I'm a guest blogger today

I’m a guest today at Barbara Bradley’s blog. If you are interested, please, go and visit her blog and read about it

http://barbaradonlonbradley.blogspot.ca/2014/05/meet-my-next-guest-herbert-grosshans.html

#Gardening is Fun

 It never fails. I’m out there working in my garden on the hottest day of Spring. And I’m working against the clock. Yesterday the temperature soared to 33.3 C. It was stifling hot. I started getting my garden ready. First job was to make the beds for the plants and seeds. That is usually the most gruelling job. I grow my vegetables in raised beds. I’ve done so since I started gardening. Why? I read it in my Gardening book and it works for me.

I was done with that by 1:00 o’clock. Working during that time of day is not too smart, because that’s when it is hottest. I think I spent more time sitting on a lawn chair in the shade of the old spruce tree, gasping for breath and drinking cold water. Well, actually the spruce tree is not even 20 years old, but it is the tree closest to the garden and it does provide nice shade.

While I sat there contemplating life I also wondered why I was torturing myself. I’m talking about killing myself on the hottest day of the year just to have my own vegetables. I can buy all the vegetables I want and need without suffering hot days in the sun and without overtaxed muscles or joints. Then I thought about the tomatoes I’ll be harvesting and the sweet ripe cucumbers I’ll be picking. That’s when I knew why I did it. I remembered the tomatoes we buy in the store. We buy them seldom. I might as well grab a handful of grass, dip it into red food coloring and roll it into a ball. And then eat it. The taste will be the same as eating bought tomatoes. Thinking about those delicious tomatoes and the different lettuce I was growing gave me strength and vigor. And let’s not forget all those wonderful peppers I use to make my own salsa. There is nothing more relaxing and satisfying than picking beans. I won’t talk about the inevitable weeds. They are one of the nuisances along with the mosquitoes a gardener has to face and tolerate. Nothing is ever easy, but when you love doing what you do it isn’t a chore.

After lunch I seeded a couple of rows of Yukon potatoes. This is the first year I’m growing potatoes. Apparently nothing compares to homegrown potatoes. I can already taste them.

It started raining at 4 o’clock. I wasn’t surprised. It happens every year. I’m in the middle of seeding and the weather people decide to make my day miserable. I’m at their mercy. It must be a government conspiracy to make life difficult for us gardeners. These days I blame everything on the government. I just can’t figure out how they know I’m working in the garden. Do they have satellites overhead watching? Am I getting paranoid? Must be a sign of old age. They say gardening is fun, healthy, and it makes you feel good. So why am I so sore and tired today? Another lie we’ve been told by the drug companies so they can sell us those painkillers.  But that’s okay. I will fight on. This garden will be finished eventually. That is a promise. I won’t give up, despite their efforts to stop me...

It’s raining today and the temperature is not comfortable, so I shall relax and plan my next move. And I shall complain and whine a bit. Bare my soul so to speak.

By the way, on Friday when I was shopping for vegetables for the garden I hit my head on a hanging basket. Does that explain why I’m rambling on? Maybe I should sue. Everybody sues somebody these days. Omar AhmedKhadr is being sued for 50 million dollars by the Americans and Khadr sues our government for 60 million dollars. Quite some nerve that guy has. The only ones making money will be the lawyers. Anyone know a good lawyer? One who isn’t too expensive? One who understands the plight of a gardener?

The Plaid Shirt

I bought a shirt at #Wal-Mart. Yes, I am a Wal-Mart Shopper. I’m not prejudiced against any store and I’m not fussy where I buy my stuff, as long as the price is right. Friday is usually our grocery shopping day. We buy groceries at Wal-Mart, #Extra Food and sometimes #Safeway or #Co-op, whoever has the best deals. Those are the only large grocery stores where we live. We don’t have much choice. Wal-Mart has better prices than Safeway and the food is just as fresh and so is the quality. Like I said, I’m not prejudiced.

Last Friday, while shopping, I came across a rack with shirts hanging on it. The sign above it said ‘Sale’. The sticker price was $3.00, down from $23.00. That caught my eye. When I see a price like that it spikes my interest. Not that I don’t have any shirts at home; I’ve got plenty, but there is always room for another shirt in my closet. Besides, how can I turn down a shirt for $3.00? A brand new shirt, too. And they all looked good. You can’t even buy the material for that kind of money, never mind spending hours and hours sewing it. Not that I could, anyway. I might be a handy guy with many things, but sewing a shirt isn’t one of them. I leave that up to the women in Bangladesh.

