The past few days….

 

Our Location:

Road Runner BLM, Quartzsite, Arizona 

I found my stamps and I went to the post office to get more! Isn’t that a surprise? The post office window closes at 12 pm. Yeah, I read the sign. I was there at 4:30 pm. Oh well, maybe I will make it back before we head to Ogilby Road. 

We were to meet at 5 pm, and we are never late, 
But I thought I would longer at the post office.

Tuesday evening, after the PO stop, we headed to Mountain Quail Cafe to meet up with Bill and Patsy  We enjoyed our visit a great deal, lots of laughter and smiles. We never had a pause in the chatter.  Mr. Gibbs was working of course, guarding their home while we were out having a great time. 

Deb, Riley, Bill and Patsy.

Our plan was to leave Friday but the Yuma area is calling for some pretty gusty winds on that day, so we are delaying our departure by a day or two. I will keep all informed.

My sister gave me a Sister blanket.

Things are quiet back on our Rock in Lake Huron. Manitoulin Island has said good bye to the summer folks but are welcoming the hunters with many Fall Fowl Suppers being advertised. These meals would be of the same table groaning nature as American Thanksgiving. I can almost hear the buzz of the folks working in the kitchens already, the chatter and clanging of pots, pans, dishes, silverware and that tell tale crash of something meeting its death upon contact with floor after dropping a couple of feet, and then that 5 seconds of absolute silence before everyone takes a breath and chatters again. 

I think my sister is from the out side of the fence
near my garden!

A birthday wish goes out to my Brother in Law, Dennis. He turns 80 in a few days. Dennis and Janet are the folks we visit in Indian Wells, CA every year. It is their beautiful farm, Buttercup Ridge that we often visit coming and going on our winter journey.

Also happy birthday to sister’s partner Rick. He turns 65 today. We hope you have a fantastic day Rick!

I’ve been chatting with dad every night, he and brother Rick are working on the DB tractor, replacing the entire steering assembly. This  particular tractor had a steering assembly that was only manufactured for one year and there are just no parts to be found. They are taking the entire assembly from an old scrap tractor, putting it on the DB. Dad’s other tractor is too light for working in the bush, so the DB needs to be ready for the freeze after Christmas, when the wood cutting starts. The ‘little’ tractor has the cab and blower and is patiently waiting for the white stuff to come. Otherwise it is very quiet there.

A few morning coffees with my sister, keeps me caught up on other news from the Rock in Lake Huron. Of course since she is only 15 minutes from dad, the news is pretty much the same!

Thanks for stopping by.

Until next time,

Take care, be safe,

Deb

We are home…..

 

Our Location:

Summer Spot, near South Baymouth, Manitoulin Island

A very cold morning in Sudbury this morning, very heavy frost. We had wheels rolling before 8 am and were happy to start the last leg of our journey for this adventure. 

One of the many small lakes on our way.

Very light traffic, no issues and we rolled into Espanola about 8:40 am. We spent an hour and a half doing some shopping and topping up on a few things to tide us over. We need to make a trip back in a week or so for some things we didn’t get or complete while we were there. 

Wheels rolling again by 10:50 am we stopped one more time at Birch Island for a fuel fill up, $1.54 for diesel, which is approx $5.80 a gallon. The reserve prices are the best, I’m glad we can get them. Once again, wheels rolling we crossed the bridge onto Our Rock in the waters of Lake Huron at 11:20 am. 

The Bridge we cross to reach the Island.

Yep, it is a little skinny.

We entered the gate just before noon. Stopped chatted with Brother for 5 minutes and parted ways, he going his and we into 4lo creeping up the hill. Turned around, parked and had our first visitor by 2 pm. The visitor of course was Dad. 

Crossing the Bridge.. Little Current off in the distance.

A better view of Little Current.

After lunch we walked up to Dad’s to drop some things off, pick up the cabin key and before coming home managed to check out the house build and had 50 words with Jason before letting him get on with his dump truck work.

You can see the cabin thru the trees.

