There’s a First Time for Everything!

 

It’s been a very wet and cool, even cold, spring. Last month, we had record amounts of rain with flooding around the area. We’ve had unseasonably below average temperatures barely in the teens at times.

Today, it’s raining again and barely 10C degrees with a forecast high of 14. And I did something that I’ve never done in June before: I made a fire in my cookstove to warm up the house! The wind is blowing at around 35 km/hr. keeping my Canadian flag whipping in the wind.

Cookstove

 

So what better way to celebrate a cold and rainy day but to make a beef stew (recipe here). I had some grass-fed, local beef left over from Sunday’s roast and added cut-up chunks to the turnip, onion, carrots, and celery and let it simmer all afternoon. This adds to the heat from the dwindling fire in the cookstove, steaming up the windows. The smell is intoxicating. Potatoes are added about an hour before supper as well as the leftover homemade gravy.

 
Beef stew in June. Who’d of thunk!

Backyard flag at the river

 

Flood Warning ….. Again!

Repeat. Do-over. Redux. The past month has seen a variety of spring weather. It’s been very warm with temperatures in the high 20’s or below normal cold, and more rain than I’ve ever seen. Since I wrote my Spring Flood blog post (here) on April 9th, we’ve had an additional 107.8 mm (4.24 inches) of rain in April PLUS another 125.1 mm (almost 5 inches) of rain in the first week of May alone! That’s a month’s worth of rain in a week! It’s been raining now for 4 days straight prompting another Flood Warning for the second time in a month. This is the first time in my 36 years living here that a flood warning has been issued twice in the spring.

 
The Rideau Valley Conservation Authority, who manages the watershed, has been releasing statements regularly – I subscribe to email alerts and updates. The last one said that the rain will taper off tonight or tomorrow although we might get freezing rain or snow flurries:  “Flows in the Rideau system are now not expected to reach flows experienced in the spring freshet (flood). The rate of rise in the Rideau and its tributaries is slowing …….. Levels on the Long Reach will decline through the coming week.” The “Long Reach” is the area along the Rideau River where I live.

I’m grateful that my house is safe from the flood waters at this time unlike other poor souls who are experiencing devastating and complete loss of their homes. Most of these areas are along the Ottawa River and the Gatineau River. The Rideau River empties into the Ottawa River along with countless other rivers and small tributaries.   Almost 1,000 people have had to evacuate their homes. 😦   Many area have declared a State of Emergency.  It’s heartbreaking.

My pond on April 8th

My pond the way it should look in May

 

It will still be a few days before the flood level peaks. The military has now been called in to help in the flooded areas – much needed (and maybe a little belated) by exhausted homeowners. Federal government offices are closed in Gatineau, elective surgeries have now been cancelled at Gatineau Hospitals, schools closed, community centers closed, and libraries shut down on Monday because of the flooding

My house is set back about 300 feet from the river and up on a 3 foot ‘berm’ of earth. I’m glad that 40 years after this house began construction that it still holds the test of time thanks to Mr. Jones (original owner) and our old neighbour Mr. Mitchell who advised Mr. Jones to built the house a bit higher. Thank you gentlemen!

Lettuce in my raised Kitchen Garden bed

 

Luckily, I only planted my spring garden a few weeks ago in my ‘kitchen garden’ area in the raised beds up by the house. I planted spinach, peas, carrots, and lettuce. The garlic in the main garden, which is saturated with water, was up and had healthy 6″ greens. It occurred to me today that the mole/vole problem I had in the lawn down by the river last year might be ‘remedied’ by the floods this year. The grass is growing too fast with all this rain but it will be a week, at the very least, before the water has dissipated and the ground isn’t soaking wet like a sponge. Only after it’s all dried up, I can cut the grass – and the grass will continue to grow in the meantime. Oh well, more mulch for my garden!

Now that I’ve finished writing this post, the rain has finally stopped! For now?  And a beaver is swimming around my fire pit down by the river …….  But now it’s snowing!

