On my way

As you'll have seen in Wednesday's pictures the peonies are open! I'll expect to be at the house by later today and I'm hopeful I'll get to see the blooms in person. The area has had a significant amount of rain over the past few days and I'm sure many of the flowers have been damaged. D did cut a couple and brought them indoors. She googled how to take care of them, and made certain to wash them well to avoid bringing in some pests. 

I did not get everything done I'd hoped to this week, though a fair amount of weeding in the back was accomplished. Something I discovered was a bit worrisome; there is a utility box in the back yard and while I was digging out weeds, I came across what appeared to be a utility line or possibly an irrigation line - I couldn't tell which. I spent some time on the phone trying to reach someone at the utility company but was unsuccessful. That meant going back to the chat feature. The initial AI chatbot clearly didn't understand what I was asking, but at least it transferred me to a live person almost immediately. He was located in another city and unable to answer my question, so I was transferred to tech support. After some consultation with his supervisor, I learned that their line would be at least 4-6 feet underground. As a result I did a bit more digging and discovered a very long tree root. 

Tuesday was a very good day. To make a long story short (as much as I ever can), I bought a new-to-me vehicle! I've been driving my 2007 Toyota Corolla for over 14 years and though it is a good vehicle, it is starting to show signs of wearing out. I had set aside enough funds from the sale of my house in the city to pay off the mortgage on the old house in town, not thinking it would sell as quickly as it did. Since it did, I decided to use some of those funds for a newer vehicle. 

It is a 2023 Chevy Equinox, with low mileage and more bells and whistles than I'll ever know what to do with. We took it out on the highway and for a short city drive after the salesman had gone through several of the features. While I appreciate a few of the extras, I do worry it just means more things can go wrong. (Though the back-up camera will be a treat.) With regular maintenance, I hope it will last for nearly 15 years too. After a couple of hours of paperwork, I left the vehicle at the lot for an oil change and detailing. Pick-up was scheduled for 5 p.m. on Friday. 

My brother R and his friend P came on Wednesday morning to install the new garage door opener that C had purchased. P needed R's help to hold up the one end of the rail and opener while he drilled the other end into the wall above the garage door. Since that didn't take a lot of time, R took apart a large shelving unit, built by the former renter, from along the one side of the garage. It had blocked the side by C's car and made it more difficult for us to park both vehicles in the garage. Once the shelves were apart, he used the lumber and the base, to build a work bench. He and I moved it against the far wall, opening up the parking area and providing a space to put tools.

I did some errands on Thursday morning, including getting the license plate for the new vehicle. Since the dealership would have given me an amount well below the market value, I decided I'd have to sell the Toyota privately. Back at the house, I finished the weeding out behind the garage, piled up the yard waste and sprayed the area. It won't likely keep the weeds from growing while I'm away, so I'll have my son spray in a couple of weeks to keep them at bay.

Friday was set aside for completing the packing. However, the morning started out with a panicked call from my daughter. They have had heavy rains in the area, the sump pumps weren't kicking in (these were just installed in April), and the basement had standing water in it. She went over to the old house, possession was happening at noon, and found water in that basement too. After a trip to Canadian Tire, where she picked up a shop vac and a dehumidifier, she went back to the old house and cleaned up as much as she could with the vac. Meanwhile I called our realtor to give him the head's up. He spoke with the buyer's agent, and they were not surprised, and not upset about it. The buyer said, "Shoot, we should have taken possession a few days earlier and I could have done the grading." The agent was actually in the house by this point, and assured Rob, there wouldn't be any issue regarding the sale. Phew! By noon, the new owners were in the house and our involvement is done.

Back here in the city, I had a call from my brother's friend. R had told him about my Corolla being available for sale. After a conversation, G said he would take it, sight unseen for a price close to my original asking. He and his wife drove the 3 1/2 hours from Prince Albert on Friday to pick up the car. 

They arrived shortly after 4:15, they took it for a short test drive and came back to say they wanted it. I drove us down to the insurance agents where the vehicle was transferred to them, and they got their license plate. Back at the house, we tried to wrestle the old plate off the car, but G figures he'll have to grind the bolts. I sent them on their way with my plate - if they get stopped by the RCMP, they can explain the situation and do have the new plate with them. They will mail the plate back to me (and I'll mail the second key to them), so I can cancel the plate.

