Sunday ; Mostly sunny and mild.
Today may have been one of the last nice weather days of summer. We enjoyed it with leisurely walking around the RV park with Bo, and relaxing in the dog park.
MMMMM ! That Nicola River large Cutthroat Trout we had for supper was good !
Monday ; Chilly. Rain in the morning.
This morning we drove into town ( Keremeos ) to run some errands. By the time we returned home to Riverside RV Park Resort it was raining heavily.
We did a bit of gardening work. We discarded some gardening refuse in the park's burn pile / compost pile area, and brought home some grass clippings for our composter. We took Bo for a long leisurely walk around the RV park, and chatted with neighbours as we strolled.
In the evening we watched a documentary on the twenty year old JonBenét Ramsey murder case.
Tuesday ; Sunny and cold.
Joanne left early this morning to take Gord and Marcie to Kelowna Hospital where they spent the day. Gord had a chest x-ray and blood tests before having his chest tube removed. They were home by suppertime.
This morning I took our home's large propane tank into town to have it refilled. In the afternoon, after walking Bo and Ozzie, I did some vehicle preventive maintenance, then did some preparatory work for tomorrow's project.
In the evening we watched a documentary on Haida Gwaii. It's really interesting to watch a documentary on a place that we so recently visited.
Wednesday ; Sunny and cold again.
I spent much of the day working on a plumbing project. First I disassembled the water meter and check valve underneath our manufactured home, then we drove to Penticton so that I could buy some plumbing parts. I dropped Joanne off at Superstore to do some grocery shopping while I went to refill the minivan with fuel, and to buy the plumbing parts I needed. When I was finished I picked Joanne up at the grocery store and we drove home.
At home we had a very late lunch then I went to work underneath our home making a plumbing modification that ... hopefully ... will make the winterization process a bit easier. When I was finished, and turned the water back on ... there was a tiny leak.
I left it alone for now, and will check it in a few days to determine whether I need to fix it now, or can it wait until the winterization process on departure day ... usually
November 1.
In the evening, after a great supper of barbecued steak and our own garden's beans, we watched the season premiere of Survivor.
Thursday ; Sunny but cool.
I went fishing this afternoon. Caught one Rainbow Trout. HMPH ! One little fish ! HMPH ! I cleaned it and gave it to our neighbour / friend Jeanine.
Joanne and I both worked on our ill neighbour's medical travel mileage and expenses records keeping.
Friday ; Cold and raining all day.
I did some preventive maintenance on the truck this morning, and that led to a repair job. Have I mentioned how much I hate working outdoors in cold rain.
At 3:30 PM Joanne and I loaded our next door neighbours into our minivan and headed to Penticton. I dropped off Joanne, Gord, and Marcie at Penticton Hospital, then went to run some shopping errands while Gord had an ultrasound procedure. After Gord was finished at the hospital ( about 5:30 PM ) we went to a Chinese buffet restaurant for an early ( for us, not them ) supper. It was good to see Gord have an appetite tonight. He has lost about sixty pounds in the five months that he has been ill.
Saturday ; Mix of sun and clouds, cool.
This morning I did some annual home maintenance chores, and finished some truck preventive maintenance I had started yesterday.
This afternoon I did a maintenance project for our ill next door neighbour, another one of many I have done for them this summer. Then I changed a valve extender on the truck. There seems to have been an extremely slow leak on one of the truck tires for the last couple of months, and I am assuming / hoping that the valve extender was the problem. Have I mentioned how much I hate changing a valve extender on a dually rear tire ? ! ?
In the evening we watched Little Miss Sunshine, an initially depressing but ultimately uplifting movie. And I continued working online on obtaining travel medical insurance quotes. My ( relatively ) new diagnosis of angina is going to have an extraordinary effect on the cost of my winter travel medical insurance ... this year and ongoing.
DSK
Sunday, September 25, 2016
Sunday, September 18, 2016
September 11 to 17, 2016
Sunday ; Mostly sunny and warm.
This morning I fabricated and installed a new insulated hood liner underneath the hood of the truck. Joanne helped a lot. This is the second time I have done this job. I first fabricated an insulated hood liner for the truck about six or seven years ago, when
I realized that it would be futile to continue replacing the $150 factory hood liner made of some kind of quilted insulating material that the local pack rats like to shred for use as nesting material !
This afternoon I worked on the computer. I barbecued Sockeye Salmon for supper, along with beets picked from our next door neighbours' garden this afternoon. I spent the evening watching TV, including watching the movie "United 93" about ... < sigh > ... the hijacked 9/11 airliner brought down in a field in Pennsylvania.
Monday ; Sunny and very warm. Joanne cooked a beef pot roast in the Sun Oven today.
I watered our composters today. I watered all our plants and gardens. I sharpened knives. I did "pet ear care". Bo's ears are in excellent shape, clean and healthy. We had our friend / neighbour Jeanine over for dinner tonight.
Tuesday ; Sunny and very warm.
Joanne went to Penticton by herself this morning for a day of running errands. Thank you, my dear, for doing that without me. I had a lazy day of scattered activities and depression. In the evening we watched the season finale of Amazing Race Canada.
Wednesday ; Sunny and very warm. Joanne cooked a chicken, apple, and rice recipe in the Sun Oven today.
She was scheduled to drive Gord and Marcie to Kelowna Hospital this morning for a medical procedure for Gord, but he was so sick that they rescheduled his appointment to tomorrow, and he spent the day at the Keremeos Diagnostic & Treatment Centre lying on a gurney being intravenously rehydrated.
