Year 3 Week 16

October 1 to 7, 2006

Oliver, B.C.

Year 3 week 16

 

Sunday ; Today was sunny and very warm.

We went to the Festival Of The Grape today at Oliver Community Park alongside the Okanagan River in Oliver. The price of admission included a souvenir wine glass, and 3 wine tasting vouchers. The main stage entertainment was a local classic rock band, and the well known Canadian à capella quartet, The Nylons. There was a Grape Stomp stage where various groups competed in grape stomping contests. There was also an unsuccessful attempt to establish a new Guinness World Record for grape stomping. All around the perimeter were various vendors. In the middle of the park was a huge tent canopy. Under the tent canopy there were many of the local wineries offering tastings of their products.

We had a great day, until the very end. The weather was great. We watched the entertainment. We sampled 8 different wines. We had a nice lunch. We wandered around the vendors area. We went to the art show featuring art by local artists. We watched the grape stomp competitions. HA HA HA !

At the conclusion of The Nylons second performance of the afternoon, a fireman using a high pressure water hose from a fire truck began to wash the grape mash mess off the Grape Stomp stage. Stupidly and carelessly he sprayed water and grape mash over the audience at the side of the main stage, where we were still sitting in our folding chairs. I'm livid ! We got grape mash splashed on our folding chairs, our hats, and our clothing. Joanne was wearing cream coloured pants, and an irreplaceable hand made, hand embroidered blouse she bought when we were in Costa Rica. The fireman was apologetic, but that doesn't diminish the damage done !

After supper we watched Amazing Race, and brainstormed the pros and cons of buying Lot 89 at Riverside RV Park Resort.

 

Monday ; Today was sunny and mild, a bit windy in the morning.

This morning I went to the Post Office to pick up our mail. My investment mail, from my cousin in Thunder Bay was there, but our regular mail, from my sister in Lorette wasn't. Darn ! Joanne walked "downtown" to sightsee and shop. I spent much of the afternoon reading the Riverside RV Park Resort disclosure documentation. I made an appointment with the Dodge dealer in Penticton on Wednesday for routine servicing of Lanoire. Imade an appointment with a lawyer in Penticton to discuss the purchase of a site at Riverside. I chatted briefly with the "next door neighbour". She and her husband have lived here at this RV park in Oliver for much of the last 4 years. Sheesh ! I phoned an RV park in the north Okanagan, up near Enderby, that has lots for sale, then did online research on the place.

We have decided to buy Lot 89 at Riverside RV Park Resort near Keremeos. WOO-HOO !

 

Tuesday ; Today was partially cloudy and mild.

This morning I prepared Lanoire for servicing tomorrow. Rotating tires on a dually is a big deal. And I'm fussy about the installation of the dually valve extenders. So I removed the hub caps, the wheel liners, and the valve extenders. I phoned Riverside RV Park Resort to tell them we want to buy Lot 89. Mitch the sales agent had the day off, so I left a message for him to phone me. Joanne and I did some planning of our lot completion and improvement plans and priorities. Looks like I've already got enough plans to keep me busy for the next 2 summers.

Joanne wanted to go shopping for produce this afternoon. First we drove south of Oliver towards Osoyoos, to M & M Orchards. They seem to be mostly a large scale wholesale operation, and were a bit of a loss to figure out how much to charge us for the very small quantities we were buying. The proprietor was an elderly Sikh man wearing a turban. His English was completely incomprehensible, which added to the confusion of how much our bill was. We drove back through Oliver, and picked up our mail at the Post Office. On the north side of town, towards Penticton, we drove up the side of a mountain to Pancho's Country Market. Lots of Mexicans at Pancho's Country Market, their retail operation, and Covert Farms, their adjacent wholesale operation. I guess Mexicans have settled here over the generations, having come here originally as fruit and vegetable pickers. Similar situation in Southwestern Ontario, near Windsor. Driving back through town again, we stopped for some groceries at Super Valu, the large grocery store in Oliver.

I printed and reconciled our September bank statements. I printed my investment account statements, and updated my investment files. Joanne wanted to know the status of our finances before buying Lot 89 at Riverside RV Park Resort.

Got an e-mail from our friend ( and my blog mentor ) Jennifer in Vancouver, telling us that she and Dwight will be coming out to visit us on Sunday. What a great surprise !

 

Wednesday ; Oliver to Penticton & return

Today was sunny, windy, and mild.

This morning we headed for Penticton, half an hour north of Oliver on Hwy. 97. We took Lanoire to Parker's Chrysler for an oil change, tire rotation, and 36,000 km. inspections. Parker's shuttle drove us to the office of Albas Wahl, the law firm we are going to use for the purchase of our lot at Riverside. We walked into what was supposed to be the lawyer's office, and found out that they have recently relocated to the other side of town. When I phoned them to set up the appointment, I guess they had no way of knowing that I had their old address, not their new one. But ... you would think that it might make sense to ensure that new clients have the correct address, since they have just recently relocated. We called a taxi to take us from their old address to their new address < fume >.

We met with the lawyer, and discussed the legal aspect of purchasing our lot. The lawyer has represented a number of purchasers of lots at Riverside, and from a legal perspective, there are no concerns. After our meeting we called Parker's Chrysler to have their shuttle driver pick us up at the lawyer's and return us to the dealership.

