Back breaking work and finally super weather

Finally, this is the weather we have all been waiting for.  A whopping 27C/80F today!  As per my observation all neighbors were out in the garden this afternoon doing some type of garden work or tinkering with their lawnmowers.  I had to do some grocery shopping today and needless to say, so did everyone else so it took longer than I liked. That is half a day wasted running around and standing in line. In the afternoon we were outside working in the garden.

Last week we rented a “Ground Hog” or trencher you can call it too.  That beast was too heavy for us to pick up so we had it delivered to the house.  Benno wanted to run PVC conduits underground from the exterior house wall to where the new shed will be built for the power cable.  From past experiences we knew that digging anywhere on our property would be a major undertaking because our soil consists of mostly clay.  When it’s dry it is hard as rock and when its wet the consistency is like molasses or rather a lot of muck. 

I started by removing a patch of gravel from the walkway next to the house. Then I cut the landscaping mat underneath it so I could start digging to remove the clay to about a foot deep.  Next I had to transplant several plants in my flowerbed because the conduit would run underneath it and I had to dig through that too.  That job took me half a day to finish and my back hurt afterwards.

Benno thought that this “Ground Hog” would make the job easy as it is supposed to be self-propelled, but far from it.  For several weeks we’ve had so much moisture saturating the grass that the ground was very damp and this trencher got already stuck after just a few feet of digging.  Boy oh boy, did we wrestle with this gooey mess.  Benno pulled and dragged this machine more than it could labor on its own through the clay.  Every few feet he stopped the machine so that I could scrape the wheel free of the accumulated muck and from underneath the machine and the teethed clay eating chain, so we could continue. Benno said it sticks like shit! (Pardon this expression)

When the trench was done, Benno glued the PVC conduits together and we buried them in the ground. I put a yellow tape marked “caution” over the pipe and filled the dirt back on top of it.  Only half of the dirt piles would fit into the cavity and we had to dispose of the rest.  My flowerbed and the gravel walkway were last to be refilled.  When all was done I was totally bushed.  Two-thirds into the digging Benno had remembered to go and get gloves to protect his hands, but by that time he already sported two big blisters on the insides of his hands.  And then we had to clean up the “Ground Hog” trencher with the pressure washer, which was quite a job, because it was totally caked up with clay. Then I called the rental company to come and pick it back up.

Next morning I inspected our handiwork and “Oh No!” I noticed that when I had covered the PVC conduit next to the house I must have somehow moved the pipe to it now ran crooked at an angle from the junction box to the ground.  I had to dig it all up again to make it right.  Crap!

While I was on my knees digging in the flowerbed this Robin bird stayed with me the whole time eying every shovel full of dirt for a potential earthworm to snatch up.  I finally went inside to get my camera and he came so close he almost bumped into me while I took his picture.

We will keep you informed, so check back in! There is more to come!
Wishing everyone a very Happy Easter! Marlene and Benno

Good News & Waiting For Spring Weather

My Dad was discharged from the hospital yesterday afternoon.  That is great news.  In his mind he’s good as new and ready to take on the world.  I believe he thought he could drive his car home ;-) The reality is that he’s not allowed to drive for 6 months. In addition, he’s got a small prescription list for medication that he must now take and he is scheduled to go for three weeks to a rehabilitation facility starting in about two weeks time.  That coincides with my sister’s departure for Canada.  My Mom, who has also health issues, will accompany my Dad for the duration of his treatment and hopes that she will also be able to receive some physiotherapy for her ailments at that clinic.  This pretty much dictates my travel time, which I will match to their return from rehab.  So it looks like sometime mid May that I’ll be away for a few weeks. 

