July 21 to 26, 2008

July 21 to 26, 2008

 

Monday ; Today we took Teddy to Penticton for his annual examination, rabies vaccination, and thyroid hormone blood test. We went to a different veterinarian than we did last year. The one we went to last year was unsatisfactory, to say the least ! The one we went to this year was quite satisfactory, and will be our regular "home" veterinarian. While Teddy doesn't usually like driving in the truck, he was very mellow today on the drive to Penticton and back, as well as in the vet's office. The veterinarian and technicians were quite impressed with what a laid back fellow Teddy is.

 

Tuesday ; This afternoon we set off to explore the opposite side of the Similkameen River from where we are located at Riverside RV Park Resort. We drove to Hedley, and just past Hedley where a bridge on the highway crosses over the Similkameen River we turned onto Gold Mountain Road. It was a one lane dirt trail on Native lands along the west shore of the river. We had intended to drive all the way back to opposite Riverside RV Park. But a few miles along we encountered an abandoned car blocking the trail. We couldn't get around it, so we had to turn back. It was a fairly new car, but showed obvious signs of being an "Indianmobile". I guess when one of our local First Nations people experiences a car breakdown, they just leave it and walk away, maybe to seek assistance, or maybe just to leave it sitting there in the middle of the road forever. Who knows ? ! ?

On our way back home, we stopped to give assistance to a woman with a flat tire. The wheel lug nuts on her car had been severely overtightened by some moron with an air gun the last time she had her tires rotated. I broke one of the wheel studs trying to remove the lug nuts to get the old tire off. And I was unable to get a couple of the mangled thread lug nuts back on when installing her spare tire. After considerable effort and two skinned knuckles, we drove her into Keremeos to get a tow truck.

 

Wednesday ; Today at 6:45 P.M. we left for Hedley, to attend a 7:00 P..M. dinner concert at The Hitching Post Restaurant. The Hitching Post has a small stage, and about once a month features a performer, usually a folksy, coffee house kind of performance. Tonight was a female singer songwriter from Manitoba. We were delayed a few minutes by a car accident on the highway on the outskirts of Hedley. A little red car had failed to navigate a curve in the road, on the bridge over Twenty Mile Creek. It hit the concrete wall of the bridge then bounced over to hit the concrete wall of the bridge on the opposite side of the highway. When we got to the restaurant, it was full. HMPH ... guess I should have made a reservation. Which I’ll do for the next concert, which I’m interested in, in a few weeks. HEY ... it’s Hedley ! A gold mining ghost town with a population of about a couple of hundred people ... maybe ! Who’d have thought one would need a reservation in Hedley ? ! ?

We decided to drive back to Keremeos and have dinner somewhere, since we were primed for dinner out. Our first choice, Fish & Chipper, had just closed for the evening. Same with our second choice, the K Café . We ended up at the Riverbed Bistro, a new restaurant. It was ... okay ... but too mediocre to justify its prices.

 

Thursday ; Well, am I ever pissed off ! ! ! Today I was culling old files. As a result, I checked our Air Canada Aeroplan frequent flyer miles accounts status online. As a result of my frequent travel by commercial air during the 1980's and early 1990's, while employed by Canada Post, I still had more than enough frequent flyer miles left for two free tickets on Air Canada. But because we had not flown with Air Canada for over 5 years, our frequent flyer miles had expired. HMPH ! ! ! All those early morning flights, jammed into DC-9's, for naught ! ! !

 

Saturday ; Today was the Red Bridge Centennial. Red Bridge is on the west side of Keremeos, on the Ashnola River Road crossing the Similkameen River. Red Bridge was originally a railway bridge, on the rail line that ran from the Mascot Gold Mine in Hedley to the American town of Oroville, across the border from Osoyoos. The ore from the gold mine would be transported by rail from Hedley to Oroville where it would be transferred to U.S. trains. Coincidentally, that rail line ran across what is now the property of Riverside RV Park Resort. As a matter of fact, when we were having our lot excavated for development, remnants of the old rail line were evident. Red Bridge is one of the last covered bridges remaining in Western Canada.