Looking forward to summer in my backyard

Upper Wellington

When I was 11 years old, my parents bought their first house. I’d lived in Hamilton’s east end on Eaton Place (read more here) my entire life. My whole world was there in that quiet idyllic neighbourhood on the edge of the city. Then we moved up on the mountain to 425 Upper Wellington Street to a small 800 sq. ft., two bedroom pink (with black trim) bungalow on a busy 4 lane street at the top of the Jolly Cut mountain access road. Our Upper Wellington Street home had a very small kitchen, a livingroom, one bathroom (much to my Dad’s pain, with three daughters), 2 bedrooms, and an unfinished basement.  My Dad got busy right away finishing a bedroom for my oldest sister Faye and a ‘rec room’ for us to hang out in.  I REALLY 

Spring Flood

It’s that time of year when the Rideau River’s ice is melting – it begins in the channel with a sliver of water peaking through. I always notice the melted ice in the channel first down by the bridge to town. Over the next few days, it slowly makes it’s way up to our place and beyond. Then usually the ice at the edge of the riverbank begins to melt and leaves a small ribbon of water. Huge ice flows shift from one side of the river to the other depending on which way the wind is blowing them.

My dock begins to rise with the water and bob in eager anticipation!

2017

This year, it became cold and winter-like after spring ice break-up commenced and the whole river froze over again. We’ve had a bit more than the average total snowfall this winter (around 235 cms). It didn’t take long, though, for the thin ice in the middle channel to begin to thaw and water flowed once again.

A few weeks ago, it looked like this spring would be an average melt considering we had a very slow warm-up and the snow was melting a bit every day. Then the rain started. And it rained for several days. One day alone, we had 36 mm of rain added to the 30+ mm we had the day before (2.5+ inches).

The trouble with so much rain here on the river, is that the ground is still frozen and the river still has ice along the shoreline this year. When we get that much rain in the region, it all flows to the rivers and creeks. These waterways have no choice but to overflow. The Rideau Valley Conservation Authority issued a Flood Warning for our area a few days ago. The river is 2 meters (6.5+ feet) above normal level.

The other day when I woke up, the river’s banks had overflowed about 15 feet and the river was considerably higher – I could see my dock floating way above winter levels. My riverside flagpole and flag were gone, likely knocked over by the sheet of ice. The next day, the water had come a third of the way up my yard. A few hours later, it crept halfway up. It ended up 3/4 of the way up my yard.

We’ve always been spared from any river flood damage because our house was built on a one meter (3 feet) pad of earth. During the great 100 year flood of 1976, all the roads around our place were under water and our place stood out like an island (this was before we moved here in 1981). One old timer said Reeve Craig Road used to be called ‘Puddle Alley’ for obvious reasons.

2008

In 2008, we had another ‘hundred year flood’ after a record-breaking winter snowfall – they might want to correct that phrase to reflect the fact that these floods are happening way more often than every 100 years. In 2014, it happened again. My grandkids thought it was great to canoe ‘on the grass’ in Gramma’s backyard!

My sump pump has been working overtime! What the heck is a sump pump you ask? Well, it’s a water pump inside a 3 foot pit in my basement where the ground water around my house flows into a perforated tube buried around the perimeter and drains into the sump pit. My basement has always been dry other than the time the sump pump failed to turn on…….

Great Blue Heron on dock

The water has finally started to recede now! This is monumental in ‘flood warning’ mode. All the ice seems to be gone from ‘the long reach’, which is the term given to my neck of the woods (it’s the longest stretch between locks – read more here). This morning, I was treated to one of my top 5 sights: my ‘lake of shining waters’ where the water sparkles like a million diamonds in the sun. Oh, I just LOVE seeing this! (I wrote about it here) I watched a beaver sitting on a small ice flow as it made it’s way down the river; several Great Blue Herons flying along the shoreline likely looking for a nesting place; and lots of ducks.

My Lake of Shining Waters

Spring has literally sprung!

Never Forgotten

                           

                                            CHRIS June 22, 1960 – March 2, 2008

Chris

 

More memories:

https://grammomsblog.wordpress.com/2012/03/02/remembering-chris-1960-2008/

https://grammomsblog.wordpress.com/2013/03/02/legendary-chris/

https://grammomsblog.wordpress.com/2014/03/02/tribute-to-chris/

https://grammomsblog.wordpress.com/2015/03/02/chris/

https://grammomsblog.wordpress.com/2016/03/02/a-day-in-a-life-that-was/

 

It’s The Little Things

You don’t know what you have until it’s gone. There was never more truth as that phrase.
Recently I experienced losing some basic ‘necessities’ of life – well, not really necessary to live, like air and food. I’m very blessed to have been born in a country like Canada where basic necessities of life are taken for granted and provided. Even though half the year is cold and even covered in snow, I’m warm …….. most of the time. And that’s what brings me to this topic – heat.

