Ray and I decided to take a drive back to Cowichan Bay for lunch to get out of the house. With it being a long weekend and showery we figured the traffic should not be too bad. We set our newly installed alarm and off we went with Freya in the car. How surprised we were sitting down for lunch, when I received a call on my cell that our motion detector in one of the garage bays went off and our siren was on! Fortunately with new technology we can turn it off remotely via our cell phone. We were pretty sure it was an anomaly ... maybe a bird flying by the garage window or something.
Before we stopped for lunch, we gave Freya a walk in Maple Grove Park just before Cowichan Bay.
Before we stopped for lunch, we gave Freya a walk in Maple Grove Park just before Cowichan Bay.
 |
| Acres and acres of corn. |
 |
| Huge old oak tree with "old man's beard" |
When we got back home an hour later we checked everything and of course no reason we could see for the alarm to go off. This will have to be addressed when they installers come back later this week for the last of the camera install.
We did manage to sit on our deck for a couple of hours with the fire table on as the rain had ended and it was only slightly breezy. The crazy kids next door were swimming in the lake again. :)
Sunday, July 1st Happy Canada Day
Woke up to low clouds but at least not raining. Quite windy today with intermittant showers. I spent the day doing laundry and picking up a few things at the Country Grocer. Busy in town for Canada Day so we stayed home. We could hear a little of the music across the water from the Laketown Ranch music extravaganza on this weekend. Feel bad for the campers with it being so drizzly.
Monday, July 2nd, Happy Anniversary to us. 41 years. Wow, the time has gone by quickly. It was a beautiful sunny morning so I enjoyed my coffee on the back deck. The neighbours kids were swimming at 6:30 am. After a leisurely morning it was off to Skutz Falls to see if we could find it this time. Kind of underwelming but we saw it nonetheless. E.J. Hughes, a local artist from Vancouver Island, captured the falls in one of his paintings. The concrete structures are fish ladders.
Stopped on the way back for farm fresh eggs. A good price at $4 per dozen. Boy do those chickens have different colour eggs and are super tastey. This is the second time I have purchased from these people.
We carried on down Highway 18 and took a quick trip into Youbou. Not much to see but we were able to get 2 new Interstate Cranking Batteries for the coach. When Ray tried to start it this morning it was "deader than a doornail!" We knew their lifespan was coming to an end but why today when we needed to move it further back to enable the dumptruck to drop a load of topsoil tomorrow. Anyways new batteries sorted out ... we had the neighbours kid lift the old ones out and put the new ones in for us. Bonus. The motorhome was able to be moved back .... yeah. Now we are ready for the topsoil. Gord the landscape guy will come first thing in the morning and start moving soil. Things are a happening again.
After dropping Freya off at home, Ray and I went to Jake's on the Lake for lunch. Mondays is 25% off for seniors. Although it was our anniversary we decided to go for lunch instead of out for dinner. Wanted to miss all of the long-weekend traffic. Too many accidents on long-weekends on highways.
They have a murel on the wall in the pub, that shows what our subdivision looked like 10 years ago.
We ate fabulous appetizers and then came back home to some guys knocking on our door. It turns out an 8 man team of guys were washing houses and windows ... do we want it done? They were already doing the 2 neighbours beside us. Absolutely .... I don't think this house has ever been washed outside since it was built 10 years ago. Certainly not in the last 2 years for sure, although the windows were done last year we were told. It feels good to start off fresh and we did not have to do it! The guy worked until 8pm and still had to come back for a couple of hours on Tuesday to finish.
Tuesday was a beautiful, warm sunny day. The lake was flat calm for the morning before the breeze came up in the afternoon. Here is the load of topsoil arriving to use for the gardens and back yard.
Now we put up with the "smell of a cow pasture" (half sand and half compost) for a week or so before it is all used up. lol
Definitely a day for "dock time". While I was sitting on the dock I saw several trout swim by me, including about a 12 incher.
It was so nice I took myself for a short ride with Ray's pontoon boat.
Beautiful day. Started out awesome as the rest of the deposit was paid on my Dad's house this morning so the house is officially sold. Now comes the final empty out of remaining furniture to the intended recipients and the last "junk load" via bagster.com to be done. Possession for the new owners is the end of August but I want the house emptied by the end of July. Detached home sales in this area have dropped 62% over last year. Boy am I happy we finally sold.
The deck project seems to have stalled with the contractor we hired, who was also supposed to do all our renovations inside as well. Work was supposed to have started by now and after repeated promises we have yet to see "the colour of his eyes!" .... so Ray drove to Duncan and went back to our original contractor we spoke to last February and he will take it all on starting next Monday with his site visit that day. Dave will also deal with the concrete and landscaping. The final straw, was the night before, when I was talking to our neighbour, next door, who we have already arranged to build our built-ins when he had space in his schedule this summer. He told me our contractor contacted him and said he was not ready until January and Roy was not to do anything until then, as everything was to be run by him as the "general"! No Way Jose! His schedule is not our problem, see ya!
