I took a picture of our Heritage White Lilac by our home yesterday. We trimmed it last year as it wasn’t producing as many flowers. In doing so, you can see what pruning does. They sure smell nice. Thought I would share. GW

Click on Image to Enlarge!

Well, here it is June 1st, man time is sure flying by. Looking outside, things like the trees are sure putting on a show with their leaves all up to size. It’s nice to see, and along with that the perennials are also about ready to show off. Our rhubarb is ready to pull, and my lovely wife will be making us a strawberry rhubarb pie either tomorrow or the next day. I sure do enjoy them.

On another note, Highway 522 is getting busier and busier every day, with lots of tourists and campers moving around looking for places to park their rigs for a month or two. It will continue like that for the remainder of the summer.

Bug report: There are still a lot of Black Flies out there irritating folks these days, along with the mosquitoes. This heat though will get rid of a lot of them, and the dragon flies will eliminate a lot more, along with the birds helping out. There is a lot going on with Nature if you take the time to notice. The old saying is that we humans need to take more time to smell the roses is so true.

Yesterday I did go to North Bay with my wife as we had to take our car into Ford as our engine light came on again. This is the second time it happened. First time $500.00 yesterday another $500.00. $109.00 Parts and $350.00 Labour. I have to tell you, things have sure gotten out of hand nowadays when it comes to what people are charging for labour. Some things I can see are warranted for them high prices, but for other things they sure aren’t. At any rate, we humans brought it on our selves, wanting this and wanting that and going into debt to get it. Some call that progress. I won’t tell you what I call it.

After we finished up at Ford we picked up a few groceries, well I should say my wife did, I waited in the car as I am still unable to walk too far. Sitting, I am okay. Once we had our groceries and a few other things, we both got ourselves a milk shake at the Dairy Queen, and headed back home. I have to tell ya, you can’t beat a Dairy Queen Milk Shake, especially chocolate.

Today is mowing day, so I had better get going as we want to beat the heat, as it is going to get quite warm as the day moves forward. I am going to see if I can use the rider today. Not sure how that will work out.

Have a great day. GW

It’s a sunny morning here, waking up. Nice to see after a day of rain. And if lucky, the sun will remain with us for most of the week. Which in turn will dry things up a bit. Once that happens, I will then be able to work up our veggie garden. I like to get the soil turned over as soon as I can as I do have some things that can be planted early like potatoes. If I can get them in early, we can be eating them early. I put in a row first, then a couple more rows later on, that way we have lots that will last us through most of the winter. It’s getting harder and harder to find good hard potatoes in the winter time. Most are soft and so old they taste terrible.

Traffic is picking up in and around our area with new folks roaming around, along with our locals wanting to do some outside work, after being cooped up all winter.

The blackflies are around but not biting yet, so it won’t be long before they become annoying, then comes them pesky deer flies. Those things, once they get an eye on you, won’t leave you alone for a minute. And they can bite too. But that’s the joys of living in the country. However, over the years, my lovely wife and I have become accustomed to them.

Today, being that it isn’t raining, my wife and I have some outside work to do before we get into our gardens, which will keep us busy for most of the day.

With that I am off for a bowl of shredded wheat and a piece of toast and will then get to work.

Have a great day and enjoy the sunshine. It is a touch cool this morning but i twill warm up as the day moves forward, an even warmer tomorrow. GW

Click on the image below to enlarge. It explains exactly what is going on these days. At least the way I see it.

Good Morning!

It’s not too bad of a morning temperature wise, with it sitting at 5.3 C | 41.54 F. It won’t warm up much more than it is now for the remainder of the day. We will also see some showers off and on all day long. The old saying April showers brings May flowers is holding true. Highway 522 is quiet this morning, but it will pick up being Friday with folks needing, or should say wanting, things for the weekend. My wife and I have everything we need for now, so we will be staying at home.

And being that my wife is still recouping from her episode with the dentist, she doesn’t feel like going anywhere, anyway. And on top of all that, the price of gas has once again gone through the roof with it sitting at $1.72 a Litre in North Bay, A crazy price that isn’t warranted. These so-called Powers that Be that are adding on this carbon tax hasn’t got a clue on what is really happening with our environment, as this tax is hurting more than it is doing any good. If asked, there would be no way they could justify it. Any money they do make from it is given away anyway. Kind of a sad state of affairs the working man/woman is living with these days.

