Crumbly Acres, we're limping along

 Things are hopping around here. Well, it is Crumbly Acres, we're limping along. Poor Joe put his back out shopping on Friday. Sigh. He suggested it was too late for me to trade him in for two 37-year-olds. Past his best before date! I'm a wreck, too. Our Pink Eye is better. That's a good thing.

Then there is the tech stuff... Before my VISA was compromised, the football TV pooched out on us. This is the room downstairs with the fireplace where Joe goes to watch his teams. I phoned them up and went through the troubleshooting. Nope. Unplug, plug her in, wait 30 seconds: all stuff I'd done before. I tested the box on the other TV and it worked. The assistant said she'd send a technician. Funnily enough, he checked everything, found the cables, it's a bit of a spaghetti mess. He climbed the ladder and found the needle in the hay stack. When we had it fixed last time, he'd stapled through the cord. All the new dude had to do was pull it out and we were good to go. 

As with many in our latitude I have been busy working outside: power washing and edging, and putting the garden to bed. These stones were covered in moss and slippery.

I think that the stones look much better. The fossils are cool. The original house owners made these paths, and I have to look after them. 

Look at my shoes and pants, though! I was cold and soaked, so I sat in the sun eating a fruit salad Joe fetched for me from the fridge before finishing up my work. I was cold and tired, but I didn't want to stop. The next day I started AFTER lunch! 

I did this spot since the bird feeders go here, and with freeze and thaws, there is often a puddle. That is the next chore, once the frost hits, to put out the feeders.

The maple at the end of the driveway keeps getting more and more red.

The deer are on the move.

Power washed and cleaned: 

The water fountain ready for winter weather! It is dried, wrapped with Christmas lights, and secure. It has to be wrapped since the snow collects, melts, freezes and thaws and can wreck the cement. 

Just for fun, our Vancouver grandies are in a panto show in winter. This in between ski lessons, and school! They are busy, bless their hearts. Cluny (with rabbit ears) and Bryony, in front on the right side of Robin Hood, will have so much fun. They did a show last year, and were chosen for the photo ads. 

Meantime, on the acreage. They are having lunch. We ended up seeing 5 of them. They gather together in winter in herds by gender. We usually have females.

I truly believe the critters are looking for the bird feeders. We've had a bunny, Butch raccoon, and the deer. No bears, so far. We must get some bird seed!

  

Happy New Year!

 We decided, finally, to get outside and go into town to look at the lights. Not all the lights were on, as it was Saturday, and perhaps people had places to go. I looked it up, trying to figure out how to be photograph them, and gave up. I've tried this before, and you ought to play with the settings, use a tripod, use the 10-second delay in order to not jostle the camera. Well, to heck with that.

They did say to go out prior to dark. I found that I could darken the images, and they looks just fine. 

Now, I debated about curating the photos, and posting a few in several posts, but that's not how I roll. Besides, poor Joseph Brian who was the official driver, wants to see them, as well. 

They decorated the pavillion behind City Hall, and it looked pretty.

I began using the SPORTS mode, quick snaps. As the skies darkened, even that didn't work. I tried using AUTOMATIC, and ended up with some fun blurry lights. We'll call them creative!

There is such a variety of homes in Perth, established in 1816. There are some huge homes (new and old), bungalows, and two-story, many divided into apartments, with sweet Strawberry Box Houses, dating from the homes the government built for veterans after WW II.

You'll notice our snow is gone. It is a shame. One family has an ice rink ready to go. All we need is consistent cold weather! We Canadians love out winter sports.

We did it! This morning it is -10 C., I'm happy we did the drive, window open, heated seats on and heater doing its thing. I am hoping for sunshine today. It's been awhile.

All the best to you and yours for: !