Sunday ; Sunny and mild, a lovely fall day.
I unloaded trailer towing supplies from the truck, removed the fifth wheel hitch, then parked the truck back underneath the camper. After lunch and a nap I did some gardening. We went for a long walk around the RV park with Bo, enjoying the fine weather. I downloaded and processed photos. I did some online work, including posting my weekly bog entry.
We ate supper watching the American Presidential debate. HA HA HA HA HA !
Monday ; Canadian Thanksgiving and Daniel's 62nd birthday
Happy Birthday to me ! Cloudy, windy, and cold. We made waffles as a special birthday brunch. Bo really enjoys waffles with maple syrup. HA HA HA ! Joanne presented me with a birthday card and gifts over brunch. My sister phoned me this morning and we had a long chat.
I watered our composters this morning, perhaps for the last time this year. This afternoon I did maintenance on the truck. I adjusted the air pressure in all seven tires.
I worked on replacing a battery cable terminal clamp. It did not go well. I certainly am glad I didn't start this job the day before we left to do the recent trailer delivery job, as
I had considered doing. If I had ... and it went as it did today ... the truck would have been incapacitated when we needed to leave for the trailer delivery job. The replacement battery cable terminal clamp that I was installing broke as I was working on it < sigh >. I will go into Keremeos tomorrow to see if Napa Auto Parts has what
I need. Otherwise I'll have to go to Penticton to look for it.
Joanne cooked a Thanksgiving turkey dinner, and ... a birthday cake. Thank you for a wonderful birthday and Thanksgiving dinner, my love. In the evening I worked on my annual birthday investment update and analysis. We're doing well ! Good Job, Daniel !
Tuesday ; Sunny and chilly.
This morning we were awakened by Marcie. She came over to advise us that she was taking Gord to the clinic in town. He was ill. A few hours later we went into town to check on them, but they had just left the clinic to return home. I bought some automotive repair parts at Napa Auto Parts. This afternoon I repaired the truck, replacing the broken battery cable terminal clamp. And I did a bit of season end gardening.
Around supper time Marcie came over in a panic. Gord had fallen in the kitchen. Joanne and I rushed over and helped pick him up, and get him seated in a chair.
I called an ambulance ! He was sick and disoriented. He had been ill all day. The ambulance came, loaded him up, and took him to Penticton Hospital. < sigh >
Joanne had a few bites of food then left with Marcie headed to Penticton Hospital. They returned home about 10:45 PM. Gord will have to remain in the hospital for a few days.
Wednesday ; our 42nd anniversary
Sunny, windy, chilly.
This morning I made some phone calls. This afternoon I did some yard and gardening work. We went out for dinner to celebrate our anniversary. We went to the swimming pool building and while Joanne did some exercises in the fitness room I did some exercises in the swimming pool. Joanne has been trying to convince me to exercise more.
For our anniversary dinner we went to Benja Thai in Keremeos. We usually have a meal there once per year. And we are never disappointed ! Although ... as good as their Thai food is ... it's not quite as good as the Thai food prepared by our Yuma neighbour, Beebee, Miss Thailand of ... 1976, I think.
Have I mentioned lately ... < whispering to Joanne > ... how much I love you ?
Thursday ; Cloudy and chilly.
This morning I left in the truck for a day of running errands in Penticton. I took our next door neighbour Marcie. Joanne stayed home. First stop in Penticton was the hospital where I dropped Marcie off for a few hours of visiting Gord. He's still pretty ill. The hospital is the best place for him to be right now. Marcie can not provide him at home with the level of care he needs.
I took the truck for service, getting the oil and filter changed, and a lubrication service, followed by a wash. Next I went to Peach City Medical Clinic, the walk-in clinic that
I have chosen as my new "family doctor" service. It was my first visit there to see a doctor. My waiting time was very reasonable, shorter than any wait time I've ever had in ten years at the Keremeos Diagnostic & Treatment Centre. The doctor I saw today was personable, professional, and efficient. He acted like both his time and mine were valuable, and not to be wasted. What a pleasant change from Keremeos ! ! ! I was in, registered as a new patient, saw a doctor, and was out within forty-five minutes !
I ran a few more errands, then refilled Lanoire with diesel before returning to Penticton Hospital to pick up Marcie. I took her to Total Pet to buy some dog food for Ozzie, then we returned home, arriving back home about 3:30 PM. I spent a couple of hours helping Joanne with some gardening she had been working on today. Mostly I used the truck to haul gardening refuse to the burn pile / compost pile area of our RV park.
Friday ; Sunny and chilly.
