Saturday, December 29, 2012

....and more snow....

so - still getting quite a bit of snow - not as much as Ottawa, I guess, but more than we've had by this time of year for several years!

Had a good Christmas - Jame and Julie came out around noon and we had a nice time exchanging gifts and visting with them.  We had lots of treats and as if we didn't have more than enough, Kris brought home a huge tray of cookies and squares from a gal he works with.  We did manage to make a pretty good dint in them.  Traditional turkey dinner with Rick's home made meat pie too.  Lots of leftovers to send back with Jamie and Julie too - which hopefully they enjoyed.

We did hit a couple of stores on Boxing Day - I specifically wanted a purse at Mark's which was marked down from $39 to $16.  I also wanted to get another set of Christmas dishes - I had picked up a set of 16 at Canadian Tire just before Christmas.  I decided I liked them so much, I wanted to get 4 more place settings - but neither the Renfrew or Pembroke store had any more.  I'll try again next year or just order some through Sears as they carry them to  - much more expensive though!!!

So another Christmas in the books and soon another year gone by too - where does the time go????

christmas morning (huh...afternoon) Jamie, Rick and Julie
 
and
 
snow heavy trees on Magnesium Road
 

Saturday, December 22, 2012

White Christmas and then some....

Well, we got a big dump of snow over the last couple of days - ensuring that we will, after all, have a nice white Christmas! 

We had our annual potluck lunch at the office yesterday - very nice - LOTS of good food and treats!  There was a nice taco/rice concoction that I will have to get a recipe for!  And to finish off a cranberry cheese cake!  too much food - but all very good. 

After our lunch, I drew up an offer on a house (yup, real estate still carries on) and then a quick stop at the grocery store for our turkey and a few last minute items.  Drive home was nasty with heavy snow and slushy roads - but at least most drivers were adjusting their driving accordingly - we were able to take our time.  In spite the weather and poor  road conditions, I didn't hear of any accidents, so that's good.

We woke up last night around 2:30 to discover the power had gone off.  It's funny, even asleep, we seem to be aware when the power goes off!   The pellet stove needs power to run the auger and fans, so Rick had to shut it down - but it didn't get that cold and the electricity actually came back on in a couple of hours - so not at all  an inconvenience.  When I looked at the Hydro One website it showed lots of folks without power most still during the day, so we were very lucky to only lose it for a couple of hours during the night!

Kris and Rick took turns cleaning the laneway this morning - Rick also did the laneways for a couple of neighbours.  He finds the job sooooo much easier with the Kubota tractor compared with the snow-blower he did it with for years.  I just stay inside and watch!  Here is Kris on the tractor

 
LOTS OF SNOW!!
 
LUCY HAVING A NAP IN COMFORT
 
 
 
We're still looking for someone to take the cat that Kris is looking after at the shop at his work - we'd take her but that would be #6 and I just don't think we can handle six cats.
 
 
this is her - if anyone knows of a home - she's very talkative and friendly - we'll even deliver!

 
 


Sunday, December 2, 2012

decorating DONE!

We spent most of the day setting up my Christmas village, the tree in the dining room and the "main" tree in the living room.  Whew!   As usual some of the strings of lights wouldn't work so off to Canadian Tire in Pembroke for some new lights and a few other Christmas-y things.  I think we're done - except for the tidying up.

Had a great visit with our friends Pam and Terry Ellott - they came to town on Wednesday and stayed until Friday when they were off to Sudbury and then home to Elliott Lake.  It's always wonderful to see them.  Thursday evening Pam and I went out to dinner with some other gals who used to work at Timminco Metals - we do try to keep in touch with each other.

I'm now officially on Skype - nice to talk face to face with someone and its FREE too!

I'm shopping around for some hand-made Christmas cards - guess I left it a bit late - I've found several nice ones on ebay, but I doubt if they would arrive in time for me to address and mail out.  I may try some local craft stores to see if I can track some down.

I'm also trying to find a home for a friendly female cat - mostly white with black and orange spots - she's another one of my son's strays that he is feeding at his work, but he is worried for her over the winter.  We're up to 5 cats at the moment and we just don't think we can take in another, so I'm being a bit of a pest trying to find her a good home.  I've even offered to have her spayed if someone will take her in!  Hopefully somebody will step forward.

That's about all that's new - we are sort of busy this week - Rick and I are both taking some courses (we have to keep up our credits to keep our real estate licence) on Wednesday in Pembroke and a couple final inspections later in the week.  I'm showing some houses tomorroe night - so we're busy enough for this time of year, I guess.  Maybe I'll squeeze in some Christmas shopping too!




Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Winter cool

Well, we had some snow a few days ago and lo and behold - it stayed!!!  Snow in November hasn't really stuck around for the past few years - maybe this year will be different!  I guess the ground is frozen now.

I tried hanging out some laundry today, but it didn't really dry and wound up half way across the yard - that may be my last attempt at hanging my laundry out.  Once we get serious snow, I can't really get to my clothesline anyway.  Anyway, now that we have our pellet stove going, I can dry clothes on a rack in about 2 hours.

Had a couple of busy weeks in real estate - but things seem to have settled down.  As usual inventory is low - Rick and I have sold many of our own listings, so our inventory is particularly low!!  But little will happen until the new year - its always quiet this time of year.  First hunting season, then Christmas!

We're looking forward to seeing our "ex" neighbours, Pam and Terry Ellott, who are stopping in for a couple of days on their way from Ottawa to Elliot Lake.  We always look forward to seeing them!

We decided today to partially decorate the house - no trees or village yet - but we did go through some of our boxes and put out some things - makes it feel all Christmas-y.



Pictures today are of the living room - all "tarted" up with Christmas clutter (I like it) and the cats having a discussion as to who gets to sit on the back of the couch.


Sunday, November 4, 2012

Cold and DARK!!!

A very cool day today and pretty DARK by 5 o'clock since we set the clocks back last night.  Will take some getting used to - again!   Can't say that I mind this time of year - I've always liked Fall, and now that we're not really getting snow much in November, I like it right through to December.  In fact, I hung my laundry out today and it actually dried okay.  I'll hang it out until I can't get through the snow to the clothesline.

Rick had a busy enough weekend - he went out to take a look at the Eganville Gun Club facilities yesterday morning and then was showing a farm out that way in the afternoon.  I worked from home - with fax and email - and let Rick to the running around.

Well our NASCAR season is winding down and it looks like Jimmie Johnson is heading for the Championship - AGAIN!!  We're all a little sick of Jimmie, I think.  And we really don't find the races as exciting as they used to be a few years ago and  don't really know why.

It is 3 weeks since my Carpal Tunnel surgery and my hand feels great - no more tingling, numbness or shooting pains - but I still have all my disolvable stitches  - which don't seem to be disolving at all - Rick's offered to pull them out, but live in hope they will just go away.  Guess at some point I'll have to take them out - they can't stay there forever - I just don't like pulling at them....

The back of our couch that the cats have "smooshed" down is a particular favorite spot as you can see by today's pictures.
 

 
 


Wednesday, October 31, 2012

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Guess it takes a walk around the block on a Halloween evening to see how "old" the neighbourhood is getting!!!

When Kris and Jamie were small, almost all the houses in the area were decorated for Halloween and handing out treats.  A quick scan of the street tonite showed only about a third of the houses lit up.  Funny how neighbourhoods "age".   While there are still some younger couples with kids, many in the area are our age with grown children.  We used to get 75-80 kids in an evening, now its under 30 at best.    Which doesn't stop us from buying enough candy for 80 kids - hahaha. 

Our house is sort of "known" for having a good display at Halloween and Rick didn't disappoint!  He hung the pumpkin lights outside, set up my giant inflatable pumkin (always a kid pleaser) and set out the requisite "enter at your own risk" door hanger and talking skull!  We light ALL our candles in the house and just enjoy the evening handing out treats to the trick or treaters and eating more candy than we really should.....

It was nice, too, that we got a break in the weather tonite - it rained all day and looks like it will tomorrow, too, but tonite was cool and dry! 

Kira, our kitten, continues to grow like a bad weed - in fact, we got "the look" from our vet last week when she was in for her shots - she's a tad toooo big.  She does like to push the other cats out of the way and eat their food - oddly enough they put up with it.

Pictures today are Kira annoying Tigger (that's Tigger's basket by the way) and pictures of our Halloween house

 
 
 
 

Sunday, October 21, 2012

getting wood!!!

It's been a couple of years since we have taken wood out of our bush.  But, this year with the slightly larger tractor to pull loads back, Kris and Rick have been getting some logs from the trees that have come down.  Because it is a fairly mature bush with lots of oak and maple trees, every year a few trees blow down, which is about all we need for fireplace wood.  Kris has really been enjoying working back there - he's on his second chain-saw chain now!  pictured here is Kris bringing a trailer full of wood up to the house


Not much else is new - real estate continues steady, but financing continues to be a bit  of a headache for many buyers which is slowing the market down a little bit - particularly in the lower priced homes.