Ah, hell! I could go on here for an hour, but it wouldn’t accomplish anything, so I am heading off for a bite to eat and will then see what the day has in store, other than all this bureaucratic nonsense that is happening these days. That’s the polite way of saying it!!Ha ha

In Closing I Would Like To Wish You Well. GW

Good Morning!

It’s another cool morning here, waking up with the temperature sitting at 0 C | 32 F. However, it will warm up quite a bit as the day moves forward. But in saying that, we won’t be having any summer weather like we had last week for a while yet. What we will be getting is a lot of rain off and on, which is normal for this time of year, at least in our area. Highway 522 is getting busier every day with out-of-towners roaming around. It is nice to see folks out and about.

On another note, my lovely wife and I had to go to the big city yesterday, as they finally found time to remove her tooth that was bothering her for the past three weeks or so. It wasn’t very pleasant, to say the least. But it is done, and now she has to heal a bit. She hasn’t had any real food for a day now, so I am thinking she is getting somewhat hungry. While in town, we picked up some groceries along with some yogourt, so she should be able to eat that without too much difficulty. Hope so. Other than that, the ride to town was nice with the roads being dry, and we did have some sunshine following us which brightened up our life so to speak.

Today I will work here on my computer, being that it is still cold outside.

With that I am off for a bowl of shredded wheat and will then see what the day has in store. You never know, life is like a mystery novel, you never know what the next page might bring.

In Closing I Would Like To Wish You Well. GW

“Dear reader, I am happy to share one of my stories about school days with you. It’s a tale that is both nostalgic and entertaining, filled with moments of laughter, friendship, and mischief. So sit back, relax, and let me take you on a journey through my memories. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed living it.”

The old one room school house was warm that morning.  Laura and Reg, the folks that I lived with, also looked after the school, but today they were busy on the farm and couldn’t make it.   Usually they had all the windows open and the building swept out before anyone got there.  The oldest boys soon fixed the problem by opening the windows, while the girls swept the floors, in no time at all, things were ready to go. 
     Miss Jameson, had just started teaching at our school a few months ago.  Most of us kids treated her pretty good, but there were a few that liked to pull the odd prank once in a while.  They wouldn’t ever do anything that would hurt her or anyone, but scare, now that was a different story.  Only thing was, though, her being so nice, most of us didn’t want to play any tricks on her.  I kind of figured she had been lucky so far as no one attempted anything, but I knew that was about to change. There were two older fellows in grade eight, that usually came up with the ideas and then made the younger fellows do the dirty work.
     Well, on this day the two older fellows arrived at school earlier, and they picked up a Garter snake along the way.  They cornered this young fellow new to the school and told him to put the snake in the teachers top desk drawer.  The younger boy didn’t really want too, but in fear of getting picked on for the rest of the day, he said he would.  The snake was put in the drawer and pretty well the whole class knew about it, other than a few girls that were real friendly with the teacher.  If they had found out, for sure, they would have said something.
     We all opened our books and were sitting there waiting for her to open her desk. To our dismay, though, she never even went near the drawer, till around noon. Then it happened.
    “Lunchtime,” she said and started to put her things away.  We all sat there holding our breath. Thinking, now she will scream, jump from her chair and run to the other side of the room, maybe even out the door, like all the other teachers had done before.  The girls  that knew what was going on, were holding their hands over their mouth. The guys were on the edge of their seats, the teacher, well, she slowly reached down and opened the drawer.  But to our surprise, she just reached in, took the snake in her hand and laid it on her desk.
    “Well, she said, it looks to me like a few here in the class are interested in snakes.  So right after lunch we will get our science books out, and I will go over the different kinds. I am very happy you brought it to my attention.” 
     Every one that knew about it, just kind of sat there with a look of disappointment on their face.  The laugh, this time, was on us.
    No matter what they came up with, through the year, they just couldn’t scare her. Spiders, mice, more snakes, nothing seemed to bother her. She took them all in stride. 
     Later on we found she was raised in the country and while growing up she was kind of a tomboy.  I will say this, she was the best teacher that I ever had.  She taught all eight grades and never once complained.  Eventually, the older boys found other girls to bother, and the teacher was left alone to do her job.
    So there you have it, a day in the life of a country school teacher.

