Spring, Winter, Spring, Winter, April Roars In

The Ridge

Thursday, Apr. 1^st arrives with a flourish, just not a lamb-like one. I know that idiom is for March but I’m hoping it will work for this month as well. The snow was 2 hours late arriving, from what our meteorologist told us last night, but she was bang on for when it stopped. We were up at 7 and by 7:15 the sky was white and by 7:35, so was the ground. Good grief!

Snow started at 7:15, hot (cold) and heavy

We sat and decided we’d be ‘stuck’ inside today with the freezing temperatures while drinking our morning brew. We read blogs and discussed the day. Outside, by 10, the snow had stopped and the winds moved in with ‘gusto’ to take it away. We didn’t figure it would stick around long as the temperatures go up from here on in, at least to normal expectations. My brother, Michael, in Cold Lake, Alberta is sending his 14C/58F our way. 😊

We found cords that needed to be tested
so we could decide if we needed them
I just sat and enjoyed the view 😍

Bill had some purging of his own to do so worked away in a couple of cupboards, in the living room and in the bedroom, getting rid of a lot of loose cables and connecting cords from past electronics. Why we keep stuff like this “maybe we’ll use it”, I’ll never know but we do it anyway. I discovered, in my rummaging, my old MP3 player. I used it a lot back in my working and walking days in London but it quit working a few years ago and got tucked away.

Goodbye little mp3 player

I tried a few different things with it but it has ‘retired’ too, I guess. Out it goes. If I ever want another one, I’ll buy one. We had a few phone calls on our list for today so took care of those throughout the day, leaving messages for most. One important one, well, they were all important, was to Murray who is storing Bill’s cargo trailer. He’d like to get it out tomorrow morning and get it home here on the Ridge.

Bill started a bit of gravel spreading but it is
pretty hard at the moment

The snow started up again at 1:30 along with the winds so we don’t expect much accumulation this time. We’ll see, it looks to be blowing straight across from north to south. This does make the Suite a bit harder to keep warm, with all the windows on that side facing out, but we seem to have a handle on it. Still no regrets for coming home when we did. 😊 I’ve texted back and forth with Jamie and hope to see him on Sunday for a bit.

We had breakfast of bacon and eggs for lunch and that went down well. For supper, I’ll spruce up the dry sausage casserole somehow so that will be relatively easy. After getting my blog started, I had my shower and walked out to see what Bill was up to. He had spread a bit of gravel to see how hard that would be and then we both came indoors to the warmth.

The snow was starting to disappear by noon

It was around 2 when Bill went upstairs to purge clothes. I found my blanket, my new James Patterson book, ‘When the Wind Blows’, and my chair with no intention of moving very far for the next hour or two. Bill doesn’t think the mail lady stopped so I don’t plan on going out even for a walk to the mailbox.  I wasn’t in my chair long when Bill indicated that he wanted some help (opinions) upstairs so I went up on the bed and helped him choose.

This was a good start!
Instead of donating, we're going to take them to BizyBee Auctions
along with some tools and some of my recently purged clothing

He was doing well; the shirts were piling up and the space in his portion of the closet was opening up. He finished that section and will work on another area tomorrow.ish Later, when we sat in our chairs, I had a tea and Bill had a Zero Coke. He’d barely finished it and I heard him sleeping. Literally, within 20 seconds. When I told him later about how quickly he dropped off, he agreed. “I was tired, all that emotional sorting upstairs”. Now THAT was a good one!

The snow is almost gone and look at that beautiful sky

I got well into my book and I’m enjoying it a lot. At 5:30, I got the leftover casserole out of the fridge and blended some soup and cream. With that mixed in and carrots on the side, it tasted much better to me. It was more like a stew by now so Bill had toast with his and at least that finished it off. We had the last of our caramel custard for dessert and had dishes done by 6:30. The news isn’t good here in Ontario. Well, depending on how you look at it, I guess.