This afternoon I went fly fishing. Set a new personal best. My limit of ( four ) Rainbow Trout caught in thirty-one minutes on the Similkameen River, beating my previous record by four minutes. Too bad the fourth fish I caught was a Rocky Mountain Whitefish, and not a Rainbow Trout, or it would have been less than half an hour !
I fished for a total of an hour and a half, catching eleven fish ; ten Rainbow Trout and one Whitefish. Another hot afternoon on the Similkameen !
We received an e-mail from the daughter of Rick and Debbie, who are "weekender" neighbours / friends of ours, from the Lower Mainland / Vancouver area, advising us that Rick has died. We extend our sympathies to Debbie at this difficult time.
Thursday ; Sunny and very warm.
Joanne took Marcie and Gord to Penticton Hospital today. Gord required a blood transfusion. They left very early this morning, at 7 AM. Gord's transfusion was finished shortly after 3 PM, and they were back home by 4:30 PM.
I went fishing again this afternoon, for an hour and a half. Caught four Rainbow Trout and one Cutthroat Trout. Released one Rainbow that was too small too keep. My fly fishing reel broke. HMPH ! Perhaps Santa will bring me a new one for Christmas ?
Friday ; Mix of sun and cloud, very warm.
This afternoon I puttered around with some fly fishing gear maintenance, then got "recruited" to do some golf cart maintenance for our ( ill ) next door neighbour.
Around suppertime I was taking some information I had printed off the Internet to our neighbour / friend Jeanine on the other side of the RV park, when I got sidetracked, chatting with someone else, and ... well ... you know ... I ended up an uninvited guest at an impromptu dinner party at yet another neighbour / friends' home. I visited ( and ate escargots ... thank you, Kolly ) and returned home about four hours later. Joanne had expected me to be gone for about ten minutes. Yeah ... needless to say ... I was in a bit of trouble.
Saturday ; Partially cloudy, cool, some light rain in the early afternoon.
I did a bit of maintenance work on the neighbours' ( decrepit ) golf cart. I did a bit of maintenance on our house. I did a lot of online research, researching consignment art sellers and travel medical insurers. < sigh > Having received a diagnosis of angina has radically increased my travel medical insurance quotes.
DSK
This morning I fabricated and installed a new insulated hood liner underneath the hood of the truck. Joanne helped a lot. This is the second time I have done this job. I first fabricated an insulated hood liner for the truck about six or seven years ago, when
I realized that it would be futile to continue replacing the $150 factory hood liner made of some kind of quilted insulating material that the local pack rats like to shred for use as nesting material !
This afternoon I worked on the computer. I barbecued Sockeye Salmon for supper, along with beets picked from our next door neighbours' garden this afternoon. I spent the evening watching TV, including watching the movie "United 93" about ... < sigh > ... the hijacked 9/11 airliner brought down in a field in Pennsylvania.
Monday ; Sunny and very warm. Joanne cooked a beef pot roast in the Sun Oven today.
I watered our composters today. I watered all our plants and gardens. I sharpened knives. I did "pet ear care". Bo's ears are in excellent shape, clean and healthy. We had our friend / neighbour Jeanine over for dinner tonight.
Tuesday ; Sunny and very warm.
Joanne went to Penticton by herself this morning for a day of running errands. Thank you, my dear, for doing that without me. I had a lazy day of scattered activities and depression. In the evening we watched the season finale of Amazing Race Canada.
Wednesday ; Sunny and very warm. Joanne cooked a chicken, apple, and rice recipe in the Sun Oven today.
She was scheduled to drive Gord and Marcie to Kelowna Hospital this morning for a medical procedure for Gord, but he was so sick that they rescheduled his appointment to tomorrow, and he spent the day at the Keremeos Diagnostic & Treatment Centre lying on a gurney being intravenously rehydrated.
This afternoon I went fly fishing. Set a new personal best. My limit of ( four ) Rainbow Trout caught in thirty-one minutes on the Similkameen River, beating my previous record by four minutes. Too bad the fourth fish I caught was a Rocky Mountain Whitefish, and not a Rainbow Trout, or it would have been less than half an hour !
I fished for a total of an hour and a half, catching eleven fish ; ten Rainbow Trout and one Whitefish. Another hot afternoon on the Similkameen !
We received an e-mail from the daughter of Rick and Debbie, who are "weekender" neighbours / friends of ours, from the Lower Mainland / Vancouver area, advising us that Rick has died. We extend our sympathies to Debbie at this difficult time.
Thursday ; Sunny and very warm.
Joanne took Marcie and Gord to Penticton Hospital today. Gord required a blood transfusion. They left very early this morning, at 7 AM. Gord's transfusion was finished shortly after 3 PM, and they were back home by 4:30 PM.
I went fishing again this afternoon, for an hour and a half. Caught four Rainbow Trout and one Cutthroat Trout. Released one Rainbow that was too small too keep. My fly fishing reel broke. HMPH ! Perhaps Santa will bring me a new one for Christmas ?
Friday ; Mix of sun and cloud, very warm.
This afternoon I puttered around with some fly fishing gear maintenance, then got "recruited" to do some golf cart maintenance for our ( ill ) next door neighbour.
