We’ve moved sites….

 

Our Location: 

Valens Lake Conservation Area, Flamborough, Ontario

Site # 144

We both slept really well last night. I will admit the tree coverage here makes it darker, plus our tinted windows adds to the dark.  By 11 am we were out walking the roads looking for a brighter site. We found several we liked better than the dark, sloped site of #175. I drove up to the office to ask about moving to one of several other sites, however the only one available for our whole stay is #144 , which worked fine, it was on my list. It has some sunlight but is much less in the trees, more level and just a nicer spot. Not first on the list but not last either. In less than 45 minutes we were packed, hooked, towed, parked, unhooked and set up.  We are happy once again.

As you can see things are very tight in Valens Lake Conservation Area.

A boardwalk over a fast flowing stream.

The new heater connection works great, we used it this morning for the first time. It heated the Igloo fabulously. We do need to find a way to keep the heat downstairs though. In Igloo 1.0 we had a curtain that we could hang at the bottom of the stairs, it worked great. We will have to figure out something for this rig as well.

Auston walking the beam.

Riley and I headed out this afternoon to spend more time with Bradey and the boys ( this of course means David, as well as Auston and Lincoln). Auston is taking gymnastics and we thought we would go watch. Yesterday we offered to pay for whatever take out they wanted for dinner tonight, and it was delicious. From a little Greek place near by, it is one of their favourite places.

Lincoln enjoying a sucker.

A very Happy Birthday to my brother Rick, he celebrates tomorrow, the 16th but I may not write a blog tomorrow so I will get my wishes in today. Rick is of course, my oldest and only brother. He lives next door to my dad, in what once was my Granddad Bill’s house. It no longer resembles that house, but the old house is still part of it. Rick is a generous, kind, helpful fella, always helping someone. He has a quick smile, is blonde, and blue eyed like me. Although I’m sure his blonde is white, while I’m still blonde! Happy Birthday brother! Below are some his first creations over the winter, all scrap metal, parts and pieces.

Happy Birthday wishes to cousin Daisy, celebrating today.  Daisy and my father are first cousins, his mom, her dad, were siblings. Daisy and her husband Robert are fabulous people, very active and community oriented. They live just a little down the road from our summer spot.

Thanks for stopping by, I won’t be posting everyday until we start travelling again, which should in 5 or 6 days. We still aren’t back to home dirt yet, another 380 miles/620 km. We will break the trip into at least 2 days, possibly 3. We shall see.

Until next time…..

Take care, stay 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

Arrived Hamilton, wet, rain and a bit warmer.....

Our Location: Walmart, Rymal Road E, Hamilton, Ontario

(again, no pictures, they just won't load)

The wind stopped last night in the oddest manner. It just stopped. One big gust rocked us a bit as I was getting ready to climb into bed and then nothing more. Didn't hear anything, didn't feel anything, and no I wasn't asleep either. It was the oddest feeling when I realized there was no more wind. It stopped so fast it was scary. The rain also stopped but I did hear it pitter patter once or twice through the night but not hard, just a soft sound. 

 

This morning's temperature was 37F/2.7C which wasn't too bad at all. The tiniest of winds kicked up a bit but nothing you'd notice at all. We were out of bed by 7 am and decided we'd pull out this morning as it was supposed to warm up the further we came to the north east. Hamilton was predicting a high of 48F/9 C this afternoon. A quick pack up, checked all the rubber and we were good to go by 8:15 am. 

We cruised along in the slow lane until we reached the next ONRoute at Dutton, Ontario and while Riley visited Tim Hortons for coffee and a couple of timbits, I checked all the rubber once again. It all looked fantastic and soon Riley was back outside with our nice hot drinks, and a wee treat. The temperature was still steady at 37F/2.7C and we continued motoring along. The roads were wet, with a bit of slop coming up, mist appeared to settle over some of the country side which actually turned out to be more fog than mist but it had the same effect, we had to use the wipers sparingly the whole trip. 

As we approached London, Ontario area we made note of some ice still coating the roadside grasses, trees, bushes and some of the fields as well. The temperature was a steady 37F/2.7C here but it didn't appear to be melting. Again the roads were just wet. We also noted traces of snow and slush that had piled up along the roadside due to road cleaning but nothing on the road except wetness. Still fog/mist lingering in the area making it appear to be brightly gloomy if you know what I mean. 

