Au Revoir Templeton! My Chirp Returns, Moving Day, Friends’ Reunion, Birthday Wishes

I was awake and up before 7 on Sunday, Aug. 19^th. Today is my little brother’s birthday. Michael is 12 years my junior so I can definitely call him ‘little’. Way out there in Cold Lake, Alberta, on a Sunday, I’m sure he is going to have a fantastic day doing things that he loves.

Happy Birthday, Michael!
He was looking his finest here. :)

I was out the door at 6:55 and the country roads were so very peaceful. Not a vehicle or person in sight. I love that. No critter sighting to report today.  Bill and I had our coffee and tea after I got back from my walk. The first good news of the day, before I even got out of bed is that Templeton is gone!!

In case you miss the reference from Charlotte’s Web, Templeton was the fat rat who ate anything and everything. Yes, our mouse liked the peanut butter (thanks all for that tip) and 3 minutes after Bill got into bed at 11, he heard the awaited for **SnAp!!**  We are hopeful that he was a loner, with no family and since we are moving our home today for a few days, that might seal the deal too. Big sigh of relief.

The big ball rises

Country road walks

We moved into ‘travel’ mode around 8:30 and finished packing things up. I hopped into the shower after getting the recylables ready for tomorrow’s pickup. The kitchen garbage can’t sit out all night even though there’s no food in it, animals will get at it. It isn’t full yet anyway. Bill worked on the outside and I gathered onions and tomatoes from the garden. Some were close enough to pick and they’ll ripen in a day or two.

It was a dewy morning
I love the droplets on the fence and webs

I know someone who might appreciate some garden goodies. When the time was right, I made bacon and eggs for breakfast and we cleaned up dishes. Pulling the slides in always sends our little guy into a tizzy so when ready to do that, Bill put him in the truck. Just before leaving the Ridge, Bill stopped at our ‘dump station’ near the outhouse and dumped our tanks. We were on the road by 11:20 and it was a nice 73F. The humidity was making it feel much warmer so we rode with the a/c on for a while.

Our London transferred rose bush which has yet to produce
Our sign even has dew drops
My garden is feeling the heat but the weeds are gone!

My veggie garden is still producing
I love the bottom picture, the view from up on the hill behind us
this is our summer home!

When I removed the rolled up hammock from under the Suite
This fat toad was disturbed

Because he was right in line with the wheel track, I had to discourage him

He was disgusted, I'm sure, but I was trying to save his life!

It was a nice drive with no surprises until we got to the far side of Stratford. We met a Detour which always throws one off if you are pulling a big rv. You never know if the detoured route is favourable to the unit. We followed it and took a bit of a different road than we would have but eventually came back out on CR-6/37^th Line through the Brooksdale dip and the roundabout after Embro. Now on familiar ground we are just about 30 minutes from CanAm.

Vacating for a few days
Using our own sewer dump

As we're pulling out, this garden frog is saying
"Where are you going NOW?"

Tomorrow is the day for our scheduled repairs on the Suite to begin. Remember back in the spring when our front hydraulic jacks lowered when I was alone? Okay, so nothing has happened since then with those but we are getting them looked at, under warranty. There are a few other things on the list but nothing major. It could be a couple of days, possibly 3, in the shop so we have planned to stick around until Thursday.

Detours, roundabouts, oh my!

We have some visiting, some dinners out and a bit of work for Bill while in the city. I realize that some travelers prefer to avoid the large highways but I felt relieved when we took the ramp onto the 401. Traffic flows here and you don’t have tailgaters like you do on smaller 2 lane highways. Let’s not get into that! We caught our exit onto Colonel Talbot Road and arrived at CanAm at 2:00. The front parking area was pretty much open and that was a bonus! Yay!

All set up and ready to relax

Bill pulled up across the front and plugged us in and hooked us up to their water hose. Once slides were opened and the awning was out, we took our chairs out and sat with a Happy Hour drink. Bill had a Coke and I had a tea. A few people are looking for something to do on a Sunday and they stop, hoping to be able to tour a few rv’s. Others drive in with their rv’s and drop them off either for service or for storage. The lot is filling up.

Hey! I'm there too!

Around 5, I began getting cleaned up and dressed for dinner. We were meeting our friends, Kathy and Derrick, down the road at Pasto’s Grill for 6. We were very happy to see them again and enjoyed the comfortable conversation of dear friends. Bill ordered a Daiquiri and I ordered a Strawberry Margarita (of course) while Kathy and Derrick shared a bottle of wine. A lot of excellent choices on the menu. We all walked away with lunch for the next day.

It was around 8:30 when we invited them back for a glass of wine at the Suite and to see Clemson. Jim had filled them in on our ‘episode’ of the past weekend regarding the little mutt. I say that fondly, you know that. Everyone who knows us has a strong understanding of our feelings for him. We sat for another couple of hours here and it is then you realize how much you miss each other’s company. When we lived in London, we alternated hosting every month for dinner.

Great food here
Strawberry magarita to start, Broccoli cheddar soup (one of the best I've ever tasted)
Butternut Squash ravioli with Chipotle (oh my!) It was so good!

We said our goodbyes. It has been and continues to be a busy spring/summer/fall for all of us and the time is not allowing us to get together at the Ridge this year. That is unfortunate but we wanted to be sure they understand that they have an open invitation to come any time. Clemson and I didn’t stay up long after they left and Bill maybe joined us within the hour. I don’t know, I was fast asleep. I slept well, only waking once to reach out for Bill. I don’t even know why, I was still in a slumber state.

Bill, me, Kathy, Derrick

This was a good day from beginning to end. We arrived safely at our destination and look forward to getting some issues cleared up on the Suite while here. I hope your day was a good one too!

Clemson had a good ride today
He is so much better

Thank you for stopping in! Your comments are always appreciated.