Summer weather is over! Sept 23 - 30th

Monday I went to my Chair Yoga. Boy did Ross work us hard on our cores. I realize now the chair is only to help balance you, not for sitting. LOL

Tuesday is the day I put "summer" away. The rest of my front planters were emptied out ready for my gardener to move them under the sundeck for the winter. I put the rest of the deck and driveway furniture away using my "green dumper" and adjustable dolly into the basement. Most of it I did while Ray's at physio, so he couldn't try to help me lol. He did disconnect my front irrigation though and blew out the lines. With all the lifting, I'm pretty sore afterwards, even after having a hot tub. 

The rest of the day we spent sitting in our chairs on the deck, the ones we just cover and use over the winter. It's a really warm, humid afternoon at about 21C (70F). Last warm day, the rain begins tomorrow. I went to bed at 8:30 pm and asleep immediately. 

Wednesday off to exercise class. Wasn't sure if I would go as I'm so sore, but decided to go after loosening up in the hot tub. What beautiful warm fall afternoon. Great water reflections.

Ray finally got to take off the bandage from knee surgery. He is healing well. He can bend to 112 degrees, at 4 weeks. Awesome.

Thursday Raywent to physio, so that pretty much did him in for the day. I puttered in my kitchen a bit, another batch of tomato sauce with the last of my tomatoes and an apple pie. Ray bought a bag of apples at the Duncan Farmer's Market last weekend and they were already going soft, So instead of throwing them into the compost, I got out my "Johnny Apple Peeler" and made him a pie. Today is a miserable rainy day. Our gardener postponed taking our planters off the deck until tomorrow, so he wouldn't be tracking all that dirt and mud through the house, since that is how we get them off the deck.

Tonight's my Island Art Night at Jake's. My first time painting on a canvas. It was 2 hours of lots of laughs. My picture actually turned out not too bad. The hardest part is that I had a TV behind me that kept changing colours which would reflect on my canvas. That made it hard to seeif I had the appropriate coverage of paint. My picture turned out not too bad.

How it starts out. Mario gave us a stencil to trace out the plane and then paint it.

My tablemates.

I'm definitely going to give it another try and booked for the October 24th class. Pat, our neighbour, is also coming with me.

Friday, definitely a bit tired after staying up later than usual. Then moving fast in the morning as Sean's coming at 8am to clear off all the planters and put them under the deck for the winter. First Ralph and Sean had to dig a bunch of the dirt out and dump it into my front garden before moving them with my dolly. Now I have to finish cleaning the deck this weekend. They also helped me pull the ladders up on the dock, so now I just have to clean them from the green slime from the lake. I'm glad I went into the water on the last warm day and tied the ropes to them instead of swimming now!

Dirty deck!

While I'm busy with that Ray started figuring out his Christmas Village .... I had hauled out all the boxes of houses etc. He has 47 houses, 3 trains, 10 other bigger features, lots of people and a bunch of diecast cars. He will have to paint everything white, make hills and carve out his foam. A lot of figuring out how to go vertical! He started it downstairs, so has 2 months to figure it out before moving it upstairs. 

Decided not to go to my exercise class as I'd done a bunch already today. At 2pm I drove into Duncan to the Toyoto dealer for the first service on our new car and get our extra key fob programmed. Due to a chip shortage, we only received one key fob for the car. A bit of a pain between the two of us, as I clip my keys to my purse and often leave Ray in the car while doing a small shop. Then he is stuck unable to open windows etc. Also a bunch of times, he comes into the store with me for picking his stuff, then waits in the car. Several times he went to the car and then realizes he can't get in. Problem now solved. lol

Saturday morning we have a bit of a nice sunrise before the clouds moved in again. Morning temps are certainly chillier at 5C instead of 11C now. They have opened up the weir more, so more water is getting into the river for the salmon. 

I spent the morning pressure washing the gazebo and ladders down on the dock and then moved up to do the front of the house and part of the driveway to clear up all the dirt from the planters. My hose to the dock is 10 feet too short, so borrowed one from Pat and Darryl ... Ray gave all our extra hose away with the motorhome. 

That's exhausting work lol. Ray took me out for lunch as I'm too tired to throw something together. lol Sure looks much better. Tomorrow the sundeck! I kept 3 planters of herbs until they die off later in the fall.

Sunday, I managed to get the sundeck all pressure washed. This is my last big job for the fall. Looks much better. I'm glad to get it done on a nice day instead of the rain.

Ray played with his village setup downstairs for a bit. We have to make 2 villages .... so he can show off his 3 train sets. lol

He still has lots of pieces to figure out, then he will be painting the foam white, gluing his tracks and then build boxes to raise up the houses ... alot of work to do.