This morning I installed a new fuel filter in the truck. Lanoire is now ready for travel to the south. This afternoon Joanne did a lot of gardening on our rock slope, mostly a lot of cutting down of Russian Sage which grew really large this year. I helped with clean up and disposal. I also did tomato garden removal and other winter preparation yard work. Marcie came over and I taught her how to clean and treat Ozzie's ears. I have been cleaning and treating Ozzie's ears since May when I discovered that he had severe ear infections. It has taken me five months to get the infections completely cleared up, and I hope Marcie will continue cleaning and treating his ears over the winter to prevent recurrence.
Saturday ; Cloudy and cold.
WOO-HOO ! Our ( 1850 AirMiles points ) $300 toaster has arrived. HA HA HA ! Pretty spiffy looking for a toaster ! Pretty high tech for a toaster !
We had a lazy day today. We slept late this morning. And I napped this afternoon.
HA HA HA ! I did some fall pre-departure preparations. We visited briefly with our neighbour / friend Jeanine. In the evening I worked on financial planning for this winter's budget.
DSK
Sunday, October 16, 2016
Sunday, October 9, 2016
October 2 to 8, 2016
Sunday ; Sunny and mild.
This morning I did some routine home and yard and vehicle preventive maintenance. Then I went next door to see Marcie and discuss with her the work I had done yesterday on her "classic" Mercedes-Benz. That resulted in some heated words being exchanged. Later in the day I exchanged some heated words with Gord over his new television set which I installed, and he now wants repackaged so that he can return it for a refund in order to buy a larger screen TV. I'm feeling that our generosity is being taken advantage of.
Yesterday in Penticton, while waiting for Gord's blood transfusion to be completed, Joanne bought me a birthday gift that she decided to give to me today. It's a lovely
fall / winter jacket that she thinks I might need to use on our upcoming trailer delivery job which will take us quite far north in BC. A few years ago we did a couple of trailer delivery jobs to Edmonton in early October. On the first of two back to back trips to Edmonton we left home wearing short sleeved shirts, and no socks, as was appropriate for the weather here. When we arrived in Edmonton ... there was an early winter blizzard. We were very unprepared ! So ... this time ... we'll be better prepared for cold weather. Thank you very much, my love.
By the way ... for those of you who remembered that I said "stay tuned" last Wednesday ... yes, yes ... Superstore refunded the cost of that "fresh" Coho Salmon, without any argument or questions. And yes, yes ... the rest of those Coho Salmon fillets were thrown in the garbage by us. And yes, yes ... the fillet that I ate for supper last Wednesday was, indeed, "bad". Just ask my now colitis flared colon !
Monday ; Sunny and cool.
We spent much of today preparing for our upcoming five day trailer delivery trip.
I worked on installing the fifth wheel hitch into the truck, and all the trailer towing supplies and materials. Joanne worked on clothing and bedding and food, etc. We took Bo for a long walk around the RV park, and visited with Jeanine as we passed by her place. I went bicycling. I watered our composter, and while doing that, made a "sales pitch" to a potential purchaser of Joe's and Lynn's lot next door to us. I trimmed my beard.
Tuesday ; home to Kamloops to Blind Bay to Kamloops
Sunny and cool. We were up early this morning and left home at 10 AM to begin our five day trailer delivery job. West on Hwy. 3 to Princeton, north on Hwy. 5 to Hwy. 97C, the Coquihalla / Okanagan Connector, west to Merritt where we refilled Lanoire with diesel. North on the Coquihalla / "Highway Thru Hell" to Kamloops where we stopped shortly after 1 PM to have a late picnic lunch at the Visitor Information Centre. We were back on the road by 2 PM heading east on Trans-Canada Highway 1 to Blind Bay where we arrived about 3 PM.
We were picking up a large fifth wheel trailer to be delivered to the buyer, our client. We were picking it up in Blind Bay from the seller ... not our client. Or more specifically, we were picking it up from the seller's wife. Suffice to say that the pick up went poorly ! We left Blind Bay, with the trailer in tow, about 5:30 PM, heading west on TCH 1 back to Kamloops. At Kamloops we turned north on Hwy. 5 and refilled with diesel again just as it got dark about 6:45 PM. We found our way in the dark to a shopping mall near the home of our friends Laszlo and Gail and Bo's buddy, their Pit Bull DeeOJee. We parked the truck and trailer at the shopping mall, Laszlo picked us up in their car, and we went to their nearby home for dinner and an overnight stay.
Gail had prepared a lovely supper for us ... thank you very much Gail ... and we enjoyed an evening of visiting.
