A rainy day here on the Rock......

Our Location: Lakeshore Road N, Tehkummah, Ontario

A warm night but a wet one as well. The rain started in the wee hours before dawn this morning and continued pretty much all day. Not a hard rain but a nice soaker which of course we could use as things have been pretty dry here for a while. The last rain was a huge downpour which basically only managed to moisten the top layer as it simply ran off without soaking in. The day time temps were chilly today as well, reaching a high in the hours just before noon of about 16C/62F but dropped steadily throughout the afternoon to a temp now of about 12C/54F. More rain in the forecast but Saturday is looking like a nice day!!

That brownish coloured thing is a Morel. Not many around these last number of years.

I've been slowly getting things worked out for the Dogsled, by next week I'll have Ontario Insurance and will be able to finish the Ontario Registration process as well. June 1 the Dogsled goes under the knife to have the heater replaced in the BluDef Tank as the engine light code points to that issue. Covered under warranty. I'm extremely happy about that. So we will be heading to the small northern town of Espanola to have that issue fixed. An afternoon appointment time of 1 pm with assurances of having it finished by 5 pm. I explained I'm from an hour and a half 's drive away, this is my only vehicle and I would require a loaner if they can't have it fixed in one day. Hopefully it's just the couple hours he assured me it would be. 

 

Some Marsh Marigolds along my walking route.

I've been walking pretty much every morning after coffee time at Dad's. I leave the Igloo around 6:15 am for the short walk to Dad's house for coffee, leave his place around 7:15- 7:30 am head out for my walk returning home around 8:15 - 8:30 am unless I take the longer walk around the block which then gets me back around 9 am. It's a wonderful walk, quiet, peaceful, some very beautiful sights to see along the way. I even walked this morning in the light rain. 

I walk this road pretty much every morning. To the left is Leeson's Bay.

I've been slowly working my way around the Igloo working on some drafts we've found. It's amazing how some places just get totally missed when they are putting these things together. We've found a somewhat big draft from the vent on the stove. I've even closed the flaps outside but it doesn't stop the draft, it slows it down but not enough to make me happy. ~laugh~ So I'm trying to figure out a way to fix that issue as well. I'm blonde and a slow thinker so it takes awhile. ~laugh~ 

Leeson's Bay

For dinner a few nights this week we've been experimenting with different variations of a chicken dish. I've used boneless, skinless chicken breasts chopped into bite size pieces sauteed  with a few different kinds of dressing. After the chicken/dressing has been browned I add whatever veggies we want, usually mushrooms, green beans, red, yellow, orange peppers, and/or asparagus. Let that simmer away while I cook either rice or pasta. Finally I toss the two together, add a bit of parm cheese and that's dinner. We've tried Roasted Red Pepper, Sundried Tomato, and of course the stand by of Zesty Italian. So far we like the Roasted Red Pepper best. Adds a really nice flavor to the chicken. 

To the right is the road to Dad's, straight on just before the bend is the driveway to the Igloo.

A call today to the Verizon folks has got the internet connection working much faster and we're thinking of going with the unlimited data plan. It works out to be a bit cheaper than our current plan with no connection fees each time we turn it on. So we're considering this plan but we'll give it some more thought as it works out to be approx $100 US a month which for us Canucky's is about $130 CAD. That seems a bit high to me but then again, maybe it isn't when I factor everything in. 

This picture is taken from the same spot as the one above just in the opposite direction.

Spent a couple of hours on the phone with my friend Linda the other day just catching up. Looking forward to having a chance for a longer in person visit in the up coming weeks. Always fun to see her and Randy. 

Okay on that note, I've rambled long enough. Today's pic were mostly taken on cloudy overcast days and therefore do not do justice to the route I walk. At some point in the future I"ll take some pics on a bright sunny day to show you how truly nice it is. 

 

Thanks for stopping by, hope you enjoyed your visit. Until next time....be safe, take care.....

 

 

 

It's been kinda busy.....

Our Location: Lakeshore Road N, Tehkummah, Ontario

Hello, I know you thought I was missing but truly I’m not, I’m lazy, tired and a few other things. ~laugh~ It’s been a busy time here settling in, getting things set up, visiting folks and just working on a number of small things. I apologize for the long absence but well you know how it is. 

Seen from the rear above our spot, the whitish area is all rock.