We are at the top of the hill, we need to turn in the space of the first pic now.

I will be posting much less, but will try to post a few times over the summer. Thanks for following along all winter. 

Until next time…..

Take care, stay safe,

Deb

A very quiet day.....

 

Our Location: 

North of MM 4, Ogilby Road, Winterhaven, California

 

A walk this morning, a drive for Riley and I, a couple of visits with Doug and that was our day. A few photos that have been left over from other days, except the first two, this mornings Moon and Sunrise shots. 

 

The moon out one window....

and sunrise out the door on the other side.

I chatted with my Dad last night, he called to see how things were going. He and my brother Rick are busy cutting wood and keeping very busy. Always good to do that, keep busy, it keeps them out of trouble. My sister in law Janet called this morning as we were finishing up our walk and we chatted for a long time, it's good to get caught up. Dennis has even played a little golf with his new hip. Sounds as if it's going very well. We will be slipping farther into California in late January to visit them in Indian Wells.

 

 

I think I see an octopus! Why not I saw a dolphin the other day right? It's an Ocotillo laying on the desert floor.

Trees in the wash as we walk from American Girl Mine Road back home.

The water cuts a certain path as it lessens and leaves a bank.

The water must come at a tremendous speed down there to this curve.

Back at Tumco....These grates cover holes in the ground, the one on top is a mine shaft.

A sage bush is flowering.

I truly like the looks of these mountains.

I have followed that path down on the right but I don't remember where it goes. 

They look easy to climb but they are not.

The colours are so different but the veining is a whitish colour in all of the mountains in the Cargos.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed the last of these photos. 

 

Until next time..

 

Take care, be safe, 

 

Deb

 

We have begun....

Our Location: Brantford, Ontario

It’s been a busy few days since my last post. We pulled out of our summer spot on Saturday morning around 8 AM, taking our time down the long lane way and out the gates to begin our journey. A few stops including Dad’s for a quick coffee and goodbye, and another to say goodbye to sister Jan, having said our goodbyes to Rick & Barb the night before. From there we headed out. The warm weather, along with the brilliant sunshine and only a slight breeze kept us company all the way to Hamilton, Ontario. A few stops of course but we travelled well and were happy to make such a good distance in one day, especially a first day after sitting for a number of months. 

 

 

Strolling over the farm.

Someone else owns over past that gate.

 

We parked in the lot at Eastgate Square and were given the okay to stay for up to 72 hours. (Of course it depends on which security guard you speak to at any given time). We had a number of errands to accomplish and I can tell you that we did indeed manage to get them all accomplished. A trip to our storage facility to store and retrieve a few items, a trip to Indigo for Riley to purchase a Kobo, a stop at the bank to exchange some money for our winter travels and of course our final stop of the Bell store. We have been looking at various options for our travels with data always the question mark. I’m sure you all have the same issue and I’m also sure you’ve figured out what works for you. We have opted to try Bell only because it offers better coverage and available data all on the same bill. We liked our former plan with Freedom which included phone service in Canada as well as the USA but the coverage wasn’t always great and we found numerous areas with no coverage. We have now settled on a plan with Bell that allows us unlimited text and calling between Canada and the USA, 20 GB of data EACH and all for the wonderful price of $110 plus tax per month for each phone, so around $220 plus tax per month. We brought our old phones and numbers with us. No slow downs on the data, always high speed but if we go over there are significant overage charges. So that will be 40 GB between the two of us, I’m pretty certain we will be well able to stay within those lines. It took two trips to the Bell store to get it all straightened out but we finally managed.

The Sugar Shack where Rick & Dad make maple syprup.

Some still green ferns off in the bush.

A few calls had me finding us an appointment for the Igloo on Thursday afternoon at Pyette Springs for an assessment on the woes regarding the wear on the rear axle tires. I think we may have it narrowed down this time. A call from the Rheumatologist office had them slipping my appointment from Thursday morning to Friday morning. I’m not happy with that as we were planning on taking off first thing Friday but I guess one day won’t be too much of a delay.  I visit twice a year, answer the same few questions and leave with a new script and a new blood req form. He doesn’t do video conference and so I must journey twice a year to the office which is making me rethink keeping a doctor so far away. 

