Welcome to the seventh episode of “Monday Musings of an Old Broad”, a semi-regular feature. No telling what you will find here, as I ramble on!
#MondayMusings OF AN OLD BROAD | EPISODE 7: GUEST POSTS via @contactdaal, VICTORIA DAY, SUMMER ☀️#dogladysden #Canadiana #VictoriaDay #summervibes
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GUEST POSTS
Guest posts are an excellent way to increase your exposure online, but I’ve only written a handful in past years. Recently, I received an invitation to submit one from da-AL, of the esteemed Happiness Between Tails website. Thank you for the opportunity, da-AL! 🌹
Read “Tales & Tails From The Canine Inn” here: 👇 [Click on image – opens in a new tab.]
Happy Victoria Day to my fellow Canadian residents! 🎉
This is our our first long weekend since Easter and Canada’s “unofficial start to summer”. So, what exactly is Victoria Day and why do we celebrate it? Here’s a brief history:
Most people party with BBQs and beer, fireworks and cheer. As a dog mom, I could live without that noise, but we sure love hanging out on the back deck! (More about that below.)
The holiday is colloquially known in parts of Canada as “May Two-Four”, a double entendre that refers both to the date around which the holiday falls (May 24) and the Canadian slang for a case of twenty-four beers (a “two-four”), a drink popular during the long weekend. – WIKIPEDIA
SUMMER VIBES
May is always busy, with spring cleaning, yard work, and setting up our outdoor living space. The back deck is where we hang out most of the summer, so it’s worth the effort!
[Click on images to view original size and read the captions]
Have you written any guest posts?Feel free to share a link! What have you been up to this spring? Any exciting plans for the summer?
Dog Mom and (retired) Canine Innkeeper in suburban Toronto, Canada, known as The Doglady. Former corporate workaholic. Writer, photographer, digital creator. Animal lover, music fanatic, inveterate traveller. Eternal hippie/rockchick. History, literature and cinema buff. Hockey and soccer fan. Dedicated night owl. German/Canadian binational, multilingual. Let me entertain you!
32 thoughts on “#MondayMusings OF AN OLD BROAD | EPISODE 7: GUEST POSTS via @contactdaal, VICTORIA DAY, SUMMER ☀️”
I hope you had a lovely Victoria Day, and I love your cozy deck. I wrote guest posts for a short period of time, and gained a lot of traffic for my own blog. Now, I wouldn’t have the time, because my blog keeps me busy.
P.S. – yes, someone asked me to do a guest post for Mother’s Day a few years ago. This was not a follower of my blog, but a fellow blogger’s blog. I thought it was unusual, but I said “sure” … so I prepared the post and pics in draft form and made it simple for her to recreate it on her blog as it was not a “repost” … she never contacted me. Not a big deal as I did the post anyway, but I thought it was strange TBH.
That is strange! And rude of the person not to get back to you, after she invited you to submit the post in the first place! Well, at least you had something ready to publish on your own blog. 🙂
Yes, I thought so too Debbie. Since I planned to do the post anyway, it was not as big of a deal as if it was a separately written post just for her. I told myself that was the last time I’d do that again as I had a lot of photos and had coded it to make it easy for her. (OMG – I’ve killed four more ants since I just commented to you in the last post and one is about to fall down again.)
I know how time-consuming it is to optimize photos for WordPress. You went to a lot of trouble, but at least you published the post, anyway. Ants are so annoying! Check out the article I referenced in my previous comment about how to get rid of them. Hope it helps!
Yes and to date I’ve never heard from her again, but she was not a follower of mine. I will look at your other comment – any help will make me happy. I think knew it was too good to be true that I only had a few two or three weeks ago.
All this Canadian lingo … I have never heard of the phrase “two-four” to describe Victoria Day nor the case of beer, so what kind of Canadian am I anyway? I guess a long-displaced Canadian to be sure. When I lived in Canada and maybe even after we went back to visit my grandmother, the only place to buy beer was at the Brewer’s Retail and it was closed on Sundays.
I remember we moved here and were shocked to find you could buy liquor/beer in the grocery store any day of the week.
We were also surprised that there was mail delivery on Saturdays, even Sundays sometimes at Christmastime. Your backyard looks cozy and inviting with the big umbrellas to shade you and the smaller umbrella chair. Are you a sun-lover Debbie? Even Zoey’s bed looks inviting for all those Summer days that lie ahead in your idyllic paradise.
