July 11 to 17, 2010

July 11 to 17, 2010


Sunday ; Late in the afternoon Joanne’s family … and then some … arrived for a week long visit. Her sister Lorraine, brother-in-law Doug, and nieces Madeleine and Amelia arrived, with their Bichon Frisé, Macie, whom we had not yet met, and … Doug’s sister Sandra and her son Nash. They’re all staying in Riverside RV Park Resort’s two guest suites. Lorraine, Doug, and the two girls drove for two days from Winnipeg to Calgary, where Sandra and Nash joined them for another two days of driving to here. In recognition of the fact that Joanne’s family will be joining us down in Mexico on Christmas Day I prepared a Mexican dinner of Pollo Asado ( Mexican style barbecued chicken ), served with frijoles ( refried beans ) and arroz con mais ( seasoned rice with corn ).

Monday ; The weather was a bit strange today. The morning was cool. Around lunchtime a little squall blew up, with very strong winds and heavy rain. The rest of the day was partially cloudy and a bit windy. Our visitors spent the morning in the swimming pool, an activity which the Carlson family never tires of. Because of the weather, lunch was in our trailer. HMPH … I didn’t think it was possible to be functional in a fifth wheel trailer with five adults, three children, two dogs, and a cat, but … it is ! Everybody except me went to town in the afternoon to run some shopping errands and do some sightseeing and browsing. I read and napped with Sully and Bo … and Macie. Macie has had little or no exposure to cats, so she found it intriguing to be on a bed with a cat. I read a book, Sully and Bo napped, and Macie lay cuddled against me … staring intently at Sully for a very long time. Eventually fatigue triumphed over curiosity and she finally fell asleep.

Before supper there was more pool time. For supper Aunt Joanne prepared a haystack dinner, a meal we learned from the Amish in Shipshewana, Indiana. After supper, Uncle Dan performed a magic trick, then conducted the second of the daily Spanish lessons for the Carlson family. Late in the evening most of the visitors went to the games room in the basement of The Lodge ( our park’s “clubhouse” ) to play shuffleboard.

Tuesday ; Again the weather wasn’t very good ! Our visitors had a verrrrry late start to the day. I picked Saskatoons with Amelia and Sandra. We went for a long dog walk down to the burn pile, accompanied by Sandra and Macie. All the visitors spent the afternoon at Farmer John’s, the local petting zoo. We didn’t go with them. I worked on repairing a plumbing leak. My fourth attempt at solving this problem ! ! ! I sure hope I got it right this time ! Then I worked on repairing the truck’s broken emergency brake lever, which broke last Saturday. Why, in a heavy duty truck, presumably being driven by ham fisted type male drivers for the most part, would you design an emergency brake lever made out of plastic ? ! ? For supper I prepared tacos de pescado y tacos de camarón ( fish tacos and shrimp tacos ), a meal requested by our visitors. After supper I performed my daily magic trick, then conducted our daily Spanish lesson before they all headed off to the pool once again for an evening of pool play.

Wednesday ; The weather today was gorgeous, sunny and hot. We had to deliver a trailer in Osoyoos today. Our visitors did not want to tag along and make a day trip to Osoyoos. When I retrieved e-mail this morning, there was a message from Tom and Marion, Escapee friends of ours from Colorado. They had arrived in Keremeos last night and were boondocked in the parking lot beside the Elks Lodge in town. We last saw Tom and Marion in the fall of 2007.

We drove to town and visited briefly with Tom and Marion. They were planning to go to Oroville, Washington ( across the border from Osoyoos ) tomorrow to pick up their forwarded mail at the Post Office. We suggested they go today, pick up their mail in Oroville while we were busy delivering a trailer to Nk’Mip RV Park in Osoyoos, then we could meet on the lakeshore in Osoyoos for a picnic lunch. That’s what we did !

Before we all left Keremeos, Tom and Marion pointed out that there was a cat at the top of a tall utility pole beside their motorhome, and the cat had been there since yesterday. There was a municipal work truck across the street, beside Memorial Park. I approached the municipal employee to ask if he could do something about the stranded cat. He said that his boss at the Village of Keremeos office was already aware of the situation, and had declared it to be “not their problem”. He suggested I contact Fortis, the local hydro utility service provider. I phoned Fortis. They also declared it to be “not their problem” ! A small crowd of local townspeople was gathering. They were indignant and angry at Fortis and the Village of Keremeos. We had to get to work in Osoyoos, and there seemed to be enough “righteous indignation” amongst the little crowd that I was confident a solution to the problem would be found. We headed off to Osoyoos.

We delivered the trailer, then met Tom and Marion for a picnic lunch at a lakeshore public park in Osoyoos. We had a lovely visit with them, and invited them to join us for supper tonight. We have been preparing meals all week for eight, so how much harder can it be to cook for ten ? ! ? As we were pulling out of the small park’s parking lot, a family in an older Class C motorhome approached and asked if I could boost their dead battery. Sure … but I’m currently in “work” mode, and there’s no such thing as a free lunch. I charged them ten dollars to boost their battery. If you don’t like that, phone a local tow truck, wait three hours for them to arrive, and pay them a hundred bucks ! ! !

As we drove back through Keremeos I noticed that the cat was no longer at the top of the utility pole. When we arrived back home we discovered that … ( sigh ) … our visitors had left for an afternoon outing to Bromley Rock Provincial Park, an outing that we had wanted to join them on.

All of our dinner guests eventually showed up. I prepared barbecued salmon. After a lot of griping about mosquitoes we went to the clubhouse for the nightly magic trick and very brief Spanish lesson. All of the Carlson family members went to the pool. Joanne and I visited with Tom and Marion in our gazebo.

Thursday ; Another beautiful, sunny, hot day. Our visitors spent the afternoon at Skaha Lake Beach in Penticton. We dog sat Macie. Bo and Macie both enjoyed a cooling romp in the Similkameen River during the hottest part of the afternoon. When the visitors returned from Penticton Joanne and I prepared supper for the group, then we all went to the swimming pool for awhile before returning to our trailer for dessert.

Friday ; Another sunny, hot day. The visitors went to Hedley, to go on the Mascot Gold Mine Tour. We dog sat Macie. After lunch we went to Keremeos to do some grocery shopping. WOO-HOO … Bo and Macie get to go drivey ! When we returned home we took the dogs for a long walk and a romp in the Similkameen River. After the visitors returned from the gold mine tour we all went out for dinner to the Benja Thai restaurant in Keremeos. Doug’s treat !

Saturday ; WHEW … a sunny, hot day of delivering trailers. We delivered three trailers in Osoyoos and one in Okanagan Falls. Our visitors spent the day relaxing at Riverside RV Park Resort, amusing themselves in the swimming pool and games room. After we got home, Joanne prepared dinner, assisted by Lorraine and Sandra, while the rest of us took the two dogs for a romp in the Similkameen River. After dinner we all went to play in the swimming pool. Well … not including Sully, Bo, and Macie. HA HA HA !

DSK