Around suppertime I was taking some information I had printed off the Internet to our neighbour / friend Jeanine on the other side of the RV park, when I got sidetracked, chatting with someone else, and ... well ... you know ... I ended up an uninvited guest at an impromptu dinner party at yet another neighbour / friends' home. I visited ( and ate escargots ... thank you, Kolly ) and returned home about four hours later. Joanne had expected me to be gone for about ten minutes. Yeah ... needless to say ... I was in a bit of trouble.
Saturday ; Partially cloudy, cool, some light rain in the early afternoon.
I did a bit of maintenance work on the neighbours' ( decrepit ) golf cart. I did a bit of maintenance on our house. I did a lot of online research, researching consignment art sellers and travel medical insurers. < sigh > Having received a diagnosis of angina has radically increased my travel medical insurance quotes.
DSK
Sunday, September 11, 2016
September 4 to 10, 2016
Sunday ; Mostly sunny nad mild. HMPH ! Haven't done that ( "nad" ) for awhile !
This afternoon we finished washing the camper. And Joanne worked on cleaning inside the camper. I did some outside maintenance work. I sharpened our axe. I cut a board into levelling ramps ... for my trailer towing work.
Joanne did some online shopping for used items. She found a wicker chair that she wants for our living room. And a roll top desk for me. The roll top desk was nearby, so we went to see it around suppertime. Nice, but not worth what the seller wants for it. The wicker chair is all the way in Westbank / West Kelowna, and I don't want to drive that far to look at a used chair. I suggested to Joanne that she go by herself tomorrow or whenever she wants.
I ordered a $300 toaster online. HA HA HA < SNORT > HA HA ! Usually we pay about eight bucks at Wal-Mart for a toaster. Or less at a thrift store. BUT ... we have 1859 AirMiles points that are going to expire at the end of the year, SO ... I wanted to find something to "buy" with those points we are going to lose. Hence ... the 1850 AirMiles points / $300 toaster, MAN ... it better be one hell of a toaster ! HA HA HA !
Nice supper ! Thick, marinated, barbecued steak, baked potatoes, Caesar salad.
Monday ; Mix of sun and cloud, mild temperature.
Today was another lazy day for me. I watered our composters. We went to visit our neighbour / friend Jeanine who has just returned from a week long trip to the Lower Mainland / Vancouver area to visit her daughters. I had another unsatisfactory "Live Chat" ( an "instant messaging" type of texting interaction ) with Shaw Direct Technical Support regarding tomorrow's scheduled service technician visit. I got a real snarky bitch on today's Live Chat. You would think that when a service agent is on Live Chat and a printed record is kept of their interaction with an unhappy customer, they might refrain from being so snarky ! On the other hand ... who knows ? Maybe she is planning to resign tomorrow ?
This afternoon Joanne continued cleaning the interior of the camper. I picked beets in our garden. Such as they were ... < rolling my eyes > ! Lot of "tops", not so much "bottoms". We took Bo to the dog park. I did some financial planning work online. We drained and stored our bedroom evaporative / "swamp" cooler.
In the evening the Shaw Direct service technician phoned to discuss tomorrow's service appointment. Good thing he was a lot more personable than "Barbara" on Live Chat.
( I suspect that "Barbara's" real name is Sanjit and she lives in Bombay ). He wanted to reschedule our appointment to Thursday. Fine ! Joanne won't be happy. She's already peeved that we have had only one hour of TV service since we returned from our Haida Gwaii trip eleven days ago. And we will be missing tomorrow evening's episode of Amazing Race Canada.
Tuesday ; Mostly cloudy and mild, partially clearing late in the afternoon.
Joanne went to Penticton this morning by herself to run errands. And to go to Westbank / West Kelowna to see a used living room chair that she was interested in. She bought it.
This afternoon I did some minor camper maintenance work. I went fishing from 5 to 6 PM. Caught seven, lost two at the net, released a Whitefish, kept four Rainbow Trout, three medium size and one large. Another productive afternoon on the Similkameen !
I gave two of the Rainbow Trout to neighbours. It was to assuage my guilt because ... last week I gave them a large Whitefish. HA HA HA ! And I still feel guilt. Because ... today I gave them the two Rainbow Trout ... uncleaned. As in ... fresh ... whole ... right out of the Similkameen River. I was feeling lazy and didn't want to clean all four fish.
Wednesday ; Cloudy. Cold. Raining. Gloomy ! Depressing !
This morning I had another aggravating phone call with the South Okanagan Health Centre / Keremeos Diagnostic & Treatment Centre, continuing my battle with them over assignment of a new family doctor. It's amazing how effective a power monger / power abuser can be when she has a boss who is complicit by being an evader / abdicator !
I made an appointment for Friday with the newly arrived doctor in town, to discuss the matter further with him. If that fails to resolve my problem ... I will be lodging a formal complaint with the BC Interior Health Office of Patient Care Quality. G***** and P****, consider yourselves duly advised of my intentions ! And conduct yourselves accordingly ! Or get bit in the ass by your own actions ! ! !
This evening I cooked a large, lovely Rainbow Trout for supper by poaching it in coconut milk. It wasn’t as good as I had hoped. Oh, well ... < shrug > ... it seemed like a good idea !
Thursday ; Mix of sun and clouds, mild temperature.
Well ! The long awaited satellite TV service technician visit took place today around noon. And the "new" receiver box that we used for one hour nine days ago was not dead after all. As I suspected might be the case. There was "incompatibility" between the "new" HD receiver and the "old" / dual satellite dish LNB. < rolling eyes > And how would a "normal" human being ever know that ? ! ? The service technician installed a "new" triple satellite LNB on the end of our dish, made a few adjustments ... et voilà !
