Niagara Falls in August

We had the happy occasion to celebrate Tom's Dad's 80th birthday at our home.  Tom's two sisters, Paula and Julie arrived with husbands.  Two of our nephews made the trip, as did Tom's Aunt Joy.  Our two daughters in Houston made the drive in 23 hours.  Liz and John Paul also drove up from Indiana!  What a joyous time we had together.  Enjoy these shots of Niagara Falls, and the family.

Train Trip to Toronto

In front on Union Station almost ready to go back home

Down at the piers overlooking Lake Ontario

CN Tower.  We managed to walk all the way around, then decided to have lunch in the revolving restaurant.

Toward the end of our meal the revolution was complete.  The green roof in the center is the Royal York.  The green roof to the right side is Union Station.  

Just arrived at Union Station!

View from the restaurant of where the Indy Car Toronto race took place.  We could hear the racers while we walked the city.

View of the Royal York across from Union Station.  This is where Tom stays when he has overnight business in Toronto.  We had to make a quick washroom stop inside!  Beautiful old building.

Sunday: July 18, 2010: Tom travels to Toronto on ViaRail often, and earned enough "points" for a free round trip for all of us to Toronto.  We originally hoped that he and Peter could go the the Indy Car Toronto race.  Details couldn't be worked out early enough, as a result we played tourists!  We visited the pier, walked past the baseball stadium, and the CN Tower.  At the CN Tower we were famished, and rode the express elevator up to the revolving restaurant.  During our fabulous meal the view rotated completely around, taking about 70+ minutes.  After that we walked to where the subway/mall is.  The shops were closed as it was Sunday, which suited us just fine.  We were all just curious about how a mall could be located under the city.  Next was a long walk to visit a funky shopping area called Kensington Market.  On the way we walked through Chinatown (as evidenced by all the street signs being in Chinese.)  By the time we were done at Kensington, we hopped on the subway back to Union Station.  The train ride home was first class, including dinner.  It was nice to have one more "must see" checked off our list.  Future visits to Toronto will include several of their museums and art galleries, and of course, shopping in the underground mall.

More Touch-up Work

New front door paint!  Here is the before, and the after.  Same with the newly refurbished front porch lights.  The door hardware was simply wire brushed clean, and looks like new, too!  We never mind spending a little labor to achieve that fresh, like-new feel!  Sure beats spending $$$ for new, eh???  The best part (besides saving money?) ... that is the last of the pink!!!

An Empty Bird House ... NOT

We started scraping and caulking the back of the house this week.  Last week while Tom was in the far north I painted the lower portion trim.  This upper part has really been through the harshest environment with a full southern exposure, and is taking a longer time to prep for painting.

Under the eaves was an old birdhouse.  When Tom dropped took it down on Tuesday night I  had opened up the top, and while it did look like a current nest, there was no visible sign of a little bird inside.  They must camouflage well! It had been placed on the deck, and imagine my surprise when, while I was washing dishes, I spied a small brown bird standing at the opening.  As soon at it left another one flew in, and then I spied a large yellow open mouth just inside the opening.  Both parents made about 4 trips while I watched from inside the house.  That also explains why Dolly the cat has been sitting in front of the birdhouse staring to intently at it earlier in the day.

When I told Tom after he got home after work he didn't hesitate to pull the ladder back out, and reinstalled it back where it had been.  So far I haven't spied the parent birds flying in, but then again, we hadn't even realized they were using the house.

In the meantime we'll keep our eyes peeled for the debut!  In keeping with our updating plans we'll take spruce up the little house late fall once they have definitely moved on.

Raspberries!

One of the unknown bonuses of moving to our new-to-us house are the raspberry canes growing between one of the family room windows and the deck.  They have been producing abundantly, and we have just about reached the end of their growing season.  There are now 6 quart size freezer bags stowed away for treats later on this year.  We have some strawberries, but unfortunately, our May/June rain kept their feet wet, and not much was produced.  Drainage is a serious problem we have to address.  It took a while when we first moved to Texas to adjust to the idea of real rain, real high humidity and heat.  After our 3rd year there, we were finally able to keep a yard looking good.  This climate is different than any I've lived in before.  Much more seasonal, with a nice level of humidity, as opposed to the high in Houston and the low in Nevada we had been living with in years past.

Down to the Ground

Last huge project involved Mary and Peter.  While Tom and I were busy brushing, caulking, and painting they were busy trimming the lower branches from a pine tree in the back yard.  This almost 40' beauty was, unfortunately, planted too close to the house.  After the tree was trimmed as high up as Peter could reach, he and Tom hauled our rented 32' extension ladder around.  Tom trimmed up as far as he could with that one.  Next came several heavy duty straps joined together across the yard, and attached to the upper part of the tree. While Tom made an initial notch on the tree trunk, we secured all pets inside, and then Peter, Mary and I pulled as hard as we could on the rope.  Tom continued to saw, and finally the giant came down as planned.  The dynamic duo continued cutting, limbing, lopping and hauling the branches away.  Mary and Peter have plenty more work to get the limbs bundled for pick-up and the trunk stacked.  You can see in these pictures the tiny chain saw Tom had to use.  (He was the proud owner of a real size Stihl, but it was sold before our move to Texas.  You might guess who still hears about that decision.)  One of these shows the narrow space this tree was occupying.  I often wonder why people don't remember that trees are supposed to grow, but still plant too close to foundations, and other trees!  We have plenty more yard work to keep us all busy, not to mention all the painting on the back of the house!

Up and Down, Up and Down, Up and ....

The major project was to paint the neglected trim and stucco of this house.  While painting several neighbors stopped by to chat.  One informed us that he thought the painting had never been done.  That was verified when we wire brushed.  After overcoming my reluctance to dance on the top of tall extension ladders, we were off and running.  The tall dormer over our front entry required renting a 32' extension ladder.  We sure like the results.  As another neighbor said, looks like a new house!