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.

Happy Easter

 

Cats

 My friend adopted a rescue kitty just before Christmas. He was not a friendly outgoing fellow. He spent most of his time sleeping under the bathtub or behind the couch. He did, however, enjoy watching nature shows about birds.

About two weeks ago a bird came down the chimney into the wood burner. Her boyfriend opened the door to shoo the bird out and the cat bolted after it. It took off "never" to be seen again.

Her nephew, (who is her next door neighbour), was by a neighbouring farm today and guess who is living a happy life with their barn colony? Yes, the runaway! He has a good life there and seems to be content so apparently he's allowed to stay. We are much relieved that the saga of the white cat did not have a sad ending.

Waiting on spring

 Thankfully we didn't get a dump of snow from this last blow that went through the province. We chuckle when we hear Toronto is in a tizzy over a "snowstorm".  They just aren't prepared for a bit of the stuff. 

It's a chilly day, but the sun is shining. The sun is so warm now. The pets are enjoying themselves napping in a sunbeam. 

The garden boxes are still well frozen here. The things that need mulching didn't succumb to the warmer temperatures of a week or so back. A warmer winter is not a good thing for a garden

Our car is still on the sick list. Hopefully they will have it fixed today. The old part (Control arm, a major fix) does NOT want to come out. Some bolts are really rusted in.

There is still no movement on our chimney rebuild. The restoration company isn't having any luck finding a contractor available to take on the job. There are so few companies still in business and they seem to be fully occupied building new subdivisions. I'd like to know where all these people are coming from and how they can afford these houses. It's not like there are a lot of good jobs to attract folks in this immediate area.

No One Is Immune

 I just saw on the news that the Princess of Wales, Kate, has cancer. The Royals sure have been plagued of late. The King himself, Fergie (sort of partner of Naughty Andrew) and now Kate. No One Is Immune from that horrible family of disease. 

Impatient for things

 With that lovely weather behind us, and cold blowing snow every day, I'm getting impatient for spring to well and truly arrive. Spring weather that is, I know spring has "officially" landed of course.

Our car is in the garage getting a major repair to the front end. I hate when major things go wrong. Living in the back end of nowhere, it's always a cause of some anxiety.

I've kept myself busy making Easter Eggs for the kids. Do you know about Laura Secord Cream Eggs? When my sister was in school, they made a quite authentic facsimile  in Home Economics class. I still have the recipe. It's a kind of tedious process but the end result is yummy. The filling happens one day. It needs to be mixed and kneaded, shaped into "yolks" then wrapped with white, then into the freezer. Day two is for the chocolate dipping. My goodness, I dropped a couple into the hot chocolate and another fell on the floor. I had to scurry to get it before the dog gobbled it up! I washed it off and set it aside. I may or may not nibble that one.  I ended up with a dozen eggs, ready to decorate. 

There is still no movement with our chimney work. The restoration company is trying to line up trades.  You would think they would be jumping to take an insurance job wouldn't you? To be honest, we don't want any work to start until after April 5 now. That's when our new gas furnace is being installed which does not require a chimney.

I'm looking forward to seeing some of the lovely tulips I planted last fall. 

That was a spectacle

 I have a number of relatives in Arizona. 

A couple of them have posted photos of the SpaceX launch last night. Wow, that was something to see that space craft flying horizontally across the sky! I hope we see more photos of that.

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.

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? 

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 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!

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.

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.

Update, what update

 The fire restoration company sent out a specialist who was supposed to look up the chimney and make a report for the insurance company. A KID who looked about 17 arrived to "inspect our gas furnace". What the hay????? We don't have a gas furnace yet. Well he asked what kind of furnace we do have. Wood and Oil M, responded. Okay, he would inspect that. No, NO, Wait, you're here to look at the chimney and do a report for the insurance company. No can do, he's not qualified......

It has cooled off quite a bit. The front lane is icy. The snow and ice have mostly slid off the back roof.

We went for a nice trot up the back road today. This evening the snowmobiles are roaring up and down and up and down. They hit the road by my lane and leave a trail of sparks. Idiots!

