5C's Que Pasa

This set of photos were taken April 12th by Colin, exactly a month ago. At that time she was 14 weeks old. So four weeks younger that the photos in my last post. They are too special to not post them.

It was mentioned in a comment the other day that Ciela’s eyes are narrower than Carlie’s.  They really aren’t but in that photo session she was squinting because the sun was in her eyes. She must be more sensitive to light than Carlie.

She was and still is an imp.

Meet Mabel as named by our new neighbour. Long time readers might recall how this duck nested in our hedge. In fact she is standing on the fence directly above where her nest has been for a few years.

Mabel has been searching for her nest for a few weeks. She was most unhappy with the fence.

This was also taken on April 12th. She has taken to coming everyday and sitting on our lawn looking for nutrition to get her thru her pregnancy. It took her a few weeks before she moved on. The girls were very patient just watching her and if they were outside they just sat and watched her move about – mostly.

Click here for a link to my photos of her chicks coming out of her nest in our hedge last June and heading to the lake for the first time. It was an amazing sight and I will never forget it. She taught me that ducks can count. A friend sent me a link a few days ago. It is also a story of how a mama duck kept track of her new brood but much more dramatic than the photos I took. Thanks Ken. The following is a two minute extraordinary video taken in Spokane. This guy is a hero.

Back to Ciela.

We call her Ciela Bella.

Hmmm, we were doing this a year ago.

Contemplating life and the future.

The twins are 18 weeks old today and Colin took these photos this morning.

What a boring photo shoot.

We will attempt to make an effort.

Priceless.

Can you see Ciela’s tongue reaching for Colin ‘s ear?

So much love.

Lots of doggy tongue love happening here.

Great news in that we completed our company year end today. Best of all we only owe $253.29. It was an intense day including a lengthy meeting with our accountant as we are working towards shutting down our company.  That won’t happened for five years but we need to start planning the tax implications now.  By planning ahead we will be able to save $50,000.00.  So worth the time expended this past week. Of course we could shut it down tomorrow but why give up that 50K?

I can’t believe that the pups turned 4 months just this past Monday. When does one stop counting weeks and switch to months? Carlie has such a soulful look in her eyes.

We enjoyed a few perfect weather days but mostly we have have had cool temps and clouds. Not a normal spring. We finally stopped having frost overnight just this past Monday. I never wrote the date down but it likely was April 25th that we planted our parsnips, part of our carrots, beets, spinach and kale. A few days later we planted our peas, much more that last year. All but the parsnips have sprouted. When it warms up a bit more we will add cucumber, zucchini, green beans, Swiss chard and more peas and carrots a few weeks later so that we a fresh crop every few weeks.

Ciela has a very long tongue.

Once the danger of frost was over, we finally planted our tomatoes yesterday, both in our patio pots and in the garden. We had about seven tiny tomatoes growing in the pots on the dining table. The entire plant was turning yellowish so we were happy to get them outside.  I have no garden photos nor of the tomatoes on the patio but I will soon.

The girls are becoming very proficient at digging holes in the lawn. We finally put up some mini fences to try and stop them.  It did not work as you can see here, one  of them inside and one outside.  They just went in and out and fought each other from inside or outside of the ring depending on which side they were. I have since purchased plastic fencing similar to this for the multiple holes but much tighter so they can’t get in.  So instead they are breaking off and wanting to eat the various plastic bits. In case you were not aware this breed of dog is known for digging holes, that is what they were bred for. I have to say that these two are quite the challenge, likely more intense as they are siblings. First time in twenty years we have had this problem.

Just to clarify re my last post. Rick mentioned “Nice you were able to have a reunion like that.
Lots of people use Headphones or Earbuds to avoid those problems.”   I was able to hear everyone perfectly, it was the others that could not hear me very clearly or not at all. That is why I plan to get my computer checked yet again to make sure they did fix the computer microphone. But first, when I have a moment, I need to FaceTime with friends to check the sound. It might work better than Zoom.

