August 22 to 28, 2010
Monday ; I went to see a doctor today for a follow up visit about the actinic keratosis / basal cell lesion on my nose. HMPH … because of “summer substitutions” I have now seen three different doctors about this pre-cancerous skin problem. And each one wants to treat it differently ! ! ! There’s no continuity of care / treatment plan. I’m not going in any more unless if my “real” doctor is available.
Wednesday ; WHEW … the temperature was 97 degrees at 5 PM when we were driving home from Osoyoos. Today was likely the last hot day of summer. We worked today, delivering one trailer in Osoyoos. And since we had only one trailer to deliver, we took the opportunity to cross the border into the U.S. to shop for groceries at Prince’s in Oroville, Washington.
The Tweddle Creek fire continues to burn. It’s now been burning for four weeks ! It’s covered a lot more area in the last week but is currently burning fairly slowly and weakly.
Thursday ; Well, they found the Piper aircraft that has been missing for the last week and a half. It’s in a smoking hole near the top of Apex Mountain, the local “ski hill”. We live at the bottom of the “back” side of Apex Mountain. When I took the Mountain Performance Flying course, an entire lesson was dedicated to having the student prove to himself ( with an instructor in the passenger seat ) that it was not possible to fly over Apex Mountain ( and many other mountains ) by flying straight at it. The rapid rise in terrain makes it impossible to “out climb” Apex Mountain. Especially on hot summer days
( when the air density diminishes the airplane’s ability to climb ), at maximum weight ( four bodies on board and full fuel tanks ) ! I guess the recently licensed … and recently deceased … Piper pilot had not been taught that ! This was the second airplane crash on Apex Mountain this summer ! And … if my memory of statistics studied during my Mountain Performance Flying ground school serves me correctly … this was the ninth fatal aircraft crash on Apex Mountain in the last twenty years !
We went to Penticton today. I dropped Joanne off at Wal-Mart then went to the Service BC office to write the endorsement 51 written test. I’ve decided I should get an endorsement 51 on my driver’s license. One never knows when one might want to … < ahem > … tow a large, heavy recreational trailer. BC requires that one have a “specialized endorsement” on their driver’s license to … < ahem > … tow a large, heavy recreational trailer. On the other hand, here in BC, any moron who can pass a regular driver’s test in a Toyota is then qualified to drive a 40 foot long, 40,000 pound motor home … with a full sized vehicle towed behind … as long as the motor home doesn’t have air brakes ! I passed the endorsement 51written test. So … I now have a large, heavy recreational trailer “learner’s permit”. HA HA HA < SNORT > HA HA !
Friday ; I went into Keremeos this morning for my second and hopefully last physiotherapy session for my sore left shoulder. The Tweddle Creek fire continues to get blown further and further east towards the village. It is now burning on the mountain behind Red Bridge close to the village.
Saturday ; BRRRRR … it was cold this morning. In just a few days the temperature has gone down 50 degrees, from the high 90’s to the high 40’s ! We drove a lot of miles for work today, from Keremeos to Penticton to Summerland to Penticton to Osoyoos to Oliver and finally, back home to Keremeos. We took a “short cut” on the way home, driving a scenic back road over the mountains from Hwy. 97 near Okanagan Falls to Hwy. 3A near Twin Lakes. White Lake Road passes by the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory … and the Penticton SPCA Pet Cemetery, which we had never seen before. We stopped and took a look. What a lovely place, deep in the forest on a mountain slope. We’ll have to remember that place when Sully’s or Bo’s time comes.
DSK
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Sunday, August 22, 2010
August 8 to 21, 2010
HEY ... I've just discovered that I apparently forgot to post my blog entry last week ! So ... guess I'll just have to post two weeks now !
August 8 to 14, 2010
Monday ; We both went to see our family doctor today. HMPH … 70 minute wait time. I consider that to be totally unacceptable. I told Joanne, after waiting for an hour, that I was leaving. She convinced me to stay, because seeing our doctor doesn’t usually involve a wait, and she thought he should be given “the benefit of the doubt”. To my doctor friends reading this ; recognize how arrogant and disrespectful it is to treat your patients like their time is less valuable than yours ! ! ! My experience has been that that is a fairly common attitude problem amongst physicians.
All of Joanne’s cancer screening tests were negative. She’s good to go for another year ! Yippee ! After being frozen a few weeks ago, the basal cell lesion on my nose is still there after the frozen spot blistered then healed. My doctor wants to freeze it a few more times before trying a topical chemotherapy. And … now I have some sort of a tiny skin problem on my lower lip as well ! He prescribed Celebrex for my shoulder pain, sore with bursitis or tendonitis. And physiotherapy … which is only partially covered by BC Medical Services Plan. There’s about a 50% co-pay on physiotherapy services. HMPH ! And … I declined the Celebrex prescription when the pharmacist told me how much it costs … and BC Pharmacare doesn’t pay for Celebrex. HMPH … **** that ! At that price for Celebrex, I’ll just use Ibuprofen ! Maybe I can buy Celebrex cheaper in Mexico ?
