October 20 to 26, 2019

Sunday ; Overcast, light rain, chilly.

Late this afternoon we drove into town to set up for tomorrow’s election day. As demanded by our poll “supervisor”. So … she had us drive all the way into town … and back home again … and work for an hour setting up our polling stations … to save half an hour of time tomorrow morning ! You should be able to surmise what I thought of that brilliant idea ! ! !

Monday ; Federal Election Day

And so ends what I hope / expect will be our last day as election officials. This was the fourth election that we worked, and was, by far, the worst ! We arrived for work at our polling station at 6:30 AM, and we left after finishing at 9:30 PM. We had an inept “supervisor” … whom I disliked intensely.

We had arranged with a neighbour to come to our home around 9 AM, wake up Ozzie and take him outside, feed Emma, then take Ozzie home with her for a day of “doggie day care”. I told her we would pick Ozzie up around 8:30 PM. We didn’t pick him up until 10 PM ! When we returned home with Ozzie, he was very overtired, and acting silly, obviously elated to be back home, after suffering anxiety that he was once again being abandoned by his “mommy and daddy”. Poor Ozzie !

Tuesday ; Sunny, mild, windy.

We slept very late this morning, until noon. And then … HA HA HA … at 5 PM 

I had a brief nap. HEY … yesterday was a VERY LONG day ! In the afternoon 

I did a small amount of preventive maintenance on the camper. At suppertime we went to the swimming pool and did an exercise session.

Ozzie was very happy today that he was back home with his “family” and that he had not been abandoned. Poor Ozzie … that anxiety is quite understandable.

Wednesday ; Penticton

Sunny and cool.

We left home this morning at 10:45 AM, heading for Penticton and my doctor’s appointment at 11:45 AM. After seeing my doctor to get all my prescriptions refilled we spent the rest of the day running errands. We left Penticton around 3:30 PM and were back home around 4:30 PM.

We watched Survivor while having supper. AWWWWW … the very first Canadian ever on Survivor was eliminated tonight.

Thursday ; The day started out sunny and mild. By suppertime the sky was filled with ugly, grey storm clouds.

Late in the morning I drove into Keremeos to drop off my new prescription orders at the pharmacy. And refill our five gallon water jug. Joanne did laundry. Late in the afternoon we went to the swimming pool and did an exercise session.

Best wishes to my sister who is having knee replacement surgery tomorrow.

Friday ; The day started out sunny and mild. The afternoon was extremely windy. Power lines were being blown down throughout the Okanagan region. After the winds came ugly storm clouds and light rain.

Today I made arrangements with a neighbour for the collection of our mail during the winter. Joanne went into town to run some errands, including picking up my prescriptions at the pharmacy. In the afternoon I replaced all batteries in the camper and truck. SHEESH … what a lot of AAA and AA batteries replaced !

Saturday ; Sunny and cool.

Today was another leisurely day of getting ready to depart in less than a week.

Late in the afternoon we headed to the swimming pool to do an exercise session, but … we got sidetracked and spent the time visiting with our neighbour / friend Jeanine.

In the evening I worked on prescription accounting and records keeping.

DSK

October 13 to 19,2019

Sunday ; Mostly cloudy, cool.

HMPH ! We have just finished having our Thanksgiving dinner. It was terrible ! We bought a wrapped, frozen, expensive, lamb shoulder roast for tonight’s dinner. We didn’t realize until after it was thawed and cooked that … < sputter > … it was about 80% fat ! Worst $25 roast we’ve ever had. As a matter of fact … worst roast at any price ! ! ! After trimming off the extensive fat portions there was barely enough meat left to serve two people.

Today was spent leisurely chipping away at “fall pre-departure” preparations.

Monday ; Thanksgiving ( Canadian )

Sunny and mild.

Well ! Today I bought … another … Dodge minivan. HA HA HA ! I like our first one so much … I bought another one. The one I bought today … in Palm Springs, California … will be our new “winter” car in Yuma, Arizona. Our current “summer” car is a 2002 Dodge Caravan. Our new “winter” car is a 2006 Dodge Grand Caravan. I found it online a couple of days ago, and have been communicating back and forth with the auto dealer online. Tonight we reached a tentative deal.

Yesterday at suppertime, while walking Ozzie, we found some Shaggy Mane mushrooms, an annual occurrence here in our RV park community. Although this is a couple of weeks later than they usually appear. Today while walking Ozzie at lunchtime, I found more Shaggy Manes. With a few harvested last night, and a few more harvested today, Joanne made Shaggy Mane mushroom soup for lunch. It was very good. Perhaps just a tad too much garlic … < BURP >.

Tuesday ; Penticton

Partially sunny, mild.

HMPH ! This morning I received a message from the Palm Springs auto dealer. They are unwilling to hold the Dodge minivan for me for a month, despite my willingness to place a reasonable deposit. Isn’t it fun doing business with Americans ? ! ? < sarcasm and contempt >

This afternoon I did some preventive maintenance work on the truck. And discovered a malfunctioned dually tire valve extender. HMPH ! Story of my life ! ! ! I used a couple of 4” spares to replace the 6” bad one.