Joanne spent a good chunk of the afternoon programming our channel selections into the new remote control. I spent a good chunk of the evening trying to get the new remote control to operate our TV ( on/off and volume ) as well as the receiver box. Lots of learning curve for both of us. Both of us succeeded ! Have I mentioned how much
I hate techno stuff ?
I did some minor maintenance on the minivan. I removed and repaired / refurbished the camper's dinette table slide mechanism. We took Bo to the dog park. I sharpened knives. I reconciled some August investment statements.
Friday ; Sunny and mild in the morning, clouding over in the afternoon. DARN ! Just before going into town this afternoon to run errands Joanne set up the Sun Oven and put a chicken dish into it. By the time we returned home the sun was disappearing and the temperature inside the Sun Oven was falling.
We went into town and while I got a haircut and beard trim Joanne went to the local fruit stands to buy some produce. After my haircut and beard trim she picked me up and we went to the Post Office to buy a stamp and post a letter, and then to refill our five gallon water jug. She dropped me off at the South Okanagan Health Centre / Keremeos Diagnostic & Treatment Centre. I had a doctor's appointment and ... I dropped off a "cease and desist" letter to the front desk clerk that I am having some problems with, along with a copy for her boss ! I have now escalated our pissing contest from verbal to written. I hope that solves my problems there.
We returned home, took supper out of the Sun Oven and put it into the fridge, to be finished later in the oven in the house. We both made some telephone calls, mostly continuing to play telephone tag with the people that we were trying to reach, and vice versa.
It's nice to have TV again, after about a month and a half without. We had supper while watching TV, then blew off the evening binging on TV.
Saturday ; Sunny and very warm, becoming windy in the evening.
We slept late this morning. So late that ... we missed the earthquake ! < shrug > So what ! Not my first earthquake ! HA HA HA ! And then ... not to put too fine a point on the pressures of our lifestyle ... we napped this afternoon. HA HA HA HA HA !
I harvested tomatoes. I did some other gardening. We took Bo to the dog park. I did some maintenance on the truck and minivan. We took Bo for a walk. In the evening we watched a rerun of last Tuesday's episode of Amazing Race Canada. Joanne has really been missing access to TV ! Last night she binged on TV watching long after
I had gone to bed.
DSK
This afternoon we finished washing the camper. And Joanne worked on cleaning inside the camper. I did some outside maintenance work. I sharpened our axe. I cut a board into levelling ramps ... for my trailer towing work.
Joanne did some online shopping for used items. She found a wicker chair that she wants for our living room. And a roll top desk for me. The roll top desk was nearby, so we went to see it around suppertime. Nice, but not worth what the seller wants for it. The wicker chair is all the way in Westbank / West Kelowna, and I don't want to drive that far to look at a used chair. I suggested to Joanne that she go by herself tomorrow or whenever she wants.
I ordered a $300 toaster online. HA HA HA < SNORT > HA HA ! Usually we pay about eight bucks at Wal-Mart for a toaster. Or less at a thrift store. BUT ... we have 1859 AirMiles points that are going to expire at the end of the year, SO ... I wanted to find something to "buy" with those points we are going to lose. Hence ... the 1850 AirMiles points / $300 toaster, MAN ... it better be one hell of a toaster ! HA HA HA !
Nice supper ! Thick, marinated, barbecued steak, baked potatoes, Caesar salad.
Monday ; Mix of sun and cloud, mild temperature.
Today was another lazy day for me. I watered our composters. We went to visit our neighbour / friend Jeanine who has just returned from a week long trip to the Lower Mainland / Vancouver area to visit her daughters. I had another unsatisfactory "Live Chat" ( an "instant messaging" type of texting interaction ) with Shaw Direct Technical Support regarding tomorrow's scheduled service technician visit. I got a real snarky bitch on today's Live Chat. You would think that when a service agent is on Live Chat and a printed record is kept of their interaction with an unhappy customer, they might refrain from being so snarky ! On the other hand ... who knows ? Maybe she is planning to resign tomorrow ?
This afternoon Joanne continued cleaning the interior of the camper. I picked beets in our garden. Such as they were ... < rolling my eyes > ! Lot of "tops", not so much "bottoms". We took Bo to the dog park. I did some financial planning work online. We drained and stored our bedroom evaporative / "swamp" cooler.
In the evening the Shaw Direct service technician phoned to discuss tomorrow's service appointment. Good thing he was a lot more personable than "Barbara" on Live Chat.
( I suspect that "Barbara's" real name is Sanjit and she lives in Bombay ). He wanted to reschedule our appointment to Thursday. Fine ! Joanne won't be happy. She's already peeved that we have had only one hour of TV service since we returned from our Haida Gwaii trip eleven days ago. And we will be missing tomorrow evening's episode of Amazing Race Canada.
Tuesday ; Mostly cloudy and mild, partially clearing late in the afternoon.
Joanne went to Penticton this morning by herself to run errands. And to go to Westbank / West Kelowna to see a used living room chair that she was interested in. She bought it.
This afternoon I did some minor camper maintenance work. I went fishing from 5 to 6 PM. Caught seven, lost two at the net, released a Whitefish, kept four Rainbow Trout, three medium size and one large. Another productive afternoon on the Similkameen !