The 100th Birthday celebrations began in town in the morning with a pancake breakfast, stories about the old bridge, an "armed train robbery", and a band playing before the festivities moved, with a "walk, run, & cycle" to Red Bridge led by the RCMP, mounted on horses, of course. After lunch there were dignitary speeches and stories by historians, followed by an afternoon of "period" activities. Demonstrations of archery, arrowhead making, butter churning, horse shoeing, gold panning, pine needle basket making, saddle making, and trapping.

Of course, while all these demonstrations were taking place around Red Bridge, I played my first hired entertainer gig as Hobo Dan, the juggling magician clown railroad hobo from 1908. I had devised a personal story. Born to gypsies in Budapest in 1854, I grew up to be a magician, performing on the stage of the Moulin Rouge in Paris, France. I came to this Godforsaken land of ice and snow known as Canada in 1888, performing on the great stages of Ottawa, Toronto, and Montreal, before heading out west in 1904, "looking for adventure, and whatever comes our way" ( with apologies to Steppenwolf ). Now, in 1908, I had lost everything, and was living amongst the hoboes along the rail line on the banks of the Similkameen River, taking shelter underneath this new Red Bridge, with nothing but these two coins to my name. And how could a man survive with only two coins to his name ? Well ... they were, of course, < cue the music ! > magic coins ! HA HA HA HA HA !

It went well. I had fun. And it was my first paying "job" in over 4 years. Now I'm an employed homeless vagabond. HA HA HA ! While the Vancouver Travelling Band, a large marching band of wind instruments, played on the bridge, I juggled in front of them in time to their music. I wandered up and down the bridge performing magic for small groups of children. And I performed a "sit down" magic show for children near the end of the day's festivities. I was supposed to perform on a little stage, but I decided to just sit down on the pavement with my audience of children sitting in front of me, adults standing behind them. My clown colleagues were two older women, also in clown face makeup and hobo costumes. They specialized in making balloon animals.

DSK

July 18, 2008

July 18, 2008

Late last night while reading the Keremeos Review, the local weekly newspaper, I found an ad that intrigued me. A new party and events planning and provisioning business, located in Okanagan Falls, between Penticton and Oliver, was looking to hire "entertainers" ; jugglers, magicians, clowns, costumed characters, etc.. This morning I phoned and had a discussion with the owner. We arranged for a meeting / job interview at 6:00 P.M. at her place of business.

I needed to trim a dead branch off our huge Douglas Fir tree. I climbed up on the ladder, and while sawing off the dead branch ... HEY ... OW ! I was stung over my right eyebrow by a wasp. Last summer I purchased a cedar bird house and mounted it in the tree. I was disappointed this spring when I saw no evidence of it being used by any birds. Now I know why. When I looked away from the branch I was cutting, to see how and why I was stung, my head was surrounded by wasps coming out of the bird house. YOW ... I scrambled down the ladder quickly and went inside the trailer for first aid and sympathy. ****ing wasps !

At 5:00 P.M. we departed for my interview in Okanagan Falls and to attend the Beach Blanket Film Festival in Penticton. My interview went well, and I was hired to perform occasionally as a juggler / magician / clown. The business is very new and just getting started, so I don't think they will want my services often, but they do want me to work at the Red Bridge Centennial celebrations in Keremeos next weekend. Hey ... I'm an "entertainer" !

After my job interview we drove to Penticton. We were a bit early for the Beach Blanket Film Festival, so we went to Gyro Park to eat our picnic supper which Joanne had prepared. Oh, boy ... a classic rock band was performing a free concert at the Gyro Park Bandshell. We ate our picnic supper watching and listening to The Blackbirds, a classic rock band from Keremeos.

