Saturday June 6, 2009

What a beautiful day today was! We could use a few more of these, please! With a low of 13C (55F) and a high of 25C (77F) and a few cloudy periods, it was the best day we've had in a long while.

I did go on my walk this morning and after breakfast we got ready to go in to Ottawa to my sister's for lunch.

We arrived around 11 a.m. and shortly after that, our nephew, Nick arrived (his wife, Becky was working), followed by our niece, Danica who had been refereeing soccer. We saw photos of Margie and John's recent trip to Vancouver, Victoria and Whistler. They hooked up the camera (my old one) to their new 42 inch TV. They had a great time!

Nick with his brand new car


Then we had lunch, very good, pasta salad, wraps, cold cuts and bean salad with rhubarb crumble for desert. Thanks Margie & John!

We left around 2 p.m. as Gordon had a doctor's appointment to check his hemoglobin which had been low when he had his medical but it's fine now.

After that we stopped at Loblaws for a few groceries then off to Jack Pine Trail where we saw quite a bit of wild life. Here are the photos.

Blue Jay

This deer crossed the trail right in front of us

The trail

Boardwalk through the marsh

Red squirrel close up

Baby ducks

Another red squirrel - they are all over the place

Ducks on a log

Muskrat


Buttercups


Dragonfly on a leaf


When we got home, we both had a nap!

Friday June 5, 2009

I didn't need a jacket this morning! It was a beautiful, bright sunny day.

Gordon left early to meet his photographer friend, Jim at the Cumberland Heritage Village Museum in the east end (close to where we were parked when we arrived but it wasn't open for the season when we were there).

I spent the morning doing girlie things, playing computer games and reading. I sat outside for a while. Here are some views from my lawnchair.

Wonder what these robins are doing?

This afternoon I got out my jewelry making supplies and put them out on the picnic table. I just made one necklace as the sun was making my tools really hot to the touch!



Gordon got home just after shortly after 2 p.m. I didn't really do much today!

Thursday June 4, 2009

It was a beautiful morning for my walk 11C (52F) sunny with a bit of a breeze.

After breakfast, I coloured my hair so that's done for another 6 weeks or so.

We headed to the Dodge dealer in Smiths Falls about 12:15 p.m. for our 1 p.m. appointment to get our new tires. Apparently the dealer in Kingston that put our tires on two years ago put the wrong ones on. They were only rated for passenger cars! Gordon had told them to put the same thing on that was already on the truck and obviously they didn't. So be careful when replacing tires. Now we have light truck tires (LT). It's kind of scary that we've been running with 65 pounds pressure in the tires and they were rated for 35! Doesn't pay to trust dealers!

When we got back to Carleton Place we went and got the truck washed and wiped it down with towels. It looks pretty good for the moment!

Clean truck

New tires

It was a nice day today 21C (70F) and sunny. It's supposed to continue to get warmer over the next few days.

Wednesday June 3, 2009

Now that's better! It was 10C (50F) and bright and sunny when I left to go on my morning walk. I do so love these kinds of mornings!

Today we had to go in to Ottawa for Gordon to have bloodwork done, then we went to the chiropractor and then to Bayshore Shopping Centre to pick up a few things. From there we stopped at Giant Tiger (a Canadian department type store) but they didn't have what I wanted. Then we stopped to get Gordon some corn tortillas as we're running out of the ones that I brought from the U.S. A final stop for Gordon at Henrys (Canadian camera store) where he purchased a new camera body - you'll have to check out his photos at www.pbase.com/merriwolf over the next few days to see if you can see a difference in his photos. He bought a Canon Rebel T1I with 15 megapixels. Thank goodness for photo sales!

We got up to about 21C (70F) today. We had sun, clouds and even a few rain sprinkles but all in all it was the nicest day we've had in a while.

After dinner, Gordon wanted to try out his new camera so we went out for a drive. There were some beautiful skies with the clouds but as sunset approached the clouds started to leave as they often do.

I just love this log house!

Clouds over Jock River

Dead tree and geese

More clouds over the Jock

Shed in a field

Old log barn

Tree-lined driveway

Bucolic scene

Tuesday June 2, 2009

It was cloudy and chilly this morning 7C (45F) but no rain in the immediate forecast.

