No rain today after all! YES!!!!! What a treat as the breeze began to die just after lunch and the temperature outside started soaring. At the moment I have just returned from a 1 hour walk and feel so happy inside with spring/summer weather so obviously happenin'!!
I never used to be able to go out and walk for an hour in temperatures above +25C, but now that I have lost so much weight and have learned to take my time instead of racing along at top speed, well, walking in the sizzling heat is just as wonderful as it is walking on cooler days. My purse easily holds a small water bottle so I can rehydrate as necessary. My husband's sister gave us each a water cooler scarf a couple of years ago that I can fill up any time, wrap it around my neck, tie it nicely and go walking in all degrees of heat. What a great gift to receive. My husband and I have used ours for the past two or three summers and now can enjoy being outdoors doing all manner of activities in the middle of summer without overheating. I didn't use it today, but will if I have to walk in the heat anywhere there is less shade than my route today.
There were a few more books in the community library box today than there usually are, but nothing that particularly interested me, so I just left my deposit and walked home again, stopping at the grocery for a second time today as I remembered a few things we need to take with us for breakfasts when we go to our former parish this weekend. The A/C in the grocery revitalized me and gave me the oomph to enjoy the rest of my walk home.
From now until about mid July the leaves are as thick and green as they will ever be, flowering shrubs and boxed garden flowers will be as gorgeous as they ever get and then by the end of July everything will be turning gold and straw, ecru and downright brown again until next May.
Spring and summer....are there any sweeter, more beautiful seasons on the prairies??!!!?
Then there is the ongoing saga of our water drain and pipe repairs! hahaha Well.......the trucks that filled our parking lot this morning and nearly made me crazy with all the noise, packed up and left just as I was eating my lunch. No sign of them 2 hours later, the hole they dug in the lawn across from us is filled in again and it appears they will not be back today. During the time they were here our water never was shut off and appears to be working as per usual. I am following the directive to not use the water taps or flush toilets until after 4:30pm, but I am GUESSING, GUESSING MIND YOU, that the notice I received yesterday telling me my water would not be shut off then as originally scheduled but would be shut off today...well...I am guessing the writer of the notice JUST MAY have meant TOMORROW instead! The lawn sprinklers that run from our suite's water supply have been gushing water and spluttering and coughing for several hours now, so obviously the water is still running from the source. Apparently the management is supposed to give us 48 hours notice of a non-emergency interruption in our water supply and the original notice only gave us less than 24 hours to prepare. The second notice received yesterday about today's supposed water turn off only gave us 24 hours, but I am suspicious someone typing it up got their dates mixed up and meant tomorrow after all. So, I am keeping all the bins and bottles of water, the slop pails and the box of handywipes I had ready for yesterday and today, just in case. I am so glad I completed all the laundry and ran the dishwasher yesterday. If we have no water tomorrow I will still be prepared. haha This is the craziest place ever to live....and we have lived in some VERY crazy places under equally crazy circumstances.
Thursday, June 1, 2017
Noise Pollution
It is just coming up to 10am and all ready my ears are ringing from the various noises outside.
I woke up 15 minutes before the alarm rang this morning as there was a half ton truck parked in the bus zone outside my bedroom window, radio blaring. At least I didn't have to wait for the clock radio to come on beside my bed to find out the latest news bulletins!
At 6:50am I was driving to a restaurant with my husband and a visiting clergy colleague for a delicious breakfast and visit. Outside in the restaurant parking lot there was a pavement crew jackhammering up some of the lot for repairs. Sigh.... Okay, it wasn't all that loud because it was on the side farthest away from the restaurant windows, but when my "uber hearing" is working (is it part of the whole OCD hassle?) I don't miss much and by the time we left the restaurant my whole body was vibrating. It didn't seem to bother my husband or our friend even a little bit.
