June 30 to July 6, 2019

Our recent Cassiar Highway trip was 27 days long, covering 4688 km. / 2930 miles.

Here are our wildlife sightings on that trip ;

• Bison = more than 50
• Porcupine = 1
• Beaver = 1
• Mountain Beaver = 1
• Mountain Sheep ; Thinhorn, Stone’s and Dall = more than 50
• Golden Eagle = 1
• Bald Eagle = a few
• Black Bears = 15
• Sandhill Cranes = 2
• Moose = 2
• Deer = 17
• Silver Fox = 3

Lowest diesel price was $1.189 per litre in Merritt, BC

Highest diesel price was $1.599 per litre in Toad River, BC

June 30 to July 6, 2019

Sunday ; Sunny and very warm.

When we took Ozzie for his lunch time long walk we visited with our neighbour / friend Jeanine. This afternoon I replaced the battery in Joanne’s watch. I disinfected and refilled the camper’s freshwater tank. I cleaned my shoes and sandals.

In the evening I paid our monthly MasterCard billing. YIKES ! I downloaded and processed the remaining pictures in my camera. After supper we watched the movie “About Schmidt”. What a depressing movie for a depressed old man like me to watch ! I did some month end banking and investment work. I downloaded my weekly blog entry.

AND … I successfully caught the mouse that appeared last night in one of our kitchen cupboards. Scared the dickens out of me late in the evening when I opened the cupboard door and the mouse scurried across the cupboard.

Monday ; CANADA DAY

HAPPY BIRTHDAY / BONNE FÊTE CANADA !

Sunny and very warm. As usual, we had a pretty low key Canada Day. We watched the Canada Day celebrations on Parliament Hill on TV in the evening.

I did some replenishment in the camper. We did gardening and yard work. We went to the swimming pool for our first aquatics exercise session in a month. I barbecued Rainbow Trout for supper, and created a new recipe for it, drenching the Cajun seasoned barbecued trout with a lemon dill sauce I created. It was very good ! After supper, while watching TV, I did some monthly accounting.

Tuesday ; Sunny and warm.

Our friend / neighbour Jeanine came over for a visit this afternoon. Our new next door neighbour Lorena asked me for some “home handyman” assistance this afternoon. In the evening we watched the series premiere of Amazing Race Canada.

HMPH ! ! ! All the Saskatoon berries on the two small bushes in our yard, and the large bush at the entrance to our RV park, have been eaten by birds ! No Saskatoons to harvest this year ! < pouting >

Wednesday ; Sunny and very warm. Joanne cooked a chicken cutlet parmigiana meal in the Sun Oven today.

I did some maintenance on the truck this morning. Joanne went by herself into Keremeos to run some errands. The priority errand was to refill our five gallon water jug. She left the empty jug at home when she went into town. < rolling my eyes >

I trimmed my beard. I did some “shoemaker” type patching work on the recently smashed windshield of the truck. Both the truck and the minivan now have significantly damaged windshields, but … I don’t consider windshield replacements to be a high priority. I consider damaged windshields to be “war wounds” to be worn with honour. HA HA HA ! We took the camper off the truck. Both the truck and camper are filthy and will require a lot of washing / cleaning. Before our park’s swimming pool closed at 6 PM for 24 hours of maintenance we went to the pool to do an exercise session. Since our neighbour / friend Bob died two weeks ago I consider my regular cardiac rehab exercise sessions to be an even higher priority ! I surely hope that I can get more life extension from my cardiac surgery than Bob’s seven years !

< whispering > Got twenty-one months so far ! As they say on Letterkenny … “pitter patter” !

In the evening I worked on monthly budgeting and bank statement reconciliations.

Thursday ; Sunny and very warm.

Today I worked on cleaning behind the gazebo’s screens, where Cottonwood fluff and other detritus collects, courtesy of our strong Similkameen winds. It’s an annual, tedious chore that I dislike. I also washed the very grimy Fast Gun camper turnbuckles. I phoned my gastroenterologist’s office to arrange for me to pick up my colonoscopy and biopsy pathology reports tomorrow in Penticton.

Today Joanne received mail confirmation of her eligibility to collect the Guaranteed Income Supplement to her Old Age Security pension, for the nine months from her 65^th birthday to mine. And retroactive payment for the past five months ! And … < sputter > … it only took me three submissions of application forms ! ! ! < more sarcasm >

Late in the evening we discovered that Ozzie has two small wounds in his mouth / on his gums. Don’t know if it’s “stab” wounds from my daily administering of a pill in peanut butter, or if they’re dry skin “cracks”. It was difficult to clean the wounds and apply an analgesic mouth cream ( Orajel ) to them. Poor Ozzie !

Friday ; Penticton

Sunny and warm until mid afternoon, then heavy rain for the rest of the day.

We were up early, to leave early for Penticton. We left home at 9 AM, and I dropped Joanne off at the hospital at 10 AM for her annual mammogram. I drove to a medical lab and had blood drawn for blood tests my family doctor ordered. Then I drove to my gastroenterologist’s office to pick up my colonoscopy biopsies pathology report. I returned to the hospital and picked Joanne up at 10:45 AM. We drove to JC Bottle Depot and dropped off a bunch of recycleables ; cans, glass jars, and old paint. Then to Value Village … < sigh >.

After Value Village it was Dollar Tree and Dollarama, then Cherry Lane Mall for lunch. After lunch, before leaving Cherry Lane Mall we shopped at London Drugs. I dropped Joanne off at Wal-Mart then went to an appointment with our family doctor. When I was finished at the doctor’s I returned to Wal-Mart. Joanne was finished shopping but I needed to go into the store for a few items, including a blood pressure machine that my doctor wants me to have and use.

By then ( around 3 PM ) it had begun to rain. We refilled the minivan with fuel at Mobil. I went to Lordco to buy a fuel filter for the truck. Finally, we went to Superstore to buy groceries. We left Penticton shortly before 5 PM and were home an hour later.

WHEW … long, tiring, expensive day.

Saturday ; Cloudy, warm, heavy rain in the afternoon. So … I napped ! HA HA HA !

This morning we helped our new next door neighbour move a large, heavy, decrepit wood planter to her yard from the yard of our friend / neighbour on the other side of the park, Jeanine. Some neighbours are more high maintenance than others, n’est-ce pas ?

This afternoon I did another review / sort / purge job, tackling half the drawers in my desk. We went to the swimming pool and did exercises. And met and chatted with new residents in the park, former residents of Ottawa, as are we.

In the evening I did the June month end update of our investment files. And we watched two movies ; Places In The Heart … and Ray, the story of Ray Charles.

DSK