259/365 Warmth

It has been cold and rainy today. I really didnt want to turn the furnace on but it barely got above 13C - so I had the gas fireplace on for most of the day. Winter is knocking at the door and I do not want to answer. 

Only 106 days left in 2026. 

 258/365 Adventures

While  Mom and Dad, Grandpa and Uncle Harold were putting a new roof on the house, Grandma got to go for a little adventure walk with the kids on their property. This was taken with my iPhone :( 

 Next time I will be sure to bring my real camera. 

 257/365 My New Tea Mug

 256/365 Happy Birthday

The patriarch is 72 today! We celebrated with the family. He may have had only a few bites of that cake.

 255/365 Emmaline

Who doesnt love and ice cream sandwich for dessert. 

 254/365 Good Fellowship

and very good food. 

 253/365 Candle Holder

Friends are visiting from Winnipeg and gave us this unique candle holder. 

 252/365 Calla Lily

Time to bring these beauties indoors so they can be fully enjoyed! 

 251/365 Slime

We made slime today. The wind has been blowing fiercely and it called for some indoor creativity. Much to my better judgement, I bought some glitter to put inside. It looked amazing and our slime was perfect with a lot of elasticity, but I know I will be wiping glitter off everything for the next two years! 

 250/365 Breakfast at Smitty's

Cause these are great memories to make. 

 249/365 Rivals

The Labour Day Classic is about to begin!! Who will win?

 248/365 Card Holders

We played a lot of cards last week and although we have one cardholder, it is not a great one and we could have used two of them. So I bought these and they are perfect! Cards display so well and are easily moved around. Soft felt on the bottom and they actually look very nice and stack well for storage. I may very well use one myself because I seem to be always putting my hand down to go fetch something (usually food) or to help out one of the grands. Looking forward to using these. 

 247/365 Tomato plant

This cherry tomato plant has produced so many tomatoes this summer. Emma heads straight there to find the red ones every time she visits. 

 246/365 Hydrangea

They are rather big! 

 245/365 Reading

Love seeing them snuggling together and reading. 

 244/365 Crazy Kids

We discovered another playground in Oakbank today and it is just a five min drive away. Spent over an hour there. The kids had a blast. Great end to their Grandma/Grandpa sleepover. 

They can now play Scum/President, Five Crowns and Crazy Eights with proficiency.

 243/365  Hot Dog!

Wasn't that a fun weekend! 

 242/365 Water Fall

Loving the Pool

 241/365 Rootbeer Floats

It is a summer favourite around here and I suspect it will continue to be a fav dessert come winter. 

 240/365 UV Filter

Allow me a moment to brag. 

First let me say we LOVE our pool and watching so many kids having a blast in it. However being pool owners has been a learning curve and we are very thankful to Sansom Pools for all their teaching and advice. I am sure they are very thankful for our credit card too! 😜

We are slowly mastering the chemistry of the water and how to balance it and keep it healthy. But it also involved a whole new understanding of intakes and output valves, water pumps (and priming those pumps which is an art in itself) sump pumps to empty the overflow, filters and cleaning filters, UV treatment, heater settings (and rather large hydro bills), bypass valves, winterizing, pool liner care and the list goes on.....

Today the UV Filter sprung a leak and we had to shut down the system. Chat GPT walked me thru the particular UV filter we have and possibilities to fix but alas - not worth it as it is 7 years old. Sansom pools confirmed everything chat GPT said and offered a temporary fix but they could not have anyone out to replace it until next week. They did have one in stock. $$

Since we have 6 children and 8 adults coming for lunch and an afternoon of swimming tomorrow and the pumps and filters are off d/t the leak, I wanted a fix today so we do not have cloudy water tomorrow. 

So I went to the pool store where they got the UV filter prepped for installation and I brought it home and installed it! By myself! AND got the system running again (priming that pump)...which can be tricky once air gets into the pipes. 

Ta da!  

We have a working pool. 

Now to food prep for tomorrow!