I baked a really nice cake today. Do you remember when Mayonnaise cake was all the rage? I tried it again. The main tip is to use REAL Mayo, not Miracle Whip. I used the recipe on the Hellman's site. The cake is a bit dense and fudgy, but not cloying. I made a frosting with a package of cream cheese, a small carton of whipping cream and 1/3 cup of icing sugar. Beat until light and fluffy, but thick. It's the perfect frosting for that cake. My mother used to use Miracle Whip when she made this cake and I didn't like it one bit.  The Hellmans Mayo has a nice mild flavor and works perfectly.

The Weekend

 We went for a drive yesterday. It was nice to visit the river. Surprised to see an open channel!

On the way home we popped into the grocery store and picked up a couple of things, seeing as we drive right by it, y'know.

Today a pet store in a town near us was doing a fund raiser. They were offering nail clipping with funds going to the SPCA. We were surprised to see sweet little Heidi doing the clipping. She is the gal in Deep River who does our dogs teeth. We also booked another teeth cleaning for this coming Thursday.

We took a drive by a place called The Point Beach to go for a nice walk along our beloved river again. WOW, there was a LOT of open water there. As we got close to the beach proper we were in for a big surprise. People were SWIMMING! The adults were swimming while the children played in the snow.

 toweling off after their invigorating dip

Our weather is looking to be unseasonably warm for another week to ten days. We are going to lose a lot of snow. Our road is an awful muddy rutted mess after  all those snowmobiles and trucks and trailers ripped it up this weekend.

The Creek is running!

Open water!

Trucks and trailers looking left

Another gang looking right

It was still relatively frozen yesterday when I took these photos. By the time they ripped and tore up the road today it was just a mud hole. The rut at the head of my lane is nothing to laugh at.

Doing what we can

 There is still no movement on our fire claim. The insurance company DID finally phone late this afternoon, but we were doing the shopping and didn't get home until after business hours.

M. cleaned the wood furnace and pipes, then made a decision to buy NEW pipes. So, we added that to our shopping list. The furnace bits are all back together and keeping us cozy. Thank goodness we still have heat. I guess I shouldn't complain. One chimney is burned out and we can't use the wood stove upstairs. So that's it.

The weather has been pretty moderate after those few COLD days. Some areas around us got quite a bit of freezing rain, but not us. We just had a few ice pellets.

The neighbour was telling me the moose has been walking out on our road. I put a trail camera at the end of his lane shooting out to the road that comes down from the bush. There is a lot of snowmobile traffic out here these days so I expect there will be a lot of shots of them. I will go collect the card tomorrow.

Tuesday stuff

 Daughter T and I ran the roads this morning. We started our outing with brekkie at Tim Hortons. As we were exiting the car, my girl exclaimed "look at that burned out house"! A very large empty house kitty corner to Tims burned early this morning. A Tims employee said it was a squat. They frequently saw derelict looking individuals coming and going. The property is scheduled to be the future home of some sort of medical facility.

We did some shopping and called it a day about noonish.

My new chair arrived today. It's just lovely.

The warmer days are a relief. We are awaiting a quote on an electric furnace now. Still no relief from our fire damage. 

I'm working on it

 We are finally creeping out of the deep freeze. My goodness we've had some bitter cold nights, and days!

I woke up from a fitfull sleep with a headache. Late this afternoon Princess Pup and I harnessed up and went out for a short walk. A longer walk was anticipated, but a good stiff cold breeze made it feel much colder than -10C. We didn't go to far, but did get some fresh air into the old lungs.

My poor old cat had an awful fall last evening. There are open beams running across the livingroom, ten feet up. The cats often sit up there. I don't know what happened to the old gal but she fell to the rug below, landing on her feet. She was a bit limpy walking away from the rough landing, but it soon passed. We gave her a through examination and didn't find signs of any injury. No broken bones or dislocations. I think she just had a good bruising thump. I carried her up to my bedroom and gave her the fleecy housecoat to snuggle up in. She slept there until I went to bed when she wandered off, no limping. I noticed today that she was a bit stiff when trying to jump up on the old recliner where she has her fleece blanket. I'm keeping a close eye on her.

