Crisis

 A very close friend of mine was rushed to hospital around dinner time yesterday. She is approaching her 88th birthday. She is diabetic, in late stage renal failure and has a failing heart.

We have a fantastic paramedic service in our county. I wish it was this good across the country. It was a paramedic who made the call to rush her in, and stayed with her until she was discharged.

My friend spent close to 18  hours laying on the paramedic stretcher in a hall. She wasn't given a sip of water, let alone her medications. She wasn't given any food (remember she is diabetic). She was not seen by a doctor until 4AM. The doctor did not examine her, just ordered some bloodwork, told her to go home and call her family doctor....which she doesn't have.

There were 19 paramedics and one doctor staffing the ER. in a busy county hospital.

Today the hospital is asking folks NOT to come in unless they have a genuine emergency. Meanwhile more than half of our community does not have a doctor.

It might be free, but where is it?

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

 It started to snow sometime in the wee hours. It was still coming down by dark. M shovelled one porch and I did the other. When that was finished I filled the bird feeders. M had to go out for a bit. He said the roads were so bad he almost turned back, but driving was a lot better on his return.

The packages to go in the mail are all ready for the post office next time I head to town. I'm about to start decorating bins for our local gifting. It's a hand made Christmas this year. There are pickles, preserves, baked treats and hand knits going into the boxes.

That Time of Year

 I've been rather preoccupied trying to get the Christmas boxes sorted and ready to mail to my family in far flung places.

I tried to give them a mixture of hand knit,  a keepsake, treats and often pajamas.

What is really making me MAD this year is the cost of postage. It's costing me more to mail the prezzies than the value of the contents.

It's sunny here today but I'm hearing lots of folks all around us are getting a good blast of winter!!

Puppy and I went for a walk in the woods and collected the chips from the cameras this morning. We are forecast to get a dump of snow tonight into tomorrow.

Grim day, or was it

 When I came downstairs at first light it was a grim looking day. There was an ugly mix of snow, rain, hail, sleet. Nasty stuff. I heard the salt/sand truck rumble by. I fed my fur babies and gave Kitty her shot and crawled back into bed. My goodness, it was 10:30 before I woke up again!

When I came downstairs it was a clear blue cloudless sky and the temperature was rising. This afternoon the pup and I took a walk in the woods. I swapped out the camera chips and looked for tracks. We only see squirrels and rabbits tracks.

I thought about going to the big German Chriskindlemart this weekend but I think I'll stand down. I'm not really in the mood for a mob scene. I'm hoping the weather isn't bad on Sunday. I've volunteered to take my very elderly neighbour to church for the first time in two years. 

Another day

 We didn't suffer from the ice at all. On Sunday we went around to some craft markets.

Today M had his appointment cancel on him. We loaded the pup into the car and headed down to Renfrew to visit our Vet. The pup was fine, we were picking up insulin for the cat. The road was clear and dry and the traffic was light so we got in and out easily.

The feeders are busy. I'll have to buy more seed this week!

Saturday

 Whoops, I sure slept in this morning! Not quite....I got up very very early, in time to see a brilliant RED sunrise. As soon as it was a bit lighter it was time to head downstairs and take care of my furry babies. Pupper had to go outdoors while I prepared her breakfast. When she came in I started on Kitty. We recently bought some new, quite expensive, all meat catfood. (She is diabetic, remember?) The devil turned up her nose at the offering and attempted to bury it. The pup enjoyed it. I gave her another flavor and she devoured that in short order. I prepared her insulin while she ate. That done I toddled back upstairs to my nest, and promptly fell asleep!

Our area is under some serious weather alerts. We are due to get a fair amount of freezing rain and some gusty winds. Having lived through the BIG ice storm of 98, we know enough to GET READY. I've filled all the water buckets, checked batteries in the lanterns, made sure there is firewood close-ish to the wood burner. Next on my list I'll fill up the bird feeders. We have propane handy for the bbq on the side porch. The generator has a full tank of gas. I have to find the long extension cord still, but I'll do that when I go downstairs to collect the laundry. We can also plug in the air fryer if it gets to nasty to use the pot burners on the bbq. M is a little more laid back about the whole thing. He's of the school of taking care of it IF and WHEN we need to. I like to just get ready.

