I Love my Deck! Now if it Would only STOP raining!

I'm a little naive when it comes to building projects - I had no idea cement would be involved in the making of my new deck. 

I also didn't realize that my old cement steps in front of my patio doors would get

broken into a bunch of pieces and tossed away. But I am just fine with that. Over

the years many animal families (skunks, chipmunks, raccoons!) have lived in the hollow

area behind the cement steps. I'm not  going to miss them!

 Wasn't he a tidy worker? After each step of construction he would clear up the

area he'd been working in. Of course it was not a very big area so I suppose

he had to clear up to make room.

He thought my plan of maximizing the space made sense so he worked around the A/C but every other square inch went to the deck.  The floor was raised by 8" so that the deck would meet the bottom of the fence. And a lot of old materials - flagstones, smaller bits of broken up concrete, stones and rocks were buried beneath the deck.

Et voila! It's wonderful! 

 I need to take more photos as I've bought a couple other chairs, a new lantern, new table cloth

etc. As it's currently sprinkling that won't be today...but soon.

Some of you may recognize my hanging chair - I had it at my trailer hanging from a tree and also

in PEI on a tree. I hung onto it in the hopes of using it again someday - and found out a month

or two ago that there are stands you can buy to hang the chair from! 

So happy!

It's now my favourite reading spot :) 

Doesn't it look great?

We've had a LOT of WEATHER lately, if you know what I mean...pretty much everything

you can think of except for snow...and that wouldn't surprise me much. Even tornado warnings.

It's been very unsettled with lots of events being cancelled unfortunately. 

I haven't been hiking around Fanshawe Lake as much - just once this week - instead I've switched to my bike as I can't escape the bugs when I'm hiking but I'm a blur on my bike! ZOOM!

No flies on me! (or mosquitos)!!

Have you noticed the infestations of bugs lately in the news? 

Las Vegas is full of grasshoppers, Orillia and North Bay (in Ontario) had literally billions

of shad flies descend upon them!

UGH! 

The major news story at the moment in Canada is about the two teenage boys who are wanted in connection with three murders in British Columbia. They are on the run and were last seen in Northern Manitoba. This sort of thing doesn't happen too often here so the whole country is 

caught up in this awful event. Hope they are found soon!

Keep cool everyone!

It's my favourite day of the year - The PRIDE Parade!!

The Deck has Begun!

This is the way the deck used to look - pretty grim.

Nothing but clover and weeds would grow between the flagstones. 

Nothing like sitting outside, reading a good book, surrounded by dirt.

Oh, and a small patch of myrtle which Lily

used to bury herself in.

Sorry Lily. You'll have to make do with potted plants!

The deck guy spent yesterday measuring and making 

giant post holes. Not sure what he is working on at present though I can hear a 

lot of whacking! I'm afraid to look! A big pile of wood was just delivered. 

Hurrah! Progress!

Oh thank goodness....COLOUR! Saw these gorgeous fuchsia coloured

flowers on my most recent trek around Fanshawe Lake.

Wild Sweet William? 

A feast for the eyes!

 I am in love with this trail. New growth trees, old growth trees, turtles,

snakes, deer...21kms of great trails.

Isn't it lovely?

I could build me a wee cottage! Well, not me...but 

somebody could build me a wee cottage. 

Hope you're enjoying summer now that it is finally here. Around here we had a cold wet spring - it wasn't nice AT ALL and then it instantly became summer complete with blisteringly hot days and hot sticky nights. But I'm not complaining! I look forward to sitting on my deck soon (hope he's a fast worker) shaded by my huge maple trees...cool drink to hand....mystery novel to hand (because I have two hands!) and hopefully a nice breeze.

Rain, Freezing Rain, Ice Pellets, Snow, High Winds

I suppose I shouldn't complain about getting "winter weather" at this time of year but I don't think it's fair that we are on the receiving end of a "Colorado" low, a polar vortex from the "Arctic", an "Alberta Clipper" bringing high winds and snow squalls all day today...well you get the picture!  Keep your own gol' darn weather to yourselves and stop sending it this way!

Sigh...no doubt y'all are getting your own fair share of crappy weather...but do we have to get it all at once? Spread it around Mother Nature - we don't need rain, freezing rain, snow, ice pellets, whiteouts and crazy winds all in one day! And now I think I need a cup of tea!