 

Last month, the heat went in my car. I don’t drive a fancy, late model SUV because my 26 year old Honda Civic is still chugging along and doing just fine. But sometimes it needs new parts. Like a thermostat. I knew it had to be the thermostat because I had some heat briefly but then as I drove along the highway, I froze. I couldn’t get it fixed right away because I had to go to my daughter’s house to take care of her and the children the week before Christmas. I just wore double pants, double wool socks, double sweaters, hat, mitts, scarf, winter boots, and a coat when I drove in the -25 C weather. You don’t know how much you appreciate heat in your car until it’s gone! My daughter Nellie and I drove into the city to a family get-together at Perry and Debbie’s when my sister-in-law Penny & brother-in-law Mike came up from Brantford, Ontario for a visit. We were frozen! Perry, bless his heart, put a piece of cardboard in front of the car’s radiator to help block the cold air on the drive home in the -30C degree night. Finally, after all the holidays, I took it to my mechanic to replace the thermostat: a $20 part and another $100 to put it in. It was worth every penny to be warm again when I drive in -30C degrees!! Such a little thing for such a huge impact!

My car…….new

 

Hot water. In our developed society, we take hot water for granted. We simply turn on the tap and voila, hot water spews out! I have several other ways to make hot water in my home like a solar hot water system (which is currently covered with snow and taking a break) and a hot water reservoir on the side of my wood cookstove. But I depend on my electric hot water heater the most I think. Last week, we noticed that the hot water coming out of the tap only lasted for a few minutes before it started to turn cold. When my grandchildren and daughter Kristi were here for a week and a half, there was barely enough hot water for a very, very small bath with a couple inches of water. And only one of us could have a bath or shower at a time until more water heated up in 5 or 6 hours. Nellie even offered to heat up kettles and pots of water on the stove.

 

My wood cookstove

 

We knew that one the two heating elements in the 40 gallon electric hot water tank was likely broken – there is one element at the top and one at the bottom of the tank. Every few years, these elements break down because of our hard, sulfur well water and we know about it when we have a shower and run out of hot water half way through! You don’t know how much you miss instant hot water until you don’t have any. I went into the Canadian Tire store and picked up the right elements – there are various sizes and models (who knew a hot water heater was so complex!). We needed a 240 volt 3,000 watt element model with a screw in base. I found the old one on top of the hot water heater so I brought it with me to make sure I picked up the right one.

One big thing that I’m grateful for is that my son Darin always comes down any time I need him to help. Yesterday, the whole family came down and waited (and waited) while Darin did a not-so-quick change out of 3 of Nellie’s electrical plugs in her newly painted & furnished bedroom and tried to fix the hot water heater. Somehow, we didn’t have the appropriate tool to remove the old elements – we didn’t remember how we ever did this the last few times. So Darin and the family went into town and bought the special wrench and came back to replace the elements. Thanks Dar! I was elated when I turned on the tap an hour later and hot water streamed out!!

I’m forever grateful when one of my kids does something for me that’s no big deal for them but means a lot to me. For instance, bringing in a 40 lb. bag (or two) of wood pellets. Or carrying a box of firewood in from the woodshed. Or shoveling the freshly fallen snow away from the front mudroom door and garage. Or cleaning the bathroom.

It’s the little things that make life a bit more enjoyable rather than struggling.

Cancer Free!

*Note: Graphic pictures in this blog post might be disturbing to some readers.

I am cancer free now.

A few months ago, after waiting nearly 9 months, I finally had my Mohs cancer surgery at the hospital.

My cancer journey began on February 2, 2016 when I met with a dermatologist who diagnosed basal cell carcinoma – skin cancer – on my upper lip. The surgery she recommended was called Mohs surgery after the Doctor who developed it in the 1930s and is the single most effective technique for removing Basal Cell Carcinoma. My research confirmed that Mohs surgery has the lowest recurrence rates, highest cure rates, and best cosmetic results of any skin cancer treatment. Okay, sold.

February biopsy

I waited several weeks beyond the expected surgery date of three months without hearing a word from the hospital so I phoned the surgeon’s office, who told me to phone the Mohs clinic at the hospital. The kind receptionist assured me that the wait time wasn’t three months but more like 6 months! After 6 months had come and gone, I went to my family doctor and asked her office to call the clinic and find out what’s going on – did they forget about me? We were informed that the wait time was now 8-9 months! Then one sunny day in late September, I received a letter in the mail from the hospital notifying me of my surgery appointment – on the only day that I was scheduled to fly to Moncton for a weekend meeting! After all this waiting and waiting! But it was easy enough to change my appointment to the next week.