Tomorrow I will be on the blower to my insurance agent to see if we can get some more contacts for this chimney fire business. I'm at the point where I don't even know who to call. I swear work ethic took a crap during Covid. The stress of this mess is giving me a headache....

My amaryllis is in full bloom. There are four gigantic flowers right now with another flower bud emerging from the bulb. 

Each flower is six or seven inches across. The plant is very top heavy so I've put it into a stone flower bowl that is weighty enough to hold it's own.

The painting of the ancient totems in the background is by my good friend Marley. She's an interesting artist who captures the real CANADA in her work. I have numerous pieces she painted of Algonquin Park scenes.  She has also done some really nice pieces for the War Museum in Ottawa.

Calls everywhere

 My insurance guy, and us, have calls here there and everywhere trying to get people to come and assess our situation so we can get settled and move on. It is now a week since our fire. A guy from a big company called today to see if we are still in need. Yes!! He said he would call right after lunch to set up an appointment to come out. He never called...

It is going to be extremely cold for the next 48 hours. I hate to think what kind of a predicament we'd be in if we didn't have some heat.

M. is so anxious about it all. I wish I could send him on a warm vacation.

C.c.c.cold!

 The furnace is having a tough time keeping up in this cold. We had to shut it down today so the Other chimney could get cleaned. We finished cleaning the basement too. I have an awful load of trash to go out this week.

My insurance guy called today for a chat. I was blubbering away like a fool but he reassured me that I pay home insurance for a reason. It's their job to make me whole. If the chimney can't be repaired, they will "pay us out" which will probably cover the new furnace.

The snow mobiles are very active out our back road this evening!

It's going to warm up significantly on the weekend so I'm hoping to try my snowshoes. We used to do that a lot, but I was too nervous to continue after right knee replacement surgery six years ago. The knee has taken quite a beating in the ensuing years so I doubt a tumble in the fluffy white stuff we have now will do any harm.

Six years on I finally have another family doctor! I will meet with the whole team at the clinic in the near future.

well that was interesting

 We had a whopping dump of snow overnight and into this morning. There was at least a foot of fresh, fluffy white stuff on the back porch this morning.

I cleared the side porch and a path to the bird feeders on the back porch by hand. It wasn't hard going. M. got the big red tractor out and got going on the yard. He was about two hours hard slog with that. Thank goodness it wasn't cold. This evening the wind has really picked up and it is snowing lightly. I don't expect we will get any more than a light, undetectable, dusting this round.

About 3 PM I was starting to feel a little stir crazy. We are so stressed with this fire business! I just wanted to get out to my happy place. I harnessed up the Princess Pup and set off up the road. The plow had been by about 9AM so there was once again a fair bit of new snow on the road, but nothing serious. A number of snowmobiles had been up and down to make sort of trails on the road. There had been LOTS of dog walkers out too. I didn't seen the folks, but their tracks were all over the place.  For the longest time we had the only dog "on the block", but all of the neighbours down this end of our road are puppy parents now. The folks up the other end frequently walk their poochies down here too. 

When we first started walking there were patches of blue sky

Then this rapidly blew in. It didn't dump on us thank goodness

Nice bright sky over the house at the beginning of our walk

I tore down the Christmas tree and packed up the last of the Christmas tat too. Enough of that.

We are exhausted

 We had a chimney fire last night. It started at 2AM and roared like mad for over two hours. Three fire trucks and five or six firefighters were here.

Thankfully the house is still standing and we are still in.

It was a scary experience.

We can use the wood furnace - for now - but we have to change our heat source.

This house has a double chimney. The woodstove in the livingroom is on the left, the wood and oil furnace is on the right. (They don't operate at the same time. There is a shut off when one or the other is working).

The chimney for the wood stove is "toast"....apt description isn't it? Our oil furnace is done too. We were going to replace it this year anyway. So, a contractor is coming out the first of the week to expedite our propane gas furnace.

