Oooops!

I guess I angered the weather gods with my "oh, the grass is soooooooo green" and "I'm still hanging up laundry in November..."

We woke up to SNOW this morning! Not much, but enough to get my attention. Guess Rick won't have to cut the grass one more time before Christmas and guess I won't be hanging out laundry until next Spring! Oh well

Today's pictures were taken this morning from my front door - SNOW!!!

the grass is greener...

I noticed today just how GREEN the grass still is. End of November and the lawns are looking pretty good! Really strange to see that. We have had some cool days and even a bit of snow, but the last week or so has been warm (for this time of year) and everybody's lawns are nice and green. Won't last much longer, though - it's supposed to be colder next week. Still weird to see all the inflateable Santa's & snowmen on the grass - think we were in California!!!!

Speaking of Christmas - Rick made his annual batch of nuts and bolts today. It was his mom's recipe and he's made a batch at Christmas every year for about the last 20 years. We intended to made a smaller batch (with all the salt & butter, they're not exactly health food) but somehow wound up with nearly 3 dozen 1 litre jars - which is more than we usually make. In fact, we had to take a run up to Pembroke to get another box of jars!!

Still a nice day for a drive - Canadian Tire was very crowded though, we picked up our jars and couple of stocking stuffers for the boys and high-tailed it outta there! Christmas shoppers are out in full force!

Today's picture is of Kris's lizards - they really are NOT the most exciting of pets -all they seem to do is huddle under the light for warmth - but Kris likes them. Oh yeah, now he has a second cage for the live crickets he has to keep to feed the lizards - hmmm....I wonder what he has to feed the crickets to keep them alive until he feeds them to the lizards...... It's like a whole little food chain up there in his room - hahahaha

e-mail me - PLEASE!!!!!

Please, please, please - EVERYONE - send us an e-mail!!!

we had some PC issues and when we loaded a new version of Outlook it over-wrote all our old e-mails and, of course, e-mail addresses. soooooo....,if everyone who reads this blog, would send me an e-mail, it would be greatly appreciated! thanks to one and all!

Yesterday was the last NASCAR race of the season and it was as disappointing as I expected. Jimmy Johnson won the Championship for the 4th year running which is ONLY a good thing if you are a Jimmy Johnson fan - which we are not! Well, next year is another year - go Jeff go!!!

well, that's it! - not much else new. weather's good - I'm happy - I can still hang out my laundry - bonus!! Might not be warm enough for the new amole lizards - whenever I see them, they are huddled under the light - how exciting is THAT????!!!....

remember - send me an e-mail!!!!! thank you!

we've been having "issues" with our older cat, Max, (who was neutered when he was 6 months old) spraying around the house. The vet thought it might be because we have a stray male cat (definitely not neutered!) hanging around the place - okay, he's been hanging around for 2 years and we feed him - but he is still technically a stray

We all agree this stray is making Max anxious and stressed out and causing him to spray. Well, Max is getting a tad too "anxious" and a tad too often! So, we tried to get him some kitty Prozac - turns out it would probably be easier for ME to get some Prozac - and, of course, if I did, I would share it with Max.

So, Max had "issues" in two places last night and we woke up to Kris (who stepped in the "issues") chasing Max all over the house. Unfortunately for us, Max hid under OUR bed - fun morning!

Anyway, rather than Kitty Prozac we have purchased a bottle of Feliway - a spray of pheromones that you spray around the house in strategic locations. These "fairy-gnomes" are supposed to relax Max and make him less stressed out. At $45 a bottle, it better make him really, REALLY happy.

Well, we'll see how it goes - I thought it might be an idea to get Max one of those scrunchie, cloth collars, spray it with the fairy-gnome spray and let Max just wear it around - and be happy, damn it!!!!!

bnot sure I like the way the spray is working on the other cats, Buddy hissed at Nibbles tonite and he NEVER gets cranky. life with 5 cats gets complicated sometimes....

I'm starting to like the anole lizards Kris bought a lot more - at least they're easier to get along with.

today's picture is an old abandoned house that I thought looked neat. and one of the the anole lizards in their new home - they're not very big - look for the little green thing on the branch to the right of the word "anole" in the picture.

got the shot!

I got my H1N1 shot today - it all went very well. After reading all the horror stores in the news about 4 and 5 hour waiting times, I was prepared for a long line up, long wait, confusion, cranky people etc. But, I guess Renfrew had the advantage of learning for the mistakes of all the other clinics. As we went in, we were catagorized as to our health issues, given a disclaimer form to complete and then sent to the waiting area. The wait was only about 15 minutes - very reasonable. Extremely well organized.

Kris has purchased a new glass terrarium and gear for his lizards - this all started with a free aquarium picked up at the dump and has somehow morphed into a $200 set up for the little green guys! They like to be warm and our house tends to be cool - so a special heating pad had to be purchased for them. Apparently they don't like their "stuff" moved either - it stresses them out. hmmmmmm.... I imagine they'll need a bit of Prozac along with their crickets and flies on cage cleaning day.

Today's picture was taken at St. Fatima Church in Renfrew where the H1N1 clinic was held - it got a chuckle from us!

Busy day - had to put a listing on the MLS - I know computers were supposed to save us time but, by the time I put the info on the MLS, then on our C21 website, send the ad to the paper etc - poof an afternoon gone!

