Gorgeous Friday Plus Retirement = Wonderful Life!

Friday, May 12^th I was up around 7ish to a beautiful blue sky. Opening the blinds brings a smile to my face to see the sun beaming in. Another few low wind days are forecast for these upcoming days. Yay!

At the end of our lane, my iris' and day lilies are coming up nicely

 After a tea and reading comments on my post Clemson and I did our mile walk down the road. He is getting better at walking on a leash, it hasn’t been a strong point of his. I find the faster I walk the less he stops to sniff along the roadside so that is the trick.

Taking a detour off the road to look for morels

When we got back, Bill and I drove into Durham to fill up a gas can for the mowers and weed-eaters as well as the car needed topping up. A stop at Home Hardware for some vegetable seeds and a rain barrel nozzle before stocking up at the Beer and Liquor Stores. We like to have some on hand for company and the season is starting when we can expect visitors more often.

And beyond the little nest, a farmer is out in the field

After we got home I lit the Weber Q and made us up some bacon and eggs for brunch. Yummy, it has been a while since we’ve done them outside and it sure tasted good! By now, 10:30, big fluffy clouds have moved in and that is disheartening. We were expecting to get more sun out of the day than that!

The clouds have moved in

Bill went out with his newest rc plane since it is a calm day and I decided to tackle the gray roots in my hair. I dread the process but always like the result. Within an hour from start to finish, I’m 10 years younger. Ha! Well, no that isn’t true but the gray is gone for a while.

Bill gets ready to fly

Bill put the two spigots into the rain barrel so we can now collect water again. The barrel will need to sit up on cement blocks so we can easily access the top one with a pail. The bottom tap will be for a hose.

Our rain barrel with two new spigots
(the lower one is for the frogs to drink from)

And I get ready to colour

While waiting for my hair to dry, I dug my rows for green onions and swiss chard. It is too early to plant tomatoes and green peppers but at least these little guys can get a start. Now I won’t grumble so much when it rains! I searched for 6 stakes to mark the rows and had to basically raid the wood pile.

I'm excited for the first veggie garden I've had in 20+ years

Bill and Clemson curled up inside for a brief siesta and I went out to sweep out the bunky. While out there, it was so cozy that I flipped the tv on and settled down to watch 30 min. of Dr. Zhivago. Now that is an old movie! Omar Shariff at his finest. It was too nice outside, even in the clouds, to sit inside in front of the boob tube (my dad used to call it that) though so turned it off and wandered.

Dr. Zhivago on the tube

With the door closed to block out the light, it was quite cozy in the bunky

With my walk tomorrow I need to prepare things so I can just get dressed, eat and go to meet Donna in Durham at the appropriate time. I’ve gathered my umbrella, my waist pouch, a light hoodie, a wind breaker, our point and shoot camera and the clothes I’ll be wearing. I think I’m ready.

And look what we found in my flower garden! It is too late, dried on top but still a morel!

Bill was out flying his plane again and so I captured some action on my camera. Then he said, “want to carry the kayaks down to the pond?” So, with the 2 kayaks between us we walked to the dock and took them for a spin. A 30-minute spin and it was so much fun! The water was so calm and clear, we could see the muddy, grassy bottom.

Bill moves along so easily and I follow

I enjoyed watching the red-winged blackbirds letting us get so close

We were able to go much farther, from north to south, then we could last summer in our paddle boat. Too bad, the marshes and bushes down in the water will surface the pond in a month or so, but we’ll just enjoy it while we can. Once I figured out how NOT to get wet from the paddling, I was able to move along pretty good.

After putting them away, Bill started a fire to burn some more of our papers and what a lovely fire it was. I lit the Weber for the second time today around 4:15 and put sauerkraut, water and spiced pork ribs into a foil pan covered in tin foil. At 4:30 I started cooking the ribs as per George’s instruction. 90 minutes. At 5 I placed 2 washed potatoes wrapped in tin foil onto the bbq.

My boys enjoying the fire

I hated to go inside when Bill and Clemson did, so stayed out for a bit watching the fire before walking the lane way again. The bugs have disappeared out there so it was an enjoyable walk. When the ribs were done around 6, I removed them from the pan and covered them in sweet and sour sauce for Bill and barbecue sauce for me. Yum!

Bill putting his idea to work

Voila!

Within 10 minutes we were eating the best ribs we’ve had in a while. I’ve tried to cook ribs in the slow cooker recently and they just haven’t turned out tender. I went back to George’s recipe from Our Awesome Travels. You can look on his blog to find it if my detail is not specific enough. They turned out perfect and so did the baked potatoes.

Such a heavy blanket of clouds to the west

When dishes were done, we settled in for the evening. The sky sure looked threatening around 6 when I brought our food inside but it seems to have shuffled around and is looking like a pretty normal sky again. I think it will be a restful night after a busy day.

Clemson runs after Bill

Bill's Timber Stol (short take off & landing) looks like a real plane up there

I hope you had a good day as well, how could you not when it rose to 16C here on the Ridge. 

