Family fun, neighbours, and harvesting

Good golly, Miss Molly! August is half over, and today is the anniversary of my maternal grand-mother's birthday. She was born in 1906 near a small community in southern Saskatchewan. Her parents and two older siblings had moved from Grey County in Ontario to Saskatchewan about 1905, when the youngest child was a year old. Her parents went on to have five more children, the youngest of which died at birth and her mother passed away less than a week later. Nan was sent to live with relatives, though I've not been able to determine which family she spent time with. Great-grandpa married soon after and had another six children with his second wife.

When I started writing this post, I hadn't thought I'd be sharing family history, but the date brought to mind my grandmother. She refused to be called Grandma, hence she was called Nan. She was a tall woman and quite strict. She kept a weighted paddle hanging on the wall, and we children knew it could be used if we didn't behave. On the other hand, she spent hours teaching and playing Canasta with us on Sunday afternoons. She and Grandpa always came to the farm for Sunday dinners.  Sadly, she died when I was only 13, so my memories are few.

Back to today, or at least this week, it passed by in a flash. Monday is merely a blip in my memory, though I do now recall we cleared out the storage area in the basement, and I went into the thrift store to clean for a couple of hours. 

Tuesday was a busy day. D and I drove into NTO, dropping Eli off at his morning program before heading to the stores to do a bit of browsing and shopping. Later we brought lunch to Eli, which he ate in the car before he went off with the afternoon program to play mini-golf at a nearby provincial park. It had rained in the morning, but cleared up nicely for them. 

Meanwhile D and I headed to a sit-down restaurant for lunch. We relaxed, read the news to each other (we're weird like that), I watched a bit of Blue Jays baseball, and enjoyed a leisurely meal. Before we picked up Eli, we stopped to pick up a head of garlic for planting in the garden. I'd found it advertised in FB, and the woman had harvested dozens of heads of garlic. I'll be planting it once I've removed the pea plants. I thought the peas were done but they are blooming again.

We picked up Eli and were home about 4 p.m. where we were met by three hungry and vocal cats. :p After unpacking our purchases, I fed the cats, washed dishes and we all collapsed for the remainder of the day.

The photo on Wednesday was taken at the pool on Saturday. We had such a great day; there was a parade, garage sales, lunch at a Chinese restaurant, and ended with time at the pool. The photo shows the portion of the pool that is considered the lazy river. There is nothing lazy about it - when one enters the space the water pulls you into the current and one has to be careful not to bump into others sharing the space. Eli does enjoy it very much, but first he had to go down the water slide a few times.

This is the waterslide. Since I've never been one and there were two slides, I decided I'd join Eli in the fun. Ha! It all was fine until I reached the spot where the slide dropped...I shouted OMG and fell onto my back which sent me shooting out into the water. First and last time I ever do that!

The parade was short but fun, with Eli the recipient of many pieces of candy tossed from the vehicles. There was a police car, a couple of firetrucks, several older vehicles, and a float carrying a few Ukranian dancers. Other dancers were dancing on the street alongside the float. 

Garage sales were meh to interesting. One of the best, though we didn't buy a lot, was a house where the current owners had been left with many of the previous owners possessions. There was jewellry, kitchen gadgets, china tchotskes, and everything CHRISTMAS! One went through the garage, into the back yard where the Christmas items were laid out on the grass and in the garden shed. I do know we bought some labels, and maybe a small wreath. Prices were reaonable. The husband mentioned he's tired of living with all of this stuff.

Back to the remainder of the week. Eli had his activities; library program and the last of his morning program on Thursday in NTO. D and I cleared out an area in the basement where Matt will be removing the wall next to the furnace and putting a new wall to create another storage space. This will allow D (or I) to access the area that tends to collect water when we get a heavy rain. Plus D will have room to store toys - she plans on using see-through tubs that Eli can access easily. One of our purchases this week was two 6 foot shelving units that fit bins.

I spent the late afternoon and evening with my cousin B and her husband G. They arrived at the Yorkton City camp grounds mid-afternoon, and were set up by the time I arrived. They are driving a Class A motorhome and towing a Jeep. They've got a large octagonal gazebo where they keep out the bugs and use their propane firepit. Inside the motorhome, they have a king sized bed! The latter was apparently a must have, along with proper cloth storage. Pretty nice, and if you've got to camp, that might work for me. :)

Friday was a quiet day - I worked on some Christmas ornaments for Eli's teachers and E.A.'s. I'll show you these when I actually finish a few. At the moment I'm crocheting all the pieces and will put them together later. I also did a very important job - Eli's kitten stuffie had sprung a small leak. As I told him, it now has a scar but it's all better now. 