Haha! Yes, Ontario had these antiquated liquor laws for a long time, but beer and liquor stores are now open 7 days a week, plus you can buy beer and wine in grocery and convenience stores – not hard liquor, though. You still have to go to the LCBO for that.. We only have mail delivery 5 days a week, except in December, and the post office is always threatening strikes! I’m a heat lover, but stay out of the sun, as it gives me a headache and I burn easily. We also have a heat-diffusing roof over our back deck, which is great for those high-humidity days. It’s unseasonably cold here this week and I hope it warms up soon!
Things really have changed in Canada but interesting you still have to go to the LCBO for hard liquor. Really … mail only five days a week, just like when we lived there and really that’s all you need TBH. Even in December as I don’t think people send cards like they once did. Well I only send two cards now – just to my nun friends. I have switched almost everything to e-mail delivery because I don’t get that much mail and now sometimes only a few times a week. I only get a few magazines (from AARP and the Audubon Society and I’m going to let those memberships expire next year). I just Googled heat-diffusing roof … that is a good idea as the Summer humidity can be unbearable sometimes. I burn easily too and started wearing sun protection hats and clothes for my longer walks near the water after being burned several times, not severely, but enough to know I’d better protect my skin better. It is cold and damp here, in the 50s and rain through Saturday. I just watched a video about the deer ticks already being out in full force already. I had hoped our very cold Winter had zapped them but no such luck. I am dealing with baby ants right now – it started a few weeks ago, but had stopped and I thought that was it for the annual baby ant invasion, but no … they came back full force and one just dropped from the ceiling onto my hand while I was typing this comment. And, I’m monitoring one on the ceiling ready to fall down. The weather is not helping the situation.
The LCBO set-up has always seemed silly to me, but that’s just Ontario. I think Quebec is more like the U.S. and Europe in that regard. The post office keeps trying to bring in weekend deliveries to compete with the couriers, but the union threatens a strike every time. 🙄 We get junk mail and a few mail-order packages, but bills are all online and greeting cards too.
We love our patio roof! It was very expensive, but well worth it. This is what it looks like (not a picture of mine, but it is exactly the same):
“Polycarbonate sheets are designed to block a substantial amount of the sun’s infrared radiation, which is the primary source of heat. While blocking heat, polycarbonate still allows a portion of natural light to pass through, providing a balanced experience for outdoor spaces. It also offers UV protection, shielding from harmful sun radiation while allowing natural light.”
Yes, somebody mentioned they encountered ticks at Bronte Provincial Park the other day. Nasty! This never used to be a problem in our area. 😫 We had an ant invasion last spring also. That’s nasty too, but doesn’t compare to the mouse infestation we had last November/December. Hopefully, there won’t be any issues this year. Good luck getting rid of your ants! Do you use ant traps or poison? The latter worked for us. I found this article with some good natural methods: https://www.healthline.com/health/how-to-kill-ants#natural-ways-to-eliminate-ants
Thank you Debbie – that was very interesting about how to get rid of the ants naturally and I have copied and pasted it into a document to save for next year. I think/hope they are near the end as I only have them for about 10 days every Spring … the first ones I thought were just a small group and that was it. The bathroom, bedroom and kitchen are the only rooms because there is mulch (side) and lava rock (back) for my bedroom, mulch for the bathroom and river rock for the kitchen. A fence separates side of the house with the dog. On the other side of the house is all cement and my handyman used to paint a layer of tar once a year to repel the ants … I have not found a new handyman yet and it is not done til later in the year. No ants on that side.
I have used the bait traps with the liquid in them but they didn’t always work, although I put one on the kitchen countertop where they were bad one year and put the trap on a napkin and they were all gloomed onto it – I never used it again. Now for natural, I have used a chalk line on the countertop – ants are repelled by chalk and also I have put out a bowl of cornmeal and a low saucer of water … the ants eat the cornmeal, drink the water, then explode. Yes, not nice, but ….
I did not know about the oils – I have used pure peppermint oil to get rid of spiders in the basement and upstairs, soaking them in cotton balls. If all the ants were spiders, I’d have to stay in a motel.
I like that idea for your patio roof … I try to stay out of the sun now, using sun protection clothing after being burned near the water while walking. That is perfect – you can enjoy the sun peeking through but now swelter or burn in it.
I don’t see why we need mail delivery more than five days a week. They just raised package rates to be competitive with couriers … I scratched my head on that, because why do you raise rates to be competitive? I’d go to Fed Ex or UPS if I wanted to ensure my package got somewhere more quickly at the same price.
