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.