Monday, the last day of September OMG. This month went so fast. A very foggy start to the morning where we couldn't see across the lake. By 8 am though the sun broke through. Today is "take it easy" day, with both of us quite sore. I see a hot tub in my future, while Ray is still unable to go in until his incision scar is "scab free".

We did manage to hang our 2 new paintings. 

After doing a bit of grocery shopping, Ray took me out to lunch at Jake's for Seniors Day ... 25% off food. Great deal.

Fall is here! Sept 9 - Sept 22nd.

The weather became more "fall like" with temperatures of low 20's C (70F). The clouds are starting to come in, so there's a bit of a sunset Monday night.

Our granddaughter Amelia had a lesson this past week of physics and gravity ... poor thing forgot to brake on her new bike and hit their garage door. Messed up her face quite a bit and a bloody nose. This included a bunch of tears, but she is quite a trooper. 

Looking pretty bruised, poor thing.

Fortunately after a couple of days and lots of puppy hugs, she's looking much better.

This fall, since we're not going south, I've signed up for exercise programs at the Cowichan Arena. In the meantime, Ray's got 6 weeks of physio with his new knee. He goes twice a week, Tueday and Thursdays and I go 3 times a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. 

In between, I've been emptying the dock boxes and putting some of the furniture on the sundeck away for the winter. I've emptied out some of the deck planters and harvested all my mini peppers. At the end of the month, my gardener will move all the planters under the sundeck for me. 

Tuesday night brought rain, which we haven't seen much of since July 9th. Glad I put away a bunch of stuff yesterday.

The rest of the week and weekend became much cooler, but enough sun came out to be able to sit on the driveway. 

Our neighbour's friend landed on his heli-pad for a visit, 4 houses down from us. Right over Pat's house. Sure is loud!

View from our driveway.

Bye bye!

Sunday I drove up to Nanaimo for a Costco run and stopped in to see Amelia and Jason on the way back. Took them out for lunch and spent some time reading with her before heading back home. Jason made me a 1/2 dozen jars of yum yum pickles. Thanks a bunch! Back home for 2 pm to join Ray sitting outside on the driveway in the sunshine.

The rain on Friday, finished off most of the flowers in my planters so time to rip it all out. Quiet weekend other than puttering in the yard a bit.

Next I will be emptying the front planters and then next week Sean with move these off the deck for me. Then the deck can be pressure washed when Jason comes up to help me move the rest of the patio and driveway furniture into the basement for winter. 

Got to keep busy this fall, because at this time last year, we'd already left for our winter vacation in the motorhome.

I also went to a craft night at our local pub. Made a seaglass wind chime.  A lot of laughs with my table mates.

The weather's been quite warm in the afternoons, so we've spent quite a bit of time either on the driveway patio or the back deck. I had our gardener's helper, Penny, plant about 100 daffodil bulbs so I'll be here to see them next year. Notice her on her hands and knees, precisely why I had her do it. lol I did have a drill attachment to dig the holes making it easier though.

Penny

We had a "guest" perch in our front entrance again .... a bat! I wish they wouldn't decide to rest there between flights! Fortunately, with the screens Ray put up, they can't get into the very top and into the house. After fighting with them entering the house for 5 years, this year we seem to have finally convinced them to nest somewhere else. At least we have not seen the "droppings".

Saturday morning we went to an Art Show put on by our neighbours daughter Tara. All the proceeds are going to Lake Cowichan's Food Bank. 

We bought two of them lol

After we dropped Pat off next door, we headed into Duncan to visit the Farmer's Market and drop Ray's picture off to be framed. We noticed another mural we haven't seen before.

After wandering around for an hour, it's time for brunch. I started with mimosa's ... yumm.

A great Saturday. The rest of the day we spent down on the dock and out on the driveway enjoying the last day of sunshine for a bit.

Sunday, the first day of fall, sure looks like it. Cloudy and showers in the afternoon. Good day for chores and playing in my kitchen. 

Ray has his left leg knee surgery - August 26 - September 8th.

Monday and Tuesday we spent doing anything that needed doing before Ray is laid up for the next 6 - 8 weeks. Fortunately our son-in-law Jason and Kristi, will be down here at the end of September to help put away our summer furniture from the dock, deck and driveway. Too much for me to handle myself. We also have very helpful neighbours if I need help with something. So lucky we live where we do.

Dropped Ray off Wednsday at Cowichan Hospital at 6:30 am. Unfortunately for him, there was an emergency surgery ahead of him. A young boy broke his elbow and took a three hour surgery to fix. Ray finally got in at 11 am. Dr. Popovich said the surgery went really well and is happy with the result. Fabulous! 