Rick listed a fabulous farm on Mink Lake last week - comes complete with a sugar bush operation.  I haven't been up to look at it yet - but Rick is very enthusiastic about it. I'll have to drive up and see it soon.

I finally had surgery on my wrist last Monday for Carpal Tunnel - seems to have gone well - it was only painful for about 12 hours after the surgery - since then its just be a bit of a hassle having my right hand bandaged - it is somewhat limiting. Tomorrow the packing and bandages come off and will be replaced with a light band-aid. Can't wait!!!

well, that's all for now, folks - I'll try do better at keeping up my blog!

Sunday, September 16, 2012

banner day!

what a lovely day - weather wise!!!  started out cool but warmed up nicely by mid-afternoon.  Good laundry day!

Rick and Kris played lumberjack this morning and went into the bush behind the house to cut up some fallen trees.  Most of the trees on our property are quite old and every now and then the wind will take one down.  We don't burn a lot of wood in our fireplace, but this time of year is a nice time for the odd fire in the evening.  They managed to get about a half cord of wood in a couple of hours.  A few more sessions like today and we'll have enough for the winter.   Kris did manage to get stung by a wasp - in his ear, which is quite painful, apparently - I wouldn't know - I've never had one sting me there

Quiet weekend for us for real estate - well, quiet in that we didn't have any showings for ourselves, but several showings booked on our properties for other agents.  Last week we listed a very nice little bungalow on the edge of town that is generating a lot of activity. 

Jamie just texted me that he was at the Gatineau Air show all day - and said it was AWESOME!!!  They needed volunteers, so he offered and said he had a great day getting close to the planes.  I think he would love to fly if he could.

The newest member of our feline family is settling in nicely - amazing how quickly and easily cats/kittens adapt to new surroundings.  She keeps the other ones on their toes - her favorite amusement is chasing them around - this may NOT be their favorite game, though.  She's out a lot during the day, but never goes far from the house - at least not yet!   And, with the exception of one or two minor mishaps, she has the litter box thing down perfectly. 

 
 
Today's picture is Kira (that's the name we finally settled on) waking up from a nap on a pillow that used to be Nibbles's pillow  -  she's very cute

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

not sure quite how this happened.....

Over the weekend Kris mentioned that there was a a stray kitten down at the shop.  He had been taking it food, but, he was worried about it.  So, then I started to worry about it and  Sunday morning (while Rick was at the Gun Show in Eganville) Kris brought her up to the house.

I'm guessing she's about 7 weeks old.  She's eating wet kitten food without any problems and appears to be quite healthy.  The fact that she's comfortable around people and that she was all by herself makes us think she either got lost OR she got dropped off.  And Kris might as well hang a sign around his neck saying "need a home?  call Kris" 

Anyway, she has settled in quite nicely (for those trying to keep count - this makes 5 cats) although the older cats are rather grumpy about the entire situation.  They run away from her - which just makes her chase them more!   Nibbles spent the morning sleeping in a tree.  Missy is pretty good around her - but then Missy was the "put-upon" cat, so she seems to be a bit more sympathetic to "new cat syndrome".  Buddy, on the other hand, feels that a serious mistake has been made and he's been sulking....a LOT.

To be honest we haven't actually named her yet.  I started calling her Baby (for obvious reasons) which has sort of become B-B which Rick says is dumb.  So, if anyone can think of a more appropriate name, feel free to pass it along. She's off to visit the vet tomorrow and it would be nice if she had a nice name.


As you can see, she a very cute little tabby cat - they just have the most beautiful faces, I think.

Monday, August 13, 2012

Is it just me????

Is it just me - or does this little leaf on our front lawn look exactly like a Ninja mouse....????  I see a mouse with his back arched and his nose pointing to the right.....    but might just be me.....




Last night, we stayed up late watching the closing ceremonies for the Olympics - we were really looking foward to the Who's performance at the very end.  However, at midnight, even though the ceremonies were still on-going, we found ourselves watching a dumb sitcom instead of the Who!!!!!!    Bell had cut off the final few moments of the ceremonies - quite possibly the BEST PART!!! to run the sitcom as usual.   How stupid was that????  

And, yet in a totally perverse switch-a-roo, earlier in the day, our friends, who have only a Bell Satellite dish, had to come over to our house to watch the NASCAR race with us, because the Olympics were on the channel they they usually watch the race on.  Now, I'm NOT saying the NASCAR race was more important....but if Bell felt the Olympics were important enough to pre-empt a regular Sunday NASCAR race, surely the Olympics were important enough to pre-empt 10 minutes of a stupid midnite  sitcom re-run!!!!!!   idiots!