Friday ; One of the residents of Riverside RV Park Resort purchased a new fifth wheel trailer at an RV dealer in Penticton, trading in their existing fifth wheel trailer. We were hired by the RV dealer to transport the old trailer from Riverside RV Park Resort to the dealer in Penticton, then transport the new trailer back to Riverside. We did that this morning. Nice new trailer !
In between dropping off one trailer and picking up the other we ran a few quick errands in Penticton. WOO-HOO … bought a couple of whole salmon at the annual “five bucks a salmon” sale.
After more than two weeks, the Tweddle Creek fire continues to burn ! ! ! No flames visible any more, just smoke. And it’s not spreading, it’s staying in its confined area.
Saturday ; Well, today was a relatively easy day of work. We picked up and / or delivered four trailers, three in Osoyoos and one in Oliver. We will be doing another four tomorrow. On our way to Osoyoos to start work and on our way home from Oliver at the end of the day, we passed by the Tweddle Creek fire which is between Riverside RV Park Resort and the Village of Keremeos. It’s still burning, and a bit more healthy today than it was the last few days, having spread a little to find fresh “fuel”.
At the RV park in Oliver where we were making our last delivery of the day, we met a full time RV’ing couple who spent three months last winter, including Christmas and New Year’s, at Villas Onac RV Park in Teacapán, Mexico. We will be spending a few months there next winter, including Christmas and New Year’s, with Joanne’s family.
DSK
August 15 to 21, 2010
Sunday ; Whew … another long, hard, hot day of work. Temperature well into the 90’s ! Only four trailers picked up and / or delivered today, but lots of miles. We drove from home to Penticton, picked up a trailer, took it to the Osoyoos storage yard for cleaning, picked up another trailer from an Osoyoos campground and brought it to the yard for cleaning, delivered a trailer from the yard to an Osoyoos campground, delivered another trailer from the yard to a campground near Kaleden, ran some errands in Penticton, then finally drove home.
< sigh > The Tweddle Creek fire has found new life, spreading to find some fresh fuel to burn. It’s now been burning for 2½ weeks. It’s at the top of a very steep, inaccessible canyon. It’s not threatening any people or buildings or anything other than inaccessible forest, so it’s being left alone to run its course. There’s about 400 fires burning in BC right now, and firefighting resources are stretched pretty thin, especially tanker planes and helicopters with buckets !
Monday ; This afternoon Joanne went shopping in town. While she was at Dave’s Fruit & Veggies, her employer last year, they asked her if she is interested in working the fruit stand from Labour Day to Thanksgiving. She was non-committal. When she came home and discussed it with me, I suggested that she return tomorrow and tell them “YES” !
Aw, shit ! The Tweddle Creek fire moved over slightly today, and flared. REALLY flared ! ! !
Tuesday ; How disappointing ! The Tweddle Creek fire has spread … a lot … in the last 24 hours. A few days ago it appeared to be almost out.
Joanne went into town today and … got a job ! She’s going to work full time at Dave’s Fruit & Veggies from Labour Day to Thanksgiving, about six weeks. That’s great … we will put the money she earns to good use.
Wednesday ; Well, in keeping with the principle of shutting the barn door after the horse is gone, the Tweddle Creek fire is getting a lot of attention today. A “bird dog” spotter plane, two bucket equipped helicopters, and multiple tanker plane drops. But it’s too little, too late. The fire has grown quite large over the last couple of days. The drops of fire retardant foam from the tanker planes are impressive, but the buckets of water dropped by the helicopters look woefully inadequate. Watching the little bird dog plane fly right in front of the tanker planes, leading them into and through the smoke to make their drops, makes me wince ! Pretty fancy flying ! ! ! Especially when the tankers drop a load of fire retardant foam on the extremely steep sloped sections by flying over the top of the ridge then pushing the nose of the plane down into a steep dive while dumping. WOW !
The weather in the BC Interior will be changing tonight and overnight. A cold front is coming in, lowering the daytime temperatures about 20 degrees from the mid-90’s to the mid 70’s. But more importantly, it’s bringing strong winds which will fan the fires.
Thursday ; HMPH … the Tweddle Creek fire is now huge, covering at least four or five times as much area as it had until a couple of days ago. And today’s winds are spreading it even more ! It’s now been burning for more than three weeks !
Today we received news that Joanne’s family will not be joining us in Teacapán, Mexico on Christmas Day as planned. Oh well, qué sera, sera.
I washed the trailer roof today, an annual chore that I dread. But it’s necessary, and allows me to find and repair small roof problems before they become large roof problems. Today I discovered a tear in the rubber roof underneath the TV antenna, as well as a couple of other small spots that could benefit from some preventive maintenance attention before they develop into problems.