We’ve been spending our time getting back to Island Time and Island Pace which isn’t speedy. ~laugh~ I think if we get any slower we’ll be stopped. However it’s a nice pace to settle into for now. By summer’s end we’ll be ready for a faster pace, not rapid but faster. 

 

Same spot as above but a bit different angle

We’ve been dealing with Riley’s medical issue and I believe we have things pretty much heading forward in the right direction. The blood test results came back with no markers showing so there is no indication of cancer in her tumor/cyst. We have an appointment in Sudbury on June 15 with the a Gynecologist and we are hoping the wait will be short to have this thing removed. After that we’ll deal with her foot issue and hopefully by mid summer everything will be back to normal. 

 

Higher up with a view of the Lake

The Dogsled is still bearing Alabama plates as the broker at the custom office in Queenston neglected to send me away with ALL the proper documentation. I was not impressed to say the least. Argo Brokers will never again have any of my business, I would avoid them if at all possible if anyone is looking for a broker. However I now have all things necessary to finish the job here to be registered in Ontario. I have until June 1 before the safety expires so I’ll have everything completed by then.

 

The Igloo is to the left and down a level from this spot

 

A few mechanical issues have cropped up as well but I’ll deal with those one at time. While the buying in the US experience has been a learning curve I would be much better prepared if I ever do this again. I think the whole thing would be much easier as I would now know what to expect, where to go, exactly what papers are needed and I would be more diligent in my preparation. I would just pick a different broker.

A view of our fire pit from above, Igloo is to the left (not seen)

 

The days have been cooler than expected here with overnights touching into the below or right at freezing levels. We’ve had a few nice days with lots of sun but the wind has been from the north and as we all know that north wind is not EVER warm. ~laugh~ We’ve had a bit of rain and this week Riley and I managed to get ourselves into a massive downpour while driving home. It was raining hard enough to remind us both of rainy days in the US south. Hard, pelting, driving rain with strong winds, didn’t last longer than about 45 minutes but it made driving less than enjoyable.

 

The back of the Igloo as seen from the back side of our fire pit.

 

Visits with my sister Janet on a number of days have been nice, getting caught up and just enjoying the company. My brother Rick and I haven’t really had a chance to sit down and just chatter but we did manage about an hour the other day. We do meet every morning at Dad’s for coffee time before brother heads off to work. Catching up with SIL Barb has been about the same since she too is working most days. Managed a quick visit with my Aunt and her hubby the other day, it was nice to see them both. We’ll be visiting a few more folks as time goes forward.

 

Our back patio (before the big BBQ was brought out of storage

 

Our neighbours, Holmes’ Cattle (8 cows, 8 calves, 1 bull) have been around the area for about a week now but they haven’t dropped in at the Igloo for a visit yet. ~laugh~ We have had a number of other visitors though, a porcupine, a rabbit, a chipmunk, numerous vultures and of course some smaller birds. Nearby I’ve seen deer, otter, geese, ducks, loons and some sand hill cranes. Folks have been talking about a bear but I haven’t seen any indications of one so far. 

 

Our summer location, although it doesn't show it it's actually pretty green.

 

 Our days are filled with putzing around, cleaning up, setting up, doing a few things to help family, and just settling back in. I walk every day, usually at least a couple of miles, sometimes further, some times less. I’ve used my new reciprocating saw a few times, works well as I’ve been trimming things here and there. So as you can see we’ve been much busier here than we were down south. I find that by the end of the day I’m tired and usually my fingers are aching from all the days activities and the last thing I want to do is pound on the keys of the computer. By the time dinner is finished and we’ve cleaned up we are both usually ready for some relaxation and there just isn’t any way I can spend the next couple of hours writing and editing as I’m just too tuckered. ~laugh~ So again I apologize for being absent but it is the way of things here on Manitoulin Island in our summer place. Perhaps once things get settled more, or we are more used to the cool crisp air instead of dragging our butts at the end of the day I’ll be able to spend a bit of evening time doing some writing. 

 

Our side yard which is usually much more green than now

 

The solar panels are working very well, they keep our batteries topped up nicely. I will admit we aren’t charging much though and we aren’t using a lot of power either. However I am impressed so far. We’ve discovered we may need a heavier cable from the batteries to the 12V plug by the TV as it just doesn’t seem to be heavy enough to run the necessary inverter for the tv. We’ve tried a few other things and we know there is enough power but just not at the plug. Since we are using portable inverters as we have no major need for a big one I’m thinking the running of a heavier cable  may be the way to go. I’ll talk to my nephew the electrician and ask his opinion. 

