Poor old lawn tractor is not well again........

the main belt is slipping, so it is not happy about moving period, so now have to find a belt.  Called Sears parts and spoke to a lovely lady in the Phillipines (I think that is where the call centre is) and was told the part is on a two week back order.  So I'll pop up to Barrie to the parts place and see if they have one on Wednesday.  I have to work today, so can't go today.

I finished up the last of the wedding jam on Monday, and even made a start on my own jam.  We finally got rain on Monday as we were desperate for rain.

Though I would gladly give any rain we got to those poor people in Somalia, it's awful what they are going through over there.

The news seem to be full of bad news at the moment.  What happened in Norway is just terrible and not just for the people who died, but for the people who witnessed it.

In Canada in the news featured Jack Layton stepping down while he fights a second bout of cancer.  Poor man does not look well at all, sending prayers his way for a quick recovery.

Then of course the death of Amy Winehouse, what a shock that was.  However, you just knew something like this was going to happen with the lifestyle she chose to live.  Her voice and music though was a gift to us all and I am sure she will be missed.  Lets hope she will be at peace finally.

Here is one of my favourite songs by Amy:

It started out looking like this:

and after a few hours hard work ended up looking like this:

Thanks to everyone who helped stack the logs.  It went a lot easier as there were more hands helping.  There is three bush cords there and it cost us $280 (cash) for each bush cord.  We used the same company we used last year from Singhampton.

Meanwhile dh and ds got busy putting in the new stairs:

It is all to stain and varnish which I'll get too after the plumber and tile installer have been in and done their work.

I helped out a little with the logs, but went indoors to make a batch of jam for everyone to take home, plus I sorted out lunch for everyone.  Nothing exciting just different filled rolls, roast beef, ham, chicken and cheese and onion, plus chips/crisps.  Along with fresh strawberries and raspberries with ice cream and squirty cream.

By the way I cooked a whole chicken overnight in the crockpot, just season, DO NOT add water and it is so moist.

My allergies are driving me crazy, I want to pull off my nose and pull off my ear lobes as they are so itchy.  I have even resorted to using Nasonex in my nose, which I hate doing.  I am going to be hibernating over the next few days as it is so hot and humid.

Do you like the heat and humidity?

This looks icky.........

I have these on my pears trees, no idea what they are but thought I'd enlarge the photos so you got a good look!!

They are not on my apple trees, but the leaves are all rusty and chewed on both the pear and the apple trees.

I took a sample of the leaf and the black things to the garden centre and they told me to spray them with this:

Now I am not one to use chemical on my garden, but the guy said I could drink this stuff if I so desired........I don't......as it doesn't contain pesticides as our Provincial Government doesn't allow it.

Molly started barking up a storm the other night, as this daft turkey went wandering by.......and then it came back for another look....crazy bird..........not sure what Molly would have done if we had let her out?

Found a new site called "What's Cooking Grandma"  I was looking for recipes for blackcurrant jam and stumbled accross this site.  My blackcurrants are starting to darken and ripen, so I reckon in another week I will make a start on picking them.  We don't like blackcurrants but I wanted to do a few pots as favours for the wedding along with the raspberry jam.  The rasps are still a couple of weeks away from being ready.