Do You Want Onions on That?

Just a Joke - That's not Us!

So the great Rock and Roll Tour of 2013 is slowly coming to a close but will be fodder of many great memories in days to come.  Since leaving Ann on her driveway on Thursday, I have been spending my time learning to travel alone again - well not really - there's always Digit.  We had a great system for getting the motor home ready for the road which had tasks we each performed.  I, for instance, made sure the windows are all closed and the blinds up while Ann handled the sewer hose and put the cat into her bed.  I unplugged the power and we each worked on one end of the water hose.  We had a checklist that we religiously followed before setting off.  Now I have to remember to feed the cat - Ann's job.  I had had to learn to operate our new coffee machine - also Ann's.  Setup on arriving at the new destination went much better today.  I have figured out a new system that requires only one pass down the business side of the vehicle and one pass back.  It took less than 3 minutes - yeah me!

I miss my best friend - but as we often say - How grateful are we to have had 4 of these great trips to Nova Scotia and a few little side trips as well?

Today I am north of the Great Lakes where there is a dearth of Tim Hortons but you can rent a bush plane for next to nothing.  I passed through the powerful, granite valleys around Sudbury and today enjoyed a long lazy drive along the Blind River.  I am seeing trees beginning to take on their fall colour - another sign it's time to be heading home.

In the past few days, I've come to know Dave Dare Bates - a cousin on several levels.  He is from New Jersey and was just in Nova Scotia doing some family research.  He tells me his one family tree has more than 220,000 people in it.  That makes him about 3 times as crazy for family history than I am.  Unfortunately, he had only 3 days there, which makes me so grateful for the 8 weeks we had.

Daniel Lionel Teed

I've also come to know Peter Teed from Saint John New Brunswick, who

Hugh Mariner Teed

responded to my family history blog.  His two great uncles are part of a study I am doing on family members who died in the First World War.  Hugh Mariner Teed died while training a young Private to use a hand grenade.  The Private dropped it and both men were killed instantly.  Daniel Lionel Teed was a Lieutenant who was shot during enemy bombardment and he was awarded the Military Cross for his actions.   Peter has photos of this decoration and also copies of both men's military records - so I'm looking forward to seeing those.

Our Onion Farm

Every day you learn something new.  Here are two pretty neat things I've learned this summer.

1. If you place a bunch of green onions in a glass with some water in the bottom, the onions will continue growing and you can harvest 3 or 4 times the usual amount.  The leaves continue to grow and so you just snip them off with a pair of scissors.  Next thing you know, new, fresh leaves are popping up ready for your next harvest.
2. If you get bad bug bites, the best thing to get rid of the itch is the heat from your hair dryer.  Just point the hot air at the itchy spot and let it heat up the area for about 15 seconds.  Repeat this process 2 or 3 times.  Remarkably, the itch disappears - at least temporarily.  If you do it 2 days in a row, the itch will be totally gone.  This works particularly well on Nova Scotia's notorious deer flies.  They leave a nasty, itchy bump that can stick around for weeks.  A couple of hair dryer treatments - and they are gone.  It's a miracle!

 Today I passed a road sign to "Seldom Seen", Ontario.  Had I not been tooling along at the speed limit, I would have gone to see what it was all about.  The road sign was small - perhaps the reason for the community's name.

To be continued.....