11/09/09
Oct 25 (Sun): A just reward for working hard all weekend:
And one of my jobs yesterday was to clean the inside of the glass on the wood stove. Not until I was done did we realize just how dirty it had got in a relatively short amount of burning time. I'll have to stay on top of that better. But when I was done, it was like there was no glass at all - awesome.
This morning, Andy took me to Cora's for an early birthday treat. My family party that was scheduled for this afternoon had to be postponed a week due to illness all around. Andy was off work Monday through Thursday due to a cold, Ben was off school a few days due to fever and cough, Grace missed a day, and then late in the week Scot and Dad started coming down with colds. I also am battling a sore throat and am occasionally plugged up and Mom's feeling off. After Cora's, we waited for Canadian Tire to open as they had a couple ceiling lights on sale that we wanted, one for the office (so we can actually see in there - don't know why the previous owners had such a low wattage one in there) and one for the downstairs hall ('cause it's just ugly). Then I worked on housework while Andy worked outside. She was cleaning the lawnmower after doing a final cut yesterday and running the gas out, and I took a break to help as we finally got the pool/bag of water folded up properly and even managed to get it to fit into the chosen box! (a minor miracle)
Then we took a trip out to Mom and Dad's to pick up some firewood. The trees en route were fabulous.
They're not so bad on our own streets either.
We took the last of the wood that Dad wanted to get rid of but also spotted a couple downed trees behind their property that we hope to go back and scoop. Dad's chainsaw is broken, but we've been looking at them for a few weeks anyway with a plan to buy our own.
We also did a bit more winterizing today - with the lawnmower now cleaned, Andy could start packing the shed (it had to go in before anything else).
Then after a much needed nap, she set to work on crayon removal.
It's coming along. A crayon had got underneath one of the kids car seats one time when we had them and got ground into the upholstery. Andy has been frustrated by this for ages, but found a tip online to remove it with WD-40.
And before the sun set, we broke out the Halloween decorations.
Yesterday was also jam packed with chores and errands. As well as the cleaning of the wood stove glass & grass cutting, I cleaned the oven and helped Andy change the ceiling fan above the upstairs landing. We'd never liked the one that was here when moved in plus it wobbled terribly. Turns out it was on some kind of ball pivot, but still......a wobbly ceiling fan is just too scary. There were lots of other smaller jobs too and we made the mistake of waiting till midday to go to Costco and Sears. Both stores and parking lots were insane! Then it was great to watch an entire Canucks game in the evening - and they won. Their game was on early because Toronto was playing them (in Vancouver) and the Toronto games always get the 7 o'clock time slot. Otherwise we get the occasional Canucks game at 10 and only ever manage to stay awake through the first period. Was especially sweet to watch them beat the Leafs.
But what a lovely weekend, cool but sunny - especially after how rainy and windy it was on Friday.
Thursday was Mumsy's birthday - hope you got our ecard and voicemail! She has already received our gift - some berry bushes for their garden.
Oct 18 (Sun): So, it was confirmed that my Aunt Debbie died from an almighty seizure. Nobody could have helped her. At age 9:
The family is relieved she didn't drown. Wednesday, several of us went to the funeral home while the arrangements were made and then we viewed her before she was taken to the crematorium. We will bury her ashes beside Grama and Grandpa on November 7th. The obituary is a bit of a book, but the family wanted to take the opportunity to spread some info on epilepsy. http://www.lifenews.ca/thespec/profile/58051--dukes-deborah-lynn-debbie
So, I forgot a couple pictures last week. The pool continued to come down....
I guess it was time for it to go if you can see the hint in this next picture....
And Andy and I had traded jobs, so she got to feel the power.....
Thursday night, we met up with Sean and his son, Pat, to go to see a performer we know from our radio days, Jim Witter.
It was the 3rd annual "Concert for a Cause", raising research money for ALS, Autism, Cancer, Leukemia and MS. It was an excellent show called "Feeling Groovy" - a tribute to Simon & Garfunkel. We both really enjoyed it - and to our absolute amazement, there was a 7 year old boy there who has had 96 chemo treatments, weekly. Holy cow!!!!!!!
Yesterday morning, we were thrilled to have what we hope is the first of many Skype hook-ups with Georgina and Tim in Australia. It was a fantastic connection, clear with no lag. There's a 12 hour time difference, so it was 8 pm for them, but only 8 am for us. They got to see us with bed head, lucky people.
After hanging up with them, Andy gave her parents a call, then we headed off to Lowe's as insulation was not only on sale, but: we got a $30 gift card for spending over $150, there was a $35 mail-in rebate when you bought at least 8, and the purchase also qualifies for the Federal Home Renovation Tax Credit. We took both vehicles as we had an adventure getting this stuff home when we first bought some last year to do the bedroom side of the house. This batch will go over the kitchen, dining & living rooms. The first 8 packs:
We fit these in the car and SUV pretty easily (sweeeet), so went back in and got another 3. For now they are stored in the attic until Andy feels up to laying them properly.
After putting them up in the attic, then draining and cleaning out the rain barrel, Andy was pretty much toast. She's got a cold, so is pretty tired and plugged up.
Today Andy rested all day and she's still looking pretty rough. She totally missed out on coming to my work's annual fall family gathering, this year at Puddicombe Farms & Winery in Winona. Ben missed out too. He had a fever Friday morning and Monica kept him home from school. By noon he was feeling better and following her around asking to go to school. But then yesterday he was bad again, and still today. In fact, he wasn't even getting up to watch cartoons! Monica is pretty sure there's a bout of bronchitis about to hit.
