Life's ups and downs

The rain and cool weather continues. If it isn't raining, it is overcast and threatening. We got another 3 inches early in the week. The mosquitos are loving it, us, not so much.

Despite the less than stellar weather, Matt was back on Monday putting up fence boards. His daughter, about a ten or eleven year old, was his helper for the day. While he installed the boards she used the wheelbarrow to move five or six boards at a time and bring them to him. I sent this photo to LND at the end of the day to show the progress. The fence is getting done, the tenant neighbours haven't done anything about the weeds. The fence means I won't have to look at them.

Tuesday I did my shift at the thrift store. I can't manage more than four hours or so on my feet. This is annoying to me, I feel I should be able to do more. My right foot cramps something fierce, less so if I wear sandals but with the rain I was in my sneakers. We are still getting piles of donations, some from the earlier garage sales but others from folks who are clearly using the poor weather to clean out closets and dresser drawers. We got two large tubs of baby/toddler girl clothing, from sizes newborn to 3T. I was able to about half of it out in the bins, the rest have to wait until we have enough room. When I left at 2:30, we'd filled four racks of clothing, with a lot of things being sent on to Value Village or turfed. (Just a hint, we don't re-sell thong underwear).

The Canada Day parade was held on Tuesday evening. That worked well for me, since I hadn't found anything to post for Wednesday. It was raining, as it had been all day, but the parade was short and we live less than a block away. Eli had a blast as most of the participants throw candy for the children, and his mom was prepared with a bag. Here are a few more photos from the event.

Sadly, Canada Day wasn't a good day. My daughter didn't get a lot of sleep and was frustrated with pretty much everything was going on. I was on the phone for much of the morning, with my brother and a friend. She was irritated that I wasn't helping with the housework. Later, wWhen I told her I didn't plan to go to the arena for the Canada Day event, she blew up and made some nasty comments to me (I won't share them). I think she wanted me to go along so I could watch Eli, while she chatted with friends. From my perspective, I find the events noisy and not knowing very many people yet, I feel a bit of an outsider. She doesn't take things out on me very often, but when it happens it takes me a few days to remind myelf I'm here for many reasons. Perhaps it is my penance for not being a great mom when she was young. 

Since I couldn't be outdoors on Thursday, and I wasn't on the phone, I helped with several chores in the house. In the afternoon I went to Knit and Natter in the library. Another regular was there and we spent our 90 minutes chatting about gardening and our knitting projects. When I returned home, Matt was there finishing up work on the fence. It turned out he was short a few boards and was back on Friday with his helper (daughter), to complete the job.

Friday morning, brought another storm of emotions for D, and I was on blast once again. I needed to pick up some groceries, so decided to head to NTO. That gave me a couple of hours to myself and by the time I returned home, she was calm. At the moment there are things going on her life that are causing her a lot of stress. While I understand that, I get tired of her turning her frustration on me. I have a week planned in Regina mid-month and I'll be happy for the break.

On a happier note, my garden is doing very well. The potatoes, cucumber, tomatoes and peppers are all flowering. The cilantro, basil and oregano are getting huge. The peas are climbing the trellis, the red and green onions look good, and the carrots while still small are coming along nicely. The darned lettuce and radish are still lagging behind but I'm hoping the heat in the forecast will perk them up. If not I'll re-seed.

With the fence nearing completion, I plan to get out in the yard and start working on the perennial beds. There is weeding to be done, and I want to clear away dirt from fence and put down rock and crusher dust. Then I have a number of perennials to be put in theground. The darned mosquitos are wicked but I'll bathe in bug spray, and I should be able to get much of it done over the weekend.

Have a great week ahead everyone! Happy 4th to those readers in the USA.