Wednesday ; Kamloops to Hixon
Mix of sun and clouds, cool. After we showered etc. this morning Laszlo drove us back to the nearby shopping mall where we had left the truck and trailer parked overnight. We left the shopping mall about 9:30 AM heading back through Kamloops to Hwy. 5. We missed a crucial turn and got briefly lost in the city.
Once back on Hwy. 5 we headed north to Little Fort, then turned west on Hwy. 24. We reached Hwy. 97 at 100 Mile House and turned north. We stopped to have lunch at 108 Mile House. We refilled with diesel at Williams Lake. We stopped for the night at Hixon, staying in a small "Mom & Pop" motel with a parking lot large enough to accommodate our almost sixty foot long truck and fifth wheel trailer combination.
We ate our "picnic supper" in our motel room while watching Survivor. I spoke to our client on the telephone and made arrangements to meet tomorrow morning in Prince George, less than an hour north of here.
Thursday ; Hixon to Prince George to Francois Lake & return to Hixon
Cloudy and cool on the way out to Francois Lake, raining heavily on our way back.
This morning I slipped and fell in the motel's bathtub, injuring two toes on my left foot that had been broken before and are somewhat vulnerable to re-injury.
We were up early and left our motel room in Hixon at 9 AM, heading north on Hwy. 97 to Prince George, about forty-five minutes away. We refilled with diesel at the Superstore Fuel Bar and at 10 AM our trailer delivery client and his wife met us in the Superstore parking lot. Following them in their car we headed west on Yellowhead Hwy. 16 for about two hours to Fraser Lake, then turned onto Francois Lake Road for the final half hour or so to Birch Bay Resort on Francois Lake, our clients' trailer's new home.
It was an easy job for us to park their new ( to them ) large fifth wheel trailer. The client paid my bill, we all chatted for awhile, then Joanne and I left about 1:30 PM. We drove back to Yellowhead Hwy. 16 and stopped at a rest area to eat a late picnic lunch. We drove east back to Prince George where we refilled with diesel at Superstore Fuel Bar again, and bought some dog food at PetsMart. We left Prince George heading south on Hwy. 97 and arrived back at our motel about 6 PM. It was still daylight, and the rain had stopped, so we took Bo for a leisurely walk along the banks of Canyon Creek to relax and stretch our legs, tired and cramped from so much time in the truck over the last few days.
We ate our spaghetti dinner in our motel room while watching TV. We spent the rest of the evening watching TV, and I worked on my laptop doing trip accounting.
Friday ; Hixon to Kamloops
Gloomy, cold, raining.
This morning our trailer delivery client phoned with some questions regarding their new fifth wheel trailer which we delivered yesterday. I hope I answered his questions satisfactorily. We left the motel in Hixon this morning at 10:30 AM and continued heading south on Hwy. 97. We stopped in Quesnel to look for an advertised dog food special at Total Pet. They did not have what we were looking for. We stopped in Williams Lake to have lunch while parked at the Visitor Information Centre which is housed in a Pioneer Log Homes building that is ... incredible ! I always enjoy visiting the Williams Lake Visitor Information Centre just to marvel at the Pioneer Log Homes building. Pioneer Log Homes is a local Williams Lake business that is the featured subject of a television show called Timber Kings on one of the "educational" channels ; TLC or A&E or one of those similar channels. We stopped in 100 Mile House to look for the same advertised dog food special at PET VALU. Again ... they didn't have what we were looking for. Joanne saw a Bank Of Montreal, so we stopped to deposit the cash payment received from our trailer delivery client yesterday.
Just south of 100 Mile House we turned east on Hwy. 24, and an hour or so later we turned south again, this time on Hwy. 5. We stopped for a bathroom break and to stretch our legs at a rest area near McLure. Forty-five minutes later we arrived in Kamloops and found our way to Laszlo's and Gail's home, arriving at 6 PM. Gail had prepared a lovely supper for us ... again. Thank you ! The four of us chatted until late in the evening.
Saturday ; Kamloops to home
Gloomy, cold, raining heavily ... OR ... blizzard !
We left Laszlo's and Gail's home this morning about 10:30 AM. Thank you, Laszlo and Gail, for having us as dinner guests and overnight house guests ... twice this week. We drove to Superstore and did our weekly grocery shopping in Kamloops, to avoid needing to make a trip into Penticton for groceries soon after our return home. We also refilled Lanoire with diesel at the Superstore Fuel Bar, then headed out of Kamloops heading west on Trans-Canada Hwy. 1 for a few miles, then south on
Hwy. 5 / the Coquihalla / "Highway Thru Hell". Within moments, as the Coquihalla rose in elevation the heavy rain turned into a snow blizzard. WOW ! Finally ... I get to drive the "Highway Thru Hell" in whiteout conditions. HA HA HA !