Garden update: I've been harvesting lettuce and cucumbers every couple of days. The tomatoes are finally starting to ripen, and to my delight the corn is starting to show silk. I thinned out the carrots and pulled a few small ones and I ate them, yum! The red onions stems seem to be falling over, which I'm told are a sign they are done. I dug up a few on Friday - they look more like shallots than onions but we'll use them in salads anyway. The rain in the forecast for Friday didn't amount to much, just enough to give everything a decent watering.

Next door GL (good landlord) has been working hard to remove the garbage and other items from the garage. She told D there was a good year's worth of garbage that never made it to bin, and it was never wheeled to the street for pick-up. The homemade trailer they are using has been filled at least six to seven times, not only with garbage, but mattresses, bed frames, tables, chairs, and so forth. GL says she'll need to fumigate the garage now that area is cleared. The trailer has been moved closer to the house and I suspect we'll seem the trailer filled multiple times.

AND LND (landlord next door) has listed his property for sale! He did this a couple of years ago, but pulled it off the market in just a few days so I'm not holding my breath. He texted to mention he'd like to have the fence built on the other side but Matt has told him he hasn't the time this season. I didn't have the information of the other fellow so he'll have to find someone else on his own. So much for saying that a fence doesn't improve the resale value...or at least that's my thought. The realtors were by on Thursday and it wasn't long before someone showed up whipper snip the weeds in the dog run (some were 5 feet tall) and in the xeriscaped area on the side of the house. I'm not sure if he sprayed as well, but so far the perennial bed isn't showing any ill effects.

Today, I've no real plans for the day. I should get the spirea into the ground and perhaps do a little more weeding. There is a Rider game this evening, with an earlier game...so I might end up planted on the couch where I can continue crocheting. 

Have a great week ahead everyone!

Fall is in the air, but summer is hanging on

This past week has been about getting ready for the fall season. In the garden, the sweet peas are setting their seed pods, the tomatoes are starting to ripen on the vine, and the grackles were back, presumably on their way south. The leaves on the big tree out back are turning colour and starting to fall too. It's likely due to the lack of moisture; with the exception of a few heavy rainfalls we've had a very dry summer. We also a very cool night on the weekend, with the temperature dropping to 2C/36F.  Yep, fall is in the air! 

And of course, that means it is time for school to be back in session. Eli heads back to class this upcoming Tuesday for Grade 3!!! As I've mentioned D has been working with him all summer on his language and mathematics skills. He's looking forward to seeing his friends, his mother and I are looking forward to some time with him out of the house. :) On Wednesday afternoon, they went to the school to drop of his backpack and school supplies, and to meet his teacher.

While New Year's Day is officially the start of the year, I've always been more inclined to think of September as the beginning of the year. Obviously when my kids were in school that was a definitive new start, but even as they were beyond the school years, there was a similar delineation in the work world. People were back from their summer vacations; if we were hiring that year, new employees were coming on board with orientation and training to prepare for and present. It was also the time when our teams would be shuffled with changes to our reporting structure. 

On the note of new things, we're getting at least* one set of new neighbours. To the east of us were a young couple who recently had a baby (late July/early August). They were renting the house next door for the past two years. We've called the town office a couple of times since we've lived here, as they let the weeds in the back yard go, resulting in weeds six feet tall in places. The owner of the property must have given them notice after this year's by-law infraction, as their lease was not renewed. He advertised it on the local FB classified site. D reached out to him, to let him know we would like to replace the fence between us next spring. He was thrilled to hear this as he had been unable to convince the previous owner to take care of it previously. Best of all, he has agreed to share the cost.

The owner lives in Winnipeg, several hours away but arranged to be in town on Sunday. He held an open house in the morning and had several showings and applications for the rental. Both D and I were able to talk to him and he was disgusted with the state of the back yard. He told me he's planning to have his Dad come in to clear the weeds and spray. We'll keep Eli and Stanley (the cat) indoors, but I'll also cover the plants closest to the fence to (hopefully) keep the overspray from harming my plants.

