Spring has sprung

Yikes! It's been a while since the last blog post.

We've been doing well, staying healthy and trying to hide from that Covid guy. I even tried a disguise so he wouldn't recognize me. We also keep our Tikki guard on duty in case that virus comes sneaking around here at night. So far it has worked. No sign of a Corona virus here!

My disguise. Since removed.

Our guard Tikki

The weather has warmed up significantly. The grass is green, the trees are leaving and my little shrubs I planted last year all seem to have survived in spite of the rabbits pruning them down over the winter.

We've had a good run of warm and dry weather so the farmers have taken advantage of that and have the bulk of their crops planted. They had a slow start as they were still harvesting Canola from last fall. They had to finish last year's work before they could start on this season's crop. It is raining hard here today and only 3 C ( about 36 F). Supposed to be the same tomorrow but improving for the weekend. Farmers that have crops in the ground will be happy.....unless of course we get snow tonight which is a possibility. No crops have emerged yet so except for our bedding plants I guess a bit of snow wouldn't hurt anything ....other than our mood.

I've had a few projects that had been planned for a while so time to get busy. First up was adding some shelves to the small closet turning it into a pantry of sorts. I did this back in April when shopping at lumber stores was limited. We ended up with white shelves but we keep the door closed anyway so who cares.

The next project was flower/garden boxes. Nothing special, just some  2x10's knocked together and painted. They were going to be stained brown but I had bought white so .....white they are. I got a yard of black dirt and mixed in some peat planting mixture. The boxes have now been planted and hopefully something besides weeds will grow.

New flower box with newly painted planters. We decided to move the planters though.

New garden box before we built the deck bench.

Completed flower box with new planters at each end.

We had wanted to build a wooden bench around a portion of the deck to provide seating for the table and of course extra for larger gatherings. I ordered the steel bench brackets online. They are very sturdy and certainly better than you could buy at the big box stores. With some help from my grandson we managed to get it all together. The compound miter cuts in the corner were a challenge and they took a few cuts to get it right. Well it's not exactly right but close enough. It's one of those 'twenty footer' projects. Looks good from twenty feet.....just don't get any closer.

Brackets in place, and the first board installed.

Completed!

New garden box behind the new bench. Wet and windy today!

Our last major purchase was a boat! I mean, why have a place at the lake if you don't have a boat....right? At least that's my justification. I've been looking at a lot of pontoon boats for sale. We nearly bought one last fall but the boat wasn't as advertised. This one seemed like a winner. We haven't got it in the water yet but hopefully by Saturday. It's a 21 foot 2009 model with a 50 horsepower Mercury outboard. No speedster but hey....what's the rush? So now as new boat owners we start the never ending costs of ownership. Insurance, a boat slip, fuel, repairs, safety equipment, etc., etc.

Our new addition to the family.

The Captain of his ship! (in dry dock)

In the last few weeks I completed the Pleasure Boat Operators License, which is a requirement in Canada for operators of boats that exceed 10 horsepower. We both got our fishing licenses online as well. I think we're ready for the water! I know the Grandkids are!

I've been getting in as many walks as possible. There is a nice 3.5 km (about 2 miles) route that takes you past the lake with all the springtime activity. Tons of birds, frogs, and other nature sights. It's a good way to contemplate our future travels....or lack of.

Porcupine enjoying lunch

It seems we each have our threshold of risk and as of today we are yet unsure what we'll be doing this winter. There seems to be consensus that the dreaded second wave of Covid will come along this fall. If it does I don't think we would be comfortable travelling to the US even if it were allowed. That leaves travel in Canada but not sure BC is anxious to have sick Albertans in their midst. Wintering in the trailer, even with skirting and extra insulation may not be very comfortable. That would leave us looking into a sticks and bricks option for the winter. Of course the worst case would be that we are unable to travel in the fall of 2021/22. So maybe we should look at buying a home to put on our lake lot. That would be a very expensive option and one we are not yet ready to commit to. We still have a few months to decide and we hope the path forward will become clearer soon.

Stay safe everyone!

......and that was Our View From Here!