Birthdays and play dates!!!!!

It was my birthday yesterday!!! Yeah - I always try to do something fun and non-scheduled on my birthday. Yesterday was no exception. After capturing the two geocaches the day before and the fact that Marian and I had planned to do some caching yesterday (OK - so we planned it, but I had NO TIME commitments).

After logging in the two caches from the day before, I realized that if I did a cache for the number of years I turned yesterday and added that to the number that I already have - I would reach the milestone of 300!!!!  Hmmm is that doable in  a day????

Well - I thought I would get off to an early start - I got the info for a couple of caches and my bike and I was off!!!!   I managed to snag seven before I thought I had better get home since no one knew where I was. Was great as some of these were in very busy spots and NO ONE was around that early in the day!!!!

Got my stuff together and the geodogs and we were off. We decided to hit the Caledon Trail where there is a LONG line of caches in a row. Is that cheating????   Well - no - we had to search for each and everyone of them. The dogs got a good walk (and so did we!). We were also conserving gas!!!!!  No driving around from one to the other.

And when I say we had to search - I am NOT kidding - have a look at this.......

The cache - camouflaged to look like a leaf!!!!!

All of them were small ones - some like this and some were small tubes with camo tape on them. We almost gave up on a couple of them, but just as we were about to give up - VOILA - there is was.

Then we found another very cleverly disguised one that we almost missed......

The "log"

The cache inside the log

This one was very clever, but if we had of paid attention to the GPS - we would have found it a lot sooner!!!!   It was NOT in THE obvious spot. Very clever indeed!!!!!

Let's just say that we walked and we walked and we walked. It was getting a tad humid in the late afternoon and we were hot and sticky. Oh yes - do you want to see what else we found while we were searching through the trees......

An icky bug!!!!!!    The eyes were pretty cool!

There was only ONE injury the entire day.

A dog leash burn!!!!  On MY leg. And who do you think made that happen????   Oh yes - Miss K!!!!!!!!

And it wasn't enough that she got the back of my leg - she got the front too!!!!!!!

Lesson learned - when I am in the bush looking for a cache - Miss K is supposed to be sitting on the road!!!! She didn't listen too well.

Speaking of hard to find caches - the day before - I found this one.

This is the cache container

The hiding spot

Container in the hiding spot

The hiding spot  - is that NOT CLEVER or what. This took a bit of searching, but I have learned, leave no stone unturned and no stick unpulled!!!!!

And the wildlife we saw on the first day was this....

Heron - on the left bank!

Honestly I wish I would have had the telephoto lens. Well - I guess I could have cropped this picture to make the bird bigger. Let's just say that I carry enough crap when I go out. It was bad enough that yesterday we carried the iPad with us. Imagine - we are on a beautiful country bike/walking path - two people, three dogs and a flipping iPad!!!!!!    Well the iPad saved us the hassle of writing down all the information (yeah - Ronda - I know I could have used the Dakota 20 - but I had loaned it to Marian and therefore did NOT have the right data on it!!!)

The girls were very well behaved in the car. Sparky must like the van and maybe finds the seat bigger than my car. She NEVER sits in my car. She is standing there drooling everywhere, but in the van - well Kaylee and Sparky had the back seat.....

Miss K looks bored - Sparky is excited!!!!

And little Sammy????   Well she laid on the console between the two front seats. Has to be close which is why she is called VELCRO dog!!!!

Honestly while Miss K would run around like an idiot (we had to put her on her leash) and Sparky was investigating, but never far away, we could NEVER find Sammy. Why is that you ask????   Well she was always in our BLIND spot. Literally she is right on your heels. Can't be far away!!!!   So VELCRO dog she is!!!!  

On the way home - the girls were a tad tired and went to sleep pretty much right away!!!!   We made a couple of small stops on the way and Sparky couldn't even be bothered to get out of the van!!!!

Buddies!!!!!!!

Even Sammy decided the back seat was more comfortable than the console!!!!

In total - Marian and I discovered TWENTY-ONE caches. In one day!!!!   That is pretty amazing (OK - I know people have done more, but with three dogs and walking - that was pretty darn good!!!)  In total I found TWENTY-EIGHT. Even more amazing - we found EVERYTHING we went for. NO DID NOT FINDS!!!!!!!


Now what did I get for my birthday??????   Well I saw this sign posted on my door when I got up.....

My birthday card!!!!   That last word is BONDING in case you were wondering!!!!  

But this is my actual present and I LOVE IT!!!!!!!    Captures our trip perfectly!!!!!!

Collage of European trip 2011

Hmmmm - just when you are about to lose faith that your kid will turn out OK and then they do something like this!!!!!    You could kill them one minute and then love them to death the next!!!!  


Now for a couple of updates!!!!

On Friday they started to work on our roof. I knew that it was going to take two days. The pitch of the roof and all the valleys makes it a bit complicated. My neighbour two doors down (same house) had her roof done in June and it also took two days.

Back of the house after one day - they got most of the back and sides done on the first day

The front full of garbage at the end of day one!!!  Although they thoroughly cleaned up the ground at night. 

Day two - yep - my neighbour one door down is getting a new roof as well. 

 Interesting thing about my neighbour. Their roof isn't as complicated as ours, but their roofers arrived AFTER my guys started and were gone before my guys were done!!!!!!   My neighbour was asking my roofers all kinds of questions - why were they doing this, why were they doing that???   Apparently they took the cheapest way to get a roof and it shows. I guess the test of time will be - whose roof lasts the longest!!!!!

Almost finished - they ran out of shingles and will get it finished on Monday. 

The new roof!!!!   Great colour. Got to go out and compare the three roofs - but yes I like what we choose for ours  and I think we got a better contractor. Better be after all the research I did!!!!!

And what about that dish washer you are asking????   Well - it seems to be fixed!!!!!!!   And it cost me $2.26 in vinegar!!!!   I let the vinegar sit for 24 hours - then ran the dishwasher. Then repeated that process. Then I ran a load of dishes through yesterday and NOT A SINGLE CUP had grit in it!!!!!!    Now I just have to remember to let the vinegar do its thing about once a month and we should have no further problems. I must remember to go to the Maytag store to thank Leo for the advice. It really worked!!!!!!!


Oh yes - on Friday Marian and I went to a quilt show. Gosh - I can't remember the guild, but it was in the Sharon Temple which is just north of Newmarket.

Sharon Temple

Cool staircase to get to the second level. Apparently it is NOT in use - the staircase that is.

I took a lot of pictures of quilts, but also QUILTING. Here are a few I'll share with you.....

OK - so this isn't quilting, but embroidery and very cute!!!!

Great idea to go around embroidery!

Part of a lone star

It was a great show and we were able to eat our lunch outside. It has been gorgeous the last couple of days and I am so glad I am able to get out and enjoy that weather. Soon we will be cooped up - then I can focus on quilting!!!!  

We also had a side trip to Evelyn's in Newmarket where there was a 50% off sale. We did not do much damage since common sense is prevailing these days. And the world must be coming to an end because none of us bought a thing in the vendors market. I think I already said that!!!!!

Anyway - on the note of getting some quilting done - I have to get the round robin finished. I'm passing it on this afternoon and just one more row to sew on. No panic, but it has to be done.


Have a great day!!!!!


Ciao!!!!!!