Book Review: City of the Lost

I love reading. 

 Kelly Armstrong, I don't remember where or how I found the author. I love these books.

I picked up the first one, City of the Lost, and was riveted. It is an excellent mystery, set in the Yukon, Northern B.C. It is rich with forest scenes, wildlife and wilderness. It is a gripping tale and a darn good plot.

Armstrong lives in southern Ontario. 

"Don’t look for Rockton on any map of the Yukon. This tiny, off-the-grid town doesn’t exist. Neither do the people in it. They’re all on the run from their pasts, needing a place where they can disappear for a few years. Rockton is a seven-book series beginning with City of the Lost. It’s a contemporary mystery series set in a wilderness town with no fantasy elements. While Rockton wrapped up with book 7, The Deepest of Secrets, the main characters continue in the spin-off, Haven’s Rock."

EXCERPT: FIRST SEVEN CHAPTERS (PDF) 

Banking woes

 What a week for banking! Others have shared their issues, I know I'm not alone... I dropped the F*💣 several times. (Don't tell the kids!) I had two problems yesterday. 

1. JB's VISA Payment – I tried to pay JB's VISA the 24th, but sent it to his old VISA at another bank. What was I thinking? Dumb, dumb, dumb. I did not realize it at the time, or I could have rescinded it that day. Do you know how difficult it is to do all this? I could wait an hour on the phone, but it often drops me. 

Spoke to Heather, then spoke to Gavin, who sent me to VISA. Then I had to contact our old bank, and try to cancel and get back our money. Promised a call back within an hour. It was 2 1/2 hours, but meant I was stuck with waiting. They couldn't rescind the payment, and advised me to wait as the other bank will have to manage the VISA payment. They told me to talk to the receiving bank.

We'll borrow money on the line of credit to pay off the good VISA. Trust the system! Wait patiently. Pffftt.

2. OLD VISA card  – You know serendipity is a good thing. I went back to my old bank card online. MY old VISA account was there and I found that some dipstick in Quebec charged $150 in gas in Laval on Oct. 9th, AND on Oct. 12th another $150. I might not have spotted it. I got on the phone, again.

There was an hour wait, they said. Leave your number and we'll call you back. Robo returned the call, then they said to do it online. Which I'd done. Eventually, I stayed on the line, as they said if there was fraud to wait. There was fraud. I got myself a person, Tina, who heard my tale of woe. She looked at my account, and confirmed my last charge and payment on Sept. 26, when I stopped using this old card. 

It was a good card, I'd had it since 1993, and it was a 7% interest rate (prime + 2%), I hated to let it go. When my last card # was stolen, the card was in my wallet, I had lowered the limits to $2500, which was a wise thing to do. She let me know that there was a $1371 charged refused from Amazon, as well as a $2010 purchase for clothing, similarly refused. You'd think they might have told me! Anyway, $300 charge is gone this morning, and a new card is in the mail. I simply won't activate it. They don't like it when you try to close up an account. 

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OK, that's my tale. We settled enough to go into town for flu shots. There was a nice man, age 91, getting his shot. I got the senior formulation. Set me back a tad emotionally. Yes, for 65 and older. When did that happen? 

I noticed this building in town. I loved the juxtaposition of the truck, 'disasters'. And the 'For Sale" sign that says 'Too Late!' I'll be keen to see what they do with the place. Are these good bones?

I slept in until 6 a.m. today. I was so happy. Yesterday it was 4:30 as we did a ton of work on preventing this gun range happening and it was weighing heavily. 

It's another nice day of 22 C. expected. It's nearly the end of that, methinks. We're ready. I let the cats sleep on my Grandmother's hand made quilt. She never had a sewing machine. It keeps fur off off the $10 IKEA sofa cover! That was a great find. 

Forest walkies were wonderful.

 

forest tails from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

It is Second Summer!

 It's been an interesting few weeks. We are still working on preventing this gun range and it's difficult to turn it all off. Another early morning that not even a radio show on flatulence in animals could send me to sleep. 

We had a neighbour come by with a petition she and another person created. I have high hopes. More to come! I mean, I 'say' neighbour, but they are on the lake, somewhat removed from us. We are becoming a community.

It makes me happy to see Felix and Sir John in the guest room! I smile every time I go to 'powder my nose!'

It was a high of 22 C. yesterday. When I was first up it was 4 C. Just a glorious second summer after some frost. What did I do? I put out our winter lights. What better time to be putting up winter lights in the sun and warmth? There have been some bitterly cold days when I wished I'd begun earlier. It was Diwali yesterday, the Hindu Festival of Lights! Perfect!

I cleaned, dried and wrapped the water fountain. This setup is taking some work. The biting, invasive Lady Beetles didn't help. They are swarming for winter hibernation. Our native Lady Bugs do not bite.

The top string of lights isn't working. I might just remove it totally and tighten up the string. JB bought us a lovely sparkly globe light for the top. He took off on a scavenger mission and did well.

I selected a clay pot on which to fasten it, which makes a tree shape of sorts.