Still, the good part of that story, is that we all watched the race together and had a nice impromptu visit as well!

Rick and I been low-carbing it lately.   I generally have one little ol' egg for breakfast which I do enjoy - so it was particularly depressing to read an acticle in the Citizen today that eating egg yolks can be as bad for you as smoking!!!   really???   Maybe I should give up the egg and take up smoking again. 


Here's a picture I took yesterday morning as we drove down a cottage road near Constant Lake - good thing we were going slowly...  those cottage roads can be tricky!

Back to the Olympic closing ceremonies that also featured the Spice girls - Rick quite cleverly has re-named them simply Old Spice -  no matter HOW much cosmetic surgery they've collectively had, they ain't girls any longer......



Monday, August 6, 2012

break in the weather

well, the hot weather has finally gone - for a while, hopefully. It was wonderful to turn off the a/c's last night and open the windows!!! Looks like it will be nice for the rest of the week - now, if we could only get a bit more rain.....   the lawns are looking pretty brown. 

We've been experiencing a rough patch with our Rogers internet connection.  About 2 months ago, we noticed a bit of a drop in the speed, but several times now, it has been completely unusable  -  just hangs up.  On Friday, I think I must have reset the hub and my lap top half a dozen times.  Saturday night our neighbour called asking about our service - he has the same Rogers hub that we do and he said his service was awful.  We also had a couple of "lost in cyber-space" texts lately.  So, I called Rogers (again) and while, they couldn't offer a solution, they did say they  would report a general problem in the Haley Station area - we'll see what happens.  All, I can say is that after this past 3 days with Rogers, I'd be tempted to go back to dial up - slow, but reliable!!!

We've been pretty quiet this weekend - had a few showings arranged, but later cancelled - so just chilling for the weekend.  Rick took advantage of the down-time to give the pellet stove a good cleaning - which involved disconnecting it and getting into the back of it.  He also made a couple of "modifications" which should allow him better access for future cleanings.  Disconnecting and pulling it out from the wall is a pretty big job.

We've been catching what we can of the Olympics - sort of hit and miss - it seems whenever I have time to watch, all I can find is soccer or basketball.

Today's picture is our cutie, Buddy - having a quick nap on the back of the couch.

Thursday, July 26, 2012

well....it's been a while....

It HAS been a while since I posted here - just lazy I guess.  Once I sort of get out of the routine, hard to get going again!

Anyway, summer is certainly moving right along!  August is nearly here and hopefully will bring a bit more rain than July did.  I don't think Rick has cut the lawn in a month!!!  We've got a large patch of white wild flowers, that I have not cut either -  I'm not sure the neighbouts approve - but they are much prettier than burnt, brown grass!   We've also planted some trees in the front lawn this year - just ones we got from the bush, but I think they will do well. 

We drove through the village of Calabogie today and heard lots of generators going.  The damage from Monday's storm was quite evident with downed trees eveywhere.  Many trees already cut and pushed off to the side of the road to be dealt with later but still lots leaning against the lines.    Didn't see too much in property damage, but I'm sure there are lots of houses with some damage.  Clean up will take a long time, I'm imagine.  In the Ashdad area, there were still hydro poles down and lines lieing across the roads.    Lots of clean up crews around.

We are keeping busy with real estate - our weekends are particularly busy.   Don't think we have much on the go tomorrow, though, so might take a drive into Ottawa. We're running low on Costo "must-haves".  Costco is the only store we have found that sells 1-ply toilet paper - which is what one should use when on a septic system.   We are pretty selective with our purchases  - easy to buy more than you need.

Today's pictures came from our drive to Calabogie - you can see what a mess the storm made.







Wednesday, May 30, 2012

how does your garden grow??

Kris is a bit late this year with his garden, but I picked up some starter veggie plants to inspire him and sure enough tonite he borrowed a roto-tiller from a friend and prepped the ground.  I bought some different tomato plants to try - we'll experiment a bit. 

A couple of deals appear to be coming together this week - which is nice after several fell apart last week.  Interesting fact - for all that our government is promoting "green energy", CMHC won't approve a mortgage for a home with wood heat only.  Interesting......

So far this week, the weather's been great - bit hot for my liking on Monday, but yesterday and today were great.  I understand Ottawa had a big thunderstorm yesterday afternoon - missed us completely.  Which seems to be the norm, lately.  It is supposed to rain tonite, but then Environment Canada has been saying it's going to rain for several days.  So far not a drop!

