Spent the day ( again ) in Princeton at second day of annual two day Princeton Traditional Music Festival. T'was pretty darn good ! This year was Joanne's first time attending this festival, my second. When I first attended two years ago, she was in Winnipeg. Missed it last year due to Edmonton to Penticton trailer delivery job.
Monday ; Partially sunny, often cloudy, very warm, humid / muggy. Joanne tried to cook Ratatouille in the Sun Oven today, but the sun disappeared behind clouds so much that she finally had to give up and cook it in the oven indoors.
I harvested tomatoes. I did Bo-gility with the dog. Well done, Bo, good dog ! I repaired the folding chair that broke Saturday at the music festival in Princeton. It broke in exactly the same place as our other folding chair, so perhaps a design flaw ? I did a small repair on the Sun Oven. I replaced a window screen for our neighbour / friend Jeannine. I made some Similkameen Trailer Towing business phone calls. I did some financial / investment work.
In the evening we watched Batchelor In Paradise. HA HA HA ... what great drama !
Tuesday ; Mostly sunny, very warm, humid, a bit windy.
Spent the day running errands in Penticton. Around supper time ( for most people )
I went flying while Joanne went grocery shopping. The objective of DanAir flight 418 was to fly to Keremeos, then up into the Ashnola Valley and find Cathedral Lakes, a wilderness provincial park near our home, defined by three lakes in close proximity to one another, very high up in the mountains to the southwest of us.
I climbed steadily upon departure from Penticton. By the time I reached Keremeos
I was above 7000 feet. By the time I turned into the Ashnola Valley I was above 8000 feet, climbing to 9000. The mountains that contain Cathedral Lakes top out at 8600 feet. Therefore ... Minimum Safe Altitude ... 500 feet above that ... is 9100 feet. I climbed into the Ashnola Valley until reaching 9400 feet. And I was "bumping the bottoms" of the cumulonimbus thunderclouds that had built up in the mountains because it was a hot day. So ... "ground" at 8600 feet, need to be 500 feet above that to be safe ( and legal ). Cloud bases at 9400 feet, need to be 500 feet below that to be legal ( and safe ). You do the math ! I chose safety over legality. BUT ... flying into the setting sun ... sun right in my face ... turbulence right underneath the clouds ... haze beneath me from the heat of the day ... I COULDN'T SEE A ****ING THING ! ! ! I failed to find the three little lakes that comprise Cathedral Lakes. Oh, well ... maybe next summer !
I did a slow arcing turn from southwest to northeast and came out over the Similkameen Valley at Hedley. Following the Similkameen River from Hedley I descended down to about 600 feet AGL by the time I reached Riverside RV Park Resort, then began the long climb back up as I flew through the narrow Similkameen Valley, over the river, sides of the mountains close in beside me on each side. I was at about 3500 feet by the time I reached the village of Keremeos, and continued to climb back up to 8000 feet on my way back to Penticton.
Strong crosswind on take-off, strong crosswind on landing, and everything in between made for a pretty challenging flight, which is a good thing. I think it's a good idea to have a difficult, challenging flight at least once per year to maintain my flying skills. Good thing I didn't have anybody sitting beside me ... puking !
When we arrived home we had a late supper while watching Amazing Race Canada.
Wednesday ; Mostly sunny, very warm, humid / muggy, a bit windy ... same as yesterday.
Started the day with a fun "hide and seek" obedience session with Bo. He loves playing hide and seek, and doesn't even see it as an obedience training exercise. "Bo sit, Bo down, Bo stay ... < hide > ... BO COME". Good dog, Bo, well done !
Did some financial / investment work this afternoon. Went fishing this evening. Since
I am now ( temporarily ) practicing "catch & release" I tried out some flies that I had not used before, to see if they "produce". I caught two Rainbow Trout today, both on the same fly. Guess that one works !
On my way back home, walking in the river, head down, lost in thought, I was extremely startled by a loud bang and splash beside me. Scared the shit out of me ! I looked around, puzzled about what banged and splashed like that, when it happened again. OH ... my friendly neighbourhood beaver ! Guess it thought I was dangerously close and had to send a warning with a loud tail slap on the water. Relax, pal, I'm not a threat.
