April 17 to 23, 2016

Sunday ; Sunny and warm.

Spent much of today "moving" from truck camper to house and other "return home" chores. Visited with friends and neighbours. Found out many of Bo's friends have died. Rest in peace ; Dudley, Spencer, Jimmy, and Meggy.

Riverside RV Park Resort is still as lovely as it always has been. Park's internal politics and in-fighting still as prevalent and poisonous as it always has been. < sigh > Too bad. Will continue to ignore it as much as possible, as we have done for quite a few years already.

Monday ; Sunny and warm.

This past winter season we travelled 20,093 km. / 12,558 miles. The lowest diesel price we encountered was $1.659 per gallon in Yuma, Arizona in February. The highest diesel price we encountered ( in the United States ) was $2.479 per gallon in Tonopah, Nevada a week ago.

Today was another day of "return home" chores, including removing Elsie the truck camper off Lanoire the truck.

Tuesday ; Sunny and very warm.

This morning we headed into town ( Keremeos ). We both had doctor's appointments. Our previous doctor has retired, so we had appointments with a temporary / locum doctor. After we both saw the doctor we went shopping for produce at Sandersons and groceries at Valu-Plus. We are suffering from "sticker shock" ! The price of groceries is much higher here than in Yuma, Arizona.

After a late lunch at home and a brief nap for me we continued working on "return home" chores. Tuesday evenings are our regular Canadian comedy nights on TV. During and after supper we watched Rick Mercer Report, This Hour Has 22 Minutes, and ... HA HA HA HA HA ... my favourite, Trailer Park Boys.

Wednesday ; Sunny and hot, 30º C / 88º F, rather unusually hot for April. It won't last long, it will be getting much colder in the next few days.

Today was a long, tiring day of running errands in Penticton. First stop was my cardiologist's office. While I saw the cardiologist, Joanne went to withdraw some money from an ATM, and do some Dollar Store shopping. After she picked me up at the doctor's office, next stop was to refill the truck with diesel, then I dropped her off at
Wal-Mart and took the truck for its annual fluids change service. When that was done ... ( KA-CHING ... five hundred bucks ! ) ... I joined Joanne at Wal-Mart. Next we went to Cherry Lane Mall and had lunch in the food court, then I spent too much time and got too much aggravation at the Telus and Virgin Mobile cell phone stores. Both were useless, but Virgin Mobile slightly outdid Telus in the uselessness contest. We did more grocery shopping at Superstore, then headed back to Keremeos late in the afternoon.

WOO-HOO ... perogies for supper. Welcome home to Western Canada ! We watched Survivor for the first time in about a month.

Thursday ; Mostly sunny, a bit of clouds, warm.

This morning I headed into Keremeos by myself. I had an appointment at the South Similkameen Health Centre lab to have blood drawn for tests. While in town I also filled our five gallon water jug, renewed our newspaper subscription, ordered prescription refills at the pharmacy, and went to the local insurance agency to get some information on the minivan license and insurance renewal.

This afternoon I continued work at home on "return home" chores. I took to our neighbour / friend Jeanine all the pet medications I had bought in Los Algodones, Mexico for her little dog Charlie. I worked on renting a flat bed utility trailer for a trailer tow job we will be doing next week. I had previously arranged for the rental of a neighbour's trailer for this upcoming job, but today the ... < ahem > ... neighbour ... reneged on the deal. I'm never very impressed with people whose word / agreements / commitments can't be relied upon.

Twice this afternoon we took Bo to the dog park for a play session. I did some minor maintenance on both the truck and the minivan. Trimmed my beard. OOOOOPS ... WAAAAAY too short ! DARN ! New clippers ! Learning curve ! Look like a stubbly old man who's forgotten to shave for a week ! HA HA HA !

Friday ; Mostly sunny, warm, a bit windy.

As I type this at 9:30 PM, I'm beginning to feel poorly. For the last few hours I have felt a cold coming on. Which is discouraging, as we have an extremely early morning coming up tomorrow due to a trailer towing job.

This morning we loaded the fifth wheel hitch into the truck in preparation for tomorrow's trailer towing job. I loaded our generator, air compressor, and other necessary equipment and tools into the truck. Ready to go !

Just before lunch we took Bo to the dog park. After lunch and while I napped briefly Joanne did some laundry. I prepared my bicycle for summer use. I made a medical appointment in Penticton. I prepared an invoice / receipt for tomorrow's client.
I activated two new credit cards. I reactivated our Canadian cell phone. I spent the rest of the afternoon working on putting away purchases made over the winter, including quite a bit of clothing.

I cooked pan fried sole for supper. Over supper we watched Time Travelling Bong.
HA HA HA ... great new show ! After supper we watched Amazing Race, then Hell's Kitchen.

Saturday ; home to Penticton to Kelowna to Beaverdell to Rock Creek to Osoyoos to home

Partially sunny, warm.

This morning we were up at the ungodly hour of 5:30 AM in order to be ready to leave home at 7 AM. The trailer towing client wanted us to pick up his trailer in Penticton at 8 AM ! AND ... as I pretty much knew yesterday already ... I have a cold !

We arrived at the client's home at 8 AM. We were hitched up and leaving his driveway before 8:30. Through Penticton, north on Hwy. 97 through Summerland, Peachland, West Kelowna / Westbank, and Kelowna, then southeast on Hwy. 33 past Big White and almost to Beaverdell. The trailer needed to be positioned in a wooded area, on a rough patch of land that had just been cleared this morning by a bulldozer. Thanks to the strength and toughness of Lanoire the truck, and the considerable trailer positioning capabilities of both me and Joanne ... we made the difficult positioning job look easy. The client was very impressed. And that's always a good thing. He paid my fee with a big smile on his face. Well done, Daniel. And Joanne. And Lanoire. We were pulling away from the completed job at 11:30 AM. Job went well, fairly easy money, all things considered.

We continued south on Hwy. 33, to avoid returning through Kelowna, even though the return route we chose was a bit more mileage. We drove south on Hwy. 33 through Beaverdell all the way to Rock Creek, then turned west on Hwy. 3 to Osoyoos. We stopped at Bo's favourite waterfront park in Osoyoos to have a late lunch. We found a beach bag with two women's bathing suits, towels, toiletries, and a cell phone. We took it home with us, planning to use the phone to trace the owner. We arrived home about 2:30 PM.

We removed the fifth wheel hitch from the truck, and put away all the trailer towing equipment and supplies. The found cell phone rang. Joanne answered it. It was the phone's owner. She lives in Prince George, BC, and is currently visiting family in Osoyoos. We made arrangements for her to pick up her beach bag and cell phone tomorrow as she and her husband are driving from Osoyoos back to Prince George.

DSK