Crazy traffic and stormy weather

The week started off quietly as I've about finished with the projects I had planned here at my son's house. I packed some clothing to take home with me and packed some gardening items (tomato cages and a hoe) into the car. D asked me to make a Costco run for dry cat food and a jar of peanut butter. Both Eli and I like peanut butter, and the jar we had will be empty soon. There are no plans to return to the city for a couple of months.

As always Costco was a mad house; it doesn't seem to matter what time of day or day of the week one goes to the store, the parking lot is always full and the aisles are busy. The latter more so this week as the workers were clearly re-stocking shelves. With only two items, and having a good idea where they are located, I was distracted only once, by Deep Woods Off on sale. I picked up the third item and was through the self check-out in a just a few minutes and headed to the car.

One of my other pet peeves is the traffic in East Regina. My brother and I were chatting that morning, and he mentioned, I could likely take the highway just beyond the upgrader and turn off on Tower Road. Well, I turned the wrong direction on my way there and ended up in the traffic I dislike so much. However, I decided I'd take the route on the way home. It was fine on Tower Road though slower because the road turns from pavement to gravel. When I reached the highway, it became apparent that the traffic was busy there too...but instead of cars/trucks/SUVs, it was semi-truck traffic. Either way, I've got traffic to deal with, it was nice to return to our small town where traffic means three cars in a row. :p

I might have headed home sooner, but decided I wanted one more visit with the women at Stitch and Chat. There were five of us that day, including B. Her husband passed away unexpectedly a couple of weeks ago. As she said, she felt the need to be back to a more normal schedule. It was good to see her.

When I returned home, I'd barely been in the house for more than 10 minutes when the sky opened up. I could hear the hail pinging down the furnace chimney. I tried to link a video, but Blogger was having nothing of it.

Thursday morning I was up about 6 a.m., to get a hug from C before he left for work. There were a few chores to be completed before I left, but even so, I was packed up and heading out the door shortly around 7:30 a.m. I was heading east out of the city, and tried to avoid the construction and morning traffic. Ha! By the time I was on the highway, with a stop for an iced coffee, it was nearly 8:10. Normally a 90 minute drive, it was extended by a detour and later a bit of construction. The four seasons in the city are winter, spring, construction, and autumn. Not so in our little town, though they do a bit of road repair every spring and there is an occasional water main break.

At home, I unloaded the SUV and sorted out my room, before D and I went to the school to pick up Eli. He was very excited to see me, as I was him. Later we did a bit of packing for Halifax, determining what needs to be packed in our carry-ons and what will go in our checked bags. So far, I think we won't be overpacked, and will have room to bring home a few items from our trip.

We had a severe thunder storm on Thursday evening, about 9:30 p.m. I could hear the sound of continuous thunder, see the sheet lightning flashing in the windows, and then the rain came down. It continued for just over a half hour before the storm moved on. When I went out to check the rain gauge on Friday morning, it showed just over 2" (about 50 mms.). We did get a bit of water in the basement but it was mostly contained to the laundry room which has a cement floor. 

Friday was mostly spent doing indoor chores. I swept/vacuumed and mopped floors, unloaded the dishwasher and washed a few dishes in the sink. Eli was off school at lunchtime so he and I hung out while his mom got a short nap. We went outside for a little bit; while I did a bit of weeding in the garden, he jumped on the trampoline and attempted to catch bugs in a jar. I was excited to see a few carrots and onions growing...not a lot so I may plant a few things when we get back from our vacation. Only two of my sweet peas came up, so I'll definitely be adding a few more seeds this weekend.

Our peonies and poppies took a beating in the storm. I was glad I'd taken a photo of the poppies the day before. Look at the size of the bloom - it's nearly as big as my hand! 

 

Today, there is little on the agenda. More rain is expected so there won't be much outdoor time. I'll do a bit of knitting or crocheting, perhaps start a book, hang out with Eli, and watch football and baseball. In other words, an easy day. We'll finish our packing on Monday, while Eli is at school.

Have a wonderful week ahead everyone!

Outside my comfort zone

As most of you know, I'm pretty much a homebody. I'm generally quite content to be at home puttering around, doing housework, crafting, reading, watching television, etc.  This week has taken me out of my comfort zone for a good portion of the time.

I did have a lovely visit with C on Saturday.  I had forgotten (I'm a bad friend) that C isn't able to walk long distances.  She had a serious accident when she was a teenager and broke her back.  We did walk for about 15 minutes in the park, then sat on a bench for a good half hour or better before walking back to the car.  It was overcast and threatening rain but cleared while we were visiting.

This was our view from the bench.

I was quite fascinated by the sheer wall of the bank on the other side of the river.  

On the way back to the car, we spotted this mama deer with three fawns.  The third was trailing behind the others.  The mother appears to be quite thin, as her ribs are showing.

Still showing some spots but they're fading rapidly.

After the park we headed for a Tim Horton's coffee shop where we sat out on the patio and enjoyed a coffee for her, tea for me, and muffins for both.  We caught on all the happenings from over the past couple of years and have agreed we need to get together again soon.