I didn’t know about the cornmeal solution. That one sounds a little drastic. Otherwise, I’d be willing to try anything to get rid of ants. The roof was a great investment, considering we spend most of our summers out there. Still cold this year, though, between 50 and 60F. ☹️ Mail delivery 5 days a week is fine with me too. Still cheaper than couriers here, but I’d be willing to spend a little more to make sure something gets delivered on time, since the post office is notoriously unreliable.
I have tried the Winder though … right now I’m sitting in the middle of the kitchen at my old computer sorting pictures which I’ve been doing most of the day … I store them here and e-mail them to myself to use in posts. I am watching the table for falling ants and have the new computer covered with a clean garbage bag (on top of coveirng the keyboard and mouse) … the cornmeal sounds excessive but I don’t know if it worked. I do know I used beer in containers to lure the slugs after everyone said to try that … got one or two slugs, however I bought copper bands to put around the Hostas and August Lilies and that did get rid of the slugs when they moist bodies made contact with the copper … I am a nature lover, but was spending a fortune on Slugetta or Sluggo, whatever the product was and every time it rained, you had to re-apply it. The Windex is non-toxic so for now … I hoped it would be done by now since this is the second wave.
We have a short holiday planned for September, a regular trip to a small rental cabin on the east coast in England. Though nothing on the calendar before that. (So far) We have been enjoying a long dry spell that is set to end this week. The driest Spring recorded in England in over 100 years. Well done with your preparations for the outdoor space, and have an enjoyable 24th.
Best wishes, Pete.
Your upcoming trip sounds nice, Pete. 🙂 A little getaway can be so refreshing. Interesting about your weather. Ours has been colder than usual, and everything seems to be a month behind. But we will continue setting things up in hopes of a warm-up soon. These photos are from past years, but we arrange everything more or less the same way each time.
Love your series title – Musings of an old broad and semi regular, hilarious caption. And aptly described what our ‘2’ ‘4’ weekend is all about. I hope you had a good one. 🙂
Happy Victoria Day, my friend across the bridge! I really enjoyed your guest post at da-Al’s blog. I left you a comment there. 🙂 da-Al sounds wonderful.
Yes, da-AL is a lovely person, and I was honoured to receive her invitation. 🙂 It’s been unseasonably chilly here, but I know summer will show up, eventually. Thanks for adding my link to your blog hop. 🌹 You have a wonderful week too, Sandee!
da-AL is certainly an amazing and generous woman and a successful author. I read the guest post and it was very interesting. As for me, we are leaving for France soon to visit my wife’s sister and their family, and see Paris at the same time.
She certainly is, Thomas. 🙂 Thanks for reading and commenting on my guest post! I hope you and your family have a wonderful time in France. Now you can put your French lessons to good use. Bon voyage! ✈️
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32 thoughts on “#MondayMusings OF AN OLD BROAD | EPISODE 7: GUEST POSTS via @contactdaal, VICTORIA DAY, SUMMER ☀️”
I hope you had a lovely Victoria Day, and I love your cozy deck. I wrote guest posts for a short period of time, and gained a lot of traffic for my own blog. Now, I wouldn’t have the time, because my blog keeps me busy.
Lots of info here ~ Hope you had a good Victoria Day ~ thanks for visiting my blog ~
Wishing you good health, laughter and love in your days,
A ShutterBug Explores, clm
aka (A Creative Harbor)
I enjoyed learning about Victoria Day.
Love your cozy backyard.
Happy Wednesday, Debbie!
P.S. – yes, someone asked me to do a guest post for Mother’s Day a few years ago. This was not a follower of my blog, but a fellow blogger’s blog. I thought it was unusual, but I said “sure” … so I prepared the post and pics in draft form and made it simple for her to recreate it on her blog as it was not a “repost” … she never contacted me. Not a big deal as I did the post anyway, but I thought it was strange TBH.
That is strange! And rude of the person not to get back to you, after she invited you to submit the post in the first place! Well, at least you had something ready to publish on your own blog. 🙂
Yes, I thought so too Debbie. Since I planned to do the post anyway, it was not as big of a deal as if it was a separately written post just for her. I told myself that was the last time I’d do that again as I had a lot of photos and had coded it to make it easy for her. (OMG – I’ve killed four more ants since I just commented to you in the last post and one is about to fall down again.)
I know how time-consuming it is to optimize photos for WordPress. You went to a lot of trouble, but at least you published the post, anyway. Ants are so annoying! Check out the article I referenced in my previous comment about how to get rid of them. Hope it helps!
Yes and to date I’ve never heard from her again, but she was not a follower of mine. I will look at your other comment – any help will make me happy. I think knew it was too good to be true that I only had a few two or three weeks ago.
