A visit to an open house

Yes, while we are not anticipating selling in the near future, I never say never. Circumstances always intervene! I spent 25 years in Toronto, another 25 in the Ottawa area.

Family home: 25 Walker ave.
=semi-detached!

Growing up in my family home, where mom and dad lived from 1950 until 1991, I moved out when I was married in 1975. In 1981 our family (2-year-old Caitlin) moved to Nepean. From Nepean I went to North Gower, Manotick, Osgoode, and back to Nepean (1998), all the time teaching with CBE, OBE and OCDSB.

When I remarried was living in Nepean in 2002. Hubby #2 was preparing to work from home and we found a great home off of Merivale Rd. that would provide him with an office in 2005. Hubby retired. From there we moved to Muskoka to care for Mom and Dad in 2006. After 4 years living lake side, the raucous tourists drove us away. Now, in Lanark County, we are happy living in our bungalow on our wetland, as my faithful readers will attest!

Our previous home.
Cottage left, house right.

House hunting for two years in Muskoka, we ended  up moving into my late parents' home after mom died and dad's brain tumour returned. Cottage country life changed lakeside. After granddaughter #2, we spent time looking from Arnprior, to Dunrobin, to Cardinal, Kemptville, Merrickville, and back to Perth and saw it all! Here is what to look for in my trip #3 report!

We saw our fair share of lovely homes, and dumps, several of which were suffering from a lack of love and TLC. One had mould in the basement, and an owner who lived off-shore. Another abused by what looked like an angry boy with fist-sized holes in the wall. One had a massive water purification system in the basement. Another, apparently suffered when an owner with moved away, or divorced, and left the home to suffer from windstorms (buckled metal roof) and rot (backed up eavestroughs).

Jason Gibson

Some people overprice their homes right out of the market. Some are desperate for expensive renovations. Having put new rooves on our last three homes, we know the cost of renos (roof: $3000 - $6000), a new garage (about $30,000), and stonework falling apart (steps $5000). We find it interesting to think about places, what kind of family might choose them, and what we might do in terms of renos.

For fun, we went to see a new home for sale in the area. It's been built by Jason Gibson, reclaiming an old barn's timbers, an owner wanted it removed from his property. He repurposed the wood and created a beautiful, bright home, sitting on 7 acres or so on a dead end road.
Jason is quite the builder. He is also involved in the Otty Woods project.

2nd floor loft: open bedroom

Drea (realtor) and Jason Gibson (builder),
gives you a sense of the size

An interesting loft
Room for an other bedroom and bath?

View from the top of the stairs 

back yard

bright, open kitchen

lovely wood throughout

It looks small, but it's bright and spacious

Goldfish pond update - on frozen pond

It's the last kick at the can. A couple of days ago the temperature rose to 15 C. during the day. Far below normal temperatures. I spotted Geraldine on the side of the pond in the sun. The next day it went down to 5 or 6 C., and Geraldine disappeared into the bottom of the pond. One night was -6 C.
Two days ago... Lo and behold, there was one green frog sitting in the terribly cold water. After the big windstorm, the leaves likely kept some of the warmth in the water. Can you see its beady little eyes?

Smack dab in the centre of the photo!

It hid under a leaf, which I moved away. Eyes closed.

Monday morning, Nov. 4th, the pond has frozen over. Farewell my little buddies! I could still see a few goldfish swimming about.

Hubby –cat whisperer

Sady, hubby's tabby, only loves one person in the world. She truly indicates that there should only be one cat in the house, as well. She barely tolerates me.

After nearly a year living with us, however, Sady has come to terms with Dorah, for some reason. She'll take a whack at wee Daisy, who stands up to her, whacking her back. Buster likes to bug her, and she'll whack at him through the front window, but she will share her twin bed in the office with Dorah. It is most peculiar. Hubby was watching Sunday afternoon football when the drama began, he balanced his tea on his lap.

Sady: What are you doing up here?

Dorah: Please, daddy, may I stay?

Dorah: Please, Sadie!

Sady: I 'spose.

Happy girls, happy hubby.

Photography 101 - so much to learn!

My fabulous (serious) amateur blog buddies explore light, speed, aperture, and other settings.

They take amazing trips out into nature with the pros, visiting parks, and remote locations. Then, they play with photography, embedding their photos with qualities of light, texture, speed settings (think hummingbirds!), and composition (e.g., the Rule of Thirds, Depth of Field), that continue to amaze me.

Sometimes, you just bend the rules and take a fun photo quickly, before your subject moves!

Daisy is a hoot!

Many have become adept with macro lenses, which makes me realize the beauty under my very nose. Unfortunately, my graduated lenses make this tough, but sometimes it works out! Water is a fun element to photograph.

