A Bad Plant

 If any of you see a plant like this in your gardens, with its dainty white flowers, get rid of it FAST!

It's garlic mustard and it is toxic for other plants.  Particularly the Trillium.  When David purchased the farm there were lots of beautiful red Trilliums along the edge of the escarpment.  No more.  Just lots of garlic mustard.

Now, the only red Trillium on the property is this one.

Today I weeded and mulched the petals.

Then I got going on the lawns.  In May, they need cutting every four days.  While I was in that process, I came across a pair of Canada Grease who looked like they were planning a family.

There is no way I'm going to wait for 30 days to cut the grass again, so I chased them off.

When I was a young boy, Jack Miner was a hero.  He created a bird sanctuary that was credited with saving the geese, who at that time were diminishing in numbers.  These days I think he did too good a job!

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The Leafs have started to dismantle and reorganize after the sad end to their season.  Based on how the Blue Jays are playing, they'll be doing those things long before their season is officially over!

Stay brave.  Stay well.

Wounded

Joyce is the young lady celebrating a birthday today.   Have a great day!

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Enjoyed a sunny golf day (the opposite of an absent someone's forecast).  Calvin and I were joined by John Buckley.  Despite being mortally wounded......that's blood on my pant leg......I only let John beat me by one stroke.  Of course we're not going to publish our scores - too embarrassing!

Apparently, when I banged my leg getting the golf clubs out of the car it started bleeding (my leg, not the car Al) and kept bleeding for a while thanks to the blood thinners I'm on, but I didn't notice it.

We were joined by several other beings while on the course. 

Seems to me that a brood of 15 goslings is overdoing it a bit!

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That's today's news.  Stay well.

Optimist Robots

 At our Optimist meeting tonight we were entertained by the Orchard Park High School Robotics Team.

This year they have won two divisional championships, an Ontario championship and, as you can see on the banner, the Galileo World divisional championship.

Nice to see that Arcelor Mittal Dofasco is one of their sponsors (as is our club).

As a guy whose major accomplishment in high school was making a pair of wooden bookends, I have some difficulty relating to these young geniuses.  Very impressive!

Also impressive is the fact that we inducted four new members to our club tonight - and we're close to our 70th anniversary (I've only been involved for 64 of them).  When many clubs are failing, ours is thriving.  We'll be able to continue our good work thanks to these new, energetic members.

Stay well.

Friends and Turtles

 Ten years ago today, Doc Jewett asked three Dofasco guys to accompany him to the Burlington Performing Arts Centre for a show that Doc wanted to see.  We were held up in the lobby for a bit as Doc chatted with a lady, and we all wondered where that would lead.  Fast forward to today and Doc and Nadine are celebrating the anniversary of that event.  Congratulations my friends!

Fate does some interesting things to relationships as Mardi and I can attest.  

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I displayed all of my talents today at Trillium Hill.  Landscape architect, lawn maintenance, parking attendant, fork lift operator, farm labour.  But, probably most important, conservation officer.

I came across Toby Turtle while cutting the grass.  He had been crossing from the neighbour's pond to David's pond.  Stopped and squatted when I approached on the mower.

He measured over two feet long from his snout to the tip of his tail.

I backed the mower off and he resumed his journey.

But, don't tell Sarah-Jean or she won't want to swim in the pond!

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Stay well folks.

A birthday and a dance.

 We had a great weekend.  Yesterday morning we headed to Forest (near Sarnia) to help Sandy celebrate her 80th birthday.

Mardi and Sandy have been good friends for the majority of their lives.

Her family did a fantastic job of honouring the matriarch of the family.  Started with lunch and continued through dinner (we missed that part) and finished with breakfast this morning.

Mardi and I stayed overnight at the Forest Golf Hotel (no golf) and rejoined the group for breakfast.

Then we made a two hour drive to Kincardine and had lunch at the Erie Belle Restaurant.  Their cod fish and chips were excellent - reminded us of our trip to Newfoundland!

Then it was down the street to the Kincardine Legion, where our buddy Doc and the Lighthouse Swing Band were playing from 2 to 5.

That's Doc on the left.

Lots of dancing.  Seems like I have less problems staying upright when I dance better than I walk (fell flat out on Friday at the greenhouse).

We'll be back Doc, hopefully with other dancers.  The schedule folks, is shown below.

Stay well folks.

Driver Required

 Today was son David's 64th birthday.  I think that means I'm getting really old!  

Wished him all the best yesterday because today I was heading to Chippewa Creek for golf.  But it was not much fun.  It was cart path only for the carts, and I'm not smart enough to hit the ball near the path, so I did a lot of walking back and forth.

Only lasted 15 holes before I called it a day.  Al lasted 16, Matt 17.  Only Calvin (who was walking - but not sideways like the rest of us) finished 18.  

Better days ahead!

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Our vacation at Orange Lake for 2025 has now been booked.  We're in a 2 bedroom, in a high rise in the River Island village (where the water park is) from January 5 to February 28.  Love our timeshare!

The next step is to find someone to share the driving on the way down with me in exchange for some vacation time with us.  Mardi hates the drive down and intends to fly.  Any volunteers?

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Watched my second hockey game in years tonight.  Leafs have won both games.  Perhaps I'd better watch the next one too.

Stay well.

Ribs

Yesterday, I was impressed with Gary and Jill completing 58 years.

Today, my heroes are my childhood buddy Wayne and Judy who are marking their 63rd anniversary.  Awesome!

Doc and Nadine are also celebrating an anniversary today.  Six is not as big a number, but still a happy day.  See you in Kincardine on Sunday folks.

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I only spent an hour and a half at the greenhouse today.  Busy day planned.  But, I managed to clean up and mulch one garden.

And, planted some spent Tulips in another garden.  You won't see the results of that until next spring.

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Matt and Maureen joined us this afternoon for a game of Skip-Bo.  For some reason the ladies won 😠.

Then we headed to Chuck's Roadhouse to see if the rib special was as good as the steaks we previously enjoyed.

You get this plate, a full rack, for $15.00 on Wednesdays.  Sorry, I started eating before I took the picture.

The verdict from Matt - a 9.  He rates Miller's Ale House in Florida as a 10.  Considering that Miller's $15.99 price converts to over $22 Canadian that's not a bad rating.  And he will be returning.

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Stay well.