Month: August 2019

Yesterday evening we went to Lefroy Harbour with the Caseys, our across the street neighbours.

We had been to the little restaurant there before and had a good lunch on the patio.

Last night there was music playing with a singer named Arizona Jimmy. He sang old time songs but the music was very loud and conversation was difficult.

The food was so so. We wouldn’t do dinner there again.

MY Jane is busy working on a plan for a road trip along the Opeongo Trail and through Algonquin Park in early October. This is when the Fall colours are at their peak.

We will also be stopping at different waterfalls along the way to take pictures and picnic.

Today we had two of our former boating friends visit for the day. We had BBQ hamburgers on the deck and lots of conversation.

After lunch we took a drive to the waterfront and had a short walk along the sidewalk there.

Shortly after that, Berc and Rosa left to return home.

A great visit with old friends.

Yesterday, Jane’s cousin, Helen, visited with us for lunch and an afternoon visit. She has a cottage on Whalen’s so there was a lot of reminiscing about days gone by.

Jane had made one of Helen’s favourite desserts, butter tarts and they were a hit.

On another note, Minnie has taken to scratching at our bedroom window screen and yesterday, for the third time in a week, got a claw stuck. I heard the commotion and when I got in there to look, she had almost pulled the screen right out.

I have taped some cardboard in place temporarily so she doesn’t get hung up while we are out somewhere. Today I will get some plexiglass to prevent a recurrence.

The last time Enercare came for fireplace maintainence, the technician told me that it needed a new gas valve, the main part of the fireplace.

So I called a local gas and furnace repair service company and they are sending a tech this Friday to check it out.

I found Enercare’s customer service to be less than adequate whereas this local company was very responsive and cheaper for the diagnostic call.

After breakfast this morning, MY Jane and I went to look for a geocache in nearby Tyndall Park.

We found it very quickly hanging in a tree at shoulder height. Jane took a video of me opening the micro cache and signing the log.

Yesterday, we had the whole Family here. Chris, Tonya and Max arrived first and while they went looking for a mattress for their new king sized bed, MY Jane and I looked after Max.

This cutie has captured our hearts. And he is such a good baby. Even when first waking up, he just opens his eyes and starts looking around. No crying, not even a whimper.

Jane loves walking with him and he loves it too. She showed him the inside of the house and took him around the garden, stopping to let him smell the Rose of Sharon flowers.

Steve and Sara arrived a bit later and all of us gathered on the back deck where I had put the play yard for Max.

We had a great supper prepared by Jane. Three kinds of Shepherd Pie, Caesar salad and salted caramel cheesecake and rice pudding for dessert.

An incredible day!

The house has been cleaned and the shopping done. We are excited and ready for our weekend visitors.

Chris, Tonya & Max will be here shortly then later, Steven and Sara will arrive.

Then tomorrow, Annemarie and Jim will be here for lunch

The weather is supposed to be good so Sunday, we may eat on the deck.

MY Jane and I did some last minute shopping for a few things in readiness for visitors this upcoming weekend.

After that, Jane began preparing three different casseroles to accommodate the the different dietary restrictions people have.

While she was doing that I finished off the cleanup of the main floor, namely the bathroom.

As we used to write in our log books in jails, “Clean up complete. Area in order.”

Today, we had very little to do. The only thing I had on my plate was to vacuum the Family Room and main floor.

While completing that task, I accidentally knocked my I phone off a ledge and onto the floor. It was only later that I noticed several cracks at the bottom of it.

Fortunately it is still functional although it looks like crap.

Chris, Tonya & Max and Steven & Sara are coming up,this Saturday and will be here until Sunday when Annemarie & Jim will join us for a lunch.

We haven’t seen Jim & Annemarie for awhile and it will be nice for them to meet Max for the first time.

So MY Jane and I have begun to get ready. She is doing some meal prep ahead of time and I started doing some housecleaning in the Family Room.

We’ll be ready and looking forward to seeing all of them. The weather forecast is looking good, so lunch on the deck seems like a good idea.

