Playing In The Mud

 Two special people are celebrating birthdays today.  Mardi's granddaughter Reggie and our Sue.  Best wishes to both.

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Visited the greenhouse (for just one hour again) and started on my next project.

A new drain line was put in last fall, and after giving it time to settle over the winter it's now time to level it off and move the excess earth somewhere else.

When that's done, the next project is to finish covering the drain line that was replaced at the bottom of the hill.

I'll have to up my effort!

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Stay well.

Games We Play

 Expected to have my laser welding process done this morning.  But it was just drops in the eyes and ticking off all the boxes.  Back on the 25th for laser. Nevertheless, since I still can't focus really well, I'm taking the rest of the day off.

So, let's just talk about silly stuff.  Like the games we play to try to keep our brains alive.

I do Wordle every morning.  Used to be in a group, but I realized that the only way that I could win would be to get help from a hint site.  Not going to happen.  So now Mardi and I just compete with each other.

I do Sudoku every day (Pennypress Books) but that's a solitary game.

And I do Freecell on the computer.  I learned early on that I could not match the speed of some players.

So, I simply try to get the answer in the least number of moves.  And occasionally..........

Although "Bestican" did it faster, his eight attempts all took one more move than mine.

And the most challenging brain drain of all is my daily Skip-Bo game against Mardi.   She plays a mean game (including today!).

Who knows if these games help to keep your brain alive?  But it's fun to keep trying.

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Later this year I'm going to be asking for your help with our Optimist Turkey Roll, where 100% of the proceeds go back to the community.

Right now we're selling Peach Festival tickets.  While we don't get much revenue for our own cause, we do want to help this community event.  So, if you are interested please let Mardi or me know.

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Stay well.

 Today's birthday boy is my nephew Stefan.  Enjoy the day!

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I made a trek to the greenhouse today.  Enjoyed some of these Vietnamese crackers at lunch time.

They are not only a good crew, but they share too.  Nice!

Then I spent some time repairing winter damage.

First, where someone used the driveway to turn around and didn't care about what they did to the grass.

Then, a spot where the forklift got stuck and the forks had to be used to escape.  This picture is after the temporary repair (no problem Sean).

Then, back to the septic bed area.  Apparently the guys who were checking it out couldn't use the driveway because of the snow, so they bypassed and left tracks on the neighbour's property.

Flattened it out as much as I could and then added some top soil to finish the job, for now.

And finally, raked the mulch back onto the gardens from whence it came.

After an hour or so it seemed like time to quit (spring training after all - it takes time to get back in shape).

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Came home and enjoyed a couple of hands of Skip-Bo with Mardi and Jo-Anne.

Jo-Anne and I each won a hand.  Sorry Mardi!

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Tomorrow I get my left eye welded again, to avoid retina detachment.  May not be any other news so it may be Friday for the next issue (important birthdays coming up that day).

Stay well.

No News Is Good News?

 Best wishes today to A.J. who is celebrating his 52nd birthday.

Meanwhile, his mom went for a test to see how dense she is 😉.

I do like living dangerously, but I'm going to keep it short tonight.

Jays won their second in a row over Boston, with the young pitcher whose names are backward, Easton Lucas, winning his second big league game.  Fun to watch.

That's it for tonight.  I'll try to do better tomorrow - maybe head to the greenhouse to do some lawn repair.

Stay well.

What a Day!

 Mardi surprised me this morning with a birthday get-together with some of our friends - Maureen and Matt, Rose and Ed, and Pat and Carol.

That's me with the hat, thanks to Ed.

Watched the Blue Jays lose again, and then headed to the greenhouse for a shared celebration: my birthday today, Sean's tomorrow, and Sarah-Jean's career move later this month.

Others who will celebrate this month - Sue, Mardi and Alexandra, with David following up May 2.  Sean's is tomorrow.

Even Yoda made an appearance.

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It's a big day for me as I turn 88, a particularly symbolic number.

In amateur radio, 88 is used as shorthand for "love and kisses".

Angel number 88 is a sign of great success, abundance and prosperity.  When this number keeps appearing in your life (for the next 365 days 😁) it indicates that exciting and positive changes are on the horizon.  Your guardian angels or spirit guides are trying to prepare you for the wonderful opportunities that lie ahead.

In an ATM it means the machine couldn't read your card.  Which happened yesterday! But then I got a new bank card so that problem shouldn't reoccur.

Feng Shui practitioners believe that incorporating the number 88 into home and office designs can amplify positive energy and invite abundance.

Look out world!  

And stay well my friends!

Sad and Glad

 Our thoughts this morning were with Matt, who lost his older brother to cancer.  Matt was to deliver the eulogy today at the funeral.

That was the sad part.  The glad part belongs to granddaughter Sarah-Jean.........

.......who will be leaving at the end of the month to begin her nursing career in Campbell River, B.C.  Mom Sue will share the drive out west and help her get settled in her new home.  An exciting adventure for our young lady!

You see Easter Lilies in the above picture.  They are currently being sorted and harvested......

..........by a good temporary work crew.

Unfortunately, the current U.S. tariff climate has put the crop in jeopardy.  As well, a portion of the crop has grown too tall to fit in the cardboard boxes you see in the background.  So they can't be shipped and David has decided to give them away.

Free Lilies folks.  Limit of six per customer.  Come on in.

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When we left the greenhouse, Mardi and I headed to Grimsby's Service Ontario office to renew our driver's licenses.  Thankfully, we can both still see and we drew very pretty clocks, so we're good to go for two more years.  By then I'll be 90 - hopefully I will still remember what a clock looks like 😬.

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Stay well.

Mail

 You'll have to forgive this paragraph, but the best thing about coming home?  Our "Right Size" toilet!  For the first time in three months I haven't had to grip the woodwork, worried about falling, while I sat myself down - way down.  Life's small pleasures!

Second best?  Watching the Blue Jays sweep Washington.  They weren't on the TV we watched in Florida.

Went through a huge pile of mail today, some of it from before we left and delayed by the strike.  Dealt with part of it.  More to go.

One of the mail items told us old people that we have to update our Driver's Licences, so that's on the agenda for tomorrow.

Despite the weather right now, Mardi has headed out to choir practice.  She's really missed that part of her life.  My singing angel.

That's all.  No real news today.

Stay well.