Month: November 2016

Today we are headed over to Ted’s to help her do her Christmas decorating. She has some things, like her Nativity scene, stored out of reach.

Last night we celebrated Teds 95th birthday at our place with Steven & Sara, Chris & Tonya and Jane & Me. We  began with a delicious dinner of pan seared scallops (one of Teds favourites) and lemon pepper fettuccine, sautéed asparagus, oven roasted squash and birthday cake for dessert.

Today, we will pick up Ted and bring her back to our place for little birthday celebration. This morning, we had a little rehearsal for a show that the six of us are going to put on especially for Ted. It’s a dance number to the tune of Jingle Bell Rock. Sara and Tonya did the choreography.

We are looking forward to a good time.

Hopefully I can get a video of the dance number.

After breakfast we have some grocery shopping to do for Ted’s upcoming 95th birthday weekend. Steven & Sara and Chris & Tonya will be arriving later tonight and we will pick Ted up around 3PM.

Last time we were in Toronto with Steven & Sara and Chris & Tonya, the guys were telling me what a great series Band of Brothers was. They watch it together every Remembrance Day weekend in honour of all the veterans who serve and have served. It’s a thoughtful tradition they have.

Yesterday, MY Jane and I began Christmas decorating inside. We have several bins of lights, garlands and ornaments to put up.

By tomorrow, we will have everything in place except for the upstairs and downstairs trees. We’ll get those the first week of December.

Yesterday, I wasn’t feeling very ambitious. MY Jane, on the other hand, was like the energizer bunny. She re-organized the “cubby” which had all kinds of bins full of stuff. Turns out a couple of the bins were empty. 

I refer to yesterday as my PDL day. That stands for “Pretty Damn Lazy”. But today, I’ll make up for it.

Yesterday, I noticed that the outside front Christmas lights had not come on after dusk. When I checked, I found that the reset button on the GFI outlet had tripped, probably because snow had coved over where one of the plugs fit into the extension outlet.

They seem to be working fine now.

This week we will begin the inside decorations. MY Jane and I want to have things done by this weekend before Steve and Sara and Chris and Tonya arrive to help celebrate Ted’s 95th birthday.

We had been thinking of surprising her with a trip to the Royal York in Toronto, (one of her favourite haunts from years ago), but we decided that it might be too much travelling for her. Instead, we will have a family get together here in Barrie. MY Jane will cook up her favourite stuff.

Tonya and Sara are gathering up some Christmas props and doing some choreography so we can surprise Ted with a little group dance….a little show of sorts. It’s going to be a blast.

Yesterday we arrived at Steves around 3PM. Sara was already there and we were joined by Chris and Tonya shortly after.

A great time! We would all do it again!

Later today, MY Jane and I will be going to Toronto to meet up with our good friends, Annemarie and Jim, as well as Chris and Tonya, and Steven and Sara. We are going to try one of those “escape room” exercises.

Yesterday, as I was returning from our nearby mailbox, my neighbour and friend, Allan, saw me and asked me if I would like to join him on a walk. I agreed and, after putting on some suitable walking shoes, we headed off to a trail that Allan uses frequently.

There are traces of frost on the deck this morning and Minnie is not so quick to dash outside.

Except for the chokecherry tree in the neighbour’s back yard, all the leaves have fallen. Yes, Winter is lurking around the corner.

But what is even better, Christmas is not far off! 

MY Jane and I have already been keeping an eye out for stocking stuffers and presents. We always have a good time at Christmas. After all, what could be better than having Family around the Christmas tree or dinner table?

Well, Minnie has new place to doze. I looked out into our back yard yesterday morning and there she was, curled up on top of our covered-up waterfall. She was basking in the sun and I guess it’s the warmest spot.

Minnie pretty well sleeps wherever she wants…..and that’s OK !

This morning, as I sit in my favourite spot by the kitchen window, I see that the wind has blown the fallen leaves to one side of the back  yard.

We had previously raked them into the flower beds with the idea that they would provide some insulation to the plants over the winter.

Surprisingly, the roses that Steven bought Jane a long time ago, are still in bloom. Jane has a “rose hut” ready to cover them up when the flowers have died off.

Today, Jane will be taking her Mom, Ted, to get a new health card. She still has one of the old ones that does not have a picture on it. This will be the fifth trip that Jane is making to a Service Ontario location to do this. Each time, they tell her something different is needed in the way of ID, so she is going to actually take Ted with her this time. I hope it works.

Afterward, Ted will come back to our place for dinner.

