it's snowing

It's actually been snowing on and off pretty well since Christmas day and starting to pile up!

We've gone into the office a couple of times this week but all is quiet in there.   Rick was going to stop into WalMart this afternoon but he said the parking lot was packed - so opted to stay away.  probably a good idea!!

Jamie apparently braved the boxing day crowds and lined up at Computer Canada at 7 a.m. on Monday to get the necessary components for his gaming computer.   He did make a couple of calls to Rick for some advise when he was putting his system together, but pretty well did it on his own.  I believe he was up and running and playing the new Star Wars game by Wednesday night. 

Even though it's been snowing, it has also been extremely cold (minus 20 and colder at night) so the roads are staying snow-packed and icy.  We'd planned to get into Ottawa today or over the weekend, but it looks like it's going to be snowing all weekend - so we may hold off until next week when the weather is better.

Cats are extremely bored - they won't go outside in the cold weather at all.  Buddy tends to chase the lady cats when he gets bored - then they start to fight.   I got fed up and put them out this afternoon for about 10 minutes - that seemed to settle them down for a long winter's nap.

Tonite we're just staying in with a nice fire and watching some TV movies.  Die Hard is on and while it's a bit cheesy - still fun to watch!  remember when Bruce Willis had hair????? 

everything looks so pretty in the snow - I snapped this tonite just as the sun went down.

quiet boxing day

Well, we spent much of today quietly surfing and doing a quick tidy up.  Nothing too exciting.

We had a very nice Christmas day yesterday.  Jamie and Julie arrived around 1 o'clock. We opened up gifts and visited for the afternoon.   Turkey dinner around 4 was very good.  Rick made meat pies this year and they were delicious.  All turned out very well. 

Unfortunately, it did snow quite a bit yesterday which made for a long drive home for Jamie and Julie - we tried to eat early enough that they could leave before it got dark, but things didn't turn out that way so, while they brought a change of clothes just in case, they opted to go back to Ottawa.  The roads weren't bad, Jamie said, until they hit Kanata. 

Around 4 this afternoon, Rick and I popped out to Pembroke just to look around - the only "bargains" that we saw were the Christmas chocolates and candies and.....well....we got some.....

Tonight, we'll eat leftover turkey and just relax. If the weather cooperates, we might pop into Ottawa tomorrow.

todays picture - Jamie and Julie (first picture I've taken of them)

and Kris on the tractor cleaning the laneway.

*****MERRY CHRISTMAS****

So, it's the night before Christmas and Rick and I are enjoying a couple of movies and a nice and quiet evening at home.


We totally avoided ANY stores today - and we don't plan on going in on Boxing day either!!! 


It's been a fairly cold day today - cats are pretty bummed out about the cold - they don't like to go out in the cold at all!   Buddy is the one who spends the most time outside - today he sat and stared out the window.  how sad


The weather doesn't really affect Nibbles as she generally spends her days in the window anyway- watching and waiting for Kris to come home.  Oh she likes it (sort of) when we pet her, but we're not Kris and I think she merely puts up with us as inferior substitutes.  As soon as she hears his car (sometimes long before you can see it turning down our road) she runs to the back door and cries until he comes in.  okay, she sort of freaks out until he comes in.

well, tomorrow is turkey day - we got one that was big enough to send lots of leftovers home with Jamie and Julie.

Our tree - that's Nibbles sitting on a present.

And same tree - daytime shot- with Buddy sitting on a present checking our the tree

What a difference a day makes!!!

well, just in time for Christmas, we had some snow last night and it sure  helped banish the Green Christmas Blues!!   Rick even went out this morning and cleaned the laneway.  And if the cooler temps keep up, it might even stay!  Anyway, it's nice to see it in time for Christmas!

Another "just in time for Christmas" treat was going to the post office to pick up the vintage Christmas coach and horses that I bought on ebay about 2 weeks ago.  I wasn't sure it would get here in time for Christmas - it usually takes 2+ weeks for mail from the States and this was packaged in a fairly large box.  On our way into Ottawa this morning, I checked our mailbox and nothing.... but on the way home, I checked again and the card was there telling me there was a package waiting for me at the post office.  What a good thing our little Haley Station post office stayed open all day today - many businesses closed at noon!   The is identical to the one we had growing up and while the horses are different and some of the cardboard people are missing, I'm still glad I got it.  It was made by Hallmark in the late 1940's and is made from a fairly light cardboard - so it is a wonder it survived this long.

