Miss Katie stole her caregiver's shoes and then they put a lovely dress on her.  She's so beautiful and she loves high heels.  When both of my girls still lived at home, Katie would always steal her sister's shoes to wear, even the four inch heels.

We've had some rain, this was the sky last night when we took Jack and the neighbor's little girl for a bike ride.  Jack has a stryder bike, no wheels, and he's doing so well on it.

Spring has arrived in a rush.  I've planted all of my plants outside, three weeks early, because it doesn't look like we'll be having frost anytime soon, usually the May long weekend is for planting.  What can I say,  I lead a reckless life.

Not much else going on.  We're driving down to Wetaskiwin this morning to wish my father in law happy 89th birthday.  I honestly didn't think he'd survive the past year but he's a tough old guy.  I made him a nobake cheesecake with bumbleberry coulis, his favorite.

Highway 21 and 14 have been closed because of  smoke and fog, causing multi vehicle collisions, so we'll have to work our way around that to get to Wetaskiwin. 

Last night after supper, the big guy took Jack for a walk around the block and he noticed black smoke in the not so far distance.  Because I'm nosey, we put Jack in his pyjamas and loaded him into the car so that we could go see what was happening.

This spring has been hot, windy and dry.  The winds have been ferocious and make me quite grumpy.  There are fires burning all over Alberta.  A week ago my manager and her husband lost ten acres to a fire caused by assholes in the next field over.  I don't know how much damage was done to their neighbor's property, but the bill from fire services was going to be $80,000 for the neighbor.  

We drove towards the dog park which is 6 kilometres away but were turned east by police.  We then drove down highway 21 and again got turned east by roadblocks.  At one point we could see flames crossing highway 21 and it looked like the dog park was going up in flames.

This morning we drove to the dog park and it was spared thankfully.  The fire which looked close enough to touch last night was in fact 1 kilometre south of the dog park; the flames must have been huge.  No houses or barns were destroyed, although a lot of people were evacuated.  The fire itself burned a narrow strip through farmland.

I feel like this tree right now, still standing, but surrounded by scorched earth.  Work is busy, my knee hurts a lot, which is making my toes spasm.  Jack is with us six nights a week again and he's not spending time with his mom alone anymore.  He is also very suspicious of his grandma and auntie, worried that they might be taking him to his mama's.  When they come to pick him up, he hides under the coffee table now.  I wonder again if I should be taking him to see a therapist.

This morning he asked us why he has so many parents.  Last night he asked me if his dad was dead.  I thought raising my own kids was hard, raising a grandchild is next level.

Spring has arrived.  Today, as we worked in the backyard, we could hear the call of the sandhill cranes as they flew overhead.  Hundreds of these beautiful birds fly over our house every spring and I'm just thankful that I happened to move into a house that is on their annual migration route.  

Jack is back with us, his mom is having a meltdown, again.  I'm just thankful he's safe and home with us.  He is too.  I just want Jack to be safe.

Life goes on.  Jack is sweet and contrary, all at the same time. Work was kicking my ass but I'm starting to get the hang of the new computer system.  However, I have overdone it with my walking and now my knee is sore, so back to the lovely physiotherapist who gave me exercises and hope.  Lucy is nearing the end of her days sadly and that's breaking my heart.

It's what awaits us all but it still hurts.  

The photos are out of order but I don't care to put them order this morning.  I'm fine, everyone is fine, although Jack has taken to hiding when it's time for someone to pick him up to visit his mama.

The top photo, Jack and the big guy at the Easter Egg Hunt, yesterday.

The condo has been repainted and cleaned within an inch of it's life.  It's on the market and we're just waiting now.

Today is Jack's real birthday but we celebrated on Friday, as he is spending today with his mama.  He's four.  I can't believe how much he's grown.

Yesterday, he got the chance to see the inside of a cop car, from the front seat, and turn on the siren.

We got him a children's camera for his birthday and he loved it.  It holds something like 3000 images.

 And best of all, the snow is almost gone and spring is here.

I've been writing here for almost ten years and before that there were other blogs where I wrote for about another ten years.  I even went to a blog conference many years ago in Chicago.  My blog was called tired mummy and it was about taking care of Katie.  When I told people at the conference the name of my blog, their eyes glazed over and they found an excuse to wander away, except for one or two people.  One woman I met was wonderful; she felt like one of those people you've always known.  She was familiar.  We kept in touch for awhile, but life.  I wonder what happened to her.  She had a son name Roan who must be fully grown now.

I think it's time to take a break for awhile from blogging.  I will probably still read blogs and maybe even leave comments but something's changed for me, not sure what, but blogging has become work instead of an outlet for me.  

We had some new snow last week, I think it was.  I can't remember, not long ago.  It's made everything nice and clean looking again, for a few days anyway.  Heidi and I are enjoying are walks at the dog park.  She likes to poop in the woods (who am I to judge).  I just like listening to the birds and petting friendly dogs.

 

I have to go to physio today for another assessment and for rehab, despite having no foot pain.  Have I mentioned how much I dislike being told what to do?  Because I really hate it.  The worst part is that every person I talk to about my foot has the wrong diagnosis, except for my podiatrist.  Fortunately my podiatrist comes back from holidays next week and I have an appointment on the 11th so that she can clear me to go back to work.  Sigh.

Just got back from physio, what a nice young man.  He asked me why I was there and he was fine with my swearing.  He assessed my foot and did give me some toe exercises because I have big toe pain.  He doesn't think I need physio. HAH!

My renter moves out of the condo this weekend and next I will paint the condo.  Hopefully I can get it done in a week.

Jack is now spending four nights with us and three nights with his mom.  He's exhausted when he comes back to us, not getting enough sleep.  He also has a TV in his room at her apartment, because every child needs that to improve their sleep habits.  She put one in his room when he was nine months old.  We have a guardian meeting on Monday so I guess we'll see comes of that.  Last night at supper he wouldn't eat what he had asked for, pizza and then yelled at me that he wanted candy NOW after he refused to eat it.  I told him that didn't work with me and he didn't get any candy.  His behavior is getting worse, the more time he spends with his mom.  It's so strange how that seems to happen.  It's almost like there's some kind of correlation there.

My depression has lifted, thank god.  

I checked to see if he had really written this and he had.