July 20 to 26, 2014 ; Exploring B.C.'s Northern Okanagan Valley

Sunday ;  A mix of sun and cloud, very warm, light wind ... nice day.

Last night just after midnight, our neighbour / friend Jeannine's husband died. He had been deteriorating for quite some time, and was at the senior's residence facility in Keremeos for the last two months. Our heartfelt sympathies are extended to Jeannine.

This morning after I made us blueberry pancakes for brunch I drove Joanne over to the laundromat on the other side of our RV park, and while she did laundry, I walked down to the river and fished for an hour and a half. I caught a fish, threw it into a pail of water, and continued to fish until it was time to drive Joanne back home from the laundromat with the laundry. While she went to put laundry away, I sat down at our picnic table to clean the fish. DAMN ! It was a Whitefish ! I didn't look closely at it when I caught it, assuming it was a Rainbow Trout. What a doofus ! Fortunately, it was still alive and healthy in the pail of water, so I took it back to the river and released it.

This afternoon we put the truck camper back onto the truck. It didn't go as smoothly as we would have liked. I guess we're still learning. We're planning to leave tomorrow for a five day camping trip, exploring the Northern Okanagan Valley, and seeing some summer stock theatre.

Monday ; Keremeos to Vernon

Sunny and hot.

This morning we left home, drove east on Hwy. 3 to Keremeos, then north on Hwy. 3A to Kaleden, then north on Hwy. 97 through Penticton, Summerland, and Peachland, to West Kelowna ( more commonly known by its "old" name WestBank ). Joanne wanted to have lunch at a Native restaurant she had found ( via Internet research ) in WestBank. Lunch at Kekuli Cafe was excellent ! Their specialty is bannock, the Canadian version of what American Natives call Indian Fry Bread. Joanne had an "Indian Taco" on bannock. I had homemade tomato vegetable soup and a smoked salmon and herb flavoured cream cheese on bannock sandwich, like a Native version of lox and cream cheese on a bagel. MMMMM ! We both had iced Saskatoon tea to drink. On the way out I bought a couple of bannock "pastries", similar to cinnamon buns, topped with Saskatoon cream icing, for tomorrow's breakfast.

From West Kelowna we travelled north on Westside Road, along the west side of Okanagan Lake ... as opposed to the congested Hwy. 97 running along the east side of Okanagan Lake, through Kelowna. We explored three provincial campgrounds along the west side of Okanagan Lake, but none of them inspired us enough to stop for the night. Westside Road ended when it reached Hwy. 97 again just north of the north end of Okanagan Lake, just north of the small city of Vernon.

We "backtracked" south on Hwy. 97 into Vernon. We wanted to find the Real Canadian Superstore with the free RV dump station ( for use tomorrow ), and the Opal Miner's Gift Shop. Now there ... the Opal Miner's Gift Shop ... was a waste of about fifteen minutes of my life that I'll never get back ! We drove north on Hwy. 97, almost back to where we came out at Westside Road, to O'Keefe Ranch, a restored ranching homestead museum, with a small "campground" for overnight parking for customers.

We checked in, paid for tonight's "camping" and tomorrow's admission to the museum grounds, then took Bo for a "hike" through the corn maze, thinking that he would enjoy it, as he always enjoys hiking. NOOOOO ! ! ! Within minutes, he was suffering anxiety about being "lost" in the corn maze. How strange ! The more we wandered around, the higher his anxiety became, so we turned around and headed out, although he didn't know we were heading "out". He just became more and more anxious until we finally exited the corn maze. Poor Bo. We’ve hiked with him in extremely narrow slot canyons in Nevada where he rushes ahead and fearlessly squeezes through spaces too narrow for us to follow. Why would a corn maze freak him out ?

Tuesday ; O'Keefe Ranch to Cooke Creek Recreation Site on Shuswap River

Mostly cloudy and very warm.

We spent the morning exploring the grounds and buildings of O'Keefe Ranch, a "living museum" ranching homestead of a century and a half ago. Some priceless artifacts !