After breakfast we drove to the office to pick up some items to be used at a clergy day. There were so many large items there wasn't room for three to ride in our vehicle so I decided to walk home. After eating too many slices of flax bread at breakfast I certainly did need the exercise...it just tasted SO darned good and I haven't had flax bread in over a year. I ordered it dry and it came soaked in butter....cholesterol plus...so definitely a walk was required after eating it!
I took a detour from the office down a back alley in order to stop in at the grocery store for a couple of items, also with the idea that it would prolong my exercise time. In the alley there was a delivery truck that sounded like it was gasping out its last mechanical "breath" and spewing gasoline fumes. Pooey!!! Blecch!!! I walked past it as quickly as I could but I could still hear it two blocks farther away.
Inside the grocery store one of the maintenance staff was mopping up a big spill. There was nowhere in that small store to escape the creaking of the metal mop wringer every time he squeezed the water out of it. My teeth felt like they were gritty from biting together too hard every time the wringer was used.
Dodging tent caterpillers and goose poop and screeching kids running races up and down the sidewalk while awaiting the school buses to pick them up, I finally approached the relative quiet of my own suite. I forgot though that today is water line repair day. Out in the parking lot directly behind our suite there were and still are four huge trucks, one carrying a small crane on the back. Between the constantly running trucks and various pieces of drain cleaning and repair equipment I am nearly around the bend from the noise. It is like adding insult to injury on top of not being able to use the taps or flush the toilets all day.
I am sitting at my computer, the space farthest away from the parking lot noise...not that it is very far or a very effective noise blocker, but it does help a bit. It would be even more relaxing if the sprinkler system outside the front windows was not also spewing out water in short, noisy, annoying bursts in preparation for the its cleaning and repair this afternoon.
It is just one of those particularly noisy days and one of my own days of experiencing the annoyances that can accompany constant noise. No biggie, just a nuisance.
I woke up 15 minutes before the alarm rang this morning as there was a half ton truck parked in the bus zone outside my bedroom window, radio blaring. At least I didn't have to wait for the clock radio to come on beside my bed to find out the latest news bulletins!
At 6:50am I was driving to a restaurant with my husband and a visiting clergy colleague for a delicious breakfast and visit. Outside in the restaurant parking lot there was a pavement crew jackhammering up some of the lot for repairs. Sigh.... Okay, it wasn't all that loud because it was on the side farthest away from the restaurant windows, but when my "uber hearing" is working (is it part of the whole OCD hassle?) I don't miss much and by the time we left the restaurant my whole body was vibrating. It didn't seem to bother my husband or our friend even a little bit.
After breakfast we drove to the office to pick up some items to be used at a clergy day. There were so many large items there wasn't room for three to ride in our vehicle so I decided to walk home. After eating too many slices of flax bread at breakfast I certainly did need the exercise...it just tasted SO darned good and I haven't had flax bread in over a year. I ordered it dry and it came soaked in butter....cholesterol plus...so definitely a walk was required after eating it!
I took a detour from the office down a back alley in order to stop in at the grocery store for a couple of items, also with the idea that it would prolong my exercise time. In the alley there was a delivery truck that sounded like it was gasping out its last mechanical "breath" and spewing gasoline fumes. Pooey!!! Blecch!!! I walked past it as quickly as I could but I could still hear it two blocks farther away.
Inside the grocery store one of the maintenance staff was mopping up a big spill. There was nowhere in that small store to escape the creaking of the metal mop wringer every time he squeezed the water out of it. My teeth felt like they were gritty from biting together too hard every time the wringer was used.
Dodging tent caterpillers and goose poop and screeching kids running races up and down the sidewalk while awaiting the school buses to pick them up, I finally approached the relative quiet of my own suite. I forgot though that today is water line repair day. Out in the parking lot directly behind our suite there were and still are four huge trucks, one carrying a small crane on the back. Between the constantly running trucks and various pieces of drain cleaning and repair equipment I am nearly around the bend from the noise. It is like adding insult to injury on top of not being able to use the taps or flush the toilets all day.
