complain complain

 Dear daughter and I went to the Valley Showcase trade show today. I guess we might as well have stayed home because there was absolutely nothing there to interest us. We finished our jaunt at WalMart so I could buy five more bags of potting soil. Five more should finish my projects for this year.

I'm a bit ticked with Amazon this week. At the beginning of the week I order a case of cat food, a bottle of vitamins, a pair of leggings to wear with my kameeze dress, a box of latex gloves and a package of laundry detergent sheets. It was one order due to arrive on the 23. On that day a CanPar truck pulled up and left a WalMart box on our doorstep. What the hey???? I opened it up to find the case of cat food. I didn't order it from WM!!!! Yesterday a padded envelope was left at the door. It was the leggings. Today there were three boxes and another padded envelope. The envelope contained the laundry sheets. I buy them to reduce my plastic use for goodness sake!! Another box the size of a large shoe box contained the bottle of vitamins. The next box was the latex gloves and the last had something else, what was it? I forget. I think the time has come to cut the apron strings with that place. I hate shopping. Unfortunately it's difficult to find some of our favorite products at small family owned places in the nearby community. I kind of feel like shopping at WM is six of one, or half dozen of the other (Amazon).

We're in for a string of rainy days.  We had a break after dinner so I went out and emptied the bags of potting soil and raked the big box nice and level.  I'll let the rain get that box ready for the planting! It's a big box, about six by six feet. I'm only going to plant beans and tomatoes in it this year. Peas take far too much space for the result. Two of the smaller beds are full of garlic. Once it is pulled I will plant salad greens in one and carrots in the other. The middle box has horseradish and herbs, so it's a permanent planter.  I need to plant the gladiolus corms I bought today. I'll start them indoors in pots to give them a good jump start in warmth, then put them in the garden later in May. I find our soil stays too cold to late into the spring so they are late sprouting outdoors. They often get knocked out by frost before they amount to anything. 

Notes about stuff on a Thursday

 I was up early and headed to the town today. I'm hoping to get back into my Thursday routine. A quick trip to the garden center to collect a few bags of good soil. (We are on beach sand here so raised boxes with soil brought in is necessary to grow most things.) Second stop was the pharmacy to pick up a prescription for Himself. McD is across the parking lot so I popped in there to grab a coffee. I like their coffee. I drove downtown and parked at the marina for a bit to watch the geese and enjoy a peaceful sip. I walked over to the main street and purchased a birthday gift for my grandson. His birthday isn't until the middle of June, but a vendor I like had something nice on sale so it was the time to grab it. On the way home I swung by the dairy and picked up some yummy Maple Dale Cheese. We really like the Extra Old. They had the Maple Bacon in stock too!  So that was my exciting day. I was home by 11AM.

After a bit of a rest I went out and did a bit of yard work. The bags of soil had to be spread in the planter box. I raked a bit, then hung out the sheets. After all that I had a nap!

We were hauling out our garbage and recycle for the week. M and I noted that our entire recycle bin is cat food cans and those annoying plastic clam shell packs that our fruits and veggies come in. I wish there was some way around that nonsense. I recently had a dream where we saved those plastic containers in a clear plastic bag, then took them into the grocery store and demanded the manager do something about it, Hmmm, that's a thought!

While cleaning the downstairs bathroom this afternoon the scrapes on the cedar wall had me thinking back. My eldest daughter had a serious accident while she was away at university. She was in a wheelchair for quite a long time.  When we built this house in the late 80s, we thought ahead to aging in place. There is a no barrier main floor bedroom and bathroom. Until she learned to "drive" the chair well on her own, daughter would frequently scrape the wall.  I'm so happy she managed to get fully mobile as the years went on. 

I'm going to take my dog and go sit in the sunshine on the back porch before dinner.

Sunshine makes me happy

 It's a cold blustery day, but the sunshine is beautiful. The ground was white when I woke up, but Mr. Sun made short work of that. The outdoor thermometer didn't budge an awful lot though.