My wife, who saw me looking at the shirts, said, “You don’t need another shirt.” Just like that.

I said, “It’s not always about the need. Look at the price.”

“These are cheap shirts. You don’t buy a shirt at Wal-Mart.”

“They are down from $23.00. That’s not that cheap,” I argued.

“The reason they are on sale is because nobody buys them. When would you wear it?”

“At home. Maybe in the garden or yard. Nobody will see me in this shirt.”

“I’ll see you wearing it. Don’t I count?”

They always get you with that one. Don’t I count?

“Of course you count. But it’s not a bad looking shirt.”

Husbands think and reason completely different from their wives. I don’t even try to figure out how my wife thinks. When I contemplated buying that shirt I was aware there was a good chance I may never wear it anywhere but at home. The only people seeing me in it would be my wife and my neighbors, but if the neighbors see me wearing it they’ll be working in the yard just like me and they won’t be wearing their Sunday’s best. They may even wonder why I’m wearing such a fancy shirt. If, for some reason, I should end up wearing it in public, nobody will even notice me in that shirt. I’m quite sure of that. I see what the fashion is these days. Anyone buying new jeans with holes in them and wearing them with the crotch down to their knees and the crack of their butt showing has no right to criticize me in my plaid shirt.

“You don’t even know if it fits you,” my wife said.

“It will fit. The label says M/M on the collar. That’s my size.”

“That means nothing. You know the problem we have when we buy a shirt for you.”

Oh yes, I do, I thought but didn’t say it. “This one will fit,” I said. “I have a good feeling about it.”

“Okay. If that’s what you want.” She shrugged, as if saying, “It’s your funeral.”

You see, I usually don’t buy my own shirts. My wife does. I’m just there to model them for her before we buy. I have to try on many shirts before I get the okay to buy one. Now, before you make a comment like, “Don’t you have your own opinion?” let me explain. I have plenty of opinion, but I’ve been married long enough to have learned that you don’t buy any clothes without your wife’s approval. Any married man knows what I’m talking about. There is nothing worse than hearing, “Are you really going to wear that shirt?” She doesn’t even have to say the next sentence, “If you insist on wearing that thing you may not leave the house alive. I’m not going out with you dressed like that.” It’s the sentence of death I try to avoid. Besides, the same goes for the pants and the belt. Yes, it doesn’t stop with just the shirt.

I had been eyeing a reddish-brown plaid shirt, and I thought it looked nice. And most importantly, the price was right. So I made an executive decision. I pulled the plaid shirt off the rack and put it into our shopping cart. “I’m buying this one.”

“If you insist. I don’t really care, but don’t tell anyone you bought a shirt for $3.00 at Wal-Mart.”

“Why not?”

“Because! We never buy shirts at Wal-Mart.”

“This is actually a $23.00 shirt,” I argued. “Perhaps that was already a sale price.”

“It’s a cheap shirt.”

Men and women don’t think alike. Everyone knows that. Especially when it comes to buying and wearing clothes. A woman will be horrified to go to a party and find another woman is wearing the same dress. A man, however, will be happy to know that another man has the same taste as he when he sees him wearing the same suit, or shoes, or shirt.

Let’s assume a friend will see me in this shirt. Since I’m a guy, in my mind the meeting would play out like this:

The friend will say, “Hey, nice shirt.”

I’d answer, “I paid three bucks for it.”

Friend: “No kidding. Where did you buy it?”

“At Wal-Mart.”

“Do they have any left?”

“There were quite a few when I bought it, but they may be gone now. I mean, for three bucks. That’s a steal.”

“No kidding. I should take my wife there and show her the shirts. Maybe they’ll still have some and she’ll let me buy one. Maybe even a plaid shirt like yours. Wouldn’t it be cool if you and I would both wear the same shirt? I really like this shirt.”

“So do I. That’s why I bought it. And to think I only paid three dollars for it.”

“Unbelievable.”

My wife would probably be horrified to witness such a meeting. And my friend’s wife would be horrified to find out he’s even thinking about buying the same shirt for three bucks at Wal-Mart or any other place.

Now, if this meeting would take place with two women and it should so happen that one of them wears a three dollar blouse or dress, one she bought at a terrific sale price, it would go down in a different way. There would be no mention about getting a bargain. 

