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....

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

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. 

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

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

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

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!