My Day

I was out at 6:30 watering all the garden beds. I’d had a spa under cloudy skies before I got started, but as I watered, the sky opened up to blue sky with gorgeous big white fluffy clouds. I was happy to have sunshine for our trip to Silva Bay for fish tacos.

After watering, Her Highness, who has a bad foot, semi-diarrhea and serious fart disease, to Rollo Park to walk. Then we went to Silva Bay to meet Kris and Steve for lunch. Bonnie and Sue joined us and we had a great mid-day summer get together.

And then, AND THEN… I went to Stacy’s to meet her new puppy, Tosca, a Great Dane puppy who’s only nine weeks old. She is so soft and sweet. When I picked her up, she just melted into me and I was blissfully happy. Bryce was there with Sadie, another amazingly wonderful and loving dog. It was such a lovely visit.

We didn’t stay long. We came home and I had a wee nap in the sunshine, and then we went over to Pete and Ali’s place for another short visit. They were very grateful for my watering while they were away. Again, we didn’t stay long. We came back home and just chilled until dinnertime. 

The night was the usual. 

Today, I shall tidy up the yard a little, and I’ll prepare a guest room for Steve’s arrival tomorrow. Today is the calm that precedes the five-day visit of my ex. Tomorrow we go to Nanaimo for dinner at Mahle House. We go every year. It’s going to be a very busy five-days, so I must go slow today and tomorrow until he arrives late in the day.

Mmmmm!!! New Bedding

Joy of joys, real rain came down at 6:30 yesterday morning, and it lasted almost half an hour. I didn’t need to water yesterday and probably not today either. What a great break from the interminable watering this rain has brought.

A couple of months ago, I woke up with an insect bite on my forehead that is still healing. Yesterday morning, I awoke with a painful lower right arm. It’s pink and swollen, but I can find no evidence of a bite. It’s not itchy, so it isn’t a mosquito bite, but something must have done something. Sigh.

I joyfully wrangled my new duvet into its new cover and onto the bed. It is made of flannel that is too thin for my liking, but it’ll have to do. Now, all my bedding is new and sparkling clean. I could hardly wait to go to bed last night.

Just before we headed out for our morning walk, I noticed Sheba licking one of her paws. She’d damaged it and so I bandaged it and abandoned our plans to walk. Instead, I let her run around the yard all day and she went over to Coleen’s to play with Sosa. I’m going to increase her daily dose of prednisone in hopes of helping her feel more comfortable.

We went grocery shopping and then came home as the sky cleared and the sun came out. I did a load of laundry when I got home and hung it up on the line to soak in that fabulous fragrance of the forest that smells so nice when I put on the clothes. And, moving to a different fragrance, I did a tour of the yard to clean up all Sheba’s souvenirs. And then I had a wee nap in the sunshine while Sheba chilled in the shade.

We had lunch after I washed my hands about ten times, and then I did some pruning and weed pulling, but I can’t bend over anymore. It hurts my back too much, so I must kneel down. Everything in the garden beds looks very good right now, after all the rain. The strawberries are growing gangbusters—the plants, not the berries. They’ve all taken to the trough. It’s next year that hopefully will yield fruit. This year is all about root development.

We went to Ali and Pete’s to check on the plants and to do some extra watering. Pete and Ali come home late yesterday. And then I read. Oh, what a luxury it was to stop and to delve into the world of a novel. Then I fed the pets and I got into the spa. Then, the usual.

But, thanks to Beth, I watched Mr. Burton on Kanopy. Toby Jones, Leslie Manville, how could I not like this movie? I loved it. Great actors and a plot about an acting and Richard Burton. Early in the film, Richard has become close to a young woman in his class. One scene has them on a blanket on the beach on a sunny day. They are sitting in the centre of a horizonal shot; the framing of the shot and the scenery is breathtakingly beautiful. The clouds, the brightness of the sun, it took my beath away.

Today is My Day. I shall water this morning and then Her Highness and I will go to Silva Bay for fish tacos. We’re meeting Kris and Steve there. It’s overcast this morning, but I’m certain that it’s going to clear before we meet up.

Life is very, very good!

Blessings from Jess and Todd

 

I can header wait to see this film!

Friday was wonderfully wet. I was overjoyed to have the day off from watering, and to be able to light a small fire to warm up the house and dehydrate all the fabric in the house. I lazed through the morning knowing I had no demands on me for the day. 

Di was late joining us for our walk. Often, someone is late. I can’t imagine sleeping so late that it’s hard to make a 9:30 walking date. Getting up at 4:30 means I have five hours in which to do things before meeting up for the walk. 

We walked with our friends and were lucky that the rain held off while we were on the trails. Then we came home and I just puttered around the house before lunch time. After lunch, I had a nap, and then I did my SPACE homework as the sky brightened and all hope of more rain died.

When my SPACE work was done, I attended to the raspberry canes. I had lots of berries this year, but many of them were very small. I think I disturbed them when I decided to haul out all the feral potatoes that were overtaking the bed. I cut down all the old canes and did some other pruning until it was time for our afternoon walk. We went to the Elder Cedar grove to walk. As Sheba is increasingly uninterested in walking, I like to go to trails she finds irresistible.

