Scanlon Creek

Today was a perfect day for a hike. This morning we headed to Scanlon Creek Conservation Area just north of Bradford.

The trails consist of pine forest, cedar forest, wetlands and meadow. The trails crossed the Scanlon Creek in many places.

There were many of these stands of tree clusters.

 

This is a very well established park. All the facilities you could ask for. A lovely picnic area, children's play grounds, wash rooms, a dog park and well maintained trails. There was hardly anyone there. What a shame on such a lovely day.

We hiked 6 miles over the five different loop trails stopping for a picnic part way through.

This was our first visit to this park and I am sure we will go there again. Nice and close to home also.

 

Hope you enjoyed your weekend as well. Until next time safe travels.

 

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Honk Honk

Our friends Dave and Helen headed off for a two month trip to Scotland recently. Before they left she dropped off an old wooden bird that I assume used to hang out doors. She wanted to know if I could bring it back to life.

 

As you can see it was not pretty.

First was to pick off the remaining paint chips and give it a good sanding. It took a lot of sanding to bring it back to a like new finish.

Then many hours and many coats of paint to try to get some detail into it. I have never painted on wood before and never realized how difficult it is to get detail on wood with paint.

But the end result turned out pretty good. I will have a surprise waiting for her when she gets home....if she doesn't read my blog while she is away...lol

 

 

 

I am going to hate to give it back to her. Maybe we will sell and move before she gets home...lol

Now to find a new project to work on...until next time safe travels.

 

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Wye Marsh

This weekend turned out to be hot, dry and sunny. Perfect to get the vette out for some road time.

Saturday we headed up to Orillia to take a look at the repairs that were done on the 5th wheel and of course hand over the cash for the repairs. The handy man that did the work did an excellent job and Tara is looking like new again. We had some water damage under the front nose. He fixed that up and installed diamond shield aluminum all under the nose and down the front. Re-caulked every where. And did some maintance on the slides what were pretty rusty after all the Florida humidity over the winter which had caused us some heartburn on our trip home this spring. We had a visit with Tom and Christine who are nice enough to let us store Tara on their property and who recommended the handy man to us.

From there we headed into Orillia to visit with Ron and Pat McKenzie. They suggested we walk over to a new restaurant near their place for dinner. Good choice. The food was excellent. Thanks again guys for dinner. It is always nice to visit with you. Have a safe trip up to Dryden!!

Sunday we were up early and again headed north. This time to Minden and to the Wye Marsh. We had heard that there was some good hiking there.

They have a trumpeter swan recovery facility in the park. These birds are huge!! They say that the Marsh has been very instrumental in the comeback of these birds to Ontario.

 

There is a nice boardwalk that spans part of the marsh.

Lets you get up close to the fauna and flora.

We stopped for lunch at an observation station along the way.

We had hoped that we would come back to kayak on the marsh but learned that it is done as an hour long guided tour. You are not allowed to go out on your own. So I think we will pass on that. We spent about 3 hours at the Marsh and walked about 5 miles on the trails. We took the scenic route home with the convertible top down to get our ration of vitamin D.

Lovely weekend. This is what summer is all about. Until next time - safe travels.

 

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Happy Father's Day

To all the Dad's out there here's hoping you have a great day. I cleaned the inside of the BBQ today . It was a pretty greasy job and not one that I like doing. But it is Father's Day and I can't imagine Tom doing it!!! He is the bbq'er but not the cleanerupper!! I painted my tree face with pretty blue eyes to match his (even some blood shot lines...lol).

 

I have finished rebuilding the back garden. The new grass has started to grow and it is looking pretty good. Tom is working on some fence fixing as you can see by the 2x4 propping it up right now. That should be gone soon.

The hostas are looking good also

 

Stuart and Heajin are here for dinner and brought steaks. Heajin tried her hand at a lemon meringue pie for Tom. His favorite. The sun is shining and it is gorgeous day. The car wash is in full swing. What more could you ask for.

Well maybe a cold one.

 

Until next time safe travels.

 

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Timber!!!

We had planned on heading to the Wye Marsh for a hike today but plans are always made to be changed. Tom's cousin, Rodger, called us early this morning to see if we wanted some company. The last time we saw them was Dec 9 th when we pulled out of their driveway to start our trip to Florida. It has been far too long. So we said come on down.

 

 

Rodger and Terry arrived at around 11:00 and we spent the day getting caught up. Unfortunately our neighbor decided that today was the day to have a couple of guys chop down a beautiful, healthy tree in his back yard. This neighbor is an idiot. He hates trees. He goes around his yard and cuts all the trees that are in the neighbors yards that come close the fence line. Everyone that borders his yard has three sided trees, including us. Last year he cut down a big tree in his back yard himself. I guess this one was beyond him so he hired the job out.

 

Of well, there no accounting for stupidity. We got to listen to chain saws for a good part of the afternoon but having good company made it easier to put up with. Rodger and Terry headed home at about 9:00 pm with a promise to come back for a longer visit next time. Good to see them.

Until next time, safe travels.

 

 

 

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Beauty Day

The weather since we returned for Florida has been spotty. So when the sun shines we have to take advantage. Today was one of those days.

 

We hopped into the vette and headed out for a little tour. We needed a destination and thought that it would be a great idea to drop in on our old friend Guy. His wife, Ruth, passed way last fall and we had feared the worse for Guy with her gone. But we were pleasantly surprised to see him doing so well. We had a nice visit and a cold beer.

 

Home after a beautiful drive through the back roads. You know,there are few gravel roads in Ontario. But we seem to manage to find one every time we take a drive. And Tom washed the vette this morning. We gathered a layer of dust. But tomorrow we plan on heading to the Wye Marsh to do some hiking. Will blow off that dust then. Another great day!!

 

Until next time safe travels.

 

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Mother Nature

Give us a break!!! We got hit yesterday with high winds, pouring rain and hail. All as we sat in the vette waiting for it to stop. When the hail started we took to the road again to try to get out of it. Last thing we need is hail on the convertible roof!!!

Here you can see the hail on a patio cushion. Thankfully they were not big enough to cause any damage.

We took a walk down by the little river near our house after the rain stopped. This is part of the Don and is normally pretty calm but not today.

 

Later the sun came out again and you would never know it had rained. Dave and Helen came over for one last dinner before they leave on their two month vacation to Europe on Saturday. We hope they have a great trip.

Today we are doing some more yard work. Soon to be finished I hope. Until next time - safe travels.

 

 

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