So, it was just me, Mom, Scot, and Grace.
Even thought it only got up to 9o today, we were very happy to sit out in the sun, near the fire, eating our lunch & listening to Mike Woods singing live. He's a local artist that we really like.
Grapes still on the vine. Considering it has been zero here the last few nights, we wonder if they are making ice wine.
Very young turtles getting some Vitamin D.
I have to put this one just because he is so cute. This is Brad & Sheri's Josiah.....as a penguin.
Oct 12 (Mon): My Aunt Debbie died today. From what we can tell, she had an epileptic seizure and fell over the side of the bathtub head first. There was water in the tub and Deb was found with her head submerged by my Mom's other sister. She administered CPR, which was continued by the paramedics for 45 minutes, but it was too late. We are all in shock. She had a hard life but always had a big heart!
Deborah Lynn Dukes
November 20, 1953 - October 12, 2009
Deb had suffered from severe epilepsy since she was 7 and had fallen and banged or smashed her head & face over the years too many times to count. I can't even guess at her total number of stitches she had in her life, never mind the huge purple bumps and bruises, and yet she was a happy soul. Ironically, Andy & I had her with us for 9 1/2 hours on Saturday and she didn't have even one seizure. We dropped her off, laughing with her over her moaning from being so full from Thanksgiving dinner. As she walked in her house she yelled back to us, "I love ya". I yelled back, "Love ya too."
Oct 11 (Sun): Two days through a three day weekend, being that tomorrow is officially Thanksgiving. It was gorgeous-sunny today but quite cool - only got up to 9o C. We bundled up and got some fresh air. Spent the afternoon splitting wood (me stacking & Andy splitting this time) and doing garden clean-up before a nice, warm snooze. In the morning we'd gone for a lightweight hike (because I have a painful foot issue) in a new-ish spot, Grindstone Creek, just below the escarpment from Waterdown. We'd been to the falls before and Andy'd been down the trail winter before last when it was all snow covered. It was gorgeous there - the pictures do not do it justice!
In the parking lot, we were both flashing back to the last time we'd been there - when Andy was very weak back in March, and she couldn't even walk the short distance to the falls without me holding her up. As she did her 'mountain goat' imitation today, we realized how far we've come.
Yesterday morning, we finally buried Grama's ashes (she died back on February 21st). Almost all the family was there, less a few cousins. It was a perfect little ceremony performed by a really nice husband-wife minister team, with the sun shining. The few things that were said about Grama really captured her.
Mom, her two sisters, and brother lowered Grama's ashes together, then we all put flowers in the hole. We brought roses from our garden. Andy had chosen all different colours and wrapped their stems with ribbon in a very professional job. I also put in a mixture of Grama's favourite tea and a crunched up favourite cookie from the good years.
Afterward, we brought Aunt Debbie home with us for a couple hours for some lunch and a bit of flaking out in the basement (while Andy snoozed upstairs). Then we all headed to Scot & Monica's for Thanksgiving dinner. As usual we all contributed to the meal - makes it SO much easier that way. We also took our decorative turkey balloon. Saw this in the grocery store the other day and couldn't resist. Andy says it makes her giggle every time she looks at it.
The kids hadn't seen the new Tucson yet but really liked it......especially the sunroof.
The feasters:
We also had a big feast at my work on Thursday. The company again had caterers prepare the turkeys & stuffing, then we did pot-luck for the rest. I took two Apple Crumbles, and luckily got to bring one back home so we had it for the anti-Pumpkin Pie people at the family dinner.
I was so full after this lunch that I didn't even eat dinner that night.
Oct 4 (Sun): It's a sad day. The pool is coming down.
But the leaves are starting to turn so it's getting very pretty.
It's been a quiet weekend. Just lots of chores done and Andy got the Christmas presents for England packed up and in the mail. We've been tardy the last couple years, so are aiming to redeem ourselves. In fact, we realized we have all our Christmas shopping done except for the kids. Believe it or not, they're the hardest ones to buy for. We also went TV shopping a couple times this week. Since before last Christmas we said we would get ourselves a flat screen for this Christmas. We've now narrowed our choice down and are waiting for the sales to start in December.
This morning we made the rounds, stopping in to visit Beryl at her stall at the flea market, stopped at the farm briefly to drop something off to Sherry & Ken, also made a delivery to Mom and Dad's and were rewarded with some Apple Crisp for me and Andy got a couple stuffed peppers. She had one for lunch and loved it!!! Mom, she wants the recipe please. And we had to drop off some stuff for Doreen, but she wasn't home so chatted with Wilf briefly.
Tuesday night, we went to the funeral visitation for Brian's father and ran into several friends as well. Brian's 87 year-old father had died after knee surgery. I know....sounds strange. But the rest of the story is that he was released, came home and didn't rest - he was up and down the street hanging with buddies, having some pints. Wednesday he had to be checked back into the hospital with some kind of toxic liver. They tried to do a cleanse, but it was too late. Friday he passed away. At least he went quickly and was enjoying himself right up to the end.
Looking forward to Thanksgiving next weekend and our Thanksgiving potluck lunch at work on Wednesday. MMMmmm....turkey!