I gave two of the Rainbow Trout to neighbours. It was to assuage my guilt because ... last week I gave them a large Whitefish. HA HA HA ! And I still feel guilt. Because ... today I gave them the two Rainbow Trout ... uncleaned. As in ... fresh ... whole ... right out of the Similkameen River. I was feeling lazy and didn't want to clean all four fish.
Wednesday ; Cloudy. Cold. Raining. Gloomy ! Depressing !
This morning I had another aggravating phone call with the South Okanagan Health Centre / Keremeos Diagnostic & Treatment Centre, continuing my battle with them over assignment of a new family doctor. It's amazing how effective a power monger / power abuser can be when she has a boss who is complicit by being an evader / abdicator !
I made an appointment for Friday with the newly arrived doctor in town, to discuss the matter further with him. If that fails to resolve my problem ... I will be lodging a formal complaint with the BC Interior Health Office of Patient Care Quality. G***** and P****, consider yourselves duly advised of my intentions ! And conduct yourselves accordingly ! Or get bit in the ass by your own actions ! ! !
This evening I cooked a large, lovely Rainbow Trout for supper by poaching it in coconut milk. It wasn’t as good as I had hoped. Oh, well ... < shrug > ... it seemed like a good idea !
Thursday ; Mix of sun and clouds, mild temperature.
Well ! The long awaited satellite TV service technician visit took place today around noon. And the "new" receiver box that we used for one hour nine days ago was not dead after all. As I suspected might be the case. There was "incompatibility" between the "new" HD receiver and the "old" / dual satellite dish LNB. < rolling eyes > And how would a "normal" human being ever know that ? ! ? The service technician installed a "new" triple satellite LNB on the end of our dish, made a few adjustments ... et voilà !
Joanne spent a good chunk of the afternoon programming our channel selections into the new remote control. I spent a good chunk of the evening trying to get the new remote control to operate our TV ( on/off and volume ) as well as the receiver box. Lots of learning curve for both of us. Both of us succeeded ! Have I mentioned how much
I hate techno stuff ?
I did some minor maintenance on the minivan. I removed and repaired / refurbished the camper's dinette table slide mechanism. We took Bo to the dog park. I sharpened knives. I reconciled some August investment statements.
Friday ; Sunny and mild in the morning, clouding over in the afternoon. DARN ! Just before going into town this afternoon to run errands Joanne set up the Sun Oven and put a chicken dish into it. By the time we returned home the sun was disappearing and the temperature inside the Sun Oven was falling.
We went into town and while I got a haircut and beard trim Joanne went to the local fruit stands to buy some produce. After my haircut and beard trim she picked me up and we went to the Post Office to buy a stamp and post a letter, and then to refill our five gallon water jug. She dropped me off at the South Okanagan Health Centre / Keremeos Diagnostic & Treatment Centre. I had a doctor's appointment and ... I dropped off a "cease and desist" letter to the front desk clerk that I am having some problems with, along with a copy for her boss ! I have now escalated our pissing contest from verbal to written. I hope that solves my problems there.
We returned home, took supper out of the Sun Oven and put it into the fridge, to be finished later in the oven in the house. We both made some telephone calls, mostly continuing to play telephone tag with the people that we were trying to reach, and vice versa.
It's nice to have TV again, after about a month and a half without. We had supper while watching TV, then blew off the evening binging on TV.
Saturday ; Sunny and very warm, becoming windy in the evening.
We slept late this morning. So late that ... we missed the earthquake ! < shrug > So what ! Not my first earthquake ! HA HA HA ! And then ... not to put too fine a point on the pressures of our lifestyle ... we napped this afternoon. HA HA HA HA HA !
I harvested tomatoes. I did some other gardening. We took Bo to the dog park. I did some maintenance on the truck and minivan. We took Bo for a walk. In the evening we watched a rerun of last Tuesday's episode of Amazing Race Canada. Joanne has really been missing access to TV ! Last night she binged on TV watching long after
I had gone to bed.
DSK
Sunday, September 4, 2016
August 28 to September 3, 2016
Sunday ; Sunny and hot.
Another day of "return home" chores and gardening. I planted lettuce. I did some maintenance work on our little generator. I did some maintenance work on my fly fishing gear. Lord knows it's had quite a workout lately ! HA HA HA ! I did some maintenance and replenishment work on my clothing inventory in the camper. We went down to our RV park's riverfront orchard and picked a lot of apples and plums. I went bicycling. Need to do more of that ! Joanne had a lengthy phone chat with her sister.
I uploaded my weekly journal to my online blog. In the evening I spent too long on the computer making arrangements for a very special New Year's Eve.
Monday ; Sunny and hot. Only another day or two of hot summer weather left. Joanne baked a plum cake in the Sun Oven today. MMMMM ... she makes good plum cake.
Today was similar to yesterday. Routine "return home" chores, maintenance, etc. Tried to "scale" Bo's teeth. "NO !" ... he said.
Tuesday ; Mostly sunny and hot, thin, high, scattered cloud early in the day, becoming thin, high cloud cover later in the day.
Today was a long, tiring day of running errands in Penticton. And DanAir flight 429. We left home around 10:30 AM, drove to Penticton, and first stop was to buy a used Shaw Direct satellite TV receiver "box". So there, Shaw Direct ! I'd rather put money into somebody else's pocket than yours. NYAH NYAH NYAH ! Joanne dropped me off at BP Aviation to go flying, and she went thrift store shopping.