So, into Ottawa today to do some last minute shopping and to stop in to see brother Phil and his wife Janet.  Always great to visit with them even if only for a short time!  I brought a plate of our home-made treats and Janet gave me a plate of her Chistmas baking.  Why is it that somebody else's treats taste the best????

A busy enough day -we still have a few things to pick up at Wally-Mart  - groceries mostly - and since it is open until Midnight, we'll go in around 9 o'clock tonight and hope the last minute shoppers have mostly gone home!

Pictures today - our White Christmas (compare to my picture taken only a few days ago) and my "new" vintage Christmas decoration!

still not a white Christmas

well, we had a bit of snow last night and today, but not quite enough to hide all the green grass!  I always feel kinda bad for the kiddies getting sleds and other snow toys when we don't HAVE ANY SNOW!  
I'm okay with it though.  Still don't have my boots out of the closet - but getting close to doing so. 

We've been busy last few days baking and finishing off Christmas stuff.  Today we had our office lunch with lots of goodies.  Too much food, actually!   No supper required tonight!

This afternoon, I was listening to some of the gals in the office talking about Netflix and I came away with the mindset that I, too, would sign up for Netflix right away.  Well.....after searching Netflix for several movies that I would like to watch and some new releases and discovering that Netflix had almost NONE of the movies I wanted, I decided to take a pass for now.  We're okay with our dish for the time being!   Besides we tend to watch the History channel, NatGeo and similar channels mostly - not so much movies.

I'm would like to say that I'm not in favour of the way Google and Blogspot appeart to now be in bed together.  When I'm writing my Blog, I keep getting a message that I need to download Google Chrome to get the best use of Blogspot.    But, I don't WANT Google Chrome and I quite resent being told I have to download it.

I'm noticing more and more "integrations" like this.  I even got fedup and disabled my Facebook account a few weeks ago (not that I used it anyway)   my main reason was that one day going on to my Facebook page, I discovered a new note that I had registered on the History Channel to play the new American Pickers game - which I did (stupid game - don't bother with it...) but I don't remember telling the History channel website to plaster that little bit of info on my Facebook page!!!! 
And while I'm whining.......I now have a new version of Word to get used to - CAN'T THEY JUST LEAVE IT ALONE?????   whew - I'm tired of have to learn new programs all the time. (maybe I'm just getting old....)  But, how much fun would it be if your friendly neighbourhood grocery store re-arranged all their food every couple of months????

Okay, enough, whining - my picture today was shot ajust few days ago from our front lawn - just showing how green things are.

'nother nice day!

We had another unseasonabley warm day - I think it hit +11 C.  I  guess I could have hung out laundry to dry if I'd wanted to.  Mind you we're trying to do laundry and other things after 7 during "off peak" hours. 

The pellet stove seems to be saving us a considerable amount on our hydro bill.  We used much less electricity this November than we did last November.  Of course, it hasn't been all that cold either.  Still, we haven't had the electric heaters on at all - and that's a good thing!

Not much on the go today - popped into the office for a few minutes to pick up some paperwork for a nice little place we're listing just outside of Renfrew.  Don't expect much action over the next couple of weeks, but you never know.  There are always people looking!

I snapped this cute picture of Nibbles in all her Christmas finery - well....actually we have MORE Christmas finery - I just can't get it all on her at once......

still unseasonably warm!

I think I'm  getting used to having a green Christmas but I can't say I like it!  And unless we get some colder weather and some real snow it's gonna be another green one!  I remember shopping down on Sparks Street 30+ years ago at this time of year and there was ALWAYS a lot of snow.  Now I barely break out a winter coat and boots until January!

Rick got a start on wrapping presents today and then a quick run into town to finish up some shopping- I think we'll call it DONE!   Although there are always a FEW last minute things to pick - but we've still got nearly two weeks to go!

Tonite I'm watching White Christmas -a nice old movie I enjoy every year at this time!  Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye singing "Sisters" in semi-drag is just plain good entertainment! 

So far our pellet stove is working well - we haven't had any heat on at all since installation.  Of course, it hasn't been all that cold, but we still would have had the heaters on during the past month.  I'm curious to see what our energy usage is for the month of November.