All this Canadian lingo … I have never heard of the phrase “two-four” to describe Victoria Day nor the case of beer, so what kind of Canadian am I anyway? I guess a long-displaced Canadian to be sure. When I lived in Canada and maybe even after we went back to visit my grandmother, the only place to buy beer was at the Brewer’s Retail and it was closed on Sundays.
I remember we moved here and were shocked to find you could buy liquor/beer in the grocery store any day of the week.
We were also surprised that there was mail delivery on Saturdays, even Sundays sometimes at Christmastime. Your backyard looks cozy and inviting with the big umbrellas to shade you and the smaller umbrella chair. Are you a sun-lover Debbie? Even Zoey’s bed looks inviting for all those Summer days that lie ahead in your idyllic paradise.
Haha! Yes, Ontario had these antiquated liquor laws for a long time, but beer and liquor stores are now open 7 days a week, plus you can buy beer and wine in grocery and convenience stores – not hard liquor, though. You still have to go to the LCBO for that.. We only have mail delivery 5 days a week, except in December, and the post office is always threatening strikes! I’m a heat lover, but stay out of the sun, as it gives me a headache and I burn easily. We also have a heat-diffusing roof over our back deck, which is great for those high-humidity days. It’s unseasonably cold here this week and I hope it warms up soon!
Things really have changed in Canada but interesting you still have to go to the LCBO for hard liquor. Really … mail only five days a week, just like when we lived there and really that’s all you need TBH. Even in December as I don’t think people send cards like they once did. Well I only send two cards now – just to my nun friends. I have switched almost everything to e-mail delivery because I don’t get that much mail and now sometimes only a few times a week. I only get a few magazines (from AARP and the Audubon Society and I’m going to let those memberships expire next year). I just Googled heat-diffusing roof … that is a good idea as the Summer humidity can be unbearable sometimes. I burn easily too and started wearing sun protection hats and clothes for my longer walks near the water after being burned several times, not severely, but enough to know I’d better protect my skin better. It is cold and damp here, in the 50s and rain through Saturday. I just watched a video about the deer ticks already being out in full force already. I had hoped our very cold Winter had zapped them but no such luck. I am dealing with baby ants right now – it started a few weeks ago, but had stopped and I thought that was it for the annual baby ant invasion, but no … they came back full force and one just dropped from the ceiling onto my hand while I was typing this comment. And, I’m monitoring one on the ceiling ready to fall down. The weather is not helping the situation.
The LCBO set-up has always seemed silly to me, but that’s just Ontario. I think Quebec is more like the U.S. and Europe in that regard. The post office keeps trying to bring in weekend deliveries to compete with the couriers, but the union threatens a strike every time. 🙄 We get junk mail and a few mail-order packages, but bills are all online and greeting cards too.
We love our patio roof! It was very expensive, but well worth it. This is what it looks like (not a picture of mine, but it is exactly the same):
“Polycarbonate sheets are designed to block a substantial amount of the sun’s infrared radiation, which is the primary source of heat. While blocking heat, polycarbonate still allows a portion of natural light to pass through, providing a balanced experience for outdoor spaces. It also offers UV protection, shielding from harmful sun radiation while allowing natural light.”
Yes, somebody mentioned they encountered ticks at Bronte Provincial Park the other day. Nasty! This never used to be a problem in our area. 😫 We had an ant invasion last spring also. That’s nasty too, but doesn’t compare to the mouse infestation we had last November/December. Hopefully, there won’t be any issues this year. Good luck getting rid of your ants! Do you use ant traps or poison? The latter worked for us. I found this article with some good natural methods: https://www.healthline.com/health/how-to-kill-ants#natural-ways-to-eliminate-ants
Thank you Debbie – that was very interesting about how to get rid of the ants naturally and I have copied and pasted it into a document to save for next year. I think/hope they are near the end as I only have them for about 10 days every Spring … the first ones I thought were just a small group and that was it. The bathroom, bedroom and kitchen are the only rooms because there is mulch (side) and lava rock (back) for my bedroom, mulch for the bathroom and river rock for the kitchen. A fence separates side of the house with the dog. On the other side of the house is all cement and my handyman used to paint a layer of tar once a year to repel the ants … I have not found a new handyman yet and it is not done til later in the year. No ants on that side.
I have used the bait traps with the liquid in them but they didn’t always work, although I put one on the kitchen countertop where they were bad one year and put the trap on a napkin and they were all gloomed onto it – I never used it again. Now for natural, I have used a chalk line on the countertop – ants are repelled by chalk and also I have put out a bowl of cornmeal and a low saucer of water … the ants eat the cornmeal, drink the water, then explode. Yes, not nice, but ….