After supper we wandered over to Okanagan Lakeshore Park to attend the first of three evening performances of the 15th Annual Penticton Beach Blanket Film Festival. The audience sits on the beach, lounging on beach blankets or lawn chairs, facing Okanagan Lake, surrounded by mountains, with the sun setting. Absolutely gorgeous ! For an hour we were entertained by a young woman playing a guitar and singing folksy love songs. She was very good ! I think I fell in love with her, a green eyed blonde about 18 years old. I think she wants me ! HA HA HA ! Last time I felt that way about an 18 year old green eyed blonde on a moonlit beach, about 36 years ago, look where it got me ! HA HA HA < SNORT > HA HA ! Then came a half hour performance of a Greek musical ensemble. HMMMMM ... remind me to cross Greece off my list of places to visit ! The films were projected onto a large screen mounted on scaffolding out in the water. Sort of the beach version of a drive in movie. There was a cool breeze blowing in off Okanagan Lake, just enough to justify wearing a sweater and wrapping a blanket around oneself to watch the movie. The Beach Blanket Film Festival introduces new Canadian made films. The feature film was preceded by three film "shorts", each about 5 minutes long, produced by CATO, the Centre for Arts and Technology in the Okanagan, a technical school in Kelowna, and a major sponsor of the Beach Blanket Film Festival. The three CATO produced "shorts" were ... well ... not great !

Tonight's feature length film was Breakfast With Scot. It was about a couple of gay men, one a former professional hockey player and now sports broadcaster, who inadvertently become guardians of a young boy, about 12 years old, with gay proclivities and mannerisms. The little boy is a real "queen", fond of wearing makeup and adorning himself with feather boas. The former pro hockey player, now sportscaster, keeps his homosexuality largely in the closet because of his profession, and is exasperated by the young boy's behaviour and openness. They develop a funny, touching relationship. The man teaches the boy to be a man. The boy teaches the man to be himself.

The film ended about 12:30 A.M., and we got home at 1:30 A.M., trying to sneak quietly into Riverside RV Park Resort and not wake everybody up with Lanoire’s Cummins diesel engine.

DSK

July 12, 13, & 14, 2008

July 12, 13, & 14, 2008

 

Saturday ; Today was Riverside RV Park Resort's second annual general meeting. Or more precisely, annual general non-meeting. Most of Riverside's lot owners gathered at Victory Hall in Keremeos at 2:00 P.M.. The President of our Society ( lot owners' association ) called the meeting to order, explained that a legal issue regarding voting procedures was still unresolved, and therefore the meeting would have to be postponed for a couple of months, then he adjourned the meeting. The whole thing took about a minute and a half. Nobody was very pleased, especially those "weekender" lot owners who live in the Vancouver / Lower Mainland area that had to drive 5 hours to get here.

 

Sunday ; Today was the Riverside RV Park Resort pool party and potluck luncheon organized and hosted by Joanne and me. We chose today, because almost all lot owners were going to be here this weekend to attend yesterday's AGM. It was another sunny, hot day, a perfect day for a pool party. But there were very few of our neighbours who showed up. For those that did, we had a great little pool party and potluck luncheon.

After the very busy, active social calendars that we have encountered at many RV parks all around North America we are very puzzled by this park's lack of interest in social activities. And more than puzzled, we're disheartened ( read that disgusted ). We organized, sponsored ( paid for everything ), and hosted a barbecue a month ago, and organized and hosted this pool party and potluck luncheon. The barbecue was poorly attended. And the pool party was even worse. We could see all our neighbours in the park, working on their yard projects, or just relaxing, but almost no one could be bothered to wander down to the pool complex patio and socialize with neighbours.

Okay ... that's our last attempt at trying to stimulate some social activities in this park !

 

Monday ; Today was Dan Air Flight 401 a.k.a. Mountain Performance Course Training Flight 1, actually the second mountain training flight. Today we flew in Cessna 172 C-GXTN ( X-ray Tango November ), a slightly better equipped aircraft than Hotel Juliet Charlie. The first exercise was to determine if it was possible to return to the airport for a landing if the engine failed after take off at an elevation of 500 feet above ground. My initial opinion was that it was not. However, under some conditions, it is possible. So, we did a few simulated engine failures after take-off, at 500 feet AGL. On one of these exercises, I took off from runway 16, heading to the south, out over Skaha Lake Beach. At 500 feet AGL my instructor pulled the throttle back to idle, simulating an engine failure. I turned steeply and began to descend at a constant "best glide" airspeed of 80 MPH in an attempt to return to the runway. This "return to runway" manoeuver after an engine failure is a common cause of fatal aviation accidents. I was busy trying to fly / glide back to the airport, so I didn't notice the scene on Skaha Lake Beach below. HA HA HA ! With the throttle pulled to idle, the engine is fairly quiet, and would not be heard by the people on the beach. They saw a silent aircraft, turning steeply, descending rapidly, and looking like it was going to crash on the beach. My instructor watched as people scrambled to get out of the way of the "crashing" airplane. HA HA HA ... the moral of that story is don't spread your blanket out on the beach right at the end of an airport runway ! By the way, I did make it back to the runway ... that time. From runway 34, with the wind in the opposite direction, I was not able to make it back to the runway with an engine failure at 500 feet AGL, although I did "clear the fence", and in a real emergency, would have touched down on the grass just before the runway.