Supposed to get freezing rain tomorrow - fortunately we don't have much on the go and may just stay put for the day.

Picture today is my village - I got Rick to make me a base with a bunch of holes drilled in it.  So now I just have to stick the lights up through the holes and pop the houses over the lights.  All the cords are hidding under the wooden base.  Worked very well, I must say!

great evening!

Last night saw us off it Bill and Andrea's for our annual Christmas dinner.  For the past several years they have had us and several long-time friends over for a "pre" Christmas supper where we eat, drink and yak!  As usual Andrea cooked a fabulous dinner of ham, meat pie and scalloped potatoes!  Home made bread and a cake topped off the dinner.  No low cal stuff here.  A very enjoyable evening!

We have got our house done up for the season,  even my Christmas village is up this year!   So far we've avoided the crowds at the stores - if we have to do any major shopping, we'll go in during off hours.  I think Wal-mart in Pembroke is open 24/7 until the 24th but I'm not sure I want to shop at midnight!

As to be expected real estate is pretty well dead.  Just a few things going on - nothing to get excited about.  Things will start to ramp up again in January/February. 

A month or so ago I posted a picture of a cardboard coach that I saw on the internet that was just like the one we had when I was younger. It came out every Christmas and was part of our mantle scene.   Last week I saw this one offered on ebay and I put in a bid and won the auction - hopefully it will be in before Christmas - just a nice little piece of nostalgia.....

Today's pictures - the shed Kris (and Rick) built out back  my new ebay find!

nice weather!

Well, we've certainly had a run of nice weather given that it is December 5th! Quite warm - I think it was plus 6 or 7 today. I haven't bothered to break out my winter boots or winter coat. Any snow we had to date has melted and the grass is looking rather green (again considering the time of year!.

Today, we decided to get up off our tushies and get some shopping done - not really doing a lot this year - Jamie wants money to put towards a new laptop so he can play the new Star Wars game. These games are quite sophisicated - one has to pay a monthly fee to play - but according to Jamie he's been waiting for this game since he was 16 so it is (in his opinion) a must have!

We had our office Christmas party on Saturday and stopped in at Jamie and Julie's apartment - it's quite nice and they like it. They each have a computer set up - they're definitely gamers!

Our party was at the Scarlet Lady in the Market - it was one of those dinner theatres things. The theatre part was a bit hokey (to be expected) but the food was disappointing for the most part, I'd have to say. Still, the evening was fun and not a bad place for an office "do".

So, we hit a couple of stores today - including a bulk bin where we loaded up with stuff for Rick annual batch of nuts and bolts - wouldn't be Christmas with 'em!

The cats are enjoying the warm weather - but Nibbles doesn't go out too much - she is a a bit of a "lap cat" as you can see. Normally she will only sit on Kris' lap, but since he isn't home all that much, she's starting to make do with Rick's lap.

first snow of the year

Well, we had a little bit of snow last night - it is still on the ground, but since tomorrow and Saturday are supposed to be plus 9, I don't imagine it will stay. At least I HOPE it gets up to plus 9 - I've got sheets on the clothesline!

We had a nice weekend with brother Phil and his wife, Janet, up on Friday night. They left their much-loved VW Rialta with us for the winter. They brought their lovely dog, Tasha, with them. Tasha is a very calm, easy going doggie - but as usual our 4 cats vacated the downstairs until she left. Funny, none of our cats get along particularly well (other than Nibbles and Buddy who are mother and son) but when there is a dog in the house, all internal battles are temporarily set aside while they all retreat to the safety of our bedroom - where they sit on the bed - one on each corner until the dog leaves. Nothing like a common threat to bring a family closer together - hahahaha

Then on Sunday we had our final NASCAR race of the season. Bill and Andrea came up and much to our disappointment our driver, Carl Edwards, failed to hold off Tony Stewart who wound up winning the championship by just a point or two. Oh well - it's been a good season - we're all looking forward to next year.

Guess it will soon be time to get the house decked out - I don't like to start much before early December, though. If I get the stuff up too early, I'm sick of it by Christmas. I would like to try my hand at some new Christmas-y recipes this year. I've been watching Martha Stewart and I'm inspired! (I did feel she went TOO far in turning turnips into candle holders.....)