Friday ; Well, we certainly are getting a lot of air traffic around us. Helicopters with buckets, little “bird dog” spotter planes, tankers, and Search & Rescue aircraft ! This morning I went into Keremeos for my first physiotherapy session for my sore left shoulder. Bursitis and / or rotator cuff tendonitis. Hope the physiotherapy helps. The fire has jumped over three more ridges, and is now burning at least three mountain faces. It has moved closer to the Village of Keremeos, and is now burning down the face of the mountain along Ashnola River Road, where there are ranches. The wind is blowing towards the village, so Keremeos is blanketed in smoke. So today there was a lot of fire fighting activity along that mountain face, to keep the fire from coming down the mountain far enough to threaten the ranches. On the way home from town I stopped on the side of the road for a few minutes to watch two helicopters repeatedly fill their buckets in the Similkameen River then fly up the face of the mountain to dump their buckets. They certainly are precise in their dumping ! And two days ago a small plane was lost in our area. As I’m typing this a large Search & Rescue aircraft is flying slowly overhead, very low, back and forth in a grid search pattern. The pilot was a local, with not too much flying experience. I wonder if he had the Mountain Performance Flying Course ? As I do ! These mountains can really jump up and bite your ass as a pilot ! Since the plane has been missing now for two days, I wouldn’t expect a very good outcome for the pilot and three passengers. Perhaps I should consider myself fortunate to have survived 26 years of flying without turning myself into a smoking hole.
Saturday ; Our good friend Ron Swanson died of cancer yesterday. Our deepest sympathy goes out to his widow, Mary. We’ve known for three months that Ron would die this summer, but his death still saddens us deeply.
We picked up and / or delivered three trailers in Osoyoos, and one in Penticton today. Working today was an excellent excuse for us to not attend Riverside RV Park Resort’s Annual General Meeting. We don’t need the drama ! ! !
The Tweddle Creek fire has been suppressed a lot since yesterday.
DSK
August 8 to 14, 2010
Monday ; We both went to see our family doctor today. HMPH … 70 minute wait time. I consider that to be totally unacceptable. I told Joanne, after waiting for an hour, that I was leaving. She convinced me to stay, because seeing our doctor doesn’t usually involve a wait, and she thought he should be given “the benefit of the doubt”. To my doctor friends reading this ; recognize how arrogant and disrespectful it is to treat your patients like their time is less valuable than yours ! ! ! My experience has been that that is a fairly common attitude problem amongst physicians.
All of Joanne’s cancer screening tests were negative. She’s good to go for another year ! Yippee ! After being frozen a few weeks ago, the basal cell lesion on my nose is still there after the frozen spot blistered then healed. My doctor wants to freeze it a few more times before trying a topical chemotherapy. And … now I have some sort of a tiny skin problem on my lower lip as well ! He prescribed Celebrex for my shoulder pain, sore with bursitis or tendonitis. And physiotherapy … which is only partially covered by BC Medical Services Plan. There’s about a 50% co-pay on physiotherapy services. HMPH ! And … I declined the Celebrex prescription when the pharmacist told me how much it costs … and BC Pharmacare doesn’t pay for Celebrex. HMPH … **** that ! At that price for Celebrex, I’ll just use Ibuprofen ! Maybe I can buy Celebrex cheaper in Mexico ?
Friday ; One of the residents of Riverside RV Park Resort purchased a new fifth wheel trailer at an RV dealer in Penticton, trading in their existing fifth wheel trailer. We were hired by the RV dealer to transport the old trailer from Riverside RV Park Resort to the dealer in Penticton, then transport the new trailer back to Riverside. We did that this morning. Nice new trailer !
In between dropping off one trailer and picking up the other we ran a few quick errands in Penticton. WOO-HOO … bought a couple of whole salmon at the annual “five bucks a salmon” sale.
After more than two weeks, the Tweddle Creek fire continues to burn ! ! ! No flames visible any more, just smoke. And it’s not spreading, it’s staying in its confined area.
Saturday ; Well, today was a relatively easy day of work. We picked up and / or delivered four trailers, three in Osoyoos and one in Oliver. We will be doing another four tomorrow. On our way to Osoyoos to start work and on our way home from Oliver at the end of the day, we passed by the Tweddle Creek fire which is between Riverside RV Park Resort and the Village of Keremeos. It’s still burning, and a bit more healthy today than it was the last few days, having spread a little to find fresh “fuel”.
At the RV park in Oliver where we were making our last delivery of the day, we met a full time RV’ing couple who spent three months last winter, including Christmas and New Year’s, at Villas Onac RV Park in Teacapán, Mexico. We will be spending a few months there next winter, including Christmas and New Year’s, with Joanne’s family.
DSK
August 15 to 21, 2010
Sunday ; Whew … another long, hard, hot day of work. Temperature well into the 90’s ! Only four trailers picked up and / or delivered today, but lots of miles. We drove from home to Penticton, picked up a trailer, took it to the Osoyoos storage yard for cleaning, picked up another trailer from an Osoyoos campground and brought it to the yard for cleaning, delivered a trailer from the yard to an Osoyoos campground, delivered another trailer from the yard to a campground near Kaleden, ran some errands in Penticton, then finally drove home.
< sigh > The Tweddle Creek fire has found new life, spreading to find some fresh fuel to burn. It’s now been burning for 2½ weeks. It’s at the top of a very steep, inaccessible canyon. It’s not threatening any people or buildings or anything other than inaccessible forest, so it’s being left alone to run its course. There’s about 400 fires burning in BC right now, and firefighting resources are stretched pretty thin, especially tanker planes and helicopters with buckets !
