A Warm Wet Day, Family Birthdays, Sky and Garden Pics

The Ridge

Sunday, May 2^nd was a fairly calm day to wake up to. It was just after 7 when Bill got up and I followed a few minutes later. I stripped the sheets off the bed first thing and then sorted the laundry into 2 loads, spraying what needed it. Usually it is only Bill’s work t-shirts and so that is all it was today. Rather than take the time for a cup of tea, I grabbed my water thermos and Bill carried the basket to Ptooties. The sky was one of those mixed bags where it was hard to tell what the day would bring.

On my way to town, to the east, it was beautiful
AND promising??

I was at the Mat by 8 and it was a pleasant, uneventful experience. I loaded the washer, noted that there were 3 in need of attention, 1 dryer had a coin stuck and the coin machine was empty. Dreading my next action only because of the early hour, I texted Jamie and apologized for bothering him so early on a Sunday. With a few minutes to spare, for me to fold our clothes, he showed up and set to work. They were all easy fixes and I think I’ve learned how to do one more thing, if I need to.

When I returned, Mr. Goose was looking for a place
to enter the pond, so I stayed back to wait

He paid me for the month of April and then proceeded to empty machines to refill the coins. That is a painstaking job with loonies and quarters going in their respected slots. He did it, not me. I just kept him company for an extra half hour, chatting about this, that and the other thing. I was on my way home shortly after 10 with cash in my back pocket. 😊 Bill was, not surprisingly, cutting the back field, the grass is growing fast. His new weekly chore now.

The nicest part of the day

They're hard to see but the geese and enjoying the day on the pond

When I came in, I put my clothes away and when Bill joined me, we made the bed with clean sheets. It is easier with two of us, especially in a small space. I made my tea and went on the Norwex site to catch the latest and last video. Still waiting for the link on how to order. There are a lot of very cool products and I could easily see how one would spend a bag full of money. Maybe I’ll have to ‘host’ an online party myself to gain some rewards and to stretch out the spending. Be prepared, that means you may be invited!

He pretends he doesn't enjoy this but I know he does

From the front field, I checked for turtles on their log
but the sound of the mower must have had them hidden

While Bill was inside, the skies went from clouds, spatters of rain and some patches of blue. It was quite mild. He wanted to cut the front field so I began making bacon and eggs for lunch. Our blogger friend, Nancy, called and Bill gave her some information regarding water heaters and such. She’s a smart cookie and while I felt lost with his instructions, she seemed to be catching all of his tips. She wished us happy riding and said goodbye.

The tree looks better, no more dragging branches

Bill went out after dishes and cut the field at the road. He didn’t have to help with cleaning up but always says ‘it’ll only take a couple of minutes’ so we got ‘em done together. I could feel the warmer temperatures moving in, a forecast high of 17C/66F today. Too bad it wasn’t a clear sky as we’d be out on Jazz ♪♪ again. Yup, name decided. 😊 I walked down to put some cards in the mail box for pick up tomorrow and noticed a great influx of bugs around my face. Oh-oh. The biters are back. Bill called out "we should be on the bike!" 🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍

My little trilliums have bloomed, small but alive!😉

A tip I’d heard, yet to give it a good try, was to spray the original Listerine on your face, and any bare body parts to keep mosquitoes, black flies (yah right) and no-see-ums at bay. I guess next time I walk the lane, or anywhere outside, that’s what I’ll have to do first. Especially on the warm days. We are always open to this type of suggestion but have yet to find any 100% resolve for black flies other than just covering ourselves from head to toe.

