Nice day!

Today is a very nice day - a bit on the cool side (I'm okay with that) but sunny and very pleasant.

I really have no excuse for not posting here for a while - just lazy I guess. Not much new - had a rough weekend in the hospital from Friday a.m. to Sunday. Well, it was only Friday morning that was tough - the rest of the weekend was just sitting around in the hospital under "observation". By Sunday aftrnoon the doctors decided I was fine (just severe and pretty well unexplainable stomach pains) and I was discharged.

Don't know what brings these episodes on and therefore can't really do much to prevent them - might be twisted bowel, might be scar tissue from previous surgeries - don't know - CT scans & X-rays show all is well, so I'll just forget about it and carry on.

All I can say is thank goodness for my Nintendo DS game!! I played it a LOT while being "observed". And Saturday Rick and I pretty well had the Ronald McDonald TV room to ourselves and we settled in for the Barrett-Jackson car auction on SPEED channel. It really wasn't too bad - comfy chairs, TV, my DS game, cell phone - just like at home!!!!! We really have a super hospital out here with good people and services. The food is very good too - but this time, I was on a light diet, so didn't get much in the way of food. But, to show how good this place is - on Sunday morning, I was given my breakfast tray of juice and oatmeal and the nurse (thinking I wouldn't like oatmeal) offered to order me some scrambled eggs and toast instead. But, I LIKE oatmeal, so I kept it! I doubt one would get THAT service in the bigger hospitals.

Jamie has started a new job -for the past several years he's been at the Canadian Tire in Barhaven & it was through them, that he got his apprenticeship card, but it was time to move on. It only took him a week or two to find new employment - he was hired in at a shop around the corner from where he lives - very handy. He started yesterday and so far thinks the job is awesome. I think he will at least get more true mechanical experience here as Canadian Tire was a lot of brakes, tires, oil changes etc. As I said, it was but time to move on.

Real estate continues to be quiet - listing properties, but not much is selling - a lament I hear from other agents too. One agent who's been around for a long time predicts a busy August - I can handle that!

today's picture is Buddy chasing light reflection the wall. We had a laser pointer last year and he and Nibbles would FREAK OUT chasing it around - good fun! well for us....we finally had to put it away, cuz they were going a little nuts.

rainy day!

Such a rainy, cool day today that Rick started a fire tonite - which we throughly enjoyed while eating supper and then watching a movie - Alice in Wonderland. Strange movie. But, it was a very strange book. Quite obviously the author was taking some sort of mind expanding medication.

Still, the movie is good - the animation is wonderful and the HD is great, but I wonder what actors and actresses think now when they see themselves on the big screen in HD with all their tiniest blemishes exposed. I heard that some are so shocked to see their faces so clearly, they insist on filming with a filter - hahaha - we pay for HD and they're blurring the filming - nice!

We rented Avatar the other night - it was very good - I want to watch it in 3D and wear the funny glasses - but I don't know if you need a 3D TV for that of if the Blue Ray will work - it's all getting much too confusing for me!

Phil and Janet & dog, Tash, are heading to Calafornia in their newly acquired VW Rialta cmper. sounds like they're having a blast! I get regular emails on their progress.

Todays picture is care of Phil & Janet taken at Cadillac Ranch in amarillo Texas - it is 10 vintage Cadillacs buried in the sand in 1974 by Stanley Marsh.

You can't find EVERYTHING on the internet

contrary to popular belief, not EVERYTHING one wants or wants to know about can be found on the internet!!!!!

case in point.......

I would like to re-arrange our bedroom and place our bed angled out from the corner. Now, we do not at present, have any sort of headboard so having the bed kitty-cornered will present a problem such as pillows falling off etc. So, I figured I would look for a corner headboard - must be able to find one on the net. WRONG!!!!! although there were many sneaky links like http://www.cornerheadboards.com/ or find 10,000 corner headboards at http://www.bizrate.com/ that would lead one to believe that one was hot on the trail of what one was looking for!!!

so, then I figured Rick could build me one out of plywood and stain it - sounds simple - I want a simple corner shaped headboard with maybe one level of bookcase. There are a million woodworking plans and, again in spite of misleading links, not one freaking one of them has a plan for a corner-shaped headboard!!!

