Wednesday, August 1, 2018

Midsummer Check-in

- Buddy finally learned how to swim at age 3.  Previous to this he loved walking on the beach, even wading but was scared to try swimming.  We were at the beach one day and he was wading in higher than normal water and I gave a little tug on the leash and all of a sudden he was swimming!  We practiced several more times by walking out to deep water and letting him swim in and he did great! He is still not keen on big waves, neither am I for that matter so we will only try swimming with him in calm water but I am so proud of him.  It is so funny though to see hubby pick him up and hold him over the water, his feet automatically start doing the dog paddle like a little wind up toy


- We had some American cousins fly in for a few days.  They kindly stayed in a BNB on the ocean as we were so busy with work at the time it would have been impossible to host them.  It was so nice to see them and meet my newest 4 year old cousin whom they recently adopted although she has been with them through the fostercare system from age 6 months.

- My 20 year old stepdaughter flew in for a few days on a different weekend.  We spent a lot of time at the beach working on her tan and it was good to see her.  She has done some maturing but still has a ways to go.  She has come such a long way in the last few years from not being able to hold down a job to recently being promoted to supervisor at the restaurant where she works after 1.5 years.  She also ditched her on again off again boyfriend (since age 14) we think for the final time but I am not holding my breath.

- We have more company coming in a couple of weeks in the form of my oldest stepson (25) and his girlfriend.  They live in Ottawa and this will be the first time we meet her.   It is very likely these two will get married as are super serious so it is good that we are finally meeting her.  I asked him point-blank a few weeks ago when they were getting engaged and instead of dodging the question he said after he completes his college and gets a full-time job as a cop.  He just finished his 3 year stint in the military (they met while he was stationed in Ottawa) and goes to school next month for a 2 year course to try and enter policing.  He is also learning French (high school French doesn't cut it) as if he gets a job policing in Ottawa they also police in part of Quebec as it is so close so he must be able to speak French.  He has been taking classes all Spring for that.

- in anticipation of their visit I have broke down and ordered new bedding for our fold-out couch.  I managed to get a bed-in-the-bag on Amazon(no I don't get a commission on that link, just wanted to show you what I ordered).  Did you know they have many items in their own brand Amazon basics line including bedding?  We've purchased other amazon basic stuff but mainly electronic things.  Cost was $58 plus tax and is highly rated.  I am just waiting for it to be delivered now (tried locally, they seriously had nothing in the pricepoint I was willing to spend) Time to gather up all our mismatched sheets/old comforters and downsize/reorganize the linen closet.  They will be taken to the thrift store and those that aren't in good enough condition for that will be taken to the SPCA for animal bedding.  I tend to hoard old bedding :)

- I also purchased a table setting for 8 minus a couple of dishes through our Facebook bidding site for $7.  It is really pretty - and would have been about $150 new.  All the dishes we own are from before hubby and I even got together and are not great for entertaining which this year we have been doing much more of.  I needed a minimum setting of 6 as we have a big family when together and this met that requirement.  Have you priced out new dishes recently?  Even though I was thinking about buying new I couldn't find anything I really liked, this will do the trick.

- I am still getting lots of strawberries, so far 55 for a cost per strawberry of .40 cents.  I have harvested 3 large cucumbers but then all of a sudden all the blooms no longer produced baby cucumbers, they shriveled up and died.  I googled, it may have been there were no boy flowers to polinate the girl flowers.  I looked yesterday though and it appears I have 3 more bigger cucumbers coming so perhaps it has sorted itself out.  Next year I intend to plant several more as love having fresh cucumbers, they grow fast and taste fantastic.  With several plants I shouldn't have any more polination problems as we have a lot of bumble bees helping us out here if they have the right kind of flowers. Cucumbers also grow extremely well in pots, the only thing is they need to have moist soil almost all the time or become bitter and love the sun.  I water twice a day.  This is my favorite item this year for growing and was so proud after harvesting my first one.  This plant has more than paid for itself already.

Long English Cucumber


- My tomatoes are so slow this year compared to other years.  They are coming, have at least 55 regular tomatoes and 30 cherry tomatoes on the vine now.  2 of the tiny cherry tomatoes are trying to ripen - they are the first of the year.  I do have 2 nice green peppers coming as well but think I will no longer grow peppers next year, just more cucumbers as I have never really had a decent harvest of them.

- The blackberries are in the process of ripening, I tried two yesterday and they are still too tart to pick, give it another week or two and my friend and I intend to pick loads to make jam.  We are going to also try making a habanero blackberry jam this year as she found a recipe, that should be interesting.

- We sold Mom's car (at her insistence) as she decided for sure that she wanted to give up driving instead of just waiting to see after her cataract surgery.  We managed to get $1700 for a 20 year vehicle but it was in fully running condition and well taken care of.  Now her expenses will be lower and we can hang out more.  We still don't have an exact date on her cateract surgery but are hoping the first eye is done in September and the second a few weeks after that.