Monday ; This afternoon Joanne went shopping in town. While she was at Dave’s Fruit & Veggies, her employer last year, they asked her if she is interested in working the fruit stand from Labour Day to Thanksgiving. She was non-committal. When she came home and discussed it with me, I suggested that she return tomorrow and tell them “YES” !
Aw, shit ! The Tweddle Creek fire moved over slightly today, and flared. REALLY flared ! ! !
Joanne went into town today and … got a job ! She’s going to work full time at Dave’s Fruit & Veggies from Labour Day to Thanksgiving, about six weeks. That’s great … we will put the money she earns to good use.
Wednesday ; Well, in keeping with the principle of shutting the barn door after the horse is gone, the Tweddle Creek fire is getting a lot of attention today. A “bird dog” spotter plane, two bucket equipped helicopters, and multiple tanker plane drops. But it’s too little, too late. The fire has grown quite large over the last couple of days. The drops of fire retardant foam from the tanker planes are impressive, but the buckets of water dropped by the helicopters look woefully inadequate. Watching the little bird dog plane fly right in front of the tanker planes, leading them into and through the smoke to make their drops, makes me wince ! Pretty fancy flying ! ! ! Especially when the tankers drop a load of fire retardant foam on the extremely steep sloped sections by flying over the top of the ridge then pushing the nose of the plane down into a steep dive while dumping. WOW !
The weather in the BC Interior will be changing tonight and overnight. A cold front is coming in, lowering the daytime temperatures about 20 degrees from the mid-90’s to the mid 70’s. But more importantly, it’s bringing strong winds which will fan the fires.
Thursday ; HMPH … the Tweddle Creek fire is now huge, covering at least four or five times as much area as it had until a couple of days ago. And today’s winds are spreading it even more ! It’s now been burning for more than three weeks !
Today we received news that Joanne’s family will not be joining us in Teacapán, Mexico on Christmas Day as planned. Oh well, qué sera, sera.
I washed the trailer roof today, an annual chore that I dread. But it’s necessary, and allows me to find and repair small roof problems before they become large roof problems. Today I discovered a tear in the rubber roof underneath the TV antenna, as well as a couple of other small spots that could benefit from some preventive maintenance attention before they develop into problems.
Friday ; Well, we certainly are getting a lot of air traffic around us. Helicopters with buckets, little “bird dog” spotter planes, tankers, and Search & Rescue aircraft ! This morning I went into Keremeos for my first physiotherapy session for my sore left shoulder. Bursitis and / or rotator cuff tendonitis. Hope the physiotherapy helps. The fire has jumped over three more ridges, and is now burning at least three mountain faces. It has moved closer to the Village of Keremeos, and is now burning down the face of the mountain along Ashnola River Road, where there are ranches. The wind is blowing towards the village, so Keremeos is blanketed in smoke. So today there was a lot of fire fighting activity along that mountain face, to keep the fire from coming down the mountain far enough to threaten the ranches. On the way home from town I stopped on the side of the road for a few minutes to watch two helicopters repeatedly fill their buckets in the Similkameen River then fly up the face of the mountain to dump their buckets. They certainly are precise in their dumping ! And two days ago a small plane was lost in our area. As I’m typing this a large Search & Rescue aircraft is flying slowly overhead, very low, back and forth in a grid search pattern. The pilot was a local, with not too much flying experience. I wonder if he had the Mountain Performance Flying Course ? As I do ! These mountains can really jump up and bite your ass as a pilot ! Since the plane has been missing now for two days, I wouldn’t expect a very good outcome for the pilot and three passengers. Perhaps I should consider myself fortunate to have survived 26 years of flying without turning myself into a smoking hole.
We picked up and / or delivered three trailers in Osoyoos, and one in Penticton today. Working today was an excellent excuse for us to not attend Riverside RV Park Resort’s Annual General Meeting. We don’t need the drama ! ! !
The Tweddle Creek fire has been suppressed a lot since yesterday.
DSK
Sunday, August 8, 2010
August 1 to 7, 2010
August 1 to 7, 2010
Sunday ; This morning we went into town to see Kars Under The “K”, the annual classic car show in Keremeos. HA HA HA … did you know … ? ? ? A 1974 Hornet is now a “classic” ! HA HA HA … should have held on to the first new car I ever bought, a 1972 limited edition The Green Hornet … HA HA HA ( SNORT ) HA HA !
This afternoon our RV park’s social committee organized a group outing, a float down the Similkameen River on tubes and rafts. I went … it was fun ! We entered the river at our park’s burn pile, and floated about 5 km. / 3 mi. downstream. Most of the time the river was shallow and moving relatively slowly. Occasionally there were deep and / or fast sections. It’s really fun to shoot through the sections of little rapids.
Monday ; Another beautiful, sunny, hot day. I spent half the day working with our neighbour Gerry, repairing his damaged awning. And … we succeeded in repairing the two damaged sections. Two heads, four hands, some brute force, some hardware, and it’s ( almost ) as good as new.