Bay at Rogers Creek on one of my morning walks

 

Thanks for dropping by, I’ll be around from time to time but I doubt I”ll be writing much more often than once a week for a while.

For Patsy who asked for recent pics of our summer spot, I hope you enjoy these, I took them with my phone and not the big camera as I was up working on the very top of the hill and had my phone with me.

 

Looking up Rogers Creek on one of my morning walks

Until next time…be safe, take care….

To tired to fight with blogger any longer tonight....

Our Location: Lakeshore Road N, Tehkummah, Ontario

(blogger is being very difficult tonight and I'm just going to post the post how it is, after 3 hours of trying to fix the layout I'm too tired to fight any longer.)


The past few nights have been cold, right at or below the freezing mark and my morning trek to Dad’s house for coffee is a bit nippy. Sometimes that old north wind just whistles down the road right into my face causing my teeth to chatter. ~laugh~ Aw well, it’s a short walk and I make it in quick time. The days have been warmish but once again the north wind makes them less comfortable than they should be. However this shall pass as spring is here and of course the warmer weather is also on it’s way. 

The weekend was quiet and uneventful, although we did manage to visit with a couple more family members including Isabel and Seth, (niece Nicole’s two little folks), along with catching a hug and a glimpse of nephew Jesse and his girlfriend Claudia. My sister Jan also came out for a visit which lasted for a few hours during which we spent some time staggering around in the bush hunting for the ever elusive mushroom type known as Morels. We found a very few and although she offered to share 50/50 I declined, giving her our entire haul. Generous wasn't I? After all what would I do with 3 morels? ~laugh~

View from up above our spot

I managed to put in at least one walk a day, sometimes only a mile or so, but twice I’ve managed to get myself around the ‘big’ block which clocks in according to my dad at 3.5 miles. It takes me about an hour and 20 minutes now that I’ve got my sea legs under me again. The gravel road is a bit of a challenge at times as the gravel in some places isn’t always the small fine stuff but with all the rain it can get muddy in places as well. 

This morning started off with my short stroll to Dad’s for coffee time at 6:30 am, after which I went around the big block (added together it’s probably about 4 miles), back home before 9 am. Mind you it was a bit nippy in a couple of spots but I was starting to get warm by the time I was coming down through the inside trail to the Igloo on the homeward stretch. 

Old Igloo and Dogsled taken from the same spot as the above pic.

While I was just putting the bagels on to toast my phone rang, the ODSP rep was calling me back since I left message on Thursday. She couldn’t help me but instead put me through to the case worker. I can say with absolute certainty that this is the way to start off Monday morning. The call was fruitful and within 10 minutes I had Riley’s issues with them straightened out. I also had a list of things to do to ensure that this doesn’t happen again. I can tell you I”m extremely pleased with the start of the week.

After bagels and a quick tidy (yes I know it’s Monday and we didn’t clean) we headed out to brother Rick’s place to shower and do a quick chore or two there. From there it was back home to finish up the necessary items required to email ODSP, a check of Riley’s blood work (which all shows good, no red flags), and pay a few bills. After that it was a matter of just reading my book and taking it easy.

Front yard

Riley headed out for a walk today up in the field. She was gone about a half hour and seemed to be doing better when she got back. I think the walking is good for her but she seems to have discomfort from the effort of walking up the hill. I’ll be glad when we have her issues behind us.  Her blood work results show no red flags but I haven't yet spoken with the doctor but it's looking good for a quick resolution.

She made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies this afternoon. They are excellent. The recipe is from her sister Bradey. The only problem with the cookies is they don’t seem to last long. We can’t decide where they disappear to but we do know they disappear. ~laugh~ 

Upper part of the driveway

Dad was off to Espanola today and so we haven’t seen him since early morning coffee time. We walked up to check on him, finding him putting a fire on in the wood stove to take the coolness out of the air. They have had a fire on since last October with I think he said maybe 2 days of letting it go out this spring. Gives you an idea of how the weather is here on this little rock in the middle of Georgian Bay. The last few days the forecast has talked about possible flurries a little further north of us. The rest of the week looks to be hovering around the freezing mark most nights with day time highs reaching between 10 -13 C/ 50 -56F. The north wind is the factor that plays havoc with the warmth and if you can find a spot out of the wind it's pretty nice sitting outside.  

