Second Half of the NEW YEAR – last quarter.

Good Morning All. My long weekend is over but I am working the late shift today so start work at 11:00 a.m. (which worked out pretty good, I would say). The sun is coming up with hopes of yet another beautifully warm day. Yesterday was warm but overcast the majority of the day. I had a super productive day and accomplished everything on my to do list including multi-tasking walking with Mr. Alvin and picking up trash as we went. I have this tong like hand held tool and then of course a garbage bag. Worked pretty good. Not the most ideal thing walking with a dog and picking up trash but we managed and I was happy to get the trash picked up as it had been annoying me for awhile. I do not understand how people can walk over, around or whatever trash in front of their homes and cars. Anyway, it is done. I raked my lawn and Humphrey’s Mom’s as we are joined and bagged the leaves (1.5 bags) and then raked the backyard. I did the raking first and then did the trash and walking. Finished decorating for Christmas in the morning. Did some laundry throughout the day. Wrote up some Christmas cards and letters. It was a GREAT DAY. Question: do you think that perhaps Christmas Cards will make a come back as people won’t be travelling as much this holiday season?

This morning Humphrey’s Mom is bringing Bogart over to stay with us while she takes her car into the shop. Bogart had some surgery yesterday. He is wearing a cone which he does not like. Thankfully he has a great Momma who had found these soft material cones for cats. So Bogart like Humphrey will not ever have to wear those hard plastic ones.

I guess today is the election for our neighbours to the south. Wonder what will happen. I read about their election and about the electoral college and all. Too much room for people to play with the results. I don’t think that the drama is over just yet. Their President seems to enjoy “drama.” Good luck United States, I hope you make the better choice.

Well I will say this again and again, I am grateful to live in this country and to be a Canadian. I am grateful to be working from home. I am grateful that our leaders both politically and medically are doing the best for us, all.

Time to head to the shower. Just going to have a lazy dazy morning until Bogart arrives and I have to work at 11:00 a.m.

Wishing you a great Tuesday. May you be safe and in good health. May you spread kindness and respect to every living creature you meet. Take care.

Living with kindness and respect, I/We shall remain, As Always, Carol & Alvin

It is a NEW YEAR

Welcome to Tuesday, a nice bright and feels not too bad out.

I just came back from picking up early morning poo.

It is very cool in the house early in the mornings and part of me wants to cave and turn the heat on.

But another part of me, says NO, just put on warmer socks and a sweater.

It is not me that I worry about it is Mr. Alvin.

I wrap him in a nice warm blanket at night and even now he is laying on his bed beside me and I brought another blanket to cover him.

He is not wriggling out so I think he is cold.

I am going to check out the long range forecast and if it does not warm up during the overnight hours, I will turn the heat back on.

With hopes that it will not be for too long.

Well yesterday I decided to take the afternoon off from work.

I was late leaving at lunch of course, there is always that “phone call.”

After I signed off, we went for a nice walk.

We chatted with our friend P as she was out putzing in her garden.

She has crocuses and pansies blooming in her garden.

So pretty ….. I love both of those flowers.

Not long after returning home, I got together my trash picking up equipment and went on my way.

I filled two big black bags with trash and most of it was from one of the nearby walkways.

I could not believe what people throw in a public place.

Can only imagine their homes.

Anyway, I picked up pieces of a dresser of all things from that walkway.

I also found a blue recycling bin full of “crap.” (not poo)

There was also pieces of metal pipe and other things strewn in one area.

So I left those things as I did not have an empty bag nor was I up to hauling that stuff home.

I did drop off that bag at home and continued down the street with the 1/2 filled second bag.

When I did get home I called the City of Edmonton and asked them to come pick up that garbage.

Unfortunately I was not quite able to finish my route as the wind started to gust and it started to rain.

Home, I went.

At least some of the trash is gone from my neighbourhood.

I will finish the other part another day.

Perhaps on the weekend.

 

We went for another walk later on when the rain stopped.

The sky is clear today and there is a breeze.

 

Well time for me to grab that coffee.

I have a lot of work to do.

Actually I worked for over one hour after our walk from before 5:30 until just after 6:30 p.m.

We are so busy.

One of our group was promoted just before we started to work from home.

She is now gone to her new job.

