Garage and Garden

 Mardi has been inviting me to join her and Pat on their Saturday yard sale jaunts and yesterday I gave in.  Glad that I did.

First purchase - Marmaduke, the Red Nosed Moose ($5).

He will likely join Rudolph and the other deer at Christmas in the garden centre.

Second purchase - two unopened first aid kits (2 for $5).  Another purchase for the greenhouse.  Safety first!

And, finally, a set of electric drill fittings ($10).  That will certainly come in handy at the greenhouse!

A good time was had by all.  I guess that means that I'll be joining them again next Saturday when Caledonia is holding a community yard sale.

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Last year, one of my cactus plantings outgrew its space, so I dug it up and separated it.  Now we have several almost ready to sell or plant. As soon as they begin to flower I'll offer them to Sean.

However, as Monica can attest, you need danger pay to play with these guys.  They got me right through my gloves and I had to throw the gloves out - second year in a row!

I finished the day cutting the grass.  It should be OK now until I return on Tuesday.

Today, I continued working on the main garden.  Took an area that was choked with field grass.

Dug down about six inches to try to get rid of the extended roots, and ended up with this.

Those Ice Plants will spread to 18 to 24 inches and, eventually, will pretty well fill the space.  They flower throughout the season.

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Last night and again this afternoon I watched the Blue Jays blow games against Baltimore.  Their pitching injuries have put extra pressure on the bullpen and the 16th and 17th games in a row proved to be too much for them.  Day off tomorrow will help, but it's going to be a few weeks before they (hopefully) get the injured pitchers back.

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Invited Kathryn and Anna for dinner and cards tonight.  Lots of laughs at our UNO results.  They left at 8:30 because Anna has a company video meeting at 4 a.m.  The company is doing very well.

And so are we.  Let's stay that way.

Believe it Or Not

 I had a very interesting, and unexpected, experience yesterday.

The background is that my Grand Caravan is now 7 years old and has covered 175,000 km.  It had been a National Car Rental vehicle when I bought it 6 years ago for $22,000.  It has electric side and back doors and a rear view camera, but few other gadgets.  Those fancy toys don't hold any interest for me - just get me where I'm going without worry.  It still looks good and I figure that it will last as long as me if I take good care of both of us.

So, I took it to Bob McDougall's garage (his family has operated out of that location as long as I've been in Stoney Creek) and asked him to do a full "medical" and told him to do whatever he found necessary to make it pass the tests.

Two hours later I got a phone call that it was ready and he found no problems.  When I showed up and pulled out my wallet, he said "I'll catch you next time."

Who does that?  So, I'm giving him this free commercial.  Thank you Bob!  

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Today I finished the drought resistant half of the main front garden.  I was working on it when Jill and Gary visited.  Now it looks like this.

It includes Echevarria, various Sedums, Cactus, Sage, and to the left some Forget-Me-Nots who decided to join the fun on their own.  I may add a Portulaca in the open space as well.  That's a Peony on the left, ready to bloom.

David changed the sign that you see in the background.  Customers have enjoyed it and stop to take pictures.

After I got tired of gardening I cut the back lawns, stopping to admire the Yellow Water Iris that I planted along the shore of the pond a few years ago.

A very pretty plant that has established itself all along the shoreline.

And here's one that I didn't plant.

In an earlier life, the land that became Trillium Hill was an Asparagus farm.  Remnants still grow along the borders of the property.

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After being down 5 - 0 early in the game, the Blue Jays came back to win 6 - 5.  My prediction about them folding during this 17 game stretch wasn't even close.  

Stay well.

Life Is Crazy Good

 Today is Mardi's cousin Janet's birthday.  All the best!

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And it was a good day for me too.

I started with my Head Gardener duties, and during the gardening phase I was visited by Jill and Gary who had loaded their car with plants.  Gary took these pictures of me in my Head Gardener shirt.........

 ............and relaxing on my "deck".

Then I cut some grass before heading home for the Blue Jays game.  Surprisingly, they won again.  Wonders will never cease!

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Tonight was our Optimist meeting and the guests were students from Orchard Park High School who demonstrated their robot.