My son and I hopped in his car, and he dropped me off at the dealership. The salesman and I sat in the car, while he went through the various buttons. Oh my goodness, the buttons - some were familiar, some were not. On the way home, I stopped twice, once to fill the car with gasoline and then at Subway to grab sandwiches for dinner for C and I. I am thrilled to say I was able to park the larger vehicle between two others with no issues. 

Later, my brother R came by the house and loaded a small stand alone a/c unit to take out to D. The a/c we had installed doesn't do much for the second floor because there is only a single vent. She'll only use the stand alone as needed...if summer ever actually arrives.

D had the plumber in twice on Friday, once in the morning, once later in the day. His recommendation is a third sump pump. I think I'll call in the local plumbers for their advice before we go ahead with any more work. The sump pumps were working (I assume) but just unable to keep up with the amount of water coming into the house. Meanwhile the foam tiles she put down are wet, so need to be lifted so the floor can dry, and the tiles cleaned before they are put down again. I'm so glad we didn't decide on carpet tiles!

In between calls from D, the realtor, the car buyer, and my brother, I managed to get laundry done, vacuumed the main floor, and organized most of the items I'll take with me. I'd had several items in the trunk of my car, and had moved those to the garage earlier in the week, but there was still clothing, my camera, another bag of assorted items,  and a bag of jigsaw puzzles. I won't need them until late fall but as I'll have room in the SUV, I'll take them with me now. This morning, I finished with the few grocery items, things that C doesn't normally eat and will spoil before I return. Oh, and my laptop too! Can't forget that. :)

I'm off to load the car and get on the road. I expect we'll be spending much of the weekend cleaning up the water in the basement. The town is having a parade on Saturday evening; we'll attend as it will pass by just a half block from the house. There are activities in the park on Sunday too for Canada Day. The weather is supposed to be mostly sunny. I sure hope so, we'll all tired of the rain. Then I get to start weeding!

To my Canadian readers, Happy Canada Day weekend. To all, have a wonderful week ahead. 

Friday Funny

 

Wordless Wednesday

 

Who will stop the rain?

Time is getting away from me and the end of June is closing in. Of course, the weather isn't cooperating (still) and I'm not getting into the yard to do the work I want to complete before I head out of the city at the end of the month. We've had more rain and cool temperatures. The weather forecasts keep called for warmer weather a few days ahead and then...the forecast changes and we're getting more rain. I ought not to complain because I know there are areas in both Canada and the United States that are suffering from the heat. 

In any event, I've been spending more time indoors, knitting, doing housework, and watching sports. I've completed two kitchen towels, seven dishcloths and have nearly completed a baby sweater. This is from the yarn I purchased at V.V. a couple of weeks ago. I still have more to work through. The crochet project I started was frogged as I did not like it, so I went back to knitting.

On Monday, I had an appointment to meet with the lawyer in the morning to sign off on the paperwork for the old house. Check one more item off the to-do list. I picked up groceries on my way home, almost all sale items so the old pocketbook took a smaller hit than it might have. I spent the afternoon on the phone - first calling the utility companies to advise of the change in ownership effective June 28. For one I left a message, the second I was able to speak to someone on the phone and it was dealt with efficiently. However, the third was a bit annoying. I wasn't able to get through on the phone so used the "chat" feature. It's a feature alright. I provided my information and what I was trying to do. Well, the person on the other end of the chat couldn't seem to understand that we had already moved (and set up service at the new house). I simply wanted to know who should do the final meter read and when at the old house. After some back and forth, we finally got on the same page and I got the necessary instructions. But not before she requested the new owner's name and telephone number. I finally referred her to the buyer's agent.

I also made a few calls for my son. The fence in the backyard has been leaning for some time. With the high winds we've experienced, the back fence was leaning even further into the alley. He went back to see if he could prop it up; he could not, so he gave it a push towards the back yard and it went right over, it was so rotten. Again, I met with mixed success - I sent one e-mail and left two messages. Only one got back to me that day and we arranged to meet on Tuesday to go over the scope of the work.

