Saturday.

It's been raining most of today. We went to a yard sale this morning and we both came away with a couple of books each. Then, as we were going by the greenhouses I figured I might as well pick up a few more annuals plus some tomato plants. Still can't put any of the annuals I've bought over this past few weeks in the ground or pots yet. The danger of frost is still real although they say that there is a full moon in about a week so after that it should be safe.

We still haven't painted the house yet but I'm getting anxious to get it done and over with now. A picture of the colours. Unfortunately the picture doesn't show them as they really are. What looks like black is really a very dark brownish/purple and what looks like yellow is really a creamy colour. And the red is not that dark and red looking. We might just try to get two women in the area who do odd jobs to give us a hand. We're still thinking about that. Then a friend suggested that we throw a party and give everyone a paint brush, lol.


So many birds coming back and forth to the feeders and lots of bird song in early morning and at dusk. The grey jays must be nesting nearby as they've been back and forth as well and I hadn't seen them since last year. I might have told this story before.....when I first brought Roger here, one day he was sitting on the deck having a sandwich for lunch. I was inside for some reason when he comes running in yelling that I wouldn't believe him but a Woodpecker had jumped on his arm and was tearing off bits of the sandwich he was holding in his hand. I, of course, didn't think it was a Woodpecker so I went back outside with him. There it is, he said. I had to laugh, it was a Grey Jay. They are so friendly and will hop on your hand to take food from your palm.

I was outside early a couple of evenings ago hoping to find some bugs to take pictures of, no luck! I did see something fly up in one of the trees and on further inspection, saw that it was a grouse.



Blue jay on bird bath.

They say that a picture......

is worth a thousand words.


And still falling!

Sunday.

I've been so busy that I've almost forgotten that I have this blog, lol. I've just about finished most of the work in the garden if one can say it's ever finished. Still odds and ends to do but not a lot of heavy work. I can't complain about the weather although we did have a hard frost last night and some annuals that I had planted, I know, I know, far too early to do that here but one does get excited about getting them in the ground, anyway they were wiped out last night. Thankfully I had most of them still in the flats in the greenhouse and they with stood the frost well.

I've had a bit of a problem with my pictures lately, after they are taken off the camera. All due to a big heavy orange cat stomping across the key board while I was in irfanView looking at pictures I'd just taken off. Either then or when I was taking pictures off camera. I'm going to have to send out a plea for help soon as I can't figure out how to fix it but I'm too tired at the moment to go into it all. Will have to wait for another post.

We did have some rain overnight a few nights ago so I took some pictures of the jewels on some of the plants.









Flutter today.



A friend told me about a garden sign her daughter saw in a shop. She told me what it said and I thought, I can do that......so here it is!

Blue Skies Smilin at Me........

What a weekend we've had. Sunny and warm. We had some friends here yesterday afternoon for wine, iced tea and snacks on the deck. It was a grand afternoon. In fact it got so hot we had to get umbrellas for a couple of people. The birds were about and at one point there was an eagle circling overhead. Although I got the camera out, it was much too high up to get a good shot. This morning himself asked me if I had gotten any pictures of the friends that were here.....erm, I never think of taking pictures of people. As you can see from these pictures, the sky was a beautiful blue.




Today I've been busy in the garden. Trying to get more weeding done and I'm starting to see some day light shinning through. What seemed like such an awesome task a few weeks ago is now looking like I've made strides. A friend phoned and asked if I wanted some asparagus roots. I said yes and now have them planted. Then I saw a white butterfly so ran inside to get the camera and was following it around for ages wishing it to land. In fact I was so intent on keeping an eye on it while walking behind it that I ran smack into a rose bush. Good thing I had long sleeves on as the thorns were stuck to my arms. It finally landed a couple of times and I managed some shots. Also got a picture of a fly. Not sure but it might be a hover fly.

Beluga Whale Evening

I was having a lovely bath last night after a hard days work when the phone rang. Himself answered and yelled that it was our friends calling saying there was a Beluga Whale down by the fish plant. Well, there was nothing for it but to grab the camera and set off. That's after getting dried and dressed of course. lol.

We met the friends there and they had taken pictures prior to our arriving. I only got one picture before it swam off.

My friend trying to get it to bring it's head above water. It's very friendly and will play with people.

It obviously saw or heard this barge going off with left over crab processing stuff.

The whale was there as the men slowed the barge down and were looking into the water for some time.


We then came back here for a coffee when all of a sudden there was a crow attacking a raven. The raven was at least twice the size of the crow but you can't tell from the picture. Like a friend said once, "They're as big as dogs." , lol

These are just a few of the pictures my friends husband took.

