The rainy season……

 

Our Location:

Summer Spot, Manitoulin Island, Ontario 

We are still getting settled here, much slower than usual but we are getting things accomplished. Our routine is becoming re-established and I have no doubt we will soon be back to our regularly scheduled summer life. 

It is always nice to finally unhook in our spot.

Our Cabin, the first opening of our side door. We need to remove some of that stuff .

I have spent a fair amount of time strolling in the trees, some well worn paths and a few less familiar and sometimes just in a general direction. My sense of direction is good and I can usually find the point I wish to find without any trouble. The amount of dead spruce trees is frightening and high winds bring more crashing down often. High wind days are not meant for walking in the trees.

A few things coming up in the rock gardens.
Garlic, chives and rhubarb.

We are having some very odd temps here, well below seasonal norms some nights and the cold winds from the lake are keeping our temperatures down significantly. The rains have been off and on since our arrival, a dusting of snow, some very heavy frosts have been witnessed as well. As of this writing we are expecting 3 days and nights of rain, with the heaviest being today, forecasters are saying 20-45 mm, which for our non metric friends means close to 1 - 1 1/2”. That is a lot of rain. However it is needed as the snowfall was minimal over the winter. We are safe from any floods as we are high up, on flat limestone, with no significant water pools until we go down the long driveway to the bottom of the quarry. 

Yep, it’s been a little chilly at times.

Can you spot the morels? I’m not sure if they are just starting or ending!

Happy Birthday wishes to a few folks. Nephews Allan and Jesse, April 21 and 28 respectively. Allan is of course my sister’s only son, and Jesse is my brother’s youngest son. Also to neighbour Earl, I believe his day is the 26 th. Happy birthday gentlemen, we hope it was a fabulous day for each of you. Nephew Jesse shares his birthday with his great grandmother Katie, also born on the 28th, many years ago.

We come in way down there by the slim white birch treee to the centre left.

Although it doesn’t look it, it is uphill most of the way.
This would be the least steep part of the climb, and yes we wind our way along.

A few pictures of what I’m seeing here. I hope you enjoy them.

Until next time…..

Take care, stay safe,

Deb

A little closer than expected….

 

Our Location:

Walmart, Lang Lake Rd, Sudbury

A good start this morning, we were hooked up, garbage in the dumpsters and had used the dump station by 8 am. It was a little frosty but I had my little gloves to help my hands. The wheels were rolling and we were on our way. For my own information Reg Rd 97, Lennon Rd, Gore Rd, Hwy 6, 401, 407, 400/69, Sudbury Bypass, Lang Lake Rd. 

The top of Toronto off in the distance.

The drive was excellent except a very strong head wind, the Big Dog worked hard and drank heavily! Fuel is ranging from $1.52 to $1.67 per litre. Can you guess where the $1.52 was my fellow Ontarians….yep on many reservations along the way. We decided to continue on onto Sudbury instead of the MTO inspection spot because it was too early to stop, plus the wind would have been brutal there. 

The Canadian flag waving proudly in the wind.

This Walmart is posted as no overnight parking but when we asked at the Customer Service Centre we were told absolutely just park at the far side as far back as you can. So we are tucked up for the night against the rock wall. Some shopping to stock up a little for our summer spot, but alas many of the shelves were bare or things were beaten up to the point I think no one would buy them. It was a shock to find the store in this condition. Propane exchange: bbq tank… Yuma $20 USD, same tank here $34 CAD. Just thought I would add this for future reference.

Spring is not overly evident but it is near.

After we were parked we had rain, granular snow, more rain, more snow, the sun came out, the wind howled, rain, snow and now the sun is shining, the air is crisp and we are tucked in for the night. 

Moon River is high and fast.

Our home for the night.

We travelled 268 miles/431 km, we travelled about 6 hours, we used about 25 gallons/95 litres but a strong headwind. So I figure a little over 10 mpg, not great but no complaints.

Until next time…..

Take care, stay safe,

Deb

Friends leave and a catch up post…..

 

Our Location:

Road Runner BLM, Quartzsite, Arizona 

I lost my entire post, and have to start over, thank you Blogger! I see the font is changing sizes now too. Oh well read on if you are brave, or maybe just bored. 

I have been lazy about posting and I apologize for that. My brain has been too busy to think about reading or writing posts. I promise to try to do better in the future.

The moon is leaving.

Sunrise is coming.

The saguaro and sunrise.

Some colourful flames at the campfire.