That leaves her portfolio to be split between the rest of us.

I am not complaining as I am VERY grateful to have a job and to be paid.

I learned yesterday from another friend that she had to take a pay cut.

The pay cut is 20%.

Something tells me that this is just the beginning of what is to come over the next couple of years as the world tries to regain economic stability.

I hope that this finds you and your family well.

I hope that you are able to eat well, pay your bills and that you are safe.

 

Time for coffee.

I hope you have an awesome Tuesday.

Tomorrow my leaking tap gets fixed, I am over the moon grateful for that bit of news.

 

Living with kindness and respect.

I/We remain,

As Always, Carol & Alvin

Thought for the day ….

Good Morning and Welcome to Monday the 15th day of April, 2019.

Well it seems to be calm outside this morning.

The exact opposite of yesterday.

The sky is clearing as the sun rises in the east.

Alvin is on his blue blanket as he rests while I write this post for my blog.

We had a busy but wonderful weekend.

We socialized, had some exercise, ate well, did some work around the house and yard, and even did some volunteer work.

Humphrey was with us on Saturday for most of the day.

My young girl friends came for coffee after Al’s Doctor/Vet visit on Saturday morning.

I raked, did laundry, made a big pot of chilli and tidied up around the house.

We had some wonderful walks including one with our friend S and Luna, the young labrador (lab).

Yesterday my daughter came for a visit and pancake breakfast.

We had a great time catching up with all of our news.

After the big breakfast and visit – I geared up to pick up trash in the neighbourhood.

I made sure to have extra disposable gloves, two big garbage bags, mini gloves and a coat with a hood and a scarf.

Once outside I decided to tie my hood up with the scarf which worked for a few minutes before the wind blew around my hood and took it down.

The wind was cold and so strong that most of the time I had to pick up trash a few times before getting it into the bag.

There were moments when I thought that I might be air borne.

Sometimes picking it up with my hand that was covered with the disposable glove.

I was almost home when I turned to see this whirlwind of dirt heading right for me.

Luckily I was able to turn and miss the face-on brunt of the impact.

Over the course of this walk one man even crossed the street to say “You are my hero for picking up trash.”

That was nice.

When almost at home I hear my name from one of my friends who was visiting at another friend’s house.

She said she did not realize it was me at first.

The wind had my hair all blown wild and crazy.

Between the scarf and my hair, I was unrecognizable.

I chatted for a moment before carrying one.

One thing to mention ….. my friend’s dog Jazmine was there and she took one look at me and turned away.

I even called out her name but she would have nothing to do with me.

Ah, I must have looked scary.

One more story.

Sometimes people drive me crazy.

I was coming around the bend toward home and this young couple crossed the street ahead of me heading to their vehicle, a truck.

When the girl got into the truck some fast food wrappers blew out.

I was right there and picked them up.

She saw this and said nothing.

How rude.

Anyway my hood is clean now except for the leaves and whatever trash blew in from elsewhere.

It was a productive weekend and Sunday.

YAY, me.

 

Well almost time to leave for work as my ride is coming early today.

I hope that you all have an awesome Monday.

Please remember that your trash is not for someone else to pick up.

Your trash is not to fill the oceans and kill the marine life.

Your trash is not meant to fill the yard of your neighbour.

Your trash is not meant to blow around parks and forests for the wildlife to eat and then slowly die.

You need to look around and be mindful.

Stop buying all those items with the multiple layers of plastic.

If we stop buying and start complaining then manufacturers will make changes.

We only have one planet.

Time to change.

This is the change that needs to happen.

Not just a change in government a change in how we live our lives.

I challenge you one and all.

What will you do?

 

Special Hello to: my friend V who was a busy girl this weekend and always (time to rest?).

Always, Caro & Alvin

 

 

Thought for the day …..

Good Morning and Welcome to Sunday the 14th day of April, 2019.

The sky is partially covered with clouds.

I am planing to go and pick up the trash in our neighbourhood as this week the street cleaners are coming.

I like to have the garbage picked up at least once before they arrive.

Then they can get the leaves, sand and dirt when they give it the spring cleaning.

My daughter mentioned she might be coming for a visit.

I have the ingredients for pancakes so I will go and prepare them in a few minutes.

Another busy day on the way.