My small garden just off the 'patio' is in bloom

When Bill finished cutting, the mower joined Jazz ♪♪ in the shelter and just in time, again, as clouds moved over and dropped another brief shower. We’re still going for a drive this afternoon but it will be in Ptooties. It’s just nice to get out for a bit, so Bill hopped in the shower himself and we prepared to leave mid-afternoon. Just as we were pulling out of the lane, we saw a pick-up truck pulling in from the road. They had to stop to wait for the geese to cross. 😊

I love pictures with our cedar rails in the shot

They backed up and we continued, rolling down our windows when we saw it was my oldest sister, Cathy and her hubby, Bill. They were just out for a drive as well. Daddy bred it in all of us, that 'gravel running' is a fun way to pass the time. A brief chat and they moseyed on and so did we. Taking back country roads, something we won’t do on the bike unless they’re paved, it was a nice drive. We’d considered finding someplace to get a bite to eat and that meant a Food Truck. There were two in Durham but not sure where else.

Neither one panned out and we were soon headed back home. I didn’t even take pictures, the skies were mostly uneventful, just dull and rainy. You’re not missing much. 😊 We had bbq’d burgers, devilled eggs, salad and shrimp for supper. It was very good, a nice summery meal. The rest of the day went well and before we know it, the weekend has passed. Not much on tv on Sunday nights so we watched a Hallmark movie, well, Bill watched it, and I dozed a fair bit. By 10 we were falling asleep so went to bed.

For much of the afternoon and evening, this was the sky picture

I’ve had to cancel an appointment for picking up my flowers from Owen Sound on Wednesday since we’ve had to accept an appointment with our lawyer in London on that day. He’s harder to nail down so I emailed VanVugt Greenhouses and they were quick in their response to change it to Thursday for me. I’ll be working for M tomorrow morning so unless that changes overnight, the work week will begin as per usual.

Then I noticed this bright pink spot
It's blurry but too pretty to not include

Another brother in law has a birthday today and my niece in Ilderton. Happy Birthday, John and Alaena! Hope your day was a good one!

Good night!

Thank you for stopping in! Your comments are always welcome. I may be slow but I try to answer each one.

Puttering Outside and V-R-O-O-M! Power Outage and Birds

The Ridge

Saturday, May 1^st we welcome a new month in the hopes that changes are coming – in the weather and pandemic lockdowns. Yah, we’re dreaming about the latter. I saw blue skies when I woke at 7 and looked out my small bedroom window. Yahoo! Never mind the bitter cold -3C/26F that was creating a glistening on the patio table.

Morning views from inside our Suite

Bill was already up; I didn’t even hear him get out of bed. While he did the banking online, I made our coffee and tea and we sat together. Around 8:30, he took a propane tank in for filling and to pick up a few various sized clamps to tighten the hose that was leaking. I hung the two towels on the line that were still damp from the soggy carpet. It wasn’t quite dry in there yet but one more day and it should be fine.

When Bill came back, he dumped our black and gray tanks before moving the lawn tractor and our bike out of the shelter. The gravel still hasn’t been levelled out and it needs to be, especially for backing the bike out, single-handedly. It weighs a whopping 750 lbs so on gravel it is a challenge without the motor rumbling. When I say rumbling, I truly mean ‘rumbling’. Chris had exhaust pipes installed years ago making it sound much like a Harley. I never thought I’d like that but I’m sure getting sweet on it. 😊

I was overjoyed with these beautiful visitors

I got the bird feeders filled and then focused on my big flower garden. The lovely, healthy blue spruce trees are thriving BUT their branches start very low to the ground, which makes it difficult for some plants to grow under and around them. I trimmed them from the bottom up a row and the periwinkle was quite happy for the breathing room. Grass growing where I hate it growing frustrated me so I dug and pulled it from in the middle of newly sprouted hostas while on my knees.

And we went for a ride
First fill-up, first ride together

Bill mentioned a couple of times that he was hopeful about us taking a ride so I wasn’t surprised when he rode down the lane and back. 😊 We were hoping for warmer weather but knew that we’d be lucky to reach the forecasted 12C/56F. That’s chilly for a ride, especially for me so we puttered away. I knew Bill would be going for water from the Acreage so I made him a fried toasted egg sandwich. It was waiting for him when he came in to tell me he was going. He was ready for a bite, it was 10 o’clock.

