Wednesday, June 2, 2021

Enjoying Hump Day and Taking Care of a Few Things, Making Plans

The Ridge

On Wednesday, June 2nd, at 3:30 am I woke up when Bill did to hear a little whimpering from downstairs. Oh-oh. I’m glad that doesn’t happen too often since Bill  is on ‘wee hours’ duty. Always has been but it doesn’t mean that I take it for granted. I feel for him when he has to get up for work in the morning, even though he is often up through the night a couple of times anyway. 😊

There were a lot of clouds but they still
painted a pretty picture

I’d asked him last night when we crawled into bed to ‘not’ bring Gibbs up in the morning, at least not before 6. He seldom settles down in less than 15 minutes and when I’m still tired and don’t need to get up, it’s nice to stay put. He is fine downstairs, as long as Bill closes the sliding door, with Daddy. With the door open, he knows a routine now of coming up to mess with our morning bed time. So, I didn’t see Gibbs until I had done my stretches and got up around 6:30.

I took him out for a piddle, we don’t know where it all comes from! Even a few drops though makes it worth responding to the sound of the bell. Bill left and I had my tea. I was happy that I’d persisted in getting my blog published last night as that meant I didn’t have to get at it again this morning. Sometimes I'm tired and I don’t proofread it so there may be some typos. Yes, it can be a bit of a chore, committing to a daily post,  but certainly not always.

Coming home from shopping, I had to 
stop on North Line and wait for the traffic

I got washed up and dressed for the day. At 8:30 after taking Gibbs out and then putting him in his crate, I drove to Grey Bruce Fleet Services. Kate was expecting me at some point this morning to have the cabin filter installed but didn’t know when. There was no pressure on my end either and gee, I remembered to take everything I needed, including my phone with payment cards. 😊

Looks like we have company!
More than 5 guests isn't allowed

It took a mere 5 minutes for their service man to install it while Kate, Jeff and I chatted about Gibbs. I showed them pictures of Clemson and then our new baby. She fell in love and Jeff said I’ll have to bring him in sometime, so Bill and I will be sure to do that. From there, I drove to Hanover. I don’t shop at Independent as a rule but my sister, who does, said they have good meat and fair prices so that was my destination.

Quite the haul today and I feel better

I found 6 out of 7 things on my list plus my 11% Okios yogourt and Chapman’s Premium ice cream were both on sale. Milk and creamer were on my list too but Giant Tiger and/or Walmart have those items at better prices so in the same strip mall, I nipped into G.T. to pick them up. Last stop was Walmart, but I only went in the greenhouse entrance to pay for 2 bags of black top soil. Then home. The day was warming up nicely, already 23C/74F and it wasn’t even noon hour yet.

All packaged up for the freezer

I made a coffee when I came home and spent some time with L J Gibbs. He really is a good puppy. He likes the outdoors and he knows what ringing the bell does so he rang it a lot. I could tell when he was just playing with the bell but mostly, he wanted to be out every 15 minutes! Putting him on the long rope at the step wasn’t working. It was too close to my small garden.

It is blurry, but as soon as I emptied the grocery bag
Gibbs climbed in

Once there, he’d get tangled around the flower box and the tree so I got smarter. I wrapped the rope around the post 5 or 6 times and then clipped him on. 😊 He still could roam a fair distance, reach his water and go under the Suite to the shade. I didn’t feel like sitting just to entertain him, my work took me further and that wouldn’t make him too happy, so this worked amazingly well. He was happy, I was happy and other than checking on him periodically I was able to go about inside stuff.

He was non-stop moving so it was difficult to get
a good picture

Tomorrow, I am accompanying my sister to Owen Sound for an appointment. We were hoping for things (Value Village, The Mission Store, the European Bakery) to be open with today’s lockdown changes but alas, no such luck. Grrr! Not until June 14th. My other sister, Gayle, is coming along too so we’ll pick her up. Not sure what we’ll do while Donna is detained but we’ll figure something out. Even just visiting for the 45 minutes will be nice.

What are you doing, you little bum?
Who me?

Because I can’t get in to shop at Pet Smart, I placed an online order for a bigger bag of Gibbs’ food (so far only available at P.S.) plus a pair of nail clippers. Yup, we donated the pair we had for Clemmy to the shelter with a bunch of other items we weren’t sure we’d ever need again. Ha ha! If it wasn’t for such contained living space, we could have hung onto them for a few years while we decided. I can do a curbside pick up tomorrow since we’ll be right in the area.