We were able to finally spring him out of the hospital at 4:15 pm. He's happy to get back home. The next 5 days will be limited sleep for me, and him with meds every 2 hours. Just like having a newborn lol.

The weather is finally back to summer again. Ray's able to sit outside on the driveway and on the sundeck. I've spent a lot of time in the kitchen processing my tomatoes.  We will have a lot of tomato sauce ready for fall cooking. For the first time, I tried pickling some veggies with cherry tomatoes. I have to wait a week to taste test.

Friday morning I left Ray at home and went to the Cowichan Hospital in Duncan for an 11:45 am Echocardiogram. This was requested last summer. Kristi asked us to get one to find out who carries the "gene" that Amelia has. "Dilitation of the Thoracic Aorta".  Basically it is the possiblity of an aneurysm. More likely if you have high cholesterol. My blood tests are within range. Kristi has it as well, but very minor. She said if you've it bad, you'd already by dead by 40! I guess if I have the gene it is minor lol. The fix is a stent. Ray had is Echo in April and he didn't have it. 

With being the last long weekend of the summer the lake traffic has picked up substantially. Lots to watch. Friday night's dinner is homemade butternut squash ravoili with fried sage, brown butter sauce and candied pecans with prawns. Delicious. This is a take on a dish I used to order at Cactus Club in Surrey. Ray's a happy camper. He said "that's one of the best things you have ever made!" I guess this dinner will be hard to beat :) Since we are "stuck" at home for the next few weeks, I'm keeping my self busy with processing tomatoes and cooking. Afternoons are spent outside enjoying the warm weather.

Saturday morning is beautiful. Another batch of tomatoes processed into tomato sauce. Trying to keep up so it's not such a big job. Tonight's dinner will be Chicken Parmigiana with my homemade tomato sauce.

Sunday we spent the afternoon sitting on the deck watching all the activity on the water. It was so warm that I went for a quick dip in the lake to cool off. Ray can't make it down to the dock for awhile yet. His new knee is doing really well.

Monday the kids called to see if they could come for a visit. Of course that meant I'm making lunch and dinner lol. It's great to see them and our granddaughter Amelia. It's a month since we've seen them.They were camping and then we were worried about Ray getting sick before surgery.

We played in the driveway, and on the road. Zoom Zoom!

First up lunch, Italian Sausage Pasta ... fortunately I'd just made a batch of tomato sauce from my tomato plants.

Next is sitting outside on our driveway patio.

We set up the little pool for Amelia. She had a great time as "naked baby" for an hour or so. At the end it's time to give Olaf a bath before draining the pool.

He was so tired he found a place to sleep while we were out on the deck.

All too soon it's dinner time and then they were off by 6:00 pm in time to get Amelia to bed at their house in Nanaimo. So nice to see them.

Tuesday afternoon, Ray's dressing on his knee started staining with discharge. Oh oh. Ray called his surgeon's office and they told him to come to the hopsital tomorrow for 9am at the Ortho Clinic. We watched it for the rest of the afternoon but by 8pm his leg looked like it was getting red as well. Off to the ER we went. Arrived at 8:30 and he wasn't seen until 10:30 pm. After taking bloodwork and a culture they bandaged him back up and we left shortly after midnight.

Wednesday morning we were back at the hospital at the Ortho Clinic. It turned out that Ray'd developed a blister beside his incision for whatever reason and it popped, which is where the discharge came from. His incision is healing perfectly. 

His knee is redressed with the proper dressings and we came home. What a relief. If I'd been allowed to take his dressing off myself, I would've seen the issue. Oh well, better safe than sorry. We're both exhausted after only 5 hours sleep and the worry from the night before. We made use of the front driveway patio and the sundeck for the rest of the afternoon. I even managed a nap. Our "garden angel" came and transplanted two of my hydrangeas for me. The garden has a lot of roots and rocks so I didn't want to do it.

Thursday another gorgeous day. I spent the morning cutting down my tomato plants and harvesting all the green tomatoes. All the vines have died off and are yellow, so it's time. I've quite a few to ripen. lol

Ray spent the morning outside in the front before the heat moved him to the back deck. It sure is a hot one. I ended up swimming in the lake to cool off.

Friday I left early to go into Duncan for some shopping, return Ray's walker and get a pedicure. When I got back at 1 pm, there's a different guy waiting for me lol. Ray shaved off his goatee and moustache. Haven't seen that face for 3 years. :) I like it. 

Saturday's still quite warm and probably my last swim in the lake this year. It's really hazy out with the smoke from Washington moving north. It isn't as hot as predicted, but still warm enough for cooling off in the lake. 