Supper was pretty good

Our Premier Ford has announced a 3^rd province-wide lockdown starting on Saturday at 12:01 am. Darn!! I’ve never agreed with the total lockdown, especially now that all venues know how to deal with business in a safe manner. I don’t believe that the new cases are as a result of them being open but again, it is from certain reckless individuals in over-populated areas. This is just my opinion. Ontario will be locked down for 28 days. ☹

Bill was off today; they finished their job yesterday and won’t start a new one until Easter Monday. I will be going into the laundromat on Good Friday and then off for the weekend. I’m not sure if I’ll revert back to every other day or stick to week days only. I’ll talk to Jamie but I’m sure he’ll leave it up to me. The sun came out around 5 and the snow has pretty much disappeared. We are all ready for spring to return.

This one isn't a memory
I just think us Ontarians all need a chuckle today

good night!

Thank you for stopping by!

Inside Work, Surprise Short-Term Visitor, Winter Returns

The Ridge

I was up out of bed at 7 on Friday, May 8^th. My turn for a shower. I’m glad we have the little electric heater in the bathroom as that is one place in particular that I like to feel warm, stepping in AND out of the stall. Bill got up as well and made the bed before going downstairs for his coffee. I soon joined him but sitting at the table with my laptop, my feet felt so cold. I should have stayed over in my recliner now that the cool weather has returned.

This was last night's sunset

Bill and I played a few hands of our online Scrabble game together and it reminded me that before I woke up, I was dreaming. The dream made me smile but sad at the same time as our dear friend, Mark, who we lost last April was across the lunchroom table at our former workplace asking me if I wanted to play a game of Scrabble. What a special memory. Mark and I used to do daily crosswords together. He was a wonderful friend.

also last night, Bill noticed that they were spraying the fields
behind us
Getting ready to plant

Since it was a frigid day of only 1C/33F for today’s high (what the??) Bill said it would be a good day to fix the brackets for our pantry cupboards. His job, his posting. I’m sure he’ll write about it at On Our Way. My job, while he went out to collect his tools, was to empty the cupboards, so I did that. I made myself a tea and that's when I looked out the back window. My heart raced to my throat as I saw a visitor in our pond. One I’ve never seen before.

I started emptying the shelves
You can see the old brackets in place but they don't last forever

Food from the top two shelves

Dishes from the bottom

Giving no thought to what I had on my feet, afraid of missing an opportunity, I grabbed a jacket and my camera and ran out. 

It was worth running out in my slippers to get pictures

After taking a few pictures of a beautiful white swan, I ran down to the Hangar and told Bill to come see who was in our pond. 

I like this picture because it shows the size of the swan
in comparison to the geese

He was as excited to see her/him as I was. Well, maybe not quite as much. My excitement level is way over the top, it’s hard to match. 😊 

The girth as she/he swam towards me is huge!

Inside, I got out the binoculars and our big cameras with zoom lenses. It was fun watching a visitor we've never had before.

Of course I'm going to take a lot of pictures
I may never get the chance again

When Bill came back in he worked away inside on the project and I got out of the way, sitting with my book and laptop. By the time an hour was up from when the swan appeared, it was gone. Darn! We missed the departing flight. Now, I can’t tell the difference between a tundra or trumpeter swan so it could have been either one. It was huge, especially in comparison to the large male geese who live here all summer.

When Bill finished, he cleaned up the mess and I put what I could back into the cupboard to clear the stove top. We had bacon, eggs and toast and after dishes, I put the rest of the food stuff away. It never hurts to go through that practice from time to time. The dishes get rearranged and I get to take stock of what canned and boxed goods we have. Good to know! Yesterday, I did the same in the freezer so it will help plan meals.

They didn't mind each other's company

Donna texted me and asked if I wanted to meet her at Rockwood Terrace at 2. She was picking up a gift that all of my siblings bought and dropping it in the lobby for Mom. It would need to sit for 48 hours and the staff would deliver it on Sunday. It will be sad not seeing Mom on Mother’s Day but even sadder because of the long stretch of 6 months I’ve missed. I sure hope this is over soon.

The top number you see is the wind speed - mph
The bottom on the right is the outdoor temperature - Fahrenheit
This was the high at 3:30 pm

Donna had some more puzzles for me from my sister, Cathy, so with this weather, I’ll be back at those! We didn’t hang around outside long, it was too cold, and after a forbidden hug, we parted ways. 

a gift for Mom
She will love the stuffed bunny
The flowers are silk and we think she'll enjoy them too
Donna put a picture of all of Mom's kids with names in with the card

Within 30 minutes of returning home, the winds picked up and as they swept across the Ridge blustery snow accompanied them. Yes, you heard me, snow. I was saddened not to see our goslings on the way in or out but after feeling this cold weather, maybe Bill is right and Mama has them tucked safely in a warm spot.