My messy, delicious wrap
Who knew egg and tuna went so well together?

After some lunch, another gooey egg and tuna wrap, I began baking some pumpkin cheesecake muffins. Keto, of course. No point in making anything that I won’t eat and I had to use up the pumpkin we bought for Gibbs’ upset tummy and diarrhea (which he didn’t like). It was a big can and the top layer was going bad. The muffins turned out quite nice! They always stick to the paper or silicone cup liners but other than that, a nice treat. Bill isn’t big on pumpkin but hopefully he will like them. If not, all for me!

The sky began changing mid afternoon but it was
still very warm


Gibbs was so good outside for a nice amount of time that I took him for our walk down the hill and back up the other side. When I brought him in, he was tuckered out so I took advantage of him sleeping and slipped outside to clean up the mess of pulled grass and stones from the new garden area. A dirty job but now it is done. There are more stones down the corral hill that need to be picked up and I told Bill I’d do that – just not today.

This little guy sat on this post out our back window
for a long time

I’ll be moving some irises up there and other transplants from the big garden. I was disappointed yesterday to see that my yellow spirea isn’t looking so good. Some of the leaves have died so it has been getting good doses of water ever since. The problem is that it is so sandy and the water runs through and down the hill faster than it has time to soak in to the roots of the bush. The Superstar spirea seems to be doing just fine about two feet away. Maybe I’m fighting a losing battle.

The turtles are really wandering now

I made a cup of tea at 4:15 and relaxed in my chair with my book. Bill could be home anytime unless they are taking advantage of the dry day. We could get some rain this evening, overnight and/or in the morning. No sooner did I get seated, Gibbs wanted to come up. That is rare but I felt lucky for him wanting to cuddle, I picked him up. He settled pretty good beside me and that's when I heard Black Beauty come up the lane.

So, I followed this one for a picture

A close up

We sat together in our chairs but Bill was really tired from a rough night’s sleep and a full day of work in the heat. He was asleep in minutes, no, seconds. A sound sleep. Gibbs and I went outside a couple of times, he’d also been sleeping for a couple of hours. The fresh air does him so good. I watched NCIS reruns and then at 6, started supper. Tonight, plain farmer’s sausages, mixed veggies and mac and cheese. It was probably more than we needed but that just meant we didn’t need dessert.

Pumpkin cheesecake muffins

After dishes, Bill packed his lunch and the rest of the evening was a quiet one. The air outside has cooled down and feels nice coming in the windows. Not too cool at all, 20C/68F and dropping about 7 more degrees through the night. Bill took the storm windows off our door as we believe that we are done with the cold days. Finally. I will clean the screens over the next couple of days. I’ve had the awnings out all day and it has been wonderful not to not have had any strong winds.

It's been a while since we've had Kraft dinner
I'm ashamed to say I enjoyed it

Today was a good day. Ptooties has been taken care of until the fall, some of the cleanup around the gardens is done and our freezer is full of meat. I counted 20 meals after tonight. 😊 I shouldn’t have anything to complain about when it comes to ‘what are we having for supper tonight?’ Shouldn’t, but I won’t promise! There were two auctions closing tonight, both BizyBee and Rockford, starting at 7 so we were keeping an eye on them.

Gibbs likes this weather when he can sit at the screen
door and watch the birds out on the lawn
Good night!

Thank you for your visit today!

Tuesday, June 1, 2021

A Busy Day – Ptooties Oil Change, Planting and PayDay

The Ridge

Tuesday, June 1st was a beautiful day in our neighbourhood. Bill was up and out the door by 7 and I followed a couple of minutes later. Gibbs went into his crate when we left, responsible for looking after the house. The Mat was in pretty decent shape but the change machine wasn’t dispensing quarters. Quarters are needed for some washers that are $3.50 and for all of the dryers. .05¢ gets you 5 minutes.

It's a beautiful morning

I did a quick damp mop in the areas that needed it and when I left, I drove around to the car wash and Ptooties also got a quick wash. She was pretty dirty looking and for $3 she came out looking pretty spiffy. Back home, I had my tea outside with Gibbs and brought him in for his breakfast. It was a beautiful day, 10C/50F, already at 9 so after an outside run, I put the little guy inside and went out to pot my new plants.


All cleaned up for the shop visit

I could have used more black soil but FS Coop didn’t have any yesterday when I was there. I had enough to do 3 pots and 1 hanging planter with some leftover flowers for the bucket up on the hill. Without the dirt, I’m at a standstill. I only had an hour to finish so cleaned up and came inside to wash up and have lunch. I had the timing just right to leave at 12:35 and gathered things, put Gibbs back in his crate and headed for Grey Bruce Fleet.