We flew from Penticton to the restricted airspace east of Oliver designated for "upper air work" flight training exercises, flying along the east side of the mountains along Skaha Lake practicing "contour crawling". Flying following the contours of the mountain sides, keeping my left wing about 200 feet away from the mountain sides at all times. The point was to experience the "convective heating" air currents rising off the mountain sides on the sunny side of the valley. WOO-HOO ... "free lift", so to speak. But along with the "free lift" comes turbulence. Once in the restricted airspace, also known as the "practice area", my instructor wanted me to fly with an indicated airspeed of zero. HUH ? Well, it can actually be done. It's an exercise in "extreme" control of an aerodynamic stall. One stalls the airplane, and as it begins to drop from the sky, its forward motion decreases, and the airspeed drops, until finally, it is not flying forward at all, it's just falling, and the airspeed indicator reads zero. It's quite difficult to manage a stall that effectively, and fall keeping the aircraft level, not allowing either a spin or a dive to develop. So ... I have now flown an aircraft with the airspeed indicator reading zero. But, I guess ... that's not really "flying", that's just very controlled "falling". HA HA HA !

We did quite a few engine failure / forced approach exercises, from high altitudes over the mountains, to lower altitudes closer to Oliver. On most of them, I was surprised by how much "glide" I really could achieve over the warm mountains, and how far I could "reach" to get to an emergency landing location. In one instance, I actually came in "high and hot" ( too high, too fast ) and would have overflown my selected "forced landing" location, which was Oliver airport. Brilliant ! Experience an engine failure high over the mountains, stretch the glide to achieve reaching a distant but visible airstrip, then shoot over the runway and crash at the far end of the airport ! ! ! DUH !

On the way back to Penticton, we did more "contour crawling", but this time, flying in the opposite direction, I had to keep the wing on the passenger side a couple of hundred feet away from the mountain sides. It's easier when the mountains are on my side ! I'm now feeling fairly comfortable flying with the wing tips about 200 feet from the sides of the mountains. < blink > Hard to believe I just said / typed that ! We did another zero IAS ( indicated airspeed ) exercise on the way back. About 5 miles out over Skaha Lake my instructor "jammed" the elevator, and told me to land the airplane without use of elevator. Oh ... okay ... hmmmmm ... how could I do that, with only power and trim available to raise or lower the aircraft nose ? ? ? It was relatively easy until I was about 20 feet up, approaching the runway. Then I did a series of "porpoise" manoeuvers from about ten to twenty feet above the runway, trying to use power and trim to get the aircraft nose up and the tail down in a flare for landing, and avoiding smacking down into the runway with the nose down, smacking down on the nose wheel. That's called a "crash". HA HA HA ! Well, I did it, but I hope there weren't too many observers in the airport terminal, critiquing my landing !

DSK

July 8, 2008

July 8, 2008

Today we went on a road trip exploration adventure. Part of it was planned, most of it was not. This morning we headed for Kelowna, about two hours north, to attend the monthly luncheon of the SKP B.C. Okanagan Chapter 33. We had been planning to attend the June luncheon, but the weather was bad that day. It's hard to believe, given the current hot weather, that only one month ago it was so cold that the precipitation falling that day was snow to about ¾ of the way down the sides of the mountains surrounding us.