- Yesterday we traded in our 15 year old truck and bought a 4 year old Toyota Tacoma.  This is still a secondary vehicle to our car (we use that for business) but it is nice to have a 4x4 as recent winters we have gotten much more snow and our old truck was not a 4x4.  We paid cash and we think we paid at least $500 less than we would have as bought it on the last day of the month at a dealership.  We weren't thinking of trading our truck in as didn't think they would offer us enough - but it was in such great shape that they immediately gave us a really good price for it.  We had already negotiated a price for the newer truck so could live with that as well.  One of the purchasing factors was that it had to fit in our garage as living near the ocean, even 1 km away here is hard on paint jobs if you leave vehicles outside all the time. It is larger than our old truck but still fits - they have made most newer trucks so much larger than the old days now that it was difficult to find a model that would work for us.  Financial freedom is not paying interest to anyone - so nice not to have payments to go with this truck.  And no, we didn't buy an extended warranty either.  It has 8 months left on a power train warranty and we will deal with whatever comes after that in terms of repairs.

- We are really looking forward to our fishing trip in a week and a half, I have been following our fishing guide on instagram and people have been catching so many fish, I hope the same for us.  Mom loves fishing and is looking forward to it too.  Again, I am trying to ensure we have some space in our freezers should we come home with loads of fish (fingers and toes crossed).  Last year we ended up with only one keeper but it was a 15 pound coho salmon and hubby ate it all winter (I don't like salmon).  I hope we get a ling cod this year, that fish is so good for fish and chips and one I would enjoy as well.

- I've got almost all the Christmas money saved - $1060 so far.  I am still contributing to the other funds as well, medical, travel, house (appliances/big bills) as they all need to be fed.  Our trip to Mexico in January is all saved for, costs were lower as tickets were on points.  I am now saving for our next trip with one of the kids.  Stepson #1 likely to Europe in the next year or two and after that Stepdaughter, perhaps to Thailand which we talked to her about.  As always, we will pay for the trip as long as they understand we choose the destination and if they don't want to go there they can wait for the next one.  The boys who went with us to Europe loved it and already have plans for much more world travel in their future now that they have the travel bug.

Work has slowed a tiny bit as many of our clients are on holidays so we are enjoying a slighly slower pace of life.  We have been spending more time kayaking and on the beach and with friends, all those things you should do in summer.  We had a higher liquor bill (I blame it on family visiting :)) and went over on our grocery budget - but have no regrets as the time spent with family and friends is for eating and drinking.   And that is about it for an update, I will check back in a few weeks.  Have a great rest of the summer everyone!

32 comments:

  1. That was a great catch-up. I felt like I was sitting across the table, coffee cup in hand, getting a good update. You have been so busy. I love reading about Buddy's new swimming success.

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    1. Thanks - It was just like when your kid learns how to swim lol.

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  2. Wow, lots going on! What a perfect cucumber. We had zero luck with ours. Not sure why and our tomatoes didn't produce as much as we hoped. Congrats on the new-to-you truck. We had a Toyota pickup way back when. I loved it and it ran forever. Love the bedding you bought. So pretty! So cute that Buddy is swimming. That's a dangerous activity here in the south as the alligators are everywhere. I miss safe water. lol

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    1. Yeah, we wouldn't be anywhere near the water if there were alligators :) All we have to watch out for is larger jellyfish, the small translucent ones are pretty harmless, even if you get stung it feels like a mosquito bite

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  3. Sounds like an absolutely fabulous summer! And, I can definitely relate on the increase in alcohol spending when guests arrive. :-)

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    1. I blamed it on them, probably we had a good part to play in that too lol

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  4. Summer has been awesome here so far and more to come. Just cooling off a bit now, a welcome thing hopefully a few rainy days will swing the fire threst to one that's a bit less concerning. Enjoy the rest of the summer and congrats to the pup for overcoming his swimming fears…

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    1. I was so happy to see a few cooler days in the forecast. It rained here for about 3 minutes though, not nearly what they originally predicted. Hopefully we get a bit more rain. You two have a fabulous summer too!

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  5. Your Mom is making good decisions in advance, good planning. Thanks for your summer catch-up post. Buddy swimming - great photo. Your updates always inspire me as does you saving for future plans. Your new to you truck will serve you well. My tomatoes didn't get enough watering (by me) so some have a somewhat shrunken look. It is supposed to rain tomorrow - it has been several weeks now with no rain. Forecast changes frequently - it was for a week of rain and now...
    Joy

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    1. Same here, it rained for about 3 minutes and now no rain in the forecast at all. I can't believe they didn't put fire bans in place much earlier but I guess most of the fires we have now are from lightening

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  6. your garden sounds like its going really well and you're getting lots from. great update, sounds like a very relaxing summer!

