Have your days flown by over the last couple of months?? I'm sure it's a sign of getting older! You're all getting old. Summer is almost gone, crops have begun to be harvested, cool nights will be coming shortly...
So, with all those happy thoughts tumbling around in my head I thought I would fill you in on what was going on over the last few weeks. I would suggest you sit down while reading this - not because it is so exciting that your legs may give out causing you to crash on the floor! No, I might just get long-winded and you may tire of standing.
This Garden Has Hope
She did it! Things are growing!
Christine and the window lickers have harvested radishes, beans, peas, cayanette peppers (those little suckers are hot!), cucumber (yuck!), squash... and an overabundance of zucchini. I think zucchini must be a weed, it grows so well despite so little attention given to it!
From the looks of things Christine will harvest watermelon, brussel sprouts, more beans, green peppers and carrots too, maybe even some potatoes - if she can remember where they are buried planted.
The Garden of Hope is a really cool idea that has yet to show its full potential.
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| Baby watermelon |
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| Half-Pint and a cucumber |
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I didn't know where to stick this picture, but I had to share it. An Oriental man, wearing glasses, driving a burgundy mini-van knocked this sign over in a parking lot - while driving forwards into the parking spot! Drove right over it so he was on top of it. I'm not one to stereotype but... He hopped out of the van and examined his handiwork (looking quite able-bodied, I must add). I'm not sure how he didn't see it. He then drove off.
We should ban burgundy mini-vans. The world would be a safer place.
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Hunting Hogs
I got up early one morning, drove south and picked up my brother-in-law and then we drove north to try to hunt groundhogs on some farms. We got skunked. Seems that the coyotes have done a pretty good job of making the groundhogs nervous or scarce.
Since there was no shooting of guns I shot some pictures instead. Not an entirely wasted trip. Okay - it was an entirely wasted trip! So disappointing. Plus, I had to spend all that time driving with Andy! That was just salt in the wound.
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| Mutant tree / wind turbine. Green energy?? |
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| Old barbed-wire fence |
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| A lonely tree in a field |
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| Water drops on a daisy |
Saugeen Bluffs Trip
This was an adventure even before we all reached the destination. Two flat tires on Bloomer's trailer. It was near Wroxeter that the second one happened, and where we met friendly locals who loaned a spare tire to get them to the campsite.
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| New friend Tracy. The girls turned their backs on her already! |
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| This is what Steve looks like changing a tire. Picture it twice for full effect. |
There was lots of noise from our group: 5 families with 18 kids all running around. We managed to play a massive game of Ultimate Frisbee with a few other families from around the campground. My team had All-Star player Hailey. She was awesome! Very few injuries came out of that game, surprisingly. We also played baseball with some from the other group the next day - until Steve crushed a ball way back-back-back into the trees. Game over. (That's okay, it was lunchtime anyways!)
Nate and I were able to find $1.50 ice cream cones at the camp store. We talked the nice girl into extra scoops for the same price. No pictures of that. We were not wanting to get caught with having to buy them for everyone!
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| No shortage of meat or salad |
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| Wood pile at the campfire |
On the way up to the campground there was a nasty thunderstorm. When I finally got to the end of the system I was treated to blue sky and sunshine. The storm ended, just like that! It made for some neat pictures with the dark sky in the background.
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| The clear blue sky as I drive out of the storm |
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| Pasture land with the storm in the distance |
We also got a chance to test drive our new, teeny little boat. I think it will be called the 'Bass Assassin'. It's going to be used for fishing and puddling around in the water. Seems to go okay except in really strong current. All bets are off if you get carried downstream and the battery on the little trolling motor dies. You could end up in the Atlantic!
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| Andy test driving the new 'boat'. Steve feeling safer on the little dock! |
Before I came up on the Friday night I loaded up a box of scrap wood bits and pieces, filled right to the top. Instead of dumping it and throwing the chunks on bit by bit I figured it would be more efficient to burn it all at once, box and all.
It worked. At first it smothered the flame of the existing fire but eventually things got rolling. First lots of smoke, then some flame. Then came more flame, higher and higher. Then people moved their chairs back because it was getting a bit too warm.
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| I think Brother KP singed the hairs on his legs! |
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| Boys fishing along the Saugeen River |
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| Beedah resting on an old tree stump |
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| Air guitar at lunch time. Should've been a Rock Star, Andy. |
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| Andy caught salad and main course. (Not really, fish was too small.) |
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| Going... |
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| Going... |
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| Going... |
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| Gone! |
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| Brother KP singed his hair messing around with the campfire - not from the box-burning incident |
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| Jack-Boy found some new wheels at the campground! |
We had to stop in the bustling metropolis of Wroxeter on the way home. Steve had to return the borrowed spare tire for the trailer. There wasn't much happening in town. One car drove by while we were there - and a dog barked at us...
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| Downtown Wroxeter. We were the only ones there. |
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| You can find instructions for this on Pinterest. (I think. It must be there. Everything is on there! Special K has an account, I'm sure. She was going on and on about Pinterest. Bun-head likes Pinterest, too. Weird.) |
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Another random picture, this time of Half Pint. We had a big gathering of the extended family on my mom's side. Loads of fun, laughter and food. I caught the little monster sneaking cake right off the serving platter!
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| He thought no one was looking! Eating cake right off the plate. |
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Green's Mountain Shopping Centre?
Near the little town of Gooderham there is a road that I was told leads to a great shopping area. Well, someone was pulling my leg because there was no Target or The Bay or Walmart ANYWHERE around there. I went with the Teacher again, and a guy who drove all the way from Ottawa named Ryan.
The trail is rated one of the 5-best in Ontario. It's called Green's Mountain. It was rated about a 4/5 in terms of difficulty. It took us about 3 hours to cover 5km of trail. Just a little bit of mall-crawling.
Here are a few pictures from the day:
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| The decal on his hood says 'TeacherMan'! Sweet. |
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| Yes, we went down this rock. |
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| Ottawa Ryan going up a steep climb |
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| The amount of mud on the vehicle is directly related to how much fun was had. This was fun. |
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| Cleaning the Jeep up after I got home, that was not so much fun! |
We never did find that shopping centre. I'm beginning to think it was all a lie!
And to this point in time, that is all I have for you.
Oh, one more thing....
I can't wait for September - so I can recover from all the activities!
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| Worn out from all of the partying! |