At 4 PM we left home, heading to Keremeos and Penticton. In Keremeos 

I renewed the registration and insurance for our fifth wheel trailer and truck. In Penticton we ran a few errands then went to La Casa Ouzeria, a Greek restaurant, for a surprise ( for Joanne ) anniversary dinner. The food was good but … a bit heavy, leaving me feeling bloated.

After dinner we stopped at Wal-Mart for a few items. We got back home around 9 PM.

Wednesday ; Sunny and mild, a nice fall day.

I did some budget planning work today. Joanne did laundry. In the evening we checked the large inventory of election supplies each of us has for our polling station, and reported missing inventory to our … < ahem > … elections supervisor. She phoned at 8 PM and demanded that we do that task … tonight ! She seems to be operating under the misconception that we’re sitting around waiting for her to phone and tell us what hoops to jump through … and when ! When I phoned her back at 11 PM we had a … < ahem > … healthy exchange of opinions ! ! !

For supper Joanne prepared lamb chile verde using the remaining tomatillos harvested from our garden. MMMMM !

Thursday ; Overcast and cool.

This morning Joanne went to Penticton, taking our neighbour / friend Jeanine, and they spent the day running errands. I spent the day leisurely working on budget planning and preparations for departure at the end of the month.

Friday ; Sunny and cool.

Joanne did some work preparing our election work materials. I did some fall 

pre-departure preparation work. I retrieved and reconciled our U.S. bank account statement. I did some maintenance work on the camper. We went to the swimming pool at 6 PM and did an exercise session.

Saturday ; Mix of sun and clouds, cool, extremely heavy rain for just a few minutes around suppertime. Rather odd !

Another day of leisurely preparing for departure in a couple of weeks. And we gave Ozzie a bath. Joanne wanted him to be clean and smelling nicely for his day of being at a neighbour’s on Monday. < rolling my eyes >

DSK

October 6 to 12, 2019

Sunday ; Penticton

Sunny and mild.

At 4 PM we left to go to Penticton. We ran a few errands, had an early “dinner” … so to speak … at A&W, then went to the South Okanagan Events Centre to attend “Rock The Rink”. The show should have been titled “Tessa’s and Scott’s Figure Skating Farewell Tour”. The show lasted two and a half hours, and … the first hour was an aggravating waste of everybody’s time.

The first thirty minutes were taken up with a “warm up” act ; a four person, unknown to anybody over the age of fourteen, Canadian “boy band”. They were terrible ! The only thing worse than them was … the sound system which garbled their music and lyrics beyond comprehension !

The next thirty minutes were taken up with the dismantling of the band’s stage, and the cleaning of the ice, including about twenty minutes of watching a Zamboni drive around the rink !

And there went another precious hour of my diminishing life that I’ll never get back !

Finally … the figure skating exhibition began ; Tessa Virtue, Scott Moir, Patrick Chan, Elvis Stojko, and five other champion figure skaters, Canadian, American, and Russian. Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir are … superb ! And the best of the others was “old man” Elvis Stojko. The show ended at 9:30 PM and we didn’t get home until almost 11 PM.

Monday ; Mix of sun and clouds, mild.

I did some fall pre-departure work today. Joanne continued with her herb garden harvesting and drying. I did some household annual cleaning chores. Around supper time we went to the swimming pool and did aquatic exercises.

Tuesday ; Overcast and chilly.

I drained the camper’s freshwater tank and water heater tank today. < sigh > Second time I’ve done that in the past week or so. I did it about a week ago when we were going to have overnight temperatures below freezing, then unwisely filled them again a few days later. Now we’re going to have freezing overnight temperatures … again !

And while working inside the camper I hit my forehead on the corner of an open cupboard door … and split my forehead open ! OUCH ! ! !  I cleaned the little barbecue we carry in the camper. And I cleaned the larger barbecue in our yard. 

I did some exterior maintenance on the camper.

I did some inventory of medications on hand. I suspended our satellite TV and internet services starting on November 1. I did some budget work. Joanne did laundry. And took our neighbour / friend Jeanine to run errands in Keremeos.

Wednesday ; Sunny and cold.

Today I finished studying the Deputy Returning Officer training book. I’m ready for the upcoming election. We had our neighbour / friend Jeanine over for supper again tonight.

Thursday ; Daniel’s 65^th birthday

I feel as if this is probably the most major milestone birthday of my life, surpassing turning sixteen and being old enough to drive a car, and turning eighteen and being old enough to drink alcohol. I’m sixty-five … and old enough to retire ! ! !

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA ! ! ! ! !

Today was sunny and cold. I don’t really mind the cold part, as long as I have the sunny part ! Although … it was so cold overnight … well below freezing … that whatever remained in our gardens was … destroyed. Today we harvested what we could, which wasn’t much, and then pulled everything out of the gardens.

In addition to pulling everything out of our gardens I did some other yard work today. When I blew out our garden hose with compressed air using our little compressor … long “icicles” blew out of the hose ! I suppose it was a good thing that I winterized our camper ( again ! ) yesterday.

My sister phoned to wish me a Happy Birthday. We had a pleasant long chat this afternoon.