I have lights for the front. Having tried and tried to repair the wires the mice chewed last winter, I couldn't find the correct extension cord, nor match the specific amps. There was a glue gun involved. I gave up. I brought the tree out yesterday. JB bought us a string of white lights, and I think it does the job. We may just get another string, though.

I took a lovely walk in the forest, grabbing trailcam SD cards. I watched this mouse hole all winter and nothing happened. It's as if it is a three-season exit and entrance. 

It's been a beautiful few days. I know the cold is coming. People have been out flying and enjoying the weather.

The skunk has been up and down the driveway. It was 9 p.m., not a.m., but I'm fed up with resetting the time! skunk from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

In the night, 😼Oregano is back, trotting up the driveway. I haven't seen him all summer, not since May. The light scared him the first time, but now he just dashes by. I still don't know where he comes from. 

He came, again. 

That was a fine day. We've another fine day today. I'll cross off a few more things off the 🍂Fall Chores list.

What a weekend!

Silly old Cinnamon. JB got up to powder his nose (or something), and Cinn moved in. 

Our leaves are still leaving. The catalpa has a few to go and then I'll climb the ladder and check the new eavestrough. It's been a lovely few days, with temperatures around 20 by the afternoon. Great for outside work. Poor peeps on the prairies have had 20 cm snow. We've three frogs in the goldfish pond.

I love snakes!  This one thought it might hide. It's a ribbon snake. Their colours are wonderful. I moved it out of my way.

Picture me, atop the shed roof. I cleaned out all the eavestrough. There were things growing in it, as well as bugs! It explains why the cardinal likes to hang here so much! I had to scrub my nails. 

I made my famous meatloaf last week. I poured the excess into a pop can and put it out on the back deck to solidify. Of course, I forgot about it. Some critter took the can down the upper deck steps, down the middle deck steps, and laid it beside the lower deck. There were no teeth marks. I am wondering if it was Oregano, our frequent visitor.  Butch would have ravaged it. Butch stole my SIL's beer and just crunched through the can when they were camping awhile back.

I forgot about the 2nd hornet nest. The first one I noticed is really falling apart.

We had such a nice day Sunday. JL made some lovely croissants for breakfast that morning. They buy the prepared dough from a place near his office, and let it rise overnight. I only had ONE egg left (JB cannot have them), and he brushed them with that. They were golden and lovely. 

We finished up the morning, they packed. Isabelle tool some photos while we chatted, saying our goodbyes.

Jean-Luc, our SIL, has been amazing helping us with one thing and another. He has lived experience with politics. I invited them over as we needed some parenting here during our conflict. When I emailed the kids, telling them about this gun range situation, JL wrote some comforting words:

You and Grampa are going good work and clearly are not alone. Remember to stay calm and if you feel something boiling up inside to let Brian know and go for a walk. And vice versa. 

Extremism feeds on extreme reactions. What pisses them off the most is relentless calm level headed persistence. It starves them of the energy they need and makes them look unhinged. 

Don’t give up. But stay in areas where you can move the cause forward, and avoid situations that make you blow up. 

Joseph Brian wanted to give his Grandfather's level to JL. Joe was very attached to his grandfather. He and his mom moved in with his grandparents on the farm when he was 2 years old. They lived on a farm in the 50s, that could have been set in the 40s. No hydro, no plumbing, a working farm with Belgium horses.

Jean-Luc has been incredibly supportive and a huge part of our family.  

JB estimates that this level is about 100 years old. It was a lovely moment. 

JL was amazing getting the new camera up.

What a weekend. I'm feeling better!

Catching up with the kids!

😷We've booked our flu shots, and that will be great to get. Some locals are antivax, anti-lockdown, conspiracy theorists, but not us! My birth mother had polio, and had a limp that affected her all her life. I only met her the once. It was a good message for me. 

We continue to work on preventing the rezoning for this possible gun club. The phone calls and the emails have slowed down as our township council finish off with school board trustee elections. It has been three weeks on a steep learning curve! Soon we should know the dates of the next steps. 

This is what we have figured out so far. I did this in the new Inspiration 10 app. I love new tools, although I used Inspiration 9 until I upgraded my OS and it wasn't compatible. This is a new one. 

 We talked to Jesse on Saturday. He's been incredibly busy out in Vancouver. They had a great cross country run, Jess worked from home that morning, and watched as Cluny came 30th in 135 gr. 2 kids in the afternoon. She and Josephine, her cousin, had a chat, since Jos (gr. 10) is doing cross country running, as well. All 4 cousins bonded in July during their visit. These are our four granddaughters. All fair-haired and blue-eyed!  

Vancouver and B.C., are great places for culture. Our DIL is doing something I'd never heard of. She is working with Vocal Eye. A trained actor, she has been taking training to watch a live play, and create a monologue and script, to interpret the action on stage for visually impaired people in real time. She wears a special headset and microphone, so as not to disturb people around her, and helps paint a picture of the scene. 

It's been an eventful week here. I asked Caitlin to come over for some daughter ➣ mother mothering! It's great being in the bosom of your family. I really needed it.