 

Rick's winter wood for next year.

Dad's winter wood for next year.

 

Due to the rain and high winds on Sunday we stayed in Hamilton and of course we had to make a second trip to the Bell store on Monday anyway. From there we pulled out heading toward Brantford. Our stay here is filled with family visits including meeting the newest addition to our family, baby Auston. Middle daughter Bradey and her partner David’s new bundle of joy. Auston was born on Sept 12 but this is our first chance to visit. He is truly a bundle of joy, gas and spit ups. There is nothing quite like a baby!!

 

Auston!! He's a cutie.

 

On our way back to the Igloo we found a spot to have the Dogsled receive a few new parts such as fuel filter and air filter, along with an oil change. These go nicely with the four new tires he got over the summer. I could have had my brother do this stuff as he gives the Dogsled the once over before we leave but didn’t want to ask to much of brother Rick!
 

 

New cradle posts for the farm fence.

Time to replace this one.

 

So there you have it, our catch up post. We will be here until Thursday morning when we will take ourselves the short trip back to the Hamilton area to Pyette’s and we will once again put down feet at Eastgate over night and I will attend to my new appointment on Friday morning in Hamilton but after that we will have the feet up and the Big Dog running along the 401 south bound!!! Until then I will not be posting as we are filling our days with the new baby, and reading.

We won't see this sign post until the spring.

 

Thanks for stopping by, until next time…take care, be safe,


Deb

We're finally home.....

Our Location: Summer Home, Tehkummah, Ontario

A few very cold, wet and dreary days at Buttercup Ridge, but also one really nice day that helped to dry up some of the water, and the constant wind also helped with that but still soggy and muddy. We had to re-level once and would have had to so again if we stayed longer. We didn’t do much over the last remaining days but managed to do a few little errands.  

Toronto sky line, circle K (who knew we had 'em in Canada), and getting closer to C & M's.

We had one remaining goal while at Buttercup Ridge and that was a trek into Toronto to visit oldest daughter Courtney and her hubby Matt. They live on the east side of downtown which meant we didn’t have to go all the way through the city. Toronto like any other major city is just busy all the time. Except for the DVP (Don Valley Parkway) the traffic flowed relatively well with only a few slow downs, so we were fortunate. The DVP was stop and go the entire way, lucky we weren't going too far. We spent a few hours visiting C & M, catching up and just enjoying their company. It’s always wonderful to see my girls and their other halves but they lead very busy lives and so we keep our visits short.

Courtney & hubby Matt. Courtney, Riley and Matt.

We decided we’d pull out on Monday, April 29 and head north due to the incoming bad weather. We decided it’s better to be high and dry in our summer location even if it’s a few degrees cooler, it’s only for a couple of days. So with that in mind we pulled out of Buttercup Ridge around 8 am  on a bright and sunny Monday morning. 

 

Some sights along the way.

A leisurely drive along ON 7 to ON 12 North brought us to the small town of Orilla, and from there we hopped on ON 400 North bound for the rest of the day. A stop in Parry Sound due to yet another issue with the rear tire on the Igloo had us at Seguin Automotive Repair at Exit 214. Darcy and Dave both agreed it was a wheel bearing issue. I watched as Dave pulled it apart and made note that the wheel bearing was loose but otherwise in perfect condition. Now how could that be? Both sides had the same issue but only wear on one tire. Hmmm…. I think there may be another issue but I’ll have that dealt with in the fall on our way south again. I know the perfect place in Hamilton to have it looked at. So Dave reset and tightened the wheel bearings on both rear wheels, replaced a tire and checked everything else. They could find no other issues. We only went a few minutes down the road and pulled in at a Walmart. We called it quits for the day. It was now mid afternoon. 