Yesterday, MY Jane and I decided to go to Metro for groceries. Since moving to Barrie, we were using the nearby Zehrs, however we have noticed a deterioration in the quality of their meat and they have increased the amount of plastic packaging. They don’t respond to emails and written correspondence is a simple cookie cutter letter. In short, their customer service is very poor.

The Metro is better laid out and their signage is much better. It’s logical, unlike Zehrs as per the example below.

So it’s Metro from now on.

Our trees in the back yard were in serious need of attention. The birch had all kinds of dead limbs and the big maple was overshadowing the back corner.

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So MY Jane and I went to work.

It’s much better now. More light coming in that back corner which should help the plants.

Yesterday afternoon I went out looking for a nearby geocache situated on one of Barrie’s walking trails. In very short order, I got within 4 feet of it and, after scanning the area, sighted a likely hiding spot – a Fork in a tree.

I now have a little geocaching kit consisting of a small screwdriver, needle nosed pliers, pen and paper. I needed the needle nose pliers to unscrew the lid of the micro cache.

This makes the ninth geocache I have found.

MY Jane was away most of the day yesterday, so when she got back home, we decided to use Skip the Dishes for dinner. She made an order using her I Phone.

We like this company because you can track delivery progress on a map on your I phone.

When Jane checked, she was shocked to see the delivery vehicle show up on the 401 in Toronto when we live in Barrie.

By the time she figured out that the delivery was being made to the last address she used (Chris’ house in Toronto), it was too late. So Chris and Tonya got our dinner. Unfortunately, they had just finished eating.

We had a good laugh and were thankful we hadn’t ordered for a large group.

This morning Jane headed off to Thornbury to meet up with Annemarie for a lunch date and some shopping.

While she was gone, I took a bike ride a short distance from our house to look for a geocache.

I got within 8 feet according to my I phone but after 15 minutes of searching, I could not find it.

I biked back home (uphill all the way) and went out on the deck to have a cold drink.

Yesterday, after breakfast, MY Jane and I took off for Brandy’s Marina where we loaded our chairs and picnic cooler into Shenanigans.

We headed up past Jane’s former cottage and went through the Freddy channel. We past Doug Peutz’s cottage just next to the church.

We then headed over to McCrae Lake Rapids where we stopped for lunch and a swim.

Actually, only Jane went swimming and she loved it.

Today is dinghy day for MY Jane and me.

We will head up to Honey Harbour and take a spin out on the Nay – Georgian Bay, that is.

We’ll see where we end up.

Right after breakfast, MY Jane checked the weather forecast and it looks like no rain for the next few days. Time to seal the deck.

We got it done in just over an hour so now we can wait for delivery of our new washer and dryer.

MY Jane has checked the weather forecast and it looks good for the next few days. It’s a good time to seal the deck so that’s the objective for today.

After four power washing’s, we are happy with the look. The sealer will help keep it looking this way for a few years at least.

Today MY Jane and I went out took at GE washers and dryers. We went the Canadian Appliance Source here in Barrie.

We ended up buying Samsung instead of GE because we could get a better deal.

The dryer we currently have is a gas dryer so we decided to stay with that because it’s so much quicker.

Delivery is scheduled for Tuesday so we arranged for a local gas fitter to come by and do the disconnect/connect.

Jane says thus is the very first time she has ever had a matching washer and dryer.

Yesterday morning, after I finished putting in the hand rail, I took a drive around town and then met up with the Director of the Museum to talk about the Temiscaming Centennial project.

I then returned to Terry’s where two of her friends, Marlene and Norma were visiting.

Norma then invited us to her cottage on Lake Kipawa and we went for a nice boat ride in their pontoon boat.

We even stayed for supper there. A great time. I head back home today.

Yesterday, after breakfast, I left for Temiscaming to visit Terry and do a few little jobs for her,

At North Bay, I ran in to torrential rain which made driving very challenging.