Tomorrow we will head out to the post office to check on the letter from the broker. Hopefully it arrives  quickly and I can get this truck stuff out of the way. That would be so wonderful. ~laugh~ Tomorrow will also see us getting our second small 20 lb propane tank filled. We keep two here for BBQing, using with the heater and of course having an extra tank never hurts anyway. With these cold nights we heat the Igloo up pretty good before bedtime but turn the heater off at night. I turn it on again early in the morning when I get up and it usually stays on until at least noon, but some days it's on most of the day. Low and slow, like the BBQ. ~laugh~

From our fire pit area

 Laundry is calling us, some banking, and of course a few other odds and ends that need to be taken care of as well seem to be the agenda for the rest of this week. A few things we absolutely need to get accomplished will be top of the list over the next number of days. 

For those that follow this blog, I want to apologize for not being more active in reading your blogs, commenting and of course replying here to your comments. It's just a bit busier here when we first arrive and I don't always have the time or the energy to do so. As the summer goes on I'll get more into the routine of doing those things again but for now it's just a bit more than I can handle.

Taken while standing at the front end of the Igloo.

Dinner tonight was something a bit different for us, we of course cooked inside again. We had fried potatoes, Orange Zest steamed vegetable medley, and Italian Chicken Breasts. We followed that with some Oatmeal C. Chip cookies. A couple of games of Yahtzee ~doing my happy dance~ and after that we headed off in our own directions. 

Thanks for following along, I'm so glad you dropped by. I will eventually get some new pictures of our spot but for now I'll post a couple taken over the last few years.

Taken just out the door of the Igloo

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

A working morning....

Our Location: Lakeshore Road N, Tehkummah, Ontario


The morning dawned not quite as cold as yesterday and the day that followed was nice except for the wind which  came from the north. It caused one to feel much colder when standing around or walking into the wind. Otherwise it wasn’t too bad.

This morning I left the Igloo at 6:15 am, took the long route to Dad’s house for coffee time. Like yesterday its as the same crew and while the stories were different, they basically were the same. ~laugh~ 

Spring is coming...

From there I headed out for my short morning walk finding it a bit chilly in places but almost too warm in others. I enjoyed the silence again and seen nary a person or sign of wild life other than the ducks. Riley sent me an email just as I turning to start home, the small propane tank we use for the Mr Heater ran out. We’ve used it steadily since a few days before we left The Ridge, some days on high most of the day, some days on high for only a bit. We shut it off at night but I turn it on early in the morning to take the chill out of the air before Riley gets up. So I have no complaints about how quickly we went thru this tank, it’s kept us very warm and cozy throughout these cold days.

I realized as I walked up the hill toward home that I was more hungry than normal. Time for some scrambled eggs and a half a bagel. It was good and hit the spot. After tidying up a bit we jumped into the Dogsled to go bring our things out of storage. Well everything except the big BBQ. I’ll ask some of the folks around on the weekend to bring it down for me. It’s too heavy for me on my own and Riley can’t help. When I say storage I mean storage at my Dad’s in the out buildings around the place. We managed to get everything put away, unpacked and set up before noon. I can tell you I worked hard all morning and I’m not finished as now I have to clean out the basement since things were kind of stuffed here and there over the past few weeks. 

 

Heading out for my morning walk

After a quick lunch we once again climbed into the Dogsled, turned our nose toward the nearby village of South Baymouth. Today is the first sailing of the season for the Chi-Cheemaun, I believe there will be 3 round trips today. Spring schedule has 2 round trips per day except Fridays and Holidays which will have 3. Some time in late June it begins the summer schedule of 4 round trips per day. We however didn’t make the trip to see the ferry, it had come and gone and hadn’t yet returned when we were there. We stopped Carl’s Trading Post to exchange our empty 20 lb tank. Robert of course was very helpful exchanging the tank for us.

Home from there we managed to unload the tank, grab our new walking sticks before heading the long route to Dad’s for a quick visit. We found Dad hard at work, or maybe hardly working but at least looking busy working on his travel trailer. They are planning to go on a short trip in the middle of the month. They plan to head north to Wawa, Timmins, etc just to get away. I hope they enjoy themselves. 

 

Almost home from my walk....

We stood around chatting with Dad for a bit, then went to the house to sit around chatting for a while longer. How do we find things to talk about? ~laugh~ Home by 3 pm I managed to answer some emails, and read a short western that I brought home from Dad’s house. 