Click on image to enlarge! Nature’s finest hour.

Good Morning!

So how you all doing on this fine looking Saturday? Good I hope. For my wife and i we are doing okay these days. We have also been taking the time to enjoy the nice weather that has been upon us for the past week. Pretty well all of our snow has left us and as hard as it to believe the grass is turning green quite rapidly. We have also noticed a lot of our summer song birds have returned. Including the Robbins. The proverb states that if the first Robbin you see at the start of the year is sitting on the ground, the year will be successful. And I found that to be true over the years. As long as there are a few of us old timers around, old beliefs will always exist. Some people, however, believe that a good year will come if the first Robbin you see is sitting up high, but the truth is … that belief has fallen out of favour over time, for a number of reasons that I won’t get into this morning.

On another note, my lovely wife and I have been real busy working outside, cleaning things up around our property for the past few days, and today we will do the same, but not as much, as I kind of think we overdid it yesterday a wee bit. The weather has sure been nice, and no one can complain about that.

So with that I am off for some pancakes with a touch of Maple Syrup and will then …. hmm maybe, I will roll our lawn this morning before the ground gets too hard. It sure helps, especially for walking, not to forget that the rolling pushes all the roots back in place where they should be, which in turn makes for a really nice looking lawn all summer long. And it also makes it nicer to mow.

Have a great day and stay safe. GW

“Don’t be afraid to let your imagination run wild and take risks with your writing. The most memorable and powerful stories often come from authors who are unafraid to explore new ideas and push the boundaries of what is considered conventional or safe. So, don’t be afraid to take chances with your characters, your plot, and your writing style. Embrace your creativity, trust your instincts, and have confidence in your unique voice as a writer.”

Here is a phrase that has helped me when writing my books.

Basically, a ‘Good Old Boy,’ knows he’s got all he can handle to run his own life, and doesn’t try to run anybody else’s.

The older one gets, the faster and faster changes seem to come.

Writing Tip From Me To You.

“Don’t Just Write About What Happened

Write How You Feel About What Happened!!”

Something I have noticed over the years, being a writer.

That back in the days It didn’t take much to make a Juicy Story!

Good Morning!

It’s a sunny morning here for a change. However, the sun might be up this morning and showing itself, but it’s cold outside with the temperature sitting at -12.1 C | 10.22 F. lt will warm up a wee bit as the day moves forward. Highway 522 is bare and dry this morning, which will make travelling good for those in need of a few things in the cities.

We have had a lot of melting over the past week or so, but we still have a good foot of snow in most areas around our home. It will be nice to get rid of it all. Once the snow gets down to a couple inches, it won’t take long then.

On another note, I am still working away on my new Mystery Novel and today should get the ending wrote. After that it is editing and putting it into book size along with setting things up, so it can be read on a book reader. Still lots to do, but it is at least wrote, other than a few changes I might make while editing.

With that, I am off for Florida Grapefruit along with a couple pieces of raisin bread that my lovely wife is making for me.

Have a great day! GW

Cole’s Book Stores held a book signing for me, which turned out great! It was sure nice to see that so many people are enjoying my stories.

My thanks go out to all those that dropped by to say hello. It means a lot to me.

From the garden to the bowl. Red Pepper Soup. Sure was tasty.

Click on Image to Enlarge!

Good Morning!

It’s another cloudy morning here in Port Loring. We did have about an inch of snow overnight. Not enough to warrant me waking up my snowblower. But in saying that, we are having some light flurries at the moment. By the looks of things, we could get another inch before is eases off later on today. So … we will see how that works out.

Highway 522 is pretty well free from snow, but there are a lot of icy sections throughout. So care should be taken if out and about. On another note, I still haven’t seen that many snowmobiles yet this year. Usually we see a hundred or more through the week, and sometimes even more. Weird winter for humans and nature. But then with a lot of people out of work, mortgage rates being so high, along with groceries and gas. And then the government preparing to take more taxes off the working man’s paycheck. I think our hard times here in Canada are just beginning. The worst part is our powers that be are still giving our money away to other countries. I can’t see how they can justify that in their minds, when so many here in Canada are in need. But then again, it’s been that way for a lot of years, just the same it shouldn’t be that way. We have to stop giving money and things away to other countries. Simple as that. The only way we are going to get out of this mess is if we look after ourselves first. Then we will be able to help others, within reason. Anyway, I am off for a bite to eat that my lovely wife is making for me, and I will see what the day has in store.