All the RVers out there know that it is difficult or not practical to have houseplants when you are away from home for any length of time.  We did not have any plants until my birthday either, but Benno liked this orchid so much when he was out to purchase my birthday flowers, that he decided to get it for me.  It is lovely.  The next day it dropped a flower and another the following day, which had me in a panic.  Thank goodness for all the info on the Internet, however it can be confusing, too.  One website advises to water the flower every three days, another instructs to run water through the pot once a week and yet another said to submerge the pot for 15 min. in water.  Time will tell, but no more dropped flowers so far and I keep my fingers crossed to enjoy it for a long time.

We were going to start with the foundation of the new shed but the weather down here in southern Canada has been a bit disappointing this spring to say the least.  Today it’s 8C/46 F with a bit of sun. However, the ground is so saturated from the rain we’ve had in the past weeks it still goes squish squash when I’m walking on the grass and it would be easier to create a pond instead. The forecast for Friday calls for snow showers.  It’s alreadyApril, for heavens sake!  

This was how it looked a few weeks ago

The birds, it seems, don’t mind what goes on weather wise.  On the front lawn there must be a good supply of earth-worms.  If only these birds would pick the weeds for me!  Next to the garage under the overhang, facing east, we have a birdhouse.  I’m delighted that a bird pair has decided to build their nest in it.  Maybe it’s the same couple from last year?  Who knows?  I hope to take more pictures of them and maybe the offspring without disturbing them too much.

How about a determined squirrel?

Mom & Dad and our busy life

My faithful readers might be wondering when a new post will appear.  Since we came home everything we do revolves around our home base.  So I will tell you a bit about the things that happened and what we are doing right now.

First off, tomorrow, Monday April 3^rd is my parents’ 69^th Wedding Anniversary. They live in Germany! I wish them happiness and many more returns.  Sadly though, my Dad, who is 92 years old, suffered a stroke last week and he is still hospitalized so the celebration will be somewhat brief when my Mom, who is 89 years of age, and is suffering from several ailments that hinder her mobility, goes to visit him.  On the brighter side, my sister has flown to Germany to help out. She is a Registered Dietician who knows a lot more about these things than I do. But most importantly Benno’s brother Harald and sister-in-law Jutta, were visiting my parents when it happened. Jutta had been a RN during her professional life and due to her quick reaction to get him immediately via ambulance to the hospital, my Dad’s recovery is good.  I mention this, because I will be flying out to Germany for a few weeks to assist my parents after my sister’s return to Canada. 

I took the below picture of my parents in 2008 when they were celebrating their 60^th wedding anniversary.  Benno and I had flown to Germany from Panama for the occasion meanwhile leaving our boat in the Shelter Bay Marina waiting for our return and to resume our travel around South America.

Since coming home Benno had been immersing himself into a few projects that involved the use of his new lathe so I didn’t get to see much of him for several days.  I could tell he had fun creating these items and I’m totally amazed at the transformation from a chunk of metal to a gleaming new article. Next time he makes something we will remember to take pictures of before and after! 

Our oldest granddaughter, 7-year-old Heidi had a school project that could use our help.  The class had been studying People and Environments and Global Communities. A story they read involved a Flat Stanley. In the story, Stanley is flattened by a falling bulletin board. He doesn’t seem to mind and neither do his parents. The incident proves to be convenient, economical and fun. In the story, Stanley is mailed on vacations, rolled up like wallpaper, and flown like a kite.  In class, the students made their own version of Flat Stanley and we received a Flat Heidi in the mail.  Our chore now involved taking Flat Heidi to interesting sites around our area, telling her about the community and answering many questions before sending her on her way back to her school.

I have included a couple of pictures of our assignment, which, by the way, took us to several nice outings.  That was a great way to get us out of the house.

In the fall last year we had purchased a piece of property from our neighbors. We have a chain-link fence dividing these properties and this fence will have to be taken down.  However, there is no rush to it, but we would like to put up another shed on the new property and this project will take some time.  Over the last few days we have had a lot of rain with standing water all over the place so the ground is pretty soggy.  Benno decided to get the project started today by removing part of the fence so we have direct access to the property instead of going there from the street.  This whole new job of making the foundation and building the shed and new fence I’ll probably document right here for any of our readers that might be interested to follow along. So keep reading.

