A response in avoidance of the Daily Post’s Writing Prompt https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/always-something-there-to-remind-me/

So, yesterday I waited for the painters to arrive to have a chat before going off for my walk.  He was late, but no matter.  They have started prep, and that’s what counts!

I took only a short walk in the ‘hood and found some nice flowers to shoot.  I want some of these in my front yard after I am able to set things ups for landscaping (in other words, AFTER painting has been completed).

Nico paid me a visit while I was lounging in the living room after my walk (and while I was eating some lunch).  He was being particularly brave yesterday for some reason.

Then I tried to prime the spare room.  Looks ok from a distance (although as you can see I did not finish…)

Best laid plans in this house.  As I was priming, this was happening:

So, I am guessing that there is still residue from wallpaper glue on the walls in a few spots.  The only problem is that I can’t see where until I prime.  So, today I need to sand out these spots on the primed walls, give all the other walls another rough sanding, and THEN prime everything again to see where I stand.  I’ll probably have to sand out a few spots again, but I am hoping that once I prime again I will be ready for paint.  I guess we’ll see.  Going to be a long afternoon in the spare room.

Oh, and I also removed that other pitiful shrub from in front of the porch.  I used this handy little tool called a ratchet – it works like spit (I don’t know where that expression comes from, so don’t ask).  Anyway, only a couple of stumps left to pull out and I’m done on this side.

And here is what the painter did.  He was on his own yesterday, and only there for a few hours as he was scoping the place out for his plan, but he did do a little scraping!  There’s a whole crew out there today sanding and scraping, so it’s going to be a noisy day.  Luckily I have a lot to do in the spare room (sigh…..)

A response in avoidance of the Daily Post’s Writing Prompt https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/brilliant-disguise/

So, Sunday, and again another lazy day.  My excuse?  It was stupid hot.  For me.  Ok, I know I have a low threshold for heat.  But it was NOT pleasant.  Mind you, by evening it was cooling off (unlike the evening before) and now it looks like we will have more enjoyable temps this week.  By that, I mean hovering around 20C, which suits me just fine.

So, where was I?  Oh yes.  Lazy.  Like kitties.

A spark of play…

We did risk a walk down to the Ogden Point market, where we saw this:

Then we came home and were handy for a couple of hours (Kevin, more than I, but I cheered him on…and read the manual).  Now there’s a big TV on the wall in our bedroom.

Then, as the sun began to set, a quick tour of the garden to water and see what new is blooming.

And today?  Back to productivity to start the next week of staycay.

A response in avoidance of the Daily Post’s Writing Prompt https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/finite-creatures/

Yes.  It was a lazy Saturday.  Slept in, ate a late lunch, went and bought paint and some coffee beans.  And a ratchet branch trimmer.  Oh, and Kevin washed the new car.

It was hot yesterday, so when we got home, it was time for a bit of a nap (well, Kevin napped, and I read a book).  Then we decided to head out for dinner.

We walked through the park – here we are walking away…

Then got to Spice Jammer (http://spicejammer.wpengine.com/) for dinner.

papadums to start…

Then delicious, hot pakoras…

Followed by yumminess…Chicken tikka masala, spinach curry, dal maharani (black lentils cooked in buttermild – my personal favourite) and rice pilau.

Leftovers for lunch tomorrow!

Then we walked home via the Inner Harbour and the Night Market.  Here are some sights along the way…

Downtown after 10:00 was PACKED with folks.  My bet, at least 2 cruise ships in town.  It was still very warm and muggy – unusual for Victoria.  Hope it cools off soon (it was 30+C today – WAY too hot for me!)

And home again to water the yard, and then relax.

A response in avoidance of the Daily Post’s Writing Prompt https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/the-heat-is-on/

After sanding the other half of the room (I have a few more divots to fill again, and sand again, so no priming yet…sigh…) I took a break, and then went outside and tackled on of the overgrown shrubs in the front yard.

Here is before:

Here is after

And what was cut down

Now you can see how pitiful the OTHER shrub looks behind the old one.  So, now I need to finish taking out the stump and then tackle the other pitiful shrub.  Then I promised Kevin we can replace those with a nice colourful Hydrangea.  That will look MUCH better.  After the second pitiful shrub, I have another to tackle on the other side of the front yard near the neighbours.  It’s mostly dead, so it’s coming out.  Then the California lilacs.  Then I have to prune everything else that’s staying.  Phew!

Now, for some assorted kitty pictures taken yesterday

And my dessert from lunch.  Don’t know why.  I just felt like taking a picture of my cherries.

Then, finally, the sunset last night was amazing!  So I had to take shots of it as we were out on the deck BBQing, well, as I was sitting on the deck with a glass of wine watching Kevin BBQ, that is.

Here’s the sunset from the front of the house

And here it is from the back

The end of a good day.

A response in avoidance of the Daily Post’s Writing Prompt https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/lookin-out-my-back-door/

I only sanded half the room.  Took over 2 hours and I had to stop because my hand was freezing in the sanding-block-holding position.   So, the rest of the sanding will be completed today, and maybe I’ll still prime…we’ll see.

I did take a couple of kitty pictures though…

A response in avoidance of the Daily Post’s Writing Prompt https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/grand-slam/

Yesterday, I spackled, and vacuumed, and sanded a cast-iron tub that is going to be painted and placed in the garden.  I also did a bit of reading and took a nap.  I really need to get out for a walk today!

