Cloudy Day, Squeezing in Walks, Inside Cleanup

The Ridge - Home

On Thursday, Mar. 26^th we knew even before we got up that it would be an indoor day, for the most part. It was a treat to see the sun first thing going to battle with the clouds but the gray puffies won that war. Checking the weather, it was already a semi-mild 4C/39F when we got up and rain wasn’t expected until closer to noon hour. There were some winds so that would keep our daytime high still below 10C/50F.

The red-winged blackbirds are fun to watch around the suet feeder

It was a gray looking day

The good news this morning is that my family received email and message confirmation that our last family traveler has returned home to Ontario, safe and sound. Gayle and John crossed into Canada at Port Huron, MI last night at 7:30 and stayed in a Walmart just this side of the border. We can all breathe easier now. We’ve got the ‘band back together’. (name that movie reference)

Snow is disappearing all around
I walked as far as our gate entrance on the left

Bill was up before me and I dreaded getting out of my warm cuddle spot into the cold bedroom. We close the door at the stairs, blocking the gap at the steps, to keep the downstairs a more even temperature. It works well as it feels like an icebox up there! It always feels colder to me than to Bill. The bathroom is on the bedroom side of the door which will explain why we have a heater in there for the time being.

Our front field is drying up

I half-dressed quickly, made the bed and nipped into the warm powder room to wash up. It was nice and toasty when I got downstairs with Bill and I made my tea while I sat and read blogs. The sun disappeared soon after and eventually the dark skies over Hanover were looming towards us. I sat and moved some of my folders around in Word and then finished naming our winter pictures. Then, I slipped my 2 layers on, covered my ears from the wind and went out for some fresh air.

I got a lot of apples off this tree in the early fall
but you can see that a lot were left and wasted

The lane way is long enough and interesting enough, with all the birds and geese, that I could do that 3 or 4 times in a day and not get bored with it. Today, I walked down, across the front of the property, in through the fenced entrance and across the field. Then up top I sauntered around the perimeter of the fence line in the back field before circling the berm, my garden and back inside. The fresh air is wonderful!

Bill sorts through our files

 I’d already had a sink bath but went up to wash my face. I’m trying a new product and like to give something like that the benefit of the doubt. It’s not going to make me look younger (or is it?) but it feels nice to have a routine and it sure feels nice on my skin. Bill had retrieved our portable file cabinet from the hall closet and was doing a clean out of that so I brought Mom’s smaller version from the bedroom closet down to do the same thing.

Mom's file box was smaller

We made quite a flurry of papers here, there and everywhere but will be able to burn a lot of old stuff. Mom’s box is a fair bit lighter getting rid of income tax forms from 8 years and older. That was some bulkiness right there, from 2009. My next task was to clean out the coffee table. Because it lifts up and harbors a lot of ‘stuff’, it gets things dumped in there when we don’t have an immediate space for it. I should have taken a ‘before’ picture but forgot.

The coffee table, empty

Water, not ice

Bill was done with his filing and called it a day but I was just getting more energy. I climbed on a chair to reach our pantry cupboards easily and took stock as I re-organized both shelves over the Keurig cupboard. Then I moved over to the baking pantry and did the same there. I was able to empty open bags of Chipits, rice, brown sugar etc. into their containers and that freed up a lot of space!

My walk reminded me to stop and take a picture on the corral hill
now that more snow has melted

Bridgette had given us a nice little tea caddy when we bought our house in 2002 and it has been hidden away up in the back of a cupboard as there was no reachable spot to put it in the Suite. I was working towards finding a spot for it in the other pantry and had success. We haven't used the teas that are in there very much but maybe now we will! Now, I can offer her (and you!) a cuppa when next she visits. 😊

Before fall, we need to pick up
some more extension bars

Then, I also decided that I was done working for the day. I slipped on my hoody and windbreaker plus a ballcap and went for another laneway walk. It was still a bit drizzly but we sure aren’t getting much rain. That’s okay, I don’t like to see puddles everywhere. It is nice to see places in the pond waters where the ice has melted. Even the big pond, it is looking quite mushy now. We just need more of these warm temps and sunshine.

The baking pantry

Back inside, it was Happy Hour time so I decided a cup of tea would be in order on such a damp day. So, I found one from the tea caddy and sat back with my book. It was an Earl Gray and tasted different than my usual Tetley but very nice with cream. I was going to read but Bill put the last few minutes of Red2 on and then Live PD:Wanted, a program we’ve not seen and so we watched that together instead.

My tea caddy
If you look at the above picture you'll see where it ended up

Funny, that that particular movie was on because above I made reference to a movie and it was Red, in case you didn’t get it. 😊 I get a kick out of things like that. Just after 5, I handed the front panel of my sweater over to Bill. He likes to keep his hands busy when watching tv so I asked him to unravel. Yes, I decided that I wouldn’t be happy until the back and front were done properly. He did that while I started supper.

I had 3 fat chicken drumsticks thawed and spiced them up for supper. This time, I gave Madame IP a rest and pulled Rosy out of the cupboard. I’ve never done them this way before but thought I’d give it a try. I made up a salad while they were cooking and prepared the last serving of Instant rice for microwave cooking. It would be enough for Bill and I warmed up the leftover carrots that I had in the fridge.

It was a great meal, the drumsticks were awesome

We were eating by 6:15 and it was delicious! Next time, we need to do an extra leg so we each have a couple. Yum, a good recipe so I typed it into my Recipe folder and saved it for another time. I also want to try them in our Fry Daddy. After dishes, I worked on my blog and we watched our pre-recorded FBI:Most Wanted episode from the other night.

By 6, the fog worked its way into the area
Going down to -2C/28F tonight
Brrr
Good night!

This was definitely an inside day but it was a good one with quite a few things accomplished. We meant to vacuum today but there’s always tomorrow. I hope you had a good day.

Thank you for stopping by!