Sunny and Warm Wednesday

What a day we had yesterday. Just like summer. We started early and finished up bringing stuff to the road for pick up and just as well as they started coming around after lunch to get it.

A while back I bought some spray paint for plastic as I have a white plastic outdoor table which I hadn't used in some time and six white chairs that I only hauled out when I had more guests than I had chairs for. The reason for not using these items is that over the years they've gotten stained, grotty and horrible to look at. Oh yes, and a white serving cart on wheels. The only colour paint I could get out of the very few colours that were available and that appealed to me was red. So, as it was a lovely day with very little wind, I figured now is the time to do this. I took the legs off the table, put a sheet of plastic down and started spraying the table top. After three coats the colour was still see through pink. I couldn't see it getting any better even if I used up all of the two cans I bought. Frustrated, I said to himself, "That's the end of that nonsense, I'm finished with it." It was playing on my mind while I was doing other things when a light bulb went on in my head......maybe I should check on the internet how to clean this furniture, duh!!
I read, if I mixed up 50% bleach and 50% water, sprayed the furniture in the sun all the grotty stuff will come off like magic. Sure it will I sarcastically said to myself. Ok, ok, I'm talking to myself now, might as well give it a go. I did, it worked like magic, didn't even have to wipe, just spray. Wow, it was unreal. So, now I have what looks like brand new furniture. lol

This is the May 24th. holiday weekend coming up. Victoria day. Yes, I know it's not the 24th. of May until another week but that's how it's done here. Go figure! This is the first weekend of the season when people go camping and to their cottages, etc. Now, most Victoria Day long weekends it either snows or rains and is bitterly cold. According to the long range forecast this year, it's suppose to be warm and sunny all weekend. So, if this is indeed the case, Saturday afternoon I might ask a few friends here for wine and snacks on the deck.

I'm all set to paint the back deck this morning when it warms up. Cleaned everything off it and hosed it down yesterday. Might as well take advantage of the lovely day.

A few pictures taken yesterday.

It's Snowing.....

But five members of the family know what to do with their time.

It's been a busy week. I'm pleased with the amount I've gotten done in the garden, still more to do of course, isn't there always! Things are popping up all over and according to my mother who knows about these things, the garden is two to three weeks ahead this year. We didn't have as much snow this winter as we usually do and we've also been having a lot of warmer days than usual.

It seems that most of the birds have paired off. A lot of them come as a couple. Interesting to watch them chase each other about. Two squirrels as well so guess they are probably nesting nearby. The crows are back and forth more than usual. They are usually waiting in the morning for me to come out with their food. Yesterday I was outside watching two of them and one was making the strangest noise. I'd never heard anything like it before. Almost a thrilling sound but not quite, I simply can't describe it. Then the other crow would groom the head of the one making the strange sounds.

We went to the library yesterday afternoon and on returning home we saw two grouse on the property, male and female and the male was drumming. We were very close to them before they saw us and flew off into the woods.

Clean up week is coming up so we've also been busy taking stuff we want to get rid of down to the road for pick up. The weather has been wet this past two days but I'm hoping to get that all finished by early next week. And....we've gotten word that the bears are out and about now. This means being watchful when outside.

Iris's popping up.


A little bit of colour starting to show up.



Chick a dee.


Got to go, I can hear the crows outside asking each other what's making her inside late with breakfast.

Busy Weekend

I finally got a good two days out in the garden. The body is a wreck but heigh ho, isn't that what it's all about, lol. It's so good when you can look back on a days work and feel satisfied that it was well worth it.

It's been a frustrating number of days with regards to the computer. It was taking so long to get to any of the blogs I read that I just gave up. I found out that it was the server I use but they now seem to have things fixed up and everything is back to normal.

Last week Roger had to have a tooth pulled. Not that it was bad, the problem was that there was an infection around the root and it wouldn't clear up with antibiotics. So, out it came! He's very nervous about himself when he has something wrong which I have to say drives me mad at times. He's had me check out his mouth three times a day with a flashlight and magnifying glass. Then this morning he weighed himself as he does every Monday morning and saw that he had lost three pounds. He was sitting at the kitchen table figuring he had some dreaded disease when it struck him that it was probably because of the pain he was in with the tooth and he wasn't doing his daily walks.

I've just finished washing the laundry and put a pair of summer pants, beige in colour in with a bit of bleach.....they are now pink! I'm now off to the great outdoors.

White Throated Sparrow.



This flutter??? is fairly small and while it looks white in the photo, it was a pale blue when flying around.


My friend the Crow.