On Sunday morning, I headed to the campaign office of a local candidate for the federal election.  I'd volunteered to deliver pamphlets for drop off in household mailboxes.  It took me eight hours over three days to deliver the handouts.  While I was in the office, I was asked if I would go door knocking with the candidate on Friday evening.  I agreed, on the basis, that I wouldn't be asked to say anything.  I was there for moral support and to hold the pamphlets only.  While I was out delivering, I only had three people give me a hard time (or at least try to), but I didn't actually have to talk to too many people. 

Tuesday evening, we had several storms move through the city with lots of thunder and lightning and hail too.  The north end of the city was hit hard and I've seen photos and video of gardens that were decimated.  Sad, because our growing season is so short and we're so close to harvest.

I went out as the storm was approaching and took a few photos.  As it got closer, it started to sound like a train because it was raining so hard.

The sky got so dark so quickly, and after this shot I headed indoors.  Just in time, too, as the rain and hail started immediately.

I headed out to the back yard early Wednesday morning to check on the plants.  It was a relief to see that there was very little damage.  One of my nicotiana plants had broken off at the stem, but the tomatoes and peppers appeared fine.  I could hear thunder in the distance and a few minutes later, this happened:

Thankfully this storm didn't do any real damage either. I had planned to spend the day outside doing yardwork.  A lot of the perennials are done flowering and dying back so need to be trimmed.  The annual containers need trimming too especially the petunias as they are getting too leggy. 

Since I couldn't be outdoors I gave myself permission to have a lazy day.  I'd walked just over 63,000 steps from Sunday through Tuesday.  I'd fallen once on my travels, banging my knee which bruised but it didn't swell so I kept going. What I didn't immediately realize, and only learned the following morning, was I had pulled a muscle in my back as well.  The knee is fine now, but my back is still giving me some grief.  It's the weirdest things that bother me. Turning over in bed, turning to get out of the car, pulling up my jeans, using a knife to cut through something,  and even a tight hug from my son all have me yelping in pain. Thankfully, it hasn't been bad enough that I've needed any pain meds. 

I had planned to get out in the yard on Thursday after a grocery run, but by the time I was home and had things put away, I was ready to rest.  So instead I finished a book, Catherine Coulter's Blind Side.  It was just an okay book, though I'll admit I enjoyed the beginning more than the end.  The only other thing I'll say is it is apparently hard to kill some people.  When that was finished, I started a to-do list of assorted items to complete around the house.  One of those items was to go through the pantry and choose some things for a Foodbank Drive.  Every fall the Scouts and Girl Guides do a drive and though I'm not certain when it will be, I figured I'd tidy the pantry and pull things we probably won't use.  Do you ever find yourself buying something new and then never use it?  Mea culpa.  I found several cans of soup, a few cans of tomato sauce, two extra bottles of ketchup (who needs 4 bottles of ketchup?), and two boxes of the powdered mashed potatoes.  I do use the scalloped potatoes, but have never tried the mashed - and it isn't something I think I'd like.  With the scalloped I always add a couple more real potatoes...as if that makes it more homemade.  Well, it certainly makes it less wet.  Those two bags are in the garage and will stay there until someone picks it up or until I get tired of it and deliver it to the foodbank myself.

Yesterday, I kept busy in the morning in the kitchen.  I used the first batch of tomatoes to make tomato paste (I have enough cans of tomato sauce in my pantry).  It's a slow process since the tomatoes have to be cooked at a very low temperature but, oh my, does it taste good.  While that was cooking, I cut up strawberries and green pepper and bagged these for the freezer.  I also had a container of spinach to deal with - I froze some for spinach dip, and used the rest to make a cream of spinach and cauliflower soup. The cauliflower was from the freezer, that I had blanched and frozen earlier this spring.  Then I went out and picked the remaining tomatoes and peppers.  While we have no frost forecast in the immediate future, the plants are dying back and I'm ready to quit watering them.

We spent almost three hours on Friday evening, door-knocking.  It all went well, though being a Friday before a long weekend, we missed a lot of people.  Those that were home were receptive for the most part, and only one advised us to move along.  Politely, but firmly.  I don't know that I would do it again, but have agreed to do another info drop in a week or so.  It did allow me to get to know my candidate, to hear him respond to questions and concerns, and get his perspective on the issues.

Today, I'm taking it easy again.  I'm still experiencing some pain from my back.  It should be lovely and warm this afternoon, so I'll head outdoors at some point to read. And if, I'm feeling up to it I'll get some deadheading and pruning done, and pull the remaining pepper and tomato plants.  

Have a good weekend everyone! 

Back on track

This should be a short post, as I thought I'd try to catch up the rest of the week and then next week I can do another wrap-up.  Or least that's the idea.

We had another three showings from Thursday to Sunday as well as an open house on Sunday.  None resulted in any offers but I did get a bit of decent feedback; "house looks good overall except windows".  A second wasn't as favorable, "Didn't like the small yard and the work to do in the basement."  Sometimes I truly wonder if people look at the photos on the website before coming to view the house.  In the latter case, they would have seen both the size of the backyard and that a portion of the basement is unfinished.  Oh well, c'est la vie.  