Tuesday, Nov 23, our good friends Lorne and Sue left in a cloud of dust as they head on down the road for their winter spot. It was wonderful meeting you folks finally. We had such a great time getting to know you in person, we look forward to more meetings in the future.

Archie looks sad.

One final coffee hour. Ken was missing but said goodbye earlier.
Sue, Tom, Deb D, Kim, Riley and Lorne.

The last pic before they board.

Safe travels, see you in down the road friends.

The past number of days and weeks have found us with cool weather here at Quartzsite. My morning walks have been chilly with very heavy sweaters, long pants and a hood. The daytime breeze is chilly as well but the sun does help. We will soon be moving to warmer temps and we are looking forward to it.

Sunrise on a different day.

Our days have been filled with friends, laughter and good times. We are grateful for each and every one of them. Thank you folks. 

Seen on a morning walk.

The pink is beautiful,

This paragraph is for me and my future reference, feel free to skip it. A month ago we traded in Igloo 1.0 for Igloo 2.0. It has been a very trying month. We have fixed the battery cable issues, the leak issue, the electrical issues but still have a slide issue to deal with. We have not yet tried the hot water heater or the awning. I don’t think I could take another issue at this point. The positive battery cable fell off our first day out, we had an intermittent tail light issue, we discovered 2 leaks in Texas when hooked up, a slide wouldn’t go out and upon arriving here at the BLM in Q we discovered a battery drain, which then lead to a non functioning on board generator, a non working fridge and a holiday weekend. RV Lifestyles repair shop was our fix it place for everything except the battery cable, the now miraculously consistent full functioning taillight and the slide repair. (They don’t work on this slide issue). The end result was a mouse nest in the on board generator which resulted in chewed wires, arcing in the generator and resulted in the converter needing replaced, a new breaker for the fridge in the fuse panel, a new motherboard for the fridge, and we need to have generator rewired. We have paid approximately $2500 CAD so far, we have not had an estimate yet for the slide, nor the generator. I have heard nothing from Outdoor Travel regarding our troubles. I contacted them before we left Wapakoneta, Ohio our first day out.

On my morning walk I often cross this was.

To make life even more interesting we are having trouble finding an insurance company to cover FULL TIMERS IN ONTARIO. Wayfarers/Orbit our broker informed me the end insurer being Elite Aviva no longer offers this coverage. I have spent the last 30 days looking for another company. I can honestly say it is an extremely frustrating search and I am coming up empty. Any other ONTARIANS out there that FULL TIME? 

And this one too.

Our friends have rallied around us, doing everything they can to ease our worries. We appreciate you folks more than I can ever say. We are truly fortunate.  We have spent happy hours, coffee time, meals, campfires and a trip to Mexico with various groups of them. You can find pics, details and confirmation at Deb and Tom’s (Celebrating the Dance) Ken and Kim’s  (Journey with Ken and Kim), Lorne and Sue’s ( A place called away), Bill (On our way ) and Patsy’s (  Chillin’ with Patsy) blogs. Although only the 6 of us left here at our little desert patch went to Mexico, Deb and Tom, Ken and Kim and Riley and I.

Los Algodones is a vibrant, loud, and bustling place. We love it.

Back on the Little Rock, the hunt was successful with brother Rick bagging the only deer. Congrats Rick. It did look a little small in the pics though. Hudson looked almost as big as the deer! A number of inches of snow have also fallen there requiring two visits from the snow plow in one day. It seems too early for snow. Other than that there has been no news from the place. Stay warm folks.

So you are now caught up with our happenings. Thanks for stopping by.

Until next time…..

Take care, stay safe,

Deb

A quick catch up....

                                                                      

 

 

                                                                                   Our Location: Summer Spot                                                                                 Near South Baymouth, Ontario 

 

 

We haven't forgotten about you fine folks but we really haven't had a lot to post about either. I did however think it wise to post a few pics of our last 6 months or so. Just to keep a record for future reference. 

 

Yes the stop sign is regulation height. 

I walk this path from our summer spot every morning for morning coffee. Although I did not walk it much over the winter, only to check on the Igloo under it's blanket of snow. 

 

 

We survived the winter winds and snows snuggled into our little rented stone house. I can honestly tell you that I do not miss Canadian winters and look forward to continuing our travels when the border opens up to allow us frozen folks to head to warmer climes during those long, cold months of winter. 

 

The rushing waters of a spring time water falls.

Ice forms on the trees near the base of the falls.