We went to the swimming pool at suppertime to exercise but … the pool was so cold, we walked into the pool, spent about ten seconds in the cold water, and … quit ! We treated ourselves to a long soak session in the hot tub !

Friday ; Sunny and cool.

We left home this morning at 11:45 AM heading into Keremeos and my noon appointment for a haircut and beard trim. While I was getting my haircut Joanne went produce shopping. After my haircut we had a number of errands to run. First was to vote at the advance poll. Our wait was longer than we had hoped it would be. The advance polling employees seemed to be somewhat … inefficient. Maybe that’s a result of the poor training we all received ? We went to the local insurance agency to renew the truck’s and fifth wheel trailer’s registration and insurance, but … the agency’s ICBC computer system was down, and they were unable to renew vehicle registrations and insurance policies. We went to Valley First Credit Union and I rescinded a pre-authorized debit agreement. I walked across the street to Similkameen Pharmacy and got a flu shot. Finally we went to Benja Thai to have a wonderful lunch, somewhat in celebration of my birthday yesterday.

After we returned home in mid-afternoon Joanne phoned her sister to see how she was doing following her emergency appendectomy yesterday. Around suppertime we went to the swimming pool and did an exercise session. The pool was ever so slightly warmer than yesterday, but … still too cold ! After exercising we returned home to have a late, light supper of Doukhobor borscht. MMMMM !

Saturday ; our 45^th wedding anniversary

Sunny and cool.

This afternoon we cleaned and stored our yard and gazebo furniture. And my bicycle. And the Sun Oven.

For supper I cooked my new Udon noodle stir fry creation. I’ve now cooked it four times, and made it significantly different each time. Today was the second best.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, MY LOVE ! ! !

DSK

September 29 to October 5, 2019

Sunday ; Two year anniversary of CABG surgery

WOO-HOO … I’m still alive ! ! !

Overcast, cold, intermittent light rain.

I have begun working on my “fall pre-departure” checklist. And because of the expectation of freezing temperatures overnight tonight, we prematurely harvested about half of the tomatillos in our garden. We left about half of them hoping that they will survive the frost and continue developing.

We had our neighbour / friend Jeanine over for supper again tonight. We experimented with a new Rainbow Trout recipe. It was okay. Needs some “refinement”. And I think we overcooked it a bit.

Monday ; Overcast, chilly.

We were up early this morning. We had to be in Keremeos at 9 AM for Elections Canada training. This will be the fourth election that we work and … this was by far the worst elections training session we’ve had. And most attendees felt the same way. Fortunately our previous elections work makes today’s poor training relatively insignificant.

We were finished our training session around 12:30 PM. We ran some errands in town before returning home for a late lunch. At 6 PM we went to the swimming pool and did a cardiac exercise session.

Tuesday ; Sunny and mild.

Joanne took our neighbour / friend Jeanine into Keremeos this afternoon for a doctor’s appointment. I worked on routine household chores. I cleaned and polished shoes and sandals. I “rotated” the one year old mattress in our camper.

In the evening I worked on the computer, reconciling monthly bank statements and updating investment files.

Both Emma and I seem to be over the worst of our colds, and are improving.

Wednesday ; Penticton

Cloudy and cool.

We left home this morning at 11 AM heading for Penticton and Joanne’s physiotherapy appointment at noon. We had lunch at Joy Asian Buffet, a restaurant we have been to once before. It’s wonderful ! At 2 PM we had a meeting with our financial advisor to firm up our upcoming “pensions” / lifetime annuity benefits. WOO-HOO ! It feels somewhat like reaching the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

We ran other shopping errands until 5 PM. We were home at 6 PM, both of us feeling quite tired. We skipped having dinner, feeling full after a big lunch. We watched Survivor at 8 PM.

Thursday ; Sunny and mild.

Today we very sadly recall the death of Bo two years ago.

I did some “fall pre-departure” work on the camper this afternoon. Our neighbour / friend Jeanine came over for dinner. I cooked my new Udon noodles stir fry creation, “invented” while Joanne was in Winnipeg. I liked it. Joanne liked it. Jeanine claimed to like it. Hard to tell. She’s a fussy eater.

Friday ; Sunny and mild.

I have begun to work on “fall pre-departure”. I loaded some supplies into the camper. I disconnected, drained and cleaned the living room’s air conditioner. 
I purchased a one day U.S. cell phone plan, to verify on our first day of travel that our Canadian cell phone which I had “unlocked” from Telus this summer, will indeed work with the U.S. cell phone service I have chosen for this winter. At 6 PM we went to the swimming pool and did an aquatics exercise session.

Joanne harvested and dried herbs from her herb garden. And baked cookies. WOO-HOO !

Saturday ; Sunny and mild.

This afternoon we went to visit our neighbour, Jeannie, to arrange for her to provide pet care service for Ozzie on election day, when we will be away from home for over fourteen hours working as election officers. Around supper time 
I began studying my Deputy Returning Officer training book.

For supper Joanne cooked a beef chile verde dish, a Pati Jinich recipe, using fresh tomatillos that I grew from seed in our garden this summer.

DSK