Icicles are tricky.

Although, in S.E. Ontario, it will soon be like this:

2012

snow is on its way!

droplets on pond

Twinkling sunlight

I must say goodbye, or farewell, to the little caterpillars that grace our forest. These photos were from Oct. 21st.

Shark Tank is a subpage forum of Lightstalking where you can submit photos for constructive criticism. I don't really need this, but it is an interesting resource for those who are serious.
I've been making some Thank You cards, as well as calendars, for family and friends. You require high-resolution photos of your own. It has been fun!

Photo Wall Calendar

 I enjoy the fuzzy captures of someone's smart phone, as much as the quality photos of my serious amateur photography friends, as well as my friends who are professionals.
There are memes, where you can view beautiful macros, too.

"I Heart Macro" 

Gotta love technology: find out who doesn't have power in Ontario!

HydroOne customers can see who has power outages. You can also phone them, and they will tell you!

Lots of people have been out for a couple of days.

Long time without power!

According to Hydro One, about 13,000 customers in Ontario woke up without power Friday morning. That number quickly climbed to 50,000 with more outages expected throughout the day. 
My friend, in Muskoka, said that 11,000 are without power in her region.

Whew! What a wind storm!

Daisy was a keener!

The leaves were going in circles. The noise in the bare branches was amazing.
The goldfish pond is covered in leaves. I'll leave them there, as it'll keep the warmth in for the goldfish who chose NOT to come in for the winter...
I put the sticky fly paper, covered in flies, in the fish tank. The fish happily ate most of the flies.

Weighted down with
an 'S' hook

Happy, warm goldfish!

Daisy was thrilled to bits!
Check out my wreath, below. It was flapping in the wind.

Frosty is dressed for November!

For more Camera Critters...


Wind storm in Ontario from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.
What a storm November 1st, 2013! Many in Ontario lost power (50,000), including 11,000 in Muskoka. Some are still not back up.

My flags and wind socks were horizontal. The leaves were going around in circles as the wind changed direction. We lost a few branches but just small dead ones on the dead trees. Daisy cat was out playing, chasing leaves while I changed up our decorations from October to Remembrance Day. She is fearless.

Dexter and Gizmo - escapees

Sometimes you just have to post a video. This was featured on BBC News. (I don't think it is news per se.) It was prefaced by an ad that makes them money. That just ticks me off!

Funny how BBC, and all 'news' media steal peoples videos, and pop an ad in front to make money. I wonder if embedding it on BBC's site gives the owner anything... Here is the original. Embedding it as is still lets the guy tally views.

The guy couldn't figure out why, when he was at work, they could get out of the kitchen! This cat reminds me of ours! They know that the door knob is the way out. They'll touch it, after lobbying to go outdoors, if we ignore them.

Georgian Bay Airways, docks in the wind

Post by Georgian Bay Airways Ltd.

Time to winterize the goldfish pond - I had helpers!

The pump removed, it is sadly silent.

As I write publish this post, we've had more than 25 mm of rain, high winds and a temperature of 16 C.
I usually prepare posts ahead of time. Sort of like a day book teachers write. Sometimes it was a day behind book, to quote a colleague of mine!

It was quite balmy last night. When I was doing this work, Tuesday, it was bitterly cold.

Geraldine was sitting on the side of the pond last night. She'd disappeared under the cold surface of the water when the temperatures dropped at the beginning of the week.

Geraldine - she's a big girl!

It is time to shut her down for the season. It looks so quiet. No more tinkling of water to soothe the soul.

Yes, I had helpers. Daisy found a mole. Dorah found a fieldmouse.

Wee mole

Daisy and her mole

I rinsed, scrubbed and soaked the pump in vinegar water.
It was bitterly cold, but the sun came out.
After I was done, I ran the lawn tractor over the catalpa leaves to mulch them. I spotted another mouse running away. At least the leopard frogs, fond as they are of the deep grass, have gone for the season!
Last look at the pond with the fountain.


Winterizing the goldfish pond from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.
Yes, it was time. It was -6 C. Monday night. The frogs are nowhere to be seen. This is the last look at the pond pump for the season.

October rainfall: final tally

OCT	113 mm
6-Oct	6
7-Oct	26
13-Oct	5
18-Oct	20
19-Oct	15
23-Oct	3
29-Oct	8
30-Oct	30
	113

Yes, a big wind across the southern border of this province. 

A total of 30 mm last night. There were some sopping wet Trick or Treaters!

The wind drove the cats wild. That and the warm temps. It was up to 16 C. when I went to let a cat in in the dark hours of the morn.