It was brutal ! The temperature dropped to -1ºC / 30ºF. The slushy snow was accumulating on the road making it extremely slippery. The fog was thick. Cars were sliding off the road and into the ditch. And yet ... every few minutes some idiot would zip by in the passing lane, slipping and sliding as they passed the slowly moving line of traffic. And sometimes ... the idiot would be driving a fully loaded tractor-trailer unit ! ! ! As we descended into the Nicola Valley at Merritt, the temperature rose a bit, and the snow became rain again.
We turned east on Hwy. 97C, the Coquihalla / Okanagan Connector, heading towards Peachland. When we reached Hwy. 5A we turned south again heading to Princeton. We stopped at Gulliford Lake Rest Area to have lunch. When we reached Princeton we turned east on Crowsnest Hwy. 3 for the final leg to home. We reached Riverside RV Park Resort around 3:30 PM, safe and sound after a trailer delivery job round trip of 2152 km. / 1345 miles.
I had a well deserved short nap. Joanne unloaded food and our personal items from the truck. I spent much of the evening working on the computer, doing accounting and getting caught up on e-mail, etc.
This trailer delivery job made 2016 the highest earning year for Similkameen Trailer Towing in the seven years we've been doing this. Congratulations, Daniel ! Well done !
DSK
This morning I did some routine home and yard and vehicle preventive maintenance. Then I went next door to see Marcie and discuss with her the work I had done yesterday on her "classic" Mercedes-Benz. That resulted in some heated words being exchanged. Later in the day I exchanged some heated words with Gord over his new television set which I installed, and he now wants repackaged so that he can return it for a refund in order to buy a larger screen TV. I'm feeling that our generosity is being taken advantage of.
Yesterday in Penticton, while waiting for Gord's blood transfusion to be completed, Joanne bought me a birthday gift that she decided to give to me today. It's a lovely
fall / winter jacket that she thinks I might need to use on our upcoming trailer delivery job which will take us quite far north in BC. A few years ago we did a couple of trailer delivery jobs to Edmonton in early October. On the first of two back to back trips to Edmonton we left home wearing short sleeved shirts, and no socks, as was appropriate for the weather here. When we arrived in Edmonton ... there was an early winter blizzard. We were very unprepared ! So ... this time ... we'll be better prepared for cold weather. Thank you very much, my love.
By the way ... for those of you who remembered that I said "stay tuned" last Wednesday ... yes, yes ... Superstore refunded the cost of that "fresh" Coho Salmon, without any argument or questions. And yes, yes ... the rest of those Coho Salmon fillets were thrown in the garbage by us. And yes, yes ... the fillet that I ate for supper last Wednesday was, indeed, "bad". Just ask my now colitis flared colon !
Monday ; Sunny and cool.
We spent much of today preparing for our upcoming five day trailer delivery trip.
I worked on installing the fifth wheel hitch into the truck, and all the trailer towing supplies and materials. Joanne worked on clothing and bedding and food, etc. We took Bo for a long walk around the RV park, and visited with Jeanine as we passed by her place. I went bicycling. I watered our composter, and while doing that, made a "sales pitch" to a potential purchaser of Joe's and Lynn's lot next door to us. I trimmed my beard.
Tuesday ; home to Kamloops to Blind Bay to Kamloops
Sunny and cool. We were up early this morning and left home at 10 AM to begin our five day trailer delivery job. West on Hwy. 3 to Princeton, north on Hwy. 5 to Hwy. 97C, the Coquihalla / Okanagan Connector, west to Merritt where we refilled Lanoire with diesel. North on the Coquihalla / "Highway Thru Hell" to Kamloops where we stopped shortly after 1 PM to have a late picnic lunch at the Visitor Information Centre. We were back on the road by 2 PM heading east on Trans-Canada Highway 1 to Blind Bay where we arrived about 3 PM.
We were picking up a large fifth wheel trailer to be delivered to the buyer, our client. We were picking it up in Blind Bay from the seller ... not our client. Or more specifically, we were picking it up from the seller's wife. Suffice to say that the pick up went poorly ! We left Blind Bay, with the trailer in tow, about 5:30 PM, heading west on TCH 1 back to Kamloops. At Kamloops we turned north on Hwy. 5 and refilled with diesel again just as it got dark about 6:45 PM. We found our way in the dark to a shopping mall near the home of our friends Laszlo and Gail and Bo's buddy, their Pit Bull DeeOJee. We parked the truck and trailer at the shopping mall, Laszlo picked us up in their car, and we went to their nearby home for dinner and an overnight stay.