Shortly after noon we refilled our fresh water tank and left O’Keefe Ranch, driving a short distance back to the small city of Vernon where we bought tickets to an outdoor farm theatre play on Thursday evening. We bought some groceries, had a late lunch, and dumped our grey waste tank at Real Canadian Superstore.

We drove north on Hwy. 97A from Vernon to Enderby where we turned east on the Enderby to Mabel Lake Road. Halfway to Mabel Lake we came across the Cooke Creek Recreation Site on the Shuswap River, an unserviced, rustic, small campground. Joanne liked it and wanted to stay. We selected a site, and I went to nap with Sully. After napping I went fly fishing in the Shuswap River for an hour before supper. Didn’t catch anything, but it was pleasant to practice my fly fishing technique in this beautiful and rugged wilderness area.

Wednesday ; Cooke Creek Recreation Site to Mabel Lake to Salmon Arm

Today started out cloudy and warm. Around 5 PM it began to rain heavily, and never let up, making for a slightly less than ideal evening to go to dinner theatre.

We got a slow start to our morning and when we left the Cooke Creek Recreation Site we headed east on the Enderby to Mabel Lake Road. I wanted to see Mabel Lake. When we arrived at the not particularly impressive community of Kingfisher on the shore of Mabel Lake, we stumbled across the Wednesday morning farmer's market. We bought some fresh produce and baking. Then we drove west back to Enderby, and north on Hwy. 97A to Salmon Arm. We found our way to Picadilly Mall where a free dump station is located and boondocking overnight is permitted.

We had lunch, then I napped for an hour with Sully while Joanne went Dollar Store shopping. We dumped our grey waste tank and refilled our fresh water tank. We drove downtown and found the Visitor's Information Centre where we picked up some local information and some information for our fall trip to Bella Coola. I took the opportunity to use the free Wi-Fi to check e-mail and retrieve phone messages. I returned a couple of phone calls, and as we left the Info Centre it began to rain heavily and never stopped.

We drove to the R J Haney Heritage Center, another "living museum", where we had reservations for their summer stock dinner theatre production. Dinner was in their "tea room" and the play was performed inside their little church, their "rainy day" venue. Dinner was okay. The play was good. It was a musical, written, produced, and directed by a "local", and was performed by four talented young actors / actresses, recent high school graduates, so perhaps about eighteen years old. The topic was ... topical ; the plight of the local Sockeye Salmon, and the frustrating, hundred year old battle to save them from extinction. After the play the audience returned to the tea room for dessert and ... tea, of course.

We drove back to Picadilly Mall where we boondocked overnight. I HATE driving in a strange city at dusk in heavy rain !

Thursday ; Salmon Arm to Armstrong to Spallumcheen to Vernon

Today was damp and chilly, with intermittent cold rain.

This morning we dumped the waste tanks and refilled the freshwater tank at Picadilly Mall, then headed out of Salmon Arm on Hwy. 97A back to Armstrong. Our destination was Village Cheese, a fromagerie / cheese making business. We browsed their selections of artisan cheeses, then had lunch in their restaurant. WOW ! ! ! Authentic Beet Borscht served with cheese curds instead of the traditional sour cream. EXCELLENT ! ! ! As were the sandwiches on fresh baguettes, and milk shakes. After lunch we bought a variety of cheeses ; gouda, havarti, cheddar with smoked salmon, butter cheese, and, of course, squeaky fresh cheese curds. WOO-HOO ... home made poutine on the horizon !

We crossed the street to the local, independent supermarket to buy some orange juice. Only to stumble into their annual, two day sale of very well priced Sockeye Salmon. With a fish filleting expert on hand giving filleting demonstrations as he filleted customers' purchases. I could not resist. I bought two Sockeyes. And following the lead of the customer in front of me, I had him package the "waste" for me to use for making some manner of fish broth or chowder. We're such "foodies", n'est-ce pas ?

Our desire to explore was dampened by the rainy weather ... HA HA HA ... so by
mid-afternoon we headed to Spallumcheen where we were attending the Caravan Farm Theatre this evening. We parked in Caravan Farm's parking lot / Clydesdale horse pasture. We visited the Clydesdales we were sharing the parking lot / pasture with. We read. I napped with Sully.