We were happy for the first ride
Leather jacket, boots, chaps, throat/neck covering
tucked away for another day

After eating he cut some grass up on the berm and you know that will jinx it from now on. We’ll be cutting every week or two. Be careful what you wish for, right? Sun and rain bring prospering landscapes! I finished with the garden, spreading another bag of mulch in the bare patches. It’s hard to spread it when there is so much ground cover but that’s okay, I did what I could and where it was needed most.

This was an interesting day for birds

I don’t use landscape cloth mainly because the garden was there when we moved up here, with plants that Donna had already placed. Starting from scratch would be different, besides weeding gives me something to do when I’m bored. Ha ha ha. Sure enough, the wind picked up a bit and clouds moved in. When I was finishing a coffee, Bill said ‘you probably won’t want to ride now, it will be chilly’. It took me 5 minutes to think about that and the fact that if we didn’t go today, it would a whole week before we got out.

More birds, bottom corner is the feeder at Bill's Hangar
just as busy

I was upstairs layering up, getting into my chaps, boots and coat in no time flat. “Let’s go!” I didn’t think my jacket would keep me warm, it isn’t a heavy leather jacket at all but boy was I pleased! We rode into Durham, got fuel and then took the long way back home. The only thing that felt cold was my chinny-chin-chin. I don’t have a face shield on my new helmet so made a mental note to myself to slip a double layer of my neck scarves over my head before we head out. That will work perfectly!

Bill took a load of gravel from the shelter
to our patio area

I was so excited to be out on two wheels again, I’d forgotten the free feeling. Bill is a very careful driver and with my extra eyes we do our best to watch traffic all around us. We have a radio system, which we’ve never had before, but we didn’t bother with it today so any chatter between us was my leaning in close to him. We were so happy to get out for about half hour and I remembered to take a selfie of the two of us on Jazz. We’re debating that name, with the treble clef on the back, it seems fitting. 😊

working around the spruce trees

Bill spread some of the gravel he moved from the shelter out by our patio area. We’d like to get another half load sometime soon but for now, this is a start. Inside, my Easy Rider had a snooze, first time he’s stopped all day, and I set Madame IP to make some devilled eggs using up some of my many eggs. I had a cup of tea. Bill had gone to help Gerry pump his mower tire and had a beer so I knew he wouldn’t want such a mild drink. I’m just a tea Granny on cooler days.

More of the beautiful cardinal

At 2:30, I managed to get on to my sister’s Norwex party on Facebook. I’m interested in a couple of clothes but not in sitting through a live video of a product that I won’t buy so didn’t stay on long. I went on again to check out the 4:30 stream and it was more interesting. I’ll place my order on Sunday now that I know that is the process. I see where the window cloths will be a blessing, through this morning’s sun, quite a few streaks were left behind from my cleaning.

This was just before he went down the lane

At 4:30 the rain was in Hanover which meant it was coming our way. I texted Bill in the Hangar so he could come up in case it was a downpour and he just made it. However, the rain didn’t last long and the sun came out for an hour or so. I turned the convection oven on to preheat it for supper but at 5:30, our power went out. Oh darn! I was planning on chicken strips and that is the only way to cook them. Hmm, plan B is to reheat our ‘pussy muck’ leftovers.

The storm to the north on the left
The horizon showing sun to the west
Still windy

The sky was darkening again and the winds were very strong again. I moved some bird feeders into the Bunky so we didn’t lose all the seeds again, like the other day. ☹ With the inverter turned on, we were getting more use of our solar panels. Bill found online that there is a downed tree somewhere, over a power line, causing the outage with expected relief around 6:30. I think we’ll skip the chicken and fry up the leftovers. I’m feeling too hungry to wait.

Saturday night's supper

Wow! That was a good choice. I cooked some mixed vegetables on the stove and fried the hamburger and macaroni mixture. I added a bit of broth so it wasn’t so dry and it was delicious! We had some of my homemade 18% custard for dessert and although not as nice and thick, still a nice light, carb free delight. After dishes, Bill checked and our power was back on. We watched a few of the Hallmark movies together, in between which I had my shower.

Good night!

This was a great day! Thank you for coming by.