Today's picture is taken from my front door this morning - just a bit of snow!

busy weekend

we had a busy enough weekend. Showed some houses yesterday afternoon and again this evening.

Today Kris took our old queen size mattress and box-spring into Jamie and Julie's. They've been using an old double bed we bought Jamie about 7 years ago. I think they'll like the newer pillow-top queen size. They moved into their 2 bedroom apartment last week - no fun for Jamie lugging stuff up 3 flights of stairs.

Although it is quite mild (for November) we saw a couple of deer around the house today. In fact, Rick walked into the living room to find one starring in through the window! We'll have to keep a camera handy!

Last week we picked up a used pellet milll - this will enable us to make our own pellets to burn in the pellet stove - the only way to go!!! I don't know if Rick will get it up and running to make many pellets before the winter, but next year we plan to make our own. Apparently one can make them out of paper, leaves, sawdust etc. Sawdust isn't too hard to come by as there are several lumber mills out here and our neighbour has a lot of it in his barn - and paper and leaves - well that's just lieing all over the place! We're hoping to make at least half or more of our own pellets next summer.

The pellet stove is working out very well - we don't have it running full time - just putting it on low in the evening to run at night - generally, we shut it down during the day - but as it gets colder, I'm sure we'll have it going all the time.

Last week was Halloween and we had about 25 - 30 trick or treaters - we're still eating left-over candy and chips! hahaha - we still decorate the house for the kids - they always look for my giant pumpkin - quite visible from the road.

funny cats

pretty quiet day - we popped out to Douglas area this a.m. to show a house. Really cute little place - I like funky old (log) houses!

We are getting used to the pettet stove - it warms up the kitchen (and bedroom over the kitchen) almost too much, so today we put a fan in the kitchen to help blow the air through the rest of the house - seems to be working quite well!   We also installed a ceiling fan in the upstairs hallway to help circulate the air.  (haha - that's the "royal we" folks - "we" translates to Rick)

We had a very nice dinner at Gow's in Ottawa last nite with Jamie and Julie.  Not fancy, but good prices and good food.  We sent them home with a dozen eggrolls and we brought home a dozen for us.  They're VERY good eggrolls. 

When we were in Ottawa I noticed ANOTHER brand new storage building near the Kanata Canadian Tire.  At least 3 stories high and bigger than the Canadian Tire building!   That must be one of the biggest growth industries around these days - I can only assume people keep buying new "stuff", don't want to get rid of their old "stuff" when they buy more, and so they have store it.  There's a bunch of those storage units out here - but this one in Ottawa looked like it was a bit more upscale - likely heated - that would be for your really GOOD "stuff" I guess....

This afternoon we put up some Halloween decorations - we don't do nearly as much as when the boys were small, but we do try to put up a few things - the little kids really like my big inflatable pumpkin!  Our house sits kind of off the road and a small pumkin just doesn't show up - so I got this one a few years ago and now I know the kids watch for it.

We also got lots of treats - chips and mini chocolate bars etc.  Tomorrow night I plan to watch my favorite Halloween movie "Hocus Pocus" and hand out treats.

pictures today - our halloween house and Buddy (dark grey) and Nibbles having a catnap on the back of the couch.  Nibbles is Buddy's mom and these are the only ones who would sleep so close to one another - the others are all very concious of their own and each others personal space.

Houston - we have LIFT OFF!!!

Pellet stove is IN! Finally and just in time for the cooler weather! Two fellows from Energy Options came over and had it installed in under 4 hours. It's up and running and keeping the kitchen nice and toasty. The kitchen was always a cold room - and the bedroom over the kitchen was cold too. Kris now reports that his room is quite warm and we have been able to turn off the baseboard heaters. We'll see how it goes..... It's a nice little unit - I'm quite impressed with it so far.

Tomorrow we're putting the Mustang away for the winter. We secured a spot in the Renfrew Armouries for it - only $150 for the season - a very good deal! Only problem is it has to go in this weekend and we can't get it out until May 1st. But, to be honest we don't take it out much in November and only once or twice have we driven it in April. And the fact that the storage is so cheap and that we can free up half our garage makes it worth it. We have to show up at 10:00 - hopefully it won't take too long to get it tucked in.

Then later in the afternoon we're popping into Ottawa to take Jamie and Julie out for Chinese food. We plan to meet at meet at Gow's in Bells Corners. It's not very fancy, but we quite like their food and we LOVE their open-ended eggrolls! We'll bring home an extra dozen eggrolls for Rick and Kris to snack on.