After supper we attended the opening night performance of Caravan Farm Theatre's production of The Tragical Comedy Of Punch & Judy. What a complex and bizarre ... rock opera ! Shades of Hair and Jesus Christ Superstar ! The first act was outdoors and the second act was in a large barn. Included in the performance were ... puppets ... Clydesdale horses ... a giant mask ... a giant snake puppet ... three musicians performing throughout ... ! ! ! Perhaps Caravan Farm Theatre is worth an annual journey for us ? ? ?

After the show ended ( after 10 PM ) we drove back to Armstrong, and not finding anywhere suitable to boondock there, we continued on to Vernon where we boondocked overnight in the parking lot of Real Canadian Superstore.

Friday ; Vernon to Armstrong to Enderby to Vernon

This morning we dumped our grey tank and refilled our freshwater tank at Real Canadian Superstore, then went looking for Vernon's Wal-Mart. We bought just a few items at Wal-Mart including a foam mattress topper for the camper. We shopped briefly at the Salvation Army Thrift Store. We actually went there to have lunch at their cafe ... which no longer exists. We had lunch in the camper in the Wal-Mart parking lot.

We drove to a rest area near Armstrong where I napped with Sully, then we installed the mattress topper. It seems to increase the mattress comfort. We drove into Armstrong to buy a few grocery items, then drove to Enderby and killed some time browsing at a fruit stand / petting zoo / gift shop / tourist trap.

At 7 PM we drove to Starlight Drive-in, North America's largest screen drive-in movie theatre. The first of two movies was to start at 9 PM, so we had two hours to cook and eat supper, wash dishes, walk the dog, etc. It was a fun night at the drive-in, reminiscent of our dating days forty years ago, although both movies weren't great. We watched part of the second movie from our bed in the camper. The second movie ended at 1:30 AM, so we didn't get back to our boondock spot at Real Canadian Superstore in Vernon until after 2 AM. I'm typing this at 2:30 AM !

Saturday ; Vernon to home

Sunny and hot. AHHHHH ! ! !

We got a late start to the day. We dumped our grey waste tank and refilled our freshwater tank before leaving Real Canadian Superstore's parking lot. We drove through Vernon and found our way to Planet Bee Honey Farm where we browsed the honey and beeswax products before watching a demonstration by a beekeeper. Interesting and educational. We drove to the Visitor Information Centre where we parked and had lunch in the camper.

We drove south on Hwy. 97 to Kelowna where we took a drive through Holiday Park, an RV residential park we wanted to see. We've known people who've lived there. We continued south on Hwy. 97 through West Kelowna / WestBank, Peachland, Summerland, and Penticton. In Penticton we stopped at Skaha Lake RV Park to solve a problem for a Similkameen Trailer Towing client. We arrived home at Riverside RV Park Resort west of Keremeos about 6:30 PM.

WHEW ... I'm tired. We're all glad to be home.

DSK

July 13 to 19, 2014

Sunday ; Sunny and beyond hot, temperature 106 degrees F. / 41.5 degrees C. at
3 PM. Highest temperature we've experienced in the eight summers we've lived here.

I continued working on the truck camper rot repair project. I can't accomplish much in this heat. I work briefly, rest ... repeat. Progress is slow, but steady. And no insurmountable problems ... yet. I am rebuilding with pressure treated wood and aluminum, so the finished product will be vastly superior to the original.

Monday ; Early this morning we had a violent thunderstorm, a rare occurrence for here. It served to cool down the temperature, but ... now it’s humid / muggy.

I continued working on the truck camper rot repair project, but ... I reached a point where I couldn’t go any further until I buy some materials. So ... I read and napped with Sully. Tough job, but someone’s got to do it ! HA HA HA !