Gail had prepared a lovely supper for us ... thank you very much Gail ... and we enjoyed an evening of visiting.
Wednesday ; Kamloops to Hixon
Mix of sun and clouds, cool. After we showered etc. this morning Laszlo drove us back to the nearby shopping mall where we had left the truck and trailer parked overnight. We left the shopping mall about 9:30 AM heading back through Kamloops to Hwy. 5. We missed a crucial turn and got briefly lost in the city.
Once back on Hwy. 5 we headed north to Little Fort, then turned west on Hwy. 24. We reached Hwy. 97 at 100 Mile House and turned north. We stopped to have lunch at 108 Mile House. We refilled with diesel at Williams Lake. We stopped for the night at Hixon, staying in a small "Mom & Pop" motel with a parking lot large enough to accommodate our almost sixty foot long truck and fifth wheel trailer combination.
We ate our "picnic supper" in our motel room while watching Survivor. I spoke to our client on the telephone and made arrangements to meet tomorrow morning in Prince George, less than an hour north of here.
Thursday ; Hixon to Prince George to Francois Lake & return to Hixon
Cloudy and cool on the way out to Francois Lake, raining heavily on our way back.
This morning I slipped and fell in the motel's bathtub, injuring two toes on my left foot that had been broken before and are somewhat vulnerable to re-injury.
We were up early and left our motel room in Hixon at 9 AM, heading north on Hwy. 97 to Prince George, about forty-five minutes away. We refilled with diesel at the Superstore Fuel Bar and at 10 AM our trailer delivery client and his wife met us in the Superstore parking lot. Following them in their car we headed west on Yellowhead Hwy. 16 for about two hours to Fraser Lake, then turned onto Francois Lake Road for the final half hour or so to Birch Bay Resort on Francois Lake, our clients' trailer's new home.
It was an easy job for us to park their new ( to them ) large fifth wheel trailer. The client paid my bill, we all chatted for awhile, then Joanne and I left about 1:30 PM. We drove back to Yellowhead Hwy. 16 and stopped at a rest area to eat a late picnic lunch. We drove east back to Prince George where we refilled with diesel at Superstore Fuel Bar again, and bought some dog food at PetsMart. We left Prince George heading south on Hwy. 97 and arrived back at our motel about 6 PM. It was still daylight, and the rain had stopped, so we took Bo for a leisurely walk along the banks of Canyon Creek to relax and stretch our legs, tired and cramped from so much time in the truck over the last few days.
We ate our spaghetti dinner in our motel room while watching TV. We spent the rest of the evening watching TV, and I worked on my laptop doing trip accounting.
Friday ; Hixon to Kamloops
Gloomy, cold, raining.
This morning our trailer delivery client phoned with some questions regarding their new fifth wheel trailer which we delivered yesterday. I hope I answered his questions satisfactorily. We left the motel in Hixon this morning at 10:30 AM and continued heading south on Hwy. 97. We stopped in Quesnel to look for an advertised dog food special at Total Pet. They did not have what we were looking for. We stopped in Williams Lake to have lunch while parked at the Visitor Information Centre which is housed in a Pioneer Log Homes building that is ... incredible ! I always enjoy visiting the Williams Lake Visitor Information Centre just to marvel at the Pioneer Log Homes building. Pioneer Log Homes is a local Williams Lake business that is the featured subject of a television show called Timber Kings on one of the "educational" channels ; TLC or A&E or one of those similar channels. We stopped in 100 Mile House to look for the same advertised dog food special at PET VALU. Again ... they didn't have what we were looking for. Joanne saw a Bank Of Montreal, so we stopped to deposit the cash payment received from our trailer delivery client yesterday.
Just south of 100 Mile House we turned east on Hwy. 24, and an hour or so later we turned south again, this time on Hwy. 5. We stopped for a bathroom break and to stretch our legs at a rest area near McLure. Forty-five minutes later we arrived in Kamloops and found our way to Laszlo's and Gail's home, arriving at 6 PM. Gail had prepared a lovely supper for us ... again. Thank you ! The four of us chatted until late in the evening.
Saturday ; Kamloops to home
Gloomy, cold, raining heavily ... OR ... blizzard !
We left Laszlo's and Gail's home this morning about 10:30 AM. Thank you, Laszlo and Gail, for having us as dinner guests and overnight house guests ... twice this week. We drove to Superstore and did our weekly grocery shopping in Kamloops, to avoid needing to make a trip into Penticton for groceries soon after our return home. We also refilled Lanoire with diesel at the Superstore Fuel Bar, then headed out of Kamloops heading west on Trans-Canada Hwy. 1 for a few miles, then south on
Hwy. 5 / the Coquihalla / "Highway Thru Hell". Within moments, as the Coquihalla rose in elevation the heavy rain turned into a snow blizzard. WOW ! Finally ... I get to drive the "Highway Thru Hell" in whiteout conditions. HA HA HA !