I am sitting at my computer, the space farthest away from the parking lot noise...not that it is very far or a very effective noise blocker, but it does help a bit. It would be even more relaxing if the sprinkler system outside the front windows was not also spewing out water in short, noisy, annoying bursts in preparation for the its cleaning and repair this afternoon.
It is just one of those particularly noisy days and one of my own days of experiencing the annoyances that can accompany constant noise. No biggie, just a nuisance.
Wednesday, May 31, 2017
Jumping Around Like a Flea in a Fit!!
Yesterday a notice from our property management company arrived in the mail to let us know the water would be turned off here today between 8am and 4:30pm, to refrain from pouring any water down the drains, not to flush the toilets and to please "adjust your schedule accordingly."
Okay, no problem. I could do my laundry/ironing on Thursday and Friday as planned and do the detailing of the car interior today, also as planned once I discovered today would be the last of the rain free days for working outside on it. My husband and I filled up buckets with wash water, made certain we had sufficient bottled water to drink today, found a slop bucket and felt pretty prepared for me to be here with no running water for the daytime hours.
I headed out early this morning to do some banking, drove my husband to work and we giggled about the wonderful humour shown by his colleagues at a staff party last evening. Returned home at about 10am expecting the water to be shut off and finding it still running just like usual. Hmmmm.....could it be??? Hmmmmm....I wondered. Sure enough, when I checked my mailbox there was a second notice from the management company letting us know that the date had changed for water cut off. Now it is going to be tomorrow!
Drat! It means I can't do the laundry then and I can't wait until Friday because we are heading out of town on Saturday and the clean clothes need to be ironed and hung up for a day prior to packing. So, I detailed the vehicle before lunch as planned, quite happy that I was able to wash up properly afterward myself, then raced around collecting laundry from here, there and everywhere, hoping I hadn't missed something my husband desperately needs to be washed. I don't enjoy doing laundry on a day as warm as this one because it heats up our suite so thoroughly, but at least now tomorrow I can do the ironing, not care if the water is off or on and it can rain outside as much as it wants to....IF it even comes before Friday. If it doesn't I will make a trip to the community library box after ironing and drop off some books I read over the past 2 weeks...quite a lovely walk under many old, fully leafed out tree branches.
On Tuesday morning I thought I had my week planned out perfectly. Then I saw the forecast for rain at the end of the week and changed plans, then the first notice about water cut off arrived and I changed plans a second time, then the second notice about the water arrived and I changed plans again.
Such is the life of a retired person....I have the freedom to change the details of daily life as necessary a good deal of the time. LOVE IT!!
Did I mention the sweet time I had looking at and purchasing books at Chapters yesterday? I have disciplined myself to rarely go near the place as there are too many interesting books and good deals to refrain from spending too much money every time I enter the building. However, yesterday I calculated it would be just as inexpensive to shop there for a few books to read on holidays as it would be to use up gasoline by driving to the bookstore in Moose Jaw to utilize some of my credit dollars, wouldn't have to subsequently eat a restaurant lunch and purchase more pottery or what have you to make the trip worthwhile, plus I don't have to fight road construction between my home and Chapters like I would have to on the highway between here and Moose Jaw. I ended up buying 5 books from Chapters at reasonable cost....oooh, brand new books! I so rarely allow myself such a treat! One of my favourite preparations for going on holidays is book shopping! It beats the heck out of laundry, packing and car detailing!!!
Okay, no problem. I could do my laundry/ironing on Thursday and Friday as planned and do the detailing of the car interior today, also as planned once I discovered today would be the last of the rain free days for working outside on it. My husband and I filled up buckets with wash water, made certain we had sufficient bottled water to drink today, found a slop bucket and felt pretty prepared for me to be here with no running water for the daytime hours.
I headed out early this morning to do some banking, drove my husband to work and we giggled about the wonderful humour shown by his colleagues at a staff party last evening. Returned home at about 10am expecting the water to be shut off and finding it still running just like usual. Hmmmm.....could it be??? Hmmmmm....I wondered. Sure enough, when I checked my mailbox there was a second notice from the management company letting us know that the date had changed for water cut off. Now it is going to be tomorrow!