Thats about it - real estate continues to be busy enough for this time of year - bit of a flurry of activity on land at the moment and we have several vacant properties. And Sunday morning we're showing a house near Douglas.

today's picture is our pellet stove - ta-da!!!

where's the rain????

Well, the weatherman (so often unreliable) called for rain today but it was actually quite sunny! On the cold-ish side, but not bad for this time of year. We took a quick jaunt up to Pembroke to get an EGR valve (or something) for the truck which wasn't running quite right.

If we get a somewhat warmer day, Rick will install it. We don't use the truck much, but it is nice to have around. In fact Kris is taking it into Ottawa on Monday or Tuesday to help Jamie and Julie move to a 2 bedroom apartment and also to take in our old queen size mattress to replace their old double-size mattress which has a decided hammock-like shape.

It's huntin' season out this way - at least there seems to be more men wearing camo clothing then there usually is. Camo and plaid are pretty well the norm in the Valley. Of course if you're hunting you have to wear bright orange too (so why bother with the camo, right??? hey, I don't make the rules....)

We had a nice Thanksgiving with Jamie and Julie - we cooked a turkey that turned out very well and lots of leftovers for Jamie to take home for lunches. Jamie's quite excited these days - there is a new Star Wars game coming out that he's quite keen on playing. Apparently, he'll need a faster pc to play this game - in fact, he called the other day to say we're not to spend a red cent on christmas presents for him - it's cash only towards a new pc. makes shopping easy anyway.

We invested in a new wireless fax/scanner/copier a couple of weeks ago. So far it's working out great! We love being able to work from home more - saves a lot of time and will be a real bonus in the winter when the roads are bad. The scanner is even faster than the one at work - I'm really pleased with it.

In case you haven't heard the "big" news, KFC has just added bacon to their mashed potato bowl (or heart attack in a bowl as we call it) For the un-enlightened the KFC mashed potato bowl is mashed potatoes with a layer of corn, popcorn chicken (whatever THAT is) grated cheese and gravey poured over the entire mess. but NOW, they are garnishing it with BACON! my god! can it get any worse??? (or better........maybe) I think there's like 2 weeks worth of sodium and fat (but no trans fat, I'm sure) in this congolmeration. And, one day, before I die, I plan to have one!

Todays picture is a heron Rick and I spotted on the road on our way home from Pembroke.

still here

I'm still here - been a while since I posted. Just lazy, I guess.

We had a wonderful visit with our good friends Pam and Terry a few weeks ago. They were here with their RV for several days and we had lots of good catch-up chats. When Pam is in town, it is traditional for the gals who worked at Timminco to all meet for dinner at a local restaurant - our chance to keep in touch with each other and a very nice evening. We tried the new Santa Fe restaurant in Renfrew - it was okay but nothing special - still the important thing isn't the food - it is seeing everyone again! Rick and Terry did a few things to the RV - all in all a great visit and always look forward to the next one.

Rick and I have been kept quite busy over September - busier than my Septembers generally are in real estate and hopefully that will keep up for a while - although with hunting season coming up, things will pretty well grind to a stand still in Renfrew.

I think Fall is my favorite time of year! I don't miss the constant "wrrrrrrrrr" of our a/c's and fans (although I couldn't live without them in the summer-time). But I like it when we have the fireplace going and candles in the evenings. nice! We got a load of wood, but will probably need a couple more face cords to get us through the winter.

I don't have any pictures to add today - my lap top crashed a couple of days ago and I had to buy a new one. I didn't really lose anything - Rick had backed up family pictures not long ago on a disc and all our emails are on gmail, so they don't "go" anywhere. So, losing the laptop was only moderately inconvenient. And the new one was up and running in a very short period of time. Funny how things change - years ago, a computer crashing was the end of the world unless you were dilligent about back things up -and loading new software took forever, now, it's just a minor annoyance. A quick run to Staples, pick out a new one and back home and poof! you're up and running again.

I do have a new Windows version to adapt to - but that too doesn't seem to take much brain power either. too easy.

