Year 3 Week 50

May 27 to June 2, 2007

Keremeos, B.C.

Year 3 week 50

 

Sunday ; Today was mostly cloudy, with a few instances of light drizzle.

Today I finished building the picnic table. Well, I still have to change a few screws that are the wrong length, and I'd like to install some bracing for strength under each seat. Joanne and I both worked on sanding it. I slightly regret using wood filler putty to fill the screw holes on the table top. Joanne programmed our important phone numbers into VoIP Wi-Fi phone. She also went into Keremeos and did the laundry. We gave Bo a bath. I did some online research into vehicle insurance in B.C..

Buppy the visitor dog did extremely well today, physically and emotionally. Too bad he's not neutered. He'd be a better pet if he was !

 

Monday ; Today was sunny and very warm. With lots of big mosquitoes ! Now that the Similkameen River level has dropped a bit, I guess there's plenty of wet spots along the river's edge where the mosquitoes are breeding.

This morning I drove into Keremeos, refilled a propane tank, bought some more hardware for the picnic table ... again ... and went to the CIBC to get some information on opening new accounts. I want to transfer our BMO bank accounts to the BMO branch in Penticton, but Joanne wants to consider having bank accounts in Keremeos, at CIBC, the only bank in town.

This afternoon I installed some bracing underneath the picnic table seats for strength, then patched and sanded screw holes. I ran out of wood filler putty so I'm not finished with the picnic table yet. I did some distance testing of the VoIP Wi-Fi phone, making phone calls while walking up and down our road. I can successfully make calls while quite far from the trailer, so I'm quite satisfied. I cancelled our June 1 appointment with Telus for installation of a land line phone.

I gave Bo his monthly heartworm medication, then administered monthly "spot on" flea treatments to Teddy and Bo. As is often the case, it made Teddy sick. As soon as we put flea treatment on him, he begins to groom it off. For some time now we've been administering only half dosages to Teddy, but it's still enough to make him sick. Poor Teddy !

Buppy is doing extremely well. He seems to be quite content now to live with us.

 

Tuesday ; Today was sunny and very warm again. Still lots of huge mosquitoes. Apparently the park is going to have somebody come in and spray insecticide along the river's edge where the mosquitoes are breeding in areas where water was left when the river receded.

Today was our weekly, long, tiring day of chores and errands in Penticton. In addition to a lot of shopping at different places, I spent a lot of the day getting vehicle insurance quotes. B.C. is a strange place when it comes to vehicle insurance. The primary vehicle insurer is the Insurance Corporation Of British Columbia ( ICBC ), a provincial government crown corporation. But unlike Manitoba, where the provincial government is the only vehicle insurer, here in B.C. one must purchase basic mandatory insurance from ICBC, then purchase supplementary liability insurance, collision insurance, comprehensive insurance, etc. from ICBC or any of a number of private insurers. It makes getting an insurance quote even more complicated than in Ontario, where there is only private insurance companies to deal with. In Manitoba, it's very easy. There is only one insurer. And the provincial government non-profit ( so to speak ) automobile insurance is cheap, compared to Ontario or here. I thought since the provincial government is the insurer here in B.C. that it would be comparably priced to Manitoba's provincial government vehicle insurance monopoly. Apparently B.C. is an abbreviation not only for British Columbia, but also means "Bring Cash".

While in Penticton I bumped into a woman I met at Guide Dogs Of The Desert in Palm Springs, California. She was an overnight puppy sitting volunteer. We chatted for awhile, about our mutual dissatisfaction with the way Guide Dogs Of The Desert treats their volunteer workers. Despite spending her winters in Palm Springs, she will not be offering her services to Guide Dogs Of The Desert in the future. Hear, hear !

When we returned home after leaving Teddy, Bo and Buppy alone in our trailer for 7 ½ hours, everything was fine. Except that Bo's and Buppy's excitement at our return was each exacerbated by the other. They acted like a pair of wild animals at the door when we opened it. My forearms got all scratched trying to stop Buppy from leaping out the trailer door.

I spent the evening reviewing insurance quotes, doing accounting, paying bills online and by phone, etc.. I don't understand how an unemployed guy like me has so much work to do !

 

Wednesday ; Today was sunny and hot ! Whew ... and it's still May !

This morning we went into town to have a meeting at CIBC regarding opening a new account there. I'm still inclined to stay with BMO. Joanne went to the grocery store, I went to Keremeos Building Supplies, and Similkameen Insurance.

I spent the afternoon mounting a pole for the Wi-Fi antenna and satellite dish on a more permanent basis than my initial, temporary installation of it. More permanent ... isn't that redundant ? ! ? Anyway, I dug a hole deep enough to bury the concrete deck block. Digging in that compacted rock slide shale is like digging in concrete. I installed the deck block in the hole, installed the pole in the deck block, shimmed and levelled everything, and backfilled. Sounds easy ! HMPH !

Patching and sanding / fussing and finishing work on the picnic table continues.

 

Thursday ; Today was sunny and hot again. There's still an abundance of huge mosquitoes.

This morning I put Teddy's and Bo's new engraved tags, with our new phone numbers, on their harnesses. We finished patching and sanding / fussing and finishing the picnic table. I spent much of the day on the telephone talking to insurance agents about getting the truck and trailer registered and insured in British Columbia < sigh >. By the end of the day, I had decided what insurance companies I want to use, and at what agency. I'll take care of that next Tuesday.

We visited with many of our neighbours today. The hot weather inspires everybody to be outdoors. Late in the afternoon Gil and Maria returned from their week long adventure to Vancouver Island. Buppy was very happy to see them !

I walked around the park with our Wi-Fi phone in search mode and found a few other wireless access points / Wi-Fi signals in the park. I programmed them into the phone, and now the phone works throughout the park.

 

Friday ; Today was sunny and hot. And there were still lots of huge, hungry mosquitoes.

We spent the morning giving Bo a haircut. It's the best haircut we've ever given him. Each haircut we give him seems better than the one before. But his high anxiety about having a haircut around the face, and the front legs, is frustrating to us. We had to muzzle him to cut the hair on his front legs.

I spent the afternoon relocating the satellite dish, and reacquiring the satellite signal. Relocating the satellite dish from the Douglas Fir to the pole I installed wasn't all that difficult. Reacquiring the satellite signal was the problem. It took me about 2½ hours, and 2 phone calls to Star Choice to get it done. < sigh > I didn't know that satellite dish aiming had to be so precise. And I only had a compass to help me, not an electronic "satellite finder" doo-hickey. HMPH ... maybe I'll have to get myself one of those, if we're going to use the satellite dish when we're travelling during the winter.

 

Saturday ; Today was sunny and hot.

Today I cleaned out the inside of the aluminum storage chest in the back of the truck. There was soil inside of it from when we hauled a load of soil in the back of the truck a couple of weeks ago. I took photos of the trailer, for the insurance company, then downloaded them and processed them on the computer. I updated my investment files. Joanne went into town to do laundry and buy groceries. We visited with neighbours ; Mitch, Dianne, and their Cocker Spaniel Brady, as well as Maria and Buppy.

I finally got an ongoing problem with our Vonage Voicemail resolved. We watched a movie ; Catch Me If You Can.

 

DSK