I asked Michelle ( BP Aviation's CFI ) to load the GPS co-ordinates for Cathedral Lakes into the aircraft's GPS. I had obtained them last night from Google Maps. I took off in Cessna 172 C-GHBM heading for Cathedral Lakes, a bit south of Riverside RV Park Resort / home, way up in the Cascade Mountains, up the Ashnola River Valley. This was the second time / second year that I have attempted to locate Cathedral Lakes ( an almost inaccessible wilderness provincial park ) by aircraft. And ... < sputter > ... the second time that I failed ! I flew right to the GPS "waypoint" defined by the
co-ordinates, and ... no Cathedral Lakes that I could see ! Nothing that looked like the Google Maps satellite view ! Nothing that looked like what Michelle told me to look for ! And with mountain tops near 9000 feet, I was flying at 10,000 to 10,300 feet. BUT ... not for long ! Above 10,000 feet for more than half an hour requires supplemental oxygen.
< sigh > I flew a figure "8" pattern, about a mile in each direction. Still couldn't find any of the five little lakes that comprise Cathedral Lakes. < sigh > I turned around and headed back towards Penticton. Within a few minutes I was flying over our RV park.
A bit hard to tell, from 10,000 feet up ! I crossed the mountains over to Okanagan Falls at about 8500 feet, requiring me to fly two slow circles over Skaha Lake to lose enough altitude to land at Penticton. And even then I flew the last few miles with full 40º of flaps, slow flight, and the nose pointed down at the lake, to lose altitude.
We spent the rest of the afternoon running errands. My priority when we arrived back home about 6:30 PM was to get the satellite receiver box functional by 8 PM, in order to watch Amazing Race Canada. I accomplished that, with the assistance of Shaw Direct's Technical Support "Live Chat" online messaging function. Tomorrow or the next day I will contact their billing department and attempt to convince them that
I should not pay for the last five days of service, while my receiver box was "dead". Even if I lose that battle, I still feel that I won the war by refusing to buy a new receiver box from them.
After Amazing Race Canada and supper, I spent the rest of the evening preparing a complicated trailer towing quote.
Wednesday ; Mostly sunny and warm, becoming cloudy and windy in the evening. Joanne spent the day with Gord and Marcie at Penticton Hospital.
WELL ! ! ! J**** F****** H. C**** ! ! ! ! ! One evening ! One show ! One hour ! And our new Shaw Direct satellite TV receiver box is dead ! ! ! ! ! I spent half the day online with Technical Support "Live Chat". They don't have an explanation. And can't solve the problem from their end. They have placed an order for a service technician to come out. With an unknown / unspecified supplemental mileage charge because the service technician has to come from Kelowna. I'm not certain I'm willing to pay that. I want to know what the charge will be before I agree to it. So ... I'm awaiting a call from the service technician. Stay tuned !
In the middle of the night our 120 volt "hard wired" smoke alarm sounded for a few seconds. Could there have been some manner of power surge ? Could it have "fried" the new Shaw Direct receiver box ?
Had baked Rainbow Trout smothered in dill cream sauce for supper. Pretty darn good !
Thursday ; Started out sunny and mild, becoming cloudy in the afternoon, with cold rain and wind by late afternoon, raining and cold in the evening ... < sigh >.
Joanne spent the day taking Gord and Marcie to Kelowna Hospital and back. For a fifteen minute appointment with an arrogant doctor who spent ten of the fifteen minutes trying to get rid of them because his nurse advised him five minutes into the appointment that "they are ready for you downstairs, doctor". It has once again proven to be impossible to get the health care community to have some respect and recognize that every "appointment" for Gord in Kelowna involves five hours of driving time for the patient and his "entourage".
I took the camper off the truck. And then it began to rain, so the rest of my day's
( outdoor ) activities were curtailed. I read. I napped. I walked Bo and Ozzie.
I returned a book to the library in the clubhouse. I stared out the windows and sighed a lot.
Friday ; Sunny and mild in the morning, becoming cloudy and cool in the afternoon, with evening rain.
This morning we went into town to run errands, and for Joanne to see the doctor to review some test results. She saw the new doctor at our local clinic. He will become her new family doctor. I hope for the same, but that is not yet certain. Thanks to the passive aggressive games playing of a power abusing administrative clerk at our clinic that I had a telephone dispute / personality conflict with last winter while we were in Texas. Stay tuned ... I don't usually lose these kinds of pissing contests !
After seeing the new doctor ... I accompanied Joanne into the examination room so that I could also meet the new doctor ... we ran errands in town. I dropped Joanne off at Sanderson Farms to buy some produce, and I went to Autumn Rain Hair Design to make an appointment for a haircut and beard trim next week, and to FasGas to refill a truck camper propane tank. I picked Joanne up at Sanderson Farms and we went to Mariposa Gardens for more produce shopping.
Back at home, after lunch and a nap, I did some minor maintenance work on both the truck and the minivan, then we gave Bo a bath. What a dirty, stinky, little Haida Gwaii adventuring dog ! I mowed the tiny patch of lawn that Gord and Marcie have ( to be used as a bathroom by Ozzie ), using one of our park's power mowers that Marcie had borrowed, but had difficulty operating. Joanne did some medical appointments scheduling and records keeping work with Marcie, for Gord's ongoing medical care.
