SUNDAYS!!

 It was a work day today.  I scraped and painted the boat, Ricky cleaned his trailer and Rejean cut the grass and weeded.  It was a beautiful day - cool and sunny and hardly any bugs.  We usually have a breeze here so it keeps the bugs at bay.  And the dragonflies are out.  Just when the bugs get so bad you think you can't stand it anymore, the dragons come out.  They are beautiful.  I saved one from the lake this morning - that's the one on the rock.  And the one in the cedar hedge just hung around long enough for me to get a couple of pictures.
And the hummingbirds are still eating!!!  I counted 7 of them this morning.  I have to fill it up again as soon as I am done here.
Fishing tonite and tomorrow - ughhh.  (joking)

HUMMINGBIRDS EAT A LOT!!!

Our hummingbird feeder has been out for about 2 weeks now and I have never filled it back up so many times!!!  I filled it up this morning and again at about 2:30 and now it is about half gone already.  I have seen four feeding at the same time and they hover around and never go too far away from the feeder.  If you have ever sat and watched hummingbirds, you know that they are vicious little creatures - dive bombing each other and chasing each other away from the feeder.  I know I will find one dead one morning having been impaled by those long sharp beaks.  But they are fun to watch and thank goodness it doesn't cost much to feed them - just some water and sugar.

FLOWERS

Thursday was Planter Day at the greenhouse so off I went to get my flowers.  I planted these for Joan in her planters  -  she doesn't like yellow so I got her pink.  the girl at the greenhouse said these will fill in nicely in a few weeks.
I went for my usual geraniums - those I know I can grow...

MOM AND BABY

Finally spotted a baby fox by the dens tonite.  For years these dens have been used by generations of foxes and if you are lucky, you get to see some of the babies.  Tonite was our lucky nite because we saw the mother and a baby.  I have seen 3 babies before but never with the mother.  She was very protective when we stopped the car for the picture - it looked as if she was giving us little barks.  But we snapped these 2 then moved on.  The Mom looks a bit scruffy but it is spring and she is a Mom so she is entitled.

MY OLD SCHOOL

Wish I had known sooner - this is my old public school in Windsor celebrating it's 85th Fun Fair.  A lot of great memories of this event held usually in June close to the end of school.  I remember pony rides and games and baked goods.  We could wander through the school and I remember going with friends instead of our parents.  Back in those days, we walked home by ourselves after events like this.
Nice to see them keeping the old traditions going for the future generations.

9 MONTHS ALREADY

Hard to tell these little guys are twins - lol.  Jodie said they sat like that for 15 minutes watching Baby Einstein at a friend's house - I will have to get some CDs for their visit.
They are happy healthy baby boys who I can't wait to cuddle and kiss and tickle and play with.  Only a few more months...

FOREVER YOUNG AND FUN

I follow a few Blogs and one of my favourites is Advanced Style by Ari Seth Cohen.  He takes pictures of "mature" individuals  dressed in their unique outfits all over the world.  I came across this picture from May 15th, 2015 and it just made me smile.  I can see me and my sisters enjoying ourselves in the future like this fine group of beautiful ladies.
They look marvellous!!!

DONKEYS

On the way home, we went down Station Road where Linda told me there was a farm with donkeys and sheep and a llama (but could be an alpaca) and lo and behold, there they were.  I stopped to get a picture and they co-operated by posing close together - they were a little closer but I don't think I could have posited THAT picture on my family friendly blog - if you get my meaning.  You can tell by the look on the lighter coloured donkey that she wasn't too receptive to the idea as well.
Not too often you see a donkey - let alone 2 donkeys.  And there was a smaller donkey in another corral - they are everywhere...

ROAD WORK AHEAD

Linda and I were in the Sault today and driving her home we came across some road repair.  During the  spring, rocks and boulders are heaved up to the surface of the road and they have to be removed with heavy machinery.  Bruce was at the controls today and Bob was supervising.  The cottagers pay a road fee to take care of the maintenance and gravel and brushing needed to keep the road in good shape.

