Sunday Sign Waving

It was a beautiful day yesterday but very hot for waving signs. The turn-out was fantastic, more than 100 people. Lots and lots of cars going by and blowing their horns. As usual the cookies I baked in the morning were a great success and not one was left over. Good thing I saved a few for Cliff.




this is the area where an recycling/dump depot is supposed to be built.



read all about it

We have been battling the local government for over a year now. I hope it will not go on forever because it really messes up our life.
None of us is against recycling (I have been doing it diligently for years now) It’s just the location we are fighting. This area is zoned agricultural and is such a beautiful sight. I cannot understand how anybody could chose to destroy it. Besides that there are 4 recycling centres already in the area.
OK, rant over ☺

It is a little cooler today and I am thankful for that. Yesterday was the first time this summer when we spent some time downstairs in the rec-room because it was too hot upstairs.  We left all the windows and doors open last night to cool the house down. I closed the drapes this morning to keep the sun out and now I have to open everything up again to get a bit of heat inside. Crazy weather but at least I have my clothes on the line today. They always smell so nice when they are dried outside.
Lunch is over with and now I have to think what I am going to serve tomorrow. It’s a never ending chore ☺ but I like it.

That is the end for today.
Good bye everybody ☺

Where is our Summer? and Google+

I had lots of fun this afternoon trying out the new Google+. It is a really good concept and I hope to be using it regularly. My thanks to Rick for blogging about it.
I noticed that 2 more people have joined my Blog. Hope you enjoy it even though I have not been posting a lot.
The summer this year leaves a lot to be desired. On the other hand watching the News tonight I heard that a lot of people from the hot parts of Canada and the US are arriving here and enjoying our cooler weather. I must say that I rather have it this way than too hot. We had quite a bit of rain too which is not too bad since we don’t have to do too much watering in the garden. I am not sure if we ever get corn this year. It is so far behind that winter might come before it is ready to be picked. Lots of nice potatoes and the lettuce is wonderful. For awhile I was running out of greens but now swiss chard is growing great and we eat it every day. Pretty soon the cucumbers will be ready to pick as well. Life is good!
We have about 4 pounds of strawberries in the freezer and the same amount of raspberries. I am not sure what I will do with that. Time will tell.
I have been using my iPad a lot but I still like my iPod too. Actually the iPad is supposed to be for Cliff but I misappropriate it most of the time ☺☺
Between housework (not too much of that ), shopping, computer and listening to books the days just fly. I finished knitting a pair of socks for Cliff and have not started another pair yet. I think that is more for winter time.
That’s it for tonight,
Good night everybody ☺

Watching Swallows

What a great occupation!  We watched 3 little guys starting to fly. Usually one at a time with one parent around. One baby looked out of the door of the nest and another one was sitting on the peg in front of the door. At one time the little guy on the peg tried to get through the door but the “bully” in the doorway would not let it pass. It was almost through when it got shoved back down. That happened a few times and in the end it gave up trying. I must have sat watching the nest for about an hour.



I did not hear anything from the nursery in Chilliwack so I took the “Killer Basket” in the house for a few days.  It was a bit of a nuisance so I ended up taking it to the garden and using a fine mist from the garden hose to give it a good bath and hung it outside again. That seems to have done the trick and the bees stopped dying.
In the end the nursery phoned after all wanting to exchange the basket for another one so they could test the bad one. Of course there was no use to that after I had sprayed it. They were very good about it and told me to call back if the trouble came back. So far everything is OK.

butterfly on the basket


We have had a few beautiful days but the weather is supposed to change a bit. I don’t mind because I rather like the cooler weather. 

Good night everybody ☺

Happy Day

Happy in more ways than one.
First, my little iPod got a big brother! I took a flying trip to Future shop in Duncan and bought a brand spanking new iPad… big brother to iPod. It sure is easier to see but I still like iPod because it is easier to transport. Not so good is the fact that I have to share big Brother with big Cliff  
On the way to town I saw that BC Hydro was doing something on 2 power poles on the opposite side of the road so when I came back I decided to take the long way around Cowichan Bay from Duncan. That is the reason why Happy time two came into play.
Getting nearly to Country Grocer I saw a truck with a sign that read “Sockeye Salmon”. I came to a screeching halt and walked back to buy 4 freshly caught salmon. Each was between 3 and 5 pounds.
When I got home I alerted Cliff and he scaled them and I fileted them and froze them in usable portions. We love Sockeye salmon but I would not give you a plugged nickel for Chinook. I know a lot of people would deem that heresy but I find it too strong. Cliff likes it though.
When we still had our sailboat we used to fish all the time and mostly caught Chinook and Coho. I always called the sailboat “Tradewind”  a fish boat in disguise. One year we even caught the biggest Chinook at the Mill Bay Fishing Derby. That sure was exciting. I have canned hundreds of pints and half pints of Salmon in my lifetime but this year I just froze the 4 fish.  
I also have an update on my “killer flower basket” but that is for another Blog entry, right now I want to play with big brother

Good night everybody ☺

Updates

A while ago I wrote about my Maytag washer.
That break-down was actually a blessing in disguise. Because of that I started to use only a fraction of the Tide soap that I used before. It made my clothes so much softer and actually a bit cleaner too. I am a happy camper now.
Now about my Bee problem.
I asked Superstore where they buy their flowers and was told it is DeVry Greenhouses Ltd. in Chilliwack. I found their website on the net and left a message. A few days later they wrote and were very surprised that so many bees were dying after visiting that particular flower basket. They asked to have a picture of the basket and I sent one. They wanted to pick up the basket to test it and refund my money. I told them I would prefer another basket rather than money. That was the last of the correspondence. I wonder if I ever hear from them again so I wrote another email today. I will not let it rest though because if it happened with this one basket how many others are also affected and how many bees are yet to die. We are having enough problems with the lack of bees around Vancouver Island.
Now I will go back to listening to my audiobook “The Painted House” by John Steinbeck. I read the book twice already a long time ago and I love somebody reading to me.

Good night everybody ☺

2nd post

I had a terrible time to post my first Blog. Live Writer could not post it. I then tried Blogger and it took ages to enter the pictures. This is the first time I had problems. I guess I am joining the crowd in this. I just wish they would leave things alone when they work properly.
Grrrrrrrrrrr
I also tried this post in Live writer. Both times this is the window that popped up:














What's up with this??? I did the same thing I always did. Very frustrating.

Losing interest

Yes, I am losing interest in blogging. I guess that is because nothing really interesting happens that I could write about.
Today I went to the garden and took a few pictures.

Our lettuce



Rhubarb


and it looks like we are getting lots of strawberries.

The Dahlias are coming up nicely too. I saved the tubers from last year and had luck with them sprouting. The year before I did not have one that overwintered. It will be interesting to see which type of dahlias we will get. I did not mark them. This fall I will make sure I do.

The other day Cliff came in the kitchen bringing me our first potatoes. Here is a picture:




I almost needed glasses to see them but I threw them in with the potatoes for that day. Now I am waiting for the big ones! I bought a 10 pound bag of potatoes the other day and they are really terrible. I have to peel twice as much as I want to eat because so much of them has to be cut off.
As you see, nothing earth shattering is occurring but I like it this way.
Hope everybody had a great Father’s Day.

See you in the future.
Good night everybody ☺