While Benno did the digging, I decided today was a good day to make some German type Cabbage Rolls.  You know you can’t just make a couple, at least it wouldn’t be practical, so here we are, just two people and 14 cabbage rolls!

Please keep checking my blog.  Hopefully there will be better news next time and I thank everyone for your patience so far.  

All that hype for nothing

The weather forecasters should be embarrassed, at least at this time. OK, we live 460 feet from the shore of Lake Erie and the lake has a different influence in our weather, but where are the 2 feet/50 cm of predicted snowfall?  Some newscasters called it the mother of all snowstorms!  It was going to be bad and in my mind I ran through all of my food storage. Should I quickly make a run to the supermarket and clean out the canned food shelf?  We had planned to drive up to our son and daughter-in-law's house in Waterdown by Burlington on Wednesday to pick up our forwarded mail, a 580KM/362 miles trip, but had changed our mind quickly because of the predicted snowstorm and instead made the run ahead of time on Sunday and back the same day. Benno was in panic to gas up our snow blower and get it ready for the storm because we had it put away in my shed and covered up before we had left for Florida.  He didn’t need to worry. First of all it started up fine and secondly, it’s still waiting to be put into action as of this time. Ha!

Yep, that is all the snow we got!

The snow blower is waiting to be put into use

One neighbour had his big snow plough on standby

The other neighbour dragged his snowmobile out, just in case!

At least the dogs had fun

So this forecast turned out to be a bummer and no excitement event. The record snowfall blew by, missed us, no mother… and no 2ft./50 centimeter!!! However, last Wednesday we had strong winds with forecasts of 100km/60miles gusts and that time the forecasters were right on. It was windy all right. Everything that wasn’t tied down sailed through the air. Our street is a cul-de-sac ending at a cornfield. Last fall, after harvest, it was not ploughed and the loose corn stover (the residue left on the field) took off in the wind and came to rest in our chain link fence. I took a picture during the day but should have waited until the next morning when the fence was totally covered with the debris. 

That fence was totally covered the next morning

We had been warned that in such strong winds power outages could occur and that is what happened.  In the afternoon we had some shopping to do in Windsor. On the drive home in the evening we noticed that most houses were in the dark but hoped that our area would be spared.  My hopes were dashed when I didn’t see any streetlights lit the closer we got to our home.  So out came the 2000W Honda Generator from our camper’s basement the minute we arrived back home.  We are so glad to have it.  Since we bought this little gen set three years ago we have used it here at the house more than when we are traveling with our camper.  Living in a rural area there are more chances for the power to go out than in the city.  This little Honda generator is not big enough to cover all of our power needs, but it feeds the refrigerator and freezer, we have some lights, the blower motor of the natural gas furnace that heats the house stays on, and the wifi is operational. Not bad, right!

For cooking I can just pop into the camper and use the propane stove/oven if the power stays off for any lengths of time and our TV needs are covered, too.

The generator is ready to use anytime

Since coming back home I have been busying myself with house chores, trips into town for various shopping needs and even some cleanup in the garden.  But Benno had disappeared into the garage not to be seen for days with a big smile on his face.  The reason for it is that new toy he acquired in Florida.  So, if you didn’t read the comments, the secret is out that after so many years of fulltime cruising in our boat, followed by building this house, he finally bought himself a metal lathe (not to turn wood) again. Most of his life he owned a well equipped commercial shop where he enjoyed creating electronic and mechanical things, especially for our sailboat and motor vessel in addition to his business of repairing and modifying printing and bookbinding machinery equipment.  Although I know Benno will be happily occupied for a while, it’s not the end of the song and soon here might be more men toys joining this one to keep him out of my hair when I’m in the garden.

This was back in Florida

I couldn't post this pic before or it would have been obvious that it's a lathe