Gun range update: Buyers Beware!

The landowner appealed the denial of rezoning to permit a public gun range. We now have a case number on the OLT website. 

In the meantime, pending severance in September, lots #1 and #3 are for sale. Dunno about the house and land on Lot #2, perhaps they are still renovating the house. It was in pretty bad shape.

The provincially significant wetland ('retained wetlands') is being kept by the landowner, as he runs an outfitting business. He's still hoping for a gun range. 

Here are the two listings, which total about $350,000. He paid $606,000 for the entire parcel. The middle property is still being renovated.

Lot #1 – 1688 Rideau Ferry Rd. Unit #1 $184,900. The listing states: "Drummond-North Elmsley is especially quiet overall, as there tend to be low levels of noise from traffic." I beg to differ: listen to the Motorcycles.

There is no mention of a hunting property and former gun range adjacent. When we bought, no one told us about the noise. This is unethical. This property has lots of noise and traffic, just listen to the noise from Rideau Ferry Rd. The noise is constant. 

Lot #3 – 1688 Rideau Ferry Rd. Unit #3, $164,900. The land isn't legally severed yet. Not until October. It claims is is a quiet area. What a crock!

Sept. 30th – The larger piece of vacant land was $185,000 is now $144,000. The other lot has gone from $165,000 lowered to $140,000. They have been on the market for 46 days. 

This is what the highway is like, cars passing day and night.

passing from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Cats, doe a deer, and New Zealand

I have dug up a new header from archives. I know we've got fawns about. A contractor saw triplets not too far away. I figured I'd celebrate them as I know they are out there. 

Sunday afternoon, a doe came by for a visit.  I'd considered taking the fence down, as Clover hadn't been around. I am happy I ignored that idea.

🌧 We've had a few days of rain!  I was happy for the rain, as I have to keep resting my foot and I am strict orders to take it easy! The ankle is coming along. A little better, but I am still hobbling. It was 23 mm, nearly an inch of rain. 

The cats play hard, then rest well. Cinnamon loves his toy basket. He was trying to dig out the right toy!

 

Second Day in Wellington  The kids have returned their rental car, and were toodling around New Zealand. They found Precious! You have to be aware, if not a fan, of Lord of the Rings being filmed in New Zealand! 

The fun continued at the airport. They travelled from Wellington, New Zealand, to Melbourne, Australia over the past 24 hours. 

The water fountain, ⚽ and 💸

 Yes, YAM, Crumbly Acres. It is always something. The water fountain stopped working on Saturday. I unplugged it and tested the extension cord. The cord is fine. I found a little caterpillar crawling around it. It is a Giant Tiger Moth caterpigly. 

I drained the fountain, and took it apart. The pump didn't look too healthy. It started for a minute and stopped. Sitting the pump in a bucket of vinegar and water, it just didn't take all the deposits off. We have really hard water and it does a number on the equipment. I scraped it and sat it in the vinegar again. No joy.

I'd gone back and forth several times, fetching tools, and the hose. I was walking back to the fountain, and twisted my ankle in a divot. It was where I had removed a large weed. How dumb is that? I have tripped on it several times, groaned each time, and forgot to fill it. 😖<SIGH>

Back indoors, with ice on my foot, I ordered a new pump. 

The ankle is a little swollen. I usually take photos of any injuries just to be able to see if it is getting better or worse. It is better Sunday, as I wrote this. I did get a free lunch out of it!

⚽ ⚽ ⚽ ⚽ ⚽ ⚽ ⚽ ⚽ ⚽ ⚽

Women's World Soccer in Australia and New Zealand

We've been enjoying the women's soccer. I love seeing the different cultures, and people dressed to cheer on their teams. 

At the beginning of one game, there were two commentators rambling on, while they showed a ceremony. I would have liked to just listen and watch. When I was an occasional teacher, there was a teacher at the school on an exchange between Ottawa and New Zealand. She taught the students the haka, and they were thrilled. It is a great memory for me.