It chases and shoots out those yellow balls.  The schools are advised in January what the goal is and the restrictions regarding the robot build.  They have six weeks to get the robot into competition form.

Team 2056 has been very successful in the past and this year came fifth in world competition.  An amazing accomplishment!  Our club is certainly glad to contribute to help them in their efforts. 

Following the meeting, Optimist Ed Strecker (Mardi's and my matchmaker 😍) presented me with an example of his latest hobby.

That is very fitting (other than regarding my golf game).  Thank you Ed.

Stay well folks.

Losers

 Yesterday was almost a total loss.  

First, I "played" golf.  As if I knew how!  My body can't remember how to swing properly.  'Nuff said!

Then, the Blue Jays did their minor league imitation once again.  For at least this game, it seems that they demoted the wrong fielder.  Pinango is good at offense but he plays high school defense in the field.  He cost the Jays three runs and messed up Trey Yesavage's ERA in the process.  Davis Schneider might be struggling at the plate, but he wouldn't have screwed up the game at least.  Too bad he's now in Buffalo.

I turned that game off in the 8th inning - couldn't bear to watch any more.  The Jays should send Pinango back down to Buffalo for some basic training as soon as Addison Barger returns to the field.

Didn't watch the Canadiens hockey game either, but they managed to lose it in overtime.

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Today, I finished the third ramp that I was building for Sean.  It provides a transition from the greenhouse floor up to the concrete walkway.  A safe passage route for customers and an easy way for the staff to roll greenhouse carts between the two areas.

Nailed a strip of runner rug to the ramps to protect the wood and keep folks from slipping.  You can see that this one is well used already.

Just one more to go, which I plan to complete tomorrow.

Also cut the grass in the front and on the west side.  Surprisingly, after the weekend deluge there were no muddy sections.  I'll do the side and rear lawns tomorrow.  They usually have a harder time dealing with wet conditions.

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Blue Jays. turned things around tonight.  They beat the Marlins 8 - 1.  Pinango hit a home run and didn't make any errors, but I still think that he needs more training - none of his catches were difficult.

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It always surprises me that folks don't keep their credit card receipts.  I do and I always check them off when the statement arrives.   Years ago I avoided over $2,000 in phoney charges (a waiter in Jackson Hole, Wyoming copied my card and, I assume, sold the info - there were charges for electronics, gas and McDonalds - classy!).  I've also caught two double charges over the years - a hotel and a restaurant.

Today I called CIBC because there was a $330.24 charge for a hotel in Carlsbad, California that was not legitimate.  Make sure that your credit card charges are correct!

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And stay well.

Parking Woes

 When I arrived at Trillium Hill today the parking situation was absolutely crazy.  So Parking Attendant became my gig for the next three hours (until the skies emptied).  Thanks for the pic Sarah-Jean.

David brought the chair out for me but I had little chance to use it.   Parking was a zoo.

It was an interesting day and I'll share three takeaways.

First, one of the drivers that I directed was this one.

Seems kind of strange, but there is a fork behind the cab and one of the sayings at the rear would indicate that he is a farmer - so, kind of like a Head Gardener in a way.  We're kindred folk I guess.  I suppose that's why he's waving to me.

Except that "Sic Semper Tyrannus" (on the top of the fender), was what John Wilkes Booth shouted after he assassinated Abraham Lincoln.  So not that kindred after all.

The second discovery today is that a significant proportion of the population should not be allowed to drive cars.  Totally incompetent!

And third, I was amazed at the number of electric vehicles that drove in today.  I think that a research study would be justified to see if the percentage of gardeners who drive EVs is higher than the overall population.

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That's all the philosophical meandering for me today.

Stay well.

Friends and Ferns

 Sister Judy has been working on our ancestry and came up with this maternal heritage nugget that occurred in Cambridge, England.

In 1914, our great grandfather Alexander Marriott died when he fell off his horse driven cart due to an exposed stump in the road. Great grandmother Elizabeth sued for $10,000. The city said the stump wasn’t really very big and his seat wasn’t fastened properly, but she was awarded $1500, which would be about $49,000 in today’s dollars (maybe that's pounds, not dollars).