We sold our old Wi-Fi phone today to an Alberta couple who were driving through to Vancouver Island and serendipitously saw our ad in the Okanagan Valley Bargain Hunter while they were in Kelowna this past weekend. They are Snowbirds / winter RV‘ers, and are already Vonage VoIP subscribers. They tried to get a stand alone Wi-Fi phone from Vonage, but the stand alone Wi-Fi phones are no longer available from Vonage. So them seeing our ad was like a match made in heaven.
The nearby forest fire persists. It’s been burning for five days now. It doesn’t seem to get any bigger, nor does it seem to get any smaller. It seems to be burning happily within its own defined area. And as long as it doesn’t spread significantly, I guess there are higher priority fires to fight.
Tuesday ; There are now 376 wildfires burning in the BC Interior. The sky is hazy with smoke. I was ill today, and spent most of the day in bed, reading and snoozing.
Wednesday ; Today we sadly remembered Teddy, our sweet little baby cat that died one year ago. Well, he was neither little nor a baby, but he was when we got him 17 years earlier, and I always thought of him as our little baby cat. We miss him !
My next work project was going to be repacking the trailer’s wheel bearings with fresh grease. I was going to do one hub per day over a four day period. Today I did one. I removed the tire and wheel, removed the hub off the axle, disassembled the hub, removed the bearings, greased them, reassembled the bearings into the hub, installed a new bearing seal, and reinstalled the hub onto the axle. What a filthy job ! I put the wheel and tire into the bed of the truck so that I can take it to a tire shop to have the weather beaten valve stem replaced. After doing one, I decided not to do the other three. There seemed to be plenty of grease in the bearings. There was no water and no dirt. I don’t think repacking the bearings is necessary yet.
Thursday ; This afternoon we drove to Penticton for the second of five days of PeachFest, the annual festival celebrating peach harvest time. We ran a few errands in Penticton before heading for Okanagan Lake Park. We spent a few hours in the late afternoon and early evening watching a variety of entertainment on the main stage. At 8 PM we left Okanagan Lake Park and drove across town to Skaha Lake Park to see the sandcastle competition. That was the main reason why Joanne wanted to go today. It was a bit disappointing. There were only a few entries, far less than the organizers had expected, obviously. After walking along the beach viewing the entries, we went for a late supper of fast food. Boy, that’s one thing the Americans do so much better than Canada ; fast foods !
Friday ; Our local wildfire, now known as the Tweddle Creek fire, persists. It’s been burning for about nine days now. There was a newspaper article on that fire and another one nearby, near Spotted Lake near Osoyoos. Oh my, I hope Spotted Lake itself isn’t affected. I guess we’ll see tomorrow when we go to work. The Tweddle Creek fire is mostly being left alone because it’s near the top of a mountain that is so steep and rugged they can’t get either men or equipment in. They dumped some fire retardant foam around the perimeter to keep it confined to its current size, 85 hectares, with the hope that it will eventually burn itself out. How big is a hectare ?
Well, isn’t that a strange Internet scam ? ! ? I’ve just received a plea for money, ostensibly from an old acquaintance of ours. I wonder if her e-mail address book was hacked into and stolen ?
Yesterday I took a trailer tire to “Big O Tires” in Penticton and had a cracked rubber valve stem replaced with a metal valve stem. Today I reinstalled that tire on the trailer, and removed another tire with a cracked valve stem. I’ll also have that one changed to a metal valve stem, probably tomorrow when I start our work day by picking up a trailer at a campground in Penticton. I also installed the new fridge igniter electronic control module that I purchased yesterday. Yup … that solved the problem ! The fridge now ignites properly on propane function.
Saturday ; We got up very early again this morning, in order to be in Penticton before 9 AM so that we could run a few errands before starting work. I took another trailer tire to Big O Tires and had a metal valve stem installed. Then we went to Staples to buy many CANADA scribblers on sale, to give away to children in Mexico next winter, along with CANADA pencils. We picked up our first trailer of the day, in Penticton, and transported it to Osoyoos for cleaning. We picked up and / or delivered five more trailers in Osoyoos. WHEW … first time we’ve done six in a day. I guess we’re getting faster and better. Today we did six in a bit less time than we took to do five, a few weeks ago. We ran a couple more errands in Osoyoos, then headed for home.
The Spotted Lake fire was extinguished. It burned from the highway right down to the edge of Spotted Lake, and up the surrounding mountain. It was stopped just a few feet from at least three residences. There was fire retardant foam residue on the highway. It looked like pretty impressive fire fighting. The Tweddle Creek fire is still burning, but weakly. We stopped in Keremeos on the way home to refill a propane tank.
WHEW … long, hard day !
DSK
Sunday ; This morning we went into town to see Kars Under The “K”, the annual classic car show in Keremeos. HA HA HA … did you know … ? ? ? A 1974 Hornet is now a “classic” ! HA HA HA … should have held on to the first new car I ever bought, a 1972 limited edition The Green Hornet … HA HA HA ( SNORT ) HA HA !
This afternoon our RV park’s social committee organized a group outing, a float down the Similkameen River on tubes and rafts. I went … it was fun ! We entered the river at our park’s burn pile, and floated about 5 km. / 3 mi. downstream. Most of the time the river was shallow and moving relatively slowly. Occasionally there were deep and / or fast sections. It’s really fun to shoot through the sections of little rapids.
