The Button on the Dashboard.

This is the story of the unseen button on the dashboard.

Our van has a side-loading ramp for me and my wheelchair.  When Mrs. F.G. pushes the button to open the rear passenger door, the ramp automatically goes down and the rear suspension lowers, making the angle of the ramp gentler and easier for me to get up.  This function is called kneeling and it is quite remarkable to see.

Last March we started having great difficulty getting me up the ramp, and could not understand why.  We tried several adjustments to my wheelchair over the summer, including getting new tires for the chair, but never noticed that the kneeling function in the van had stopped working.  And let me tell you how frustrating Mrs. F.G. found it!  She often had to push me to get me and my 300 lb. wheelchair started up the ramp.

It was our mechanic, checking things over after installing our snow tires, who pinpointed the problem several weeks ago, but he could not figure out how to fix it.  These special features on the van were provided by a company called Braunability, and we had to go to Barrie to find a technician who could handle the issue.

We duly showed up at the Ford Dealer shop in Barrie, waited a bit since we were early, and then the mechanic came out to report to us.  We were worried that this might be quite a difficult (and expensive) fix so we were braced for his bad news.  But he asked us if we knew there is a button down low on the dashboard that turns this function on and off!  It had been turned off, and simply turning it back on restored the kneeling function!  It has been easy to get me in and out of the van ever since.  We never had such an easy visit to a garage, and they did not charge us.  We did not feel stupid either!

Mind you the button was never pointed out to us, and it sits down at my mid-shin level, far out of sight.  Who knows how that button might have got bumped, giving us 6 months of difficulty.  We certainly did not turn it off ourselves.

I should say that we had very little choice in vehicles that would carry a wheelchair, and I wanted one that would allow me to get up into the front passenger seat position.  But Mrs. F.G. who suddenly took over responsibility for driving, also wanted to be able to see over the dashboard.  That narrowed the choice to one model, a Dodge Caravan, and it has been great except for this curfuffle!

So there you have it, we drove all the way to Barrie to get a button pushed - but all is not lost, Mrs. F.G. had heard about a large plant nursery in Barrie, and it was on our way home - that story next.

Winter has Arrived!

We awoke to a white world today.  The snow was not very deep, but it stuck to everything, creating a winter wonderland everywhere you looked.  We were lucky with our wonderful late fall weather right up until Friday, so it would be poor sportsmanship to complain!  And it will give me a few new pictures for the blog.

Looking out the living room window.

The distant townhomes.

Spruce and pine.

Even after we came home from church and had lunch the line of pines retained some of the sticky snow.

Our copper crane got a first light blanket of snow.

This snow stuck to the almost vertical back of the red deck chair.

Redbud branches.

The neighbours cedars.

A clump of Blue Oat Grass.

And I just managed to catch the tail end of a fox running across behind the yard - great picture, eh!

Sunrise!

This morning I gained an entirely new perspective on sunrises and the view out behind our house.  I am of course still in bed when the sun rises here, even at this time of year, but Mrs. F.G. again came in to get my camera and take a picture across the golf course just after the sun rose.  So this is not strictly speaking the sunrise, it is the forest at sunrise.

This is the line of bungalows across the golf course, and behind them the forest.  Look closely, there are no leaves left on those trees, those are just the November trees themselves.

Colour swatches - green and bright yellow under a grey sky.  

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A golf green and the skeletal outline of one of my favourite Sugar Maples.

Through the branches, a surprising sunrise that I will never get to see, just for you.

Spectacular Sunrise!

The other morning Mrs. F.G. quickly asked for my phone, dashed out the door and got these shots of a spectacular sunrise over Meaford.  The bright pink and orange clouds extended from horizon to horizon!  Wish I could have got out the door to see it.  Enjoy!

Amazing Colours!

Gulls Swirling.

Bring artistic!

Back soon.

Surprising Days for November!

I have just been out for a dose of fresh air, as I have been each day this week.  It is unheard of to be so warm in November!  There was actually a warm breeze today, and 21°C!  The entire week has been warm.  Just for comparison to show you how unusual this is, here are a few pictures from past years this week.

 Yes, it has been an unusual start to November to say the least, and far too nice to spend much time at the keyboard editing pictures and writing new blog posts.  Here is the weather this week for comparison.

I Cannot Believe it is November!!

Time flies when you are having fun, but I still cannot believe it is November already.  We have a beautiful sunny day here and the promise of a week of mild temperatures for this time of year.

 I looked out the window to a gorgeous sunny mild day for Nov. 1st.  Some years we have had significant snow by this date.

I cannot believe we have moved from this ....

to this in only one week, after the leaves held on for so long.  Here is hoping for many more days like this in November!

The Hostas are Gone

 The Hostas are gone.  I know this fact will not interest you in the least, since you do not have hostas outside your window!  But perhaps there is something else in your own yard or neighbourhood that you use as a beacon of the changing seasons.  For me, the two huge hostas outside our living room window where I sit every morning while finishing my coffee are a huge part of the changing seasons.

This is my up close view.  The hostas are already changing their colours to yellow.  The stake in the foregroud is an old Milkweed stem.

A few days later the colour has faded almost completely to yellow.  There are actually eight hosta plants within my view, but all of them except the two very big ones are hidden from my view in summer behind or underneath the leaves of these two.  You can see a few pale stems of one of them in the upper right.

I chose the two most obvious leaves right in front of my eyes for comparison.  Here is the first pair.

And this is the second.  After this Mrs. F.G. and our gardener had a clean-up day and clipped them all off.  In all cases, this is the change in 24 hours.

I was left with just this, all to soon to be covered with that white stuff!  A comment in the last post suggested leaving the leaves on the garden.  In fact we do, we have done no raking yet.  Next week our gardener will return to rake and mulch the leaves on the grass, and then they will be added to the garden too.  In fact he may rake and mulch a few leaves on the closest part of the golf course (they are our leaves after all) and add those in addition.

I should add that Mrs. F.G. has put enormous effort into enriching the soil in our garden.  She uses a number of amendments, from alfalfa pellets to worm castings.  She uses no chemical fertilizers.  

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APOLOGIES!

I have to apologize for not leaving many comments when I visit your blogs.  google is upset with me these days and will often not let me sign in when trying to leaves comments.  Sorry, I will remedy this as soon as I can!