We took Bo for a walk, to pick up our mail, and go to the dog park. While there we discovered that two of the four Adirondack chairs that I had purchased earlier this summer for use in the dog park ( by anyone ) were missing. I searched high and low for them, all over the entire RV park, including in all the common area buildings. I finally found them outside the RV park, on the small beach in the crown land adjacent to our park. With considerable indignation, I returned them to the dog park, then returned home to write a nasty e-mail letter to our park's "homeowner society" and residents of the park. How presumptuous and arrogant for somebody to take chairs from the dog park and down to "their" beach outside the park. That beach is used by few, so I have a pretty good idea who the guilty party might be !
We spent ( too much of ) the evening online, exploring what options we have for using the Air Miles points we have accumulated. They will begin to "expire" at the end of this year, based on Air Miles' new policy of "expiring" reward miles not used in five years.
Saturday ; Started out cloudy, cold, and raining in the morning, becoming partially sunny and mild in the afternoon.
We had a late start to the day. Some of us later than others ! I got up around 9 AM, showered, had breakfast, etc. Then ... because it was cold and raining, and Joanne was still in bed, I went back to bed around 10 AM. I got up for the second time around 1 PM. Joanne continued to sleep until 3:30 PM !
I spent the afternoon washing the truck and part of the camper. Very filthy from Haida Gwaii trip ! And that Haida Gwaii mud stuck to both the truck and the camper like s*** on a blanket ! When Joanne finally got going, she came outside and helped. Afterwards we took Bo for a walk down to the dog park where he met and played with a visitor's four month old Rottweiler puppy. HA HA HA ... four months old and more than twice the size of Bo ! Bo's patience wears thin pretty quickly with four month old big puppies. HA HA HA ... you tell 'im, Bo !
I spent the evening working on financial planning. HMMMMM ... we're in pretty good financial shape right now, and getting better all the time. Must be all that clean livin' we did in the 70's ! HA HA HA < SNORT > HA HA ! I also worked on updating the travel log I am keeping for Gord and Marcie, tracking the travel required for Gord's ongoing medical care. We were away for a month and ... < rolling eyes > ... Marcie's records keeping leaves a bit to be desired !
DSK
Another day of "return home" chores and gardening. I planted lettuce. I did some maintenance work on our little generator. I did some maintenance work on my fly fishing gear. Lord knows it's had quite a workout lately ! HA HA HA ! I did some maintenance and replenishment work on my clothing inventory in the camper. We went down to our RV park's riverfront orchard and picked a lot of apples and plums. I went bicycling. Need to do more of that ! Joanne had a lengthy phone chat with her sister.
I uploaded my weekly journal to my online blog. In the evening I spent too long on the computer making arrangements for a very special New Year's Eve.
Monday ; Sunny and hot. Only another day or two of hot summer weather left. Joanne baked a plum cake in the Sun Oven today. MMMMM ... she makes good plum cake.
Today was similar to yesterday. Routine "return home" chores, maintenance, etc. Tried to "scale" Bo's teeth. "NO !" ... he said.
Tuesday ; Mostly sunny and hot, thin, high, scattered cloud early in the day, becoming thin, high cloud cover later in the day.
Today was a long, tiring day of running errands in Penticton. And DanAir flight 429. We left home around 10:30 AM, drove to Penticton, and first stop was to buy a used Shaw Direct satellite TV receiver "box". So there, Shaw Direct ! I'd rather put money into somebody else's pocket than yours. NYAH NYAH NYAH ! Joanne dropped me off at BP Aviation to go flying, and she went thrift store shopping.
I asked Michelle ( BP Aviation's CFI ) to load the GPS co-ordinates for Cathedral Lakes into the aircraft's GPS. I had obtained them last night from Google Maps. I took off in Cessna 172 C-GHBM heading for Cathedral Lakes, a bit south of Riverside RV Park Resort / home, way up in the Cascade Mountains, up the Ashnola River Valley. This was the second time / second year that I have attempted to locate Cathedral Lakes ( an almost inaccessible wilderness provincial park ) by aircraft. And ... < sputter > ... the second time that I failed ! I flew right to the GPS "waypoint" defined by the
co-ordinates, and ... no Cathedral Lakes that I could see ! Nothing that looked like the Google Maps satellite view ! Nothing that looked like what Michelle told me to look for ! And with mountain tops near 9000 feet, I was flying at 10,000 to 10,300 feet. BUT ... not for long ! Above 10,000 feet for more than half an hour requires supplemental oxygen.
< sigh > I flew a figure "8" pattern, about a mile in each direction. Still couldn't find any of the five little lakes that comprise Cathedral Lakes. < sigh > I turned around and headed back towards Penticton. Within a few minutes I was flying over our RV park.
A bit hard to tell, from 10,000 feet up ! I crossed the mountains over to Okanagan Falls at about 8500 feet, requiring me to fly two slow circles over Skaha Lake to lose enough altitude to land at Penticton. And even then I flew the last few miles with full 40º of flaps, slow flight, and the nose pointed down at the lake, to lose altitude.
We spent the rest of the afternoon running errands. My priority when we arrived back home about 6:30 PM was to get the satellite receiver box functional by 8 PM, in order to watch Amazing Race Canada. I accomplished that, with the assistance of Shaw Direct's Technical Support "Live Chat" online messaging function. Tomorrow or the next day I will contact their billing department and attempt to convince them that
I should not pay for the last five days of service, while my receiver box was "dead". Even if I lose that battle, I still feel that I won the war by refusing to buy a new receiver box from them.