There, that's better... a cuppa fixes most things. On the one hand I don't mind a couple of guilt-free days when I stay inside, read a novel, work on genealogy, watch a couple extra episodes of "Shetland", cuddle with the cats and do some baking...BUT I do miss getting out to play volleyball or power walk on the indoor track at the BMO Centre. I tried to get to volleyball on Tuesday but first I had to clear the car of several inches of snow pellets. That wasn't so bad. But after going inside for 10 minutes I came back to the car to find the doors frozen shut due to freezing rain. There was so much freezing rain buildup that by suppertime I couldn't get the front door open! Help!!

Fortunately, on Sunday, I was able to get out for a walk in Kilally Meadows. It was hard walking due to last week's freezing rain but I had a walking stick which helped me out several times. So I was able to check on the beaver-ravaged tree and found out that the BEAVER WON! I was rooting for the tree but the ending was inevitable :( 

It looks as though the tree is bending over in pain - no doubt it is!!

Can you see the alien face below? 

How about now?

Or now?

Sorry  I couldn't resist!

                                                      So how's the winter where you are? 

                                           I know that B.C., (British Columbia, Canada), is 

                                            getting  record-breaking snowstorms...as they 

                                   are usually the TROPICS of Canada, even in the winter, 

                                                  I'm not really feeling that bad :)  

All is Well

My brochure said if I didn't hear back in seven to ten days I was to call my primary caregiver, so I did. I was told the results of my tests were good but I would have to have a yearly mammogram instead of every two years.

One of my sisters said I might want to look into thermograms instead of mammograms to reduce my exposure to radiation. Both procedures have their own substantial list of pros and cons so I find it all pretty confusing.

Do you have any knowledge about thermograms? I would appreciate any and all input.

Next up is Kazi's test on Feb 11. Hoping for good results for her as well.

We are finally having some wild and wooly winter weather - extreme cold thanks to the polar vortex and intense bands of snow due to an Alberta Clipper. Weather always comes from somewhere else! I don't really mind - the hard-working furnace is going to affect my heating bill but so far we haven't had a heat bill MORE THAN $57.00 so we're overdue And we've had maybe 8" of snow in total this year so I can't complain. I have a warm purring kitty on my lap and  at least two dozen books to read - I don't think the snow will last THAT long though :) I've also made a breakthrough in my genealogy research so that will keep me busy while the snow flies this afternoon.

I bought some groceries yesterday knowing the snow was coming and have no need to leave the house. Usually when I'm all prepared like this the storm will pass to the north or south of us...time will tell....
Last time I was at Kilally it was -7c which was crispy but beautiful!

Who is that little guy - the Pillsbury Doughboy? 

This tree may have toppled over since I was last there!

Geese huddling for warmth on a tiny wee island.

A perfect day!

Och Scotland!

My brother, Kim, and I started our adventure in the town of Stirling and then headed to Dollar for two  nights. We spent one day exploring Dollar, its glen and castle. Because I had next to no 

experience driving on the left side of the road we didn't go too far the following day. We spent the

day in Kinross (about 30 minutes from Dollar where Loch Leven castle sits on a tiny island in the loch. This castle,

built around 1300, has ties to Mary Queen of Scots who visited the castle in 1565 and then was imprisoned there until her escape in 1568. 

There are two other homes/castles that look out across the loch but they are behind locked gates - I 

wish now I had climbed over one of them!

What's the worst that could happen?

Kinross Castle cemetery 

Root man

Loch Leven Castle - I have zoomed in; it's not really this close.

 This is the only photo I could get of the house called Kinross House.

My brother, however, was more determined than I and climbed on a bench to snap a

few photos. He said he'd share...

Inscribed into the bench are these words:

"The lairdie frae his muckle hoosie spies the watters whaur his fush wull rise.”

Which translates to - The Lord of  his large house sees the waters where

his fish will rise....

I think! 

This is a beautiful area with gently rolling hills and lots of trees.

In fact, Perthshire is well known for its very tall trees.

The sky changes constantly - it rained several times while we hiked many kms on the trails

surrounding Kinross House. But never for very long at a time.  Just enough to

make my camera lens wet :(

A new sky! 

We spent most of our day here putting a lot of kms on our hiking boots. 

We had an uneventful drive back to our BnB... thankfully. 

I was really glad that I had done a lot of reading about driving in Scotland 

as well as watching a lot of youtube videos. I gradually became more accustomed to the 

roads but struggled with the roundabouts which were pretty complex with up to

half a dozen different roads branching off the roundabouts. If my navigator wasn't quick enough telling me which exit I needed I had to go around twice! 

I'm sure I wasn't the only one.

Once I realized that no one else was following the rules that I had

read about I did much better! 

The most challenging roads were the one lane roads with "passing places." 

