Completed Swing

Well, almost. The roof will go on next year, and we'll paint it then too, but it is ready to use. And Iain decided to try it out. But he won't let me put the picture here, because he doesn't like it.

Judy's Fish

Just have to show off another example of Judo Kuno's talents! Judy has a home near our cottage, where she is happy to try her hand at all sorts of creative pursuits. Above are two of her latest efforts. A friend of hers showed her a fish made from a large plastic soft drink bottle, and she decided to try to make them herself. I think she did a great job!

Grrr..Telus is making me very angry.

For my birthday, Iain bought me a lovely new phone from Telus, an LG Keybo. It's really nice, and I thought I'd be very happy with it, but I'm starting to wish I'd stuck with Bell.

I'd heard good things about Telus, and thought I'd give them a chance. Plus I like the ads: brightly coloured reptiles and meerkats bring a smile to my face.

When purchasing the phone, one of the questions I asked specifically was "Can I use Windows Messenger?" The answer was yes. They lied. Or, at least, they exaggerated.

After trying to download the damn program about 10 times (yeah, I know the definition of insanity) I finally gave up and called Customer Service. After getting dropped once and going the round of the automated system about three times, I finally got someone who knew the answer. The answer was kind of like this:

"Oh, well, the Keybo, they don’t have messenger for it just yet, it was supposed to be ready by end of August, but it isn’t out yet....I can’t give you a date, unfortunately."

And the email (which also refused to download)?

"Yes, unfortunately it is also not available yet."

And Telus Navigator, which is supposed to be available for short periods, or for a modest extra monthly fee?

"Actually, that isn’t available for the Pay and Talk."

But your website says it is.

"Unfortunately, it is not available."

So, it seems I own a phone which is supposed to have a number of very desirable features - but it doesn’t really have any of them.

So now I have to cool off and try to decide whether to go back and demand a refund, or just be patient. But I’m not happy.

Labour Day weekend always seems to end up being very, very busy. Why is that? Well, partly because it's Kyle's birthday on Friday, my birthday on Sunday, and my mom's birthday on the 3rd (and due to the busy schedule everyone has with the Renfrew fair, we had cake and prezzies for her this evening), and much celebrating must be done all round.

I'm happy to report that Iain spoiled me on the whole weekend, starting out with a raspberry mousse cake, suitably decorated for the occasion, on Friday night. Saturday we attended a couple of auction sales, at one of which I purchased a very decrepit (but usefully large) cocktail shaker. Saturday night we had the best prime rib roast ever, barbecued by Iain using the Weber and with the assistance of an interesting bit of technology supplied by Carl.

On Sunday we came home from the cottage, dropping Mom off and heading into Ottawa to see Kyle and Sheila. First however, a little shopping! Iain gifted me this little item, and I am still getting used to how to use it. Lots of bells and whistles to explore.

Sheila treated us to a great dinner and we hung out for the evening, heading back to Renfrew this morning. Today was rest and relaxation!

Just A Swingin'

As promised, pictures of Iain's swing-building. In the first photo, you can see the disassembled bits of the old swing off to the side. It was originally built by my dad back in the 70's, but the supports had rotted to the point where Iain couldn't repair them anymore. He used the metal components to make the new one, which is sturdy as the rock of Gibraltar due to the usual Fullerton over-engineering (he calls it that, not me - I like it just fine!). It was sad to lose the old one, but its day was truly done. Iain hopes to finish the work this weekend, but because it is mostly pressure-treated wood, we won't paint it until next year.

Eye Wear

My deep-end friend Wendy had a post the other day about her visit to her eye doctor, and since I work for optometrists I took a keen interest! For one thing, I noted that eye exams are much costlier in the city (our guys charge $85). The glasses sound slightly pricier as well, though it is hard to be sure when you don't know the exact type of lenses.

What interested me most was Dave's comment about intraocular lenses as a fix for presbyopia; so I talked to one of my bosses to get his take on them. He says this is mainly being done in the States right now, and the lens is much like a bifocal contact lens - concentric rings, with both powers present in the lens. Based on that, I think I'll be waiting for a better fix; I have tried the bifocal contacts and absolutely hate them. Bad vision all the time was my experience. I'll wait for a better lens. Meanwhile, there are lots of funky glasses to wear!

What I Did On My Summer Vacation

Iain has been giving me a VERY hard time about not blogging lately, but I've just been having SO MUCH FUN puttering around the house on my week off! No, I'm not kidding. Seriously.

Here is a small pictorial tour of the last three weeks:

These are pictures of the well-developed mammatus clouds we saw on July 26.

We expected a devil of a storm, but just about everything went around us.

My new first-cousin-twice-removed, Taylor, new sister of Hope and daughter of Steph and Steve. She's 4 days old here - what a cutie!

Iain in fine form at the horseshoe tourney.

I have to admit to not taking many pictures the week of our holidays, especially since Iain started building the new two-seater swing, and got it half done! I WILL take a pic this weekend so you can admire his handiwork.

Our snowball bush

And I had to run outside and snap this photo just now, of our hydrangea. Only its second year in the back yard, and it is doing so well! Much better than our rose bushes, which I must have screwed up somehow...lots of green, no blooms :(

What am I?

I left my wildflower identification book at the cottage, and I forgot I'd taken these pictures there. Now, if I could show these to Irene G., she'd know what it is (and if she didn't, Iain says she'd make it up), but maybe someone else can tell me? Anyway, just posting them because (a) I haven't been taking time to post, lately, and it's something I like to do, and (2) I thought they were pretty!

Not only ripped off at the pumps...

Iain receives a newsletter/commentary from a BMO financial advisor, Frank Lambros. His latest missive, entitled "Uh Oh… The Price Is Still Wrong" points out that although the Canadian dollar has averaged a value of $.988 US over the last year, the price gap on goods between here and south of the 49th is still huge, averaging 18% (!!!!??)

Here' s his list:

So where is the extra cash going? I would assume straight into the pockets of the retaillers, but I wish I knew.

Whither has thou gone, nice weather?

As of tomorrow, Iain and I have 19 years of married life behind us. Strange how a lifetime flies by. So many memories, and changes. I think I want 19 more.
We're at the cottage, which we often are for our anniversary, and the weather is not cooperating as much as I'd like. It has been rainy and cold by turns. Yesterday seemed a good day to go for a drive, and we took a tour to Pembroke, where I haven't visited for years. For fun, we took some sideroads, and discovered that our map was sadly out-of-date, though we did find our way after a bit. This occasioned the purchase of a new map at the Canadian Tire.
New maps show all the roads, but they don't make very clear how good/bad they are. We ended up on Dore Bay Road, which devolved into a bush track. At the top of one very rocky and washed out hill, we paused to turn back. Fortunately a nice local man (and his truckful of camo-clad companions) happened along at just that moment. They knew the road, and we followed them to the end, where they sent us on in the right direction. We took some more interesting roads on the way home. Wildlife spotted: Marsh Hawk - and that's about it, except for numerous dogs, cattle, and a couple of domesticated turkeys out for a stroll. Some evidence of unseen wildlife: large logs with bark stripped by beavers (felled during the ice storm in April, they were obviously found food for the beavers).
Today is shaping up to be warm and mostly sunny, so we will be staying put.