Dave says he will have the deck started in a couple of weeks and has no problem with us getting in some sub-trades to get some other work done in advance. (Need some lighting and plumbing things fixed as well as irrigation installed properly.). So now we are not working with the first guy, Roy has no problem going ahead with our cabinets. I am really getting tired of no bathroom cabinets for our stuff. I guess the topsoil will be sitting in the driveway for a week or so now until the landscape plan is implemented by Dave's crew and will have to be dealt with before the concrete gets laid in the driveway. We should have a better timeline for all this next Monday. It certainly will take a lot of stress off of Ray, trying to get people to call him back and schedule work ... it has been really frustrating for him. Things seem to be going round and round with nothing accomplished, so having Dave take care of it all will be a great relief to both of us. If everything gets done by Christmas, maybe we can still go south for 3 months, January, February and, March. We shall see.
The new dock approach ramp should be built next week and I guess the docks themselves at the end of August. Again, a lot of discussion with people and nothing being done so Ray has gone back to the original guy who is building the dock and he has someone to do the approach ramp to tie in the gangway.
So hopefully this will all begin soon ... Meanwhile we will just enjoy the lake. New boat should be here by this weekend. :)
Monday, July 2nd, Happy Anniversary to us. 41 years. Wow, the time has gone by quickly. It was a beautiful sunny morning so I enjoyed my coffee on the back deck. The neighbours kids were swimming at 6:30 am. After a leisurely morning it was off to Skutz Falls to see if we could find it this time. Kind of underwelming but we saw it nonetheless. E.J. Hughes, a local artist from Vancouver Island, captured the falls in one of his paintings. The concrete structures are fish ladders.
Here is what it actually looks like:
Stopped on the way back for farm fresh eggs. A good price at $4 per dozen. Boy do those chickens have different colour eggs and are super tastey. This is the second time I have purchased from these people.
We carried on down Highway 18 and took a quick trip into Youbou. Not much to see but we were able to get 2 new Interstate Cranking Batteries for the coach. When Ray tried to start it this morning it was "deader than a doornail!" We knew their lifespan was coming to an end but why today when we needed to move it further back to enable the dumptruck to drop a load of topsoil tomorrow. Anyways new batteries sorted out ... we had the neighbours kid lift the old ones out and put the new ones in for us. Bonus. The motorhome was able to be moved back .... yeah. Now we are ready for the topsoil. Gord the landscape guy will come first thing in the morning and start moving soil. Things are a happening again.
After dropping Freya off at home, Ray and I went to Jake's on the Lake for lunch. Mondays is 25% off for seniors. Although it was our anniversary we decided to go for lunch instead of out for dinner. Wanted to miss all of the long-weekend traffic. Too many accidents on long-weekends on highways.
They have a murel on the wall in the pub, that shows what our subdivision looked like 10 years ago.
 |
| Our House with the arrow. |
Tuesday was a beautiful, warm sunny day. The lake was flat calm for the morning before the breeze came up in the afternoon. Here is the load of topsoil arriving to use for the gardens and back yard.
 |
| Hmmmm ... don't think it will all fit on that tarp. |
 |
| Definitely a little too small! |
Definitely a day for "dock time". While I was sitting on the dock I saw several trout swim by me, including about a 12 incher.
It was so nice I took myself for a short ride with Ray's pontoon boat.
The deck project seems to have stalled with the contractor we hired, who was also supposed to do all our renovations inside as well. Work was supposed to have started by now and after repeated promises we have yet to see "the colour of his eyes!" .... so Ray drove to Duncan and went back to our original contractor we spoke to last February and he will take it all on starting next Monday with his site visit that day. Dave will also deal with the concrete and landscaping. The final straw, was the night before, when I was talking to our neighbour, next door, who we have already arranged to build our built-ins when he had space in his schedule this summer. He told me our contractor contacted him and said he was not ready until January and Roy was not to do anything until then, as everything was to be run by him as the "general"! No Way Jose! His schedule is not our problem, see ya!
Dave says he will have the deck started in a couple of weeks and has no problem with us getting in some sub-trades to get some other work done in advance. (Need some lighting and plumbing things fixed as well as irrigation installed properly.). So now we are not working with the first guy, Roy has no problem going ahead with our cabinets. I am really getting tired of no bathroom cabinets for our stuff. I guess the topsoil will be sitting in the driveway for a week or so now until the landscape plan is implemented by Dave's crew and will have to be dealt with before the concrete gets laid in the driveway. We should have a better timeline for all this next Monday. It certainly will take a lot of stress off of Ray, trying to get people to call him back and schedule work ... it has been really frustrating for him. Things seem to be going round and round with nothing accomplished, so having Dave take care of it all will be a great relief to both of us. If everything gets done by Christmas, maybe we can still go south for 3 months, January, February and, March. We shall see.
The new dock approach ramp should be built next week and I guess the docks themselves at the end of August. Again, a lot of discussion with people and nothing being done so Ray has gone back to the original guy who is building the dock and he has someone to do the approach ramp to tie in the gangway.
So hopefully this will all begin soon ... Meanwhile we will just enjoy the lake. New boat should be here by this weekend. :)
Contractors can be frustrating when they over promise and under deliver, we feel your pain. That's why we are taking on as much as we can ourselves. "Island time" is a pain when you are trying to get things done. It will look great when you are done I'm sure.
ReplyDelete