Year 3 Week 52

June 10 to 16, 2007

Keremeos, B.C.

Year 3 week 52

 

Sunday ; Today was sunny and warm.

This morning Joanne prepared a picnic lunch and we set off to explore from here to Princeton, about 45 minutes west on Hwy. 3. The highway followed the Similkameen River all the way. It was a lovely drive, very scenic. At Princeton we drove around the town, checking out stores and services. Although Princeton is bigger than Keremeos, there isn't really anything in Princeton that isn't available in Keremeos. There was a small business that produces pine and cedar furniture, both indoor and outdoor. And they do custom work. I'm interested in returning there to shop, and discuss some ideas we have for a "portable" deck.

On the way back towards Keremeos, we stopped at one of the two ( well ... three actually ) provincial parks between Keremeos and Princeton. Bromley Rock Provincial Park had a small campground and a day use / picnic area. What a gorgeous place, on the Similkameen River. It's definitely a place we will return to when we have visitors, to show off this area. We sat beside the river, eating our picnic lunch, enjoying the lovely weather, watching the river flow by, smelling the blossoms on the trees around us. AHHHHH ! ! !

We also stopped at Stemwinder Provincial Park, on the way back towards Keremeos, and looked around. It was nice as well. We stopped at a meat market / butcher near Hedley we had been told about, but didn't buy anything. We turned onto Old Hedley Road, and crossed the river for more exploring. Old Hedley Road is, of course, the old road from Hedley to Princeton. We found another lovely camping and picnic area, this one operated by the B.C. Forest Service. The area had a lot of flat rocks that I thought would be good for the Inukshuk I have been planning to build. We drove around for awhile, exploring, stopping periodically to pick up flat rocks for my planned Inukshuk.

Back at home, Joanne continued working on waxing the trailer. I worked on attaching the shed base rails to the floor, until I ran out of screws and my cordless drill went dead. What a piece of junk this cordless drill is ! I've been meaning to replace it for a year now, but haven't yet done so. While Joanne prepared supper, I built my Inukshuk on the front corner of our lot. Hey ... very nice ! Joanne thought it was a bit too big, so I made it a bit smaller. Now it stands about 3 feet high, which is a pretty decent size for an Inukshuk, I guess.

After supper Joanne prepared a large bowl of fresh strawberries, and we went over to visit Gil, Maria, and Buppy.

 

Monday ; Today was cloudy and cool, with a bit of light rain.

This morning I phoned the Similkameen Health Centre in Keremeos and made an appointment for both of us to see a doctor this afternoon. I had heard some horror stories about the difficulties new residents of B.C. have finding a new physician, but apparently there's not a problem here in the South Okanagan Similkameen / Keremeos region. Joanne and I worked on calculating my prescription medication requirements for the next year. After lunch we drove into Keremeos for our doctor's appointments. The relatively new Similkameen Health Centre is quite an impressive little facility. As well as housing the village's doctors, it has a small emergency department, lab facilities, etc.. We met with our new doctor and got the ball rolling on our annual health care requirements ; a variety of cancer screening tests for Joanne, and a colonoscopy for me.

While in town we went to the Post Office, the grocery store, the hardware store, and the liquor store. Then we drove around town, exploring a few areas that Joanne wanted to see. We went to see Pine Park, a lovely, quite large municipal park on the banks of the Similkameen River. So, along with Memorial Park, where town events like Music Under The "K" are held, there are 2 quite large and lovely parks in the tiny Village of Keremeos. Well, 3 actually. Our next stop was Riparian Park, a "natural" rehabilitation area / walking trail along the river. Pretty impressive for a village of 1200 people.

On our way back into Riverside RV Park Resort, we stopped to chat with Gil and Maria. Gil was working on repairing the damage on their travel trailer caused by an exploding tire on their last camping trip a few weeks ago. Yeah ... been there, done that ! I finished attaching the base rails for the shed to the floor.

 

Tuesday ; Today was sunny and warm.

Another long, tiring day of errands in Penticton < sigh >. This morning we drove to Penticton. First stop was the Bank of Montreal to pay some bills, get some cash, and most importantly, transfer our accounts from Kenora, Ontario to Penticton. Closing one account and opening another seems a lot more complicated than it should be. Is it just B.C. that makes things so complicated ? Or am I just getting old ? We had lunch at a great Chinese buffet restaurant near the bank.

We dropped off some forms at our new investment broker's office. We did some shopping at Canadian Tire and Rona. We made an appointment at an RV dealer to have our fridge repaired. It's one of the million Dometic RV fridges affected by a safety recall. We stopped at the Chrysler dealer to buy a new wiper blade at the Parts Department. I broke a wiper blade a few days ago. We bought diesel, we refilled water jugs, and we shopped at Wal-Mart. We got home about 7:00 P.M..