NEVER TOO YOUNG FOR CHORES

Looks like the kids are being taught stuff already.  Dave has them on the computer and Jodie is teaching them how to do their own laundry!!!
…and always time to check yourself out in the shiny dryer door...

FISH AND CHIPS

We have been doing a lot of fishing with Rick here - as I say the only time we fish is when we have company.  We are too busy otherwise.  We hit a lake that has Brooke Trout in it but never got even a nibble - just a few snags.  It was a beautiful morning so it wasn't a total washout.  Rick and I fished the river one night and got 2 bass.  We each got one which makes it even better.  We forgot our walking sticks so it was a little tricky walking in the water.
On one of our drives we noticed a pile of wood chips left in a pile at the side of the road - actually there was piles of finer chips and even piles of gravel.  We were interested in the larger chips - probably left behind by one of the chip trucks that travel the highway and stopped to sweep out the trailer.  We took our trailer and loaded it up and put them on the trail between our house and Stacey and Andrew's.  Looks great!!

LOOKED LIKE A TURTLE TO ME...

While we were crossing a bridge during the fish stocking, I looked down and saw a turtle.  It was the colour of a turtle and round like a turtle shell and was shiny like a turtle shell.  We didn't stop but when we were leaving, I looked for it and made Rejean stop the truck so I could take a picture.  When I zoomed in on it, I realized it wash't a turtle but a rock that had fooled me from afar.  They laughed at me when I got back into the truck and told them it was only a rock.  They laughed a lot!!
What do you think - now remember, it was from up on a bridge looking down a good distance.  Looked like a turtle to me...

FISH STOCKING

You couldn't have asked for a better day for our Fish Stocking adventure with the North Shore Fisheries.  A helicopter is used to stock the lakes that you can't drive a truck into.  They transfer the fish from the tanker truck into the tanks in the helicopter and then release them when they fly over a lake.  For the rest of the stocking, we follow a tanker truck to various streams and either hose them in or pail them from the truck to the stream when the truck can't get close enough.  It was hose them in for our 4 streams so we got off easy.
The volunteers got a great lunch of sausages and big hamburgers - even sliced tomatoes and onions, pickles, cookies and apple juice and water.  Delicious.
They transfer the fish from the truck to the helicopter by measuring out how many fish are required for each run.  The truck driver scoops out the fish with a net and empties them into a large funnel that, when released, slows into the tank in the helicopter.  The gentleman on the right is a volunteer with the North Shore Fisheries along with his twin brother.  I am amazed that they still look so much alike and they are both outdoors men.  They have those tanned lined faces of men who have been outside the majority of their lives.  They are avid outdoors men and I enjoy them.  The man on the left is the truck driver who also doubles as a fish stocker.
You can see Rick waiting for the fish to be released at one of the streams and then you can see the water shooting the fish out into the water.  Some don't make it but the ones that do sometimes remain right by the release site - we have to spook them into swimming away.  The stream where all the volunteers are looking over the railing into the water, was the best - deep and clear.  We watched for a while.
Our group consisted of Jerry, Ginny, Rick, Rejean and myself and the truck driver.  Ginny and I had it really easy but we were an important part of the group.
It was a great day - sunny, cool and just a few bugs.

FISHING!!

We went to Pig Pen one night and I got a nice bass - well we got more but I got this one where I usually never get a fish.  Rejean did the honours - sorry a little blurry but you can see the fish.  I love to catch bass - they fight so hard and are so strong - and they jump!!  I usually go off on my own when I fish with the guys - sometimes a spot just looks so promising that you have to wander off.  I had to net it on my own too, which was fun.  Then I get to remove the jig - I usually push the barb down on my hooks to make the removal of the hook easy - I hate it when you have to struggle with the hook.
It was a nice night - not too cold and no bugs - bonus!!