Last evening MY Jane and I had dinner with our across the street friends, Jenny and Allan. Not unexpectedly, it was delicious. We had a lot of conversation and and a lot of laughs.

Yesterday, after leaving Chris and Tonya’s, MY Jane and I headed to Burlington to meet up with a lady who had a flatware chest for sale on Kijiji that was identical to one we already had. As you may have read in a previous blog, Jane and I had recently purchased a new set of flatware, so we needed some place to store it.

Because we were already part way there from Barrie, it was an opportune time to travel to Burlington to complete the transaction.

We met in the Burlington GO Station and the lady initially joked about how this must be how it feels to do a drug deal. We all had a laugh about that.

The flatware chest was in excellent condition and, after we completed the deal, we lapsed into a comfortable conversation.

You know, in my correctional career, I learned to size people up pretty quickly. This lady is a very likable person and Jane and I are glad to have met her. We got a great deal on the flatware chest and had great time chatting with her.

Yesterday, MY Jane and I arrived at Chris and Tonya’s around 9AM. Shortly after, Chris and I went to Home Depot to pick up material.

By 3PM we were finished and the shelves were re-stocked.

Both Chris and I were pleased with the result. We work well together.

Heading off to Chris and Tonya’s this morning for a little visit and to help on a pantry shelving installation.

Today, I am gathering up the tools and hardware that will be needed to help Chris build some shelving in his downstairs pantry area. He has already cleared everything out of there except for the bar fridge.

Yesterday, and again today, I have been working at getting exterior Christmas lights up and running. I tested them in the garage and all is ok.

I like to get them in place before it gets too cold but, out of respect for our veterans, I don’t actually turn them on until after Remembrance Day.

I had to get another timer for the front lights and I was surprised and pleased to find that there was a remote included. I’m a big fan of remotes although MY Jane is not. Probably because we have about five of them for the TV, Bluetooth, and Fibe TV box along with Apple TV and the background lighting system. It’s somewhat overwhelming.

Thankfully, election campaigning for the President of the United States is over. Today is the day that American citizens get to vote for the candidate of their choice, the front runners being Hillary Clinton of the Democrats and Donald Trump of the Republicans.

Today I finished installing the second bicycle ceiling storage unit.

Soon  I wil be able have a place for everything and everything in its place. And after that, I’ll be starting on some new woodworking projects.

With the insulation and drywall, it’s quite comfortable out there and I am looking forward to finally being able to enjoy it.

Today, MY Jane and I decided we were going to start off the day, after breakfast, with a walk along a trail just down the road from where we live. We walked from the house and ended up on a little used path. 

I climbed a very steep hill to see if the trail went further. It didn’t, so we reversed our steps and ended up at another dead end near a creek. Turns out we were in Lovers Creek Ravine and didn’t know it until we reviewed the photos on the I phone.

We climbed up a very steep bank to the roadside and decided that we had enough walking for the day.

When we got home, the leaves from our sugar maple beckoned and we began raking them.

Remember when you were a kid and used to cover yourself with leaves? Well I decided, at Jane’s urging,  to try it again.

Here’s a little video:

https://youtu.be/NbP7NkbKRYo

Here’s what the front lawn looks like now.

Election polls, I think, should not be publicized during any election. I understand that campaign strategists find polling a useful tool in deploying resources and advertising. So it’s OK for them to privately review poll results.

Too often, though, publicized polls can influence voters’ opinions. Especially those that are uninformed about issues of importance.

When a poll like the one above is published, I think there are a lot of people who simply want to jump on the bandwagon for the one who is ahead at the time. I think it skews the election results.

The same happens in Canada when voting is actually underway. Results from the Eastern part of Canada get posted before the voting stations in Western Canada close. People may be influenced by the results they see.

Public polling should be discouraged, in my humble opinion.

Today I replaced our Halloween flag over the garage with our Canadian flag. And I put up a poppies garden flag on the front lawn.

It’s a small gesture but it’s  important that we remember all the veterans who served and who are now serving so that we can enjoy the freedoms we have in the greatest country in the world.

Yesterday, I installed one of the two ceiling bike storage systems I purchased at Canadian Tire. This one is for MY Jane’s bicycle.

It’s efficient enough that she can raise and lower her bicycle herself. And it’s stored out of the way.

Today, I’ll install the second one on the opposite side of the garage for my bicycle.

On another note, we decided to have rotisserie BBQ chicken for dinner last night. Of course, you can’t do that without first using the rotisserie as a sword.

Every time I do chicken this way, it turns out delicious!

Last year I sent away to a company called blog2print to have all my daily blogs for 2015 formatted into a hard cover book.

NOTE:

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