I followed these stately geese up the lane but no babies here
See their size? Now remember the swan in comparison.

The rest of the day was in isolation. Not because of the virus, because of the weather. No way did either one of us want to be outside. I read, we each had a snooze and we watched some television. Bill had vacuumed after his earlier project so the place was clean. For supper, at 6 I began cooking our vegetables and in turn reheating the gravy, roast and potatoes. The microwave and stove top were the appliances used tonight.

No matter the weather, birds have to eat

That cleaned up the leftovers as well as the last of my squash from the fridge.The picture is almost identical to last night's supper so I didn't include it. As I’m writing this, it isn’t determined whether we need dessert tonight. Need or want. There is a bit of apple crisp and there is ice cream if we want it. 

A small white patch of snow behind the tent

And over by the Bunky

Looking across the road, you can see the poor visibility

Back and forth, sun, clouds, wind and snow

This was a very slow day but Bill did manage to get a couple of jobs taken care of that he wanted to do. We are expecting very cold temps overnight and the blowing snow that hits us every so often doesn’t give me much hope for green grass in the morning. We’ll see!

Yeuch, winter is back
Good night!

Thank you for your visit.

Winter Isn’t Done Yet

The Ridge

Bill was up first on Good Friday, Apr. 10^th and hopped into the shower immediately. I stayed under the covers until he was done and then it was my turn. It was close to 8 when we were both downstairs with our morning drinks. When he asked me how I was this morning, I admit that I scowled. With a hand gesture to the window, he knew that I meant the outside weather. The ground was covered in white, this time at least 2” of ‘winter’ covered the land.

Looking out through our screened window

 We did some laptop grazing and then Bill bundled up and went out to check our propane tank. I’d missed seeing if the mail lady stopped yesterday and with that bitter wind I wasn’t about to walk down just ‘for the heck of it’. It was too cold. I noticed he’d hopped in Ptooties and drove down the snow-covered lane to check it out. Gayle had emailed last night saying that they may stop by for a long distance ‘hello’ in person on their way back from shopping so now he has left tracks for them.

Track lanes

The problem in this weather is that I have NO, zero, zilch, nada, zip desire to even go out. Snow is one thing but snow plus gusting winds over 10 mph? Nope. Maybe this afternoon if the sun comes out and stays, I’ll go for a walk. No promises! The rest of the day, I worked on a new puzzle and then when the sun moved away from the back window, I moved to my chair and read my book. Tough life, isn’t it? As it turned out, Gayle had forgotten that it was a holiday and that stores were closed, so no visit today. That's what happens when we're retired and when we're all in isolation.

Bill did the walking and photography today

He was trying hard to get a picture of Mother Goose

Pancakes for lunch

Bill had taken his camera out this morning and walked down the lane trying to get a picture of our Mother Geese. There are two of them, with their proud watchful mates, but it is difficult to see where they have their nests, especially in the snow. He was braver than me, out there in the cold. 

The snow started to go away by mid afternoon

Isn't he pretty?

It wasn’t until after we’d watched some programs that I started the sausage in Madame IP and opened a can of pork and beans. This will be our Good Friday supper.

Father Goose was protecting his mate
but I'm sure it is a boring job

And then in the east side pond, another hubby waits and watches

Can you see him out there in the middle?

It was while they were in the pot that I bundled up and took my own walk down to the end of the lane. The flyers were in there from yesterday so again, not a wasted walk. Plus, that cold bitter fresh air actually felt good. All I could see were the Father Geese so I had no better luck than Bill did earlier finding Mama. Supper was ready before 6:30 and it turned out good. How could it go wrong? It was so simple. We had the last custard for dessert.

I'm sure it doesn't look too appetizing for an Easter meal
but it was fine for us
and tasted good

With custard for dessert, we were full
Good night!

After dishes, I worked on my blog post and then sat at the puzzle for a bit watching some tv with Bill. This was certainly a lazy cold day and it isn’t going to get much better over the next week or so. I hope this finds you in good health and that you all stay that way.

Thanks for the drop in. Your comments are always appreciated.