I did not know about the oils – I have used pure peppermint oil to get rid of spiders in the basement and upstairs, soaking them in cotton balls. If all the ants were spiders, I’d have to stay in a motel.
I like that idea for your patio roof … I try to stay out of the sun now, using sun protection clothing after being burned near the water while walking. That is perfect – you can enjoy the sun peeking through but now swelter or burn in it.
I don’t see why we need mail delivery more than five days a week. They just raised package rates to be competitive with couriers … I scratched my head on that, because why do you raise rates to be competitive? I’d go to Fed Ex or UPS if I wanted to ensure my package got somewhere more quickly at the same price.
I didn’t know about the cornmeal solution. That one sounds a little drastic. Otherwise, I’d be willing to try anything to get rid of ants. The roof was a great investment, considering we spend most of our summers out there. Still cold this year, though, between 50 and 60F. ☹️ Mail delivery 5 days a week is fine with me too. Still cheaper than couriers here, but I’d be willing to spend a little more to make sure something gets delivered on time, since the post office is notoriously unreliable.
I have tried the Winder though … right now I’m sitting in the middle of the kitchen at my old computer sorting pictures which I’ve been doing most of the day … I store them here and e-mail them to myself to use in posts. I am watching the table for falling ants and have the new computer covered with a clean garbage bag (on top of coveirng the keyboard and mouse) … the cornmeal sounds excessive but I don’t know if it worked. I do know I used beer in containers to lure the slugs after everyone said to try that … got one or two slugs, however I bought copper bands to put around the Hostas and August Lilies and that did get rid of the slugs when they moist bodies made contact with the copper … I am a nature lover, but was spending a fortune on Slugetta or Sluggo, whatever the product was and every time it rained, you had to re-apply it. The Windex is non-toxic so for now … I hoped it would be done by now since this is the second wave.
We have a short holiday planned for September, a regular trip to a small rental cabin on the east coast in England. Though nothing on the calendar before that. (So far) We have been enjoying a long dry spell that is set to end this week. The driest Spring recorded in England in over 100 years. Well done with your preparations for the outdoor space, and have an enjoyable 24th.
Best wishes, Pete.
Your upcoming trip sounds nice, Pete. 🙂 A little getaway can be so refreshing. Interesting about your weather. Ours has been colder than usual, and everything seems to be a month behind. But we will continue setting things up in hopes of a warm-up soon. These photos are from past years, but we arrange everything more or less the same way each time.
Love your series title – Musings of an old broad and semi regular, hilarious caption. And aptly described what our ‘2’ ‘4’ weekend is all about. I hope you had a good one. 🙂
Thanks, Deb. It’s a semi-regular series. 🙂 We were too sad/mad about the Leafs to do much celebrating, but hubby did have a beer.
I hear you girl!!!!! 🙁
Happy Victoria Day to you all! Hope you had a great one!
Thanks, Christopher. We were too sad/mad about the Leafs to do any celebrating. 🥹😠
Happy Victoria Day, my friend across the bridge! I really enjoyed your guest post at da-Al’s blog. I left you a comment there. 🙂 da-Al sounds wonderful.
Thank you, Karen! 🙂 I appreciate the visit on da-AL’s blog as well and will look for your comment.
Your back deck/yard look like a wonderful sanctuary.
Thank you, Becky! 🙂 We spend a lot of time there over the summer. Too bad it’s over so quickly.
Happy Victoria Day! I love your summer vibes! I’m clicking through now to read your article. xo
Thanks, Kymber! 🙂 We enjoy our outdoor space, but summer always seems too short. (And winter is too long.) 🤔
Shes is an amazing and generous woman.
I love your summer vibes. I want to be in the middle of those vibes.
I linked this post to Awww Mondays.
Have a fabulous day and week, Debbie. Hugs. ♥
Yes, da-AL is a lovely person, and I was honoured to receive her invitation. 🙂 It’s been unseasonably chilly here, but I know summer will show up, eventually. Thanks for adding my link to your blog hop. 🌹 You have a wonderful week too, Sandee!
da-AL is certainly an amazing and generous woman and a successful author. I read the guest post and it was very interesting. As for me, we are leaving for France soon to visit my wife’s sister and their family, and see Paris at the same time.
She certainly is, Thomas. 🙂 Thanks for reading and commenting on my guest post! I hope you and your family have a wonderful time in France. Now you can put your French lessons to good use. Bon voyage! ✈️