Our other new purchase was a long-wanted king-size bed. We've been talking about getting one for ages, and finally just went out bought one. We LOVE it!!! - lots of room for us and the cats who seem to think it is their bed and they just indulge us by letting us sleep on it. It did entail buying new sheets - something I hadn't had to do for a while - since when did they start selling "micro-fibre" sheets and what are they??? I think the micro-fibre ones are the remnants of material lieing on the floor in the big garment factories that get swept up and mushed into "micro-fibre" no thanks....I'll stick with cotton!

well that's it, folks - I'll try to blog better (for those who check) but always remember our lives are rather mundane and sometimes there's nuthin' exciting to report!!!

nothing much new

it's been a quiet month - nothing too exciting going on. We're busy - but as I said nothing too exciting to report. We've got some listings up in the Eganville/Golden Lake area so we are doing a fair bit of driving lately. Yesterday saw us in Eganville at 9 a.m. to show a couple of houses then home for the afternoon and back again to present a couple of offers around 7 last night. Like I said a fair bit of driving!

Kris bought me an aquarium a few months ago and we've had some trouble keeping the fish alive - we finally settled with a sucker fish of some kind and a Beta. Beta's actually have the most personality of all the fish we've ever had. "Sushi" always swims right over to check out Buddy (the cat) when Buddy hops up for a drink.

We haven't see Jamie and Julie this summer - they're busy "cat sitting" Julie's parents 6 or 7 cats! Julie's parents have gone to their cottage for a month or two and it is easiest to leave their cats at home. I hope to see them up soon, though.

We were all set to watch the race at Watkin's Glen yesterday afternoon but it was rained out. Fortunately, we have nothing on the go until later this afternoon so we're watching it now - seems odd to watch it on a Monday morning!

well, that's all for now, folks - just thought I would let everyone know we're alive and well - haha!

Today's picture is a bit of nostalgia. Growing up, we always decorated our mantle at Christmas with a cardboard coach and horses that I loved to set up. Long gone, of course, but, over the last few years, I've searched the net for the coach and horses set under vintage christmas decorations - I figured someone might have one around. I found this picture and although our horses were different, this coach and people is the same - it is made by Hallmark (of course) and I'll keep an eye on ebay this christmas to see if I can pick one up for myself

it's been a while....

Haven't posted in a while - combination of being busy and lazy, I guess!

The power was out last night for about 12 hours. We go bored around 11 o'clock last night with no TV or internet - so we got out the Pony and drove in to Renfrew for a Timmy's tea. It was well after the storm and a beautiful night for a drive. It did start to rain on the way home and we had to pull over and put the top up - I think that's the first time that's happened!

We haven't really been up to much exciting - things are moving in the real estate world - always good! We held an Open House yesterday on a nice little place in Renfrew - only a few people through - too hot, I guess.

Thank goodness for A/C's - we've been running them fairly steady for the last week or so. We one of those portable A/C's last year, but didn't find it very efficient - when it stopped running a week or so ago, we happily consigned it to the boneyard (Rick's workshop) and went and bought a regular window unit which is working very well!

Kris continues to work on his garden - I cannot believe the effort he has put into it!

Today's pictures - Nibbles having a little "lean" against tree and the garden

banner day

Today was perfect weather-wise. Nice and sunny, but not hot - windows open - no a/c and a nice breeze! perfect!

We had some running around to do today, so no point in Jamie and Julie coming out - we'll see them another time. Rick did some not so Happy Father's Day plumbing this morning - one of the copper pipes to the bath on the second floor was leaking, so he had to cut out a section of ceiling drywall and repair the pipe. We'll monitor and make sur the leak is stopped before closing up and re-drywalling the ceiling. Lots of fun!!

I'm still enjoying my Kindle - although I do still have to have a "real" book now and then. I do really like the fact, though, that I can buy a book in the middle of the night if I want to or anytime actually! We don't have a book store in Renfrew and the only place to buy a paperback is Wal-Mart or the Drug stores and I find their selection to be pretty slim - lots of vampire books these days - that appears to be the flavour of the month.

If you want a bit of a laugh go to Youtube and search Weird Al Yankovic - he's got a video "the eminem interview" that is pretty funny.

Today's picture is the garden - it's really coming along and a neat shot of Nibbles that Rick took the other day.

NICE DAY!

today started out very nice - clear skies and sunny - nice. It did get quite warm later on in the afternoon - we closed up and put on the two a/c's.

