Sunday, September 26, 2010

September 19 to 25, 2010

September 19 to 25, 2010


Wednesday ; Another gorgeous fall day ! Well … every day I have been baiting and setting a rat trap between our storage shed and the rock wall, hoping to trap a pack rat. And every morning I discover that … I’ve whacked another mouse ! < sigh > Catching mice in a rat trap is akin to swatting flies with a baseball bat, n’est-ce pas ? ! ?

Joanne has been unable to shake the cold she caught about two weeks ago. She’s still pretty sick ! I’m finished with the application of Efudex on my nose. My nose is raw and sore !

I have just returned from riding my bicycle around the park ( at 7 PM ). There was a black bear at our “burn pile” area. Bears have been spotted a few times around the park this week. They’re here for the wonderful apples and ripe plums in the park’s orchard, no doubt.

Saturday ; Well … that was certainly … unexpected ! My brother, who hasn’t spoken to me for somewhere between ten and fifteen years, phoned tonight to invite us to his home in Kelowna for Thanksgiving dinner ! I don’t know quite what to make of that ! I wasn’t able to accept his invitation because of Joanne’s job. She is committed to working every day of the Thanksgiving long weekend. As an alternative, I invited him and his family to come here for Thanksgiving. He’ll get back to me. < shrug >

DSK

Sunday, September 19, 2010

September 12 to 18, 2010

September 12 to 18, 2010


Tuesday ; Today was a lovely fall day, perfect “June 18” weather. After seven weeks it appears as if the Tweddle Creek fire is finally out. There are no more wisps of smoke rising off the mountain. But … I’ve been wrong before ! Today was Joanne’s first day off after working for eight straight days. And she was sick with a cold for the last few. She felt a bit better this morning, but faded rapidly this afternoon. Today I completed the installation of a new thermostat in the trailer, a project that I have been working on for a few days. Well done, Daniel ! I was not able to buy an identical replacement, so had to install a “compatible” substitute. Right ! Good luck with that ! Seven wires coming out of the wall, six of them connected to the old thermostat, eight terminals on the new thermostat, only four wires needed to be connected on the new thermostat ! ! ! Lots of Internet research, a couple of phone calls to the RV dealer that sold me the “compatible” substitute, and a bit of trial and error, with the hope that my trial and error would not result in an error that “fried” the electronics of the thermostat ! I also completed my research into available travel medical insurers, policies, and options, an annual exercise that doesn’t seem to get any easier as the years go by.

Saturday ; OOOOOWWWWW ! For the last twelve days I have been applying Efudex to my nose. Efudex is a “chemical peel” type of cream used to treat skin cancers like Basal Cell Carcinoma and Squamous Cell Carcinoma and pre-cancerous sun damaged skin lesions like Actinic Keratosis. Efudex “finds” damaged skin and slowly “burns” it. I thought I had just one small spot of Actinic Keratosis on my nose, but noooooo … ! ! ! My entire nose is one huge raw wound, especially where my eyeglass nose pads sit ! It hurts like hell to wear my glasses, which I have to do most of the time if I want to see anything ! I knew that falling asleep on that beach in Cuba about fifteen years ago was going to come back to haunt me !

There has been a bit of an influx of pack rats in our area this fall. There is “evidence” of a pack rat in the small space between our storage shed and the rock wall. I use that space to store some pieces of lumber and other stuff. I don’t want a pack rat setting up “home” in our storage shed for the winter. Yesterday I bought a rat trap in Penticton. This morning the trap was sprung, the bait was gone, but … no pack rat in the trap. HMPH !

Joanne is still suffering with a cold, although the worst has passed.

DSK

Sunday, September 12, 2010

September 5 to 11, 2010

September 5 to 11, 2010


Sunday ; The owner of Dave’s Fruits & Veggies in Keremeos, and Lidder’s Fruit Stand in Cawston, phoned this morning to ask that Joanne start work tomorrow at their Cawston fruit stand.

Tuesday ; Well, today I reached the milestone of 100 days without smoking. I wanted to reach the 100 day point before “publicly” announcing my efforts to quit smoking. Congratulations, Daniel !

Thursday ; Whew … I’m tired. I drove Joanne to work early this morning … to Cawston … she’s working the Cawston fruit stand this week … drove home, showered, drove to Penticton, shopped and ran errands for half the day, went to a doctor’s appointment … met the surgeon who will perform my colonoscopy in a few weeks … shopped for another half a day, then drove back to Cawston to pick up Joanne at work. I was half an hour late !

Friday ; AAARRRGGGHHH … we’ve just run out of peanut butter from Peanut Patch in Yuma, Arizona ! We spent the evening in Penticton, at the residence of the owners of RV Days, at an end of season staff party. It was obvious that they were satisfied with our performance this summer, and they have invited us to work for them again next summer. < sigh > Joanne has a cold.

Saturday ; Well … that’s four hours of my life that I’ll never get back ! I spent four hours … and a $10 entry fee … at a local community garage sale today trying to get rid of some unwanted stuff. I sold four items for a total of $32
< sigh >. Joanne is quite ill with a cold. My sister phoned this afternoon and we had a nice long chat. AND … < sputter > … there is still one spot near the top of the mountain that is puffing out wisps of smoke ! ! !

DSK

Sunday, September 5, 2010

August 29 to September 4, 2010

August 29 to September 4, 2009


Sunday ; The Tweddle Creek fire has now spread almost all the way to Keremeos. It started 4½ weeks ago about 9 km. west of Keremeos, and has slowly spread east almost all the way to the village. Fortunately it has mostly burned high up on the mountain ridges, and has burned down slope towards the river valley in only a few spots. The Village of Keremeos isn’t in any danger … but it sure is smoky in town !

Monday ; It rained quite a bit late last night. We were hopeful that it might extinguish the Tweddle Creek fire. This morning when I went outside and looked up on the mountain … not only was the fire still burning …. but now there was … < sputter > … snow on top of the mountain ! ! !

Tuesday ; It rained all day today. Can the fire still be burning ?

Wednesday ; It rained for most of today. When the rain stopped and the sky cleared in late afternoon … WOO-HOO … after burning for five weeks the fire was out ! ! !

Thursday ; Well … I guess I stand corrected ! ! ! Obviously, where there’s smoke, there’s fire ! And today there were a few spots on the mountain where wisps of smoke were rising. This afternoon a spotter helicopter showed up, followed a few minutes later by a small “bird dog” plane right in front of a tanker plane. Guided by the bird dog, the tanker dropped fire retardant on the mountain in three places. YIKES … watching them work makes me cringe ! They left, headed northeast, then returned in about an hour to dump three more times. I guess the tank holds enough retardant for three dumps, or there are three tanks, then they have to return to Penticton Airport to be refilled.

Friday ; We were expecting tomorrow to be our last day of trailer delivery work, but this morning Marty from RV Days phoned to advise us that due to cancellations he didn’t have any work for us tomorrow. DARN ! We are $15 short of my trailer delivery annual earnings target.

Saturday ; Well … doggone it … there are still a few tiny spots on the mountain puffing up wisps of smoke ! ! !

DSK