The Beginning of the End, ahem, Our Last Week Here

The Ridge

On Monday, Nov. 1^st we woke up a bit confused. It’s funny, actually. Bill had set his alarm for 6:45 as he was taking Black Beauty to Grey Bruce Fleet Service for an 8 o’clock oil change. Gibbs woke us up gently, after one of us moved, at 6:15. Our little personal alarm clock. ♥

A cloudy calm morning

Bill got up and looked at his phone. It said 6:01 instead of 7:01. I questioned the DST date, was it last night after all? We’d checked and, on the calendars, it said next Saturday night, Nov. 6^th. It was important we had it right only because of the appointment time. In conclusion, somehow his phone time zone (?) got switched to NO daylight savings time. Not sure why or how that messed it up but anyway, we figured it out. 😊

Turned into a pretty nice sky

He left after 7:30 for GBFS about a 20-minute drive. Gibbs and I got up and I had my tea sitting at the table to write yesterday’s blog. Yesterday was indeed a busy day but it was all for good reason. We did accomplish the necessary things and a fun evening to boot! Today, other than the oil change I was hoping to get ptooties cleaned and vacuumed. My windows need to be washed too since somehow ??? they have nose prints all over them!

Gibbs heard Billy as he was pulling out of the lane
Again, the picture is backward but Billy's truck is the blurred
vision beside the Bunky

Bill called at 9 asking me to pick him up. BB needed more than just an oil change. Bill asked Jeff to check her over before we head south and with a couple of issues to take care of, they needed to keep it overnight. Kate’s instruction was for me to bring Gibbs. She hasn’t seen him since he was a few months old. 😊 I was happy to oblige and so was the little guy. ‘Not so little anymore!’, Kate said.

My two Hallowe'en additions

A blurry ghost earring

Before leaving Durham, we stopped at I.D.A. Pharmacy to pick up Bill’s one prescription, his winter supply. Back home, I parked the car close to the Suite still hoping to vacuum. When we came inside, Bill had a couple of small jobs to take care of, one being to clean our Blue Flame heater. It has stopped working. I made a coffee and stayed out of the way but unfortunately, that wasn’t the fix. We’re still stumped but gave it a rest in the hopes we can figure it out.

Time for a snooze
Not such a Momma's boy here, eh?

With the ground beef from Costco, I bagged 3 lbs. for the freezer and with the remaining 2 lbs. made a pot of chili for travel. Madame IP did the work while I fed the ingredients in. It smells yummy and once it cooled, I divided it up into freezable containers. That will help us with meals on our journey through the states until we reach our destination. Our buddies, Rob and Pat, gave us that idea a few years ago and it is a valuable bit of advice.

It doesn't look like much but it made enough
for about 4 meals on the road

The day wasn’t very nice at all with very brief patches of sun and blue sky. Hmmm, do I really want to go out and work in the car today? Bill and Gibbs snoozed and I thought I should eat something. Then I’d make the decision about going out. You can tell I was putting it off. A cup of noodle soup was my lunch but since Bill had breakfast, he wasn’t as hungry and would make something if he needed it. Our breakfast/lunch meals are usually very haphazard like that. It works for us. 😊

More snoozing

Gibbs played what we call ‘games’ with us all afternoon. Ringing the bell every hour. Sometimes, he did nothing. The cool day perhaps made him feel like he had to piddle a lot more, I know it did that for me! He and I spent a fair bit of time upstairs watching a couple of programs, Downton Abbey reruns are always a favourite for me. Gibbs isn’t fussy as long as he can sleep with one of us.

Gibbs watching the doggies on tv
up in the bedroom

He barked up a storm when he heard, then saw out the window, Billy’s Dodge come up the lane to drop the work trailer off. Because of the work site being so close to us, Bill offered them the drop off space for this week while we are here. It saves them pulling it all the way from the Mike’s place in Mildmay. We close our heavy gate when we pull out so it won’t be accessible after the weekend. Bill tried to work on the heater again with no luck. ☹

a cold walk down the lane and another twig to add to the pile

then back upstairs for more tv

For supper, we agreed on eggs and bacon with a Hallowe’en cake for dessert. Why the heck not? It goes along with my bracelet and earrings, the only holiday related things that I wore this year. 😊 Our omelette sandwiches turned out delicious, and you CAN have eggs for supper! The cake was good too, very light and even the icing was light and not sweet at all. The only kind I like. We did dishes, fed Gibbs and Bill took him out for his walk. I was going to wait for half hour.