When I tried on the shirt at home, even my wife admitted it fit nicely and I looked good in it.

There is only one thing still. The shirt hasn’t been washed yet. Will it still fit and will the material still look nice after the first wash? Or will it be in the next package my wife donates to #Goodwill?

Another visitor to the #bird feeder

Yesterday and today we had another visitor to our bird feeder. This one is an #Oriole. They don't come too often and they are quite shy. It fed a little from the hummingbird feeder, but the bird is too big for the feeder. So we'll have to buy a feeder for the Orioles, hopefully they stay around. They are such beautiful birds. I managed to snap a couple of pictures before it flew away.

#Hawk

Yesterday we had a visitor to our bird feeder. Since we feed the birds and care for their welfare, we don't usually get excited, when a predatory bird, like this hawk, pays us a visit. Actually, we do get excited, but not in a good way, and we make every effort to make them leave as quickly as possible. We consider our property a sanctuary for song birds, even the sparrows. However, hawks are majestic and beautiful birds and do have their place in this world. They happen to be predators. Not their fault. Well, here are a couple of pictures I managed to snap before it took off again:

Looking at these pictures reminds me that I have to paint the bird feeder.

A somewhat reluctant announcement

I like to keep my private blog and my writer's blog separate, but since writing is part of my life I am making a quick announcement here. For those who are not interested, please, ignore it. For those who want to know what I'm up to with my writing, here it is:

I just lowered the price of my books on #Smashwords. Dark World and A Matter of Integrity are available now for a limited time at the price of $1.99. Alien World is still free.

Here are the links:

#Dark World:

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/370920

#A Matter of Integrity:

at Smashwords:   https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/432389

It is also available from the Apple iBookstore:  https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/a-matter-of-integrity/id869721766?mt=11

A race against the clock

No it’s not a movie I watched, it’s not a book I read, and it isn’t a book I’m writing. It is my life story. It seems I’m always working with some kind of deadline looming above me.

Yesterday we cleaned our yard. It did want to rain a few times, we got some drops but that was all. Today’s plan was to till my garden. When I looked out this morning, it was cloudy. The weather people forecast some clouds but otherwise a beautiful day. I should have known better. These people know nothing! My barometer is more accurate in forecasting the weather.

After breakfast I went outside. It was cool but perfect temperature for working in the yard or garden. I got my tiller ready. It started with the first pull. Great. Everything was set and it would be a successful day. I transported a couple of bags of Alfalfa pellets (fertilizer) and a bag of claybuster (to loosen up the clay) in the wheelbarrow to the garden. I barely managed to spread the Alfalfa and most of the claybuster when the first not predicted raindrops fell. I say them on the wheelbarrow as they made dark spots on the yellow color.

I didn’t give up and got going with the tilling. My garden is approximately 1000 sqft and I raced through it, tilling under the stuff I had spread. There was still a bag of dry leaves I wanted to also till into the soil, but I didn’t get a change to spread the leaves. I barely managed to finish tilling the garden once, when the rain became more than just drops. But I still persevered. I got a rake and smoothed out the soil, something I usually do as I till by walking beside the tiller instead of behind it. You don’t want foot prints and trenches on the soil while it packs down after the tilling.

Well, I made it with the tilling. I had in mind to already seed some potatoes and onions, but the soil was beginning to get sticky and so I had to give up that notion. Too bad.

I have no idea how and where the weather people get their information about the coming weather, but maybe they should look for a different source and method. Maybe looking out of the window would help. Or getting a weather frog. An old-fashioned barometer also works quite well.

Changes for the better

I'm exhausted but happy. Yesterday the repair guy came and installed a new motherboard into our garage door opener and it cost less than anticipated. He came in the morning and we still got away before lunch to do our shopping. Went to Canadian Tire to buy a few things and did find a few bargains for the yard, but their vegetable plants for the garden were not on sale so I didn't buy any. I found this year everything is more expensive. Since it is still cold outside there is no rush to buy.

Went to Mac Donalds for lunch. I had the Quarter Pounder deal. $7.99 plus tax. I can't believe how much it costs these days just to get a hamburger. For that  price I can go to a restaurant and have their lunch special. The problem with going to a restaurant is it always takes more time to order and the wait for the food to come.