My brother was in the city on Tuesday morning and dropped by for tea and to drop off a big bag of fresh rhubarb from their garden. Not long after he left, the fence guy called to say he was on his way. We walked around the yard as I showed the work that needed to be done. The old fence runs across the back of the garage and needs to be removed. Eventually, C would like to add a garage door to the back of the building to allow for alley access. We'll also add a fence on the west side of the house - currently, there is a short chicken wire fence. Those neighbours (renters) have dogs and we'd like to put something a little sturdier to ensure they stay in their own yard. There is a metal gate to be removed mid-way up the driveway, and a gate to be repaired between the patio and the back yard. 

The quote was received on Wednesday morning, and C and I decided it was a bit high so I made a couple more attempts to find a contractor. I did let the fellow know that we were expecting another quote or two and received a text back saying "I could possibly work down the price a little for you on my end..." Hmmm, does that mean he overpriced the quote hoping I'd not look any further? 

It was raining heavily all morning so I ought to have stayed home and done housework. But, instead I dropped off a donation at V.V. My friend S had given me a box of yarn from her mother's stash last week. I'd sorted it on the weekend and had a large bag of yarn I know I would never use. S's mom passed away in 2021 and S has been holding onto this yarn since then so she was glad to be rid of it. I asked how I could say thank you and she suggested I make mittens for her 5 grandchildren. I made sure to keep the yarn I can use for that project. 

Anyway back to V.V., I found four lovely plates made in Portugal for just over $5. D has limited dishware and most of it plastic. These are a pretty teal colour, one of her favorites, so I know she'll appreciate the addition. I will too, because I dislike eating off plastic! 

We finally had a nice day on Thursday, though we'd had another soaking rain overnight. It was a quiet day spent knitting. I had thought I might be able to get outside on Friday morning, but awoke again to more puddles. Another fencing contractor stopped by to quote on the work. He seemed confused by the scope of the work, and based on his comments, I don't think he really wants the job. I've still not heard back from three other contractors - I understand they are very busy but a courtesy call would have been nice.

The morning had warmed up before the contractor arrived, so I had spent some time cleaning my car of debris, vacuuming and wiping down the dash and console, as well as the doors. The mats needed cleaning too, so I pulled them out and planned to use the little green machine on them once they were vacuumed. That didn't get done so it's a task for today. Assuming it doesn't rain, that is.

The contractor showed up, and once he left, I went to the front yard to do some weeding in the round bed. The weeds are certainly loving all this rain. The ground is saturated, making it a muddy mess to dig in, but the weeds are definitely easier to remove. I went around back and cleaned up the pile of yard waste in the back yard and filled up the green bin. 

We've had more rain overnight, so yard work will be out of the question, at least for the morning. The sun is shining at the moment, and the radar seems to suggest the rain and thunderstorms will miss us. I've got a few errands to run, then it will be home to watch baseball and football, knit, and maybe, just maybe, spend some time in the back yard. I leave for town next weekend and plan to be there for two months. I'll leave instructions with C to at least spray back there on occasion.

I'll leave you with a photo D sent me of the peonies out front. I'm hoping I'll see some blooming when I return.

Have a great week ahead everyone!

Friday Funny

 

Wordless Wednesday

 

Rain, rain, go away - the weeds won't quit growing!

First things first - the house is SOLD!

Second, Cheryl was correct.  That weird contraption in the photo from Wednesday is a homemade gumball/jellybean machine. I did a Google lens image search to learn this fact, as when I took the photo (at Value Village - good catch, Kim), I had no clue. How they arrived at a price of $7.99 for the item, is beyond me. For the record, I did not buy it. 

Our weird weather has continued. On Sunday morning, we woke to near freezing weather. The airport just on the outskirts of the city registered -1.1C (30F) sometime overnight, though it was slightly warmer in the city proper. The day warmed up nicely, and I spent a couple of hours in the back yard. I got the debris and weeds I'll pulled raked up, sprayed the weeds that were left behind, and started the clean up of the area between the house and garage. (No photos yet, it's still a mess). Argghh...I found more garbage back there, pieces of metal, wood, broken bricks and pavers, hiding under the a/c unit and behind the gate, most of it covered by leaves. I also managed to move the remaining stones out to the front yard. By noon, I was done and ready to enjoy an afternoon of baseball, football and later in the evening, hockey. 