 

Seen this guy heading up Rogers Creek

He decided flying was faster....

Around 5 pm I prepped dinner, tonight we had JD Smokehouse Chicken Breast, Italian vegetable medley, and chicken rice. We of course followed that with some peaches. Don’t ya just love peaches? 

 

Rogers Bay, I turn around not far from this point....

Cleaning up took a while but we finally managed to finish everything around 8 pm. I realized I am extremely tired and I think it’ll be an early night tonight.

So a day that seen me accomplish getting our summer spot set up and cleaning out the storage areas of our stuff. We managed to get a visit in with dad, and I managed to get a couple of nice short walks in. All in all a good day!!!

 

It didn't seem this dark when I took the pics...

I hope you had a great day where ever you may be!!! On that note I will sign off.Thanks for stopping by. Until next time…be safe, take care…..

Is it Monday? Feels like Monday.....

Our Location: Lakeshore Road N, Tehkummah, Ontario


This mornings temp was just under the freezing mark at 5:30 am but warmed up to the freezing mark around 8 am. No wind made it feel chilly but not overly. Mittens and a hoodie along with my light jacket were enough to keep me warm when I was heading up to Dad’s shortly before 6:30 am for coffee time with the crew. Short walk, about 10-12 minutes but it was muddy in places although I managed to find a few patches of gravel in all that mud and tip toe my way across. Tomorrow I’ll take the longer route but it’ll be less muddy. The day was a nice day, not bright blue skies but with the hint of sun and little wind, the temps weren’t too bad at all. Two nice days in a row, is it possible we have turned that corner?

Coffee time included Dad, brother Rick and Rick’s wife Barb. We enjoyed a few laughs, a couple of stories and possibly a few lies. ~laugh~ It’s coffee time, what do you expect? 

No new green. Stopped for construction between Sudbury and Espanola

I left dad’s around 8 am heading out for my usual (when here ) morning walk. It takes me around the hour mark which makes it about a mile. It’s on a gravel road, a nice country stroll with a number of rolling ups and downs. I didn’t see a single soul when I was walking or even see a single vehicle, in fact the only wild life I seen this morning were some ducks on the water, that’s it!!

Back at the Igloo around 9 am I gathered up my goodies, heading  to my brother’s house to take a shower. While parking here in our summer location we shower at my brother’s house and in exchange I do a few little chores around the house which is excellent for me as it keeps me from being extremely bored, it helps keep me out of trouble, and I enjoy helping out. They both work out of the house and so the little things we do may help that ‘burden’ of work that still needs to be done.  I was back home around 10:45 am so we could start our day.

 

After calling my sister to ensure she was home and up for a quick visit we climbed into the Dogsled to start our errands. Our first stop was at the post office in Tehkummah  to pick up 6 months worth of mail. Hmmmmm…..not as much as I expected but still a lot of mail, chatted with the nice post mistress for a bit before heading on to our next stop. The beautiful little town of Manitowaning is situated on a hill over looking Manitowaning bay, the water is a dark blue at this time of the year as it’s cold and icy looking. Across the bay is the Wikemikong Reservation which is well known for it’s annual summer PowWow drawing many dancers from great distances. We stopped at the pharmacy along one of the main streets,( sister in law Barb works at this location) where I left a prescription to be filled, crossed the street to the only grocery store in town to pick up a couple little things and then worked our way to my sister Jan’s house. We visited with her for about an hour, taking a walking around the block, picking up her mail, and just getting out and about for a bit. It was great to see her again, I’ve missed her. We’ll visit a lot more  over the summer.

Lots of water laying around.

From my sisters house we headed out to do some errands associated with the Dogsled and it’s registering in Ontario. I’ll give you the nut shell version, broker didn’t give me all the paper work, Service Ontario rep won’t let me register until the sends the paperwork, broker says S.O. Rep doesn’t need it, S.O. Rep wants the original, broker says S.O. Rep doesn’t  need it. I yelled at broker, he yelled back and I still have ‘Bama plates and US insurance on the truck. Salvage yard weighed the Dogsled, weighs just over 7000 lbs. Stay tuned…..like sands thru the hour glass…..~laugh~ 

 

From there we headed home, it was getting late and we were starting to think maybe we should have some lunch soon. About 10 minutes after leaving the Service Ontario Building (registration  place for the Dogsled) we happened by this young person on the side of the road with a sign saying SOUTH, and considering we were heading south and were only about 15 minutes from the very southern tip of the island and that would be about 5 or 6 minutes from the Igloo we stopped to offer a ride. Turns out the young man is deaf and so communication was almost none existent but we did manage to find out that he wanted to go to that exact southern most tip and catch the ferry boat. He pointed on the map so I knew where he wanted to go, and within a short period of time we had delivered him to the front door of the ferry terminal. Our good deed for the day.