We went out for Mother's Day last Sunday. To the Buffet Square. It is a Chinese Restaurant. I was impressed. So many choices and the food was great. Unfortunately,  with it being Mother's Day the place was packed and the lineups long. Some people are just pigs. My son waited in line to get the shrimp skewers. They are popular and go fast. There were four people waiting ahead of him. When the servers brought out a fresh tray these four people loaded up their plates with the shrimp. They emptied the tray. My son got 3 skewers, and the people behind him had to wait for another tray to be brought out. I waited for nearly 15 minutes. I was the first in line and I took 8 skewers (each skewer had 2 shrimp). There was plenty left for the people behind me.

The weather was great today, so we worked in the yard. I managed to de-thatch the lawn and then I cut it and raked up the dead grass with my lawn tractor. I filled 38 large garbage bags with the dead grass. What a dusty and grueling job! Now I have to take them to the dump. Tomorrow I will till my garden and add two bags of alfalfa pellets and one bag clay buster to the soil. Then I let the garden sit until it is planting time. My pepper plants, which I seeded in April, are growing tall and are waiting to be planted outside. But the weather is not favorable yet. The days and nights need to be warmer. That won't happen until beginning of June this year.

So I just wait.

#When it rains it pours. Curse that #Murphy.

#Murphy's Law. When things can go wrong they will.

I wanted to write about something positive, but the #universe is screwing up that plan. We finally got our Watersoftener working (At least I hope it is), and a new well pump and pressure tank installed. I haven’t checked my van yet, because I don’t drive it much. Last time I drove it there was a squealing sound coming from the engine or some belt. I still have to find out what caused that noise. No, this is something completely new. Yesterday when we wanted to drive away, I pressed the button to open the overhead garage door, the door opener only made a moaning sound but didn’t open the door. Even pressing the remote didn’t help. The door stayed down. I had to lift it manually. Not that easy. I already had one hernia operation many years ago. I don’t need or want another one.

I called the repair guy. He was at our place last year and replaced the sprocket that drives the chain at the cost of around $150.00. I don’t remember exactly how much. He told me it sounds like the motherboard is fried. A new one will cost $100.00 and the service call another $100.00. Great. He’s coming to fix it Friday.

Will it ever end???

It rained for the last couple of days and we haven’t finished the cleaning of the yard. Today the sun is shining and the weather forecast looks positive for the next few days, except rain is already forecast for Monday and Tuesday. The temperature is supposed to be around 15 C, good for working outside. I still have to rake the lawn and then cut it and collect all the cut grass. I never look forward to that. It is dusty and dirty work, but it needs to be done. We want our grass to grow and look great. I already bought the fertilizer to make it grow better.

Oh, I bought a trap to catch the rabbit that is running around on our property. Last year he or one of his siblings ate my wife’s lilies and rosebushes. So I’m planning to catch the feller (or girl) and take him/her across the river. He won’t find his way back to our place. I did the last year with a small rabbit I caught in my homemade trap. It was too cumbersome to set up, so I bought one.

The rabbit hasn’t been back for a few days now, but there is one pesky little squirrel eating all the sunflowers out of the bird-feeders. So I bought some peanuts and put them into the trap. So far no luck. That squirrel went into the trap twice already, stole some peanuts, but it didn’t spring the trapdoor. I think the squirrel is not heavy enough to push down the plate that closes the door. I’ll have to think of something different. I’m determined to catch this annoying little guy, as cute as it is.

We’ll see what happens. Now I’m going out to change the oil on my garden tractor. Can't waste a good day.

#Game of Thrones – what a disappointment

Disappointed evening last night, but not because of the TV show Game and Thrones. Sometimes things just don’t work out. We had planned to watch the last episodes of #Game and Thrones last night. We looked forward to having another exiting evening of TV watching. Well...it didn’t happen. At 8:30 p.m., just as we decided to start watching TV, we had a power failure. Apparently, there was a pole fire and they had to replace a transformer. 993 homes in our area were without power. Our house was one of them. The power didn’t come on until shortly after 11 p.m. There were over a thousand pissed off people last night, my wife and me included. In our younger days we would have made it a romantic evening with all the trimmings, but as it stands now we spent the evening reading a book using a headlamp for light. If anyone is interested, I read ‘More than Fire’ by Philip José Farmer, the 6th book in his World of Tiers series. Science Fiction, of course.The book was not as hot as my temper. My wife tried to calm me down by saying, "You wanted to read a book for a long time already, anyway. Here is your chance." She was happy with the book she read on her eBook-reader.