Drat! It means I can't do the laundry then and I can't wait until Friday because we are heading out of town on Saturday and the clean clothes need to be ironed and hung up for a day prior to packing. So, I detailed the vehicle before lunch as planned, quite happy that I was able to wash up properly afterward myself, then raced around collecting laundry from here, there and everywhere, hoping I hadn't missed something my husband desperately needs to be washed. I don't enjoy doing laundry on a day as warm as this one because it heats up our suite so thoroughly, but at least now tomorrow I can do the ironing, not care if the water is off or on and it can rain outside as much as it wants to....IF it even comes before Friday. If it doesn't I will make a trip to the community library box after ironing and drop off some books I read over the past 2 weeks...quite a lovely walk under many old, fully leafed out tree branches.
On Tuesday morning I thought I had my week planned out perfectly. Then I saw the forecast for rain at the end of the week and changed plans, then the first notice about water cut off arrived and I changed plans a second time, then the second notice about the water arrived and I changed plans again.
Such is the life of a retired person....I have the freedom to change the details of daily life as necessary a good deal of the time. LOVE IT!!
Did I mention the sweet time I had looking at and purchasing books at Chapters yesterday? I have disciplined myself to rarely go near the place as there are too many interesting books and good deals to refrain from spending too much money every time I enter the building. However, yesterday I calculated it would be just as inexpensive to shop there for a few books to read on holidays as it would be to use up gasoline by driving to the bookstore in Moose Jaw to utilize some of my credit dollars, wouldn't have to subsequently eat a restaurant lunch and purchase more pottery or what have you to make the trip worthwhile, plus I don't have to fight road construction between my home and Chapters like I would have to on the highway between here and Moose Jaw. I ended up buying 5 books from Chapters at reasonable cost....oooh, brand new books! I so rarely allow myself such a treat! One of my favourite preparations for going on holidays is book shopping! It beats the heck out of laundry, packing and car detailing!!!
Tuesday, May 30, 2017
Hi Son! 'Bye Son!
Tonight our son is booking his flight to Calgary to coincide with our visit there. The cost of the flight will be our goodbye gift to him because he is leaving July 1st for New York. He has apparently pinned down a reasonably priced place to live, his sublet is ready to move in and he will be finished with his job. He has arranged emergency health care coverage for the next year. Once he arrives it will be time to follow up some job possibilities. It is an exciting time. We are happy for him. We have all ready started praying his border crossing will go well. We have heard so many horror stories it is difficult not to feel paranoid. We are all just trusting God to work out the rest of the details. Finally he is able to follow his dream and see where it takes him. It has been quite a journey, now the next step...
Monday, May 29, 2017
A Day of Good Accomplishments Around Here!
I so enjoy days like today! Having my husband at home is always a good thing, but today he was feeling well, wasn't totally exhausted despite his present work schedule and he woke up early, feeling like getting something done around here.
By 8:30am we had all the bottles and cans in the vehicle to take to the recycling depot, as well as 3 or 4 old computers that have been taking up space in the basement and getting in our way of tidying up down there. It was crazy busy at the depot, but we got into line and persevered until it was our turn. We walked away with over sixty dollars, which we used to purchase a few grocery items at the new Superstore. It was nice to have a little tour of the place, but the parking situation wasn't the best, even for a relatively slow Monday morning. The store is in a complex with quite a few other businesses...including three restaurants....so parking must be quite an issue on weekends when all those businesses are particularly busy.
Then we took a trip to the Indian grocery we most like shopping at, but discovered it is now closed on Mondays. Good to know. Buying some decent "every day" tea will have to wait for another time.
Off to the car wash, which mercifully was the most uncrowded we have ever seen it. My husband was able to drive right into a booth and spend extra time sponging off dead insects from the front bumper and windshield before he started the coin wash. No one else came looking to use the booth the whole time we were there. It was great to feel unhurried and not be stressed due to keeping someone else waiting.