Monday ; Another beautiful, sunny, hot day. I spent half the day working with our neighbour Gerry, repairing his damaged awning. And … we succeeded in repairing the two damaged sections. Two heads, four hands, some brute force, some hardware, and it’s ( almost ) as good as new.
We sold our old Wi-Fi phone today to an Alberta couple who were driving through to Vancouver Island and serendipitously saw our ad in the Okanagan Valley Bargain Hunter while they were in Kelowna this past weekend. They are Snowbirds / winter RV‘ers, and are already Vonage VoIP subscribers. They tried to get a stand alone Wi-Fi phone from Vonage, but the stand alone Wi-Fi phones are no longer available from Vonage. So them seeing our ad was like a match made in heaven.
The nearby forest fire persists. It’s been burning for five days now. It doesn’t seem to get any bigger, nor does it seem to get any smaller. It seems to be burning happily within its own defined area. And as long as it doesn’t spread significantly, I guess there are higher priority fires to fight.
Tuesday ; There are now 376 wildfires burning in the BC Interior. The sky is hazy with smoke. I was ill today, and spent most of the day in bed, reading and snoozing.
Wednesday ; Today we sadly remembered Teddy, our sweet little baby cat that died one year ago. Well, he was neither little nor a baby, but he was when we got him 17 years earlier, and I always thought of him as our little baby cat. We miss him !
My next work project was going to be repacking the trailer’s wheel bearings with fresh grease. I was going to do one hub per day over a four day period. Today I did one. I removed the tire and wheel, removed the hub off the axle, disassembled the hub, removed the bearings, greased them, reassembled the bearings into the hub, installed a new bearing seal, and reinstalled the hub onto the axle. What a filthy job ! I put the wheel and tire into the bed of the truck so that I can take it to a tire shop to have the weather beaten valve stem replaced. After doing one, I decided not to do the other three. There seemed to be plenty of grease in the bearings. There was no water and no dirt. I don’t think repacking the bearings is necessary yet.
Thursday ; This afternoon we drove to Penticton for the second of five days of PeachFest, the annual festival celebrating peach harvest time. We ran a few errands in Penticton before heading for Okanagan Lake Park. We spent a few hours in the late afternoon and early evening watching a variety of entertainment on the main stage. At 8 PM we left Okanagan Lake Park and drove across town to Skaha Lake Park to see the sandcastle competition. That was the main reason why Joanne wanted to go today. It was a bit disappointing. There were only a few entries, far less than the organizers had expected, obviously. After walking along the beach viewing the entries, we went for a late supper of fast food. Boy, that’s one thing the Americans do so much better than Canada ; fast foods !
Well, isn’t that a strange Internet scam ? ! ? I’ve just received a plea for money, ostensibly from an old acquaintance of ours. I wonder if her e-mail address book was hacked into and stolen ?
Yesterday I took a trailer tire to “Big O Tires” in Penticton and had a cracked rubber valve stem replaced with a metal valve stem. Today I reinstalled that tire on the trailer, and removed another tire with a cracked valve stem. I’ll also have that one changed to a metal valve stem, probably tomorrow when I start our work day by picking up a trailer at a campground in Penticton. I also installed the new fridge igniter electronic control module that I purchased yesterday. Yup … that solved the problem ! The fridge now ignites properly on propane function.
Saturday ; We got up very early again this morning, in order to be in Penticton before 9 AM so that we could run a few errands before starting work. I took another trailer tire to Big O Tires and had a metal valve stem installed. Then we went to Staples to buy many CANADA scribblers on sale, to give away to children in Mexico next winter, along with CANADA pencils. We picked up our first trailer of the day, in Penticton, and transported it to Osoyoos for cleaning. We picked up and / or delivered five more trailers in Osoyoos. WHEW … first time we’ve done six in a day. I guess we’re getting faster and better. Today we did six in a bit less time than we took to do five, a few weeks ago. We ran a couple more errands in Osoyoos, then headed for home.
The Spotted Lake fire was extinguished. It burned from the highway right down to the edge of Spotted Lake, and up the surrounding mountain. It was stopped just a few feet from at least three residences. There was fire retardant foam residue on the highway. It looked like pretty impressive fire fighting. The Tweddle Creek fire is still burning, but weakly. We stopped in Keremeos on the way home to refill a propane tank.
WHEW … long, hard day !
DSK
Sunday, August 1, 2010
July 25 to 31, 2010
July 25 to 31, 2010
Sunday ; Another day of temperatures nudging 100 degrees. I quite like it actually ! We went to Osoyoos today to deliver one trailer, the delivery that was postponed from yesterday. Since we were all the way out there, and didn’t have all that much work to do, Joanne decided we should cross the border and do some shopping. So … across the border we went, into Oroville, Washington. We refilled Lanoire with diesel ( cheaper in the U.S. ) and we shopped for groceries at Prince’s. Why are the prices for milk, eggs, and cheese a fraction of the price in Canada ? ! ? Does that mean Canada’s socialistic marketing boards just don’t work ? ! ? WOO-HOO … got the last tub of Tillamook Ice Cream with the peanut butter filled little chocolate cows.
