Monday, March 18, 2024

It will be springing

 Spring that is....will arrive tomorrow.

We had SNOW overnight. Yuck.

I remember Easter Egg hunts over the years. Some years the kiddies would be running around barefoot on green grass looking for the prize. Other years they would be crying in their winter coats, too cold to do it. Kind of like Halloween!!

I wonder what our weather will be like this year. I'm looking forward to spring.


Wednesday, March 13, 2024

I'll tell you why

 Are you familiar with that old adage, "Getting old ain't for sissy's"?

I feel it in my bones more and more every day. Having a lot of stress in our lives right now is not helping us live our "best life". 

But folks, we do feel like we are living our Best Life these days. Yes, we are out at the back end of nowhere. Yes, the house needs a big fix. Yes, we live below the poverty line.

On the other hand, we have our health. The home is paid for. The big fix is covered by insurance.

We live a very quiet life and our needs are met. Our wants are pretty humble. We are old school folks in that respect. Needs take priority over any wants, so they get saved for. Sometimes it takes quite awhile. We had quite a good vacation last summer. We could only afford that because we were effectively living in isolation for several years and didn't spend any money. (Weren't we all!)

The small city close to us has become a nightmare. We wouldn't venture there at night unless it was an emergency. Last night there was a stabbing. There are drug addled people falling down dead on the street for goodness sake. What a heartbreaking scene the downtown has become. Stores are once again shuttering the doors for good.  

Out here in the boonies there isn't really any crime to worry about.  We all have big dogs that sound warnings and are quick to chase off intruders. We have nothing of value anyway.  We have nice gardens. I doubt a big veggie plot would last long in the city. Vandals are always attacking the community garden behind the old convent. We have wonderful neighbours who we feel are another branch of family. Some of them are pretty eccentric, but in a good way.  I doubt if my family in the town even know their neighbours.

When my husband passed away suddenly twenty years ago, my children were rather insistent that I needed to move to S.Ontario to be closer to them. I dug in my heels. When I read the news from the old hometown, and talk to my dear brother who still lives there, I'm horrified. He has constant break ins despite lights, cameras and a big rowdy dog.

Why do I live where I live? Need you ask why? 


Friday, March 8, 2024

TGIF

 What a gorgeous morning it is.  I made a pot of coffee and another of tea, then stepped outdoors with the princess pup. It was still well below zero but the sun was just lovely. I quickly ducked indoors and grabbed my car keys. I moved the car back around the front of the house. Why? 

We went to the town and did a pretty big grocery shop yesterday. It was a lot to carry in and Mr.M is still not able to carry much at all. Oh boy, when we drove up the side lane it did not feel good. It is very very soft. The car did make some slight divots but not nearly as bad as the mess the tractor made last spring! Seeing as the ground was good and firm after our cold night I was able to move Miss Tomato Red back in front of the garage on the gravel. Later on I'm going to slide the generator back into it's corner so I can put Miss R back under cover. We have a lot of rain and snow coming. (Or maybe I should just leave her out and let Mother Nature give her a bath? The joy of living on a dirt road. One can barely see any gravel on it for goodness sake.) It's not like we are planning to go anywhere for awhile.

Today we are going to bake bread and make Chinese food. Mr.M. makes the best wontons! I still think he's wasting his talents being a small engine mechanic. He should be a private chef. My goodness.

He's back to work next week. I sure hope his poor ribs are up to that. He does NOT need a setback.

My blog friends are showing little pretty things starting to grow. No such beauty here yet.

Tuesday, March 5, 2024

Tuesday started off on a positive note

 We kind of slept in today. Now that the weather is feeling kind of springish I keep the curtains on the east facing window open. There are Chrystal balls hanging in the window. When I wake up there are rainbows around the room if the sun is shining. 

It was so warm and sunny this morning. We hung around on the side porch for awhile.  M. cleaned the BBQ and I swept up a bit and opened lawn chairs.

The gas man came out this afternoon and got us set up for our installation in April.

It started to rain about 3PM. It didn't cool down to much, unlike Sarnia! Whoa!!! It was down to 4 from 20 when we were chatting late this afternoon!