Another grocery store stop on the way home which netted us a big fat zero for purchases and we were back home by 10:30am, all the day's chores completed!!
We spent some time planning holidays, made a simple lunch and then I went for a walk while my husband was setting up the work project he wanted my help with. A glitch with the info we had to use kept us at it substantially longer than anticipated, but eventually everything got sorted and we had good success. I so enjoyed it.
Then it was nap time for my husband and video game time for me. He was able to reinstall an old game set I used to enjoy that got completely fouled up when my last computer crashed, so I have been having a great time playing it and getting caught up to where I was prior to the crash. Like most of the games I enjoy, the Jewel Quest games are just tic tac toe with some twists, but it is good mindless entertainment for me when I need a rest.
At about 6pm we decided we didn't feel like cooking so it was off to try a Chinese food restaurant we have never been to before. My husband was craving tofu and stir fried veggies and we ended up with a great choice in eateries: Lang's on Broad Street near 11Ave. I think it has been there since the time of Noah's ark! Seriously! It is one of the last remaining open businesses in an ancient block of brick storefronts, most of them now empty. It looks like a dump! It looks like a place where the many old "rubbies" in the area would hang out after panhandling sufficient funds for a cup of coffee. We weren't sure we even wanted to go inside, but the place has good food reviews, so........
What a pleasant surprise! The interior is clean, renovated within the past 10 years and the menu is extensive, with a good combination of both western Chinese and Thai dishes. My husband had stir fried veggies with tofu in a slightly sweet sauce and some decent steamed rice. The rice was a bit dry, but after eating plates of gooey steamed rice in other Chinese restaurants it was actually kind of a treat. The flavour was pretty good. I ordered the chicken curry. As it turned out it is a different curry than the one on the feature menu, although in the photos they look to be similar. Fortunately for my cholesterol, I ordered the one that does not use heavy cream and peanut sauce, although I suspect the one I did order was bad enough, so I made sure not to eat it all and brought enough home for my husband's lunch tomorrow. The chicken was a bit chewy, but very flavourful. The peppers and onions and baby corns and celery pieces were all very fresh and properly cooked. The flavour of the curry sauce was amazing! I spooned it liberally over the portion of rice I allowed myself and ate the mixture with a huge spoon! DELISH!! I suspect my huband's original intention was to bring a larger portion of his own meal home than he actually did, but it was so delicious he just had to have a few extra bites before we left the restaurant. hahaha The jasmine tea was mild and tasty and a good accompaniment to my slightly spicy curry. The wait service was excellent. So are the prices!! I don't remember the last time the two of us ate dinner for under thirty dollars and had so much food to enjoy!
Definitely we will return there the next time we are in the mood for western style Chinese/Thai food.
We came home to watch some tv. I exercised that rice and curry sauce off for a full hour!
It has been a nearly perfect day together. For the moment the outside of the car is clean and tomorrow I will detail the inside so it is ready for holidays. I am glad my parents will finally get to see and ride in it as they were amost more excited than we were when we bought it.
Today all has been well in our little world.
By 8:30am we had all the bottles and cans in the vehicle to take to the recycling depot, as well as 3 or 4 old computers that have been taking up space in the basement and getting in our way of tidying up down there. It was crazy busy at the depot, but we got into line and persevered until it was our turn. We walked away with over sixty dollars, which we used to purchase a few grocery items at the new Superstore. It was nice to have a little tour of the place, but the parking situation wasn't the best, even for a relatively slow Monday morning. The store is in a complex with quite a few other businesses...including three restaurants....so parking must be quite an issue on weekends when all those businesses are particularly busy.
Then we took a trip to the Indian grocery we most like shopping at, but discovered it is now closed on Mondays. Good to know. Buying some decent "every day" tea will have to wait for another time.