When we got home, my new duvet and duvet cover had arrived. They were awaiting me outside the front door, so this morning I am washing my bed linen and putting the new duvet on the bed. I washed my huge throw last week, so it will protect my new duvet from paw abuse.

Last evening was the usual, but I had one surprise. Tod and Jess called me on Facetime. I have to say that my eyes were wet as we talked. I’ve known Jess since she was two. I didn’t care for her when she was a child, but when puberty hit, she changed and became my favourite person in the world. 

She and Todd live in Victoria, but she had to come to Vancouver often for work. She works for the BC government. Whenever she came to the city, she stayed with me and our mutual love grew. One day, when she came to stay, she threw herself onto me with a big hug when I opened the door. That may be the greatest moment of my life. I had never experienced such enthusiasm from anyone, not even Steve.

As I wrote about on this blog often, her parents, fast friends for fifty-two years, dumped me after a scathing attack. It was Frani, not Chris, who berated me for believing in my diagnoses from Dr. Shoja. Frani had her own idea about my breakdown, and she defended my parents whom she had never met.

I hadn’t spoken with Todd and Jess for almost eight months. I found it hard to be with them because it made me think about Frani and how mean she was to me, and I sensed that they knew that and that we were both letting go of our friendship. Their call last night made it very clear that our friendship will go on. and I am immensely happy about that. I was very teary when we said good-bye.

This morning. The thick clouds are back. There could be more rain this morning, but it is predicted to clear around noon and be sunny and hot all week. I have another day to play today. I need not water anywhere, here or at Ali and Pete’s. 

Wood Re-Stacking

I’m a good boy! Okay, I’m a good old man. I was out at 5:30 to water all the garden beds. I finished at 7:30. I’d finished my most important work for the day before most of my neighbours were awake. I feel good feeding my floral friends. When I was done, it was time to do the dishes and then to enjoy a lovely morning soak before taking Her Highness for our morning walk. Then we went to Sarah’s place for a grooming. She’s going to look lovely for Steve’s visit.

I dropped her off, stopped at the village to pick up a prescription, and then I came home to get started on toting wood. I wanted to clear the main part of the floor of the shed, so that when Eoin comes, we can get close to the part of the woodpile that is being held up by my kindling wood. 

I’m afraid to remove the kindling wood because the big wall of large pieces behind it will fall onto me. That’s why I want Eoin to help me strategize how to get it all to collapse without getting hurt. Once it’s down, I can re-stack it all. I don’t want Eoin to stack wood, just to help me collapse the dangerous part.

I got started at around 9:15. Thankfully, it had clouded over with thin white clouds, so I was not dripping with sweat when I came in for a break after stacking for half an hour. By then, I had almost all the wood off the floor and re-stacked in the shed. 

I had a short break, during which, I put my massive throw into the washing machine and then got back to work on the wood. I wanted to get all the wood stacked so that all Eoin and I had to do was somehow remove the kindling and let the wood behind fall—unless we could push it back into position somehow. Anyway, I’m just glad to have someone to help me strategize how to deal with the leaning tower of wood.

During my second break, I hung up the throw to dry on the line, and I put my electric blanket into the sink to soak. It was filthy, thanks to Sheba. And I called Eoin to cancel his visit. I’m confident that I can restore order on my own. I went back to work for a bit, re-stacking more wood, and then I headed back to Sarah’s to pick up Sheba. Before I left, I put the electric blanket into the washing machine on the gentle cycle, and then, when it was done (it took only ten minutes) I laid it out to dry on the dining room table.

I picked up Her Highness and came home to feed everyone, and then I took the hammock in so that it wouldn’t get wet if it rained, and I cleaned up inside the house a little. After that, I got onto the chaise to do some reading. I felt fabulous because the wood problem was solved, all the beds at Pinecone Park and at Pete and Ali’s were watered and with the overcast skies, the water would not evaporate quickly. I could chill for the afternoon. What joy!

Late in the afternoon, we went for our afternoon walk. She wouldn’t walk at Ricki Ave. Trail, so we went to Rollo Park where she is always willing to walk, perhaps because it’s a short walk there. Refusing to walk is becoming something she does more often. It could be her feet are sore; it could be the heat. I’ll just have to see how things go.

As we drove home, it started to rain. It was real rain, too, but it only lasted for five minutes. Still, it was rain, and as I went to bed, I hoped that there would be more in the night.

When we got home, it was the usual: dinner and a movie. Except there was one BIG difference: thunder. Lots of rain and lots of loud, rumbling thunder.

Today I go hose-free. There was more than enough rain to soak the garden beds and it’s still spitting this morning. Plus, it was cloudy all day yesterday, and it’s going to be cloudy and wet today. And that’s perfect because I have (paid) SPACE homework to do. Today is a perfect day for indoor work.

The coming week is going to be mighty hot. I am going to be on watering duty every day. Sigh.