As we rolled along the 401 East bound we waved to our friends Bill (On Our Way), Patsy (Chillin' with Patsy) & Clemson ( no known blog url) as they are still tucked away in the fair city of London, Ontario. 

From London we headed on to Woodstock, then 403 to Brantford which like the 401 was simply wet. The further north east we travelled today the less it seemed as if spring is on it's way. The bare brown fields turned to lakes of muddy water and  cold looking ice patches, the trees remain leafless and barren, the grass while showing hints of green is mostly that mottled brown/black of dead winter. Soon we started noticing more snow in areas that are protected from the wind, such as ditches, tree lines, etc not much but a dusting of sorts. Even further along we noticed more snow in the open areas not just around the tree bottoms or protected areas. Soon the fields were covered with no dirt showing through, just the hint of dirt. A few cornstalks poking their winter weathered heads up through the white frosting proved to us that it was indeed a field and the little stalks shivering  as they stood guard in lines like soldiers. 

As we approached Brantford the rain started to fall, not hard but in dribs and drabs, making things seem promising but disappointing at the same time. Promising because spring rains means warm weather, flowers, etc. Disappointing because so far they have just meant more cold, more ice, less sun, no warmth. Oh, the burdens of being Canadian. 

Again the roads were wet and the sky's dark but the temperature which dipped from a high of 37F/2.7C to 33F/ .5C had jumped back again when we reached Hamilton to the high temperature of 36F/2.2C. So we can't complain, now can we? It's at least figuring out which direction is the right one, so soon it will be pushing higher in the right direction. We found the Lincoln Alexander Parkway to be rough, misty and not quite as busy as I expected. We sailed along the top edge of the city until our exit at Dartnall Road which we took to Rymal Road, thus leading us to our current destination. 

Richard, the girls and I lived about 1 mile/1.6 km from this very store for 20 years. Actually Richard, Courtney and I lived there for 20 years, while Bradey and Riley were born after we moved in to the house. So we know the area pretty well. Riley and I commented a couple of times of the lack of activity around the schools as we came further north east. Turns out the schools were all closed today for a weather day. The thing is we didn't really have any weather. We pulled into the Walmart lot at 11:30 am having been on the road for about 3 hours. We travelled approx 155 miles/250 km . An easy travel day, the weather other than rain was perfect for driving. 

We were told when we asked about parking here that Walmart doesn't own the lot and can't give permission but others have stayed. If the owner of the parking lot wants us to move they will have to tell so. There are no signs and so I'm happy here for the next couple of days. I have an appointment in the morning with the Rheumatologist and we have dentist appointments Thursday late morning. I want to have the tire on the Igloo replaced, the spare tire put back where it goes and we need to do a few other little things as well. I need to have blood work done as I forgot about it last month. Oh well, the worst that will happen is the good Dr. Bobba will tell me how important it is to have it done. The best that will happen is he won't mention it.  Since he asks the same 6 questions and I give the same 6 answers I doubt it's imperative but I'll have it done quickly here. 

So there you have it, our travel day. We have a few more to go before we reach our summer location but we won't be heading there for some time as they are still getting winter weather. About a foot of snow fell on Manitoulin Island over the course of the last 24-36 hours. They had some hail, sleet, freezing rain, snow, ice pellets and just about anything else that could be tossed their way. When I spoke to Dad this afternoon he said it was starting to rain. The snow is too wet to push with the quad, so the big tractor blower will have to be used to move it. It's mid April for goodness sake, this isn't appropriate weather at all. 

A quick HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my brother Rick today. We enjoy the visits we manage with him and his lovely wife Barb, along with their children and grandchildren during our stay at our summer location. Rick is always helpful when I ask for some help with things or advice about something. It'll be nice to see him and Barb along with the children, grandchildren when we get back to the island. So Happy Birthday big brother. We hope it's been a fantastic day!!!

Thanks for stopping by, feel free to leave a comment, I appreciate them all. If you don't wish to leave a comment, that's okay too and I hope you enjoyed the post. 

Until next time.... take care, be safe, 

Deb