A neighbour came over this afternoon carrying two hummingbirds in her hand. They had smashed into her window. Unfortunately, one was already dead. The other one ... survived. It was conscious, but immobile. It was breathing fine. It seemed to have an injured wing. After examining it, I set it on a towel on our picnic table, and dribbled some water on it, stimulating it to move around a bit, including folding its injured wing back to its body. I left it resting on the towel on the picnic table, and after about fifteen minutes ... it flew away. WOO-HOO ! Good luck, little hummingbird.

Tuesday ; A long, hot day of running errands in Penticton. Temperature when we arrived back home at 6:15 PM was 102º F / 39º C.

Wednesday ; WHEW ! HOT !

My next door neighbour ... the "weekender" ... is here for a week of holidays. He invited me to go fly fishing this morning. He's my fly fishing "mentor". We drove about a mile or so towards town, then off the highway, and through the bush to the river's edge. We spent a couple of hours fishing. I caught three Rainbow Trout, keeping two for supper tomorrow and releasing one that was too small. Rainbow Trout are beautiful fish ! However ... I did not realize until later in the afternoon ... after a couple of hours of fishing without a shirt ... I was sun burned !

I spent the afternoon continuing work on the truck camper rot repair project. Progress is slow, but ... coming along. However ... again ... some dumbass didn't realize he was getting entirely way too much sun and heat until ... I was feeling nauseous and ... well ... you know ... ready to pass out. DUH ! ! ! I went indoors, drank a lot, and napped briefly. DUH ! ! ! And ... inexplicably ... some little wifey was pissed off at me. HA HA HA !

Thursday ; Sunny and hot.

Went into Keremeos this morning to run errands. Spent the afternoon working on the camper rot repair project. I'm feeling a bit exasperated. The more I work on this job, the more complicated it becomes, and it seems that each time I complete something, it results in another unexpected "twist". The repair job that keeps on growing !

Friday ; Mostly sunny, hot, humid.

Reluctantly I headed to Penticton this morning. I dislike having to drive all the way to Penticton and back twice in one week, but ... I needed some camper rot repair project materials. I bought one of the two items I needed at Rona, then had to go to a couple of custom fabrication businesses to get the other item custom made. Went to small engine repair shop where I had left generator a couple of weeks ago for a service diagnosis.
< sigh > Diagnosis was "BER" ! Beyond economical repair. Owed the shop forty bucks for half hour of labour for diagnosis. Fair enough. A year ago I paid the same shop twenty bucks for a used part I desperately needed. Sold generator back to shop to be cannibalized for parts. Negotiated a very reasonable deal. Forty buck service charge forgiven, twenty bucks spent last year refunded to me today. Great ! Sold a worthless piece of junk for twenty bucks.

Spent the afternoon working on camper rot repair project. Almost done ! One more day should do it, I think. At 6 PM went fishing. Drove a couple of miles downstream to where I fished with neighbour a couple of days ago. Fished for an hour, caught one very nice size Rainbow Trout. Mismanaged and lost second one. DARN ! Need two for a meal for us. This one went into freezer after I cleaned it. Maybe I can get another one tomorrow ? Starting to get the hang of fly fishing, I think

 

Saturday ; Mostly sunny, hot, windy.

We went into town this morning to refill a propane tank and water jug. Spent the afternoon completing the truck camper rot repair project.

Yes, yes ... I'm finished ! It was a tough job, more complicated than I had expected, and took longer than I had expected it would.

When I finished late in the afternoon I decided to reward myself by going fishing for a couple of hours. I got to my fishing spot and realized ... I was really tired. I was really hungry. It was really windy. I fished for about half an hour, then returned home.

DSK

July 6 to 12, 2014

Sunday ; Partially cloudy, hot, and humid.

A second ... and more successful ... day of repairing the damage of Friday's day of bickering. Not helped much by my depression ! I continued ... and finished, I hope ... refinishing the top of Joanne's cutlery box and half the top of our dining room table.

Monday ; Sunny and hot, and forecast to get hotter over the next week, temperatures well over 100 degrees F. I made banana chips in the Sun Oven today.