For supper tonight I poached Rainbow Trout in coconut milk. It was okay ... not as good as the Rainbow Trout poached in orange juice recipe.
Thursday ; Cloudy, cool, thunderstorms in the afternoon.
Joanne did laundry. We put the camper onto the truck in preparation for departure on Saturday. I repainted the camper's range top. AGAIN ! Used high heat paint this time !
Received an invoice for Joanne's ambulance trip from her sister's home to St. Boniface Hospital when she ( Joanne ) was visiting Winnipeg in June. Absolutely outrageous ! ! ! That works out to ... like ... A DOLLAR PER SECOND ! ! !
Friday ; Cloudy, cool, thunderstorms in the afternoon ... same as yesterday.
This morning Joanne phoned B.C. Medical Health Services Plan seeking assistance with the Winnipeg ambulance bill. Sorry ... no ! Same thing with B.C. Pharmacare. She called the Winnipeg ambulance service for an explanation of the outrageous charge. "Non-resident fee" ! ! ! Nothing to do but swallow hard, and very unhappily pay the $800 bill, which I did this afternoon.
While doing some preventive maintenance work on the truck this afternoon I broke a small plastic piece, the housing for the air intake temperature sensor. DARN !
I removed the broken piece and when we went into town this afternoon to run some errands I went to Napa Auto to buy a replacement. A HUNDRED AND SIXTY-FIVE BUCKS ? ! ? I don't think so ! ! ! Back at home I repaired the broken plastic housing with glue. Now the only problem remaining is ... when I removed the sensor and drove into town without it installed, it triggered the "check engine light". Now I will have to have a code reader attached to the truck's computer to "read" the malfunction code and clear the check engine light < sigh >. Hope I can get that done in Princeton tomorrow. Hope I can get it done for free !
We spent much of the day preparing for our three week trip starting tomorrow. One of the things I had to do was test the used DVD player I bought at Value Village on Tuesday for the truck camper. < fume > Deader than a doorknob ! ! ! That's the second time this summer we have purchased a "deader than a doorknob" electronics item at Value Village. And I regret that I allowed myself to be persuaded by Joanne to just throw it away and forget about it the first time. This time I phoned the store and strongly expressed my displeasure. "No exchange / no refund after seven days". BULLSHIT ! I'm leaving tomorrow for three weeks, and when I return ... I want my ****ing money back ! ! !
And why would people even bother to donate to charity electronic items that don't work ? Moral of this story ? Don't buy electronics at thrift stores ! ! ! < taking deep breath to calm myself down >.
Saturday ; Keremeos to Kamloops
Sunny and very warm, a lovely day !
We left home about noon, and drove west on Hwy. 3 to Princeton to have a picnic lunch while watching the regular Saturday 1 PM "Music In The Park" performance. WHAT ? The homeless guy again ? ! ? We ate our picnic lunch in about twenty minutes, listening to "sound checks" for ten minutes, and bad jazz for another ten minutes. We left Princeton heading north on Hwy. 5A towards Merritt. We stopped at Gulliford Lake Rest Area and I fished very briefly while Joanne and Bo enjoyed the lovely weather and surroundings. We continued on towards Merritt, checking out some B.C. Forest Service Campgrounds on the way. We stopped briefly in Merritt to check something out at Extra Foods then continued north on Hwy 5 to Kamloops.
Upon arrival in Kamloops we went searching for Real Canadian Superstore who had a tax free sale day today. Before finding Superstore we stumbled across ... < insert drum roll here > ... Kamloop's dog park. "WOO-HOO" said Bo ! We stopped at the dog park and Bo romped around for awhile. Eventually we found our way to Superstore and did some groceries and supplies shopping, as well as refilling with diesel. We drove over to a nearby mall and had supper at Swiss Chalet. "WOO-HOO" said Daniel ! By the time we were finished supper it was getting dark. We drove to the Kamloops Visitor Information Centre where we boondocked for the night.
Bella Coola here we come ! "WOO-HOO" says Joanne !
DSK
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