I took Humphrey back home while Alvin and I went to his regular five week appointment at his Veterinarian.

He had his pedicure done and his ears checked and “stuff.”

Once back home, I went and picked up Humphrey and brought him back to our house.

Then put on the coffee and called the girls to come on over.

At one point Mr. Humphrey was trying to make a getaway as he started to move the rocks from beside the back gate.

I caught him in the nick of time and put the rocks back in place.

What a guy.

Now have to keep an eagle eye on him.

Had a great visit with the girls.

One of the girls surprised us with an Easter Treat.

Chocolate of course.

I am going to save mine for a bit.

After our visit with the girls; carried on with the laundry.

Raked the back yard once again and swept the deck.

Over the course of the day went for a walk with Alvin; our neighbour and the doggie that she was away looking after, Luna.

As she had come back home to spend the night.

Luna is a big LAB and is full of energy.

We only walked our new route before returning home and they continued.

Once back home I raked the front lawn and made a big pot of chilli.

After supper and the final loads of laundry.

Went to the grocery store with my neighbour.

I drove her car on her insistence.

Seemed strange but always good to keep up your driving skills.

Then back home.

We had a quiet evening.

Watching a bit of television before heading off to bed.

That is our life.

Pretty low key but I love it.

One of my favourite parts of the weekend thus far was Humphrey the Cat digging the rocks out by the fence.

He has done that at his home.

Well I guess time to get dressed and get the pancake batter made.

Ready for company?

Yes, we are.

Always.

 

I hope that you are having an exceptional weekend.

Maybe a nice relaxing mug of coffee on the deck.

A walk to your nearest park.

Snuggles with your puppy.

How about giving your puppy a massage (Alvin likes his neck and upper back massaged).

Maybe you raked your lawn.

Finished all the laundry yesterday so that you can walk today.

Reach out to a friend or loved one.

Reading your favourite book.

Cleaning out your closets and preparing bags for charity.

Happy Sunday.

Have an awesome day.

 

Special Hello to: all the women in my life ….. my daughter, my sister, my aunt, cousins and friends and co-workers.

Always, Carol & Alvin

Thought for the day …..

Good Morning and Welcome to Tuesday the 6th day of September, 2016.

The long weekend is over and it is back to work for me and many others.

It would appear that it rained overnight.

I thought that I heard it rain last night.

Well it was an extremely productive weekend for me.

I accomplished everything from laundry to mowing the front and back lawn to defrosting the fridge to picking up trash in the neighbourhood.

Busy but good.

It was nice to have so much time with Alvin, too.

After waking up to cool temperatures in the house and it not climbing after several hours, I broke down and turned on the heat.

With the temperatures being the mid teens this weeks it would have been too cool for the boy.

During the self imposed break from writing I did not plan on where I wanted to go from here.

So it will just evolve over time.

I guess that is a decision that I must make.

I am debating whether or not to catch the earlier bus this morning.

My regular time is back on the schedule.

Back on schedule because the kids are back to school and they added more times to the routes.

YAY.

It will be good in the winter when the bus is usually running a few minutes late.

I do not want to be late for work.

It leaves every 15 minutes so I have wiggle room.

 

I was inspired to write more poetry so that is for certain.

Something that can be done anywhere ….

Just have to have a pen and paper with me.

I hope that you had a great weekend.

Time to go and finish getting ready.

Thank you for reading this post and my blog.

 

Special Hello to: all my friends and family.

Always, Carol and Alvin

 

Thought for the day……

Thought for this day……

I just spent the most glorious Thanksgiving Day…..

Started with breakfast with my daughter followed by a photo shoot (photos of me and Alvin for Christmas)……

Enjoying this gorgeous autumn weather.

Coffee with my girl……

Picked up trash (Capital City Cleanup) from my neighbourhood (now picture perfect)………

Thanksgiving supper with my kids and the puppies (yummy supper)……..

Followed by relaxing walk with my Alvin (ahhh) ……..

Then coffee with my neighbours fresh back from a mini break to Jasper …….

Then snuggled with my Alvin on the sofa and watched one of my favourite new shows (Body of Proof)….

Then bedtime ……..

What a perfect day …..

I hope that you had a perfect day …

The weather was amazing ….. we are so blessed.

Have a great day ….

Always, Carol