Monday ; Another hot day. Hauled a very heavy, old compressor from the park’s garage to the trailer in the park that I have been hired to transport to Penticton. Inflated the trailer’s flat tires. Did some yard work. Did a Bo-gility session. Late in the afternoon, we washed the truck. WHEW … too hot for that ! Fortunately, there is a lovely indoor / outdoor pool here.
Tuesday ; Another hot day. When we were driving home from the South a few months ago our fridge wasn’t functioning properly on the propane function. Today my objective was to clean and adjust the fridge’s propane burner and igniter. While doing that I discovered that the igniter is not functioning properly. The problem might be the igniter. Or maybe the igniter’s printed circuit board module. Or maybe the thermocouple. ( sigh ) I did some Internet research but wasn’t able to learn much. I will try to get some helpful free advice from the RV dealer in Penticton that I do business with, and the mobile RV service technician that RV Days uses to service their rental trailers.
Wednesday ; Another hot day. We had to get up waaaaay too early this morning in order to be at Penticton Hospital by 8:30 AM for the last of Joanne’s annual cancer screening tests. Afterwards we did our regular shopping and errands, had a picnic lunch in Skaha Lake Park, and were back home by mid-afternoon. Our next door neighbour Stu asked if we heard a wildcat / bobcat late last night in either his or our yard. Uhhhhh, no, Stu … I think what you heard was Sully using his “outdoor voice” to tell Bo to hurry up and finish drinking water and get away from the water bowl. HA HA HA … Sully’s not “big” on standing in line and waiting. HA HA HA … that’s my boy … HA HA HA ( SNORT ) HA HA !
Thursday ; Uh-oh … smoke on top of the mountain ! ! !
Yesterday evening the sky turned grey and there was much thunder and lightning, although no rain. At dusk there was a beautiful double rainbow over the Ashnola River Valley to the south. This morning when I opened the bedroom blinds … uh-oh … smoke over the Ashnola ! ! ! The noon news on TV reported that last night’s electrical storm ignited over 100 new fires in the BC Interior last night. By early afternoon there were fire fighting helicopters filling their buckets in the Similkameen River beside our RV park, but they weren’t fighting the fire that was visible to the south. They were heading over the mountain on the west side of the river, returning with empty buckets within a few minutes.
I went into town today to get a haircut and beard trim. I sanded and painted the lower fiberglass skirt of the trailer where I damaged it with spray brake cleaner a few days ago. Did you know that spray brake cleaner eats paint ? ! ? Well, neither did I ! ! ! HMPH … as always, my spray painting work leaves a lot to be desired.
Friday ; This morning the forest fire on the nearby ridge was a lot worse than yesterday. It got no attention until mid-afternoon when a tanker plane finally showed up and dumped a load of fire retardant on it. Then a couple of helicopters with buckets worked it for a few hours. They managed to knock it back down to about the level that it was last night before they quit for the day. At 7 PM, while we were cooling off in the swimming pool, and watching the fire, it flared ! A lot ! Heavy smoke with visible flames ! I hope it gets more attention tomorrow !
I spent the day trying to solve two problems with the trailer. First, the thermostat that controls the furnace and air conditioner has not been functioning quite right lately. I removed it from the wall, disassembled it, cleaned it as best as I could, then reassembled and reinstalled it. If that doesn’t solve the problem I guess I’ll just replace it. Then I continued working on the malfunctioning fridge propane igniter. Following some diagnostic instructions I found on the Internet I was able to diagnose the problem as a faulty igniter module, a little box of electronics that costs about $50. Guess I’ll have to buy a new one. Harvey ( the trailer ) is now 12 years old, so the failure of some electronic components is neither unexpected nor unreasonable.
At 9 PM I went outside to look at the forest fire through binoculars. WOW … it was spooky to be able to see individual trees ignite and burst into flames like a blowtorch shooting fire up off the side of the mountain. Fifty to a hundred years to grow, and fifty to a hundred seconds to be destroyed !
Saturday ; Today was a little less hot, temperature in the high 80’s. We had a long, hard day of picking up and / or delivering 5 trailers, in Osoyoos, Penticton, and Summerland. Lots of driving ! When we finished our last delivery, in Penticton, it was 5:40 PM. We decided we might as well run a few errands while we were in Penticton. Then we decided we might as well treat ourselves to dinner out. We ate supper at a Chinese buffet restaurant.
The forest fire continues, although diminished quite a bit from yesterday.
Late at night, around 11 PM, an extremely strong wind blew up suddenly. I heard the “snap, crackle, pop” of a trailer awning being damaged by wind. We ran outside and met our neighbour Janet coming out of her trailer. Her husband Gerry wasn’t home ! The three of us began to wrestle with the awning, already damaged, making it difficult to close / roll up. Quickly some other neighbours joined in, and after 20 or 30 minutes of frustrating effort in the dark, we managed to get the awning closed, protecting it from any further damage.
