Day 208 - 25th July 2013 - Grandmother's Journal, Flowers, Flies and Birds

It's Friday! Do not even question my mood this morning when I got up and had no internet. Have't got time to rant as I spent so much time on the phone ranting at those idiots at Eastlink! I'm hoping to get myself back up to perky in the next while!Having a mental health day at home - getting ready to head to Lockeport this afternoon and camp out with a bunch of friends for the Harmony Bazaar, should be a fabulous weekend. Please weather co-operate. Thank goodness for brothers, mine loaned me a raincoat for my camera just in case of rain. Lots to do before I go though, got to finish packing, made some cookies to leave home in case Larry's brother and nephew come for the night. Might make some dip to take with me. Think I'm all packed just a few odds and ends around the house to finish up. Not sure how good my internet will be in the next few days, but I'll try to hack someone's so I can post!
Good day at work yesterday, not a lot done but people through and Susan got our next online auction up and running. Some great items. We are lucky that people donate really nice stuff for these as they are a great means of fundraising. Mosquitoes were vicious in the morning when I went on my walk - I stopped to call out some birds and looked down and there were about 25 on my legs, so I went to work with more welts.  I skipped exercise class last night, had to pick up a few groceries on the way home which meant we were late and then a few other things once I got home. Hope she didn't work the girls too hard.
Almost forgot Grandmother's Journal this week:
26th July 1974:To town early as usual. Overcast. Garden real good. Still some strawberries. Shelled peas - sugar peas. Over to Chalice and Jack's for supper. Real nice. Took sugar peas, swiss chard, lettuce, turnips and carrots. Had a good time. Gertrude and I played bridge and crib til 3 o'clock.
27 July 1974: To Ohio through Purdy Hill. Dicks birthday. Overcast day. Nice drive through Purdy Hill. Gertrude, Fran and I. Tired and to bed early.

 Gayfeather, almost open, guessing by the time I come home on Sunday it will be.

 This little hummer is guarding the feeder!

 Raspberries are beginning to ripen.

 Flies!

 The grasses are pretty well out of the water again.

 Saw this in someone's garden but no sure what it is.

Woodpecker was getting his breakfast.














Enjoy your day!

Day 207 - 25th July 2013 - Squirrel, Weeds, Lilies, Parulas and Woodpecker.

Thursday morning, more fog but the birds are singing up  a storm. Weather doesn't seem t stop them. Looks like some rain for today, I'm still keeping my fingers crossed for the weekend. Off to work this morning, just running some thoughts through my head of what needs to be done. Going to be a busy day as I"m taking a "mental health" day tomorrow. When I take an extra day it usually puts me further behind but I'll deal with that next week. Will work extra hard. We will soon be in to August, can't believe the summer is going so fast.
Finally I got my internet back yesterday morning only to lose it again 45 mins later, then back again, fingers crossed it stays up and running. So by lunch time it seemed to be running pretty good. The general consensus seems to be that lots of people are having trouble. Would really be nice if Eastlink got their act together. I guess what really peeves me is they got a huge amount of money from the government - not once but twice to install high speed into all rural areas and some people either don't have it or it's almost as bad as dial up and we pay a huge bill every month for it.  Enough of the complaining. Got lots done on my day off - laundry, spare beds (Larry and Lexi may have a sleepover Saturday night) changed, floors done, brown bread rolls made and a good supper cooked with enough for leftovers on Thursday. Not much activity in the woods yesterday but our yard was much busier. Many of the baby birds have left the nest and those fledglings are so difficult to figure out. They just don't have their full coloring yet and I'm never quite sure what I'm seeing.

 Can always find a sassy squirrel in the woods.

 I'm sure this is a weed and not something I planted, but it's kind of dainty looking.

 Can't resist another photo of these but I love flowers with rain droplets.

 Northern Parula was hanging out in the Apple trees.

 Looks like a sunflower but it's in Lois' yard and we don't think it is.