It was brutal ! The temperature dropped to -1ºC / 30ºF. The slushy snow was accumulating on the road making it extremely slippery. The fog was thick. Cars were sliding off the road and into the ditch. And yet ... every few minutes some idiot would zip by in the passing lane, slipping and sliding as they passed the slowly moving line of traffic. And sometimes ... the idiot would be driving a fully loaded tractor-trailer unit ! ! ! As we descended into the Nicola Valley at Merritt, the temperature rose a bit, and the snow became rain again.
We turned east on Hwy. 97C, the Coquihalla / Okanagan Connector, heading towards Peachland. When we reached Hwy. 5A we turned south again heading to Princeton. We stopped at Gulliford Lake Rest Area to have lunch. When we reached Princeton we turned east on Crowsnest Hwy. 3 for the final leg to home. We reached Riverside RV Park Resort around 3:30 PM, safe and sound after a trailer delivery job round trip of 2152 km. / 1345 miles.
I had a well deserved short nap. Joanne unloaded food and our personal items from the truck. I spent much of the evening working on the computer, doing accounting and getting caught up on e-mail, etc.
This trailer delivery job made 2016 the highest earning year for Similkameen Trailer Towing in the seven years we've been doing this. Congratulations, Daniel ! Well done !
DSK
Sunday, October 2, 2016
September 25 to October 1, 2016
Sunday ; Sunny and mild.
Today I "dedicated" our RV park's dog park as the "Gordon ****** Memorial Dog Park". I had two plaques made, and mounted them on both sides of the entrance gate to the dog park. I invited Gord and Marcie to the dog park, and surprised them with this "dedication" ceremony. I mistakenly believed that today was Gord's 75th birthday. It wasn't ! Joanne had provided me with erroneous information. His birthday is on Friday, the 30th.
Gord was responsible for the creation of our RV park's dog park. He championed the idea, and when he finally got our homeowner's society to buy on, he made the project happen, including supervising the contractor who built it. I wanted this community to remember him for that. I was uncertain whether or not it made sense to create a "memorial" in his honour while he was still alive, but ... I didn't see any value for him if
I had waited until he was deceased. So ... protocol be damned !
This afternoon I removed, repaired, and reinstalled the check valve plumbing underneath our home, to correct my assembly / installation errors of last week. < sigh >
Monday ; Sunny and warm, a bit windy. Joanne made sun dried tomatoes in the Sun Oven today.
I had a phone meeting with my investment advisor this morning. I made some phone calls to get quotes for travel medical insurance. I made phone calls and exchanged e-mails regarding a complete Shaw Direct satellite TV system I am selling ; satellite dish, receiver and remote control, etc. I made phone calls and exchanged e-mails with a potential trailer towing client, then spent quite a bit of time this afternoon working on details of the potential job. I initially provided the potential client with an inaccurate
( low ) estimate. DUH ! Bit of a brain fart ! I think I should refrain from making estimates, and just take whatever time is necessary to prepare a reasonable and accurate quote. And even when I took the time to prepare what I thought was an accurate quote ... I discovered later that I had prepared a quote based on a Google Maps routing and mileage that took me on a gravel forest service road up and over a mountain, then down the ski resort access road on the other side of that mountain. WELL ! I don't think so ! Not with a very heavy thirty-eight foot fifth wheel trailer ... that doesn't belong to me ! ! ! When I recalculated the routing to stay on "civilized" paved roads, even the "accurate" quote I provided turned out to be ... well ... less than it should have been ! And that "under charged" quote was way more than my initial estimate. What a doofus ! < shaking my head in despair >
This afternoon when we took Bo to the dog park, an impromptu dog party developed. Great ! Bo hasn't had a "dog party" in a long time. He had fun ( and made a lot of noise ) with new friends Candy, Tika, and Sammy, all recent arrivals / new residents in our community.
I did some watering and gardening and harvesting. Just about time to pull out our plants and gardens, I think.
Tuesday ; Sunny, mild, windy.
This morning we headed to Penticton for a long, hard day of running errands. And DanAir flight 430. Joanne dropped me off at BP Aviation at the airport and she went shopping. I prepared Cessna 172 C-GHBM and departed into winds that were at the limit of the aircraft. < whispering > And perhaps a bit beyond when gusting. I flew south over Skaha Lake, then followed Hwy. 3A to Keremeos, and the Similkameen River Valley to Riverside RV Park Resort where I did a very low pass, about 600 feet above the river, to view the park. I climbed back up as I returned towards Keremeos, and flew back to Penticton. It was a bumpy, turbulent flight through the valleys and over the mountains because of the winds.