DSK
Sunday ; Another day of temperatures nudging 100 degrees. I quite like it actually ! We went to Osoyoos today to deliver one trailer, the delivery that was postponed from yesterday. Since we were all the way out there, and didn’t have all that much work to do, Joanne decided we should cross the border and do some shopping. So … across the border we went, into Oroville, Washington. We refilled Lanoire with diesel ( cheaper in the U.S. ) and we shopped for groceries at Prince’s. Why are the prices for milk, eggs, and cheese a fraction of the price in Canada ? ! ? Does that mean Canada’s socialistic marketing boards just don’t work ? ! ? WOO-HOO … got the last tub of Tillamook Ice Cream with the peanut butter filled little chocolate cows.
Monday ; Another hot day. Hauled a very heavy, old compressor from the park’s garage to the trailer in the park that I have been hired to transport to Penticton. Inflated the trailer’s flat tires. Did some yard work. Did a Bo-gility session. Late in the afternoon, we washed the truck. WHEW … too hot for that ! Fortunately, there is a lovely indoor / outdoor pool here.
Tuesday ; Another hot day. When we were driving home from the South a few months ago our fridge wasn’t functioning properly on the propane function. Today my objective was to clean and adjust the fridge’s propane burner and igniter. While doing that I discovered that the igniter is not functioning properly. The problem might be the igniter. Or maybe the igniter’s printed circuit board module. Or maybe the thermocouple. ( sigh ) I did some Internet research but wasn’t able to learn much. I will try to get some helpful free advice from the RV dealer in Penticton that I do business with, and the mobile RV service technician that RV Days uses to service their rental trailers.
Wednesday ; Another hot day. We had to get up waaaaay too early this morning in order to be at Penticton Hospital by 8:30 AM for the last of Joanne’s annual cancer screening tests. Afterwards we did our regular shopping and errands, had a picnic lunch in Skaha Lake Park, and were back home by mid-afternoon. Our next door neighbour Stu asked if we heard a wildcat / bobcat late last night in either his or our yard. Uhhhhh, no, Stu … I think what you heard was Sully using his “outdoor voice” to tell Bo to hurry up and finish drinking water and get away from the water bowl. HA HA HA … Sully’s not “big” on standing in line and waiting. HA HA HA … that’s my boy … HA HA HA ( SNORT ) HA HA !
Thursday ; Uh-oh … smoke on top of the mountain ! ! !
Yesterday evening the sky turned grey and there was much thunder and lightning, although no rain. At dusk there was a beautiful double rainbow over the Ashnola River Valley to the south. This morning when I opened the bedroom blinds … uh-oh … smoke over the Ashnola ! ! ! The noon news on TV reported that last night’s electrical storm ignited over 100 new fires in the BC Interior last night. By early afternoon there were fire fighting helicopters filling their buckets in the Similkameen River beside our RV park, but they weren’t fighting the fire that was visible to the south. They were heading over the mountain on the west side of the river, returning with empty buckets within a few minutes.
I went into town today to get a haircut and beard trim. I sanded and painted the lower fiberglass skirt of the trailer where I damaged it with spray brake cleaner a few days ago. Did you know that spray brake cleaner eats paint ? ! ? Well, neither did I ! ! ! HMPH … as always, my spray painting work leaves a lot to be desired.
Friday ; This morning the forest fire on the nearby ridge was a lot worse than yesterday. It got no attention until mid-afternoon when a tanker plane finally showed up and dumped a load of fire retardant on it. Then a couple of helicopters with buckets worked it for a few hours. They managed to knock it back down to about the level that it was last night before they quit for the day. At 7 PM, while we were cooling off in the swimming pool, and watching the fire, it flared ! A lot ! Heavy smoke with visible flames ! I hope it gets more attention tomorrow !
I spent the day trying to solve two problems with the trailer. First, the thermostat that controls the furnace and air conditioner has not been functioning quite right lately. I removed it from the wall, disassembled it, cleaned it as best as I could, then reassembled and reinstalled it. If that doesn’t solve the problem I guess I’ll just replace it. Then I continued working on the malfunctioning fridge propane igniter. Following some diagnostic instructions I found on the Internet I was able to diagnose the problem as a faulty igniter module, a little box of electronics that costs about $50. Guess I’ll have to buy a new one. Harvey ( the trailer ) is now 12 years old, so the failure of some electronic components is neither unexpected nor unreasonable.
At 9 PM I went outside to look at the forest fire through binoculars. WOW … it was spooky to be able to see individual trees ignite and burst into flames like a blowtorch shooting fire up off the side of the mountain. Fifty to a hundred years to grow, and fifty to a hundred seconds to be destroyed !
The forest fire continues, although diminished quite a bit from yesterday.
Late at night, around 11 PM, an extremely strong wind blew up suddenly. I heard the “snap, crackle, pop” of a trailer awning being damaged by wind. We ran outside and met our neighbour Janet coming out of her trailer. Her husband Gerry wasn’t home ! The three of us began to wrestle with the awning, already damaged, making it difficult to close / roll up. Quickly some other neighbours joined in, and after 20 or 30 minutes of frustrating effort in the dark, we managed to get the awning closed, protecting it from any further damage.
DSK
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