(photo below)

If someone was coming toward you you would have to pull over into the nearest passing

place on the left side of the road OR the person coming toward you would pull over

into a passing place on their side. This would sometimes require you to back up

a ways til you could find a passing place. 

FUN!

The one pictured below is in very good shape - most single lane roads are crumbling into the ditches...so are the roads which are full of  HUGE potholes. I read a few news articles while I was

there which said the "Beasts from the East" (terrible winter storms last winter) followed by a very hot

spring and summer have turned the roads into a big mess. 

The other challenge is to make sure you don't go an inch too close to the left or right as there

is no verge on either side, just a sheer drop-off into the ditch. 

I'm very thankful that my rental car held together in one piece (I think) after

the terrible jolts it experienced in the many potholes I wasn't able to avoid.

I got used to the left side driving and the very narrow roads to the point where I didn't even

have to think about them anymore. 

But the first week was hell really and truly. My brother thought I did an

amazing job and looking back I'm glad I didn't give up as it did gradually become instinctive. 

As with everything there is a learning curve and I really came to enjoy exploring every little road, especially on the Isle of Skye which had a lot of roads which vehicles over a certain size were prohibited from using. We drove for ages without encountering

another vehicle.

One of the most frustrating things about driving there (as if that wasn't enough!) is there is nowhere to turn around! If you miss your turn you could go for miles and miles before finding a spot to turn around or you could try to make a thousand point turn and hope no one else comes along while you're executing it! 

By the way - the passing place shown below would be for the driver coming towards me as it's on the right not the left! Did you catch that?

Complaining

It's a cool wet day today but I'm not complaining about that - I'm happy that I don't have to water the flowers today and the Weather Network says the sun is going to come out a bit later and it will warm up to about 20c. I can handle that after a week of +30c. No complaints here!

Beach volleyball is still on but we won't have to wear socks today to protect our feet from the boiling hot sand - so no complaints there!

Lily got her jaw around an entire chipmunk on Saturday!!! But when she dropped it the chipmunk ran under the fence to freedom - so no complaining about that! Thank goodness! (Do chipmunks play dead when caught by a predator?)

aka Killer!

I rode my bike to the annual Gathering on the Green where my brother sets up a booth to sell his unique birdhouses. Humidity was high even though the day was cooler than usual and I was a puddle of sweat by the time I arrived. But I'm not complaining as I met up with friends, explored what was for sale, bought a gift for my sister-in-law's upcoming 70th birthday! Also went and had a nice lunch on a nearby patio with my friend Jules who purchased the creature below :)

Zombie Doll - Cynthia Rose

"Hey Cynthia Rose - get your slimy lips offa my beer!!"

Ran into a former work colleague who retired two years after I did. I asked him how it felt to be retired and he said it feels like his natural state of being. I understand what he means - it feels the way life should feel - waking up when the body is ready to wake up, eating when hungry and not because the clock says a certain time, exploring new interests, developing old ones more fully...retirement is fantastic!! Really...I can't complain!

Had a nice jog and then walked on the trails at Kilally Meadows yesterday. Ran into a friend who is a weather radar-watching freak and he told me a thunderstorm was going to hit at 2pm. But I'm not complaining - I timed my walk and made it back to my car just is time. He was dead on with his prediction! At precisely 2pm the heavens opened...though I don't think I heard any thunder or saw any lightning - SO NOT COMPLAINING!

The rain is on its way!

Kilally Meadows!

So...I guess what it all boils down to is this: I'm complaining about the fact that I have nothing to complain about! 

It's a tough life I lead!

May Weather Not Good for Blogging!

I am sooooooo grateful these days for the wonderful weather we're having after our long hard slog through winter and early spring. "Mid-SPRING" has been worth waiting for! Only a couple of weeks ago we had a major ice storm and now the fruit trees are flowering and yesterday I was attacked by mosquitoes and flies while hiking in Kilally Meadows!! The temperature yesterday was a HOT 27c (81F) so I took full advantage of it enjoying a good long ramble.

Mr. Heron is about the only bird that sits in one spot long enough for me to get a photo!

So I guess you know what kind of photos I'll be taking for the next few months :)

Fauna and flora :) in the photo below those 3 blurs are white-tailed deer running along a path.

 I zoomed in a little more and you can see a lovely little white tail just right of centre. They were loving the weather as much as I was. If you look at the header photo above that is the trail the deer were running on. Of course by the time I hiked across the field to get to the path the deer were long gone.

It's so amazing the difference a coat of green foliage makes!

I was getting VERY tired of grey/brown:

Now there is so much colour everywhere!  

So, if I don't post often just imagine me on my bike with a big smile on my face: