Can't believe it is May already! May 1 - 10

Saturday was a nice day and we managed to sit outside after doing our puttering. Had to keep the irrigation on the back lawn to keep it wet for the new grass seed to germinate. Still pretty breezy though.

Sunday a wonderful sunny start to the day. Ray's busy doing the final stain on the newly built front planters so I will be able to plant them later this next week. I have purchased all my hanging baskets but will have to get the bedding plants later this week.

He's also been busy fitting out his dust collection system, figuring it all out downstairs with the help of suggestions from friends on how best to tackle this. :) These pictures show the dry fit work being done.

Jason and Kristi came for a brief visit to drop off their dogs as we are looking after them while Amelia has her surgery in Victoria on Tuesday.

Monday cloudy and showered on and off all day. Not too much happening here today. Ray added more grass seed to the lawn as we did not have enough for a good seeding last Friday. With 3 dogs running outside to pee ... we will see what actually grows. :)

Later in the afternoon, we accidentally had a hummingbird fly into the house. Ray and I spent the next 15 minutes trying to catch it with a butterfly net standing on a 10 foot ladder. Finally the poor thing settled on a window ledge I could reach and I employed my kitchen towel to scoop it out and release it outside. Poor thing, but it's alive and flew off after placing it on the chair with the kitchen towel.

Tuesday turned out to be a lovely day. I went to Duncan and picked up my bedding plants for the new planters and came home and planted. They look fabulous.

Amelia's surgery failed. They could not get her hip into the socket so I guess this means that she will have to have the more invasive surgery at the end of summer.

Wednesday morning a bit cool outside at 4C, but the lake was flat calm. Ray decided to go out and fish for an hour or so before taking the dogs back to Nanaimo for Kristi and Jason. He was skunked again but had fun. I spent the day doing some laundry and playing with hot tub chemicals. It was time to change the filter etc. When Ray got back from Nanaimo he found me sitting outside in our "garden room" admiring all of his planters. lol

Thursday, a very cloudy start and breezy. Today I get my hair cut in the morning and this afternoon my long awaited appointment for my Covid shot. Yeah! Cheers to that. The forecasted rain finally came late in the afternoon so we were inside for the rest of the day. Good for our newly seeded lawn.

Friday woke up to showers and it's back to being quite cool outside. It did clear by 7 am so should be an ok day weather wise. Here is s picture of Amelia from yesterday. Happy chubby baby. No ill effects from general anesthetic on Tuesday.

Friday, an unremarkable day. :) Cold and windy with showers.

Saturday woke to some sunshine. Although still a little chilly it was nice to see the blue sky. I will get the Traeger smoker fired up today as I am making Porchetta. Pork Tenderloin wrapped in Pork Belly with fresh herbs. 

Three and a half hours later. Yumm

It passes muster. lol

I finished up planting the boxes in the front of the house for our "garden room". Ray did a fabulous job with my planters.

While I was doing my planting this week, Ray has been busy finishing up his dust collection system in his workshop. It will be nice for me not to have all that dust come upstairs anymore.

This next week is supposed to finally have warmer temps, especially the overnight temps so I will be able to fill the planters on the sundeck.

Sunday, Happy Mother's Day! Especially to our daughter Kristi, and daughter-in-law Kat, who will celebrate their first Mother's Day this year.

Jason cooked Eggs Benedict for Kristi's Mother's Day breakfast and Amelia cooperated so Kristi could actually eat it while it was warm. lol

Kat sent us a picture from Stella for my Mother's Day. Stella is a year old next week.

It was nice enough in the afternoon Ray and I sat out on the sundeck listening to the sounds of spring and summer. Kids laughing, lawnmowers mowing, boats cruising. lol Another great day at the lake.

Monday we finished planting my planters on the sundeck as the weather is now forecasted to be warmer overnight and during the day. Everything looks lovely. Thanks Ray for making my dream of colour on our deck a reality. We also bought a small bar table and chairs to having an outside eating area for the two of us.

Here are the pictures of the finished dust collection system. Looks like an octopus down there. lol

Ventilation system too.

While Ray was in Nanaimo for an appointment today, he stopped by the Nanaimo Harbour for a few pictures as it was a beautiful day. Certainly a lot less boats, especially the huge ones, as it should be with the border closed.

From summer back to April Showers - April 17 - 30

Sunday was a quiet day. Ray was pretty sore after his "rowing adventure "so we spent most of the day sitting outside in the shade. 

Monday I took off early to Duncan to go to Dinter's Nursery. I wanted to get some more perennials for my side garden that are deer resistant. lol. I planned to get in and out of Duncan early and was back home by 10:30 am. Dr. Bonnie Henri, our Provincial Health Officer, was going to announce more restrictions today due to our Covid explosion. I wanted to get this done in case there were more shutdowns of businesses. As it turned out the briefing was more about travel restrictions in the province, i.e. no ferry travel to the islands unless necessary, so cancelling all tourist travel hopefully until after the May long weekend.

