Making It Up As I Go Along #583

The Unwanted Guest
As I spray the grass I notice evacuations
Spiders living in my lawn
Scurrying to the dry land that is my patio
Relieved they made it out
Escaping the torrential downpour of their rainforest home.

As I check my fence line I frighten a toad
Twice in one day he scurries
Twice leaving his worm lunch behind
Pausing for my next move
He tenses under a fencepost preparing for the final leap.

As I walk out one morning I interrupt a robin
Straw and mud strewn about my deck
A robin home tucked under the ledge
My barbecue becoming a condo
The returning robin atop a post "cheeps" at me with a beak full of twigs.

I've fenced in my land
Made a fine sitting area upon carefully laid stone
A hammock for lounging
My sanctuary from the outside world
Yet it's me now in the way
I've become the unwanted guest.


SATURDAY...

--- Take the day off sick.  Stay pretty close to home all day. A nap. Do a walk. Feeling better but not quite there.  Stamina is still low and the cough still comes in spurts.

SUNDAY...

--- Another sick day. I'll go back for my night shifts tomorrow. Do another walk and bring the hammock up from the storage area. Also sit out front for a bit getting some use of the front stoop. 

MONDAY...

--- Cheat night at work. Wendy's for supper and a fair bit of shoes to go through. I'm still hacking fairly regularly but doing better all the same. 

TUESDAY...

--- Better than yesterday. Much less coughing. Quieter night too. 

WEDNESDAY...

--- Up and on the go around noon. Do a walk and stick around the house for the most part. 

THURSDAY...

--- Lots of walking. An hour walking while the car is serviced. Get groceries from there and, after things are put away, another walk over an hour in the woods and power line corridor with the camera. By the end of it all my legs are pretty tired. 

--- Habs knocked out of the NHL playoffs. Too bad but I don't take it nearly as hard as in years past. One... They did better than I thought they would before the playoffs started. Two... The NHL is not a good league and with the combo of iffy officiating, player disrespect and bizarrely stupid codes, over simplistic rules and regulations and, above all, three lockouts in twenty years, I have no reason to invest myself in the league.  I love the history of hockey. And Montreal celebrate history better than any other team. I also love the emotion that surrounds the Habs. But they play in a flawed league. The last twenty years of the NHL have not been anywhere close to the league that used to be.

FRIDAY...
--- A trip to Lee Valley and then some lunch with Harley, the next door neighbour.  Spend the afternoon then removing the dandelions from my yard and then hang about some before going off to see Godzilla with Phil in the evening.  Liked it pretty good.  Not going to win Oscars but some pretty amazing visuals.

SATURDAY...
--- A robin built a nest on my BBQ.  Not sure, I may have spooked it when it came back to work on the nest while I was checking it out.  I guess if there's no sign of it tomorrow, it's abandoned.  

Making It Up As I Go Along #582

Three Weeks of May

Been off the Blog a while with the parents visiting, landscaping work at the house, and a cold that won't go away.  So 24 days worth of updates with pictures instead of a story.

Little guy breaking in my front stoop

Museum of Nature for the Frog exhibit

The most evil frog of all time.

A funny looking guy.

The dinosaur exhibit has a great turtle

Coming at you

The moon at Fiddler's Lake

Out my back window

The far pond in Trailsedge

WEDNESDAY...

--- Fairly busy work day. 

THURSDAY...

--- Not as busy as yesterday. Do lunch with Shannon at the caffeteria. 

--- After work get a new camera lens cap and return a previous one I got at Future Shop a few days before. They were basically useless. Future Shop is becoming a store run by teenagers who are only kind of interested in the equipment they're selling. 

FRIDAY...

--- Thai night. Several of us go in on it. Yummy food. 

--- Work is pretty straight forward but still it's past midnight before the worst of it is through. 

SATURDAY...

--- Quiet Saturday night at work with left over Thai to get me through. 