Home to the Igloo we settled in to open mail, have some thing to eat and kind of just wind down. To say that opening the mail was time consuming would be an understatement. I think I was about 45 minutes opening up the mail. I made two phone calls as a result of the mail,one was handled instantly, the other I’m waiting for a call back. I managed to get everything sorted out and stacked into piles that I will figure out what to do with over the next few days.

One of the many rock cuts on our drive to the Island

 

We kind of just grazed from one thing to another and so when dinner time showed up neither of us were hungry. We kind of just skipped it. Not a good thing I know but oh well, that’s just how it worked out. ~laugh~

After that Riley headed off to her room, I read for a while before sitting down to do my blog. I can tell you that todays outing was a day of wild life sightings, 2 ground hogs, 1 deer, 1 minx, and a number of vultures. Spring is in the air, and the animals are stirring.

Tomorrow, well who knows what tomorrow will bring. However I’m pretty certain whatever it is will be dealt with, just as every thing has been dealt with, one step at a time. A letter in my inbox this afternoon from the Dealership in Alabama about my old truck. They want to sell it and need some kind of form, information about where i crossed,  and did I fill out such and such a form. US Export office told me when I crossed  that the dealership won’t be able to sell it until it passes customs down there. I didn’t know that at the time of trading it, and I didn’t tell them that in the letter today either. Hm…..it is a tangled mess. ~laugh~ 

No green hints but the odd bit of red can be seen.

So there you have it, our day. To say it was exciting would be true in some ways, seeing my siblings and my sister in law was fantastic, it’s been a long time. Getting back into our routine here is comforting. I’m looking forward to the first camp fire of the season which I hope will be soon. We need to get the things out of storage here and set up the ‘yard’, we are both looking forward to seeing my niece and nephews along with their families  and significant others. Getting back to walking will be nice, it will help relieve the stress. To say the day was also stressful would be accurate with more stuff than just the crap with the Dogsled going on and needing attention. I believe Forrest Gump had it right, or maybe it was Mamma Gump, life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’ll get until you bite into it. ~laugh~

 A wise man told me once that if we didn’t have bad days we would never know to appreciate the good ones. So keeping that in mind, this too shall pass! 

 

I've been kind of busy and haven't commented on any comments, nor have I read any other blogs. I will get to them in the next number of days answering comments and also reading/posting.

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

We have arrived......

Our Location: Lakeshore Road N, Tehkummah, Ontario

(sorry no pics, computer is running low on battery)

We woke this morning in Lively, Ontario to a temp of 31F/-1C outside but no frost or wind, which made it seem much nicer. Monday night in Hamilton was also a coldish one but the temp escapes my memory. Yesterday was of course rain all day but today was blissfully sunny and very nice. The outside temp reached 54F/12C this afternoon and we had the big door open for a bit. It was fantastic.

Yesterday’s drive wasn’t long even though it sounds long, we pulled out of Hamilton at 9:15 am, stopping just north of Toronto for about 15 minutes at the Enroute near King City. From there our next stop was right around lunch time at Parry Sound where we pulled in grabbing a bite to eat from the Tim Horton’s. I had a nice Crispy Chicken Sandwich, Riley ordered her usual, a BLT, we both added potato wedges but won’t do that another time, they were terrible. We also filled up with fuel at $1.19 per litre (approx 4 litres to a gallon), Hamilton was $1.04 per litre and when we filled up at the turn off of Hwy 17 and Hwy 6, it was $1.11 per litre. A big tank is nice but expensive. ~laugh~ We left Parry Sound stopping once more before reaching our destination of Lively, Ontario just a little after 3 pm. 

We called our friend Linda making plans to drop by for a quick visit about 8:30 pm. It was fantastic to see both Randy and Linda again, it’s been 6 months!! We enjoyed the pics of their holiday in Cabo, Mexico and hearing all about the wonderful adventure they had with their friends Wayne & Anna. You know a place is great if you’ll return and they didn’t hesitate to say they would return another time.

