel. Still only half full, but that's okay!

My entry tag

After lunch, he snoozed and I went back to quilling. The next card is a little more challenging......well, coming up with the plan was. The category for this one is the theme of the fair. "Pumpkins, Plaid and Scarecrows". 🤔 It was fun! Now I can move on to the last 3, which are not cards.

Bill went to the Hangar; for the most part, we still didn't get any real rain so he wasn't concerned about getting wet going back and forth. Our neighbour, Adam, to the west, is using the excavator so Bill walked over before supper to be nosy. They don't mind at all.

Bill was in the Hangar
and Adam was creating a lot
of noise next door.
His job here was important!

Before he left, Ann gave Bill another dozen eggs, on the house, for being a good customer. I secretly think we are her only customer. But that's very sweet and I won't turn fresh eggs away at any time! Thanks to her, I've been eating them more often again. 😉

So, for supper, we delved into new territory. Following Ken's recipe, almost, I made a batter and coated the Sole filets I'd bought at Walmart. Bill wanted his fries and I wanted onion rings so creative thinking was involved here too. Only one Fry Daddy.

We did good but I know
that there is a bigger, 2nd fryer
on the list - somewhere, someday.

First, we cooked the fries, turned the oven on low and when he put the fish in the fryer, I turned my air fryer on for the onion rings. They didn't seem to be cooking fast enough so when the fish was done to perfection (Ken, you would be so proud!), I dropped the rings in the peanut oil. Oh my!!

Everything was delicious! The directions for the onion rings does NOT mention deep frying but I don't know why not. That is how I will do them from now on. It all worked out and everything was hot when we sat down to eat. Thanks Ken & Kim for the tips!

After clean up, Bill went to the Hangar. The dark clouds are moving all around us, mostly to the north and east but at 6:45, it is almost dusk - way too early. I did notice last night at 9, it was dark outside. Boy how things have changed within just a few days.

That's a lot of heavy cloud
over there to the north.

We did have a warm day, around 22C/71.6F, and I didn't mind being inside with my craft at all. Gibbs had his own time, outside keeping watch and rolling in the grass. A couple of my 'black' (Midnight Snack) cherry tomatoes are red on the bottom so we'll see if they continue. They are very slow.

She loved her card, even
received it 2 days early!
The message inside was
personalized, of course.

I had a great day and before I go, today is another family birthday. My older sister (2nd oldest in the siblings) in Montreal is celebrating. She doesn't like her picture shown much but I'll include this one with her in it anyway. 🤭

It's from last year's Ladyfest 
and a really nice one of her
in the middle.
Happy Birthday, Audrey!
Good night!

Thank you for popping in. I enjoy your comments, keep them coming!

Let’s Start with a Sunny Morning, Storms, Hair Day

I woke up at 6 am on Friday, August 4^th and tossed and turned until 6:30 before I got up. Bill and Clemson were still sound asleep. There were a few indications of brief sunshine this morning in the otherwise cloud-filled sky. This was encouraging; however, I knew from the forecast that after 8 we were going to have a wet day. That’s okay as long as it isn’t too ‘powerful’. I have some inside things I can do on a rainy day.

Pretty sky with some promise

I made my tea and after finishing my own post for yesterday, caught up on the others. Not everyone writes every day but a lot of our blogger friends do. Sometimes we don’t have a lot to say but the pictures speak volumes. Sometimes I skim, as I’m sure my posts get skimmed as well, yet it is always a great way to keep in touch from a distance.

Bill was up by 7:30 and after his reading and coffee he took the truck over to fill the water bladder. When he returned I was on the floor in the Suite pampering my toes and toe nails. With a wedding tomorrow and sandals will be afoot, I like to have pretty feet.

Chicken and barley soup from George

While transferring from the bladder to George and Suzie’s fresh water tank George wandered over and asked if I had any barley for a portion of the chicken soup he was making. He likes to use noodles and my preference is barley. It is kind of him to separate the soup so we can have some for lunch the way we like it.

And then the rain makes an appearance

I tried calling around for a few places where they can refill bottles of reverse osmosis water as we’ve never purchased it. There is nothing closer than Owen Sound and George said the price was very high. I guess the larger the city, the higher the demand and the higher the price. This is from The Water Store so that explains a lot. He should be able to find it closer and at a better price.

Good old bottled water for me and lots of it

 Around 11:30 a tap tap at our door shows George is bringing us a saucepan of his homemade chicken soup with barley! Yum, lunch! We hadn’t eaten yet this morning so we were looking forward to a nice bowl of soup. It was delicious and with a piece or two of our favourite fresh white bread and butter, very filling.  Thanks George!

The rain on our patio table appeared to me like broken glass

At 12:15 the clouds darkened, almost on cue, thunder once again paraded across the sky and a steady light rain kept us indoors. It probably will make more than one appearance today but it has cooled things off around here for sure. I love the heat and would appreciate a bit more sun but I’m not in control. Good thing, it would be difficult to keep everyone happy!

Cattails down at the road around the pond

Bill stretched out on the recliner with Clemson and I settled in to finish my book. I have my bottle of water beside me, making sure to keep hydrated today. I took a walk down the lane around 2 and found that the mail truck had stopped again today. Our Spotlight magazine from West Grey was in the box with some more burning material.

Moo to you too!

I walked across the front field and noticed that the water on our side of the fence line was receding slowly, each day. Peeking out towards the ‘island’ I just missed, by the sounds of the plops, the turtles that were bathing on the tree branch. I felt rain drops so headed at a quick pace back up the drive.

Our water receding in the front field

 Suzie and George were taking advantage of the dry spell too, sitting outside with their e-readers. Before long we were all back inside. It was an in and out kind of day playing tag with the sun and the clouds. Around 3 my sister, Donna and Gerry arrived from Hanover. The weather will determine whether they stay out for the weekend. It sure wasn’t looking good an hour later when they said goodbye.

The turtles all slipped off the tree before I arrived

For more than one reason I am happy that Donna lives in Hanover. They have The Bread Depot for one and often on a Friday I have asked her to pick up bread for me. Today she brought me some 10% cream that was on sale at the Independent grocery store. I know it is only 20 minutes away but if we don’t have to drive there to get things we need, that is a bonus. Thanks sis!

My mint plants are producing these little fluffs

Around 4:30 I remembered that I wanted to colour the gray roots in my hair today so did that before suppertime. It doesn't take more than 45 minutes but I wanted it done today. It turned out good and always seems to change the whole hair colour a bit. My hair is so fine that only a real hairdresser can do it properly. Anyway, it is done and I'm happy about it.

We couldn’t count on the weather for outside cooking so planned an inside meal tonight. We had a large steak in the fridge that had previously been barbecued so I spread sauce on it and heated it in the microwave for a few minutes. Bill cut up a couple of potatoes into cubes and our little deep fryer cooked these up like a pro. Supper was very good and we were cleaned up from eating and dishes by 7.

The sky showed promise around 7:30 but not for long!

It feels cool outside even though it is resting around 20C. Too cool for me to sit out there so I figure we’ll stay put right in here where it is cozy. Can’t believe this is August any more than we could believe the July we had.

Ending with a quick blurred shot of my painted toes

I hope you have had a good day today. Let’s hope the weather improves for the rest of this Civic Holiday weekend. 

Good night from The Ridge

Thank you for stopping in today. I’d love to hear from you.