Nursing a sore back, I'm trying to lay kind of low yesterday and today. I was dragging the wet Swiffer around in the kitchen and ZAPPP, an old back problem resurfaced to remind me it was still festering in my connective tissue. 

The next couple of days are warming up quite a bit and the sunshine is hanging on. I'd sure like to be out there doing some yard work. I have been moving around the wee pots with the tomatoes. The upstairs south facing windows don't seem to get as many hours of sun as the downstairs. (This house does have deep eaves on the south side, a benefit in the hot months, but not so much in early spring.) One day in a new location and the little plants are popping up like crazy.

I was sitting at the diningroom table writing birthday cards to three of my adult children. They were all born within a week of days (different years of course). The call of the doves outside the window caught my attention. There is a pair hanging around the maple tree beside the garden shed doing a lot of courting. I didn't see any doves around the yard last year so it's a happy sight! I hope there will be wee ones soon. The bald eagle population over this little valley is BOOMING. A couple of weeks ago we saw a pair of mature adults (their white heads differentiate them from juveniles) feasting on something in the neighbours field. This morning I've seen a couple of them flying around. I sure wish they would get the squirrel population under control. The fox and fisher population in the immediate neighbourhood seems to have died off. The neighbourhood trapper claims that mange is ravaging the population of predators.

I heard from the insurance people this morning. The cheque is in the mail. 

The End

 We are going to take a settlement from the insurance company and deal with the issue ourselves. For now we are just going to seal the chimney, fix the roof and replace the insulation. We may rebuild down the line when conditions improve.

April 21

 The weekend is drawing to a close. It is windy and cold. We've had ice pellets, snow and rain today. When I got up to the bathroom at 2AM the ground was white. When I woke up this morning it was raining and there was no sign of the white stuff.

We had a nice bbq dinner for M. stepsister;s birthday yesterday. She was estranged from her family due to a controlling abusive spouse for some years. We are all working hard to make up for lost time. Her late mother was my closest friend from more than 20 yrs ago.  Sister is within the same age range as my girls and knew them from school. She and my local daughter are friendly. I love this kid and happy she is back in the fold. When we are together she always wants to talk about her dear mother and I'm happy to have that time with her.

The dull weather and lack of movement on our household dilemma is playing on my nerves. All I want to do is lay in bed and read. M. took me shopping to replenish my art supplies a few days ago. I have sketches at hand and ideas in my minds eye, but just can't get up the whatever to pull out some canvas and start slapping on the paint. 

Scammers

 We've had friends who've had one their social media accounts "cloned". We wonder what the heck these people are trying to gain.

A friend of ours thinks he found out. His Facebook was cloned about a year ago. He warned his associates and moved on. That cloned account might have come back to haunt him. The past couple of weeks people have been showing up at his door for crazy demands. Some are there to collect items they purchased from "him" via etransfer. Some come to collect money from thing he "bought". A sanitation company came to collect for porta potty rentals. Police claim there is nothing they can do about it.

scary situation

I talked to my insurance guy today. We can't get workers. One guy who gave us a wishy washy quote is now ghosting us, so it looks like he doesn't want the job. The other guy who came out made a lot of demands and odd promises that raised red flags. The insurance company rejected him. Back to square one.

Cabin Fever

 The day dawned cold and wet and downright miserable.

We spent the morning reading but started to get itchy. The Princess got loaded into the back seat and off we went. We stopped at McD for some lunch and coffee. The last time I was in this particular McD they screwed up my coffee, then got mad at me, and downright rude, when I requested the right thing. This time that owner got snippy when I requested more salt and ketchup. We used to know the long term manager of this outlet. I bumped into him around Christmas time and he gave me quite an earful. 

With lunch in the bag we drove to the beach at the nearby military establishment. During the warm months this beach and campground is packed. No such thing today. We sat in the warm car and watched the angry waves roll in. 