I reassembled and reinstalled the refinished cutlery box and dining room table top. Well done, Daniel ! < sigh > The completion of those jobs left me no choice but to start the repair that I have been dreading on the camper. I began to disassemble the passenger's side rear lower skirt panel, including removing the electric jack from that rear corner. Behind a reflector lens I found a carriage bolt that is going to have to be cut off < sigh >. Hopefully tomorrow I will finish the disassembly and then I can assess the magnitude of the dry rot problem behind there and what I need to do to repair / replace / rebuild the rotten sections of wood.

Before supper we went to the pool to cool down. Good idea, we should do that daily in this hot weather. I moved our new ( to us ) swamp ( evaporative ) cooler from the gazebo to the bedroom, to give it a try overnight. I poured a gallon of water into it and turned it on about 10 PM. It was an instant hit with Sully.

EXCELLENT barbecued salmon for supper tonight ! I LOOOOOVE summer !

Tuesday ; Sunny and hot, temperature of 102 degrees at 5 PM, possibly hotter a bit earlier. This morning and early afternoon I made sun dried Roma tomatoes in the Sun Oven. Later in the afternoon Joanne cooked a sausage, tomato, and rice stew in the Sun Oven.

I continued working on tearing apart the camper's passenger side rear lower skirt.
I have now disassembled as much as I need to. The dry rot damage is slightly less than I had expected. So ... hopefully ... the repairing / rebuilding will be easier than I had expected, as well.

Joanne went into town for a routine doctor's appointment. For the last couple of years
I have become increasingly intolerant of our family doctor's chronic inability to stay anywhere near on schedule, and his disrespect for the value of his patients' time. Today ... I made a decision. I will not tolerate his behaviour any longer. He is no longer my family doctor. Joanne's appointment was for 3 PM. His final appointment for each day is at 3 PM, with the hope that he will actually see his final patient before the clinic closes at 5 PM. Today ... he saw Joanne a bit after 6 PM ... more than three hours behind schedule ! ! ! ! ! Goodbye, Dr. Biggs ! As my "family doctor" ... you're fired !

Wednesday ; Sunny and hot.

Got up at 7 AM to drive neighbour / friend into town at 7:20 AM to catch Greyhound bus. ZZZZZZZZZZ ! ! ! Went back to sleep for a couple of hours.

Spent the day in Penticton running errands. Hot ! Joanne still ill ... stamina low !

Thursday ; Sunny and hot !

Picked raspberries and strawberries in neighbour's garden again. Dried tomatoes in Sun Oven again. Loaded camper ( in storage area ) onto truck, unloaded camper into our yard. Hard work in this heat ! Think I have rot repair project questions answered.

Received phone calls from a couple of Similkameen Trailer Towing clients. One wants minor service on two trailers in Penticton tomorrow morning. One wants large truck camper picked up tomorrow afternoon in Chilliwack ( about 300 km. / 200 miles away ) and brought to Cawston. Shaping up to be a long, hard day tomorrow !

We went to Princeton for supper. A relatively new, upscale bakery has decided to branch out, offering dinner two nights per week. On Thursdays they offer all you can eat spaghetti, made with freshly made pasta, and a meat sauce made with veal. Very delicious ! I don't think I've ever had freshly made pasta before. If I did, I was unaware. And we ate on their new, small, outdoor patio. Lovely warm evening, beautiful sunset ... very romantic dinner and drive home down Old Hedley Road.

As I approached the bridge in Princeton over the Tulameen River ... there was a deer in the middle of the bridge. I slowed down, straddled the center line to block traffic in both directions, turned on my flashers, and slowly drove across the bridge, herding the deer off the bridge. It was a bit tricky. If I drove a bit too fast, the deer would veer to the edge of the bridge and contemplate jumping off ! Fortunately, oncoming traffic realized what was going on, and stopped before the bridge, allowing the deer an exit route. Had to slam on the brakes and dodge deer twice more on the way home ! Hazard of driving around here at dusk, I guess.

 

Friday ; Sunny and hot !

I had severe insomnia, tossing and turning until 6 AM. So ... I got two hours of sleep before I had to get up. Fortunately, the Chilliwack to Cawston truck camper delivery job was cancelled. Client couldn't decide whether to wind her watch, take a shit, or steal third base ! At 10 AM we headed to Penticton.