Off to the car wash, which mercifully was the most uncrowded we have ever seen it. My husband was able to drive right into a booth and spend extra time sponging off dead insects from the front bumper and windshield before he started the coin wash. No one else came looking to use the booth the whole time we were there. It was great to feel unhurried and not be stressed due to keeping someone else waiting.
Another grocery store stop on the way home which netted us a big fat zero for purchases and we were back home by 10:30am, all the day's chores completed!!
We spent some time planning holidays, made a simple lunch and then I went for a walk while my husband was setting up the work project he wanted my help with. A glitch with the info we had to use kept us at it substantially longer than anticipated, but eventually everything got sorted and we had good success. I so enjoyed it.
Then it was nap time for my husband and video game time for me. He was able to reinstall an old game set I used to enjoy that got completely fouled up when my last computer crashed, so I have been having a great time playing it and getting caught up to where I was prior to the crash. Like most of the games I enjoy, the Jewel Quest games are just tic tac toe with some twists, but it is good mindless entertainment for me when I need a rest.
At about 6pm we decided we didn't feel like cooking so it was off to try a Chinese food restaurant we have never been to before. My husband was craving tofu and stir fried veggies and we ended up with a great choice in eateries: Lang's on Broad Street near 11Ave. I think it has been there since the time of Noah's ark! Seriously! It is one of the last remaining open businesses in an ancient block of brick storefronts, most of them now empty. It looks like a dump! It looks like a place where the many old "rubbies" in the area would hang out after panhandling sufficient funds for a cup of coffee. We weren't sure we even wanted to go inside, but the place has good food reviews, so........
What a pleasant surprise! The interior is clean, renovated within the past 10 years and the menu is extensive, with a good combination of both western Chinese and Thai dishes. My husband had stir fried veggies with tofu in a slightly sweet sauce and some decent steamed rice. The rice was a bit dry, but after eating plates of gooey steamed rice in other Chinese restaurants it was actually kind of a treat. The flavour was pretty good. I ordered the chicken curry. As it turned out it is a different curry than the one on the feature menu, although in the photos they look to be similar. Fortunately for my cholesterol, I ordered the one that does not use heavy cream and peanut sauce, although I suspect the one I did order was bad enough, so I made sure not to eat it all and brought enough home for my husband's lunch tomorrow. The chicken was a bit chewy, but very flavourful. The peppers and onions and baby corns and celery pieces were all very fresh and properly cooked. The flavour of the curry sauce was amazing! I spooned it liberally over the portion of rice I allowed myself and ate the mixture with a huge spoon! DELISH!! I suspect my huband's original intention was to bring a larger portion of his own meal home than he actually did, but it was so delicious he just had to have a few extra bites before we left the restaurant. hahaha The jasmine tea was mild and tasty and a good accompaniment to my slightly spicy curry. The wait service was excellent. So are the prices!! I don't remember the last time the two of us ate dinner for under thirty dollars and had so much food to enjoy!
Definitely we will return there the next time we are in the mood for western style Chinese/Thai food.
We came home to watch some tv. I exercised that rice and curry sauce off for a full hour!
It has been a nearly perfect day together. For the moment the outside of the car is clean and tomorrow I will detail the inside so it is ready for holidays. I am glad my parents will finally get to see and ride in it as they were amost more excited than we were when we bought it.
Today all has been well in our little world.
Sunday, May 28, 2017
A Nice Summer Beer
My husband has never been one for flavoured beer. He says the very idea give him "the willies", haha. Recently however, a friend introduced him to a citrus ale made by Great Western brewing company in Saskatoon: Radler Grapefruit Orange Light Beer. He was suprised to discover he rather enjoys it and yesterday he brought home a couple of cans from the store. Tonight I drank the feeble 1/4 cup that I am allowed to have and o wow....it is REALLY tasty! The taste is crisp and light, the citrus flavour strong enough to taste but not strong enough to overpower the flavour of the ale. We also like the lower alcohol content. I have not missed beer since my diabetes diagnosis, but I am all ready planning to have a 1/4 cup of this delicious refresher once a month this summer on a really hot day!
