Immigration Journal

Long time no speak

I haven’t been updating my blog as I should and apologise for my slackness. So catch-up time…

Well, the other week I had to go to the doctors (lady’s things) and because we have yet to find a family doctor to take us on I had to go to the local walk-in clinic.

When I get there at 11.30 am I had no idea what I had to do so went to the reception to ask. The woman told me I needed to take a ticket with a number and wait for the number to be announced on the screen then I should come back to her to register my details. She said that I would have to wait about two hours and could take my ticket and come back later as long as I didn’t miss my turn as I would have to start the process again.

So I took my ticket and went off to get a bottle of drink for the wait. I returned half an hour later and only two more numbers had gone through, I was another 23 ahead!

After waiting over two hours I still had loads of number to go. Thankfully I had taken a book with me, so managed to read a good proportion of it. When I was eventually seen at 3.05 pm I was a little annoyed that the doctor on duty then had to refer me to a gynaecologist as she was not able to do what needed to be done. She gave me a sheet of paper and told me the gynaecologist office would phone me to make an appointment.

That was a month ago and I still haven’t heard anything – I will be phoning the doctors next week if I still haven’t heard anything!

On another note, we have had our first babies of the year. I mentioned a while ago that we had seen a new bird – a killdeer in the garden. Well one turned into a pair and now they have three babies wandering around the front garden. The mother sits down every now and again and the babies all run under her for cover.

We have also had two other new birds in the garden – lots of brown headed cowbirds and a pair of rose-breasted grosbeaks. The male is very pretty and the female very plain. These photos are not ours, we haven’t managed to get any yet, but will post the real things when we do.

Grosbeak

Cowbird

We managed to spend loads the other day on plants, shrubs and furniture for the garden. We came back with a truck full and spent the rest of the day gardening, it was really nice. The weather has been great lately, well into the twenties and one day 27C.

We have also put up a gazebo over our lower deck so that we can hopefully sit out there without the flies bothering us too much – it is a covered gazebo with fly netting. Took us a while to get it up, but it looks nice, with our new patio furniture. Told you we spent loads, but bargains compared to the UK!

I promise not to leave it so long to post next time.

A trip to Algonquin Provincial Park

Yesterday was such a lovely day we decided to go for a drive and explore our new country. We planned a route to Bancroft and set off about 10am.

When we were first looking at places to settle in Ontario, Bancroft had been a contender, but for whatever reason we dismissed the area, cannot remember why now!

We took a scenic route to Bancroft and saw many places that looked really nice. The closer to the town we got the hillier the surroundings. When we reached Bancroft we found it to be a really nice place which reminded us of some small American towns we had visited. We were a little peckish when we got there so found a Timmy’s for a coffee and muffin – well you have to, don’t you!

We wandered around Bancroft for a short time then decided, as it was still early to venture further north. Looking at the map we realised that we were reasonably close to Algonquin Provincial Park, so decided to drive there and take the road which runs through the south of the park – Highway 60.

When we got to the East Gate I went into the ranger station to see if we needed to pay or anything. The guy told me that as long as we were only driving along the highway we didn’t need to. We were also ok to stop off and take photos etc. He gave me a info sheet and map and off we went.

The road runs for 54 km and as we travelled along almost immediately noticed several cars parked up for no apparent reason, so we stopped too. It turned out there was a moose at the side of the road. We saw our first ever Canadian moose. It was a female and she was a bit tatty as she was shedding her winter coat, but hey, we saw a moose.

We stopped off at quite a few vantage points to admire the scenery. Some of the lakes are stunning and we took lots of photos. We also managed to see a couple of deer, but as we get them in the garden most nights we were a bit blasé about them.

The guide sheet we were given gave details of the hikes you can go on in the park and also the best time to visit to see wildlife. It seems that the first couple of weeks of May are good, so we plan to return then, better equipped and do some of the hiking trails.

We left the park late afternoon and managed to spot a groundhog grazing at the side of the road on the way home. We stopped off at Timmy’s again for a coffee before travelling the rest of the way home.

We had dinner and settled in for a night of TV. Whilst watching TV we always have one eye on the window to see what is going on in the garden. As usual the racoons paid a visit and then quite a bit later my hubby spotted something else in the garden. We thought at first it was a racoon, but it was moving differently, so I got the scope out and could just make out a porcupine in the dark. I took some pics before it wandered off, but because it was dark they are not very good.

Mystery bigcat spotted!

Warm weather bring the insects!

What a week for wildlife we have had. It seems that this week of nice warm weather has woken everything up, including the insects unfortunately.

Every day this week we have had a dozen squirrels, several chipmunks, loads of red winged blackbirds, robins, starlings as well as a pair of Killdeer birds that are new ones to us. They are a water bird, but they decided to stay in our garden for a few hours the other day. They have two broad black bands across their white chests and apparently fake a broken wing to attract predators away from their nests.

We have also seen lots of grackles in the garden. They are beautiful birds with iridescent colours but can bully the other birds.

The squirrels are going frantic lately, chasing each other around then sitting in perfect harmony the next. This is apparently mating behaviour, so god knows how many babies we will get as we have at least a dozen adults in the garden.

As I mentioned the insects are also coming out. We have seen lots of paper wasps and bluebottles about. We are going to buy a mozzie trap this year so hopefully we will be able to enjoy the garden. Not sure if they attract wasps and other flies too?

When we get back from our spring break hubby is going to build an extension onto our rear deck and a pergola thing over the top that we may have to use to hang insect netting if the mozzie thing doesn’t work. I have been looking at plants and seeds etc, so may get my green fingers out later.

I am actually looking forward to doing the garden as when we bought the house the garden was rather neglected. The previous owners seemed to have the pool at that was it. As we have got rid of the pool, we want to make the garden prettier and more floral, so lots to spend on shrubs etc. The trouble is the garden is so big, we will only be able to do the section round the house as it will cost too much to do the lot. Fortunately a lot of it is woodland, so I might sprinkle some wildflower seeds around and see what comes up.

Yesterday it was 18C, the warmest day so far this year, things are looking up!


Grackle


Killdeer


Just how cute is he?

We are going on a spring holiday!