So, this is what the spare room looks like now (with Jasper keeping a close eye on the work in progress).

It won’t look much different after today after I sand out the excess spackle (it will still be dotted with white), but hopefully tomorrow I will prime!

And to round out things for the post, here are some garden pics!  Because, no post these days is complete without garden pics.

A Chick or a Hen blooming

Another lupin blooming away

The first bee balm bloom coming along

Little wee peppers

A response in avoidance of the Daily Post’s Writing Prompt https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/dear-mom/

So yesterday I was lazy, at least I felt a bit lazy.  I met the arborist in the morning to talk about our trees and shrubs (found out some interesting things about cherry tree diseases, and also found out that our cherry and apple trees are about 40 years old).  Then I went for a quick walk to pick up some things at the drugstore and the local pet food store (have I mentioned how much I love living where we do – everything we need is in walking distance!  Except for work…but I am not working right now, being as I’m on that there Vacation!)

Here is the cherry tree we are having pruned (and that needs some treatment for something called cherry bark tortrix).  Not the best shot – it’s hard to get a picture of a whole tree in a small yard.  Just saying.

And here is the apple tree we definitely need pruned since it will take out both our windows and the neighbour’s windows if something happens to it.

And finally, here are the California lilacs I am having removed from the front so I can FINALLY landscape out there.  Curb appeal will be there by Fall!

Anyway, after errands it was time for a break and lunch.

Then I headed upstairs to wash walls in the spare room.  And now, I believe all remnants of wallpaper and associated glue products are gone!  Today will be spackling holes and divots, tomorrow sanding and one more wash, and the Friday, hopefully, will be priming.

Again., no pics of those walls – nothing new to see yet…Friday… But here is a picture of the upstairs hallway.  The colours on the corner are the colours it will be painted (starting next week!  Stay tuned…)

After a couple of hours of scrubbing walls, I did a bit of vacuuming, then fell asleep on the couch.

Then I marched into the kitchen and prepped some food for dinner.  Root veggies for roasting, and freah yellow beans (not from our garden, but locally grown)

Then into the garden to water and take a few pics.  No new blooms yet – so close!  But here are some old ones, as well as the butterfly house I still have to hang.

Finally, after watering, I sat down again to wait for Kevin.  Root veggies were in the oven, and Dexter was cuddling.

Today?  More of the same, I think.  Spare room work, a bit more vacuuming, and, well, we’ll see!

A response in avoidance of the Daily Post’s Writing Prompt https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/well-i-never-2/

I’m posting early for being on Vacation.  I woke up at about 5:45 and then my mind wouldn’t turn off.  This doesn’t happen to me very often.  Probably because I knew I had to be up this morning to meet the arborist who is coming to check out our apple tree, and a few other assorted trees and shrubs in the yard.  And I was thinking about paint.  Specifically about painting the spare room and the hallway.  Why?  Ask my mind.  Or just look at what I have been doing for the past few Vacation days.

For example, yesterday was mostly spent washing walls – again.  Well, I did read a book, but definitely also washed walls.  The spare room will be ready to patch after today when I finish washing one more wall, and then I should be able to get paint on Friday and prime.  Woo hoo!

Of course, I also found time to take a few pictures (not of the walls – washing them does not make them look any different from the last round of photos I posted – you’ll just have to wait until they are primed for the first peak at the “before – getting there – after” round of shots).

Here is a hummingbird series taken with the emPhone zoomed in way up to the top of a dead branch on our cherry tree.  Damn bird wouldn’t get any closer…

And here are some various blooms in the garden, as well as one shot of the tomatillo plant.  Not sure anything is going to happen with this plant, but it looks cool right now.

A response in avoidance of the Daily Post’s Writing Prompt https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/practice-makes-perfect/

I don’t feel like writing much today – just lazy.  Also, I haven’t had my second cup of coffee yet.  Here is what happened yesterday.

Ogden Point market

Flowers on the walk back home

Things getting closer to blooming in the backyard

Dexter napping

Kevin BBQ’ing in the rain (yes, it rained again, but not really enough to call it actual rain)

Rainbow to end the day

A response in avoidance of the Daily Post’s Writing Prompt https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/honorific/

It rained!  That’s all I need to say.  The first real rain for almost 3 months.  Of course, it’s sunny again today, but that’s ok.  I do believe the painting of our house is commencing either at the end of this week or the beginning of the following week.  So it can be dry for awhile longer now.

See – evidence of raining yesterday.

There was no walking yesterday (not necessarily because of the rain…just general laziness), but we did run a few errands.

For example, we went to Volkswagen to get our roof rack cross bars (did I mention we bought a new car a couple of weeks ago?  The first new car we have ever owned.  VW Sportwagon.  Blue.  It’s a station wagon, but it’s still nice.  You can see the back end of it here).  The guy at the parts department offered to put on the cross bars for us, and we saw the cleanest auto shop I’ve ever seen.

After that we stopped at Capital Iron to look at umbrellas for the deck.  Didn’t buy any, but I did see a towering, colourful metal dinosaur.  Who could NOT take a picture of a 9 foot metal dinosaur inside a store holding an “eat” sign?

We ran by the fish store to get some fish for supper (sable fish) and I picked these beauties from our garden.  They were delicious!  I cringed a bit when I looked at the zucchini plants though – we are going to be leaving zucchini on front porches all over the neighbourhood…

And now it’s Sunday.  Now sure what the day holds in store.  Or should I say the afternoon (seeing as it’s already noon…)