So now we are planning to watch Game of Thrones tonight. Hopefully it works out. On the menu of TV watching for tonight had been the last 2 episodes of #‘The Blacklist’. Last night was the season finale. Of course, I couldn’t tape it for lack of power, but I downloaded it from the internet. I also downloaded the third episode of #24. We haven’t watched the first 2 yet. Another TV evening in the planning stage. Another show I downloaded was #‘Continuum’. It’s a time travel show and we like it. Lucky we can get these shows through the internet, otherwise I would have been even more upset.

The weather outside is still miserable, so I’m going to bottle another batch of my beer. I managed to bottle one batch yesterday. It is a lot of work. If one counts the hours washing and sterilizing bottles it almost isn’t worth it, but I’m a pensioner. My time is worth nothing. I get paid either way...work or not work, it doesn’t matter. The kit cost me $35.00 for the kit plus the cost of the priming sugar, and I get 66 x 341ml bottles from it, which means one dozen cost me about $6.50. Not bad considering the cheapest beer I can buy costs me $19.30 in the liqueur store. And the price is going up again. Perhaps it already has. (Government greed). There are cheaper beer kits to be had, but I like this one; it is called ‘Festa Brew’ and makes very good beer. I buy 23 litres of must and you don’t add water. All you do is add the yeast, let it ferment and age a bit in a secondary carboy (2 to 3 weeks is fine) and then bottle it with priming sugar. It is drinkable after about one month but gets better as it ages. I have kept home made beer for 5 years and it never went bad. You can’t do that with commercially produced beer; it lasts only a year if you’re lucky.

Note: Everything is going up in price except our pensions. I just checked a flyer from Brewer's Direct, that's where I buy my beer and wine kits. They have a sale on Festa Brew beer kits: $41.99 . They even put a limit of 4 on it. (Another trick to make you think you're getting a super deal). Last time I paid $35.00. It used to cost around $25.00 on sale. It seems as the government controlled liqueur prices go up so do the prices of kits. I may have to look around for a different store or different kits. Maybe I should grow my own hops. Or maybe I should start drinking more water. But that isn't cheap either. We just paid $2500.00 for our well pump.

Well, I'd better get started with my bottling. Time doesn't stand still.

#Idle no more

Idle: The dictionary defines it as: Lazy, indolent, not in use, not working, having no special basis or purpose, useless...

Well, I’ve never been idle. I’m always doing something. My agenda for today had been raking the lawn and then cleaning up the dead grass and taking it to the dump. Unfortunately, the weather people didn’t play along with my plans. It’s raining today and the weather is cold, in other words it’s a lousy day. And it doesn’t look much better for tomorrow. But, that doesn’t mean I’m going to sit around twiddling my thumbs.

I will not be idle!

I have 2 batches of beer sitting in their carboy waiting to be bottled. So, I will bottle at least one batch today. Then the beer will age in the bottles and I should be able to start drinking it in a month. Just perfect for the summer months. (Yes, I make my own beer. Cheaper than buying that expensive stuff our government offers us in its greediness to take my money!) I have 1 carboy with aging summer wine, but that can still wait, and another carboy with Piesporter, also aging. Then there is still a kit of Merlot waiting to be started. But that will have to wait. I only have so much time. My aquariums need to be cleaned and the water changed. That will happen today. You know the saying: Idle hands are the devil’s workshop. Well, no work for the devil here and no time to demonstrate and complain about getting no help from the government doing the job I should be doing myself).

So, I’d better be going and get started with my work. Time is limited to get all the work that is waiting to be done.

I hope you have a busy day and a busy week. I know I will.

#Mother's Day

I'd like to wish all the mothers who are reading my blog a

Happy Mother's Day

#Survivor

Well, last night’s survivor proved it again: Don’t trust a lawyer. Kass betrayed Spencer again after she promised to vote out Toni. This cemented my dislike for her even more. I hope she doesn’t make it to the final three. If she does, I don’t believe she’ll win the million dollars. The jury will recognize her for what she is: A person who cannot be trusted and a breaker of promises. Fortunately, our favourite player, Spencer, won the immunity challenge, so he was safe at tribal council. We were happy to see that. However, Tasha got voted out. Too bad. I would have liked to see either Trish or Kass go.

It is interesting to note that the strong, more aggressive players are always seen as a threat, when in reality it is the weak players who are the greatest threat in the game, the ones that never win immunity challenges, the ones who slip through unnoticed until the end and until it is too late for the others to realize that.