 

Strawberry Channel (top L), Hwy 6 S (top R), Hwy 400N (bottom L), Hwy 69 N (bottom R)

Morning found us up and on the road by 8 AM with a mostly sunny sky above and the decision to bypass our regular stop in Lively to visit friends Randy & Linda. We instead opted to go all the way through to our home spot, we'll be visiting with Randy & Linda on Sunday at their camp on the island. A stop in Espanola for fuel, a dump station and a few groceries would be the last stop until we were parked in our spot. 

A single turbine blade for a wind turbine. I think I heard they are 90 feet long.

At 2 pm Riley was opening the gates to let us on to the farm and by 3 pm we were up the big hill, turned around (which is always a bit of an adventure) and with the basic set up complete. Not a bad amount of time for us. We pulled on our shoes and headed up to see Dad for a quick visit. He was surprised to see us, he hadn’t been home when we came by and so didn’t know we had arrived. 

Top - along ON 12 N heading toward Orilla. 2nd-snow/ice on ON 400N, 3rd-water in the farm fields Hwy 17 E. 4th one of the many little inland lakes with ice along Hwy 6 S.

Back home for a light snack, a bit of reading and around 7 pm we climbed into the Dogsled to drop in for a visit with my brother Rick and his lovely wife Barb. Son Jason wasn’t there at the time but is around for another day.

So there you have it, our last few days. We have now arrived home and over the next week will set up our Igloo for the summer and begin enjoying our time with more family.  

 

Top Left- town of Espanola. Bottom- crossing the river into Espanola, Top R, snow in the bush along the way.

A belated Happy Birthday to two nephews, Allan and Jesse. Allan was 35 way back on April 21, and Jesse turned 23 on April 28. Allan is my sister's only son, and Jesse is my brother’s youngest son.  Jesse and girlfriend Claudia just bought their first house and moved in 2 weeks ago. So a congratulations to them on that as well.
 

Crossing the swing bridge onto the Island. The North Channel which flows under the bridge above.

Thanks for stopping by, I’ll do one more update before I stop blogging for the summer months. I just don’t seem to have the time to do a blog while we’re here. As I type this it is raining, today and tomorrow will be rain events on both days but after that the good weather starts and we are looking forward to it.

Until next time… take care, be safe,

Deb

Family visits, exciting news, arrived at Buttercup Ridge....

Our Location: Buttercup Ridge, Roseneath, Ontario

Woodstock was a good stop for us and we rested well there. The rain came down and we were happy we hadn’t stayed farther away. Less than 45 minutes later we arrived at Brantford but found that getting into Bradey’s driveway was not going to work. Even if I could get in, all things had to be aligned before I could get back out. Even one car in the wrong place on the street and we were stuck, so we opted for a different option. The local Catholilc Church (right across the street) wouldn’t allow us to park even for a donation, so we once again reverted to Walmart. A nice assistant manager told us we could stay for 3 nights (it’s what I ask for), knew we would be unhooking and even putting the slides out. He had no issues with it and so we stayed at the Brantford Walmart Sunday, Monday and Tuesday nights. We spent some money in Walmart to offset our using a piece of the parking lot. For future reference, it is an excellent place, quiet, and easy to get in/out, close to everything and a lot of stores near by. 

 

You can see the grass is starting to turn green. B & D live in this small town now.

 

We enjoyed our visits with Bradey and David very much. We spent a good deal of Sunday with them, Monday evening and part of Tuesday evening as well. They have settled into life in their new to them home, and are looking forward to the future. Held up by magnets on the fridge door are the first ultra sound pictures of the baby that will bless our lives. A first child for them, a first niece or nephew for their of the siblings (all sisters as a matter of fact, Courtney & Riley are Bradey’s sisters of course, and Nicole & Danielle are David’s sisters) and of course a first grandchild for myself and for Peter & Mary. (David’s parents). Some exciting times ahead. We wish for them a healthy baby, and the joys that children bring to a home.
 

Middle daughter, her future husband and their puppy.