Last Sunday we left the girls alone so we could go to a nursery just 15 minutes away to pick a very few flowers for my patio pots. Colin recently purchased a camera that we could set up and monitor on his iPhone.  This is the third time that we have monitored them but the first time that we have left the park. They are the two dark blobs on the left close to the window.  We were gone 45 minutes and they never moved. Great way to leave them alone and to give me peace of mind. Thus far they have never cried nor whimpered when we left them.

Isn’t there an old saying out there that states the things happen in threes? We have had a third fire here at the park. First the huge fire that destroyed the store and the restaurant. Then recently the fire that destroyed the authentic boat signage to the entrance of our park. Today was the third, a smaller fire in our garbage dumpster. Click here for that information.

We planted our flowers this past Tuesday. I am so happy to see flowers along the lake.

Lots of help from the girls, in particular Ciela. These haven’t even been planted but she is already tasting them. They have grown just enough to jump up and reach into the pot.

Here Ciela is getting sprayed with water as we test out the irrigation system.

This afternoon was our first sighting of goslings.  Earlier today we had our first few geese up on our lawn snacking and pooping. Tis the season.

As my blogs are becoming rather erratic as to when they are posted I suggest that you sign up ( see upper right ) and click on subscribe by email. Fill in the blanks and you will get a return email that you have to reply to in order to be guaranteed to receive each post when it publishes.  Much easier than having to keep checking back.

I was part of the grade 12 graduating class of 1971. Our grad theme was ” La Vie En Rose”. There were 37 of us that graduated that year, all girls. Yes, I attended a French based school called Academie Assomption, in Edmonton, Alberta, that was run by nuns.  There is a large Francophone community there. Today we celebrated our 50th anniversary 😀

Grade 7

Enhanced with a bit of Colin magic.

I have met from between two to ten of my fellow students who are extraordinary friends each time I have traveled to Edmonton, either to see my parents or deal with their final affairs and over the past few years seeing my wonderful chiropractor as well as enjoying a very long lunch and sharing the que pasa of our lives. They have comforted me as needed, driven me to the airport, to hospitals or whatever was needed. We will always remain special friends.

Grade 9

Better to see me – sort of.

Today was the first time time that 17 of us have come together virtually. Some were unable to join us, a very few have not been found and sadly four have passed tragically and at such a young age. We toasted them and made many other toasts as well. Today we had folks from Edmonton, Vernon, Kelowna, Vancouver and Hawaii.  I might had missed a few cities. Someone living in France was unable to join us at the last moment.

Grade 11, we had no grade 12 yearbook.

Thank you Colin for these larger photos. Yearbook photos are so tiny.

Zooming was an experience for me. I had tried earlier to no avail. Long story short Colin recalled that when I had the new hard drive installed in early March that the tech had left a wire hanging which Colin pointed out, it was the mic wire.  So he reopened my computer and re installed it. Just this past Thursday Colin took my desktop in, turns out that the mic was covered with adhesive tape. However today ( despite my one test after the repair ) many were unable to hear me. I was  disappointed but it was still so much fun to catch up with everyone. I did get my two cents in by putting my mouth right next to the computer. Guess what we will be dealing with next week?

At one point while Colin was walking the girls I heard a loud thump at the window. Turns out it was this wee one who was lying flat on his back.  Colin got it sorted out and put it on an artificial plant on an outdoor table. It did eventually flew away.

Those who came to the prom in 1971. I am in the middle row, third from the left with the emerald green ribbon ( empire style ) on my softer pale green gown.

I and my dream date ( Michel – from church ) are on the extreme right – yup he was wearing a tux. He had asked me to his cousins graduation in 1970 so we were chums. He would not even kiss me, my dad, a policeman, must have scared the you know what out of him. We hung out a bit for a few years but nothing developed thanks to my Dad.  May 1, 1971, truly was a lovely way to leave high school and move on with my life, in my case nursing school.

We went for close to three hours. Look at all these from the heart smiles. I was frowning trying to figure out how to capture the moment.