The sky cleared later in the day. We finally had visitors wander by the trail camera. They were nibbling fresh buds as they meandered up the trail. I heard snorting when the pup and I went up, so Momma was letting us know she had her eye on us. Don't mind the date and time stamp on the photo. The camera just won't hold my correction. The temperature is accurate though. Brrrr!

 

The weekend has arrived

 It is cold, wet and windy. We did grocery shop yesterday. My goodness, the creeks and rivers are sure roaring now!

My insurance people aren't even returning my calls now. I'm getting pretty upset.

Just beautiful

 I could happily spend this whole day just walking in the woods. There are so many birds! I hear and/or see blue jays, crows, phoebe, robins, gold finches galore, three types of wood pecker and the sweet pair of doves that hang around my yard. Surprisingly, we didn't see them last year. I wonder why?

This is me doing what I love to do most in this world.

The buds are swelling on the trees. It won't be long now. I thought there would be a lot more storm damage along my trail, but it's minimal. Lots of small branches and one long dead cherry tree down was all I could see. That low piece of land at my back used to be a bog. About 15 years ago our big tractor get seriously stuck down there. It's so dry now you could drive a car through it after a bit of trimming.  The slope on the left side of the path will soon be covered with trilliums.

Eclipse

 Don't get too excited. I don't have any photos.

We went for a walk while it was supposedly at it's peak for our area. It was quite cloudy to start with, but it got quite a bit dimmer. The temperature dropped a few degrees too. If one didn't know better, you would think a good old fashioned thunder boomer was moving in. My sister lives much closer to the area of totality, but she reported the same conditions we have.

It was dark for the time of day for about an hour. Now the sky is clear and the sun is warm and bright. 

We found another guy to come look at our chimney job. It was not encouraging. He's estimate came in a LOT more expensive and a lot longer. He wants us to leave the house for three weeks. This company wants $500 to do a written estimate for the insurance company.

I'm making omlettes for dinner. Whoop whoop. Exciting day, hahaha

snow

 It has FINALLY stopped snowing here. We got a good foot of very heavy snow. The neighbour across the road came by with his huge ancient tractor and did the head of the lane. (The plow didn't come by until about noon hour!). He was ready to do the lane, but the ground is very soft under the snow so I thanked him profusely for breaking the bank and said we would wait for the rest to melt.

The furnace guys were here until dinner time yesterday. They did a good job. We are finding the gas heat a bit warmer than we are used to.  (different folks told us we might get used to a cooler house, hahhahaha).  When they were backing their big trailer into the yard they got it STUCK at the head of the lane. 

They finally had to unhook the trailer and fiddle with it.

The lane was well packed snow by the time these other vehicles and the propane company were in and out a few times. 

So winter has dumped on us with a giggle. Thankfully the temperatures are going to be good and warm into next week and it will all be gone again. 

Lets get this show on the road

 I am so fed up with this restoration company! They are telling me they can't get a masonry contractor to price the job. M.  has been doing some research. He's talked to a couple of contractors. One fellow came out today. We were pretty happy with our talk with him. I've contacted the insurance company about signing off and contracting ourselves.

Our new furnace goes in tomorrow. Did I mention we are in the middle of a raging snowstorm??

Say it ain't so

 The weather guessers are telling us we should expect 20 to 30 cm of snow over the next 24 to 32 hours! Winters last dash?

On thursday the heating contractors are coming to tear out our two old furnaces and installing a new gas model. M. phoned the heating contractor to see what they though, but they aren't worried. They said they would give us electric heaters between works.

We had a really nice Easter dinner. We had lots of family and strays. I was so happy that my dear daughter and M. sister (who was estranged to her family for several years due to an abusive marriage) were able to be here. The girls have known each other since their school days. 

I'm really getting ticked off with our postal service stamps. At Christmas time I had two cards, with enclosed gifts, returned due to the stamps coming off. I was so mad to find two Easter cards back in my box today with no postage. These peel and stick stamps aren't all their are not too reliable.