Rick is getting closer and closer to having his tractor back together (this is his "winter" tractor, so as soon as it is painted and re-assembled, it will get put away for the summer.  Then he will probably start work on the that pellet mill we bought last year to make our own pellets.  (I don't know why I keep saying "we", I'm probably not going to have anything to do with the mill.....Rick and Kris are the ones who are keen to try it) 

We've been watching a three part series on the History Channel - "The Hatfields and the McCoys" and quite enjoying it.  Part three is on tonite and we're really looking forward to it.  I'm sure it will be re-run many, MANY times though, until we're thouroughly sick of it!

Todays picture - Kris manning the 'tiller with friend Jacob and Rick looking on.  I still maintain, it might have been easier with turning over the dirt with a spade the way my dad used to do, but apparently a roto-tiller was required for the job!








Sunday, May 27, 2012

nice weekend!

It's been a relatively quiet week - we had the air conditioners on a couple of times this past week.  Mostly we turn them on around noon when it is hot and most nights we've been able to shut them down by the time we go to bed.  I prefer to have the windows open, but some days are just too hot and humid.

Brother-in-law, John, mentioned in his blog today that he is waging war with "critters" in his house in Ottawa.  In all the years we've lived here, we've only ever had one or two critters in the house - once was when Rick installed a new stove and didn't plug the hole in the floor under the stove where the electrical cord goes into the crawl space (I don't know what happens after that - I just know the cord goes into the crawl space....) anyway, he left a bit of a gap and almost instandly we had a mouse in the house!  Cats cornered it - I grabbed a tupperware bowl with visions of putting it over the mouse and capturing it when it ran by, but wound up simply squealing and throwing the bowl at the poor mouse whenever it tried to escape - sad, really (me I mean)

And yesterday, Buddy brought a chipmunk home to show me - it was VERY much alive!  Once again, much squealing ensued (me again) and Rick (thinking I was having a stroke or something) came running in to handle the situation. He was able to "herd" it out the front door (with Buddy hot on it's trail)  whew!   Y'know I love Alvin and the Chipmunks, but it seems when confronted with the real thing, I'm not so amused.

Rick, on the other hand, had showed a house in the morning that had rats in the basement (don't EVER tell me real estate agents don't work for their $$$$)  so, he was having a rather rodent-filled day and the chipmunk probabley seemed rather cute after the rats!

The swallows trying to nest in our garage have moved on, thank goodness.

So, that is the wild-life report for this week!  haha

The picture today is just a lovely building in Arnprior- I think it might be the town hall - or at least was at one time.

Monday, May 21, 2012

HOT!

Last couple of days have been HOT!  But, it should be noted NOT humid - so quite bearable.  In spite of the heat, Rick's spent a lot of time in the garage tearing down and painting his tractor - big job, but he tells me it's nearly done. 

Last week, we noticed that some very cute little sparrows were flying in and out of the garage.  Unlike other birds that fly in by mistake and just fly around the rafters in a panic, these sparrows got in and out without an problem.  In fact, completely ignoring Rick working away, they set up housekeeping in the rafters - obviously these were mis-directed barn swallows who thought our garage was a barn.  And while they seemed quite friendly and were certainly entertainment for the cats, they do make a mess.  After Kris checked to make sure their nest really hadn't progress very far, we kept the garage closed up for several days forcing them to find another likely spot to nest. 

Kris had a rare two days off in a row - he pretty well works at least 5 1/2 days a week and often goes back in the evenings - I think he was almost a loss as to what to do for the two days.  He wound up  cleaning  his car inside and out and puttering around the house, but he today loaded his dirt-bike into the truck and took off for the day - I'm sure he'll come home sun-burned and tired.

Jamie and Julie spent the long weekend at Julie's parents cottage in Aylmer - they used to spend a lot of time there, but now that they have a larger apartment, a good queen size bed (our old one) and two PC's for gaming, I think they almost prefer to stay home - still they had a lovely weekend to open the cottage up.

Real estate was quiet for Rick and myself - much is done from home anyway.  I can draw up offers, fax documents, email clients etc. all from home - so even a "quiet" weekend usually means answering emails and phone calls. 

Haven't been taking many pictures lately - but today I snapped one of Rick mowing the lawn - it's a tad on the dry side - we're supposed to get some rain tonite - we need it!




Friday, May 11, 2012

gorgeous day!!!

Well after having to wear a jacket, sock and shoes yesterday, today was much nicer - back to "scandals"!!!  nice!

Did a fair bit of running around - lots of back and forth from Renfrew to Douglas - but that's the way it goes.  Last year I seemed to do lots of back and forth from Renfrew to Calabogie! 

We got the Mustang out from storage last week.  Tonight we had to run back into Renfrew - it was so nice out, we went in the Pony with the top down - wheeeeee....  

