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!



 

 

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!

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.

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.

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

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!

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