2021

Good Morning ALL! How are you this Monday morning? I hope that you are well and doing the things that you love. Alvin and I had a good night. I will admit that some Sunday nights I find it hard to turn off the “thoughts” and fall asleep. This was one of those night. We had a good day yesterday. Full of surprises. Early in the morning as it was raining I ran outside to move the downspout (I have a flexible one) as I had remembered that it was turned facing the area in between ours houses. When I went out to move it – I noticed to my surprise that the end stone retaining wall around the flower bed at the front of the house was falling over. It was close to coming down. I made a mental note and would come out and properly assess the situation once the rain was over and it was light outside. I finished some chores in the house and later in the morning, I collected some tools like a shovel, mini raking tool and a large pail and my heavy duty gardening gloves donned my spring jacket and my shoes and headed outside. Oh and I also opened the front window and pulled up the blinds so that Alvin could see and hear me. Out to work I went. I quickly realized the job ahead. I had forgotten about the heavy stones under the top couple of layers of flat rocks that were about two inches by 10 inches. Luckily I was strong enough to remove most of the wall. I had gone to ask the advice of my neighbour and her friend who agreed that the stones come down and have to move the dirt away from the styrofoam covered with black cloth to move it back into position. So digging I started after removing all but the bottom row of stones which is also semi buried in stones that cover the area in between our homes. These stones would be much hard to remove as I would have to move the stones first. ARGH. Also after doing some digging I realized that some of my plants would have to be removed and some had deep thick roots. At point I figured that it would be easier to dig being up in the flower bed so up I went. I dug out all the plants thinking maybe this is the perfect opportunity to start over again. Last year the plants were beginning to look bedraggled. After I dug them up I continued to dig up the dirt by the end of the wall and after two hours, I was done. I took the pail of plants and a garbage bag that I had semi filled and put them in the backyard. Then I grabbed two more garbage bags and divided them accordingly so that it would not be so heavy and placed the bags into the garage. Put away the tools (actually left the shovel by the front door hidden behind the bench, partial out of sight. So I think it will likely take me a couple of days after work to finish this project. I see some physical work ahead. Good exercise. I definitely used some muscles that I do not often use.

After I had finished cleaning things up, I went into the house to have a small snack and a bit of coffee. Alvin had some treats, too. I sat down on the sofa and felt so sleepy that I decided to have a nap. Two hours give or take I woke up and it was almost four o’clock. Yikes. Felt so much better. I worked on a few things around the house before giving Alvin his supper and once he was done – we headed out for a walk. I was happy that when we got to Pauline and Al’s house, I found Al and his grandpup Georgie outside on the patio along with his grandson. Then when she heard my voice, Pauline appeared followed by her daughter. So we had a good chat from the fence. I filled her in on receiving my first vaccine and the story along with my “flower bed wall” situation. We decided to get together sometime this week after work and go for a walk.

After our chat, we continued on our way. I cannot believe how much new grass has sprouted and how many buds there are on the trees. Still waiting for my tree to bud.

Well it is getting late and I have to turn on the coffee and get to work. Alvin needs to go outside.

I hope that you have a wonderful Monday.

Continuing to live this life with kindness, respect, compassion and patience.

Always, with Love Carol & Alvin

Living … One day at a time.

Hello,

What a beautiful morning today.

Bright blue sky with the odd fluffy grey white clouds dotting the sky.

Okay there are some bigger grey clouds but I believe that they are going to dissipate shortly.

The grass is this amazing green.

Everything is picture perfect.

The plants in my front flower garden are growing so fast.

 

Alvin enjoyed Humphrey’s company last night.

Some photos to share, of course.

The boys were outside in the backyard.

Alvin had come into the house but of course when I went out to see what Humphrey was doing in the back flower garden; he had to come along.

Except for work; Alvin is not far away from me.

Humphrey was sitting on the retaining wall for the back garden.

Which I may add is starting to look amazing.

Perhaps I have a green thumb after all.

Who knew?

Both Humphrey and Alvin appeared to be in detective mode.

Humphrey was starring and checking things out.

It took a while for me to figure out what he was so intent about ….

If you look ever so close you will see a little black bug.

He would go to catch it and the bug would run for cover.

Most of the time Humphrey just watched the little black bug go back and forth between the slabs of rock.

I could watch these boys forever.

Alvin was checking out something in the grass.

I thought that his black and white coat looked so handsome against the green grass.

Of course, I just had to snap a photo of the deck.

My flowers in the pots are beginning to take off as well.

Humphrey will be joining us this evening as well.

Always, look forward to have Alvin’s friends to visit.

 

I have a slight dilemma ….

The pergola over my deck was not built very well.

It was already here when I moved in ….

They did not use treated wood so the wood is beginning to burn black.

I am thinking of having it removed in the fall before winter.

It will likely last for a few years ( I checked with a friend ).

With or without?

That is the question.

I would appreciate your thoughts and comments.

 

Well almost time to head out for the day.

I guess my positive thinking did not remove those darker grey clouds.

Oh well, rain is a good thing.

Things were pretty dry around here.

 

Time to go as I have to put together a birthday gift for tomorrow.

It is the birthday of my walking buddy tomorrow.

Just in case she is able to go tonight – I want to have a little something for her.

 

I wish you sunshine and rainbows.

Be kind to your fellow humans, to every living creature and to the environment.

If we all work together ….. life will be grand for all.

Happy Wednesday.

 

Always, Carol & Alvin

Thought for the day …..

