Ray's Ravings for September 2010

The glorious month of September and indeed it was one of the best months in Ontario with fantastic tree colours and ideal temperature with beautiful blue skies. Here in New Zealand we have days of dull weather with rain and more rain in September. So, what I should do is go over there for a month’s holidays with all my money that I haven’t got!
At the moment we have had a few days of glorious sunshine with perfect temperatures to make up for all the dreary days and we appreciate it all the more because of all the wet weather we have had.
The spring flowers and shrubs are blooming their hearts out at the moment, what a show and it all goes by so fast.
Now back to September. Cut the grass for the first time this season on the first day of the month. Now there is some news. I’m still using the ancient push mower but must admit that the area to cut is not all that large, the grass not all that vigorous and the secret to using push mowers is not to let the grass grow too long.
The big news of course for N.Z. on the 4th. was the earthquake in Christchurch. Nicola told about that last month. There may be more to tell now. They have had over a 1000 aftershocks.
On the 14th had a chap give us an estimate to double glaze all our windows with heavy plastic sheets that are attached by magnetic strips to the inside of the windows. This will cost $5839.45 and will be done if all goes well in a week or two. No more condensing on glass, the dead air between glass and plastic keeps the cold from coming in during winter and the heat in summer. Also road noise will be limited.
Even now with the walls and ceiling insulated, the house is much easier to heat. These wooden tents we live in are an experiment in inefficiency and a left- over from Victorian times. When we get the under floor insulated we hope to heat this summer cottage with a candle.
We bought a small rug that took my fancy and have it laid out in all its glory in our lounge. Only $129.00 for that. Got myself a portable hard drive of 320g for $88.00 and that works like a dream. I use it to back up my files. Not the safest I know but lovely and simple. (Like me)
One day we went to Cambridge just for a change. We hadn’t been there to look around in a long time. Boy, was it busy and took some time to find a parking place. Still an expensive place and has an older look. Wouldn’t be a bad place to retire to. Could sell some of my extensive real estate in Canada to cover the cost. What a dream. Talking about dreams we now have a Lotto draw coming up of over 20 million. That would give you a bit of change.

Lots of other boring little things and so here I am winding this up for another month. Hope you are all well considering, getting three meals a day, and the roof doesn’t leak. Yours truly the oldest and feeling it!!