October 5 to 11, 2014

Sunday ; Sunny and warm, an absolutely gorgeous fall day.

Made delicious pancakes for brunch using milk that had soured. Spent most of the day working on fall outdoor chores. Refurnished and rearranged gazebo with much new patio furniture acquired from Edmonton trailer delivery client. She was donating / discarding all the two month old patio furniture she had purchased and used during her short summer stay in Penticton. Spent time playing with Bo in the dog park.

Monday ; Sunny and warm, the beautiful fall weather continues.

Much of my day was taken up with phone calls back and forth to the auto service facility in Cawston where I took our new to us minivan for its B.C. safety inspection. It failed the safety inspection for a number of reasons, and I am more than a little dismayed to learn that the necessary repairs will cost well over a thousand dollars ! Which doesn't go all that far nowadays in the auto repair business !

We spent time playing with Bo in the dog park. We spent time enjoying the lovely weather while lounging around our newly refurnished gazebo. I phoned our bank in Penticton to get them to reverse an erroneous service charge ... yet again ! Second month in a row ! I phoned junk yards / auto wreckers in Penticton, Oliver, and Osoyoos looking for a front license plate holder for the minivan. Alberta vehicles don't need front license plates, so Alberta auto dealers order vehicles from the factory without front license plate holders.

In the evening I wanted to try connecting the computer to the TV and watching a DVD through the computer on the TV. Worked fine. Too bad the movie was so crappy. St. Elmo's Fire ... 1985 !

Tuesday ; Sunny and warm again, another lovely fall day. Perfect day for DanAir flight 419 !

Up early this morning. More telephone tag regarding minivan safety inspection and work required. Headed to Penticton. On the way stopped in Keremeos to adjust air in truck tire. In Penticton, while I went flying, Joanne went "secret" shopping.

For the last few years, all my flying has been done around supper time. MISTAKE ! What beautiful flying weather in the Okanagan region around lunch time ! Today I flew from Penticton south over Skaha Lake to Okanagan Falls, over Vaseux Lake to Oliver, then Osoyoos, over Spotted Lake ... WOW ... odd colours in fall ... then west along Hwy. 3 to the Similkameen River. I was looking for ... and found ... Vineglass Winery, a local vineyard that has "sculpted" their vineyard into the shape of a large wine glass. HA HA HA ... very cute from the air.

I learned about Vineglass Winery about a year and a half ago when I met the female owner of the vineyard at a theatre production. She was seated next to me and struck up a conversation during intermission. She was about my age, and born in Manitoba. She was excited about her new vineyard / winery operation. I was surprised a few months ago to read her obituary in the local newspaper. She died rather suddenly of a malignant brain tumour.

After viewing Vineglass Winery I continued west along Hwy. 3 and the Similkameen River to Cawston where I turned northeast and crossed over Fairview Mountain coming out between Oliver and Okanagan Falls. Kill the throttle, glide slowly and descend over Skaha Lake all the way down from 9000 feet to "grease it" onto Penticton's newly repaved runway. < deep breath > Days like today are why I learned to fly 29½ years ago.

We spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening running errands in Penticton.

Wednesday ; Still sunny and warm.

Early this afternoon we took the tires I purchased yesterday in Penticton to the service facility in Cawston where the minivan is, getting the work done necessary to pass the B.C. safety inspection. We dropped the tires off and headed to Osoyoos where I had found by phone a junk yard that had the front license plate holder that the minivan needs. We picked up the license plate holder at the junk yard then went to Bo's favourite park for a bit of a romp ... and a fun obedience session. On the way back home we stopped in Keremeos to buy some groceries, refill our water jug and buy some fresh produce. Back at home we took advantage of the continuing nice weather and did some outdoor chores. Late in the afternoon our neighbour / friend Jeannine came by for a visit in the gazebo.

Thursday ; Still sunny and warm.

Worked on yard and garden today. Started building a new raised garden using landscape ties. Submitted an Adopt a Highway application on behalf of Kofa Ko-op, our RV park in Yuma, Arizona, for the cleanup of the road in front of the park.

Friday ; DANIEL'S 60th BIRTHDAY

Still sunny and warm, another beautiful fall day ... and an especially lovely fall evening.

This morning we headed to Cawston to pick up the minivan's safety inspection certificate. The necessary repairs were complete. Paid for the inspection and repairs, and headed back from Cawston to Keremeos with the inspection certificate to the insurance agency. < sigh > Spent a long time at the insurance agency, jumping through bureaucratic hoops, paying the GST and PST owing, registering and insuring the vehicle. This will definitely be the first and last time I purchase an "out of province" vehicle. Once we had the license plates and insurance documents we headed back to Cawston again to pick up the minivan. Joanne drove home in the minivan. I stopped in Keremeos again to run a couple of errands.

We had lunch on the deck off our living room. What lovely weather. My sister phoned to wish me Happy Birthday and we chatted for awhile. We took Bo to the dog park. We gave Bo a bath. I puttered around with minor maintenance chores on the minivan, then we washed it. I mounted the front license plate holder we bought at a junk yard in Osoyoos. Then I mounted the license plates. I checked the air pressure in the tires.
I tightened the lug nuts with a torque wrench. You know ... puttering around. I entered the financial particulars of the purchase in my computer records. I entered the maintenance records in my computer. You know ... OCD puttering around !

Joanne made me my favourite dinner. We had a glass of wine with dinner, a rare occurrence for us. We watched Amazing Race while having dinner. We went for a soak in the hot tub as a special treat. We really should walk down to the pool building to do that more often. Joanne made me my favourite cake. We had some as a bedtime snack.

She also bought me a few books as birthday gifts. When I picked up the first wrapped gift from the coffee table, Bo's eyes bugged out. HEY ! ! ! IS IT CHRISTMAS ? ? ? HA HA HA ... what a funny little dog. He LOOOOOVES unwrapping gifts. So ... HA HA HA ... I let him unwrap my birthday gifts. HA HA HA ... he was SOOOOO happy !

Thank you for dinner, wine, hot tub soak, cake, and books, my dear. You made me feel very special today.

Saturday ; Cloudy and mild.

This morning we trimmed Bo's and Sully's claws. Sully screamed loudly. He sure is crabby in his old age. Well ... as am I ! HA HA HA ! This afternoon we mounted the truck camper onto the truck. I continued working on building a raised garden.
I borrowed a chop saw from our RV park's workshop and cut the fifteen landscape ties
I bought on Tuesday to the correct sizes. I puttered around with the minivan some more.

In the evening I worked on "birthday" investment target analysis and planning. After ten and a third years of retirement, we're doing okay. No thanks to the atrocious stock market declines of the last month ! ! !

DSK