I spent the evening working on accounting and mail.

 

Wednesday ; Today was sunny and very warm.

I spent much of today working intermittently on building / assembling the new storage shed. By late afternoon, it was assembled / erected. Tomorrow I will install the 150 or so screws that are required to hold it all together. And it appears as if the toughest part of the job will be disassembling the storage crate it came in.

I did some work on the computer, composing e-mails, etc.. The couple from Bracebridge, Ontario that I spoke to a couple of weeks ago arrived today. Dan and Karen Cornwell are here to shop for a lot, having spent a week driving here from Ontario. After supper Gil and Maria ( and Buppy ) came over for a visit and a cup of tea. I invited Dan and Karen over as well. We spent the evening drinking tea and visiting. Oh ... and eating fresh strawberry cheesecake ! MMMM ! Bo thought it was absolutely great that his good buddy Buppy came back for a "reunion".

 

Thursday ; Another sunny, very warm day. How lovely !

This morning and early afternoon I worked on finishing the storage shed. Yesterday I assembled and erected it. Today I had to install the screws to hold it all together. YIKES ... 150 screws. Well ... the bag contained 150 screws, but when I was finished, there were 13 screws left over. I certainly hope there were supposed to be 13 extra screws. How could such a tiny shed require 137 screws ? Joanne continued working on waxing the trailer. She's almost finished. I spent the rest of the afternoon disassembling the shed's packing crate. I wanted to remove all the nails, so that the wood could be tossed onto the park's "burn pile". Or perhaps used as campfire wood at our upcoming Escapees Okanagan Chapter 33 Spring Rally.

Just as I finished my outside work my sister phoned. We chatted for about an hour. Her new hip is great ! When I finished chatting with Sharon, I went outside to join Joanne who was chatting with our neighbour Stu. I sat down on the edge of Stu's new deck, rested my arm on my leg, and ... OW ! I lifted my arm quickly and glanced underneath. OW ... AGAIN ! There was a bee / wasp / hornet stinging the underside of my arm. I smashed it ! Take that, you little b*****d ! I didn't realize until a few minutes later that I was stung twice ! Can't bees sting only once ? It looked like a bee, but who knows ? I smacked it so quickly, and so hard, I couldn't exactly identify it. But it sure hurt ! ! ! The underside of my arm puffed up a bit, it hurt quite a lot for 10 or 15 minutes, and there were 2 little red marks surrounded by white "hives" where I was stung. And now, as I type this about 5 hours later, it hurts to rest my arm on the edge of the desk.

After an early supper I drove into Keremeos to attend a Lions Club meeting. There was an invitation in the local community newspaper inviting prospective new members to a meeting tonight. Well, to make a long, pathetic story short ... I won't be becoming a Lion any time soon. I'm sure that Lions International is a wonderful service agency / club, but the local Keremeos chapter is in horrible disarray, and is on the verge of having their charter revoked. I don't think Keremeos is a large enough village to support a local chapter. Their membership has declined from about 40 members a few years ago, to 9 members now. And some of them, especially the executive members are ... well ... uhhhhh ... quite < whispering > senile. I can see that they would benefit greatly from some “new blood” but unfortunately it won’t be mine.

 

Friday ; Today was partially cloudy and warm.

I had a somewhat non-productive "goof-off" day. It's about time. I've accomplished a great deal in the month and a half we've been here. Our lot development "basics" are completed ; site preparation, installation of utilities, yard swing, cedar planters, picnic table, park bench, and storage shed. Our relocation "basics" are completed ; driver's licenses, vehicle registrations, and vehicle insurance. Tomorrow is the "big meeting". The first Annual General Meeting of the Riverside RV Park Society ( lot owners' association ). And Sunday we leave for the Escapees Okanagan Chapter 33 Spring Rally in Summerland. When we return late next week, maybe it's time for me to start lounging around on the swing, reading a book.

Joanne went into town to do some laundry and shopping. I puttered around with some minor maintenance chores. I chatted with neighbours. I did some computer work. I registered for an RV "caravan" trip down into the Baja California Peninsula of Mexico next January. Woo-Hoo ... we're looking forward to that ! I put up a bird feeder in our big old Douglas Fir tree. I took a long nap. Haven't done much of that lately.

 

Saturday ; Today was cloudy and raining. As a result, we didn't do much of anything today.

Tonight was the first Annual General Meeting of the Riverside RV Park Society. That's the lot owners' association. The meeting wasn't quite as heated as we expected it would be, but it did leave Joanne in a bad mood. I, on the other hand, with my easy going personality ... HA HA HA < SNORT > HA HA !

DSK