The day arrived and I had to be at the hospital, with an ‘escort’, by 7 a.m.. My daughter Nellie and I drove into the city to my other daughter Kristi’s house near the hospital and parked there. Then Kristi drove us to the hospital and was on-call all day in case Nellie needed a break. I was informed, in the letter, that I must bring someone with me or my surgery would be cancelled.

By 7:30 a.m., the staff started trickling in for the day – I have no idea why they made the six of us patients come at 7 a.m.! The nurse explained the process: one-by-one, each patient would be called in for their first surgery, wait for lab results, then maybe more surgery, and this would go on all day until the last patient was treated. I went in for my first surgery at 9:30 a.m.

The staff was SO young! My Mohs surgeon and the plastic surgeon were as young as my own kids! Extremely pleasant and happy people. Everyone was positive and outgoing. I was invited to participate in cancer research which was studying the effects of viruses to kill cancer cells. I signed up immediately – if my cancer cells can help cure cancer, well it was a no-brainer – why wouldn’t I! Sadly, only 2 of the 6 patients that day agreed to participate in this research. My surgeon was almost giddy about my cancer because the procedure she was about to perform was uncommon. She asked if she could take pictures for teaching medical students and I agreed with the condition that she show me and email them to me.

When all the permissions were done, I laid back in the ‘dentist-like’ chair and she froze the area with local anesthetic with about 9 needles. Okay, you can stop shivering now. After the first one, I barely felt the others. Then the cutting began. The doctor, Jillian, chatted about her upcoming trip to New Zealand and her love of photography. I was able to talk in between excising layers of cancer – it was actually a pleasant experience. The wound was cauterized and a wad of gauze placed over it – I was asked to press firmly and sent out to the waiting room. My cancer was then sent to the hospital lab for immediate examination. Mohs surgery is done in stages while the patient waits for lab results.

Cancer cut out

I waited for 3 hours. I tried to eat lunch that we brought and even tried to drink with a straw but found it difficult with a part of my upper lip missing! Finally, I was called in for Part 2. There was still more cancer in my face. I guess the small spot I could see was more like an iceberg with more cancer under the skin. Another 7 or 8 needles to freeze the area again and more cancer and skin was removed and sent to the lab. Out I went, covered by a bigger piece of gauze, this time with a very droopy lip because half of the right side of my upper lip was also removed and went to the lab.

After another couple of hours of waiting and reading Readers Digest cover-to-cover, my lab results were back and I was called back in. Almost all the other patients were done for the day and had left. I felt bad for Nellie who loyally waited for me and even chatted with the other patients and their family members. This time the news was good – Kate got all the cancer! It was time for reconstruction of my face. There was a hole the size of a loonie or silver dollar and I had absolutely no idea how the plastic surgeon was EVER going to patch me back together again. I asked to see it and was handed a mirror. Wow. Oh well, I thought, at least I don’t have cancer anymore even though I’m going to have one mother of a scar.

The surgeon, Jill, and the plastic surgeon, Kate, and I discussed how to patch me up. The two doctors talked like they were decorating a birthday cake with all kinds of creative ideas using my current smile lines and face characteristics. Then I was given another 10 or so needles of freezing.

I had the option of having a skin graft from another area of my face or neck to patch the open wound but I opted for only one place to heal (thank you very much). The doctor suggested that she do a bit more cutting along my ‘smile line’ to enable her to pull up my skin and make a kind of flap to cover the gaping hole in my face. The inside of the lip is very stretchy, so she made me a new upper right lip by pulling up some of that skin. I had around 48 stitches, almost half of them inside.

48 Stitches

I was given instructions for care of my wound and we had to stop at the store on the way home to pick up supplies. I wish they had given us this list so I could purchase them ahead of time and go straight home after a long day in the hospital. The pain wasn’t too bad. Even after all the freezing came out, it was manageable but I took a tylenol anyway for good measure. Two days after surgery, I had to remove the bandage. I wasn’t looking forward to this but it went very well. I had to change my bandages every day for the next week until I went back to have my outside stitches removed. I was told to apply vaseline with a Qtip to slow the healing of the stitches which results in a less visible scar.

Post surgery day

I was treated like a rock star when I arrived at the clinic for my stitches removal – the doctors called other doctors and nurses in to see the fantastic surgery and reconstructive repair. They were very pleased how well it was healing and took more pictures for medical education. I was told that I wouldn’t need to return but that my scars would take a year to heal. I’m supposed to massage the scar tissue every day and wear sunscreen faithfully because the sun will change the colour of my scar.

The other day, I went to lunch with friends that I hadn’t seen for 6 months and they had trouble finding the scar. So I guess, all is good.

I’m cancer free!

3 Months after surgery