 Riley had an MRI on her knee about a month ago, it's been causing her pain off and on all winter since she wrenched it last fall. The report says nothing is amiss and she is fine to continue strengthening it even though it causes some discomfort. Always afraid we could be doing more harm than good with such injuries and so we are both relieved to hear the good news. 

 

 

Ice will soon be gone from the rivers and creeks.

 

 We moved backed into the Igloo before the long weekend in May and have enjoyed our summer spot once again. The summer has been odd, at times reminding me of the desert with cool mornings and hot afternoons. A dry start to the summer season had us living with a fire ban for many weeks but it started raining around July 1 and until about 2 weeks ago we had rain, rain, rain, with very little sun. Now we have sun, sun, sun with no sign of rain with the dog days of summer arriving about two weeks late this year. However there is a bit of colour here and there in the trees, leaves are starting to drift downward in a few spots, the sun no longer peeks through my bedroom window at the same angle and the winds are of course ever present but they carry a hint of something cooler to come. I wonder what kind of fall we will have this year? 

 

Sunrise June 9 just before 6 AM.

Produce from our gardens this year.

Congrats to nephew Jason and wife Leah welcomed a baby boy this winter, Hudson is now about 6 months old and a happy little fella. Jason recently took a spill breaking a few ribs, puncturing a lung and suffering various bruises and contusions. He's on the mend and doing well. 

 

Congrats also to nephew Jesse (Jason's brother) and Claudia on their upcoming wedding in about a month's time. Also congrats to daughter Bradey and David on their upcoming wedding just a week after Jesse & Claudia.

 

Also a few birthdays to mention sister Jan (June), daughter Bradey (July), and my dad (Aug) all celebrated since I last posted anything. 

 

So now you are totally caught up with our goings on here on the big rock in the middle of the Bay. Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed your visit. 

 

Until next time... take care, stay safe and healthy!!

 

Deb

Winter settles in....

                                                                 Our Location: Tehkummah, Ontario

 

Hope all is well with you fine folks taking the time to read this today. Things are pretty quiet here in our little hamlet with winter finally settling in over the last few days with constant snow and snow streamers coming in off the lake. Winds will begin whipping the sparkling clean white stuff around with greater force as the day continues. I have no snow pictures today though, but I will hopefully take a few in the up coming days.

 

On one of the many roads I walk around here.

I must say I don't really like the new Blogger format, things go missing, and won't go where they should, nothing scrolls properly and so on. Not making me want to use it any more than necessary these days. 

 

The Igloo looks cold.

 

 

 Riley and I haven't been doing much these days, working a day here or there, doing a little grocery shopping, taking a few walks but otherwise we've been staying out the cold, wet, windy outside.

 

It seems we are falling apart during these long winter days. Riley is dealing with a knee injury from an earlier slip in November. It's a slow process but it's getting better and we are both looking forward to getting back to the desert to walking and hiking in something that isn't slimy and wet where slipping is much harder to do. The cold, damp north is not kind to joints  and we will leave it at that. My blood sugars have been giving me issues as well. Fun times we are having! We are like everyone else, missing the bright sunshine filled skies and are looking forward to the end of the lock downs, pandemics and border closures. I don't think it can come soon enough for any of us. 

 

Look closely, it's the sun.

A vintage trailer in there.

 Thanks for stopping by. 

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

 

Deb

 

Summer may be coming....

Our Location: 

Summer spot, near South Baymouth, Ontario

I've been writing this post over a number of days.

Old Man Winter just won't go home this year, he keeps making the rounds every few days and over staying his welcome for weeks at a time. However I do believe spring might be arriving by mid week and hopefully likes it here enough to unpack and stay a while. I guess time will tell. 

Looking out the door with snow pellets coming down. 

 Our dark brown mat is totally white with snow pellets.


The photos today are just random shots taken over the past number of days. Things are quiet here and we like it that way. I've talked with both of my older daughters over the past days, and I think I can safely say we will all be very happy to see this never ending winter and quarantine end. 

Over the course of about an hour, the snow melted but started falling again. 

Walking over the rock, the moss makes the rocks look squishy. 

The above two photos were taken from one of my brother's deer stands.

The above two photos were taken during a walk and yes those are snow flakes falling. This pathway is called the 5Th Line. No longer used for cars or trucks but popular with Quads, ATV's and walkers. 

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you and yours are all well and staying busy, warm and in touch with family. 

 Ice on a puddle.

A wild strawberry blossom.



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

Deb