DELISH!!
DELISH!!
A Rather Decent Sunday!
Today was a pretty good day, despite the seemingly never ending gale force winds of this week that continued howling today.
My husband took the service at our most recent former parish and it was fun to see everyone. I have not been there in 6 weeks and it was a good thing to receive hugs and see smiling faces when I arrived....always a nice feeling to know I have been missed. It was fun chatting with everyone at coffee hour afterward. My husband tweaked his Ascension service sermon from last week and the new section was certainly pertinent to where this morning's congregation is at. As one lady said to him afterward, "You are so animated and enthusiastic all the time when you preach that it makes me enthusiastic as well and makes me want to do all the things you talk about that we as Christians are supposed to do." I was pleased for my husband to receive such a good report on his preaching skills. A minister can preach every week for months on end sometimes and never know if anyone is really listening or cares about what is being said. That one encouragement will last my husband for a good long time.
We went out for a salad lunch afterward at Original Joe's. They are certainly consistent and as much as it irritates my husband to have to compliment any chain restaurant, teehee, he does have to admit he enjoys his meals there every time.
At home it was time for reading and a nap. I did a little post-prandial exercise while my husband was sleeping, then grabbed my book and headed for the couch for a good long read. Two afternoons in a row have seen me reading in the living room. I almost never read books anytime other than after crawling into bed at night so I wasn't surprised that not long after I sat down I fell asleep! When I woke up I remembered why I try not to nap during the day....I feel ill for a good hour afterward, have all my life after an afternoon nap. Anyway, I snapped out of it in time to make a dinner fit for a pair who are on low salt, low carbs, low cholesterol diets...ergo, a meal that was about as boring as sin, sigh....but we enjoyed it because we slathered some of our friend's home made kimchi all over it! hahaha Boiled carrots with no salt or butter, a slice of dry bread and a bit of hot chicken made a wonderful base for the kimchi!
For "dessert" we went for a walk over to my husband's office to retrieve some paperwork for a project I am going to assist him with here at home tomorrow. It involves adding up several great long lists of numbers and I am a lot faster at doing that than his somewhat dyslexic self. Doing it will help him and make me feel useful at the same time. I can have it done in less than a half hour I am sure. I had my first tour of some of the renovations being done inside the building. Working around the heritage designation can be tricky, but they are managing to accomplish what needs to be done to maintain useable office space while sticking to the heritage committee rules. On the walk home we got a bit damp as the north wind blew in a few rain drops, but it seemed localized to only a couple of streets as we started back. We walked right out of it and spent the last 8 minutes drying out in the continuing winds. The canker worms and tent caterpillers are starting to show up on the sidewalks and in the grass, so now there are new "squishy things" to watch out for when walking, not just bird poop.
The sun has been shining all day, with just a few rain clouds hovering about to the north. We had a bit of rainfall in the late afternoon that drew a fair number of geese to the puddles in our parking lot. Two of the couples with goslings that we rarely see in our court showed up this evening....11 goslings in all. They have grown a lot in the past week. They are still rather downy, but are much taller and rounder in the body. One of the neighbours was feeding them big chunks of white bread...God protect their digestive systems...please....but the parent geese saw us standing on our deck watching them, so none of them came very close to our place. As of right now they have hightailed it back to one of the other courts and the path to our car remains poop free! YAY! All that arm flapping and running toward them is paying off...at least with the "regulars". They have started cutting a wide berth around our entire building now whether we are outside or not. I keep telling the neighbours it is possible to significantly reduce the number of trips the geese make past our places if they are willing to do what my husband and I are doing, but they think it looks silly so they don't bother. Of course it looks silly, but we don't care. We care more about developing lung disease from the dried poo blowing in the wind than about looking silly. We are too old now to care what other people think. What freedom there is in that!
Well, another day is nearly done. Tomorrow is detailing the car day, along with taking in the recycling if we wake up in time to go early before the depot gets crowded. We also need to book the last of our hotels for our travels next month. Although it is technically my husband's one day off this week, he will be plenty busy. Me too! YAY!!