After Amazing Race Canada and supper, I spent the rest of the evening preparing a complicated trailer towing quote.
Wednesday ; Mostly sunny and warm, becoming cloudy and windy in the evening. Joanne spent the day with Gord and Marcie at Penticton Hospital.
WELL ! ! ! J**** F****** H. C**** ! ! ! ! ! One evening ! One show ! One hour ! And our new Shaw Direct satellite TV receiver box is dead ! ! ! ! ! I spent half the day online with Technical Support "Live Chat". They don't have an explanation. And can't solve the problem from their end. They have placed an order for a service technician to come out. With an unknown / unspecified supplemental mileage charge because the service technician has to come from Kelowna. I'm not certain I'm willing to pay that. I want to know what the charge will be before I agree to it. So ... I'm awaiting a call from the service technician. Stay tuned !
In the middle of the night our 120 volt "hard wired" smoke alarm sounded for a few seconds. Could there have been some manner of power surge ? Could it have "fried" the new Shaw Direct receiver box ?
Had baked Rainbow Trout smothered in dill cream sauce for supper. Pretty darn good !
Thursday ; Started out sunny and mild, becoming cloudy in the afternoon, with cold rain and wind by late afternoon, raining and cold in the evening ... < sigh >.
Joanne spent the day taking Gord and Marcie to Kelowna Hospital and back. For a fifteen minute appointment with an arrogant doctor who spent ten of the fifteen minutes trying to get rid of them because his nurse advised him five minutes into the appointment that "they are ready for you downstairs, doctor". It has once again proven to be impossible to get the health care community to have some respect and recognize that every "appointment" for Gord in Kelowna involves five hours of driving time for the patient and his "entourage".
I took the camper off the truck. And then it began to rain, so the rest of my day's
( outdoor ) activities were curtailed. I read. I napped. I walked Bo and Ozzie.
I returned a book to the library in the clubhouse. I stared out the windows and sighed a lot.
Friday ; Sunny and mild in the morning, becoming cloudy and cool in the afternoon, with evening rain.
This morning we went into town to run errands, and for Joanne to see the doctor to review some test results. She saw the new doctor at our local clinic. He will become her new family doctor. I hope for the same, but that is not yet certain. Thanks to the passive aggressive games playing of a power abusing administrative clerk at our clinic that I had a telephone dispute / personality conflict with last winter while we were in Texas. Stay tuned ... I don't usually lose these kinds of pissing contests !
After seeing the new doctor ... I accompanied Joanne into the examination room so that I could also meet the new doctor ... we ran errands in town. I dropped Joanne off at Sanderson Farms to buy some produce, and I went to Autumn Rain Hair Design to make an appointment for a haircut and beard trim next week, and to FasGas to refill a truck camper propane tank. I picked Joanne up at Sanderson Farms and we went to Mariposa Gardens for more produce shopping.
Back at home, after lunch and a nap, I did some minor maintenance work on both the truck and the minivan, then we gave Bo a bath. What a dirty, stinky, little Haida Gwaii adventuring dog ! I mowed the tiny patch of lawn that Gord and Marcie have ( to be used as a bathroom by Ozzie ), using one of our park's power mowers that Marcie had borrowed, but had difficulty operating. Joanne did some medical appointments scheduling and records keeping work with Marcie, for Gord's ongoing medical care.
We took Bo for a walk, to pick up our mail, and go to the dog park. While there we discovered that two of the four Adirondack chairs that I had purchased earlier this summer for use in the dog park ( by anyone ) were missing. I searched high and low for them, all over the entire RV park, including in all the common area buildings. I finally found them outside the RV park, on the small beach in the crown land adjacent to our park. With considerable indignation, I returned them to the dog park, then returned home to write a nasty e-mail letter to our park's "homeowner society" and residents of the park. How presumptuous and arrogant for somebody to take chairs from the dog park and down to "their" beach outside the park. That beach is used by few, so I have a pretty good idea who the guilty party might be !
We spent ( too much of ) the evening online, exploring what options we have for using the Air Miles points we have accumulated. They will begin to "expire" at the end of this year, based on Air Miles' new policy of "expiring" reward miles not used in five years.
Saturday ; Started out cloudy, cold, and raining in the morning, becoming partially sunny and mild in the afternoon.
We had a late start to the day. Some of us later than others ! I got up around 9 AM, showered, had breakfast, etc. Then ... because it was cold and raining, and Joanne was still in bed, I went back to bed around 10 AM. I got up for the second time around 1 PM. Joanne continued to sleep until 3:30 PM !
I spent the afternoon washing the truck and part of the camper. Very filthy from Haida Gwaii trip ! And that Haida Gwaii mud stuck to both the truck and the camper like s*** on a blanket ! When Joanne finally got going, she came outside and helped. Afterwards we took Bo for a walk down to the dog park where he met and played with a visitor's four month old Rottweiler puppy. HA HA HA ... four months old and more than twice the size of Bo ! Bo's patience wears thin pretty quickly with four month old big puppies. HA HA HA ... you tell 'im, Bo !
I spent the evening working on financial planning. HMMMMM ... we're in pretty good financial shape right now, and getting better all the time. Must be all that clean livin' we did in the 70's ! HA HA HA < SNORT > HA HA ! I also worked on updating the travel log I am keeping for Gord and Marcie, tracking the travel required for Gord's ongoing medical care. We were away for a month and ... < rolling eyes > ... Marcie's records keeping leaves a bit to be desired !
DSK
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