Perfect landing

I wish you could see the green light on the left wing in this picture and the red one on the right
not to mention the little headlights

Good night from The Ridge

Thank you for reading today. Your comments are always read and appreciated.

HOLY MOLY! FULL SUNSHINE!

When we got up on Monday, May 8^th, I was anxious to open the blinds. The sun was trying so desperately to break through into the Suite. Don’t let me stop you! I thought, Bring it on! For about an hour, our Canada flag hung in a laboring snooze, that was unusual. 

Our flag gets a well deserved rest this morning

We’ve had days where it has been tested, whipped, thrashed and soaked to the core from every direction.

This was last nights beautiful sunset
AFTER I posted my blog

With our coffees and morning reads out of the way, I got the clothes sorted, the detergent and softener out and the coin counted. By 9 I was headed into Durham, it is the time for laundry. The wind has picked up which I must admit, I needed to dry the clothes when I returned.

Lots of laundry

While I was gone, Bill drove to The Acreage (my sister’s other property) and filled up our water bladder. Just a hop, skip and jump down a couple of country roads. By the time I returned, he was emptying the bladder into our fresh water tank through the filter PLUS he had started digging a trench behind the Restroom (outhouse).

The water being transferred to our tank from the bladder

Bill carried the basket of clothes up the hill to my clothesline for me and I set to work hanging. It is a battle against the wind as the tree spins around, but I take it all in stride as I love to be outside in the sun. My arms need the exercise too! The wind and air was so cold that I actually had my wind/rain pants on, 2 long sleeve tops, a hoodie, a wind breaker, my ball cap and some white gloves.

Shouldn't take too long under those blue sunny skies

When I’d finished I noticed Bill on his hands and knees creating a drainage pipe system to dump our blue boy into the outhouse hole. Sometimes I just beam with pride at the ideas he comes up with. After a few challenging yet successful attempts at dumping our b.b. he knew there had to be a better way. He found it.

The trench dug

Laying the pipe in the trench

The pipe in place

The 4” pipe is placed into the trench, on a downward slope. He attached another pipe with an elbow at the end to go under the structure into the hole. Lastly, he attached an elbow that would leave the opening of the pipe facing up with a cap like what any rv park site would offer. This isn’t the order he did things in, but you get the picture.

A view from the back

Covering the trench again, my favourite view
Oops! sorry, I was looking at my sweetie.

With the trench and pipe covered over with the dirt and rocks, he replaced the sod and sprinkled some grass seed over the area. Geesh! He is so humble while I am dancing around clicking my heels! Brilliant!

And all closed up and my iris' hardly disturbed

I had come inside the Suite to warm up and pour myself a coffee, since I’d missed my second one by rushing out to do laundry. While inside, I realized that it was 12:30 and I’d missed breakfast and it was time to eat. I offered Bill a grilled cheese sandwich and once I had fried that up for him, I made myself an egg with some cheese on the side. Just enough.

Bill pushing off into the pond

Back outside we went and I put on my rubber boots. Next, we carried a kayak down to the front field. I made sure I had my camera and Bill had his point and shoot Canon in his pocket. He was going into the pond on the west side of our lane to explore the area of Gabby’s nest. I gave him a bit of a push and out into the reeds he paddled.

Taking a picture of Gabby's nest

Having some fun

The wind was so strong and cold but I was still envious that he was out there and not me! My turn will come, it just needs to warm up a bit. If one of us tipped or got a soaker, it would be a really, really, cold lesson. Bill took pictures of her empty nest, empty with the exception of her downy feathers and part of a broken shell.

We're not sure what happened, a predator? The water doesn't seem to have touched it.

We were lucky, both Gabe and Gabby, as well as the two neighborhood geese-brats, were nowhere to be seen. All morning they were all honking at each other as they tried to dominate the pond. As peacefully as we arrived, we pulled the kayak out and carried it back up the lane.

Hey, that is me on shore! I was his rescue scout.

By now, it was time to put things away and come inside. Snooze time for some and reading time for others. My clothes are drying nicely and can be brought in soon. It is hard to stay inside but it isn’t warm enough to hang around out there for long. It is 6C/42.8F so certainly not sitting out weather.

If you remember what my flooded picture looked like yesterday......
the wind and sun have done an amazing job of drying it up

The laundry is done and put away, Clemson has had his dinner and we have time for a little sit down before dinner. Bill turned on the Weber Q, it has been idle for a few days. It will be pork chops tonight, my favourite. Ha ha, you know me better than that, I’m sure.

The Maple Leaf withstanding the elements

With a nice salad on the side this was a good meal. I have missed the bbq flavor of meat but until we make up a wind barrier or the wind dies down, it will be hit and miss for outdoor cooking.

It was odd today when Bill and I were out near the road to see a postal truck go by. It isn’t usual for the mail to be delivered this way, we instead see a personal vehicle with the portable sign above the door. Didn’t much matter, we didn’t have any mail today anyway.

So, that was our busy day and we loved every minute. Especially the getting outside part. I hope your day was as enjoyable.

Trimmed our peonny bush today

Strange fungus growing in the garden
(wish it was morels but I know it isn't)

Thank you for reading. I love to hear from you!