Before tribal council Toni and Kass were arguing like an old married couple, but like an old married couple, Kass stayed with Toni, even though she threatened to put down his name. It was the perfect time to flush out Toni’s special idol, but they botched that opportunity.

Toni definitely is the King of idols. He is quite safe and will probably make it to the final three. There are only five contestants left. He has two idols and most likely won’t have to play even one. There are only two opportunities left anyway. Will he win the million dollars? It is quite possible, it depends on the jury.

Wu also sort of promised Spencer to vote out Toni, but he didn’t. Spencer wasn’t sure of him and he was right to suspect that Wu would not leave his alliance with Toni.

It was interesting to see Wu entertaining the kids at the special outing 3 of the members got at the first challenge. He’s a pretty talented guy and it was nice to get to know Wu in a different way.

Looking forward to next Wednesday.

Note: Please, leave a comment and tell me what your thoughts are on this. Do you like Toni? Which of the players is your favorite and why?

#Murphy's Law

I need a stiff drink to calm my nerves. A couple of days ago we had a new well pump installed because our pump was broken, but the installer told us that we also need a new pressure tank. Not such good news. But why was I surprised? One bad thing happens and another one is following on its heels. That is Murphy's Law. Today we had the new tank installed. When the installer told me we also needf new brass fittings all I saw was Dollars leaving my bank account. Nothing is cheap these days. The installer told us we were lucky. I have no idea how he could even mention luck at this point. But apparently parts on the old tank were rusting and there was a good possibility that one of the fitting may have given away and we would have had water all over the place. At least we were spared that disaster. How lucky can you get? Wow.

I just wrote another check to pay for the new pressure tank. Now I'm $2,500.00 poorer (that price includes the well pump plus taxes), but at least we have water. I'm a positive thinker and I always look at the bright side.m Right now it is difficult to see a bright side.

Today I took all the bags with grass to the dump. We're talking about 50 bags. These were the bags we had on our septic field to catch the snow, which protects the field from freezing. When I started my van, I heard a funny squealing noise. I put in a new alternator and some other gismo a couple of years ago; that cost me 450 bucks. So it couldn't be the alternator making the funny noise. I'm not an auto mechanic, but I have this nagging suspicion it could be my water pump. What is this thing with water pumps right now? I ask myself. It already sounds expensive. First the house now the van! My van is old. It is still left over from when I was working and I use it only in the summer. I can't justify to put in more money. With automobiles there comes a time when you have to say, "Enough is enough!". No more. Especially with this one. My grandson called my van a Rustbucket.

I need a strong drink! The problem is I don't drink hard liqueur, only beer and wine. Maybe I'll have a beer, or maybe two...A couple of glasses of wine sound good, too...should it be white or red...

#My interview at Smashwords

I like to keep my private stuff separate from my writing stuff, but sometimes they do overlap. Let's face it, I do spend much of my time writing stories.

I published an interview with Smashwords. Anyone interested can find it here: https://www.smashwords.com/interview/herbertg

Today was not as sunny as yesterday,but it wasn't bad. We actually reached 13 Celsius. And there was no wind at all. A perfect day to work outside in the yard, which we did. Yesterday, I raked up all the dead branches from the willows and piled them up in the garden. It's the only place where I can burn them. It was a grueling job and I was tired and aching all over when I finally quit. This morning I got up early (8:00 a.m.) and went outside right away to burn the branches. As I said there was no wind and that is important when making a fire, especially one as large as this one was. The branches were bone-dry and it took about 30 minutes for them to be reduced to ashes. After breakfast I finished raking the rest of the property and threw everything on top of the hot ashes. They started to burn again and by 1:30 p.m. I was finished. Now I have to de-thatch the lawn and then rake and cut it. And then I have to take everything to the dump. I put the dead grass into garbage bags, but in the dump I have to empty the grass out of the bags. They don't allow plastic bags because the grass and leaves are made into mulch which eventually turns into soil. Lots of work ahead of me, but it all is part of living in a rural area with large lots.

#Water

Water. We don’t realize how important water is until we don’t have it. We didn’t have water for three days. You see, we live outside the city and we have a well. Saturday afternoon we suddenly didn’t get water when we turned on the taps. When I checked out the pressure tank it was empty. The pump that is down the well didn’t pump anymore. I drove to the hardware store and purchased a control box, because ours looked fried. I paid 90 Bucks with tax and I was happy to get it. It was the last one. They told me once it is installed there is no returning it.