We're just done messing around with wood heat. Enough is enough.

All of the wet, smoky insulation from the attic was scattered around the upstairs bathroom where the hatch is located. My insurer was going to send a service around to do the cleanup, but M and I had it all bagged up and out the door before the call could be made. There is a big puddle of sooty smelly water on the cement floor in the basement from them shooting a hose down the chimney. M. has a good stack of rags sopping that up. So us, the dog and the two cats and our important papers and valuables spent most of the night in the car. We had the car in the garage, but M. put it out. Didn't want to be running it indoors. 

We have long been aware of the need to have our cat cases and our "go bags" and our important things close at hand in case of emergency. We were out the door with it all in minutes. The one thing we didn't think about was water. I was SO thirsty! When they told me it was safe to go into the basement I galloped in and grabbed a handful of bottles.

Miss Kitty was seriously traumatized by it all. When all was said and done and we were cleared to come back into the house M. locked her in his bedroom while she recuperated. The little devil got right into his bed and PEED. So I was stripping his bed asap. My cat was just plain curious. When the fire chief was in the livingroom talking to us she was rubbing his legs and meowing at him. I like to think she was thanking him for saving our home.

Oh, and ice. Yes, we had an issue with ice all right. One of the fire fighters went down on his back and had a good slide down the slope of the lane! The fellows on the roof were hooting and hollering and cheering. I take it episodes like that are not new to them! They were such good natured fellows and we are so thankful they came quickly and got it all under control.

The calm before the storm

 

The latest weather forecast has a lively storm front barreling right at us with a significant snowfall. This one will be kind of different due to the colder temperatures and high winds. Old Man Winter is going to be pretty snarky!

Dear Daughter T and I went shopping today. We did some groceries, did some banking and hit the post office. We had a nice snack and some coffee then wandered into the craft store for - GASP - more yarn! I don't need yarn, but as luck would have it, I don't have any middling pink or grass green. I have a project in the wings that need those colors. 

It is SO icy everywhere. My cousins fiancee fell going to work today and broke her arm/wrist really badly. Poor thing, I feel so bad for her. She looks to be wearing a big plaster mitten. I scooped the hot ashes out of the wood burner and tossed them on the ice by the front door. Ashes are a great solvent for ice and they don't harm anything like salt does.

I'm still having issues commenting on some of the blogs. My tablet is especially being balky. I can read on it but not post or comment. It tells me my password is invalid...well I'm in here aren't I??????

Walkies

 We went for a good tromp through the back forty today.  The dog loves to romp through the bush. There is so much to smell. We have to break her of eating the chocolate covered raisins, if you catch my drift.

My trail cameras haven't been catching anything more than squirrels and blue jays. I left one camera on the same tree, but turned it around to shoot into the forest, rather than focused on the tree that the wood peckers had been attacking. We removed the camera that was on the path at the top of the hill. A good hike right to the back of the property got us some exercise I'll tell you! There is an "intersection" at the corner where my three neighbours come together.  I put the camera on a tree by there. Big critters tend to follow paths so we should, hopefully, see some movement. The other path heads down to the mill pond at the sawmill back of me. The main path follows the property line at the back of the holdings on either side of me and the big acreage that belongs to the sawmill. These are all old logging roads that we have walked many many times.

The weather has cooled off some with much colder days and nights ahead. We might get a bit of snow later in the week. It's clear and sunny today though. This nice break in the weather has been good for the soul.

We have been thinking ahead to summer plans. I have a family wedding in August, then M. cousin is getting married in September. Our travels will have to be early-ish. We are torn between heading back to north western Ontario, (close to the US border) again, or to the east coast. We really loved our time around International Falls, Fort Frances, Rainy River and Lake of the Woods. Neither of us have been down east in many years and it is calling out to us. The plans will evolve as life figures it out.

2024 has arrived!

 Happy New Year one and all.

We were late rising. It was brisk and cold and SUNNY!!

Mid afternoon we headed to a nearby provincial park for a vigorous hike. It was wonderful though really cold along the beach.