Rick and I hosted a lunch for an agent Open House at a house we have for sale out here in Haley's. It's a chance for the local agents to come out and take a look at a new listing - nice to do now and then.

It's birthday week this week - Jamie turned 29 on Monday and Kris turns 26 tomorrow. We gave Kris some money earlier towards a pair of work boots, but he likes a few presents on his birthday, so we went out tonite and got a few little things, including one of those hanging strawberry gardens - since he is so into gardening. And tomorrow nite we'll get a small ice cream cake.

Jamie might be coming out on Sunday - we'll pick him up a few things too.

We now have an aquarium sans fish. All 3 of our 19 cent gold fish died. Maybe it's all the cat spit from Buddy drinking out of it - hahaha. Kris said he would buy the fish this time.

Today's picture is one I snapped tonite - Missy was taking a wee nap when Rocky Raccoon sauntered by - she didn't even look worried!

I feel your pain, Missy!

Well, Missy had her "weigh-in" today - she gained an ounce! Poor old thing! Diet food for 2 solid weeks and she gains weight!!! that sucks!!! I'm sure many ladies out there share her disappointment. To be honest, Dr. Witham said it sometimes takes several weeks before we'll see results. Maybe we should have bought the Dr. Atkins diet food - hahahahaha

So, not a terribly exciting day - had a home inspection this afternoon - that's about as exciting as watching paint dry. I like to let the home inspectors go at it without a lot of chit chat so it goes a bit quicker, but sometimes there are things that need to be discussed - anyway, they run to 3 1/2 hours and this one was no different. Actually, Rick sat through most of the inspection while Princess stayed back in the office and surfed the net - perfectly legal now that he is licenced!!!

We've got some very bold raccoons hanging around the front yard eating the birdseed that falls on the ground. Sometimes Rick pops them with a paintball gun to scare them away, but the little guy out there today, just cringed and put his little hands over his little face, so that was the end of the paintball gun. Guess we'll just let him eat - he doesn't seem to bother the cats - they just sit about 5 feet away from him and watch him eat the birdseed.

today's picture - a not so svelte Missy and Rocky the Raccoon (there is some resemblance between the two, actually, other than their faces (Missy is much prettier)

love my Blackberry!!!

Several months ago I upgraded my cell phone to a Blackberry. I wasn't eager to do this - but it seemed to be the way to go as I am texting more and more these days. After a couple of evenings spent trying to figure it out, I have to say I'm very pleased with the change. I can add contacts much easier, attached notes to my contacts and most important I use the appointment calendar - don't know how I managed without it. No more phone books and appointment books lost in my purse!

I have not accessed the internet on my Blackberry, though. I'm sure I will at some point, but for now I feel like the world won't fall apart if I'm not on the net for a few hours. In fact, it's probably good for me to have some "down time"

Today was quite cool (after yesterday's heat it seemed particularly chilly) But, it was great to turn off the A/C's and open up the house. We went for a walk last night - mozzies were out in full force. No matter how fast I walk, they still find me and bite me!

todays picture is an oldie but still a favorite - Missy in her favorite sleeping position. Our vet recommended we put her on a diet (ya think???) so we switched the regular dried food for Iam's low-cal food. Two weeks ago she was 18.1 lbs at the vet's - we have been dillegent about keeping her off the non-diet food, so when we take her back in tomorrow for her shots, we'll weight her again - I'll be curious to know if she's lost so much as an ounce! Stay tuned for tomorrow's blog when I post her weight!

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.

crows like deer food

we noticed that while we have not seen our deer much since the weather has warmed up, the deer food was disappearing anyway - turns out crows like the deer pellets, too!!!

speaking of crows, they sure seem to be getting bigger all the time! One of our cats, Buddy, was facing off against a couple of crows last week and he wasn't intimidating them in the least. In fact, Rick went out and brought Buddy in the house before the crows decided they could probably take him!