The cats are loving this nice weather - Buddy is out all day - the "girls" not so much, but they like to go out too.  It seems their favorite time is after dark - which is when we're trying to get them in.  They particularly like to play "chase me, chase me" all over the front lawn.

Black flies are out in force!  I have trouble standing around outside when they are this bad - mozzies next I suppose - oh goodie.

Rick's up early tomorrow showing a bunch of houses and I'm heading into the office to deal with an offer.  Home inspection on Sunday - and that pretty well takes care of the weekend.

What can I say about today's picture - other than - it's a Sphinx and it is on the top of my office!   In fact is is one of a pair of Sphinx's my boss picked up from somewhere and has installed them on the office roof.  Not sure what the connection is between fake Egyption artifacts and real estate - but, hey, sure catches everyone's eye.  Maybe gives Renfrew a touch of "Vegas".....lol

 



Tuesday, May 8, 2012

busy busy

been a while since I checked in here.  we've been quite busy last couple of weekends - always good in our line of work.  I actually had to meet a client at 8 a.m. this morning in Eganville - waaaaaaaaaay to early for me!!!  I managed it though.  Much of our business is afternoon, evening, so usually no rush to get up early - this is NOT a 9 to 5 job!  But every now and then an early morning is called for - first time I've been up and out of the house before 7:30 in a long time!  Mind you it was nearly 7  when we got home tonite, so still a long-ish day.

Weather's been nice except for today - it's been rainy and dull all day long and rather cool too.  In fact, it was cool and damp enough in the house that we fired up the pellet stove and now the house is much nicer.  We won't leave it on long - just enough to take the chill out.

Much the same weather expected tomorrow - then nice and sunny into the weekend.

Rick's been busy dismantling the used tractor he bought last winter - he's torn it all down and is in the process of painting it.  There were several bad rust spots and and it really had to be done.  Should be good for a while and sure makes short work of cleaning our rather long laneway.

He's already cut the grass once - this rain has really "greened" things up. 

Other than that nothing new to report - today's picture is one I took at a house I have listed.  The sellers' daughter has done several very nice murals on the walls and she did this really cute little painting on the wall over the kitchen sink.  Being a cat lover, I had to get a shot - shame if someone buys the house and paints over it....



Wednesday, April 18, 2012

nothing new

I apologize for being soooooooooooo darn lazy about blogging - there really hasn't been much exciting going on lately. 
Real estate remains busy enough - listed several properties in the past several weeks.  Doing some showings and pretty well keeping busy in that respect.

Weather is, for the most part, fabulous - mostly warm days - Monday was a day to break out sandals!  Just about time to get the winter coats and clothes cleaned and tucked away.   Rick took the snow tires off the car on the weekend - I sure don't miss the "humming" noise winter tires make on the pavement.  Rick had been saying since mid March, that we could still expect a major dump of snow, but really, since we had those unseasonably warm days in March, there has been no snow to speak of.

Kris finally sold his old Alero - good thing - because we have to make room for Jamie's VW Golf, which he is retiring in the next couple of weeks.  Hopefully, he won't take all summer to strip if of any valuable parts and then get it to the junk yard! 

Rick's also been getting the lawn tractor ready for the summer - as well, he has the other tractor with the blower on it to clean up - it was in pretty rough shape when he bought it in the winter but there wasn't time to do any work on it.  A summer project.  Then there is the pellet mill for making our own pellets that needs re-furbishing.  Not to mention trying to figure just how one makes pellets.....  Another summer project

On that note - I would say our pellet stove saved us a ton of electricity over the winter - the electric heaters were hardly used at all and the house was never warmer.  All in all, I would have to say installing it was a"good thing" (sorry, I'm watching too much Martha Stewart)


Todays picture - Buddy and Nibbles having a nap on their pillow





Wednesday, March 21, 2012

mosquitoes - really!!!

I read somewhere that this unusually warm weather would perhaps kill off the mosquitoes this year - but I don't think so!  Last night I got two bites sitting in my living room.  Might be a first actually - mozzie bites in March.  

On the way home tonite (driving with windows down, of course) we heard the frogs "singing" in the swamp...I mean....wetlands....man those froggies are gonna be surprised next week when it goes down to -8 at night!

It was actually warmer in Ottawa today than it was in Daytona Beach - that's something for all those snowbirds who go South for the warm weather! 

I know,  I know, it isn't going to last - I just checked the weather forecast and next week back to more seasonal temps.  But, the frost is out of the ground, lawns are raked so a few cold days will just be a "blip" in our Spring, I'm sure!