RED SKY IN MORNING, SAILOR TAKE WARNING

A bit of everything

 I hit the road shortly after 8 AM for my weekly excursion with my daughter. On the way in I drove through snow and ice pellets. In town the sun was shining. On the way home it rained.

We grabbed our coffee then did a bit of shopping. I'm about done with the Christmas boxes for the out of town family.

Doggy and I walked to the woods up back. I swapped out the camera chip. With the snow I can see that we have had some visitors, but the camera isn't catching them. I'm going to have to reposition it. I collected the newspaper, dumped the compost, cleaned the cat litter and changed bedding. By then I was starting to feel stiff and sore. It's an early bedtime.

Pictures

 

Pals

Who you

This is an old photo of flowers in the snow

But I like it

I baked oat cakes today. We had guests arrive while I was baking. They enjoyed a cup of tea with the oatcakes and some Lovely Red Leister cheese from England. 

I had a quiet day

Wishing I was sitting here again. (Lake Huron north shore)

Summers coming!

Whoops

 The gas truck slipped on our slick lane and got stuck! It's the same spot the heating contractors truck slid and stuck last spring. We need to do some tree cutting and widen the head of the lane.

Remembrance Day

 

Today is the day we remember those who served, and those left behind.

My good friend Barry made this banner honoring my Dad and uncle a few years ago.  My Uncle Gordon Brotherstone is resting in the cemetery in the upper right corner.

Dad served with the Hastings and Prince Edward Reg't and Stormont and Dundas Highlands in Europe and Northern Africa. 

Remembrance Day was a part of our family culture. We always turned out, no matter the weather. Dad was in the parade until he was about 90.

My Uncle Harry, Dad's brother next to him in birth order, is a veteran of Korea. He is still alive and well living in a Legion veterans home in Florida.

My late father in law was a WW2 veteran who served in the British Navy. RIP

My first husband is a Canadian Army veteran who served in Cyprus, Yugoslavia and Afghanistan./

My eldest grandson is presently a military member of the armoured corp.

Military service has a long history in our family, right back to the Revolutionary War, which landed our family here in beautiful Canada. 

It's white

 We didn't get a lot of snow, but the outdoors is bright and white. I like that.

Last evening I walked to the mailbox in the dark, in lightly falling snow. As I turned up the lane I was just so happy thinking how cozy and inviting my little house looked. It is a nice cozy house.

I was cooking fish for dinner tonight so I went scavenging in the cupboards looking for something to have with it. Other than a tin of peas and a bag of carrots, there isn't much in the way of veg available. We've been eating an awful lot of both lately. Way in the back of a top cupboard I discovered a big bag of dates and another bag of Quaker Oats. That led to some baking! I'll put the date squares in the freezer tomorrow. (We had fish and chips for dinner, but no veg). I'm hoping to replenish our veggies on Thursday when Daughter and I get out.

Other than that, I didn't do much at all today. Both porches got cleared off and the bird feeders got filled. I'm out of birdseed too!

  

The feeder was busy. The birds know snow is coming!

Snowy Sunday

 The white stuff started about 3PM here. I wonder how much we will get when all is said and done? We took the dog for a walk before dinner. It was quite brisk, but I put my winter coat on. 

A Veterans event was happening at the neighbours farm. They had live music and fireworks after dark. That was interesting with the snow and low, heavy, cloud cover.

Saturday

 The snow reports have been up and down today. One source has just a dusting and another says 5-10 cm and a third says maybe 20+. We will get what we get and I'm quite frankly looking forward to it. It has been to dark and gloomy.

I spent some time outdoors. It was a brisk day but I know enough to dress for it. The burn barrel got torched. The last of the outdoor furniture got put away. I found two more bird feeders and filled them. There is a shovel at each door.

Back Indoors, I vacuumed up another herd of dead flies off the windowsills and scared the cat. She watched me drag out the motor, but when she heard the hose coming she scuppered downstairs to hide under the hot water heater. I made a pot of beef stew for dinner. It was really delicious. We will have plenty enough for tomorrow's dinner too. Stews always taste even better the second day!

After work, M sorted out the garage and got the little red suv tucked up all cozy.

I finished the red wool mittens last night and started knitting a hat to match this evening. Using pure wool will make then lovely and warm.

Just before bedtime my sister called and we had a great old natter. She's the only relative whose phone number I know. I miss my family and long to hear their voices.