how does your garden grow???

Kris' garden is coming right along as you can see by my picture. He's been working very hard on it it - don't think he's discovered weeding yet. ..... I do look f- orward to some fresh tomatoes - I think he has a row of iceburg lettuce, but I THINK it is one of those "delicate" types of produce that the bugs take care of pretty quick unless grown in a very controlled environment - oh well - what are a few bugs....

Rick and I are keeping pretty busy - I've got a home inspection later this week and an Open House on Sunday - hopefully I'll have nice weather for the Open House. Nothing keeps people away like pouring rain.

Been very warm for the past day or two - the thermometer at the back of our office read 100 degrees this afternoon. Sure cooled down this afternoon - I hear Ottawa got socked with thunderstorms, but all we got out Renfrew way was some very light sprinkles. In fact, Kris had to water his garden tonite as it was so dry

We got an aquarium a couple of weeks ago - actually Kris bought it when he was in the pet shop buying crickets for his Amole lizards. anyway, it's kind of nice - it cost $99 and the fish cost ninetheen cents. We bought 3 fish, but 2 died - but at nineteen cents we can afford to replace them - often.

Buddy is tall enough that he can drink from it - either from the water fountain part or right out out of the bowl - fish doesn't mind.

tried hard to rain.....

well, it was a weird weather day today - it was heavily over-cast all day and looked like it was about to rain at any minute - BUT, it never did. I hear they had hail in Eganville this afternoon - glad we missed that.

Rick and I just kinda chilled today - Rick washed the cars and tidied the garage at bit - bugs are horrendous!!! Saturday we were showing waterfront properties and while it wasn't too bad close to the water where there was a breeze, but back off the water a bit and you got eaten alive. I tend to (a) attract mosquitoes and (b) get enormous welts when bitten. Therefore I tend to stay inside at this time of year as much as possible!

We did list a terrific little house on Golden Lake a couple of weeks ago - cute as a bugs ear - and totally renovated (they added a basementIKEA kitchen etc.,) it's a long way from home to show, but this time of year the drive is nice.

I should mention that Kris has planted one heck of a vegetable garden in the back yard - I can't believe the work he's put into it. First he dug up a patch of ground about 30 x 30, then he borrowed a roto-tiller and tilled it, then he got some good soil, then he built a fence around it to keep out the varmints, added a gate and this weekend he planted corn, tomatoes, potatoes, carrots etc. He certainly seems to enjoy it - between the heat and the bugs, it's not for me - I'll buy from the local farmers market - but I'm looking forward to some of the produce from Kris' garden this summer.

I just checked the weather - it's only supposed to go up to 10 degrees tomorrow - chilly!

Several posts ago, I think I mentioned all the solar panels we're seeing in the area - small, home-owner type systems as people take advantage of the Green Energy Act letting them sell their electricity for a LOT of money. I said at the time that I doubted the provincial government did this just to promote "green energy" at a grass roots level. I think I was right - google Samsung wind power - there are 4 wind farms slated to go up in Ontario after Samsung cut a deal with the provincial government- details of the deal are "secret". hmmmmmm.......

Once again, I'm not against green energy, I always thought this was more about money for some large corporations than it was about green energy.

Okay - that's it for now - today's picture is one Rick took down the road at the old Ross Mineview Public School which is now a helicopter repair plant. They mostly re-build engines so we don't often see a whole helicopter but this week they had this one out and running a couple of times.

nice day!

Today was a definite improvement on the weather. Cool when we started out this morning in the Beachburg area. By this afternoon it had warmed up quite a bit, but threatened rain and a cool breeze came up. Right now it is trying to rain and cool out.

Our male cat Buddy is out everyday regardless of the weather - we generally leave him out when we leave in the morning. Funny, though the three "ladies" only go out briefly and rarely stay out when we leave. Nibbles (the big baby) doesn't like to go in the bush at all - when Kris goes into the bush to work on his shed (a place to put all his stuff), Nibbles sits at the edge of the bush and cries. We figure she could transition to an apartment cat if she ever had to.

Tomorrow (well, pretty much the whole weekend) we are quite busy - we're showing 7 houses in Douglas - should only take a couple of hours, mind you - Douglas isn't very big) and then have an appointment in the office for 5 p.m. Then Sunday we're out to Golden Lake to look at a really cute cottage. So, that's the weekend - it's good to be busy!!!!

Today's picture was taken at the end of our road - a few horses and 2 of them having a little nap! Horses don't lie down all that often, but they will on occasion if they are comfortable in their surroundings - guess these 2 were....

cool weather....