Sunday, March 3, 2024

Seedy Sunday

 The only year I missed Seedy Sunday was due to just having knee replacement surgery. One other year I wasn't home for the local event, but attended the Toronto show at Evergreen Brickworks.

Today was a BIG showing. It was hard to find parking, but I caught a break. Someone moved out right close to the entrance while I was approaching.

My big purchases were four new varieties of tomato. I was looking for Brandywine, but couldn't find any there. There were some nice offerings from GAIA in Manotick. He has to be one of the biggest tomato "breeders" in Canada. I like that they are reasonably close to us so I know our climates match. This company used to be called Greta's Seeds. I sure miss Greta. She had such an encyclopedic knowledge of tomatoes and how to grow them.

My other purchase was some nice homegrown soap from a local vendor. I've purchased from this vendor for years.

Later this afternoon I got the first lot of tomatoes put to bed in the hydroponic thing. They need a long season. 

Some folks in our area are STILL without power! The village of Eganville didn't get back online until later this afternoon.

Thursday, February 29, 2024

Crazy days

 We had one crazy night yesterday. When the temperature dropped like a stone the winds picked up.

Our power went out, flickered, came back, went out for a couple of hours. Came back on. Man, that went on all night. I unplugged the electronics so we wouldn't be having issues with power surges. There are still far to many things that beep when the power goes off and on like that.  I didn't sleep well.

It got pretty chilly in the house last night but we were cozy enough. The dry air is really hard on me though. I have nose bleeds almost every night and my lips are raw and sore. I will try to remember to put my humidifier on HIGH tonight as my Ear,Nose and Throat specialist suggested.

I didn't go any further than the mailbox for the newspaper today. The wind continues to blow like mad.

My insurance person called today to talk about our project. He wanted to know if I was going to act as contractor and hire my own people. NOT A CHANCE MAN! The message got passed on to the restoration company so I hope to hear from them soon. We are going to have to coordinate all that with the heating contractor. 

I'm sure looking forward to warmer days and the weekend (when I don't have to be talking to this insurance and restoration people every day). It's mentally exhausting having to make a crucial decision about one thing or another on the fly each and every day.

Wednesday, February 28, 2024

How do you say relief

 Insurance head office has approved our claim and the estimate. Let the mess begin!

Our new furnace will be installed April 4/5.

The weather turned on a dime. Sudden drop in temperature and our power is flickering. I got dinner in a hot oven warming.

Happy Thursday

 Our temperature is still well above zero at 10C, but there is going to be a rapid flash freeze. Our garbage doesn't get picked up until the wee hours of Friday morning, but I wasn't about to go out on the skating rink tomorrow so I've hauled it all to the curb. On the way back to the house I noticed there is a LOT of rubble on the roof (last of the snow melted last night). I'm going to go out with my camera and take another photo.

We talked to our heating contractor again this morning and made arrangements for the new installation. Glad to have that out of the way at least.

We are hunkered down for a couple of days. Friday evening we are going to a birthday dinner for our good friend PaulE. They live just around the corner. 

Just had a quick chat with my sister in Sarnia. She said her temperature has dropped from +6C to the minus double digits in just a couple of hours! At least they don't have snow and ice to contend with.

Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Tuesday rolls around again

 It was so hard to get out of bed this morning.  I was just so cozy....and did I mention we don't have any heat on? The house is staying at 16C without anything running! 

When I went into the bathroom there was quite a surprise. My old lady cat was sitting there staring into her litter box where a SQUIRREL was cowering! I immediately slammed the bathroom door and grabbed a towel. Little squirrel went haywire flying around the bathroom, knocking over my plants, breaking the curtain rod, landing on my HEAD, hiding behind the toilet and finally flying right at my FACE where it got stuck in my glasses. I was able to grab it with the towel and take it downstairs and set it free. When I went back upstairs to get ready for my day, there was blood to clean up. Those little buggers have quite the claws! My scalp, nose and hand took a beating. It didn't bite me!