We went across the street from the dealership to have lunch at White Spot, a B.C. chain of family restaurants. It was fine, although somewhat mediocre. After lunch I did some browsing at Bling Performance, a truck performance shop next door to Parker's Chrysler. I took a look at a 2006 Dodge dually on Parker's lot. YIKES ! $64,000 ! ! ! When I checked Lanoire after the work was done, I was dismayed to find that they had done the tire rotation completely wrong ! There is a tire rotation Chrysler factory protocol for Dodge duallies with high performance all terrain tires which have a specified direction of travel / rotation. Doggone it, I would expect a Chrysler / Dodge dealer's service department to know that ! After waiting another hour for the tire rotation to be redone, we went shopping.

Groceries and supplies at Wal-Mart, fill up with diesel, groceries at Real Canadian Warehouse, more groceries at Safeway, supplies at a couple of Dollar Stores ... I thought we were never going to be finished shopping ! We left Penticton at 6:00 P.M. and were back in Oliver at 6:30.

 

Thursday ; Today was sunny and very warm.

I was awakened very early this morning by an RV Park up near Enderby returning my phone call. He thought he was phoning Manitoba, and he was phoning somebody 2 times zones away, at 9:30 A.M.. I hate receiving phone calls at 7:30 A.M.! This morning I worked on Lanoire, replacing the valve extenders, wheel liners, and hub caps. I took a propane tank for refilling.

Joanne has been trying for some time to convince me that we need a new love seat to replace the sofa bed in Harvey. Last week she picked up a local "Bargain Hunter" newspaper, and found an ad for a loveseat that she thought would be suitable. It was $125. This week the same loveseat is advertised again, but now at $75. She arm twisted me into going to see it. We drove north on Hwy. 97, just past Okanagan Falls, about halfway to Penticton. The love seat was being sold by a young woman who is selling everything she and her boyfriend bought 7 months ago. He's already left for a new job up north, and she's going to follow him after selling all their stuff. Fine by me. They paid $300 for the love seat 7 months ago. I bought it today for $50 ! We loaded it into the back of Lanoire, and drove back to Oliver, arriving just as it got dark. We put the new loveseat on our picnic table, and covered it with a tarp. It will have to remain there until Saturday when I can remove the sofa bed from Harvey.

I spent the evening reviewing the latest batch of mail I picked up Tuesday at the Post Office.

 

Friday ; Oliver to Keremeos & return

Today was mostly sunny and mild. There was a few minutes of light drizzle early this morning.

This morning we headed to Keremeos to buy Lot 89 at Riverside RV Park Resort. We drove south on Hwy. 97 from Oliver to Osoyoos, then west on Hwy. 3 to Keremeos, then another 15 km. west to Riverside RV Park Resort. We met with the sales agent, Mitch, and took care of the financial and documentation aspects of the deal. When we were done, Joanne and I went to have lunch sitting at a picnic table beside the Similkameen River. Gorgeous setting ! After lunch we walked around the park, formulating ideas for the development of our lot, and chatting with residents.

We drove back into the village of Keremeos, parked, and walked around the small "Main Street" area, looking for a restaurant in which to have lunch on Sunday with Dwight and Jennifer. There were about a half dozen restaurants and café s, all acceptable. We went to a couple of produce stands, and bought more fresh vegetables. The fresh fruits and vegetables available in this area are really quite outstanding.

We took a different route back to Oliver. From Keremeos we headed north on Hwy. 3A to Hwy. 97 at Kaledon, then south on Hwy. 97 back to Oliver.

 

Saturday; Today was sunny and warm. Nice weather here in the southern Okanagan Valley.

Today's priority was to get the old sofa bed out of the trailer, and < fume > the new loveseat in. We wrestled the old sofa bed out. The new loveseat would not go in through the door. We had to put it in through the largest window < more fuming >. I removed the window valance. I removed the day / night shades. I removed the window interior trim. I removed the window out of the wall ! ! ! I recruited a neighbour to help me, and we loaded the new loveseat in through the window. I replaced the window, the interior trim, the day / night shade, and the valance. I weather stripped the window with putty tape before remounting it into the wall opening, then while I was trimming the excess putty off after the window was reinstalled, my knife slipped and I made a large scratch in the fibreglass gel coat on the trailer exterior wall around the window. She just had to have the sofa bed replaced, didn't she ? ! ?

I reluctantly concede that the new loveseat looks very nice. It's a perfect match for the trailer. The colours are right, and the size is right. And Teddy especially seems to love it. So ... that's all that matters. Doesn't matter how hard it was to get it in. As long as the wife and the cat are happy !

Jennifer Lamb phoned from Vancouver, and we made arrangements to meet tomorrow at Riverside RV Park Resort. Joanne took the truck and went to buy some groceries. A few minutes after she left, I realized that the next job on today's "to do" list was to get a haircut and beard trim. I walked down to the mall, but the only hairstylist in the mall had enough customers already waiting to last until closing. I walked over to the grocery store and joined Joanne.

Back at the trailer I took photos of the old sofa bed, added text, and printed a couple of copies to post on bulletin boards to advertise it for sale. If we can't sell it, perhaps we'll donate it to the clubhouse at Riverside RV Park Resort

 

DSK