After I got there, we had a nice visit and I installed a safety grab bar on her bathtub then installed a deadbolt lock on her entrance door.

In the afternoon, I met with Julie Loyer Town of Temiscaming administrator to talk about a Centennial Celebration proposal I had. She was very enthusiastic about it.

Later today I have another meeting with the Museum Director who volunteered to do the French editing of submissions.

Today I will install a hand railing that goes down to the basement of Terry’s house.

After breakfast this morning, I will be heading up to Temiscaming to visit my sister in Thorne and do a few handyman jobs for her. I’ll be putting up a handrail, installing some deadbolts on the doors and putting a safety grab bar on the bathtub.

I also want to meet with the Chairperson of the 2021 Centennial Committee to discuss a project I want to do for that celebration, namely a book of memoirs about Temiscaming which will include stories submitted by people who lived there.

It should be an interesting time.

Yesterday, while I was out at the hardware store picking up a few things, I decided to do some geocaching. There was one nearby. So I set out to find it and in about ten minutes found it under a footbridge just off a walking trail.

I signed the log and entered my info on the Geocaching app.

When I checked the mail, the WiFi timer for my drip irrigation system had arrived, so I proceeded to set that up.

Very pleased with this system.

The weather has been very good these past few days. So much so that we have had our dinner outside on the deck.

This photo shows how good the deck now looks since the power washing. Actually there were four power washings to get to this point. I did two and MY Jane did two.

We are waiting for at least two clear rain free days to apply the sealer.

Today I picked up a bathtub safety rail for my sister, Terry, who I am going to visit later this week. There are a few little jobs I am going to do for her including the installation of that rail.

I will also be installing a couple of deadbolt locks to give her a little more security and peace of mind since Dan died.

While I’m up there, I want to find out who the chairperson is for the Centennial Committee and possibly meet with him/her to propose a project.

MY Jane kept busy this morning and into the afternoon doing housecleaning.

She suggested we use a Mandarin free buffet letter this evening so that’s where we will go later on.

Yesterday afternoon, I added a few more emitters to the back yard drip irrigation system. It’s still needs more, so this morning I will take a spin up to Home Depot to get what I need to finish it off.

And I will lay the main hose feed for the front yard too.

Then all we have to do is wait for the timers.

MY Jane and I have also decided that we need to do more pressure washing on the deck to remove wood fibre residue and get right down to the bare wood.

Yesterday, MY Jane and I headed to Chris and Tonya’s to deliver a package from Maureen Prince – a Raptors Hoodie she custom made for Max.

They loved it!

Of course we had some quality time with our grandson, Max, who charmed us with his smiles and grins.

Chris made us delicious breakfast sandwiches using new Japanese Mayo. Both he and Tonya were gracious hosts as usual.

This morning MY Jane and I left to return home and, on the way, stopped off to see Steven and Sara and give Steve an Anti Gravity chair which he loved during their cottage visit a few weeks ago.

On the way home, we stopped at Christchurch Anglican cemetery to see if we could locate a grave marker that Jane-was messaged about from an organization called One Billion graves – part of her genealogy research. We didn’t locate the marker in question, but we did find a geocache instead. Right in that same cemetery.

I did a second deck cleaning with the cleaning solution then I turned my attention to the drip irrigation system that I’m installing.

It’s simply a hose strung through the middle of the flower bed to which you can add little sprinklers called emitters.

The only issue I had was a flawed pressure regulator from Home Depot that had a pinhole leak in it. I’ll exchange that today and add some more emitters.

I plan on doing the front yard too so I bought a four faucet hose bib.

Yesterday, MY Jane and I took all the furniture off the back deck and I used a deck cleaner to remove the build up of grime. The cleaning agent that I used worked quite well.

Today I’m going to give a second thorough cleansing and, when there are a few days of dry weather, I’ll put on a clear sealer to protect it.

While I was at it, I reversed one board that had a big gouge in it. Luckily the angles were almost identical, so it worked quite nicely.