I had dinner with my friend C on both Thursday and Friday evenings.  I haven't said anything (until now), but she and her husband N have split at his instigation.  This was huge shock to her and I've been spending a fair amount of time with her over the past several weeks.  He was packing on Thursday at the house, and had movers coming on Friday so she stayed at local hotel as she couldn't bear to watch this happening.  On Sunday a spent some time there while the open house was underway.  She and her brother have done some rearranging of furniture so the gaps aren't as noticeable.  It's all horribly sad because they've been together for over 20 years and of all the couples I know I'd say they were the last I would expect to see break up.  

On Saturday morning, I made a quick trip out to D's.  When she was here last week the pharmacy wasn't able to get her meds for her due to a mix-up with the doctor.  She called on Thursday and asked if I'd pick them up and bring them out to her.  For some reason, to do with temperature, they couldn't be mailed.  I left just after 6:30 a.m., drove out and spent a half hour with Eli while his mommy enjoyed a shower, then drove home and was back at the house by shortly after 10.  Our forecast high for that day was 32C though I believe it reached 34C.  Very hot for us so I wanted not to drive in the heat of the day if I could avoid it.

We did have another storm after I posted.  My son and I went out to watch the storm roll in.

The clouds were low and moving fast.  It started to rain so we moved into the sun room and watched the lightning show.  We were getting strikes every few seconds and it sounded like a train was rumbling by almost constantly.

When the storm passed to the east, I captured this photo out the west windows of the sun room. I love it!

That was the week that was.  Hard to believe it is already the end of July, though we had a cold front come through yesterday dropping the overnight temperature to just 6C!  Brrr!!!  But there is a full week of heat ahead of us so summer is still in full swing.

Have a great week everyone!

What to say...

I've written two posts today and erased them both.  Nothing of real interest has been happening here.  We're continuing the packing (just 19 sleeps to moving day!), so my house looks horrendous with boxes half packed and items scattered about as Eli helps unpack.  He's going to be a great helper on the other end of this.  His newest favorite toy is a cheese grater.  It makes a very cool noise when it is banged against the stove, the television stand, the lamp on the side table....well, you get the picture.

D has packed away most of his toys and I've noticed he doesn't seem to be missing them. Well, except for his ride-on police car.  He tried very hard to pull it out of the box before she moved it out to the garage.  There is a small toy box of items that will stay behind so he'll have something to play with at G'ma's.  I hope she'll learn from this and not put everything out for him at the new house.  It will be like Christmas when she brings out a new box.  AND, if she gets rid of the broken and outgrown items each time, she should be able to keep things under control.  To be honest, I'm doubtful that will happen.

On another note, I had to take my car in for some work this week.  I'd noticed a noise from the front end and a bit of shimmying.  The tech thought it might be a bearing, but when they took it out for a drive they couldn't hear the noise.  Of course not!  However, the mechanic did find that my brakes on the front right were seizing...something about calipers and brake pads, that they thought might be causing the sound I was hearing.  It was a bit of an unexpected expense though I was expecting something needed to be fixed, and something that could not wait.  Heaven forbid, that my brakes failed when I'm driving Eli out to Melville on moving day.

D's decided that I should take Eli away from the house while the truck is being loaded.  I agree, though I'm not sure what we'll do for the 2 hours.  I am planning to drop into the office, as there are several co-workers who would like to meet the little guy.  They've seen many of G'ma's brag photos!  Then I'll take him somewhere for a bite of breakfast before we head to Melville.  He'll be staying with D's friend A while the movers unload.  He loves to play with her little boy so hopefully he's not too upset when I drop him off.

I'll admit it, I'm going to miss my little sports watching buddy.  Today, the mixed doubles in curling was re-broadcast (it was live in the middle of the night as the game was played in China). Eli used to sit with me last winter/early spring while I watched curling and I didn't think he'd remember.  Well, when I turned to the curling he came skidding to a stop in front of the television and stood there mesmerized through the first end.  

His mother suggests I am brainwashing the child.  I say I'm training him right.  :)  Either way, this child enjoys watching sports.  He's a big fan of football - he'll even point it out when an ad comes on.  Eli and D also watch gymnastics together.  I know she plans to take him to the gym in the next town over for classes.  He's certainly got the flexibility and energy for it!
He's also demonstrating his talents in finding his nose and mine though he does have a tendency to poke his finger up my nose.  Ew!  Next up, mouth, ears, and eyes.  New words this week include thirsty and shirt. I suspect to the unaccustomed ear it probably sounds like gibberish but for the most part we understand him.

*******
My thoughts and best wishes are going out to those currently affected by the storms in North and South Carolina, in the Philippines and China.  I cannot fathom the devastation that so many are facing.  Beyond the loss of life, of which there are far too many, there will be so many more who will have lost their homes and possessions.  It cannot be easy.

While I may grouse about the mess in my home and express my annoyance with my daughter, I'm truly grateful for my family and my life.  It is a reminder that I am truly blessed.

Wishing you all a wonderful week ahead!