 While parked in Brantford we journeyed to Hamilton for a couple of errands. First thing Monday morning had me at Dr. Bobba’s office, he’s my Rheumatologist. A few things have changed but we agreed to leave everything the same and will access again in the fall when I see him next. From there Riley and I headed for the blood labs as I was over due for blood work. Long story short, we couldn’t get in to either location we tried and eventually ended up back at the first one later in the day. Our next stop was the storage unit on Barton Street. We had a few things to remove from there and distribute to their rightful owners. Took us a while to find them but we managed to get everything packed into the Dogsled and storage unit locked back up before heading off for a quick stop at Timmie’s for a drink. A quick phone call to find that the meeting I thought I would have on Tuesday wasn’t necessary. Yeah, now Tuesday would be pretty clear for us.
 

David, Riley and Bradey.

 From that fun filled morning we stopped again at the blood lab, bingo, in and out in less than 20 minutes and we were off to our last errand in the city. The dentist and our friend MaryAnne to catch up and have some dental work accomplished. Cleaning for me, cleaning and some fillings for Riley, a nice long chat with MaryAnne and we were off by 3:30 pm heading back to Brantford. Riley and I had a very late lunch after which we had a visit with Bradey & David before calling it a night.
 

That is the Hamilton skyline in the distance.

 

Tuesday was a day to stock up on a few things that we needed and just to sort of relax a bit. We like those days without too much planned. Warmer but still damp and cold outside. An evening visit with B & D topped off the day.

 

Moving toward Toronto, close to the airport.

  Wednesday morning at 9:30 am found us getting on the road to head further east along the 401. A slow down on the Ancaster Hill in Hamilton pretty much set the tone for the first half of the drive. Stop and go from Ancaster to about the middle of Toronto before traffic picked up and moved along. Toronto is always busy now, and I doubt there is ever a fast trip to or thru the city these days. Like all major cities around the world the amount of people, vehicles and businesses just make it ‘rush hour’ all the time. Ironically, not much construction along the way, only in a couple of spots. 

 

Riley liked the ball atop of that cement piece. Of course this is Toronto.

  

We arrived at Buttercup Ridge (Janet & Dennis’ farm) before 1:30 pm. The driveway is long and very rough as the winter has been a tough one. Thaw, freeze, thaw, freeze, snow, ice, water, rain, sleet, thaw, freeze, and repeat. You know what that does for a gravel driveway. Closer to the house and the barn the ground turned soft and I was worried about getting stuck but we managed to get ourselves backed into the far driveway and get leveled up before 2:30 pm. Sounds like a long time but it wasn’t. I’ll take some photos to show you in another post. A call to dad, a text to Janet, we had lunch and just kind of fell into our chairs. We are closer to home but not quite there yet. A couple of weeks should see us arriving on the Island to hopefully warmer weather. 

Welcome to Toronto.

 

Today I had a quick chat with Mike (he rents the barn here at Buttercup Ridge), says they had a long winter here in Southern Ontario as well. Lots of snow, lots of cold and overcast days were the norm. Like everyone else he’s in a hurry to see spring arrive. We can see it coming though, flowers are poking up from the beds, trees are taking on new shades of red, yellow and green. The grass is losing its brown to a tiny hint of green. Birds are chirping and singing everywhere, water is open and not frozen, and of course everywhere you look Robins are busy gathering nesting material. Spring is coming soon. 

Of course Toronto is a sprawling city on the northern shores of Lake Ontario.

 

A belated Happy Birthday mention (I called on the actual day) to my older brother Rick. We won’t discuss how old he actually is but he’s older than I am. April 16 found him another year older, wiser and more handsome than the last year. Hope you had a great day Rick.
 

Here we are heading north of Cobourg on Hwy 45 toward the town of Roseneath.

 

So there you have it, a catch up of the last number of days. I’ll be catching up on the reading and commenting as well over the next couple of days. Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed your visit. 

 

One day we'll get some BBQ from this spot.

 

Until next time.. take care, be safe,

Deb