A colossal waste of time - with many side ventures into things like "viking" headboards - big disappointment, I might add - just because you cut out viking shaped thingy and put in on the bed doesn't make it "viking" headboard.

I finally got the best advise (after an hour or so of surfing) on how to decorate BEHIND a corner placed bed. Seems the best thing to do is to put a straight headboard across the corner and then a corner bookcase behind it. Might just be the way to go........

So, today was a busy enough day with a trip to Calabogie Lake for 10:30 a.m. (I have a lovely house on the lake listed) for a showing and then an open house in Renfrew. The couple who wanted to see the house in Calabogie (second showing btw) called me last night around 9 p.m. and wanted to see it this morning at 10 a.m. They actually got snippy when I mentioned I might not be able to do it in the morning. Apparently, if they couldn't see it this morning, they were "busy for the next week or so..." give me a break! Oh yeah, they showed up 1/2 hour late

Jamie turns 28 today - thanks to all who send him b-day wishes - I've passed them along to him via text messaging (which I love - will need a better texting cell phone soon).

Kris is into paint-balling big time lately. Rick spotted a good deal on KiJiJi for one and Kris couldn't get in to Ottawa fast enough to buy it. (turns out the guy was selling the gun because his son took it and blasted a couple of houses and the cops brought him home - whoops - one paintball gun for sale!!) anyway Kris and his buddies are having a great time running around the bush whacking each other with paintballs. sounds like fun, huh?

Picture today is one of Jamie taken last year

new email address

Well, we've finally gone high-speed!!! Last week we purchased a Rogers "hub" that will give us wireless high-speed internet service! This is a HUGE improvement from our dial-up service provider, NRTCO, that we have been using for the past 14-15 years. (which makes we wonder what we did for entertainment 14-15 years ago!!!!!) Hard to believe we've been on the net that long!

ANYWAY, going with this Rogers system will allow us to dump the 2nd phone line ($25/month) and our internet service provider, NRTCO, ($25/month) for the hub, at at cost of $35 a month - so sort of a no-brainer, wasn't it? cheaper and FASTER! wheeeee - now we can waste time watching stupid You Tube videos like everyone else!

However, this means after 15 years, a new email address - which is: patrickr401@gmail.com (remember to copy and paste this in your address book, kids)

And changing one's email account is a HUGE deal - translate "huge deal" to pain in the ass!!!!!

Other than that, we've been quite busy with real estate - here's a sample weekend for those who think we hang a sign on a house and then sit around and wait for the cash to roll in. (and I have had people say that to me)

My Saturday schedule consisted of a 10 a.m. appointment in Matawatchan - about a one and a half hour drive from Renfrew - then a 2:00 p.m. Open House back in Renfrew and then a showing on a house in Calabogie area (about 1/2 way back to Matawatchan) at 6 p.m. All arranged, planned & set up.

At 9 o'clock Friday, I received a call cancelling the appointment in Matawatchan - so just the Open House and my showing at 6. As I pull into the house in Calabogie at 6:00 p.m., my cell phone rings - its the couple calling about the showing at 6 - they're still in freaking Ottawa!!!

Some days are like that! Actually many days are like that. One just has to have enough good days to balance it out - and I generally have good days.

A few days ago, a gal at the office gave me a short story about her grandmother who passed away 3 years ago. A local author had written about her grandmother just before she died and it certainly makes one realize that we really are just a couple of generations removed from a completely different way of life. Here are some of the things I remember about this woman's life....

Ethel Sullivan was from Ireland - she came to Canada got married and settled in the Chapeau area. She lived the rest of her life in a small clapboard house that had no hydro or running water until the late 50's and never had any heat other that a wood stove in the kitchen. She had 19 sons in 20 years. During the second world war, a local priest gave her a $5 battery operated radio so she could listen every night for the list of Canadians killed in the war so she would know if one of her sons had died. One year,the village donated 6 sets of clothes to her family, which meant 6 of the boys could go to school - they traded the clothes back and forth so they could all get a turn at school. Breakfast every morning was porridge - lunch was cold porridge between two slices of bread. She lived in that house, raised her boys (mostly on her own and taking care of one son who would never be able to live on his own until she was in her late 80's. When she was asked about the 19 sons in 20 years she said her husband worked away from home in the bush and he came home once a year to "apologize".