Monday, started off sunny, but clouded over by 9:30 a.m. and then the rain started. In just over an hour we'd had a 11 millimeters of rain (about 4/10ths of an inch). It continued to rain and by day's end we had received 27.4 mm - just over an inch of rain. My attempt at creating a river to run the rain off the front flower bed wasn't quite right, so I had to go out and move a couple of rocks. Note: most of these rocks were moved from the back yard. Just a couple minutes outside and I was soaked! I was so glad I'd gone out early in the morning, and made my grocery run. I spent the afternoon knitting dish cloths and starting another kitchen towel.

On the other hand, Tuesday started out cool'ish and warmed up steadily through the day. I couldn't get out in the back yard, as it was again, a mudpit. I bet you can guess what I did instead. Yep, I went shopping. Now, in my defence I needed to find a bathing suit for later in the week. When I had gone to D's ahead of the listing, I'd taken my bathing suit with me. Since I'm planning to spend July and August with her and Eli, I knew I'd need it for pool and beach time. Well, I was talking to my friend S on the weekend; she was travelling to Saskatchewan on Monday to visit family. We made tentative plans to meet at the hot springs at Manitou Beach later in the week. And then, I realized I had no bathing suit, or at least not a complete suit. I wear two pieces and do have a spare skort. 

I'm finding that trying to live in two places may require duplicates of some things. I'd thought I'd managed to divide my clothing between the two, but it seems some duplicates are going to be needed. That includes some toiletries as well, since I forgot to bring my toothbrush and deoderant when I returned to the city. The former I had extras of and I've raided my travel sized items for the latter. But I did pick up deoderant since the travel versions won't last very long. Question: has deoderant skyrocketed in price where you are? The least expensive version at Walmart(!) was $5.97 on sale - it is the larger size but really?

I chatted with S on Tuesday evening, and we made arrangements to meet at the hot springs Wednesday afternoon. That night I went to bed with a long list of items that I needed to do before I left the city. I'm not certain why, but I feel the need to ensure that everything is tidied and put away before I leave, even for one night. 

Realtor Rob sent me a text asking if we could chat on Wednesday morning. "Oh, oh", I thought - something has come up. In actuality, Rob had received the form to lift the conditions, however the seller's realtor had delivered the deposit cheque one day late and as a result there was another form that needed to be reviewed and signed as well. They have asked, and I agreed, to have the sewer line clean before possession date. D has contacted the local plumber and it will be completed next week. Can I just say how much relief I feel at knowing that in two weeks, I'll be finished with the property? 

Around lunchtime, I drove out to Manitou Beach Resort and Mineral Spa. It was a windy day, and the radio kept announcing the possibility of severe thunderstorms with conditions that might result in tornados - though nothing of the sort came to be in the area. I arrived ahead of check-in time, but they had a room ready so I was able to watch the end of the Blue Jays game and read some of my book before S arrived. She dropped her gear, we got into our bathing suits and headed for the pool. 

I've stolen this photo from the internet as I didn't take my phone. There are three areas to the pool. The one in the foreground is the hot pool, with a temperature of 103F, in the background on the right is the warm pool, temperature 100F, and on the left is the cool pool, temperature of 93F. I'm not sure how they manage the temperatures but there was certainly a noticeable difference between the three areas.

The water is pumped in from Little Manitou Lake, known as the "Dead Sea of Canada". According to an article I found, the waters are high in sodium, magnesium, and potassium salts. I can confirm that one floats very easily in the water, and a shower post soak is necessary to wash off the salt! We spent about and hour and a half in the pool, before heading upstairs to clean up for dinner.  We climbed back into our bathing suits and went for another soak later in the evening. 

According to locals and other visitors, the waters are beneficial for joint paint, arthritus, and skin conditions. I did feel very relaxed after our visits, and if nothing else, we both slept very well that night. After a leisurely breakfast, we headed back to the pool for another good soak. Then it was time to pack and head in opposite directions. We had a wonderful visit, catching up on family matters, travels - past and future, and recalling memories. We realized the last time we'd seen one another in person was our trip to Las Vegas in October, 2019. We won't let that much time pass before our next visit.

I drove home under cloudy skies, and ran into rain off and on, occasionally quite heavy. It was raining as I reached the city, but it had quit by the time I arrived at the house. Saku was happy to see me, and I simply dropped my bag and settled in on the couch. The sun came out by evening.