Back to the Igloo we snuggled down into our beds and I personally never heard a sound until 6 am this morning. I don’t sleep like that very often so it was a real shock for me. Riley turned over when I started the heater but went back to sleep for a bit. By 7:40 am we were packing up inside and outside. We spent a bit of time doing a few minor things before hooking up but we pulled out of our parking spot at 8:50 am heading further west and then south.

Of course Ontario only has two season, winter and construction. We’re in the later season now as we were constantly in construction zones all the way yesterday and most of today. At one point we were delayed for 10 minutes waiting for the flagman to let us go. It looks like the drive to and from Sudbury will be long this summer as construction will be an ongoing thing until the snow flies again. Hopefully the delays aren’t as bad as they were last summer/fall when wait times were much longer. 

We pulled in at the junction of Hwy’s 17 & 6 to top up our fuel and some Tim Horton’s. Didn’t take long and we were back on the road again. Within a few minutes we reached the mall in Espanola with the time being around 10 am, pulling in we managed to find a great spot to park at the end of the lot. We took our time going into a number of different stores getting a few things that we knew we’d need, some things that we thought we’d like and even a few things that we hadn’t planned on getting. We piled the groceries into the Igloo and headed out about 12:15 pm.

If you have ever driven the stretch of road between Espanola and the Island they know it’s hilly, curvy and rough. Today was no exception but there was very little traffic and we were able to cruise along without any slow downs. No leaves are out here, lots of buds around, and a red tinge to some of the smaller bushes, a few pussy willows were out, the grass is green and there is lots of water laying around, but spring hasn’t quite made an appearance yet. We crossed the swing bridge around 1 pm and headed straight south from there.

We pulled into Dad’s driveway just about 2 pm with a warm, sunny afternoon ahead of us. We chatted with Dad for a bit, dropped some things in his freezer and headed on to our summer spot about a 1/4 mile away. We had a few things to do before pulling up the hill to our site, with all the water the ground was pretty soft in some places but I just tucked the Dogsled into 4 wheel low and we crept up the hill with no issues of any kind. Took about a half hour to get turned around, parked where we wanted to be parked, and get unhooked. After that we worked on a number of inside/outside chores and by the time I was having a snack around 3 pm we had just finished everything. Dad and Marion dropped by for a quick visit which was nice.

They left and we closed the big door, came inside and read for a bit. We enjoyed sitting here with all the window blinds open and enjoying the peace and quiet that comes from being ‘out in the boonies’. ~laugh~  A call from Dr. Dube’s office in Hamilton came in around 4 pm informing us of Riley’s appointment in Sudbury on June 15. We’ll see how things go next week when the results come back from the blood test she had last week.

Dinner tonight was Honey Pecan chicken, with garlic mashed potatoes and Thyme/Parsley vegetable medley. We followed that with a few peaches.

After dinner we loaded some things into the Dogsled heading up to Poppa’s to deliver his requested items and the gifts we brought back. We visited for about an hour or so before heading back home. 

We played a game of Yahtzee, can you see me doing my happy dance? ~laugh~ I did win, and yes I even rolled a Yahtzee. Riley just wasn’t having any luck tonight and I’ll take the win. They are few and far between for me. ~laugh~

After that I did the dishes, tidied up a bit before heading off to write this post. I hope the Mifi works but I haven’t tried it yet. I guess you’ll know if it works as I’ll post this tonight, if not I’ll have to post it at another time.

So we have arrived, safe and sound. We are parked up on the hill with the frogs singing around us, we’ve seen our first porcupine when we were coming home from Poppa’s house tonight. A couple of deer earlier in the day and of course the Sand Hill cranes are in the field behind the house.  It’s good to be back home!!!

Thanks for stopping by, hope you enjoyed your visit. Until next time…be safe, take care….

Rainy last day in Hamilton.....

Our Location: Walmart, Hamilton, Ontario

(sorry no pics tonight)

The last couple of nights and days have been similar in many ways and yet different in others. Mornings are cool bordering on cold, wind is a constant and the wet weather makes everything seem colder. Even on a nice day the wind off of Lake Ontario cools things greatly. Tonight is warmer than we've had it for a while, hope we've turned the corner on the cold weather. 