I was hired by a previous trailer delivery client to do a "service call" today on her and her daughter's trailers, both in an RV park in Penticton. Easy work, easy money. Happy client, I hope. Ran some errands in Penticton and Keremeos. Played "Good Samaritan" to a couple of tourists from Holland in a rented RV, with vehicle problems in Keremeos. Took them to Sean at K Mountain Auto Repair. Left them in his capable hands. Good luck ! Enjoy your visit to Canada !

Spent the rest of the very hot afternoon working on the truck camper rot repair project. Thought I had all the questions answered. I was wrong !

Saturday ; Sunny and hot, temperature over 100 degrees F. / 40 degrees C. again ! Actually ... < whispering > ... I kind of like it !

We spent much of today working on the truck camper rot repair project. Joanne is helping out by undertaking a slow, laborious clean up of the aluminum skin panel. Seventeen year old, baked on, old caulking is pretty hard to remove ! Thank you, my dear.

Proving that the squeaky wheel gets greased, this park's "powers that be" have for years operated on the premise that any and all marmots are harmful and should be eliminated, in response to "some" residents' concerns. There has been nothing that we can do about that, other than be displeased while respecting the process of "democracy". Until today !

Our park keeps a couple of small animal traps set up along our riverfront walkway. Today while we were cooling off at the pool a neighbour made us aware that one of the traps contained a marmot. Rather than wait for the ... < ahem > ... "gentleman" ... from town that our park employs to "deal" with our trapped marmots, I took matters into my own hands. I drove our truck down to the waterfront, walked down the pathway to where the traps were, and found ... BOTH traps had BABY marmots inside.

How brilliant. Let's trap BABY marmots and then let them die a slow death inside traps in temperatures above 100 degrees ! How utterly brilliant ! ! ! I loaded both traps into the bed of our truck, drove halfway to Hedley, and released the marmots, hopeful that they’re old enough to survive away from their mother. Better to be away from their mother than shot, I hope.

I also hope that some of my neighbours read this ... and feel the shame that they should !

DSK

June 29 to July 5, 2014

Sunday ; Sunny and warm at home, sunny and hot in Osoyoos.

Holy mackerel ... < blink blink > ... ! I should put together small packages of Saskatoon Berries and market them as dog laxative ! Bo ... how did you manage to eat that many Saskatoons ? ! ?

After driving to Osoyoos the other day to see a band at the Desert Live Music Festival, and being disappointed, I was reluctant to give it another try. But I am certainly glad that I did. This afternoon I drove to Osoyoos again, this time to see a blues band. And they were excellent ! Three fat old men, about my age ( and body style ... HA HA HA ) playing hard rockin' blues.

This evening I picked Saskatoons from a bush that I had never picked before, alongside the highway outside our park's fence. Somewhat difficult bush to get to, but ... very large and sweet Saskatoons. MMMMM ! As soon as Joanne is home in a few days I will ask her to make me a Saskatoon Matrimonial Cake. PLEASE ! ! !

< blink blink > I lost how much money in the stock market last week ? ! ?

Monday ; Sunny and hot, 86 degrees F. / 30 degrees C., low humidity, very light breeze. Perfect weather from my perspective !

Oh, boy ... I realize as I begin to type this ( at 7 PM ) that I'm getting excited about Joanne's return home tomorrow night. I've missed her.

This morning I asked a ( weekender ) neighbour for some help with a couple of tasks that needed an extra set of hands, then I chatted with him for awhile before he and his wife departed to return to their home in Vancouver. I watered our plants and gardens and composters.

In the afternoon I sanded the top of Joanne's ( very expensive ) cutlery box. We didn't have it for nine years, our friend Sep had it, and when he gave it back to us last year ( because we now have a house ) there was a tiny bit of "mover damage" on the top. While it was in Sep's possession he and his wife moved from Kingston, Ontario to Medicine Hat, Alberta. Sanding such a fine piece of wood was challenging. Then
I disassembled our dining room table and sanded one side / one half of the top. It had been burned by placing something hot on top of a place mat. Moral ; don't use a place mat as a hot pad !