 More Indian Pipe - they are cropping up everywhere.

 The bee is almost as big as the flower.

Downy Woodpecker having lunch at the suet holder.




















Enjoy your day!

Day 206 - 24th July 2013 - Pine Siskins, Nuthatch, Robin and Daylilies

I’m back, another evening and morning without internet. Believe it or not when I called this morning (3^rd time in less than 24 hours) I was told there was a tree in the way and with the weather it was causing problems and they would be back out this morning. Well they never were here last night and my response to her was “didn’t they see that tree when the put the tower up”, no answer for that one. Got some brown bread rolls on the rise this morning, laundry caught up and a whip around with the broom. Hopefully if the weather breaks a bit I can hit the hood. Apparently it wasn't really back for good, just as I'm writing this, it blimps out once again. I'm oh so tired of Eastlink! Was a foggy morning but looks like it might clear a bit, see cobwebs on the grass - that could be a good sign.

Good day at work yesterday and got lots of things done. I started on the re-organizing and cleared a few boxes – that’s always a good thing. Showers on and off throughout the day but I was pretty lucky and dodged the raindrops when I was out to the Post Office, Bank and lunch.  I spent the evening doing some maintenance to my laptop - cleaning out some photos, etc. Well what else can you do without internet!

 I've had a few Pine Siskins at the feeders in the last few days, this guy must be young as he was particularly tame and let me stand on the deck to take his photo.

 Red Breasted Nuthatch was back too this morning, haven't seen him at the feeders for a while.

He sure is cute.

This one was from last night, I don't think he's the same one. No way I was getting close to him, had to shoot through the kitchen window.

 Robin - early one morning.

Some more of my Daylilies.

Enjoy your day! Time to shape those rolls and let them rise some more!

Day 205 - 23rd July 2013 - Lake, Birds and Flowers

Looks like we've got some rain  for today and  maybe a chance of thunder and lightning depending on what weather forecast you read. Funny how they can never agree on anything. Oh well we'll roll with whatever comes out of the sky and I'll keep my mouth shut during the next few days but I really want fine weather for the weekend. Believe it or not the water has dropped a lot in the lake, doesn't take long with hot weather and wind for things to start drying out again. Larry was talking about having to water the garden again.  Won't be long and we'll be eating beans and peas. The potatoes are shaping up nicely too, they are hodge podge size now but think we'll leave them a little longer. Already, he's talking about next years garden and what he should do different and plant. Off to work this morning, lots of things I want to get done, I'm kind of in a cleaning mood now. Every summer I take a couple days to re-arrange and sort things out - it helps to make room for more things and better house other items.
Turned out to be a really nice day weatherwise. Not too hot, nice breeze - just right. Had a good day at work, lots done and found more work - maybe I shouldn't dig through stuff! There are some things I'm seeing an end to the tunnel, others - well that's another story. Just taking it one day at a time. Another hard night at exercise, boy that Cindy puts us through the ropes!

A perfect morning on the lake, except for the mosquitoes.

 This Woodpecker was trying to hide from me.

 The young robins are out of the nest and hunting up food on their own.

 The Red Eyed Vireo never stops singing to me, I just wish he would come down a little lower.

My hedge of Phlox are beginning to bloom.

 The Astilbe is almost open.

Darrell - I've forgotten what this one is called, but it's beginning to bloom.



















Enjoy your day!

Day 204 - 23rd July 2013 - Squirrels, Turtle and Sailboats

What a beautiful morning, wishing it was a day home, temperature dropped to +14 which was lovely this morning to walk up to. Suppose to be a nice day. It's Monday so back to work. Going to be another busy week, have to get ready for the Harmony Bazaar weekend. So now that we have the book launched I have lots to do at work - getting some other things caught up and done. Before I know it Jillian our summer student will be finished and the summer will be over. Can't believe we are flying near the end of July already. Exercise class tonight.
Sunday went well once I got moving again. I finally hit the sofa for a few hours of sleep at 4:30am, although I heard the Song Sparrows singing at 5:15am. It made for a long day, that's for sure. Book launch went well. Even had some girls out who were the granddaughters of one of the lighthouse keepers. Our guest speaker was a marvel and knew both their grandfather and father so a good time was had by all. We were going back to town last evening to watch the Parade of Lights and Fireworks but it would have meant too late of a night for both of us. So I had an early evening to bed.