Mrs. Oriole is loving the oranges

And the finches in the foreground were happy too

As I approached their entrance, I wondered where I’d put my phone. Oh darn! I forgot it! I never do that and as much as I hate to admit, without it feels like I’m missing a very important limb. LOL I had texted Bill and received no response by the time I left so borrowed Kate’s phone to let him know where I was and where my communicator was. 😊 Unfortunately, my credit and debit cards are in my phone case. Crap!


Kate said it was no problem that I couldn’t pay for the oil change today, another day was fine. They are a new business here in the area and obviously winning our hearts.  She and I had a lovely talk again, this time more about dogs and she was thrilled for our news of a new ‘baby’. She has her own grown, large dogs in her office with her.  Two well-behaved dogs, I might add.

Hanging along the corral fence

The ones in the trays go up the hill in the bucket shovel

I had planned on carrying on to Hanover’s Independent store to stock up on meat for our freezer but this put a damper on that, meaning driving back home 20 minutes, back to the shop to pay and then go shopping.  As it turned out, we needed a cabin filter but she wouldn’t have one until early morning Wednesday so she suggested I wait and pay in the morning when I stop for them to put it in. That made my decision easier. I would go home today and do the shopping tomorrow too.


This one is over by the outhouse

By this time, I was quite warm and so was the day but back home I didn’t want to waste a minute. I loaded up the wagon with the tomato and pepper plants, trowel, hoe, a full watering can, Gibbs’ water dish, my water bottle, garden gloves and his long rope leash. By hook or by crook I’d get these planted today. As you can imagine, it wasn’t easy. Someone’s name got spoken (loudly) Leroy Jethro! quite a few times until he got the idea that he couldn’t walk on the plants nor could he drink the water I poured into the holes.


Down by the corral

Finally, happy with the job, I loaded up and headed down the hill. Gibbs’ rope was all tangled up in the wheels and I had to detangle them a few times. Maybe that wasn’t such a great idea but I didn’t think it fair to leave him indoors again. When we came down, I took him off the leash and let him run for a bit while I put things away. This made me nervous because he has a tendency to chase Chippy. I witnessed that first hand earlier when he was on his retractable leash, thank God! He went right over the steep hill that leads to the shallow pond.

So, the vegetables are planted and there's room 
for more, once I decide.

I heard Jamie turn into the lane so managed to get a grip on my excited little guy and chatted with my boss for a few minutes. Payday! Yay! It is always nice to have that cash even if it isn’t a windfall. I worked for it and Jamie is happy to drive it out when he is able 😊 After he left, I put Gibbs inside. He was tired I’m sure. Soon after, Bill drove in and we eventually all came inside for a much-needed rest.


Including the ones not yet opened, we
have 21 blooms

Since I didn’t get shopping today, we’ll be having fish and chips for supper. I will be happy to have meal choices again, things are looking pretty sparse in the freezer. The Basa filets were good and the deep-fried chips were too. I had some leftover mushroom gravy in the fridge so I heated that up and it added to my meal quite nicely. I hate wasting gravy so this worked out perfectly.

The little hummer taking a break from his meal
 I zoomed in, this house is 2 properties away

When we were almost done dishes, Gibbs began ringing the bells at the door. I’ve been waiting for him to have a poop all day so I was happy when we walked down the corral hill and he took his time but did his business. It seems to be a routine for him before his evening supper at 8. Bill packed his lunch and then went out to do the finishing touches on the stoop. We were missing a few boards; I think I mentioned that on Saturday.

We've seen 3 turtles over the last week after not
seeing any nesters for weeks

Supper was so good even though it was forbidden

Gibbs sat at the door and pined for his Daddy but I stayed inside with him and worked on my blog. 

The bottom two steps are now finished
They were each just one single board since Saturday

After Bill went out to work on the step
Gibbs patiently waited for him
The day was a bit upside down with my plans being changed but since it was from my own forgetfulness that caused the change, I can only blame myself. Besides, only the appointment was carved in stone, the shopping can be done on my day off tomorrow. 😊This was a great day and the summer weather is absolutely welcome! More of that is on the way.

Looking out our back window facing east,
the sunset reflects on the neighbours shed


And the pink clouds are beautiful too
Good night
I hope your day was a good one too

Thank you for stopping in for a visit. Your comments are always welcome.