New Zealand ceremony from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

💸 💸 💸 💸 💸 💸 💸 💸 💸 💸 💸 💸 💸 💸 💸

Personal Finances

OK, this article stumps me, as I sit with my foot up and have too much thinking time. I recall our modest mortgage came due in 1981, and the interest rates hovered around 22%. I was going to Teacher's College, in order to upgrade from being a day care teacher to working JK - gr. 8. I knew we'd need the income. It was worrisome, but a good lesson in economics for us. 

This family built a custom home two years ago. She says her monthly mortgage payment went from $2850 to $6200. With many people homeless, in shelters and on the streets, I find it tough feeling sorry for her. She says they've been having garage sales, and sold furniture to get enough cash to pay the mortgage. 

She is an esthetician, and her husband a contractor with two jobs.

I went online to a mortgage calculator website and a mortgage of $400,000 will cost you $2600+ a month. 

To get to a monthly mortgage of, say $5600, you have to have borrowed $850,000. Her story doesn't make sense. A year and a half ago, Prime Interest rates were 0.25%. That would have been the time for a fixed-rate, rather than doing a variable rate mortgage. I do not understand how her bankers did not 

OK, rant over. Garbage is out. Today is a holiday in Canada. It is pouring rain! 

Traffic and travellers

It was slow going on the Friday of this August long weekend. 

Eventually, I found out why. The long weekend started off with a bang on Friday afternoon. Many thanks to our volunteer firefighters!

 

Aug 4, 3 p.m. from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Everything is in colour! 

It is hay season! This is cottage country...

🏤Lanark Lifestyles

 Looks like the retirement home Part 3, is getting finished! The construction fences are down.

I think Perth needs a ring road! The truck needed the left turn lane to turn right. 

The renovations are coming along for our Ottawa family while they tour about New Zealand! 

  

The kids made it to Wellington and we had a really fun chat with the kids on Thursday evening. I had a Facetime request. I paused our Amazon Prime show: The Tower. The Fearsome Foursome Flyers Drivers met up with Jean, of All Points of the Compass. She hosted the kids for lunch! Isn't that fun?! I have never met her, but we have done Facetime. 

I have been relying on Siri: "Hey, Siri, what time is it in New Zealand?"  (I have a hard time keeping up!) 

In 2016, Jean had sent a package to Caitlin for my 60th birthday.  What a surprise! What a kind woman. I wish I could have sent something for Jean, but the kids were quite minimal in their packing. 

The whole group, including Jean and Hugh!

Saturday's Critters

We've had a few visitors. I must admit that the nocturnal visitors are the most fun. You never know who visits in the night, Fred is a regular daily visitor.

The skunk went by. She was lactating in June, caught on video (lactating skunk ). She is still patrolling the yard! This is all she granted me ↓ . I did get a whiff of skunk a couple of weeks ago. I hadn't seen her since.

Here she was on July 1st, 2016. All in all, I very seldom see most critters in the daytime. We released several skunks in September, 2017. They were in rehab for the summer, through Rideau Valley Wildlife rescue. Civilians aren't able to take in wild animals, not legally. You need a licence, which makes a lot of sense. I was happy to help them.

I love how some of them are spooked by the camera. Others just pee in front of it. The bears like to inspect it!

coyote from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

On both trail cameras, 3 coyotes in a row!

coyote from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Two deer on the trailcam.

doe and buck from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I was up on the deck and saw it run by. I now know what got our first phoebes in the shed, and the three cardinal eggs in the lilac tree in spring. I've seen one around from time to time. 

mink Aug 1, 11:00 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

This was fun. Momma bear is clearly lactating. Baby bear sniffed the forest camera, then the group moved along to the frogpond trailcam. Baby bear inspected camera #1. Then they moved through the forest to camera #2.

Momma Bear & cubs from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Thanks to Eileen for hosting #503!