I picked up my dear daughter (DD) and we headed off for breakfast and some shopping. I sure noticed prices were up quite a bit at WalMart. That's not my usual shopping space but I had to go there for pet food anyway. I decided to skip that for the most part and finished grocery at Food Basic and NoFrills.  I watch prices carefully. We had a cup of coffee then headed on home. We seem to have set this pattern of every second Tuesday. That's a good thing.

Dog and I went for a great walk later this afternoon. It was easy to do a couple of miles with temperatures in the low teens Celcius. It has really clouded up this evening with rain on the doorstep. Tomorrow night will be interesting when we again head back into the deep freeze.  We don't have to leave the house until Friday evening when it will be warm again.

We went to a nearby town to get the dogs teeth done yesterday. M. came along, doing the driving. It really sapped his energy. He's taking it easy today.   

Friday, February 23, 2024

Busy Friday

 Another restoration company fellow was here today taking more photos and measurements. He said the proposal will be ready the first of the week.

A heating contractor was here too. We learned a lot from him! Quite different from the first guy who came for an estimate. We are a long way from doing anything right now. We need to see how this insurance thing pans out. The first company wanted half the price NOW. Well, we can't do that.

Thursday, February 22, 2024

Talking about it

I had a conference with my insurance company today.

They are as frustrated as I am with the lack of movement with our claim and repair. The gentleman expressed his exasperation at the lack of interest on the part of builders, etc., to come look at the job and/or give a repair estimate. He was quite shocked at the company who came out last week charging me over $300 for basically doing nothing, other than putting it in writing that we do have a non functional chimney due to a fire. He told me our experience with lack of interest is across the board. We are not alone. He ended that conversation with, "Where have all these builders gone" and "Why don't the ones still working want to do an insurance job?"

So later in the day someone from the insurance company, here, came by and looked the whole sheebang over and look a lot of photos of the damage. He made phone calls and expects to have some news for us SOON.

Wednesday, February 21, 2024

Running from the black dog

 Those who know, know what I'm on about.

Everything going on here, along with things NOT happening, is taking a toll.

We have a different heating contractor coming by tomorrow. He knows most of both of our families and knows what a difficult time we've had. Everyone speaks highly of him. I think we're going to get a better offer from this fellow.

M is feeling slightly better today. He finally agreed to try the heating pad and is finding it to be just the ticket. He's two weeks since his accident.

My elderly neighbour called to complain about her lot in life. I suggest I collect her and we run about for the afternoon. We got our bitching and complaining out of the way first and then had some good laughs. I think we both felt a good bit lighter on our way home. She is so much frailer than when I last had her out last month. She just celebrated her 86th trip round the sun.

Sunday, February 18, 2024

What a day

 When I went to bed last night at 9:30, the temperature was -19C. I woke up sometime in the night and checked the temperature only to find it had climbed to -6C. For most of today it hovered around the freezing point, as high as +1.

But oh my goodness, did it ever snow and blow a gale! We had white out conditions most of the day. We probably have about ten inches of fresh snow with a lot of drifting. It sure cleared up around sunset, though the wind is still blowing like crazy.

We are really socked in both from Friday's storm and now todays. The township plow has been by several times. I managed to SHOVEL a path the length of our long lane to get to the road. We finally found a neighbour who will come blast us out tomorrow morning.

Once that is done I am hauling this man to the hospital to get this extreme pain checked out. I know ribs take WEEKS to heal, but I think he's in too much pain. He was feeling a wee bit better yesterday and managed to sit and watch TV most of the day, but he's down and out and in agony today.

I roasted a nice, (if funny looking), chicken for dinner. When I pulled it out of the freezer I thought it was a duck!  The legs were all weirdly positioned on it. We will get two dinners and a lunch out of it. (IF we are home tomorrow)

I would really like to work on this sweater in progress, but someone has decided that's not in the cards.


The papers are the pattern. When they were on the couch, she was laying on them. I put them in the basket on top of the knitting and she hopped right in and snuggled up to sleep.  This girl loves a basket of any kind. She BARELY fits in this one.