I tripped over a stump at the greenhouse the other day.  Now I know why!  It's in my DNA.

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I took yesterday off because we were looking forward to a visit from Lori and Frank, our Stratford and Florida friends.  First off, a visit to Trillium Hill to fill up their SUV.

Once those veggies are producing we are going to have a visit to Stratford to see our friends and take in a show.

Next up was a game of Uno, with Maureen and Matt joining us.

Apparently, my game needs work!

Dinner was lasagna and salad.  What a very nice way to spend a day with friends!

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I decided that today was not a golf day, nor was it a gardening day.  So I spent some time building some scoops for retrieving hanging baskets.

Some Dollarama metal bowls, hard plastic or plywood to beef up the scoop, plumbing parts and nuts and bolts, and voila, you have what you need to get those baskets down for sale.

As you can see, we only have a few thousand Fern baskets left and they're going fast (see you tomorrow Monica).

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 Since returning to Canada, my modest success at Cribbage failed and I ended up a distant second.  So I wimped out and asked for a return to Skip-Bo.  Good move so far - I'm crushing it (and have probably just jinxed myself).

Stay well.

The "A" Team And the "B" Sides

 Last night, Mardi and I decided to get some culture and headed to the Studio Theatre at Theatre Aquarius to see a musical show titled        "B-Sides: The One That Got Away".  

Think of the old vinyl days and the song on the other side of a favourite song.

The musician/songwriters/singers were awesome.

We'll have to do this sort of thing more often!

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Back to reality, despite spending quite a bit of time as a parking attendant (the garden centre was booming on the weekend), I managed to cut the grass and finish two gardens.  The Day Lily garden............

.....and the Iris garden.

Just a couple of dozen more to go!

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Blue Jays lost today.  And now they're heading into a couple of series against powerhouse teams.  Doesn't look too good.

Stay well folks.

A Winning Strategy

 Happy birthday to Sandy Weaver today.  Mardi and friends are planning a June visit to Forest and will see you then.  All the best Sandy.

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Some quiet days so far this week.  I golfed for the first time in this Canadian season on Monday, and broke 100!  It's amazing how low you can score when you omit three holes 😎.

Tuesday I rode the lawn mower for three hours and got all of the grass cut.

Wednesday I played hooky.

Today, I finished refurbishing the Trillium logo garden down front.

Before..............

............and after I spent two hours on my knees digging, took two wagonloads to the compost pile, and added 16 (broken) bags of mulch.

The bags of mulch are in such thin plastic that a lot of them don't last the season.  For David it's definitely a loss leader!  For me, it's a freebee.

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The Blue Jays have caught on to my golf strategy.  The stopped their losing streak today - they didn't play 😏.

Stay well.

Project Complete?

 Today I finished my planned work on the "cottage".

Now it looks like a worker might live there.

I thought that it was finished, but perhaps it needs one more touch - a weathervane!  So, Mardi has been issued a challenge - find a yard sale weathervane for me.

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This project dates back to January when David drove me to Florida but wouldn't let me pay for his return flight.  I decided to get even, and eventually came up with this idea to make that happen.

By now, you readers know that my brand of humour is whimsical.  Lighthearted and comfortable.  I've spent many happy, satisfying hours working on the "cottage", and now, coincidentally, I have completed it on David's 66th birthday.  We're even David.  Happy birthday!

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And the Blue Jays came through again.  The highlight was the first eight batters in the 8th all scored.  The final was 11 - 4.  Well done!

Malcolm, I had a shot of Teacher's to celebrate.

Stay well folks.

Sixty Five!

 I was impressed yesterday when my golf buddy Gary Parker and Jill celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary.  Then today, I realized that my childhood buddy Wayne Hilts and Judy are celebrating their 65th!

Dave Jewett and Nadine are celebrating an anniversary today as well.   Best wishes to all!

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Nothing else exciting today.  I cut grass at the greenhouse for an hour or so.  Enjoyed some spring blossoms along the way.

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Blue Jays won to top off a good day.

Stay well.