In the evening I worked on month end banking reconciliations and month end investment updates.

Tuesday ; CANADA DAY ; Happy 147th Birthday, Canada

Geeeeezzzzz ... I remember Canada's 100th Birthday / Centennial, spent with my family camping at Rushing River Provincial Park, 47 years ago, like it was yesterday. 
I wonder if my brother, who was just about to turn six years old, remembers the large Painted Turtle we "rescued" and took home to Winnipeg with us. The first of what would turn out to be a life long habit of animal "rescues", some of which were really very ill advised ... like that turtle. HA HA HA !

And I remember the Canada Day in Ottawa in 1990 when I was departing Ottawa airport to go pick up some friends in Kitchener, Ontario, and bring them back to celebrate Canada Day evening on Parliament Hill with us. I called Ottawa Ground Control for taxi clearance moments before the Canadian Forces aerobatics team "The Snowbirds" were taking off for a fly by over the Parliament Buildings.

"Ottawa Ground, Cessna 172 Golf Charlie Victor Oscar ready for taxi from the flying club."

"Charlie Victor Oscar, Ground, cleared for taxi to runway 32 via Romeo, Quebec, Papa and Alpha."

"Ottawa Ground ... Snowbirds ... nine to taxi."

"Snowbirds ... Ground ... wait ... < snicker > ... Cessna traffic."

And as I "putt putt" past the military apron nine Tudor jets, lined up in a "V" formation, turn their landing lights on me as I taxi by them ... like they're glaring at me ! As they taxi out onto taxiway Alpha following behind me.

HA HA HA HA HA ! Follow the little Cessna, boys !

Today was sunny and hot, temperature 91degrees F. / 33 degrees C. I thought it was quite nice, actually. I puttered around with routine chores this morning. After lunch
I headed into Penticton. I did a lot of grocery shopping. I knew that my little wifey would not be impressed if she came home to an empty fridge and bare cupboards. After grocery shopping I met a couple from Summerland in the parking lot of the now defunct PETCETERA store and ... sold them the double size, futon style mattress that came in our truck camper. We've replaced it with a Queen size mattress.

Then ... I went flying. After being postponed / rescheduled twice, tonight I finally did my annual pilot proficiency "check ride" flight. My examiner was not the usual female flight instructor I've flown with before, but the very new owner of the flight school / airplane rental business. Hot day, lots of thermals rising, but an uneventful check ride.

Had a late supper at Dairy Queen then headed to the Greyhound bus depot to pick up Joanne arriving on the 9:05 PM bus. When I saw earlier today on the noon news that Western Manitoba and Eastern Saskatchewan were suffering from flooding, and portions of the Trans-Canada Highway were closed yesterday, I was concerned that Joanne's bus might be late, or she might not even be on the bus if she missed connections in Calgary or Kamloops. The 9:05 PM bus arrived at ... 9:05 PM ... and Joanne was on it.

As we drove home she told me about her trip. I did not know until tonight that she was very ill for most of her Winnipeg visit, and even had to be taken to the hospital by ambulance. SHEEEEESH ! She's still not very healthy.

I will take good care of my darling !

Wednesday ; Sunny, hot, humid, a bit of rain in the afternoon.

We picked Saskatoons again this afternoon. Bountiful crop this year, but obviously short lived. The berries are already drying out on the bush.

It's nice to have Joanne home. But ... she's still quite ill with a flu virus.

Thursday ; Sunny and hot.

At noon we left for Penticton. Joanne was scheduled for a mammogram, the last of her annual cancer screening tests. So far, so good ... again. We spent the rest of the afternoon running shopping errands in Penticton before returning home.

As soon as we arrived home Joanne went to nap for ... most of the rest of the day. She's still sick.

Friday ; Mostly sunny, hot, humid.

A day of vicious fighting with each other !

Saturday; Mostly sunny, hot, humid.

A day of trying to repair yesterday's damage !

DSK