There was no yardwork completed on Friday. Again, with the rain, the back yard is far too wet. Instead, I caught up on some housework, knitted while watching old episodes of NCIS. So far, I've completed three kitchen towels and four dishcloths - decided to take a break from knitting and picked up a crocheting project. Not sure I like it, so I won't bore you with details at this point. There was baseball and football in the evening to watch as well.

Today, I'm planning to weed the front round flowerbed. Two of the bugleweed perennial ground cover plants are doing well and flowering, while the two darker ones seem to be stuck. The weeds are coming back though nowhere as many as were there before I weeded last. I'll try to keep ahead of them while I'm here. Speaking of weeds, this is a photo of one of my pots of pansies that D sent me. I asked her if she had noticed the weed in front, she had not. :) 

The peonies haven't yet bloomed, but the poppies are about to, and my garden spot is full of small weeds. My work will be cut out for me when I return at the beginning of July. 

I've no other plans for the weekend, though expect I'll entertain myself with baseball and football, and maybe even the final of the Stanley Cup series. I'm not expecting the Edmonton Oilers to win the next game, and they are currently down 3-0 in series, a best of 7 games.

Have a great week ahead everyone!

Friday Funny

 

Wordless Wednesday

 

Selling, shopping, and a conditional offer!

Yahoo, the old house was finally listed! The realtor arrived about lunch time on Sunday, and we did a walk through, ran through the numbers, settled on a price, and I signed the paperwork. By mid-afternoon Monday, the house was on the Zillow and Realtor websites. I'm not keen on the write-up the realtor provided, but I decided to withhold judgement for now. 

After lunch at home, D and Eli headed over to the local park while I watched the Blue Jays game. I followed them when the game ended. Eli had a great time running around the park with friends, and then climbing the tree near his mom and me.

I got away about 8:30 Monday morning, heading back to the city. I had decided that there would be no yard work done - I was ready for a relaxing (and quiet) afternoon.  I did run out to pick up a few groceries, and prepped rice and marinated chicken for fried rice for dinner. The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing, watching television, and catching up on blog reading.

We had a decent rain overnight here in the city, but nowhere near what my daughter had in town. We had less than a half inch of rain, she had close to 2 inches! She'll be happy as she won't need to water for a few days. The backyard here was a bit of a quagmire, so I immediately gave up my plans to work outside and did what I do best. I went shopping! It was senior's day at Value Village, and I do like a bargain. My best buy was finding four large balls of Bernat Handicrafter cotton yarn; these are currently sold for $12.77 each at Walmart (before taxes). I paid $8.75 for the four balls. 

The sky was threatening rain by lunchtime. I decided a good way to spend the afternoon was hanging on the couch with Saku, the cat, and knitting. I'd done laundry first thing in the morning, and though the floors could use a good scrub, I decided they could wait another day. The rain fell off and on throughout the afternoon, and we had a short thunderstorm in the evening. My son and I both remarked that watching the storm from the front windows is not nearly as good as watching from the sunroom at the old house.

Wednesday I woke to a sunny sky, but that didn't last long. By 8:30 a.m., it was overcast and the wind was a'blowin. A wind warning alert came through from the Weather Network. Wind gusts of up to 90 km/h (56 mph) were expected throughout the day. It was definitely not a day for working in the yard. I couldn't put off housework any longer. I washed and dried my bedding, vacuumed and washed floors, and cleared the kitchen table and my end table. Both tend to become dumping grounds (or doom piles as my daughter would say).

We lost a few branches in the wind, these are hanging on but will need to be removed. The neighbour, two doors down, wasn't so lucky. He lost a Lombardy poplar. It certainly made me happy that I had the four in the backyard removed in April.

The morning got very exciting when the realtor called to say we'd received an offer. To add to the excitement, he explained that he had also been communicating with a potential buyer from British Columbia who was prepared to make a cash offer, however would not be able to view the property until this weekend. The local offer was slightly lower, so using the potential buyer as a guide, we countered at the higher price. By 3 p.m. the counter had been accepted. The sale is conditional on a house and sewer inspection and conditions must be lifted by June 15. Possession date is June 28. I had said to D that morning, that I wanted to have the house sold by the end of June, so I could enjoy the summer. It seems I may have gotten my wish. 