This afternoon while sitting in the living room enjoying the windows being open, I noticed a couple of piliated woodpeckers in one of the old poplar trees in the side yard.  The tree is quite hollow - I'm hoping they might nest there - but anyway, it was really neat to see them so close to the house - they really are quite a  large bird.

Things are really picking up in real estate too - listed a couple of places today - always nice! 

Today's pictures - our very own (sort of) Woody Woodpecker and a really cute little chippie hanging out in the same tree. 

Sunday, March 18, 2012

lovely weather!!!

A busy enough weekend - yesterday into the office for appointments and Rick showed a house in Douglas - DOUBLAS of all the places to be on March 17th!!!!   He had bit of a time finding a place to park the car as the house he was showing isn't too far from the Douglas Tavern - well, it is Douglas - nothing is too far from the Tavern really.  Anyway, he said the village was hopping in usual St. Paddy's day tradition.

This is how nice and warm it is out this weekend:

 - Phil and Janet picked up their Rialta yesterday - now I would have sworn that they didn't get it until lat April last year, but checking back to my old emails, I see it was around the same time as last year!  But, I don't think it was nearly this warm.

- I've got windows open, the pellet stove and heaters are all OFF. 

- I actually hung some washing out this afternoon - now THAT is is early.  Even if it is warm, I generally can't get to the back yard to the clothe's line because of the snow - but it's all melted.  Frost is coming out of the ground!!!  my my!

We listed a small hobby farm near Foresters Falls Road which has kept us hopping with showings - lots of people want to look at it!  I don't mind being busy though!

Y'know, I've said it before and I'll say it again - it's unreal the crap we buy from China that really is CRAP!  Safety pins that won't go through fabric without bending!   Now cat food lids.  We bought a couple of new plastic cat food lids - they don't fit!  They are just  a smidge too small!  You put 'em on and they pop right off!!!!!   made in China, of course!   The out-let on my stove doesn't fit the kettle plug - it sticks out about a 1/4 of an inch yet BOTH were CSA approved - kettle - from China...... 

okay, that's it - pictures today are a neighbour out for a walk (shirtless) and Nibbles having a catnap on the back of the couch


Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Quiet week

There has not been much excitement in our lives this past week.  The weather's been up and down - we had a good bit of snow last Thursday and Friday, but nothing since then.  Yesterday and last night were both very cold, but it warmed up today and I think the rest of the week is going to be quite milf for this time of year. 

The other day my brother in law John emailed us a bunch of "you know you're a redneck if...." jokes and my favorite was an actual clipping from a newspaper quoting a lady as saying "she really liked shopping at the Dollar General store because it was casual and she didn't have to dress up like she was going to Wal-Mart!!!"  oh dear......  

I thought that was kind of funny and it dredged up a memory from my very early teens when they built a K-Mart store not far from our house on Hunt Club Road in Ottawa.  My mom, after a trip to K-Mart, was incredulous at the way women were appearing in public to shop!  She told me she'd seen women shopping in their house coats (remember those - short sleeved, garish colors and a zipper up the front???? - not quite a nightie but not quite a dress either....) and their hair in curlers!!!!   Of course, she was from the generation where a lady didn't leave the house unless she was properly dressed and fresh lipstick applied!  We've come a loooooooong way from THAT, haven't we? - But, I think that some days days we could use a bit of that old fashioned "check twice in the mirror before leaving the house" mind-set!  And  I don't just blame Dollar General and Wal-mart - I blame Spandex too!

I took today's pictures of the birds at the  bird feeder - they do fight over the suet thing! And Buddy wondering where all the birds have gone








Monday, February 27, 2012

busy weekend!

We had a busy enough weekend - along with watching as much NASCAR as we could fit in, we showed a couple of houses on Saturday in the Mt. St. Patrick area - roads were okay considering the dump of snow we got on Friday - actually they were better than we had expected!  

Then Sunday we were off to Almonte to watch the Daytona 500 with Bill and Andrea - roads were great - weather was great - food was great - race didn't happen.  The Daytona 500 was rained out!!!  We still had a super visit and all in all a very nice afternoon.  At first they were saying it was going to be delayed until 4 or 5 - but then around 5 they annouced it was going to continue to rain and the race was re-scheduled for noon today. 

We came home then to discover that the night before a house just down the road burned the night before (we slept through the whole thing, apparently) and with the threat of some accetalyne tanks bursting, the fire department had evacuated the street the house was on.  Our street wasn't affected - but it was all a bit unsettling.  The young fellow who lived in the house barely escaped by jumping out of a second floor window - he's in the hospital recovering from broken bones and burns.  here's the link if anyone is interested in reading about it 

  http://www.thedailyobserver.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3484337

The house itself is literally gone...its the first fire we've had in the townsite that I can remember although, given that the townsite's been here since the 30's, I can't imagine it is the very first home to burn!  Too bad, the house was just sold a couple of weeks ago.

There sure seems to be a lot of fires this year - I'm sure I read about a fire every week in Ottawa and area and even out in the Valley, it seems there's a house fire on a pretty regular basis - I have no explanation for it either.

Today's picture was taken at Bill and Andrea's bird feeder - very pretty little cardinal having a munch

Friday, February 24, 2012

it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!!

Wow - we got LOTS of snow this today!  We went into the office around noon and it was just lightly snowing out.  Then around 3 Rick and I noticed it was REALLY coming down, so we decided to get out of Dodge.....FAST!   Well, nothing was moving very fast - we came home on highway 17 and we didn't get over 60 kms.   Which was okay, because we passed a jeep on its roof in the ditch (police and EMT's aleady there)  and really no one was going any faster than we were.  IF you take your time, you can drive through this bad weather without too much trouble really.  Still, I wish we had left town earlier and I am glad Rick drove not me! 

I understand there were several more cars in the ditch on Highway 17 by this evening - not surprising.  I was also listening to the police radio tramsmissions (Jamie sent me the link - it's kind of cool) and they sounded very busy!! 

We have finally recuperated from our grand shopping expedition yesterday - (did I mention I  bought a  2 litre jar of olives at Cosco???  2 litres of olives!!!  good deal though at $3.99....that's how they getcha!) 

Hopefully the weather will be good tomorrow - we have a showing near Calabogie in the afternoon.  I am sure the roads will be cleared up by then!

todays pictures are snow (views from my front door that you've all seen before but sooooooooo pretty after a fresh snowfall) and then Buddy and Nibbles playing in the snow - if you throw Buddy a small snowball, he will jump up and catch it and then fling it in the air like it was a mouse - very cute - but hard to throw the snowball and take a picture at the same time!





 







Thursday, February 23, 2012

IKEA hell

Today we popped in to Ottawa to pick up some Jetta parts.  The original plan was for us to go in tomorrow, but the weatherman is calling for snow and since today was clear, mild and sunny, we figured we'd go ahead and make the run today.  Nice day for a drive.

I also wanted to combine the trip with a quick side trip to Ikea and Cosco.   Well, we went to Ikea first - specifically to look for a kitchen item.  Well, the new (and improved?????) Ikea is gi-normous!!!  Ikea was always a bit of a bitch to try to get from point a to b without meandering all through the store.  Well, let me tell you the new and bigger store is 10 times worse - I swear we walked over a mile following those stupid arrows - of course, if you don't FOLLOW the stupid arrows you want up going in circles, so we walked, and walked and walked (3 floors by the way) only to reach the kitchen area where we discovered they no longer carry the item I was looking for (or maybe I saw it at another store....shhhhhh don't tell Rick)  Anyway, I find the store so big, it's daunting - or maybe we're just getting old.   I know the purpose of the layout is to make one HAVE to view ALL Ikea's products whether one wants to or not - but I sure wish they'd indicate short-cuts to get out quickly!   Rick swears (a lot hahaha)  that he will never darken their doors again unless they get (a) segways (b) moving walk-ways (like the Jetsons had) or (c) a Star Trek "beam me up" machine.  Guess we're not going back to Ikea...

Then as if we haven't punished ourselves enough,  off we go to Cosco (duh!!!!)  which is nearly as freakin' BIG!!!!  Actually EVERYTHING is big at Cosco - it's like a grocery store for giants!   I've never seen such large packages - my God, what does one do with 4 dozen bagels - sure, they're a bargain, but......!    And you can't tell me you keep 1 dozen and freeze the rest, cuz, you'd need a huge freezer to fit in all the stuff you buy - wieners come in 3 packs of 18 (that's 54 wieners!!! - I'm not kidding 54 wieners!!!)  We bought a 2 lb pack of Starbucks coffee for Rick - which was the reason for going and $150 worth of other giant items.  I'm wondering though, when you buy food in such large quantities, does it last longer or do you just eat more???
So, all in all, an exhausting day and if I learned one thing, I learned that I better get me a pair of comfy running shoes for our next shopping spree!
Today's pictures are not any of mine - just a picture of a doggie I'd love to have - a Cardigan Welsh Corgi and something we need for our fat cat, Missy - a pet treadmill - which, incidentally costs almost as much as a people treadmill, leading me to think we should buy one for ourselves and share it with Missy!