The things people do

Every day has been bringing more signs of spring, though I sincerely doubt winter is quite over yet. My front flower bed is clear of snow, but it will be a few weeks before there is anything growing yet as the ground is frozen. Monday was absolutely beautiful at a very balmy 14C (57F). I wish I could say I spent some time outdoors but I didn't. The living room window was open, as was the sun room. I had a few errands to run in the morning, and then the Canadian men were curling in the afternoon. 

I did get out for a walk on Tuesday, and while it was a bit cooler at 7C (45F), it felt great to be outdoors. It turns out we were fortunate in the city as other areas not far away were getting some miserable weather. At my daughter's there was snow and rain for much of the day. Worse still was the southwest corner of the province that got snow and high winds. Power lines were downed and road conditions and visibility were bad enough that people were warned to stay home. One of larger communities even declared a civic emergency. Meanwhile it was sunny and warm here until the evening when we got a bit of rain.

There weren't very many birds on the creek, just one pair each of ducks and geese. But I did see this wild creature. :) 

I've seen this cat before on the bank of the creek watching the ducks and geese. It seems to be in good shape, but has obviously been chased or frightened by people or animals. While it did come close to me, it shied away and headed, hopefully, to home.

On my way over to the pond, I managed to capture this shot of two geese on their way there too. So nice to see the blue sky again after a gloomy winter.

Over at the pond, the ice is rapidly disappearing and the water is flowing. There were definitely more geese that day, but only a few ducks yet.

I'm not sure how comfortable it is laying out on the ice but these geese didn't seem to be bothered by the cold. I wonder if their body warmth ever melts the ice enough that the fall into the water?

This female mallard seemed to be on her own, as I didn't see her partner anywhere. I'm sure she won't be alone for long though.

A couple of geese got into a bit of an argument. It didn't last very long but there were some (apparent) bad words exchanged.

The usually noisy gulls were pretty quiet. This was only one I saw on the water.

I did take a chance and walked through the park closest to home. I had to skirt the area where the water is quite deep - it was snow and ice last week. I'll have to change my route up to avoid it for a little while yet. That means walking through the residential area instead of the park, not nearly as pretty but definitely safer.

Wednesday was partially cloudy, sometimes sunny, so I was able to open up the sunroom around lunchtime. The curling was over by around 1 p.m. so I grabbed a sandwich, my book, and headed out for a good ninety minutes of so. Since there was another draw that evening, I had to spend some time in the house doing some housework. That darned house fairy keeps missing my house. 

It was grocery day on Thursday - didn't make the ten days this time but I had run out of some of the basics, milk, eggs, margarine and some veg so it was time. Again, I needed to make the circuit because I'll be damned if I'll pay $3.99 for a head of lettuce! Eggs were on sale at Co-op, as was margarine and tomatos. Safeway had salad dressings at a lower price than Walmart, plus I got 10 airmiles for purchasing two. It's the time of year I start eating more salads and I use it for marinades as well so they'll get used up. I bypassed almost all of the meat counters because the sales were not great and I have enough in the fridge freezer to keep us going for a couple of weeks. I did pick up a couple of chubs of pepperoni, also on sale at Safeway. One went in the freezer and the other will be used by my son for sandwiches, and I'll make a pizza later this week with it as well. Bonus, I got 10 more airmiles for purchasing them. 

I hadn't planned to go out again this week, but my daughter needed me to run a couple of errands for her and I totally forgot about them on Thursday, so Friday I headed out to Costco. This time I would say, there may have been 25% of the people masked. And of those, there were many who were wearing it under their nose...so not much in doing so. From there I popped over to Walmart to pick up a small three drawer container for my son. More on that later. When I left the store, I put my items in the trunk and walked the cart back to the shelter. Picture if you will, two rows of cars, noses in, facing one another. There is an SUV in the parking spot across and one spot to the right of me. The woman from that vehicle is moving a cart that someone had left in the spot next to me. While I am buckling up and starting my car, I'm surprised to see that instead of walking it the short distance to the cart shelter, she placed it between my vehicle and the one I'm facing. The she gets in her vehicle and pulls the SUV forward so it is now parked partially in both spots. I shook my head, got out of the car, grabbed the cart and put it away. She opened her door of the SUV and shouted something at me, but I ignored her. As I left she was still parked partially in the two parking spots - I can only assume she was trying to ensure no one touched her precious vehicle.

Our Canadian men clinched a spot in the playoffs at the World's curling by Thursday - all that was to be decided was their position in the top six. They beat Scotland in the morning and Denmark in the evening to take top spot in the standings. They'll play the winner of this afternoon's USA/Scotland game this evening in the semi final. Win and they are into the final tomorrow for gold. Go Canada go!

This morning I woke up to rain and a balmy 6C (43F). The front patio still has some ice on it, but if it continues to rain throughout the day as it is forecast, that should be gone. While we're expecting cooler temperatures and more snow this upcoming week, it will disappear quickly I'm sure. I'm looking forward to getting outside to clean up the deck and patio but that will have to wait another week or so.

At some point over the weekend, my son will be moving upstairs as the contractor may start work as early as Wednesday in the basement. He has a couple of jobs to finish off so fingers crossed there will be a crew here mid-week. C doesn't have a lot of furniture to move, but hasn't gone through his clothing in several years so this should be an interesting exercise. He mentioned last night he came across a t-shirt I gave him when he was in highschool.  He's 34...you can do the math. :) His bedroom is the only room I didn't paint a couple of years ago, so with it empty I'll probably get that done early in the week. 

In response to the comments on my great-great grandfather's obituary, it seems that anyone whose family came from Scotland has an ancestor named Stuart or Stewart. Not surprising due to the Stuart royalty, but it sure makes finding connections more difficult. The first census was done in 1841, and as my GG2 was born in 1816, he was an adult and tying him to his parent's near impossible. According to census data there were at least five or six Hugh Stewart's in the area at the time, and while I can narrow it down slightly by the fact he wasn't married, I can't be sure I've located the correct person. And then there is the added complication being unable to locate a baptismal certificate. Can you tell I get tied up in knots thinking about it?

On that note, I'm off to play around in Ancestry again this morning. For now I'm working on Dad's side of the family and tracing family members at the great-grandparents level. Most of the family settled orginally in Quebec in the 1850's but a number moved into the States - primarily in Wisconsin with several later moving to Washington state. One very distant cousin, a musician by trade, along with his wife, was found guilty of forgery in the early 1900's and served a sentence in San Quentin of just over 3 years. She was sentenced to 6 months for her role in the scheme. Fun stuff!

Have a wonderful week ahead everyone!