DanAir flight 430 was my last flight of this year. Perhaps ... my last flight ever.
< shrug > With my 62nd birthday less than two weeks away ... I am seriously considering "retiring" my private pilot's wings.
Wednesday ; Sunny and warm.
I've been hired to do a long distance trailer tow job next week. I spent much of today planning and preparing for that trip / job.
Yesterday I bought a fresh ( ? ) Coho Salmon at Superstore in Penticton. This morning I filleted it, and cooked one fillet for supper tonight. I think it was ... uhhhhh ... not fresh enough ! ! ! Joanne needs to go back to Penticton tomorrow to buy dog food that we should have bought yesterday. I have asked her to see the Superstore manager tomorrow and request a refund. Stay tuned !
Thursday ; Sunny and mild. Joanne left this morning for a day of shopping and errands in Penticton by herself.
I trimmed Bo's claws. I took him for a walk, and returned some books to the library in our clubhouse. After lunch I napped briefly then went fishing. In the first hour of fishing I caught three Rainbow Trout and two Cutthroat Trout. I released the smallest of the Rainbows. In the second hour of fishing I caught ... absolutely nothing ! HMPH !
I think my fishing for this summer season is now finished.
I returned home about 5:30 PM, just as Joanne was also returning home. She helped me clean and fillet the fish, then helped me do a job for the next door neighbours. They bought a new television and asked me to remove their old TV and set up the new one.
Friday ; Sunny and mild. Happy 75th birthday to our ill next door neighbour Gord.
This morning our neighbour / friend Jeanine came over for a visit. We sat outside at our picnic table and visited while enjoying the fine fall weather. This afternoon Joanne did a lot of laundry. I sharpened knives. I polished shoes. I did some indoor maintenance and cleaning work. Joanne and I went for a long walk ( without Bo ) through the RV park, down by the river, through the park's burn pit and compost area, and out into the woods that are ( probably ) part of the large ranch next door.
Saturday ; Mostly sunny and mild.
Early this morning Marcie knocked on our door to advise us that she was taking Gord to the emergency department of Keremeos Diagnostic & Treatment Centre. He had been suffering with a persistent nosebleed during the night. When they had not returned by noon we decided to check on them at the clinic as we ran some errands in town.
< sigh > Gord needed to go to Penticton Hospital for ( another ) blood transfusion. I left Joanne at the clinic to drive them to Penticton Hospital and back. As I type this at 10:30 PM Saturday night they have not yet returned home.
This morning I made some telephone calls then we went into town. We bought some apples, and some wine for Thanksgiving. Back at home I walked Bo and Ozzie, a couple of times throughout the afternoon, and worked on the neighbours' "classic" Mercedes-Benz convertible. It has not been used for ten years or more, and has deteriorated into ... a near worthless piece of junk, in my opinion.
After supper I worked on month end banking statement reconciliations and investment updates and analysis.
DSK
Today I "dedicated" our RV park's dog park as the "Gordon ****** Memorial Dog Park". I had two plaques made, and mounted them on both sides of the entrance gate to the dog park. I invited Gord and Marcie to the dog park, and surprised them with this "dedication" ceremony. I mistakenly believed that today was Gord's 75th birthday. It wasn't ! Joanne had provided me with erroneous information. His birthday is on Friday, the 30th.
Gord was responsible for the creation of our RV park's dog park. He championed the idea, and when he finally got our homeowner's society to buy on, he made the project happen, including supervising the contractor who built it. I wanted this community to remember him for that. I was uncertain whether or not it made sense to create a "memorial" in his honour while he was still alive, but ... I didn't see any value for him if
I had waited until he was deceased. So ... protocol be damned !
This afternoon I removed, repaired, and reinstalled the check valve plumbing underneath our home, to correct my assembly / installation errors of last week. < sigh >
Monday ; Sunny and warm, a bit windy. Joanne made sun dried tomatoes in the Sun Oven today.