The wind was up again on Thursday, again putting the kibosh on spraying. My mind turned to indoor projects, so I ran out to pick up some dry-wall spackle and a putty knife so I can fill holes and cracks. I've had a conversation with my son and decided on a potential color but won't make a final decision before I bring home some paint swatch cards for him to choose from. He's on the same page as I am, something lighter than the current colors, and no beiges, yellows or pinks. I'll like start the patching this weekend, and hopefully the wind dies down and I can get outdoors too.

Friday, I decided to visit a few garage sales that I'd found on our local FB site. Despite having posted they would be open by 10 a.m., I only found one open for business. They had jigsaw puzzles - I got five for $20. That should keep me busy during the cold months this winter. (I don't do puzzles as quickly as Patsy does!) The neighbourhood sign indicated it was community garage sale weekend, so I drove around until I found one more, where I found a hoop for stitching, just a $1. At this point, it was nearly noon, so I headed home for lunch.

I did some knitting and then went out to tackle the back yard. Everytime I work out there I'm reminded how big the project will be. To start with, I moved rocks, I think about 8 wheelbarrows of them, to the front yard. Note: I do not fill the wheelbarrow - it would be far too heavy for me. Some will go into the circular bed with rocks, and the rest will go in the bed under the front window. There are still a few loads to be brought out but I'd had enough so turned to the driveway where weeds have grown up through the contraction joints. I dug these out as best I could and used Weedex to hopefully knock down the rest. Then I turned to the area between the driveway and neighbour's yard. Sigh....this is going to take some time as no one has bothered with this area for some time. There are leaves and debris that has blown in and grass, thistle and dandelines have made their home there. I filled the garbage can three times and added these to the compost bin and only finished about 3 feet. We only have pick-up every two weeks, so I'll have to bag and store the yard waste and have my son get rid of it over the summer.

Today, I'll head back out again to move rocks and work on the weeds. I may try finding a few more garage sales too, and perhaps take a walk in the park. It's not supposed to be very warm here, just 16C (60F) but it is sunny and isn't as windy as it has been. 

Have a great week ahead everyone!

Friday Funny

 

Wordless Wednesday

 

A walk, a drive, and digging in the dirt

I finally got out to walk around the neighbourhood on Sunday morning. The photo from Wednesday was taken in a park nearby. There were actually four of the hares; one ran off when I came near. The others didn't seem to be fazed by my presence. I had my Merlin app on the phone turned on and it picked up the sounds of several birds. I heard many house sparrows, a chipping sparrow, yellow warblers, robins, crows, and even a Northern Flicker. I spotted the latter, but couldn't get my cellphone up fast enough to capture a photo. The robins and crows were more visible, however I didn't capture any photos of those. I did stop to take a photo of the lilacs and to enjoy the scent.

On Monday, I met my friends K and L for coffee which was especially wonderful, as it has been sometime since I've seen either both in person. I picked K up at her home as she's managed to fall a couple of times in the past six weeks or so. The first time she shattered her wrist, resulting in a surgery and insertion of a plate and 8 screws. A few weeks later, she fell on a set of stairs and broke her clavicle. Poor girl! She's started physio for the wrist, but the shoulder is giving her grief so she's unable to do as much as she'd like. L is our friend and travel agent. She's busy planning a trip for her family to Italy, Greece, and Austria this August. We were laughing because, she said she was doing exactly what she warns her clients not to do, travelling to the various countries and trying to see as much as possible in a short period of time. 

After I dropped K off, I ran a few errands before heading back to the house. It was a lazy afternoon, binge watching some old NCIS episodes. The clouds had come in earnest and it looked like we would get some rain - we did not and I ought to have been doing some weeding, but wasn't in the mood. Since I was heading out to my daughter's on Wednesday, that meant Tuesday was much busier.

A Walmart run for a few groceries, the pet store for cat litter, and later a visit to Value Village. It was senior's day, with 30% off, and I was able to find a summer dress and a pair of jean capris. I had been looking for place mats but had no luck. There is a community wide garage sale being held in the small town this weekend, and D and I plan to attend. Perhaps I'll find some there.