Shortly after we had a rain shower followed by a lovely rainbow.

A great way to end my day. So many wonderful and special memories. Love the light as the sun begins to go behind the mountains.

I think that we had a great reunion, despite this pandemic.  The best is yet to come.

🙁 I have no idea where the hours in my day go but they do disappear fast. I have been trying to write this post since Monday morning and then every evening since. Something involving the dogs or some other issue always pops up. I haven’t had a moment to read nor soak in the tub nor go for a walk on my own ( something  I am trying to restart in my life ).  For instance today I spent close to three hours dealing with both personal and company income tax.  Our information was sent to Vancouver in early March, why the wait?? It did take longer today because we are making a major company change tax wise which should result in our closing down our business within five years. It will save us about $60,000.00 in taxes by doing it this way.

The girls appear to enjoy nature as much as we do.

We did have a long walk today ( 90 minutes ) with the twins and for the first time took them to the off  leash dog park.  It was great for about 10 minutes and then suddenly 15 dogs all appeared within the next five minutes.  The three larger dogs were old and very laid back but two of the smaller ones were beyond wild and Ciela was traumatized and Carlie got chased. We left as soon as reached the gate. They did have some great socialization before it went out of our control.

They watch the flurry of birds that visit our yard.

Then I spent another three hours on the phone with Shaw re our extremely slow to non existent internet speed.  They did a re revision of the modem which resulted in my desktop going from a download speed of 123.1 to 83.9 🙁  They say that now I need to do tests on all four devices several times during the day for 4 -5 days and to call them again 8-O. At this point my situation does not warrant a service call 😥 At the same time our desktop was downloading at 64.3 and the iPad at 87.6. So much frustration.

Lately they have come aware of the geese and the ducks.

So now I am forcing myself to write this post before dinner but not before wine 😉 I actually had made notes for this post and of course they have disappeared.

Last Sunday I was running my bath before dinner, about 8PM.  Yes we are eating much too late these days, always after 9PM or later. Because of the dogs we are trying to get to bed earlier. I suggested to Colin that we start getting ready for dinner and bed about 3PM.  So here it is 7:40PM and I am just getting started. Going to be another late night.  This has been our routine for years and years but with the twins we need to amend it – somehow.

Jesy, our cheerful and very communicative plumber sorting things out. Note the pots on the left to flush the toilet.

Oh yes, back to my bath. While it is running I do some exercises and check the water height every so often. On Sunday night I had two inches to spare. However when I went to shut the water, the faucet would not respond, the water kept flowing. I screamed out to Colin who flew outside barefoot to the back of the house to shut the main water valve.  Meanwhile I reached in and finally found the plug ( a feat for someone with short arms  – it is an oval tub ). The tub water stopped as did the water for the toilet – we had no flowing water for anything including brushing our teeth. Of course we still had not had dinner. There was no water shut off for the tub.  We later discovered where it was.

There is a cartridge in here that has become corroded since 2012.  FYI the hole on the right, with the proper very very tiny Allen wrench is the shut off for the cold water and on the left side is the shut off for the hot water. However you have to take out 6 scews before you get to this point to do the shut off. Good thing we have a master outdoor shut off.  I do need to learn where that is.

Meanwhile we quickly discovered that even though various plumbers offer 24/7 service they do not mean it 🙁  We did get someone to agree to come out at 8AM Monday and they were there at 7:45 AM. Colin had already bathed and my tub water was rapidly cooling so I had my bath.  We kept the water in the tub to use to flush the toilet 💡  We had a fully functioning home again by 4PM Monday, total cost $250.00.

It could be a hidden poop inside, or something eaten that should not have been.

It is now 9:05PM and I have completed this post.  Now I move onto my exercises, bath and then dinner 😯 Hmm going to scrap the exercises.  I just realized that Ihave not eaten since dinner last night.  So bath and food it is.  Stay tuned for new posts, I have eight ready to write ( the photos are already edited ).