After breakfast I took the laundry in to Carleton Place and when it was done I went to several different stores for some groceries arriving home around 1:30 p.m.

Gordon ordered our new tires for the truck today so they will get put on sometime this week.

We had both cloud and sun today and it warmed up quite a bit to around 19C (66F). That temperature I can live with. I prefer it to being really hot and humid.

After putting the groceries and the clean clothes away, I lay down to read and fell asleep for a short time. I knew I had to get up to get dinner on the stove and I wanted to make a 'from scratch' cornbread since I have gluten free all purpose flour. It turned out good although I prefer the one from the mix as it doesn't contain flower and isn't as heavy.

Before dinner, I took a walk around the park and took some photos.

Mountain Bluet

Sparrow on the gate

Pretty pink flower with a bug on it

Staring match with the chipmunk

Rhubarb gone to seed

Bee on a flower

Monday, June 1, 2009

At 8 a.m. it was only 7C (45F). Pretty chilly for the 1st day of June! The sun was shining though so that made a difference.

Gordon made an appointment to go to the Dodge dealer this afternoon to see if our tire can be repaired, get the oil changed on the truck and get my window fixed. The switch for my window hasn't worked since we were in Texas this winter but Gordon can open it from the driver's side so we haven't been in a big hurry to fix it. It sure is a pain though when I see a photo that I want to take through the window and I can't open it!

So we spent the afternoon at the dealer. They fiddled around with the window switch and it works now but might have to be replaced. We also priced new tires for the truck and I think we're going ahead and replace them.

There were two lamborghinis for sale at the dealership.

Downtown Smiths Falls

We got home about 5 p.m. On the way home the temperature in the truck was reading 8C (46F)! This area set quite a few records in May for low temperatures. Sure doesn't surprise me. It's been downright chilly!

Today's photos aren't very good as I took them from either inside the dealership or inside the truck and it was rainy and cloudy.

Sunday May 31, 2009

It was bright and sunny but chilly at 10C (50F) and there was a bit of a north wind that I discovered when I started heading north for my walk on the Appleton Side Road. But it was a lovely morning for a walk and I enjoyed it.

This morning I just played around on the computer and cleaned the bathroom. I had done vacuuming yesterday. Can't do too much cleaning in one day!

Last night after the get together at the rec hall and my blog posting, the owner of the park came over to pump out our tanks. While Gordon was outside, he noticed that the driver's side rear tire on the truck was quite low so he pumped up what he could with our little air compressor that we carry in the truck then went in to town to a garage to fill it up. This morning it was down 8 lb. so he drove in to Canadian Tire and they found a screw in the tire so he got that patched but when he got home he realized they only put 34 pounds of air in it.

By late morning the skies clouded up and it started to rain again. It was supposed to be a sunny day!

Around 1 p.m. we left to put air in the tire that was just repaired and to head into Ottawa to see my sister and her family. On our way into Ottawa the temperature dropped to 4C (39F). I almost expected to see snow!

We were on the western edge of Ottawa when all of sudden Gordon pulled off the road. Just as we were pulled off I heard the whap, whap, whap sound. We had another flat tire! This was the front one on the same side. I called our Emergency Road Service and it took about 1 hr 15 min for Glen's Towing to arrive and put on the spare.

It's only flat on the bottom!

I called my sister and told her we wouldn't be making it today. After the tire was changed, we continued in to the nearest place to be sure the spare had enough air in it, then headed home and stopped to get some water. We had planned to fill our jugs at my sister's place as I love Ottawa water! We didn't make it home till nearly 5 p.m. It had made it up to 12C (53F) by then. Very strange weather!

Today didn't turn out as we'd planned but it could have been much worse and on the way home I saw this beautiful deer at one of the interchanges which made me think that the day was okay after all.

Such a beautiful, graceful creature

May Expenses

Here are our expenses for May. We did really well considering we bought quite a bit of computer stuff and also dental and medical. There might be a slight adjustment when I send our chiropractor bills in for payment.