Joanne drove to Penticton. I drove from Penticton to Kelowna. We don't much like Kelowna, despite its popularity. It has lost its "small town" feeling and charm, especially with the chronic heavy traffic. We had a very pleasant lunch, visiting with our Escapee friends. As we departed Kelowna heading south back to Penticton and on to Keremeos, I decided, on impulse, to turn west on Hwy. 97C and go exploring. Hwy. 97C was a wonderful four lane "freeway" up and through the gorgeous mountains, all the way to Hwy. 5A just south of Merritt. We turned south on Hwy. 5A, a scenic two lane road through rolling ranch lands. We stopped at Kentucky / Alleyne Provincial Park to check out the two campgrounds there. We will probably camp there this fall on our way north to the SKP B.C. Okanagan Chapter 33 Fall Rally in September.

The road from the highway into the provincial park passes through three miles of private ranch land. As we turned off the highway, and onto the road up to the provincial park ... there was a bull calf on the outside of the fence surrounding the ranch, despite there being a cattle guard grate on the road as it passed through the fence, to prevent cattle from coming out onto the highway. Well, try telling that to the stupid little bull standing outside the gate, trying to figure out how to get back onto the right side of the fence.

I stopped, jumped out, grabbed my walking stick, and told Joanne to grab her walking stick and come help me try to herd the stupid little bull back over the cattle guard grate. She was a bit reluctant, but followed my lead. As we approached the bull, he panicked, turned, and ran out onto the highway into the path of an incoming car. GEEEEEZZZZZ ! ! ! I know from my teenage years, summers spent working out on my Aunt Lena's farm, what an incredible combination of stubbornness and stupidity are mixed in little bulls. The woman driving the car slammed on her brakes, and little bully went running past her continuing down the highway. SHIT ... now what are we going to do ? ! ? Just then a rancher in a pickup truck came driving out of the ranch gate at high speed, quickly assessing what was going on. He raced down the highway, just past little bully, screeched to a halt, and jumped out. The woman in the car began waving down the oncoming highway traffic to slow them down. The rancher began hollering and waving his arms at little bully, herding him back towards me. He screamed at me to just keep little bully headed back towards the gate. Okay ! As little bully got closer to me, he decided once again to cross over to the other side of the highway. I scrambled across the highway in front of him, hollering and waving at him to get back over to the right side of the highway. Joanne and the woman from the car were stopping traffic on the highway. This was starting to resemble a scene from Monty Python.

Little bully responded to my waving and hollering, and ran back across the highway to the ranch side. Great, I thought. Just a bit more herding and I'll have him back at the gate. But NOOOOO ... he ran back across the highway, at full speed, through the ditch, and just kept going. BLAM ! Right into the barbed wire fence. OH, MAN ! I thought he was going to get tangled, and injured, in the barbed wire. But, fortunately, I guess, the barbed wire fence was old. Little bully hit the barbed wire, tangled, fell, and the nearest fence post broke. He scrambled up, disentangled from the barbed wire, and leaped over the barbed wire which was now down low because of the broken fence post. And just kept on truckin' across the pasture. The rancher had been running back down the highway towards us, and reached me just as bully broke through and over the fence.

He thanked me for helping. I apologized for the broken fence. He thought a broken fence post was a lot better than a dead calf. I was worried about injuries to the calf from the barbed wire. He shrugged it off, saying little bulls have pretty tough hide on their chests. Joanne and I got back into the truck, and finally drove through the gate, heading for the provincial park.

Sure enough, a little ways down the ranch road leading to the provincial park, we met little bully, trotting quickly down the right side of the road, heading ... who knows ? I slowed way down, and moved way over to the far left side of the road as I approached little bully. Of course, just as I reached him, he panicked, and ran across to the left side of the road, right in front of the truck. < sigh > I hope he makes good steak, because he certainly won't make it as a rocket scientist. A little further down the road, we met a cow who we surmised, due to colouring, was probably little bully's mother.

We checked out the campgrounds. As we drove back to the highway, there was the cow and her stupid little calf. When he saw our truck, he ran around to the other side of the cow, and hid from the big mean old black truck that made him run into the barbed wire fence < rolling eyes >.