SUNDAY...

--- Star Wars Day at Nick and Melissa's. Lots of food and the three original movies get us through the day. 

MONDAY...

--- Catch up some on my PVR and do a walk for forty minutes. 

TUESDAY...

--- Clean the house as the landscapers show to do my patio work. 

WEDNESDAY...

--- I'm in front of the tv much of the day. Want to be around in case anything is up with patio workers. They are done by the end of the day and I run from dealing with them to picking up the parents at the airport. Chinese food ends the day. 

THURSDAY...

--- Long day running around. Groceries, patio furniture shopping, a trip to Bearbrook Farm for some food and a view of a baby buffalo. 

--- Hockey on tv for me and dad at the end of it all. 

FRIDAY...

--- Bert and Paula visit for lunch. Prior to that dad and I go back to Lowe's to get my patio furniture. 

--- A movie in the evening at home. Once... First time I've watched it in several years. And first ever for mom and dad. Good movie. 

SATURDAY...

--- Busy day. Run out with mom in the morning so she can do some shopping. I go to Canadian Tire and Future Shop while I wait. 

--- Mountain Equipment Co-Op after that with dad joining us. Get a few things there and then off to Dicks for lunch. Museum of Nature comes next. The frog exhibit was neat and the dinosaurs are always good to see. Hard to believe it's the first time I've been at this museum and I've lived in Ottawa eleven years now. 

--- Home from there. A bit of a break then struggle putting together furniture in the garage. Some talk time with mom and dad after and a little tv. 

SUNDAY...

--- Mothers Day at home. Get my patio furniture all in order and we BBQ for supper. 

MONDAY...

--- Off to Saint Sauveur. Staying at Fiddlers Lake resort. Go into town for lunch and be lazy around the chalet afterwards. 

TUESDAY...

--- I'm getting sick. Catching what dad has. Scratchy throat and feeling fairly drained much of today. Still we have sauna and hot tub times and a fine meal in town for the evening. 

--- Driving back to Fiddlers Lake we see an oncoming pickup hit a deer. Pull over to check on the driver. His airbag went off and the front was pretty crumpled. The deer had a few jerks and moves on the side of the road before dying. Poor thing. 

WEDNESDAY...

--- Really not feeling too well today. But do the drive back to Ottawa and we get a few groceries before getting back to the house. 

THURSDAY...

--- A home day. Go nowhere trying to get back to healthy. Soup and chicken pot pie and tv with the parents. 

FRIDAY...

--- Alone in CPSIC on dayshift... Sick. It's the worst I've felt while working in CPSIC. If the partner was in I'd have been home. Oh well. Get through it and home to a cooked meal. That was nice. 

SATURDAY...

--- Back to work while mom and dad stick around the house. I'm still not great but better than yesterday. And mom and dad saw the beaver while out for a walk. I think they win. 

SUNDAY...

--- Nights alone and still sick. Prior to that we go downtown to check out some of the tulip festival stuff at Majors Hill Park followed by a stroll along the canal. A few groceries and lunch of Lebanese food before my nap. 

MONDAY... 

--- Lay pretty low in the morning and I'm back to work at night. Still hacking quite a bit and zero energy. But lucky that it isn't a busy night. 

TUESDAY...

--- Up after four hours or so and bring mom and dad to the airport. Despite the sickness, it was a nice visit with the parents. Got to stop on the drive home thanks to the typical duck and ducklings crossing the road. Then lay low for the day. 

WEDNESDAY...

--- Starting to feel better but not enough for RCMP softball. A half hour stroll and mow the lawns is more than enough on the energy front. Get some fruit and drinks at Farm Boy too. 

THURSDAY...

--- Walk with the camera getting shots of birds and frogs. Do some more seeding of the lawn's dead patches. Today I'm in spurts. For a bit feeling close to normal again. Then later my throat is scratchy with a tickle again causing lots of coughs.