 We took Saturday and Sunday as days of rest with a bit of wandering but not much. Yesterday (Sunday) was so cold, damp and rainy that we stayed in all day and just put in the day. This morning we by passed cleaning day to just a tidy up day, and I left the Igloo about 9:30 am this morning not returning until 4 pm this afternoon. To say it was a long day is an understatement. I arrived at Ozlo's repair shop on Hwy 56 between Elfrida and Binbrook right on time for the boys to pull the Dogsled into the bay for it's safety check. It was nice to see the fellas, Steve, Larry and Patrick, haven't seen them since last fall. Patrick did the safety, Steve was around, and Larry took the money and did the paperwork. It was a slow process and while my appointed hour was 10 am I didn't get out of the shop until 11:30 am. From there I headed off to find someplace to balance my tires, pick up some diesel fuel and grabbed a coffee. A couple of places could do the balance this afternoon with big swings in the price from $85 at the first place to $40 at the next. However since I had a 1 pm appointment at Pyetts for the emissions test some one suggested I get the balance done there as they also do it. 

At 12:40 pm I pulled into the yard at Pyetts for my appointment, went inside gave over the keys and asked about the balance. They didn't know if they had time but they'd see when the emissions test was over. They took the truck right away even though I was early. The truck was back out by about 1:15 pm and I asked about the balancing of the tires. They said they didn't feel any issues when they took it for a ride but Patrick- from Ozlo's (like me) had found a serious issue around the 100km mark. I asked them to do it anyway. At 3:30 pm I finally asked at the window if it would be much longer and was told it would be out shortly. Ten minutes later it came out of the shop. The entire bill for emissions and balancing came to $120. I was pleased. 

 

The rain today was intermittent but very hard at times, we had some thunder, some lightning, some wind and the ditches were running full to the brim in most places. So much water laying in fields everywhere, small rivers running down the middle of many fields as the water tries to escape but with the ditches all full there really isn't anywhere for it to go. 

Everything is good for the next step which is to go to Service Ontario to get my own plates back on the Dogsled, change insurance companies again and I'll be finished. I'm hoping by the end of the week to be all finished. 

Riley spent the day at the Igloo doing whatever it was that struck her fancy. She informed me she had a nap and spent some time just lazing about. She was ready to get out for a bit when I got home. I had a quick bite to eat and we headed out to do a few little things. 

 

Dr. Dube called this afternoon to inform us that we are going to be seeing a Gynecologist in Sudbury by the name of Dr. Wallace. Everything was faxed to this doctor this afternoon and we're waiting to hear more from Dr Dube regarding the appointment date. Dr Dube is certainly giving us her full attention as it was she that spoke to me this afternoon and promised to call me again when they have an appointment date.

First stop in our errands was Princess Auto we needed a few little things and I knew for sure they would have what I wanted and sure enough, they had everything except the inverter I wanted. The ones they had were too big but I'll keep looking. After that it was off to Canadian Tire to check our their inverters and walking sticks. We came home with the walking sticks. After that it was a stop at No Frills for a few little grocery items and I was given a slug that attaches to the key chain so I won't have to hunt for a coin to get a cart any more. From there we headed back to our old neighbourhood to visit Chris and Shaunna MacNeil. They were kind enough to keep a small bistro table and chairs for us over the winter and we picked them up tonight. We brought back a bottle of Mike's Southern Peach Chipotle BBQ sauce for them as a little thank you. Chris looks amazing, he's dropped 50 lbs and looks wonderful. Shaunna is always a pretty lady and hasn't changed though she just turned 40 a few weeks ago. Such nice folks they are, always enjoyed their company. Daughter Ashley was there to greet us and it was wonderful to see her as well. We didn't see son Riley though, not sure where he was tonight. A quick visit with them and we headed back to the Igloo. I dropped Riley off with the groceries and headed back to the storage locker as I remembered we wanted something from there but it was too far back into the locker and I decided not to dig that far. Back home I helped finish up the groceries, we headed into Walmart to get a couple of things, including a chicken for dinner. 

 

After that it was a matter of just hanging out and resting. I had to run a small errand shortly after 9 pm and then headed back into Walmart to return an inverter we had purchased just this afternoon. It didn't have a 12 V plug just the pins to connect to the battery, and that isn't what I wanted. I'll just keep looking. 

 

So that's it, our day in short order.  Tomorrow we are heading north and both of us are looking forward to that. We aren't sure how far we'll make it, perhaps only as far as Parry Sound or maybe we'll push a bit to make it to Lively as we are going to be stopping there for a day at least to visit with Randy and Linda. After that it's a short 3 hour drive to our summer location. We're getting closer and closer. ~!laugh~

 

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