D also asked about removing some low hanging branches on the large tree out front. He agreed, and lent her his pole saw/pruner. She cut branches and I helped drag them into a pile in the yard. She plans to let them dry over winter, and will cut them up for fire wood next spring. 

Meanwhile I tackled the stumps of the cedars in the back yard. Two of the stumps were relatively small and I was able to use a hand saw to cut up and clear those. The larger of the stumps had me .... stumped, but I later found a You-tube video that gave me a potential option. It's been too hot to be outdoors for long so I'll give it a go in a week or so.

I'll be glad to see the end of August, it's been a very spendy month! This past weekend our water heater started leaking and by Monday there was clear evidence of the seam expanding due to pressure in the tank. D called the plumbers and they came just before lunchtime, set up the equipment to drain the water heater, returned after lunch and in a short half hour they had a new hot heater installed. The old one was installed in 2017 and they advised that is typical for the lifespan of a hot water heater in our town. I know nothing lasts forever, but that seems too darn short to me.

We had some warmer weather this week too, with temps of 25-30C/77-86F so Tuesday we made a trip to a nearby lake. The local pool has closed for the season, as their employees are primarily students. Sadly when we arrived there, we learned that the water wasn't safe for wading or swimming due to bacteria in the water. This is the sign we found, and Eli's reaction to it. 

The heat wave we're in is expected to last through until Monday. We've been spending some time outdoors early in the morning and/or evening as the mid-day sun is far too hot. My Dad used to say, "Only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the mid-day sun". I had to look it up, and apparently, it was initially cited as a quote from Rudyard Kipling (although there is no evidence). I frankly doubt my Dad read Kipling, so I've no idea where he would have heard it. Perhaps from his father, who was well educated.

As a result of the heat, the rest of the week has been pretty quiet. I've watered the containers a couple of times a day, watered the garden every second day, and done some deadheading. Indoors there has been the usual housework, a bit of cooking, and a whole lot of television watching. I finished watching the series "Bosch", and was disappointed when it came to an end. I've moved on to "Ballard", which has cameo appearances by Harry Bosch, but doesn't seem quite as good as the original series. These are both detective/cop series set in Los Angeles. 

This weekend is Labour Day here in Canada, which is a holiday for most workers. The highways will be busy, with people heading to the lake and others heading to city for the big football game. Our Riders will play the Winnipeg Bombers on Sunday evening. Although the Riders have played well this year, the Bombers are their biggest rival and always play tough. No matter who loses, they'll have another chance next weekend as the teams square off in Winnipeg. Go Riders!

Finally, a note about the Wordless Wednesday photo - I've unpublished the post as it had over 500 views by Thursday morning. I don't know how this happens, but suspect the shape of the Shaggy Mane mushroom somehow attracted a bit of unwanted attention. While we do have the odd mushroom pop up in the lawn, this was the first time I've seen one, and I've learned it is edible if picked in the early stages as it quickly liquefies after 24 hours. I haven't checked on it but didn't see it when I went outdoors on Thursday.

Have a wonderful weekend and a good week ahead everyone.

*We are really hoping our neighbours to the west also move. It's a weird situation, where the mother may have abandoned the family last winter. Her partner, father of two of the four children is currently (sort of) caring for them. I say sort of as they haven't been to school, aren't permitted to play outdoors, and while he disappears for hours at a time, his dog is trained to keep the kids inside. We know the latter because he has told my daughter this fact. We do worry about the kids, but between D and a few other people in town, Social Services have been called a number of times, but they say the kids are dressed and fed...apparently that is the minimum standard. The water has been turned off several times, most recently this week, but he must have come up with the payment as the city workers were back later the same day. He disappeared with the kids for about 10 days earlier this summer and I had my fingers crossed they'd left for good, but he later told D they'd been to visit family and attend a funeral. Lately, there have been delivery of food packages almost daily, delivered by an older gentleman. We're assuming he has asked for assistance at a local church and/or foodbank. Another neighbour has gotten annoyed with the mess of the yard, and has paid for someone to mow the front lawn every few weeks. I'm not sure what he does all day, though see him outside with the dog a few times a day from my bedroom window; he sits on the back step and smokes and talks on the phone. If/when they move he certainly won't be missed.