I thought it was a neat story and now I think about Ethel Sullivan when I eat my cholesterol-reducing oatmeal/porridge for breakfast!

Today's picture is a neat moth Rick saw yesterday and some ducks on Calabogie Lake. (you might have to enlarge the picture to find the ducks!!!)

p.s. don't forget the email address thing - we'll be cancelling our account with NRTCO in a month or so

hot hot hot!!!

We're still in a bit of a hot spell. All a/c's are installed and working well! The portable one we picked up the other night is doing a very good job - but really not incredibley "portable" It has to stay near a window (much like a window unit) and unlike a window unit which can drain the water outside, this one requires a container for the water to drain into. But, it does do a good job - is much larger than our old unit and hopefully a bit more energy efficient!

Kris's room over the kitchen was getting quite warm, so he and Rick installed a small window unit to keep that room cool. Which means, of course, that the heating pad under the lizard lair must be kept going so the lizards don't get to cold. So, we're basically heating and cooling the same room.... hmmmmmmm

The baby lizard didn't make it, by the way. Kris was giving him baby food, but this didn't seem to be what he wanted (really?????) Anyway, the little guy passed on to lizard heaven last week. I believe he's buried out back somewhere

We made a quick trip of to Centennial Lake yesterday to put up some signs - glad we went yesterday - it was cloudy and not quite so warm as today. We've quite enjoyed our quiet day inside today. We did make a quick trip to Giant Tiger in Quebec this afternoon - the only store open as Quebec doesn't celebrate Queen Victoria's birthday. We noticed going over the bridge that the water levels were quite low. It has been a while since we have had any significant rainfall and none in the forecast either.

today's picture - not a great one - but a large cultivated field in near Shawville looking very dry & one of Buddy having a nap

Rick's sick!

So far the weather this weekend is wonderful! Sunny, warm & a nice breeze

Our plan was to head up to Centennial Lake to put some signs on a lot I listed the other day - but Rick seems to have the nasty cold I had when Pam and Terry were visiting and since Rick is the one who has to drive AND is the one who puts up the signs (I'm mainly around for the drive) we decided to put it off until tomorrow or Monday if he's feeling better. Besides Centennial Lake is about an hour from home so, it would be nice if he was feeling better so at least the drive would be enjoyable!

Unfortunately, we won't be able to take the Mustang as there are some very nasty dirt "cottage" roads - might take the truck in fact - that's kinda fun too! Not looking forward to the bugs though. Last week we went up to check out the lot, and I got several nasty black fly bites. Horrible little things! don't like bugs!

We did pop up to Home Depot last night and picked up a really good deal on a portable air conditioner. We have 2 older model window air conditioners, but it was time to replace at least one of them. Home Depot had a portable one that was last year's model so quite cheap. Don't know if it is actually better than the window one, but it is a larger unit and hopefully, since 10 year's newer a bit more energy efficient.

The plan for today is for Rick to stay quiet - for me to avoid his germs and enjoy the day!

Picture today is of Centennial Lake & Dixie the German Shepherd. Dixie lives up at Centennial Lake and the bugs don't seem to bother her a bit

rain & hail & snow - OH MY!!!

Crazy weather for middle of May! Last night it snowed and rained and very high winds! We had a nice cozy fire going all day and have one again today.

Mother's day today and Kris gave me 2 nice bunches of cut flowers - very nice! Jamie (& girlfriend, Julie) are expected later this afternoon. I made a nice low-cal cheese cake for dessert (low-cal - HA!!!) and we're making a one dish supper of manicotti & salad. Should be good!

Looking forward to seeing Jamie - we don't see him nearly as often as we would like - I expect to hear some "venting" today about work - he called last week to say how sick and tired he is of the Canadian Tire garage he works in. I expect he will move on soon. He would like to work in a garage where they work on high-performace cars, but those jobs are hard to come by & he is still a just a level 2 mechanic. It'll come though, Jamie always lands on his feet!

Today's picture, is of the flowers Kris gave me for mother's day.