A few weeks ago Chris started replacing our front steps but because of the bad weather he had to stop. This week however the weather has been much nicer and so he managed to restart the project and has pretty much finished. He did a great job.
This is what it looked like originally with the broken steps of different heights.
This mid way it looked like this.
Now it looks like this.
Just need to get some flower pots to finish it off and it is done.
Last week we travelled down to Syracuse to stay overnight as a bit of a break. We travelled down on Wednesday, got our visa waivers done and then drove to the Carousel Centre for some shopping, but didn’t really see anything we wanted. We checked into our hotel which was a Homewood Suites and in the evening went to the nearby Denny’s for supper.
Next day we travelled to Waterloo Premium Outlets. Fortunately the weather was lovely as this is an outdoor mall. This time Chris managed to get some shirts and I got a dress from Calvin Klein which was half price. After a few hours there we travelled back home and encountered two traffic jams between Kingston and home. If we had know of the roadworks there we would have gone a different route!
The garden has been a hive of activity. We now have the flickers, towhees, robins, grosbeaks, sapsuckers all paying regular visits. The sapsucker is a bit unwelcome as he keeps hammering on the metal tower next to our bedroom window at 6am which is very annoying. Apparently they do this to attract a mate as if they get their hammering as loud as possible the females love it – but we don’t!
The killdeer have also had their babies and they are running round the front garden. We have seen three babies, although they usually have four, so we will have to keep an eye out on them.
I cannot believe that this weekend is when our daughter Stacey and her girlfriend Amy arrive. Time really flies. Although the weather has been great this week and it is getting warmer (22 C today) they forecast rain and cooler temps over the weekend and beginning of next week. Lets hope it is okay as there is a lot we want to do.
On Saturday it was such a lovely day we decided to drive up to Algonquin Park. The weather was beautiful, blue skies, sun shining and pretty warm. We drove leisurely and stopped off at Bancroft for a Tim’s – one of those obligatory stops you have to make! Then carried on to Algonquin. On the way we spotted a groundhog at the side of the road (alive) and a deer just about to cross the road, but fortunately didn’t. At least not in front of us!
Almost immediately after entering the park and paying our $16 entry fee we spotted two moose, a mother and calf. We have been to Algonquin before and on one occasion spotted one moose, but never two before, so already we were really pleased and it made the visit worthwhile.
Here is the mother and her baby.
We carried on driving through the park to the other end, then turned round. Next we went to the visitors centre where we ate lunch and watched the birds outside on the feeders.
Here are some siskins, male goldfinch and a purple finch.
After filling ourselves with hotdogs and fries (we went for the healthy option) we carried on and then spotted another two moose. We had to do a quick U-turn to get back to where I had spotted them and it was again a mother and baby. Soon after we stopped, the baby moved into the woods, but I managed to get a photo of the mother. As soon as we stopped, other people saw us and they too stopped. Before we knew it there were half a dozen cars parked up taking photos.
All the moose we saw were very patchy with their fur. They must be in the process of getting rid of their winter coats and replacing them with summer ones. This is something we had to do ourselves as it got really warm. T-shirt weather for the first time this year, yippee!
After spending a few hours at the park, we drove home and saw another groundhog. So the total animal count was 4 moose, 1 deer and 2 groundhogs, not bad at all.
Last night it was announced that Osama Bin Laden had been killed by the US. Not sure how I feel about this as it could have bad repercussions. I doubt his people will let it go without a fight – literally! It is good he is gone, but there are plenty more when he came from.
Also, today is election day, so hopefully everyone who is eligible to vote will. Will we wake up to a majority conservative government tomorrow, or another minority? It does seem that if it is a minority conservative that it will be with the NDP in second place not the expected Liberals. We will have to wait and see.