I had a phone meeting with my investment advisor this morning. I made some phone calls to get quotes for travel medical insurance. I made phone calls and exchanged e-mails regarding a complete Shaw Direct satellite TV system I am selling ; satellite dish, receiver and remote control, etc. I made phone calls and exchanged e-mails with a potential trailer towing client, then spent quite a bit of time this afternoon working on details of the potential job. I initially provided the potential client with an inaccurate
( low ) estimate. DUH ! Bit of a brain fart ! I think I should refrain from making estimates, and just take whatever time is necessary to prepare a reasonable and accurate quote. And even when I took the time to prepare what I thought was an accurate quote ... I discovered later that I had prepared a quote based on a Google Maps routing and mileage that took me on a gravel forest service road up and over a mountain, then down the ski resort access road on the other side of that mountain. WELL ! I don't think so ! Not with a very heavy thirty-eight foot fifth wheel trailer ... that doesn't belong to me ! ! ! When I recalculated the routing to stay on "civilized" paved roads, even the "accurate" quote I provided turned out to be ... well ... less than it should have been ! And that "under charged" quote was way more than my initial estimate. What a doofus ! < shaking my head in despair >
This afternoon when we took Bo to the dog park, an impromptu dog party developed. Great ! Bo hasn't had a "dog party" in a long time. He had fun ( and made a lot of noise ) with new friends Candy, Tika, and Sammy, all recent arrivals / new residents in our community.
I did some watering and gardening and harvesting. Just about time to pull out our plants and gardens, I think.
Tuesday ; Sunny, mild, windy.
This morning we headed to Penticton for a long, hard day of running errands. And DanAir flight 430. Joanne dropped me off at BP Aviation at the airport and she went shopping. I prepared Cessna 172 C-GHBM and departed into winds that were at the limit of the aircraft. < whispering > And perhaps a bit beyond when gusting. I flew south over Skaha Lake, then followed Hwy. 3A to Keremeos, and the Similkameen River Valley to Riverside RV Park Resort where I did a very low pass, about 600 feet above the river, to view the park. I climbed back up as I returned towards Keremeos, and flew back to Penticton. It was a bumpy, turbulent flight through the valleys and over the mountains because of the winds.
DanAir flight 430 was my last flight of this year. Perhaps ... my last flight ever.
< shrug > With my 62nd birthday less than two weeks away ... I am seriously considering "retiring" my private pilot's wings.
Wednesday ; Sunny and warm.
I've been hired to do a long distance trailer tow job next week. I spent much of today planning and preparing for that trip / job.
Yesterday I bought a fresh ( ? ) Coho Salmon at Superstore in Penticton. This morning I filleted it, and cooked one fillet for supper tonight. I think it was ... uhhhhh ... not fresh enough ! ! ! Joanne needs to go back to Penticton tomorrow to buy dog food that we should have bought yesterday. I have asked her to see the Superstore manager tomorrow and request a refund. Stay tuned !
Thursday ; Sunny and mild. Joanne left this morning for a day of shopping and errands in Penticton by herself.
I trimmed Bo's claws. I took him for a walk, and returned some books to the library in our clubhouse. After lunch I napped briefly then went fishing. In the first hour of fishing I caught three Rainbow Trout and two Cutthroat Trout. I released the smallest of the Rainbows. In the second hour of fishing I caught ... absolutely nothing ! HMPH !
I think my fishing for this summer season is now finished.
I returned home about 5:30 PM, just as Joanne was also returning home. She helped me clean and fillet the fish, then helped me do a job for the next door neighbours. They bought a new television and asked me to remove their old TV and set up the new one.
Friday ; Sunny and mild. Happy 75th birthday to our ill next door neighbour Gord.
This morning our neighbour / friend Jeanine came over for a visit. We sat outside at our picnic table and visited while enjoying the fine fall weather. This afternoon Joanne did a lot of laundry. I sharpened knives. I polished shoes. I did some indoor maintenance and cleaning work. Joanne and I went for a long walk ( without Bo ) through the RV park, down by the river, through the park's burn pit and compost area, and out into the woods that are ( probably ) part of the large ranch next door.
Saturday ; Mostly sunny and mild.
Early this morning Marcie knocked on our door to advise us that she was taking Gord to the emergency department of Keremeos Diagnostic & Treatment Centre. He had been suffering with a persistent nosebleed during the night. When they had not returned by noon we decided to check on them at the clinic as we ran some errands in town.
< sigh > Gord needed to go to Penticton Hospital for ( another ) blood transfusion. I left Joanne at the clinic to drive them to Penticton Hospital and back. As I type this at 10:30 PM Saturday night they have not yet returned home.
This morning I made some telephone calls then we went into town. We bought some apples, and some wine for Thanksgiving. Back at home I walked Bo and Ozzie, a couple of times throughout the afternoon, and worked on the neighbours' "classic" Mercedes-Benz convertible. It has not been used for ten years or more, and has deteriorated into ... a near worthless piece of junk, in my opinion.
After supper I worked on month end banking statement reconciliations and investment updates and analysis.
DSK
Sunday, September 25, 2016
September 18 to 24, 2016
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
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 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
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)