Short and Sweet, Passports, Storm Coming

On Thursday, Apr. 27^th we woke up early, 6:15 early, and had a coffee before heading out the door at 7:15 am. We had an appointment to take the truck in to get the bumper replaced. Remember the El Reno casino incident? Yah, well they had to replace the whole bumper, by law. The bummer is that we will have to pay our 500 deductible. How is that fair?

Beautiful sunrise this morning

After dropping Black Beauty off, we drove to Donna’s for a quick hello, picked up my jackets I left her last week and picked up a $3 coupon for First Choice Haircutters. My hair needs a trim and instead of doing it myself, thought I’d splurge! Ha!

We then stopped at Shopper’s Drug Mart to get our passport pictures taken. Lucky us, we were there at 8:30 and got taken care of immediately. Seniors deals were on so we got 20% off, bonus! Too bad the pictures are so somber, no glasses, don’t smile, gotta see your ears. I must remember not to show my teeth when looking at the next Border Security person. Good deal at $11.99 each. I'm not posting those lovely pictures.

Look at that sky

 We then drove to Owen Sound to the Service Canada office in the Heritage Mall and submitted our applications. Ouch, these passports are so expensive, they have us travelers by the short hairs. We got the best deal going and ordered it for 10 years. Best service we’ve received though in any passport dealings.

I wanted to get my hair cut but when I stuck my head in the door, I was told “at least an hour wait”. All 5 chairs were filled, so I left. We headed back home after a quick stop at Pet Smart and Princess Auto. We were both hungry and tired and wanting to take advantage of this nice warm day. 

Even with the clouds, it was a warm day

Bill was kind enough to stop in Williamsford so I could get a picture of this store. It reminds me of Julian, California. I’m going to have to check out their pies too!

 If it wasn’t for the wind, it would have been a very hot, humid day for sure but it could have calmed down a wee bit, no? The temperature rose to 27C so I went out and read my book. 

Bill continued to work in his trailer and by 2:30 we got the call that our truck was ready.

On the way back from Owen Sound, I took a picture of my sister, Gayle's Montana
The ground was soft when they got home and it got stuck this way
Looks nice though down in their valley

A quick trip back into Hanover, me thinking on the way home in the car I could stop at F.C. for that trim. Looking behind me at the blackening sky to the west, I didn’t think it would be a good idea to get caught in that on my way home. It wasn’t that important today, I just wanted to get home.

Guys store, I went to Pet Smart instead. :)

In the door by 4 and the rain started. We are in for a storm so I will close this up and wish everyone a safe and dry evening. I know my book will get finished tonight! Something to note before I leave. On my phone, I got a notice of the severe weather warning for storms and strong winds in the Durham area. At the bottom it said, “rain to stop at 4:40pm”. Laugh out loud at that. Well, at 4:42, the rain stopped. Literally stopped! Not for long mind you, it started up 5 minutes later but isn’t that uncanny?

Our Canada flag takes a beating up here

The storm ended by 5 and things brightened up and the winds died down a bit. I guess we needed the rain and it didn't dampen the frogs choir. They are still at it!

Thank you for reading! All comments are welcome.

Too Hopeful? More Baking, Gorgeous Sunset

On Wednesday, Apr.26^th I was happy to see blue sky out my westerly bedroom window. It was about 7:30, which surprised me that I slept in so long, so I got up not to miss another minute of a sunny day. Bill and Clemson were up and already settled downstairs. “Your tea is ready” said my sweetie. Nice sounds to wake up to.

The joy for the bright day was short-lived, however, when I saw clouds creeping up from the east and slowly spreading across the sky. I try not to let the weather get to me and usually it doesn’t. How it affects my feelings is when I believe the guessers from the previous day telling me “21C and full sun”. I count on that and then have the letdown when it doesn’t come to fruition. Darn!

I was trying to capture the pink pond weeds

Okay, the bright side is that I am on the right side of this wonderful earth and there was 'no tag on my big toe when I woke up'. One of my father-in-law's recent one-liners.  We will make the best of this day. I told Bill yesterday that I had a couple more recipes to try IF the day turned out to be a dud, so guess what I’ll start with?

I sat down with my tea and noticed the warm 10C for the day’s start up. Hmm, not too bad at all in comparison to the latest overnight temps. It is slowly warming up. I read blog posts from yesterday and left some comments when moved to do so.

These little weeds are so interesting

When I walked outside to the Restroom it was nice to hear the birds and a squawk from Gabe. The Snipe (if that is what it is) was circling as well although I couldn’t see him. Looking up at the bird, his white underbelly is lost in the clouds.

My hostas are starting to pop up, finally!

Yesterday, in the town mail box I had a notice from one of Mom’s life insurance providers to confirm that she still requires their premium so I filled that out (it is a yearly confirmation) and Clemmy and I walked it down to the mail box.

Notice the 2 lard packages - The Morrell brand, bought in the US does not spoil us
with the measurements on the lid. funny how disappointing that is!

I'm so glad I have my island

I love it when the postage is paid like that. I haven’t gotten back into the routine of having stamps on hand yet. I popped the flag up and once again felt the satisfaction that comes with having a mailbox at the end of the lane.

Cherry and butter tarts
I didn't have dates for the butter tarts so added raisins for Bill instead

Corn Muffins

Every once in a while, as I’m inside baking I feel the gusts of wind. I believe they got up to 26 mph and didn’t seem to let up all day. It was nice though to open the door around 1:30 when the temperatures soared and the sun started making brief appearances.

Bill up on the hill with his cargo trailer

Bill was involved with his planes and cargo trailer, there is some major renovating going on out there. I went for a couple of walks down the lane, one with Clemson and one where I thought he was following me but got sidetracked. More mail today and my letter got picked up.

Our energetic pooch taking a break

I made up a batch of Corn Muffins first and fresh out of the oven, took Bill a warm one with butter. They smelled so good and he confirmed the taste was just as good.  Once I cleaned up from those I got into the more time consuming job of making pastry.

And Chippy makes an appearance

Butter Tarts and Cherry Tarts were on the agenda. Most of my prep time took place in the morning so when the sun came out, I asked Bill if we should unplug and take advantage of some free solar power. That would mean not using the convection oven until later this evening. I think he was anxious for the goodies and suggested I continue and finish all the baking.

A path for the kayak one day

The indoor temperature rose to 26C but Bill was still surprised when I changed into shorts. He had been outside and wasn’t quite feeling the same heat I was. By suppertime, I had tried a few more times to get out and enjoy the day. No matter how many times I went out, once to sit in my chair in the sun with my book, I was chased back inside because the wind was so strong.

For dinner, I cooked inside. We had Tilapia fried with lemon & pepper seasoning and a nice salad on the side. The loins were huge and turned out very well. Yummy. Dishes took longer than usual because of all the muffin tins and baking dishes.

The sun is playing games again tonight, coming out full midafternoon, just in time to disappear in the west. Once more Clemson and I walked down the lane way, to burn off supper or maybe prepare for dessert. Hmm.

Jet contrails coming directly from the sun

I hope your day has been a great one. It was great to have you along today whether your weather was conducive to in or out of doors.

Good night

And this evenings sky made up for the late sunshine today

I love reading your comments if you choose to leave one.