Cleaning things up

Wednesday's photos were the result of a thunderstorm that rolled through overnight into Monday, bringing wind and hail. I was woken about 12:30 a.m. by the sound of thunder and worse yet, hail hitting the bedroom window. I got up immediately to close it as well the windows in the front room and sun room. I normally enjoy a good thunderstorm, but the hail that came with this one was downright frightening. I can't recall ever listening to what sounded almost like gunshots as the hail hit the windows. I kept running between the front of the house and the sunroom as I was worried a window would get broken. Thankfully, that didn't happen but my veg and flowers got beaten pretty badly. Several peppers and tomatoes were literally torn in pieces. My flower containers looked a mess. 

The hail fell for nearly 20 minutes, and the rain continued for some time afterward. (I went back to bed when the worst of it seemed to be over). When I got up in the morning, I went out to survey the damage. I didn't lose any plants, but the tomatoes lost a lot of their fruit, at a least a couple dozen that were pitted, and I picked up another couple dozen that had dropped from the plants onto the deck or the lawn. The evergreens lost bits of the branches and lots of immature pine cones. I spent about an hour outside cleaning up the debris and had nearly a half a large garbage bag full. 

I'm grateful that the storm didn't cause more damage than it did. I'm also grateful that our vehicles were safely in the garage. Many of my neighbours park on their driveways or on the street and I can't help but wonder if they didn't see some damage, even if it was minor. 

Though I hadn't planned to go out early this week, I received an e-mail with a couple of sale items at Costco so I made a trip to the store. Furnace filters (3 in package) were on sale for $33.99 - the same filter is over $20 each at Walmart. I also picked up a bag of Whiskas cat food for D. I did wander the store but I didn't need any large volume items so the stop was short. From there I headed to Walmart to pick up some fresh veg and bread. I stopped at home to put away the groceries and then headed back out to the thrift stores. I picked a few items, including a new bathing suit and a pair of pants for Eli. He's such a skinny kid, and he's stretching out. Both articles have draw string waists and the pants have elastic at the ankle. I'm hoping they'll fit and will find out when he and his mom come for a visit next week. If not, I'll return them for store credit. 

Mid-week I finally got off my butt and ventured downstairs to finish the caulking and start the sanding process. The closet in the new room, the door frames, and the other bedroom were caulked, and the sanding was completed in the main room, hallway and laundry room the first day. I had been working for about an hour when my brother called, and I decided I was done for the day at that point. When the call finished I went out to deck to read. It was raining but I have top area under the overhang of the sunroom. Oh it was so nice to sit and enjoy the fresh air. 

I finished the book, Back Fire by Catherine Coulter. It is billed as an FBI thriller, and a thriller it was. There were quite a few twists and turns and by the last few chapters I didn't want to put it down. Of course, I knew the story would end well, but it still had me  I'll definitely look for more books by her in the future.

Beyond that I've been doing more knitting on my tank top and I started a cowl with some yarn I picked up on sale some time ago. I have enough I should be able to make two cowls. They may end up being gifts - I probably won't donate these.  The baseball and junior hockey has kept me entertained most evenings (and some afternoons) so I can sit and knit and look up at the television when something important happens.

I harvested my first container of potatoes and was very pleasantly surprised to find I had over fourteen pounds of potatoes from one container. We don't normally eat a lot of potatoes and a five pound bag usually lasts us a couple of weeks. I doubt I can keep these for more than two weeks in back of the cupboard so I told my son we'll be eating more potatoes for the next while. There is no storage in this house cool enough for them to keep. I recall when I was a child, we had bags and bags of potatoes in the cellar that fed us all winter. Even thinking about it, I can smell that aroma of dirt and potatoes and remember the feel of the burlap bag they were kept in. And yes, we did have potatoes for dinner that evening. 

It was a little cooler on Thursday morning, so I headed out for a walk. There were a few ducks at the creek, but the water level is pretty low. I was hoping to see the grebes and the pelicans at the pond and I got lucky. There was only the one pelican, but the family of grebes was on the water. I was a bit worried as the water level had been raised and their original nest appeared to have been flooded. So seeing them was a real treat.

The grebes were a distance away from the shore so it's not the best photo. There were actually three small ones, the other was way ahead of the rest of the group.

I've no idea what is in the pond to feed on, but it is obviously enough even for this large bird.

It's childish of me, but I always get a kick out of the upside down ducks. I snapped off a number of shots but didn't all three underwater...does one look out for the others?

Most of the wildflowers have dried up or gone to seed, but this purple loosestrife on the edge of the pond seems to be at its peak. Considered a noxious weed, it tends to overtake native plants and isn't critter friendly. Such a shame because it is so pretty. 

Today, I've had a lovely chat with a friend, while getting in my walk. We got caught up on the happenings of each other's lives, our children's lives, and of course, how wonderful our grandchild/ren are. The baseball is on the television so my knitting needles will be kept busy. It's a lovely sunny day, with the temperature climbing - it's 26C (79F) at noon. I'll need to get out and water the containers and pick more tomatoes at some point. But for now I'm going to relax, have a bite to eat, and cheer on the Jays.

Have a great week ahead everyone!