The weather is anything but spring-like lately - will be happy to see some sun tomorrow if weatherman is to be believed!

Had a great visit last night with friends and ex-neighbours Pam and Terry - our travelling friends who traded in their house for an RV and the nomadic life. They were passing through the area from Parry Sound where they work at a park for the summer, to visit their son and daughter-in-law in Ottawa. We had a nice dinner together shared a bottle of red wine and had good chat into the evening. They were up this morning and off to Ottawa after breakfast.

Spent the rest of the day lazing around - answering emails and setting up appointments - no need to go into the office - can work from home quite well!

Yesterday Kris brought home some quality bird seed - we scoffed that our no-name bird seed was fine but GUESS WHAT??? This morning as we were enjoying a cup of tea with Pam and Terry in the dining room, we saw a type of bird at our feeder that we had never seen before. Pam thought it was a Pine Grosbeak, but we checked out a birding website and it appears to be a Rose-breasted Grosbeak. Very striking markings (as you can see by my picture) and looks like the new birdseed is working!

nice day!

Today was one of the nicest days we have had in a while! Nice and sunny and fairly warm (for April anyway)

I managed to get a small-ish turkey for our Easter dinner - Jamie and Julie weren't able to make it as Jamie was spending the weekend working on both his and Julie's car - so it was just Rick, Kris and myself. So, my 12 pound bird was just right and turned out very well.

It was fairly quiet real estate-wise over the weekend - which is to be expected. Still, we managed to firm up another sale, so that's good.

Kris has been busy the last couple of days clearing some trails in the bush for his dirt bike and he's also building a shed in the bush to store some up the items he brings home - and he's decided to start a small garden -so he dug up a small patch in the back yard and has bought some tomato plants to plant. He also dug up several small evergreens in the bush and brought them out to plant on the front lawn - nice! If I had my way, our front lawn would be trees and wild-flowers - but I don't imagine our neighbours would like that!

Well, we're back to work tomorrow - we have a house in Douglas to list and then we'll see where the day takes us.

today's pictures - Kris and Buddy the cat in the bush!

strange days....

this is some of the weirdest April weather we've had in a long time. We've had some very nice days - last week I saw someone in shorts and "scandles" - yesterday and Monday I hung laundry out and today we had freezing rain and snow!!!

Well, we managed to log a LOT of miles over the past week or so. Over 400 kms on Saturday as we were showing properties in Matawatchan and then Barry's Bay area. Long day. On Monday we were back on the road - 180 kms that day!

Today we stayed put - didn't want to venture out on the roads if we didn't have to! It was nice to relax for the day, bake some bread, have a nice fire, watch TV.

Kris has not put out any deer pellets for a while now but when we looked out this afternoon, there were two deer quite close to the house sniffing around for food. I guess the snow has them a bit confused. Our bird feeder was exceptionally busy - anytime I looked at it, there were literaly dozens of birds around it.

Don't have any big plans for Easter - I imagine we'll cook a turkey - hopefully, Jamie and Julie will be able to come up for dinner - but I'm cooking a turkey anyway!!!

Today's picture was taken this morning of the deer looking for food. these two don't look to old and they were actually quite wary of our cat Buddy who was out there - they stomped there feet at him several times before taking off into the bush

rainy day

been a while since I posted. We've been quite busy lately - and I've been lazy about posting too. We've been doing a fair bit of running back and forth to Golden Lake area - Rick had a couple of buyers interested in waterfront properties.

We drove up this morning to Golden Lake to take a water sample - nice drive up, but started to rain on the way back. Good thing we got it out of the way this morning, because those cottage roads can be quite muddy now that they are thawing and a day's worth of rain won't make them any better!

In November the municipality up-graded the water lines in the townsite (we're told our montly water bill will be over $100 when all is said and done- nothin's free) anyway, they barely got the job finished before the snow came and now with the snow melted, you can see what a mess they left. Most houses here have a front lawn that is half lawn half mud. We're not so bad as we have a large front lawn and the mess is down near the road. Don't know if the contract to re-do the water lines included the clean -up afterwards. I suppose the rain will even out the rough spots and a couple of bags of grass seed will greatly improve things.

Jamie and Julie came up yesterday afternoon. Jamie put on his summer tires (he stores his off-season tires up here) and we had a very nice visit. They left around 6 p.m. - Jamie says driving at night is starting to bother him, so he is avoiding it if possible. I think they were heading over to Aylmer where Julie's parents have a cottage. They spent quite a bit of time there last year and plan to again this year too.

Today's picture are from Golden Lake - views from the cottage we looked at and a tree recently felled by a beaver.