Stay Safe.

Good Morning!

It’s a cold morning here in Port Loring. Not as cold as yesterday, but cold, with the temperature sitting at -13.4 C | 7.88 F. Highway 522 is mostly bare this morning, but there are a few icy sections throughout. So extra care should be taken if out and about.

Yesterday my wife and I went to town as we had to take our car into Ford to see about why, our Engine Light was on. I know it wasn’t a serious problem, as I had it checked here in town. The only thing is, no in our area can fix it. And on top of that with the engine light on, the remote start won’t work, and with this cold weather approaching we like it a lot, as we can just stand in front of a window to start it up, and it’s nice and warm when we are ready to go anywhere. Which makes things real nice. We got it to Ford, sat in the waiting room for almost two hours, and they then told us they didn’t have the part, and would call us when it came in. And on top of that, they charged us a lot of money, and it still isn’t fixed. Diagnosis they said Ha ha. Now we have to return to Ford when the part comes in, which we won’t know until they call. Then it will cost us more, not to forget what it costs for gas there and back for two trips. Sure amazes me how these companies can charge so much these days. But it’s not just them, it seems everyone has doubled their prices for the past two years, blaming it on the Virus. An excuse that isn’t warranted in my eyes.

At any rate, once we got out of Ford, we decided to pick up a few things at the grocery store. There again the price of things made us cringe, especially the vegetables. And as I said before, most of what they are selling should be thrown out, as a lot of it was not fit to eat. I told them about it too, for what good it did, as they just looked at me and probably thought to themselves. “Damn seniors always complaining about something.” Ha ha.

At any rate, we did pick up a few things, including another turkey as it was on sale at Independent. We prefer the PC Turkeys over the Butter Ball, as lately the Butterballs have been real dry and tough. Old Birds. We also had to go to a couple other stores before we found some good-looking lettuce. And it sure wasn’t cheap. Sheesh. Once done our running around we picked up a cheddar and cheese sandwich at Tim Hortons, ate in the car, people watching which is something we like to do, and then headed on home … with a car that wasn’t fixed. Other than all that though, we had a real nice day of it, with the roads being good along with the sun shinning down upon us. And it is always nice to take in the sites along the way, with lots of chatting to each other. Which we are good at. We have had lots of practice being married over 50 years now. Ha ha.

Once home my wife put things away, I put some more wood in our wood furnace and we then both sat back enjoying each other’s company while watching a show or two on the television. Great day for most parts, other than not getting our car fixed.

Today we will take it a bit easy. I think I will write up a story or two for my Newspaper columns, which will keep me busy for most of the day.

With that, I am off for some pancakes that my lovely wife is making for me, and will then see what the day has in store. Have a great day and stay, safe as there is a whole mess of people here in town and …. that are sick. We wore our mask all day yesterday along with sanitizing our hands many times. We both hope it kept us safe. A day or so will tell us.

In Closing, I Would Like To Wish You Well. GW

Good morning!

Well … it’s a cloudy, cool morning waking up here in Port Loring. The temperature getting out of bed was sitting at 1.5 C | 34.7 F. A touch above freezing. Highway 522 is bare and dry so far this morning, but we could see an inch or two of snow later on in the day. I guess it is that time of year, so I can’t complain too much. Although, I have been liking, the warm weather we have been having for the past month or so. I kind of figure, that with me not being able to move around much for most of the summer, Mother Nature took that into consideration, and decided to give me time to get all my preparations done up beforehand. I appreciate it too.

Yesterday, my wife and I worked outside for most of the day, finishing up some small projects that needed doing before the snow moves into the area. Got lots done, and now I think we are ready for what ever comes our way. I hope so.

This morning I went out and lit the wood stove in the old woodworking shop, so it will be nice and warm in there once I finish my breakfast that my lovely wife is making for me.

Have a great day.

In Closing, I Would Like To Wish You Well!