We had a very busy day. My SIL helped me install a new system for critter watching. It took awhile, but it is plugged into a socket, no batteries! I'm still fooling around with the app settings, but my M.Ed. is in Curriculum and Technology so I ought to be able to do it now JL installed it.

We vented and ranted and they listened.  It was wonderful. We had ham, roast veggies, and a pie Caitlin had made. Isn't it amazing?

JL helped me with a second project and finished off using the pressure washer on the middle deck for me. I borrowed it from them and I didn't quite do the job. We had so much rain, I wanted to get the algae off the cement. I've had to rake it twice, to get the leaves off, but that is another story! 

The cupboard was my parents, and it has seen better days, but it stores some pots, gardening, and bird feeder supplies nicely.

Isabelle did some homework. Josephine worked on Wordle, Flagle (flags) and the map one, and however many other puzzles her quick mind solves. She went down and fetched the trailcam memory cards for me. (Video of me mulching below!) Isabelle listened to music in the pine tree. Just like the old days. She said she felt so good just getting into the forest. 

Caitlin and I play Scrabble online. It's been a hoot. She's had two BINGOs, and it was 180 / 382. For her! I looked over at her on the couch, and joked about the score. She sheepishly had to tell me she'd just played! I can't find the concede button! What a hoot it all is. We play all the time, and it is a nice connection during busy work weeks.

They went out on the back deck last night to watch and photograph Jupiter. It's all very exciting. 

I konked out first. It's great they can blow up the bed, and make it on their own. I went downstairs to say good night. I was too tired to even read! We were all pretty tired. 

mulching leaves from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Saturday's Critters

 When did it get to be Saturday again?! We are taking great joy in watching our critters. I say 'our' as if we own them, but we are happy to watch them, watch over them, and share their antics. 

We've had an uptake in critters on the cameras, as they seek food, look for winter yards, and deer hunting season ramps up. Sadly, hunting season is here. When we lived in Muskoka we would all be very aware of the seasons and avoid walking on Crown Land. Here, I prepare just so I know what the guns are about. Our neighbour hunted, he's since sold, and we could hear it. We had our property properly marked so he'd know his boundary. 

Of course in Muskoka there was moose hunting. We don't get many moose here. We had to make a special trip to Algonquin Park for that.

First you figure out your Wildlife Management Unit on the  WMU map. We are 67. Then you go to the Deer season (Nov. 7 - 20 here). 

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I hope you liked my chipmunk video yesterday. (I've never seen a chippie doggie digging!) Here are Clover and her boy.

 

clover and fawn from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Wait until the end when the fawn bounds into view! We should have a name for the fawn, but once he grows a tad, we may not be able to ID him!

I'm thinking the baby porcupine has taken over Fred groundhog's den. Fred has disappeared, I haven't seen him in a few days or week. (You know how time passes!)  Josephine has named the baby porcupine (porcupette) Charlie! I like that. 

baby porcupine from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

↑ Oct 18 in the backyard. What is fun is that Clover and her fawn come into the yard. The fawn seems interested in the baby, but loses interest, happily! They all go back to grazing. The porcupine just ignores all of us!

↓ Just for comparison, this is the adult porcupine we saw in the front yard Aug. 20!

 

porcupine from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

And the tabby who visits us. 😼Oregano

 

oregano from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Thanks to Eileen for hosting! 

Saturday's Critters # 462

Snow storms, power outages,

 What weather! Our friends in Muskoka, in central Ontario, had power outages, and snow! Lots of people were without power overnight, about 1500 households. Its hovering near zero overnight. 

 

The blue is snow, dark green rain. The rain skipped us, for the most part. 

 

The catalpa leaves are blowing off. Many have blown right over the house to the back deck. The power of nature... The leaves are huge and will need to be mulched. It is an amazing tree.

When the leaves fall, all will be revealed. I found another hornet's nest (top arrow). It's fallen apart. The lower arrow points to a red-eyed vireo nest! A bit too close for comfort? 

A giggle: across the pond, a UK journalist writes this: 

"My son has lived through four chancellors, three home secretaries, two prime ministers and two monarchs. 

He's four months old." 

This was the day before Truss resigned. That is a hoot, sort of. All any constituents want is stability, stable government, and trust that there is a plan.

Meanwhile at home, I've been watching the hearings over the horrific truck convoy occupation in Ottawa, just to take my mind off things. My friends in Ottawa suffered so much from verbal and physical attacks, a fire in an apartment foyer, racism, public urination and defecation, the noise of the horns 24/7, the smell of diesel fumes as trucks ran all night.  

I went downstairs and watched the live stream while I worked out. Carefully propping my laptop on the machine, it kept me occupied. The backbiting on the part of those involved, the lack of transparency, and the poor leadership was shocking.

I looked out front and noticed a lump of dirt. Needing some fresh air, out I went to figure it out. Someone had noticed the action. This is cat TV at its finest.

A pile of dirt with a hole. It was a big pile of dirt.

After coming back in, all was revealed! I thought this is who it could be. 

chipmunk from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.