My husband took the service at our most recent former parish and it was fun to see everyone. I have not been there in 6 weeks and it was a good thing to receive hugs and see smiling faces when I arrived....always a nice feeling to know I have been missed. It was fun chatting with everyone at coffee hour afterward. My husband tweaked his Ascension service sermon from last week and the new section was certainly pertinent to where this morning's congregation is at. As one lady said to him afterward, "You are so animated and enthusiastic all the time when you preach that it makes me enthusiastic as well and makes me want to do all the things you talk about that we as Christians are supposed to do." I was pleased for my husband to receive such a good report on his preaching skills. A minister can preach every week for months on end sometimes and never know if anyone is really listening or cares about what is being said. That one encouragement will last my husband for a good long time.
We went out for a salad lunch afterward at Original Joe's. They are certainly consistent and as much as it irritates my husband to have to compliment any chain restaurant, teehee, he does have to admit he enjoys his meals there every time.
At home it was time for reading and a nap. I did a little post-prandial exercise while my husband was sleeping, then grabbed my book and headed for the couch for a good long read. Two afternoons in a row have seen me reading in the living room. I almost never read books anytime other than after crawling into bed at night so I wasn't surprised that not long after I sat down I fell asleep! When I woke up I remembered why I try not to nap during the day....I feel ill for a good hour afterward, have all my life after an afternoon nap. Anyway, I snapped out of it in time to make a dinner fit for a pair who are on low salt, low carbs, low cholesterol diets...ergo, a meal that was about as boring as sin, sigh....but we enjoyed it because we slathered some of our friend's home made kimchi all over it! hahaha Boiled carrots with no salt or butter, a slice of dry bread and a bit of hot chicken made a wonderful base for the kimchi!
For "dessert" we went for a walk over to my husband's office to retrieve some paperwork for a project I am going to assist him with here at home tomorrow. It involves adding up several great long lists of numbers and I am a lot faster at doing that than his somewhat dyslexic self. Doing it will help him and make me feel useful at the same time. I can have it done in less than a half hour I am sure. I had my first tour of some of the renovations being done inside the building. Working around the heritage designation can be tricky, but they are managing to accomplish what needs to be done to maintain useable office space while sticking to the heritage committee rules. On the walk home we got a bit damp as the north wind blew in a few rain drops, but it seemed localized to only a couple of streets as we started back. We walked right out of it and spent the last 8 minutes drying out in the continuing winds. The canker worms and tent caterpillers are starting to show up on the sidewalks and in the grass, so now there are new "squishy things" to watch out for when walking, not just bird poop.
The sun has been shining all day, with just a few rain clouds hovering about to the north. We had a bit of rainfall in the late afternoon that drew a fair number of geese to the puddles in our parking lot. Two of the couples with goslings that we rarely see in our court showed up this evening....11 goslings in all. They have grown a lot in the past week. They are still rather downy, but are much taller and rounder in the body. One of the neighbours was feeding them big chunks of white bread...God protect their digestive systems...please....but the parent geese saw us standing on our deck watching them, so none of them came very close to our place. As of right now they have hightailed it back to one of the other courts and the path to our car remains poop free! YAY! All that arm flapping and running toward them is paying off...at least with the "regulars". They have started cutting a wide berth around our entire building now whether we are outside or not. I keep telling the neighbours it is possible to significantly reduce the number of trips the geese make past our places if they are willing to do what my husband and I are doing, but they think it looks silly so they don't bother. Of course it looks silly, but we don't care. We care more about developing lung disease from the dried poo blowing in the wind than about looking silly. We are too old now to care what other people think. What freedom there is in that!
Well, another day is nearly done. Tomorrow is detailing the car day, along with taking in the recycling if we wake up in time to go early before the depot gets crowded. We also need to book the last of our hotels for our travels next month. Although it is technically my husband's one day off this week, he will be plenty busy. Me too! YAY!!
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