We continued south on Hwy. 5A, stopping to check out the campground at Allison Lake Provincial Park before reaching Princeton. At Princeton we stopped at Dairy Queen, bought some ice cream treats, then turned east on Hwy. 3 heading back to Keremeos. We stopped at Bromley Rock Provincial Park, one of our favourite local spots, a short distance east of Princeton, to eat our ice cream treats. Well ... for me to eat my ice cream treat. Joanne's didn't last much longer than the Dairy Queen parking lot !

Joanne suggests that I need work on my cattle driving skills. HEY ! ! !

DSK

July 3, 2008

July 3, 2008

 

Today was Dan Air Flight 400 a.k.a. Mountain Flight Introduction. This morning we drove to Penticton, Joanne dropped me off at Southern Skies Aviation at the airport, then she continued into town to run errands. I met Matt, my new flying instructor. Gee ... I got my pilot's license when he was one year old. HA HA HA < SNORT > HA HA !

We took off in Cessna 172 C-GHJC ( Hotel Juliet Charlie ) and headed for Oliver. We took a somewhat roundabout route through the mountains. I got my first taste of flying at low altitude in the mountains. Matt instructed me to hug up against the side of the mountain, as closely as I felt comfortable. I flew lower than the peak of the mountain I was beside, with the mountain side about 200 feet from my left wing. Close enough for the first time ! At Oliver we headed out into the "restricted airspace" designated for flight training operations, over the mountains east of Oliver. We did some fairly routine "upper air work"; slow, steep turns, and a multitude of stalls in a variety of aircraft configurations. We flew into a canyon, and I experienced my first slow flight, steep turn, minimum radius turn around within the confines of a canyon. It wasn't that narrow a canyon, and I had quite enough room to complete the turn around.

I asked Matt if we could fly to Osoyoos and do a touch and go. I wanted to have the comfort of having an instructor beside me for my first flight into Osoyoos's somewhat difficult, short airstrip. We flew to Osoyoos. The airstrip was too short for a "touch and go". I did a "stop, backtrack, and go". As we climbed out of Osoyoos, Matt spotted the beginnings of a forest fire, slightly west of Osoyoos, near Crowsnest Highway 3 on the way to Keremeos. I didn't see it. I was too busy flying the airplane. As soon as we were high enough to reach Penticton by radio, Matt reported the forest fire. I was unaware that Southern Skies has a government contract of some sort, that all their flying employees are always on the lookout for forest fires. A rather ingenious way for the B.C. government to get help with forest fire spotting and reporting. Forest fires here in the Okanagan / Similkameen region are an annual problem of some significance !

We flew back over Oliver and on to Penticton. I wanted to impress Matt with my flying abilities, and prove that my "dusty / rusty wings" had worn off. AHHHHH ... really "greased on" my landing at Penticton ! HA ... just like riding a bicycle !

As for the bill for today's pre-flight ground ( classroom ) briefing and dual ( with instructor ) flight ... YIKES ! ! !

DSK

Canada Day pictures

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July 1, 2008

July 1, 2008

Happy Canada Day

 

Today was sunny and hot again.

This morning we headed for Osoyoos, about 45 minutes east of here, for the Canada Day Cherry Fiesta celebration. We found a place to park on a residential street and walked a couple of blocks over to the Canada Day Cherry Fiesta Parade route on Main Street. The parade was started by a town fire truck slowly driving by shooting a heavy stream of water out of its roof mounted water cannon hundreds of feet into the air over the crowd. Instant rain ! Instant cool down ! After the parade we wandered over to Gyro Park and Gyro Bandshell where a variety of entertainment took place all day long. We watched musical groups, had lunch, ate some of the huge Canada Day cake, and watched the cherry pie eating contest. HA HA HA ! Quite an exhibition of hands free eating. It was too hot to wander over to the lakeshore where the cherry pit spit contest took place. HA HA HA ! On the way back to Keremeos I stopped at the Osoyoos airstrip to see if it was a suitable place to fly into, to do a "touch and go" just as an excuse to go "flightseeing".

Tonight while I was barbecuing a thick, juicy steak for our Canada Day supper, I sat on our park bench and watched a Bald Eagle fishing about 20 feet over the Similkameen River. What a beautiful place to live !

DSK