Last Thursday, I drove to Port Carling, Ont. to visit with my son-in-law Carl, my daughter Shelley and my two grandchildren Corben and Tao.

Tao had started some tomato plants from seed in the house earlier this spring and babied those plants. He made a little garden outside and planted the tomato plants. But the deer ate the tops off. Shelley had planted flowers at the road around their light and street number and the deer ate them too. She went out and bought artificial flowers so she wouldn’t have any more problems. I heard about Tao’s problem with the deer and dug out two of my plants and brought them with me to give to him. I put them in large pots so they can keep them on the deck and hopefully the deer won’t get them there.

The grandchildren are both working so I didn’t see them for too long but it was great to see them both. I swear they grow a couple of inches each time I visit.

Then I drove to Lindsay, Ont. and spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday with my cousin Bob Mayhew and his girlfriend Rachel.

On Saturday, Rachel and I drove to the Indian reserve and bought some trinkets and got the cheap gas which was at $1.13 a litre. We left and about 10 minutes into our drive she noticed that she forgot her cell phone at the last shop we were at. She began calling her cell phone with my phone. We turned around immediately and went back to the shop. Fortunately nobody had picked it up and she got her cell phone back. On Sunday morning, she was checking her bank account and somebody from Dubai, India had drained her account of $4,700. She was frantic and started calling the banks and was on the phone all morning trying to fix the problem. She deals with the Scotia Bank and they told her that she will be reimbursed and not to worry so that took a lot of pressure off her. So all in all, it was quite an exciting couple of days.

While I was gone I heard that there was a pretty wicked storm here. Karen and Randy had no power for 24 hours so thank goodness I left her my key for the house so they were able to come and get water etc.

Karen told me that a lot of her plants were knocked down and even some cucumber plants were ripped right out of the ground due to the heavy winds. It looks like my garden didn’t get hurt but you won’t believe this, there are potato bugs on my tomato plants. Has anyone else out there ever had that problem? What is wrong with those potato bugs? Are they that hungry? I do have a few potato plants. I noticed some eggs on the plants in the kitchen. I killed them right away but you know that is just the beginning. But it is worth it just to have a couple of fresh snacks of potatoes because there’s nothing like a fresh potato out of the garden along with beautiful green beans or yellow beans and carrots.

So, the strawberry picking was late this year and that’s a good thing except that it’s so hot right now to make any pickles or jams. I didn’t bother making any preserves. I just ate the berries fresh. They are so nice fresh out of the garden.

I would like to wish the following people a very happy birthday: Gerald Brown, Sharon Gravelle, and Don the Black on July 17, to Vera Mayor and Melissa Kavanagh on July 18, to Mavis Kluke and Pierre Pepin on July 20, to Meghan Lunam, Cindy Belland and Julie Bertrand on July 22, to Margaret Lepack on July 23.

I would also like to wish a happy anniversary to Pauline and Tim Hearty on July 18, to Maggie and Ricky Crawford on July 21, to Helen and Neil Desjardins on July 22 and to Lorraine and Edward Belanger on July 23.

I would like to remind everyone to check out the online auction for Animal Aide Pontiac which will be closing on July 21. So get online and make those bids and help support this wonderful group.