I always seem to be able to call out a squirrel.

 Painted Turtle was enjoying a little sun on the rock.

 Found a Damsel Fly in the woods.

 My favourite friend - the Oven Bird.

 Sailing Races were happening all afternoon.

Seemed like a nice breeze for them.












Enjoy your day!

Day 203 - 21st July 2013 - Birds, Lilies and the Waterfront

A very sleepless night, up at 2:30am, hoping I can get some shut eye on the sofa in a bit. Otherwise this is going to be one long day! Book launch this afternoon, hope that goes well and we get some people out. You can never tell about these things and I just don't worry and fret anymore. Although I do have to say a few words so would be good if something pops into my head before too long. Looks like it will be another hot day, yesterday the humidity was really high.
Well it sure turned out hot on Saturday, glad I got my work done in the morning, although Larry held out in the wood pile longer than I was happy about. You can't tell an old fool anything! Early afternoon I checked the weather forecast again and they have this big "thunderstorm watch" in effect for the whole province. Headed into town around supper time to check out the waterfront.  Due to the weather forecast they cancelled all the festivities at 8pm last night, we still had a great supper at the park and got home about 9:30pm. I was tired and my hip was throbbing - I've had something going on with it for over 3 weeks. Must be old age!

White Breasted Nuthatch - funny little guys the way the go up and down.

Another of my Daylilies are in bloom.

The Hostas are in bloom, so far the deer have left them alone, and some leaves are growing back.

Above: The Oven Bird who has gotten friendlier.

Boats are all tied up at the Marina - races were cancelled.

Looking across at the Waterfront - kind of foggy but you can see the encampment.











Enjoy your day!

Day 202 - 20th July 2013 - Lake, Cedar Waxwings and Flowers

Still dark out there this morning, daylight doesn't seem to come quite as early as it did a month ago, are the days shortening already or will it just be another morning of fog? Now they are giving thundershowers for today, not good. The Song Sparrows are always singing early and in the middle of their tunes I could hear a Loon add a few bars from his song in the lake. Larry says he's working in the woodpile this morning, I'll do a few things around the house. Going to put a potato salad together as we are off to Island Park for supper with the bestie and gang and hopefully watch the parade of lights. Since we have one fusspot who doesn't like eggs guess I better do a container without for him. That sounds like the day in a nutshell to me.
A few showers yesterday morning, then it cleared up, however the fog did seem to roll into the harbour early and postponed the fireworks scheduled for last night. It was a hectic day, had family in to see me that are here from Ottawa. Nice to catch up with them again. Other clients/members were in, always a busy weekend. The books arrived today so we are all set for Sunday's Launch, fingers crossed! Did the grocery shopping on the way home from work, well Friday night shopping is even more of an experience than Saturday morning. A walk around the hood after supper yielded Cedar Waxwings and a Juvenile Palm Warbler or Yellow Rumped Warbler (I think).

The sun was trying to break through.

 Love the Cedar Waxwings.

 Waterlily, we never seem to get the pretty whites only these yellow ones.

 I was creeping around a neighbour's yard again, but I really like this little burgundy flower and the purlish blue ones.

 They were fun to watch.

 Then this little guy popped up over head, think it's a Palm Warbler. Seems the expert Birders believe it's a Yellow Rumped (Myrtle) Warbler. The young birds are so hard to figure out!

And the dandelions are always cool when they reach this stage. A gust of wind and it will be gone!












Enjoy your day!