Once back home I spent the next couple of hours planting. I also bought some marigolds which I planted in front of each new plant in hopes that it will also help to dissuade those darn deer. The last bunch of perennials I planted, Astilbe's and Bleeding Hearts, also supposedly deer resistant, all got nibbled on but now are recovering. The nursery said that it was due to the "baby deer" tasting everything before they realized they don't like it so hopefully this means everything will be fine now.

Tuesday, Ray busy with more planter work, after going fishing for an hour.

While he was busy with that I planted my vertical herb gardens. The herbs lasted right through December/January this year. Great for cooking.

I have planted new clematis vines as the other ones were damaged when we had to take the lattice down to have the fence painted last summer.

After morning chores, Ray and I spent the afternoon down at the dock watching the wildlife go by. :)

Wednesday, we took the day off mostly and enjoyed the yard. Ray did go fishing for awhile first thing. Another glorious day. Kristi has been busy gardening too up in Nanaimo.

Tummy Time!

Thursday we woke to a very foggy morning. Last day of sunny weather before the rain comes in tomorrow and we are back to a more normal April weather pattern. Ray had his Covid vaccination today and I still have to wait 2 weeks for my turn. Thankful that we are getting them to give us a piece of mind that should we contract Covid we at least won't be hospitalized or die. Ray's arm is quite sore from the shot but otherwise feels fine.

Friday, cloudy morning as predicted. Our string of good weather disappearing with some showers in the forecast for the next week. It is a good thing as everything is pretty dry and we don't want a bad forest fire season. The rain really did not start until late Friday night. 

Pretty much an inside day so I played in my kitchen. I made ham, bacon and corn chowder with prawns for lunch and for dinner it was breaded pork chops with my marinara and melted Italian Cheese with mushroom penne and zucchini sticks. Ray was a happy guy. :) Best part is there is enough for tomorrow's dinner too.

Saturday morning woke up to rain. I heard it rain pretty steady most of the night. Great for the plants and our lawn. We had fertilized it yesterday so perfect for washing it all in. Ray finally finished his fishing rod holder that he's been working on for a few months. He even did the picture frames with an inlay. These pictures came with the house and we found them downstairs stapled to the unfinished walls. Turned out great.

Sunday a very wet day. The showers finally turned to rain sometime Saturday evening and continued through the night. Good for the garden. 

Monday the sun was out off and on. We ordered lunch from Jakes on the lake and ate out at our picnic table on the lawn. Although a little breezy it was nice to be outside again. Ray started a campfire and we spent a lovely 1 1/2 hours outside before it clouded up and became more windy. Freya chased Ray and his weed puller, one of her favourite activities. lol We keep the stick in her mouth so she is not quite so noisy.

Tuesday, I was off to Walmart early ... left house at 7:30 am. Did my groceries and went to Canadian Tire and Home Depot garden centers while it was quiet and picked up some more "fluffies". :) Was back home by 11:00 am. Going at that time there was hardly any people in the stores, it was great. Once back home I planted a few things in the garden and then we sat outside under the gazebo with the heaters on to get some fresh air. 

Wednesday, it was up to Nanaimo to do a Costco run. We left the house at 7am so we were there for the senior's time at 8 am. I needed to go to their garden centre for some baskets of flowers, bedding plants, and dog food for Freya. Stopped in at Jason and Kristi's to pick up some pallets Jason had got for Ray. He needed the wood for the bottoms of the new planters he has built so I can fill them with dirt. With the cost of wood these days it seemed to be the best option.

Amelia is sure growing leaps and bounds. Now she is over 13 pounds. She is a lot more interactive and smiles a lot.

Thursday was a nice warm sunny day. We had a detailer come and wash and wax the coach as it had not been done since January 2020 in Quartzsite and was in need of it's annual polish. One guy, 7 hours instead of 3 guys and 2 to 3 hours and about the same price so good deal. The coach is now extremely shiny.

Now that is a reflection.

Laundry day for me and Ray worked in his shop on his dust collection system. After lunch we managed some dock time. We saw some fish rising so Ray quickly grabbed his rod for a few casts and scared them all away. lol

Friday, it rained all night. Great for gardens and the lawn. It's supposed to stop raining by 7 and it did. Our gardening dude was here in the afternoon, mowing and dumping sand on the grass to fill in the bald spots, some from the dogs when we had Kristi's dogs here for 3 weeks in January and some from the moss that Ray killed.  It will be nice to have it look all green again. Good time to plant with sun/clouds/showers in the forecast. 

Today our detailer is coming back and tackling our car. We still have Arizona dust in the ductwork etc. It certainly got messy over the past year inside with muck and dog hair. It will be nice to bring it back to "new". Now that we have the utility trailer, nothing messy should be trucked in the back of the car anymore. :) other than the dogs ha ha.

Ta Da!

Here are a few grandbaby pictures of Stella. lol

Here are some of Amelia.

Jason built this Spika Chair for Amelia. She will have her hip surgery on May 4th and will be in a cast from chest to ankles for approximately 3 months. This chair is designed to accommodate her being able to sit up. He has made it adjustable to fit her as she grows. Way to go Jason.