Sunday I cut down my mini pepper plants and harvested a bowl of peppers that'll ripen on my counter with the tomatoes. I'm surprised by how many 2 small plants produced. The deck boxes are slowly emptying out getting ready to be moved under the sundeck for the winter. Today the temps are only low 20's C so we're now into fall temperatures, no more hot days this year. Time to start bringing up the deck box stuff from the dock. Last year at this time we were packing the MH getting ready to leave Sept 14 for the USA. So different this year. 

A quiet two weeks, Ray's friends come for lunch and Steve and Dianne come for a visit. August 12 - 25

This week is much cooler and cloudy. Not much happening at the lake, unless it's your summer vacation and you have no choice. lol

Saturday, some aquaintances of Ray's came to the lake for a kayak ride and lunch. Fortunately the weather cooperated and is sunny and warm at 26C.  Karen and John arrived at 10am and we served them coffee and pastries down on the dock. 

By 11:30 we had them "kitted out" for their kayak adventure towards town and back.

The lake is starting to go down and our beach is starting to appear.

While they were busy doing that, I put the finishing touches on lunch. Grilled Pork Souvlaki skewers on the BBQ, fresh tzatziki sauce, pita bread and a greek salad using my tasty home grown cherry tomatoes. For desser,t it's fresh local strawberries made into tarts. Yummm.

After a lovely short visit, they left about 1:30 as they have a puppy at home. They're concerned their beagle might have an accident in the house if left too long.

The rest of the afternoon we spent down on the dock until the predicted clouds came in and the winds came up. Fortunately, it's cool enough now to sit on our sundeck with a fan going. After dinner we went back onto the deck to see a beautiful sunset.

The sunset is definitely a precursor to what is to come. Temperatures are certainly cooler. Sunday is mostly cloudy and we did have thunder and rain overnight. Monday another spectacular sunrise before the clouds came in and it rained on and off all day. Ray took me for lunch at Jake's for Seniors Day. lol

Tuesday rinse and repeat other than a few errands in Lake Cowichan. We did have the Telus Security guy come and update our security system since Price Alarms is now Telus. This was an unexpected $900 charge as our old system is based on 3G and not compatible with Telus. We need to have coverage when we travel, so no choice.

Wednesday, another grey day with a bunch of rain to come in the afternoon. This weather certainly is not like summer weather we usually receive in August. Summer finally came around the second week of July and seems to have left the second week of August. Today, Ray headed into Duncan to pick up some rigid styrofoam for his Christmas Village project and also pick up his e-bike. We took them in to adjust the rear derailers. We seemed to miss most of the rain until dinner time, then it came down in buckets.

Tomorrow Steve and Dianne come down for a couple of nights, unfortunately the weather is going to be wet and grey. Ray's surgery is moved up to next Wednesday, August 28th, so we are scurrying around getting the last things on his to do list before being laid up.

Thursday, Steve and Dianne arrived at 1:30 or so. Ray spent the morning in Duncan at the hospital getting his ECG, XRay and bloodwork ready for next Wednesday. 

We were able to sit out on the deck as it's only sprinkling with no wind. Quite cool though, so we turned on the heaters and fireplace. In the meantime I'm busy cooking a bacon wrapped pork loin roast on my Traeger smoker.

Picture by Steve

Picture by Steve

My awesome Kitchen Cleanup Crew!

We managed to sit outside for a bit after dinner before coming in and watching a movie on Netflix.

Friday morning is wet, but we decided to go out for lunch at the Youbou Bar and Grill. It just sprinkled on the way. We took them for a drive up into the new subdivision across from us on the lake and then drove through Youbou a bit before stopping for lunch. Here is a funky fence from old water skis that I thought looked cool.

When we left, it's pouring outside so headed straight back home and were able to sit on the sundeck with the heaters on again. Ray needed to move an umbrella to protect Steve's back. lol

Picture by Dianne

Picture by Dianne

Dianne's favourite spot. Cozied up on the sundeck looking at the lake, even if it is raining!

All of us gave up about 3 pm, the rain is relentless and the wind came up. Inside we went to watch some more TV. Dinner tonight is leftovers for Ray and Dianne. Both Steve and I were still too full from lunch, we did have dessert though. lol

After watching another episode of "Wednesday", we called it a night at 9:30 pm. It sure rained hard overnight but ended in the morning. Still grey and blustery outside though. 

By 10, they were all packed up and ready to head down to Victoria. They'll be looking after their grandsons for the week, while Mom and Dad work. Great seeing them, our last time before they head to the USA for the winter.

Ray has a few more things to get done before Wednesday's surgery, so that will keep us busy for the next few days. Fortunately the weather cooperated for us to get some pruning done in the gardens and planters. The big rain event decimated my petunias and now they are all slimey. We just had a small window Sunday to get it done before the rains begin again on Monday.

These 2 weeks seem to have flown by!