Good Morning and Welcome to Monday the 22nd day of October, 2018.

Well here we are back and Monday once again.

I guess that is a good thing compared to the alternative.

What a beautiful afternoon we had yesterday.  SO wArM.

I had an interesting and not quite as planned yesterday afternoon.

My friend came over to help/assist me in replacing two of the upper boards on my fence.

Upon further inspection (meaning when he went to pull off the boards) …. he found that some of the vertical boards were rotten.

Part of this comes from the way that the fence was built.

They left a opening at the top where all of the moisture could sit and eventually rot the wood.

SO yay.

Decided that as I did not have the boards to replace them right away that it would be a spring project.

My friend secured the boards that had loosened, the ones that we were going to replace with screws.

So Project #1 for next spring.

Then we set to work, well actually he set to work on making a trap door on the deck to access the dryer vent.

He loosened the board closest to the house so that he could find the exact location of the vent.

Voile located it.

Next step was to saw a couple of boards and ended up making a trap door.

So nifty.

The handle is off to the side behind one of the posts that hold up the pergola.

The handle is made with a screw.

When our friend first turned on the saw …. Alvin started to go to him as he thought he was in danger.

I quickly snagged Mr. Alvin as that would not have been a good scene.

I ended up with a cool trap door.

My friend’s wife ended up coming over and we chatted throughout the door making process.

Also found a few screws on the deck and tightened them.

We chatted about the other side of the fence which is leaning in to my side due in part to the stone/dirt garden wall on the other side and because they did not properly anchor the posts.

Project #2.

Project #3 will be replacing most of the deck closet to the house.

Project #4 will be clear staining the deck (suggested by my friend).

Inside of a couple of hours, I have my spring all lined up with projects.

Will have to work hard at petting sitting, selling Steeped Tea and NORWEX to pay for all of these projects.

But they will have to be done.

No doubt about it.

I am so grateful to have such good, no great friends.

 

After that outside, my friend looked at one of my kitchen chairs as one of the legs has loosened.

He will fix it later.

Then up to the bathroom to fix the drain assembly.

He had an extra assembly in the van (imagine that) but it needed one little part that was not included.

So that will be another day.

 

After they left for home, we left for a walk.

Whew what an afternoon.

Some projects finished but most outlined for the fall.

YIKES.

 

Well it is almost time to leave for work.

It was not easy getting up this morning.

Too much dreaming.

 

Have an awesome day.

So grateful for good friends.

Are you?

 

Special Hello to: my little brother who is setting off on new projects…..happy blogging.

Always, Carol & Alvin

Thought for the day ….

Good Morning and Welcome to Saturday the 29th day of August, 2015.

Wow, can you believe it …. only two days left till the end of August.

I do love the end of summer and the months that follow named “AUTUMN.”

The colours …. the air …. mmm.

Well I had an interesting day yesterday.

Mr. Alvin had some mysterious illness.

He wouldn’t even eat some banana in the morning …. his eyes were glazed.

Definitely not feeling good.

Just over one hour after we got up he tried to throw up but did not.

He yelped whenever he jumped off the sofa.

I booked an appointment with the vet and by the time we could get in he was almost back to himself.

It scares me when he is not feeling well ….. if he could talk ….

I didn’t want to leave him alone ….. after all he is my baby.

Later in the afternoon my daughter and grand-pups dropped by.

They had been to an appointment with the vet (we go to the same one).

Poor Penny did not have a great report.

Elton is doing good.

With our Miss P …. well I am certain that with medicine and perhaps change in diet she will be okay.

She is a strong girl.

I popped out for groceries … borrowed the car.

They stayed for supper ….

After supper my neighbours down the street popped by to drop off their shop vac so that I can finish cleaning the dust from the dry wall.  I already wiped the walls down but there is yet another coat of dust so will wipe down again and then use the shop vac.  Hopefully soon I will be able to move everything back into that room.

We also debated about my tree.

The roots have decided to come to the surface.

Now this did not happen over night.

Unfortunately for me, I did not realize what it was until this year.

I do remember bits of something hard coming to the surface and then breaking through.

But it never occurred to me that it was the roots of the tree until this summer.

Anyway my neighbour went back to his house and got his axe.

We had a good laugh about him carrying the axe down the street (he put it in a garbage bag for transport).

He joked about how strong my swing was …..

We chopped the roots that were closest to the sidewalk at the front porch and the one closest to the retaining wall at my flower bed.  Pulled them out.

I will probably have to cut the tree down in the spring and rip up the lawn to pull up the roots which are all over the place.

They really seemed to have grown this year.

I guess I will be landscaping in the spring.

After we chopped and pulled some roots we all went for a walk … Mr Alvin, too.

It was a perfect evening.

So what a day.

Well I am having company for coffee shortly so better go and have a shower.

Mr. Alvin gets a hair cut today and bath.

Lots to do.

The sky is hazy here with smoke.

Blocking out the brightness of the sun’s rays.

I am grateful at the end of the day that I have good friends and family.

I am grateful for this beautiful weather.

I am very grateful that Alvin is feeling better.

I am grateful that Miss Penny will be feeling better soon and that Elton is good.

My grand-pups…..

Enjoy your Saturday.

Keep your eyes open and question things that are out of the ordinary.

I wished that I would have mentioned those hard spots in the ground sooner.

Alas …. that is life.

Everything happens for a reason.

Special Hello to: all of my friends and family everywhere and thank you.

Always, Carol and Alvin