Been out and about quite a bit lately - now that it is getting milder we have a few sign posts left in over the winter that we have to retrieve. In our travels, we have noticed a LOT of solar panels springing up all over the place. Not large solar farms, but lots of small home-owner panels in back yards. Looks like a lot of people are taking advantage of the government's offer to buy power that is put BACK into the grid. Not a bad idea - but not sure I like the amount they are going to be paid - that money has to come from somewhere, right?

and I can tell you, that if I was a hydro worker, I'd be concerned that when lines are shut down for maintenance, that someone SOMEWHERE isn't putting electricty BACK into the grid that could catch the worker by....huh....surprise? I'm sure this has been looked into....but might be a problem.

the cynical part of me (a very LARGE, cynical part of me, btw) suspects that a couple of large corporations (wind farm and solar) lobbied for this "green" program whereby they produce and sell "green" electricity and get paid whopping amounts of money for it and the government looks like it is trying to be green. I think the powers that be that "thunk" up this program figured they would be dealing with a few large companies only. Instead they had so many unanticipated applications from home-owners, the applications process was running 18 months behind. Not to well thought out if you ask me.... (nobody asks me, of course)

Personally, I think that it would make more sense to encourage people (by way of some rebates perhaps?) to replace their conventional hot water heaters with tankless ones. This would save most people a ton on their electrical bill (I see mostly electrical HWT's although some are gas), it would put much more water on tap instead of sitting in tanks AND would reduce our over-all energy consumption. Anyone I know with a tankless system is happy with it. Tankless systems are pretty well all the rage in Europe - with all the to-do about going green, why not promote something simple like this???? Picture all the hot water tanks in a city being emptied - hey, we might have sooooooooooo much water we could once again return to real flush toilets instead of the low flush ones!!! imagine!!!!

okay, that's my rant for the day - thanks for watching. hahaha

today's picture - crows eating deer food - large, scary crows!

nice afternoon

Phil and Janet were up yesterday afternoon to retrieve their VW Rialta - which we had been keeping for them over the winter. Popped in the battery and it started up right away. They plan to take it to the Juno Awards in Toronto and since Tasha the dog will the accompany them on the trip, the Rialta is a much better option than a motel/hotel. Tasha LOVES the Rialta.

All well with Phil and Janet - we had a very nice visit together - but as they had their van that they drove up in and the Rialta, the opted to hit the road before it got dark.

Week as been fairly quiet - I sold a house on Monday (always nice when that happens) Business has been fairly steady. I guess things are tougher in Ottawa for agents as I have two Ottawa agents coming out to Renfrew to show my listings. A few years ago that would hardly EVER happen, the Ottawa agents would refer their clients to someone up this way. I guess times are tough.

Well, I guess I better get some chores done - can't spend all day on the lap-top

pictures today are to show how much freaking snow we still have on our front yard!!!!

nice weather!!!

This weeek has been unseasonably warm - good to see the snow start to go. Several days of warm weather and rain have really helped melt the snow. Mind you, there is still quite a bit to go yet!

Jamie's finished his level 3 automechanics course - this level also offered a bonus 1 week prep course for writing the final exam for his licence - which Jamie took, of course. And he passed both his level 3 exam as well as the final exam for his licence. So, it's official- he's a licenced mechanic! I think his plan eventually is to open his own shop, but that's years away yet. At least this should translate to a good raise for now!

Rick spent today working on his Jetta - it needed brakes all around - he's known for some time, but, as he does the work himself, he had hoped to put it off for a month or so until the weather is nicer, but the brakes were bad, so today seemed like a good day to do it - it was plus 12 and that's probably about as warm as it'll be for a while. Can't complain, it's really the first thing we've done to the car in over a year.

We're still seeing deer - well, we see them as long as Kris puts out the deer food. They are much bolder now that when they first started coming around.

Today's picture is some "snow" pictures I took a few weeks ago and a neat sunset picture I snapped only moments before the sun went down.

snow day!

wow - last couple of days have been crazy weather. Snow, rain, snow again! Rick had to snow-blow the laneway yesterday morning and then again this morning. Hopefully that will be the last blast for the winter - I think we've had more snow in the past couple of days than we had through most of February! Guess the snow-mobilers will be happy.

We been getting lots of deer - they are very nice to watch - they used to only come up after dark but now they are getting bolder and we see them during the daytime.

Jamie has finished his level 3 mechanic's course - straight A's he tells us. And on Friday he wrote his exam for his licence - we don't know if he passed that exam, but he seems fairly confident about it. He and Julie are still liking their little apartment in Ottawa.

Rick and I have been fairly busy - lots of driving around- February was quite busy - but I think this snow will slow things down a bit. we'll see how it goes.

pictures today - snow and deer