Egg omelette quesadilla

This was a good day even though it will turn out to cost us more money than we thought. We settled down to watch our Monday tv programs together before calling it a night.

Dessert
good night!

Thank you for the visit!

What Did I Get Up To on Sunday?

The Ridge

It was a mildish morning when we woke up on Sunday, Oct. 31^st. It was Hallowe’en and, on this day, I hoped for two things. One that it was a non-white precipitation day for us and the other that it would be a decent evening for the trick or treaters. I hate to see the little ones, especially, having their fun Hallowe’en spoiled by the weather. I knew I wouldn’t get a blog started let alone finished. We were busy from beginning to its finality.

It was a dark morning drive to start

I was up at 7:15 and out the door to clean the Mat for the last time within 15 minutes. I wanted to do a good job, (oh darn! I just remembered I was going to use the broom to dust the upper cobwebs!) making sure all things got done plus the big dryer lint. It wasn’t busy when I arrived but by the time I left there were 5 vehicles, customers with at least 2 washers each, in the parking lot. Good for Jamie!

The drive to Guelph was uneventful

When I left there, I had no other stops so scooted home. Bill and I left Gibbs in charge and by 9:30 we were heading out to Guelph Costco. The list was long and before we left, a sizeable donation had been paid. 😊 Oh well, it stocked us up and we only missed 3 items of which they didn’t have today. After putting groceries away, since it was 1:30 by then, we just had a nibble to tie us over until supper. I’d had yogourt before work and Bill had some toast while I was gone.

Even though we left a lot of cash here,
it isn't our bank of choice!

The sky began clearing up nicely

Donna and Gerry had invited us, Gayle and John (the other winter travellers), and Cathy and Bill, our oldest sister, to a lasagna supper. We love this pasta meal and if I don’t have to prepare it, all the better! We got to Hanover shortly after 3 and stopped at Walmart to pick up a pair of black shoes for Bill. They had no choices but luckily the one style they had was suitable for a wedding and at a great price. Like his new suit he won’t be wearing these much.

Still some pretty fall colours but
they are far and few between as the dresses come off

On our way home from Guelph,
we scooted through Alma to check out the
community centre for Saturday night parking

It was 3:45 when we pulled into their driveway and once G & J arrived we gathered at her dining table and were eating shortly after 5:30. Delicious! I shouldn’t have had such a large piece of her apple pudding for dessert, nor the scoop of ice cream but it was tasty and I wasn’t uncomfortable at least. 😊

I like the way the water tower in Mount Forest
seems to sit at the end of the street

We enjoyed the evening until 7:30 or so when Bill and I packed up to leave. We thanked Donna and Gerry for the lovely thought and offer to host a ‘Farewell to the Snowbirds’ dinner. ♥ Gibbs had been quite excitable with all the company but it is to be expected for a puppy. I don’t regret for a second having a puppy in our lives but I do admit that it is sometimes tiring when in the presence of others.

We walked a bit before going to supper
Trying to tire someone out

I didn't give anyone a warning for the picture
so I apologize to Cathy - no matter,
she's still my pretty sister while eating!♥

The meal was delicious
Pea soup, lasagna, caesar salad and garlic toast

apple pudding and butterscotch ice cream 
for dessert

When we arrived home, we watched a bit of tv and when I kept falling asleep in my chair, at 9, Bill prompted me to go to bed.  That is just too early BUT I didn’t argue and Gibbs and I disappeared upstairs. I know I was asleep in no time. Perhaps the Beer Margaritas had something to do with that too! 😊 It was a wonderful busy day and with only a few days left here at the Ridge, we seem to have something going on for each one.

Gibbs likes the taste of Gerry's beer
licking the tops of the bottles

Woops! caught in the act!
Good night!

Thank you for your patience with today’s post and for stopping by. I hope you had a fun Hallowe’en. 

My daughter
A child of the corn!

My brother Michael and his wife, Crystal
I love their spirit!
TRICK OR TREAT!

PS – Donna says they never get trick or treaters down their street so we missed out so I'll include a couple of pictures of family who get into the spirit. Didn't get any of my grandchildren though!