It’s Birthday Time Again

First let me welcome Judy and Emma.  Thanks for hopping onboard.  I have been following Judy’s blog now for some time and enjoy it very much.  Emma is her fur friend.
 
Well my sister’s birthday is once again almost upon us.  We are heading again up to Cookstown to the KOA there to celebrate her day with her.  We are spending a little more time there this year as #1 we really like that campground #2 we really miss RVing and want to spend time in the rig and most important #3 I get to spend some more time with my sister.  I am always stuck on what to get her for her birthday present.  Last year I got her one of those zero gravity chairs as she really wanted one.  But this year, my brain just kept coming up with a big fat ZERO.  So I hit upon the idea of a girl’s day at the spa.  So we are headed for a spa in Barrie and having a pedicure and a massage then going to lunch afterwards.  I think it will be a nice way for sister’s to spend a special day.  She has never had either so it should be a great experience for her.

We have been busy with the backyard pretty much since we got back from snowbirding.  I wanted to change one of my gardens this year, so I took out everything that was in it and bought some new perennials and put them in.  I needed a change of scenery.  So far they are doing well.

This is the back end of our yard.
  
The sprinkler is going and falling in the pool giving it a hazy look.

My new plantings

Like Al I too have been having a running battle with the squirrels.  They drive me insane!!!  What really bugs me the most is that they eat all the birdseed so quickly and they spend so much time at the feeders that the normal little birds are frightened and stay away.  Also hate those darn grackles  (I think that’s how you spell it)  they fling the birdseed all over and are big bullies.  And they poop everywhere and huge.  The little guys are again frightened away.  I bought a very tall wrought iron pole and placed it where the squirrels can’t jump from anything to get on it.  And I keep the pole part well greased.  I put those shower rod plastic covers over the metal as it holds the grease better.  I get a kick out of watching those little buggers slide down the pole.  They kind of take a running leap, get about 1/3 of the way up and then slide all the way down.  And they don’t like to have greasy paws, so the stand on the fence and stamp their feet trying to get the grease off.  Good entertainment.  My daughter-in-law told me that grackles don’t like niger seed so that’s what I’ve started putting in the feeders.  Unfortunately, I don’t think that cardinals, and other birds care for it either.  But if I can keep those darn big bullies off the feeders then that’s what I’m going to use.  Squirrels are not enamoured with them either.  I love watching the little finch come and go.

Come and get it squirrels

We had some renovations done on our fireplace a few weeks ago.  We changed from wood burning to gas fireplace when we bought the house 20 years ago.  But the company that installed the fireplace really did a crappy job of it and the fireplace wall was red brick faced which I have hated for ages.  So we had that brick wall torn out, a new bigger gas fireplace put in and I love it.  But now of course I had to paint.  Due to some other renovations we had done many years ago where we tore down walls, the fireplace is now part of my kitchen.  It’s been in the back of my mind that the kitchen needed to be repainted so this was as good as time as any.  So I have painted 1/2 and will get the other 1/2 done in the next couple of weeks.  Our kitchen is actually kind of 2 rooms due to the wall tearing down done years ago.  So 1 room is done.  I bought the paint for the other room today as that will motivate me to ‘get ‘er done’.


Maggie had another mystery illness like she had when we were in Panama City Beach.  This one last a little longer and we ended up taking her to the vet.  We knew it was something with her head as she was squinting and didn’t want anyone to touch her head.  She also laid on the carpet for about 1/2 hour with a cold pack on her forehead.  It must have felt good because she didn’t move.  The vet thought that she might have developed some arthritis in her spine near her shoulders, so a couple of x-rays were done, but they came back great.  Nothing wrong there, thank goodness.  So the vet put it down to the same thing that we thought, she had something like a migraine.  Imagine that!!!  Well Maggie does suffer from acid reflux and has to take Zantac, so now migraines.  Go figure.  This is a dog for Pete’s sake.  Albeit a very special dog.

Both dogs have been enjoying the pool.  Always enjoy seeing them cooling off in there.  Maggie just takes a quick dip, but Jackson would live in there. 

Didn’t mean for the blog to be so long, but it’s been awhile since I blogged so just catching up I guess.  Sorry.

Enjoy your summers, your trips, your family and we’ll talk soon.  Until later then..take care.