Guess, that's like the "paperless" office that computers were supposed to give us - I use waaaaaay more paper now than I used to in my first office job. Back in the day of the typewriter we used much less paper - since we didn't want to have to type the whole thing over again, we typed it right the first time! Now, I print, proof, change, print, proof, change it again etc. Putting an offer on a house now entails a minimum of 4 different documents!

Nice day though - sunny and fairly mild. I remember a number of years ago when having a day mild enough (and no snow) to hang out laundry was a bonus, now, I expect to be able to hang my laundry out until the end of November. I can't say I actually mind the warm weather, but I suppose it's not really "right".

I have quite a bit of running around tomorrow - out to Douglas to show a farm, then back town to show a house. whew!

Kris bought me a lottery ticket the other day that you play like a Bingo card - I'm hooked!!!

today's picture isn't as dramtic as I thought it would be. The sky appeared to be darker when I shot it and I liked the look of the white farm house against the dark sky - only the sky wasn't really as dark as I thought - I like it though (no that's not the farm I have for sale - check out MLS#743239 for my listing)

Now THAT'S a turkey!!!

I finally got a close up of those dumb wild turkey's!!! There is a field I drive past a couple of times a week and there are always a bunch (gaggle??? flock???) these wild turkeys. Today (unlike last week's picture) I was able to get a better shot. They must be thriving in the wild as they all look pretty big! hmmmm....turkey....

Nothing tooooo exciting this week - quiet as far as real estate goes - although today I listed a farm on 177 acres near Douglas. So, a drive out there today to put up a sign and get some pictures. Nice land, but the house needs some work.

It was our anniversary yesterday - 28 years! Wow!! We didn't do anything exciting - we've been avoiding busy public places while I await my H1N1 flu shot. Renfrew's first flu clinic is this Tuesday and I imagine the line will be quite long.

We are having serious cat issues lately - our older tabby cat, Max, who has NEVER played well with others, has become quite nasty with the smaller female cats. I think he ambushed Nibbles last nite - somewhere around 4 a.m. I heard Kris hollering at him and shortly afterwards I heard Max scrambling under our bed. Nibbles, who hasn't a mean bone in her body, was very nervous and jumpy today. Not sure what we can do with Max - maybe some kitty Prozac.....????

It's been a good week for Kris - on Monday he brought home (from the landfill site aka "the dump") a foozeball game minus the legs (might that be why it was in the dump??????) and yesterday he brought home an aquarium with allllll the accessories (lamp, filter, pump etc) I was expecting him to put fish in it (silly me) but I see he has two lizards in it - cute little buggers about 4 inches long. wonder if he'll name them.... wonder how long lizards live.....

never a dull moment! anyway today's pictures are the turkeys and a really nice old cookstove I saw in a house I was showing the other day. I get to see some of the neatest things in my job!!!

Way toooooooo much driving!!!

It's been long weekend - mostly spent on the road. Had a showing in Renfrew yesterday morning and then out to Killaloe in the afternoon to show a farm to a couple coming in from out of town. AND THEY NEVER SHOWED UP!!!! Really is unbelieveable why people do this. Not so bad if it is a property in town - but Killaloe is a good hike from Renfew - 190 kms to be exact - not to mention the inconvenience to the people who got their house ready for a showing!

And then today out to Griffith and then Mt. St. Patrick - another 175 kms. Same couple - they reversed the order of the showings (on their own) so that while I was at one place, they were at the other. some days in (weekends) are like that!

On the bright side, it was super driving weather all weekend - today we took the Mustang - might have been our last drive this year with it.

I've been having an absolute blast with a new game for my Nintendo DS. For those who don't know, the Nintendo DS is sort of like the old Game Boy - but WAY BETTER!!

I just got Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box for my DS. It is a bunch of brain-teasers and puzzles loosely strung together in a story. I love it! The only thing that is awkward, is when I'm at Wal-Mart looking for a new game and the clerks ask me the age of the kids I am buying a game for!!! Haha - it's for ME!!

BTW, Jamie passed his Level One Apprenticeship for Auto Mechanics. Way to go, Kiddo!

Still no H1N1 shots out in Renfrew yet - I think Renfrew's first clinic is the 17th or 18th, I imagine I should be prepared for a long lineup - oh well!

Today's pictures - Nibbles having a nap on the back of the couch - now that it is a bit colder, she has taken over that particular spot with a good view of the back yard.

The other picture we took today - you might not be able to spot them, but it's a bunch of wild turkeys. Don't know why, but years ago some governemtn organization released hundreds of these wild turkeys - they seemed to be doing well judging from the number of them I see.

i HATE leaf blowers!!

I went out this afternoon to hang up some laundry and all I could hear (on what should have been a nice, quiet Sunday afternoon) was the sound of freaking leaf blowers! And I can't just blame neighbours - Rick has two of them himself. They are just so darn loud. Nice that those using them wear ear protection - but what about the rest of us!!!! Rakes were MUCH quieter.

Busy enough day - showed a couple of houses in Renfrew this morning, picked up a large plastic storage box to put all our Halloween stuff in, then home to catch the NASCAR race at Talledega. My driver sucked (as usual) Between him and his crew chief, one dumb mistake after another. Only 3 races left to the Championship and it looks like Jimmy Johnson has it locked up.

(hey Bill and Andrea, hope you didn't PVR the race for Monday night and I just blew it for you....LOL)

Today's pictures are our little guy Buddy (he's really not all that little anymore) and a shed/man cave that Kris is building back behind the house.