I installed it, turned on the breaker and the switch...surprise! No water. That’s when I realized the pump was gone...kaput. I tested it with an ohm meter and confirmed it. So I called a company that installs Well pumps and was told nobody can come until Monday. I said okay. We were lucky to have a few gallon jugs filled with water for emergencies. The water to flush the toilet I got from our ditch outside. Amazing how much water one flush takes. Nearly 3 gallons. My back is still aching from carrying all those pails of water from the ditch into the house. But at least we did have a source to get water from. Even though it was a bit yellow and had bits of grass floating in it. It is still the water left over from the snow. I pity the people who have no water at all. Now I understand the plight of the native people living up north with no water. I also feel sympathy with the people in Winnipeg who still have frozen water pipes. And the people who run the City in their incredible wisdom(?) won’t allow homeowners to hire private contractors to thaw the pipes. And the city workers are taking their sweet old time to get the job done. Typical government employee mentality!

This morning a couple of guys showed up at our place. When they tried to pull the pump out of the well casing, they discovered the fitting that diverts the water into the house was of a different size than their removal tool and the connection that takes the tool to pull it up was cross-threaded. So they left to get a tool made. They didn’t return until around 3 pm. By this time I was frantic and anxious, wondering if we’d have to spend another night and morning without water. They managed to pull the old pump out and then they installed a new pump with new pipe attached to it. We had water by 5 o’clock. Then we let the water run into the yard until it was running clean before we filled the pipes in the house. Finally water again. Life is back to normal. All we still need is a new pressure tank because the old one is also damaged. The diaphragm is leaking air. We’ll get is replaced tomorrow.

The only negative thing is the big check I had to write. This will make a big dent in our bank account. We could have gone on a little holiday with that money. Now we still have to pay for the new pressure tank. Sometimes the universe is downright mean. But we have water and that is most important.

#Survivor S28E10

 Warning: Spoiler.

We watched the tenth episode of this season’s Survivor last night. What a surprise this time. When Tasha won the Immunity we figured our favorite, Spencer, would be a goner. With Toni having the special idol and a regular idol we thought for sure Spence would be voted out.

Toni is the king of idols right now. He controls the game...so it seems. But nothing is ever for sure. Spencer played it smart to put the bug into Toni’s ear about the girls plotting to vote him out. So far, Toni is untouchable, especially since he has that powerful idol. He can’t be voted out for sure at least the first time his name comes up. And that will be bad, because whoever gets the second vote is out of the game. However, once that idol is gone, he isn’t so safe anymore, unless he plays the other idol before the vote. After that he is as vulnerable as everyone else. He has never won a challenge. Spencer and Tasha have.

We were hoping for Spencer to get that clue, but he wasn’t lucky. Toni seems to have all the luck in this game; he got the black stone, which meant he got the clue. Too bad, Spencer already played his idol at a previous tribal council meeting when he didn’t have to.

We are not fans of Toni. He can’t be trusted. He may be a police officer, but he plays dirty. Perhaps because he is a cop, he is also paranoid. And that is his weakness. Spencer played him with that.

We don’t like Trish. I don’t remember why anymore. She is loyal to Toni. At least she was until now. That may have changed now that Toni betrayed his alliance.

Neither do we care much for Kassandra (Kass). We just don’t like her attitude. She betrayed Spencer. Somehow she has it in for Spencer. I don’t know why. She is a lawyer and therefore can’t be trusted. It’s as simple as that. She will never make it to the final three, because she came late into Toni’s alliance and is on the bottom. And I don’t believe Toni trusts her. She should have figured that out when she switched. And to think she was in the Brain-tribe.

Poor Jefra. She didn’t have a chance. She was no threat. She was at the bottom but didn’t know it. She was loyal to Toni which, as it turned out, meant nothing to Toni. Too bad she’s gone. She was from the Beauty tribe and I liked looking at her. (Yes, I’m shallow that way ☺).

We are rooting for Spencer. He is our champion. He is smart, but he doesn’t play dirty and won’t stab anyone in the back. Of course, this is a game and a million dollars are at stake. Anything can happen, and eventually he will have to break his promise to somebody. Will he make it to the end? Perhaps, but there is a good chance he won’t, unless he wins immunity from now on. We’ll see. Looking forward to next Wednesday.