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    1. Trying to have a relaxing summer, we go go go the rest of the year and our summers here are so nice, we need to enjoy it while we can before the October rains come (and then it rains all the way to March)

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  7. Loved all your news. Our girls did the same things when held over the water. So cute to see. Good job Buddy. Going to try cucumbers next year if we do a garden ( we will be gone from May 15 to June 22 which is prime gardening time ). Our tomatoes are producing more than we can eat. Just had 2 big ones.

    So happy to see you enjoying your summer, good for you. Life is short and one should live each day to the fullest. fullest.

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    1. How about waiting to plant anything until after you get back? You are right, that is hard to be away if you plant before it. If you buy a cucumber plant even in June(buy 2 or more lol) you could easily do them in pots at your home and they produce quite a lot very quickly. By that time all the tomato plants will be on sale too, I am sure you could still have a good tomato harvest

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  8. That's quite a detailed Check-In update on Buddy, family, acquisitions, garden crops, work, weather, vacations! A delightful read! With your narration ability you could easily write a book.

    Wishing your Mom a smooth cataract surgery, and a swift recovery!

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    1. Thanks Duta! We still don't have a surgery date for Mom's cataracts but they are getting worse so I hope it happens soon, she can barely read a book and reading is her favorite thing to do

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  9. Sounds like you have been busy, but found time for some fun as well this summer.

    Good on your mom for making the decision. My mom did have a couple of scares before she gave up driving, and I had to arrange for Dad's doctor to take his licence away...he was too dangerous. My sister didn't agree and took him out driving one day - he nearly ran over a child. I suspect she understand then why I did it.

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    1. Mom has always been reasonable about when to quit driving, likely due to a friend of hers whose mother kept running into buildings we have had many discussions about when it is time to quit driving. So glad your Dad didn't run over that child, sometimes it takes witnessing an event to bring the whole family on board

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  10. I think it is funny that dogs 'swim' when held over water. Well, that was quite a catch-up. I enjoyed reading it.

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    1. Thanks Linda! Supposedly poodles are supposed to be water dogs but he took his time learning lol

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  11. Look at Buddy! I had no idea that all dogs can't just swim and needed lessons. I'm glad he's enjoying himself.
    Best of luck to your Mum. xxx

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    1. I am sure they can, he just never really wanted to. The ocean waves can put a small dog off but if we go on quieter days then we will do some more practicing

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  12. YAY Buddy!! He looks so cute! It'd been so hot around here that I bought a little fountain for the cats as when we first got them as kittens they loved to play with water dripping from a tap. Well...they've been curious about the fountain but haven't dipped their paws in yet - perhaps I should help them :) ! Good job on the dishes! A few years ago I bought two sets for four as prior to that our dishes were mix and match though I shelled out a whole lot more than $7.00! They were on sale, however from the Linen Closet which I didn't even know sold dishes til I saw a sales flyer! I don't shop much. I would like new cutlery also as the ones I have are missing several forks and spoons dating back to when Kazi took her lunch to school/work. I love my set but they don't make that pattern anymore. Figures.

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    1. I probably still will buy 2 sets but want both a set I like and a price I can live with. I will look again at Christmas but in the mean time this set is a huge improvement over our last set.

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  13. Good job all around -- but especially Buddy! You will find that nothing tires a dog out quite as much as swimmies. It's fun for you too!

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    1. Buddy was so exhausted, hubby had to pack him part way back to the vehicle. We sometimes also forget he is tiny and he has 4 steps to our one.

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  14. wow quite the busy bees! I enjoyed reading about all your activities!
    have a great summer my friend! Hugs to Buddy!

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    1. Yes, super busy, and social. We've been salmon fishing, are having friends over tonight then having more family this weekend. I will almost be happy when we get back to work properly in September

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  15. Glad to see you back. Having loads of visitors is great but quite hard work when you are still working isn't it. Oh, and I hoard old bedding too. Well I inherited a bunch of stuff when my ex just upped sticks and abandoned his house so anything I can use I do and the rest I cut up to use as rags. Must make a trip to the dogs' home too though with old towels. I can't bear waste!

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    1. Anything not good enough for the thrift went to the SPCA, they are always happy to get old blankets and towels :) I hate waste too, a pet peeve

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  16. I am having the same problem with my acorn squash plant. Seems like only male flowers, and when I find a female one coming it never blooms to allow fertilization. I learned in a gardening class that you can pollinate acorn squash with zucchini blooms, but without a female flower to work with that doesn't help me much. My zucchini is doing much better this year. I planted two green in one container and right next to it two yellow ones. I've put flowers nearby so pollination is happening at a better rate with very few withering away. - Margy

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    1. Yeah, it is weird. I've gotten 3 so far, but it seems to be making another attempt, 2 blooms right now, fingers crossed I can get at least 1 more cucumber as they taste fantastic!

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