I spent part of the afternoon in the front yard digging in the dirt and moving rocks. Using rocks I'd dug up in the bed outside the front window, I've created a sort of creek. I put down weed barrier under the rocks, in the hopes of keeping the weeds at bay. My goal is to ensure that any water is diverted away from the foundation of the house and towards the street. In the large bed out front, I've shifted some rocks into a pile closer to the edge of the bed. Before I started they were all piled up in the middle of the bed, catching leaves and other debris. After a bit of research I've got some ideas how I want it to look. 

I've decided the back yard will wait until next week when I return from my daughter's. My son took care of the front yard on the weekend, mowing, trimming the edges and raking the lawn. There are more rocks in the back yard too, that will get moved around to the front at some point. 

Wednesday saw me on the highway about 7:00 a.m. - so I was able to see Eli before he left for school. We dropped him off and then went over to the old house for a walk through. I was disappointed to see that while she had done some cleaning, D had left a number of items at the house. Since the realtor was expected on Friday, I made the suggestion we spend Thursday morning at the old house and get the rest of the stuff done.

Back at the new house, we unloaded my car before taking it over to the autobody shop to have the mirror replaced. At home, we planted the annuals I'd bought before I left for the city. It has been too chilly overnight but the forecast looks good from now on. Some of the plants were looking a little sad - D needs to learn to water all of them well but I planted while she did some weeding. There were a few holes to fill so we went the garden centre to pick up just a few more plants including some herbs. 

Then it was my turn to weed. I started with the garden bed. The radish, lettuce and a few peas are up. Only a couple of sweet.peas had germinated, so I took the seeds indoors and set some more to soak. I'm determined to see sweet peas in July! The flower bed with the Alyssum, Oriental poppy, and false lamium was filling up with thistle, dandelions and more bellflower. I spent a good hour or so moving rocks, when I could, and digging out the roots, as much as I could. It looks much better now, but I know it will require frequent weeding.

After lunch, I continued my weeding and when I had as much done as I could manage, I grabbed a book and went out to read. Our temperature reached 26C (79F) and it felt very warm but with the breeze, it felt very nice in the shade. D went to pick up Eli, and around that time the autobody shop called to say that my car was ready to go. Hooray, it was done that day, for less than the price the company in Regina had quoted.

We spent a few hours at the old house on Thursday morning. It was clear D hadn't done all of the cleaning either, so while she cleaned carpets, I scrubbed down appliances, re-installed the cold air vent covers, cleaned the main floor bathroom, and swept out the garage. She was able to put the door to the stove together too. From there, we went to the appliance store, as she hadn't heard from the owner about the burner she had requested. They were able to order the piece that day, and we'll pick it up on Saturday.

No yardwork was done that day, it was cloudy for much of the morning, and a thunderstorm rolled through mid-afternoon. We had some good claps of thunder and the rain poured down. We'd had about a 1/2 inch overnight, and another 1/4 inch during the day. Everything is lush and green.

Our realtor wasn't able to make it on Friday, so I took the day off (at least mostly). I planted a few more peas and some sweet peas, along with six pepper plants we had picked up at Canadian Tire on Thursday. Guess what? Eli's carrots have sprouted, but the ones I planted a couple of weeks ago have not. :p  Only one of the sweet peas, now two, had popped up and I counted 11 pea plants so I added another half dozen or so of each. 

The community wide garage sale is starting on Saturday but many of the sales were set up on Friday, so D and I went for a drive and stopped at a few. She found a small side table, two 30X60 stretched canvases, a tool chest, and a couple of bread pans and a bowl. I found a book and a jug to make juice or in this case, iced tea. We plan on hitting a few more sales this morning too. You just never know what treasures one might find.

The realtor called to say he wouldn't be able to make it out until Sunday. We've decided to head into the larger town about 20 minutes away after the garage sales. We'll stop at Walmart for a few things we can't get here, and Eli will get to play at his favorite park.

Finally, I'll leave you with a photo of several peony bushes out front. There are lilies in front of these, and don't mind the weeds. I haven't got there yet. The number of buds on the peonys is amazing, and though I likely won't see them bloom, D has promised to send photos.

P.S. For those who weren't certain of the Friday funny - small children have a habit of blowing bubbles when given a straw to drink through. :)