It's a Dog's Life!

Kristi's dogs watching the activity at the neighbours.

Friday we were "up and attem" early and by 7:20 am were on the road with the coach to Duncan for servicing. Ever since we took the coach from Surrey to the island, the jacks have not been working. The jacks themselves have all been replaced over the last couple of years so ??  (Apparently they think it is the computer board which they have ordered in and will test out next week.)

I picked Ray up in the car and we made the mad dash back to the house. Yesterday, I managed to secure a gasfitter/plumber to come and install my new stove called "Sofia" and fix the upstairs shower that only has hot water coming out. Did not want to miss this appointment as they were kind enough to squeeze us in.  Once home, Ray drove back to Duncan to take delivery of our new boat and hand over the moola.

We've waited three months for this boat. Nice to see it in the yard.

The gasfitter arrived at 10:30 am and started putting my stove together. Yeah.

Love this new stove. All of the burners go high to 18,000 BTU's and down to low simmer so you are not moving pots around for the correct heat. It is an Italian Stove from Fugar Milano. They named it "Sofia". Greg also managed to fix Kristi's shower. I am also getting them to quote on the boiler for the slab heating in the basement.

While this was going on, we had another appointment at 1pm with Price Alarms to come back and install the flood alert downstairs.  Ray'd employed our gardener, Will, to work on removing dirt from the front in preparation for concrete sometime in August. We have too much dirt up against the side of the house that needs to be removed according to our contractor. The foundation tar also needs to be made higher than the dirt.  The level at the back of the yard, at the retaining wall, needs to be raised up a couple of feet, level with the neighbours wall.  This is to help prevent any winter water levels from coming into our yard. When the rocks are added, we will need fill on the top side so this is where he is dumping it for now.

At last ... something finished!. Thanks Will

Ray received another call and it was Cliff, the guy who is building our dock. He wanted to take us on a tour of some docks to show options so our dock and gangway approach could be started next week. I stayed here with the trades people and sent Ray off for the tour. I did not want to take any more time with the details .... let's just "get on with it". The back yard cannot be landscaped until the dock approach is done first.

While Ray was gone, Kristi texted me that they would be here by 2:30pm. Meanwhile Greg from J S Plumbing and Will from Prices Alarms had finished and left. Ray arrived back shortly after that, so he and I went and launched the boat before the launch got too busy on a Friday afternoon. Kristi and Jason waited at the dock for him.

Captain Ray

I drove the car and trailer back to the house and managed to back it into the driveway after a few tries. Not too bad after not doing it for the past 6 years. lol  Ray beat me back to the house though as the boat launch is just a short distance across the lake from us by the weir.

Off we went on our "maiden voyage". We all fit in although snuggly with the fur babies on board. The boat handles well and seems to have lots of power. We did not stay out too long as the wind had come up and it was quite bumpy in the front for the dogs and they were not too happy staying put.

The boat looks good in it's spot at the dock.

We had a lovely boat ride and then it was back to the dock to swim.

Aunty Kristi come throw my stick!

We all decided to head to Jakes at the Lake early for dinner before the Friday night crush. I didn't plan to cook tonight as I was not sure my stove was getting installed or not yesterday after delivery. :) Kristi, Jason and I shared appetizers while Ray had the Shrimp Po Boy. Unfortunately our nachos were somewhat burnt so they comped it. That is the first thing we ordered that was not good at this pub.

A great day, especially being Friday the 13th. After the dogs were walked, Ray headed to bed and Kristi, Jason and I sat out on the deck for a while. By 9pm it was lights out for all of us. A very long, long day for Ray, especially since we both did not sleep well the night before and we were up at 3am.  I think he will be grounded tomorrow. :) I am very, very pleased that so much got accomplished today.

Saturday Ray and I were up early at 5am after going to bed so early. Another beautiful day. Ray's too sore to go fishing and by 6:30 am we still had not seen Jason up either so it is not a problem. It was quite warm upstairs last night, so with it being much cooler this morning they are probably enjoying sleeping in. We have new ceiling fans to be installed by our electrician to help with the heat up there and I have a line on a bigger in-line fan so hopefully we can solve the heat issue upstairs.

Today we are having Jason's parents over for the afternoon and dinner. Again, as I did not know if I was going to have a working stove or not ... I made homeade baked beans in my Instant Pot yesterday and have Pork Ribs marinating in the fridge to cook on the BBQ tonight. Looking forward to having them visit. It's going to be another hot day.

Jason's parents unfortunately got stuck in traffic coming out of Victoria and it ended up taking 2 hours for an hours drive. They were more than ready to enjoy the lake. Captain Jason took them all out for a boat tour.

While they were gone I got busy getting ready for dinner. Ribs on the barbecue.

It was pretty warm so once everyone was back we all got into our bathing suits and spent a couple hours down on the dock.

Here come the dogs after throwing the stick into the water. Zeus, Freya with the stick and Athena.

Clockwise, Nadine, Jason, Dale and Kristi

Athena chillin in the boat.

Nadine trying out my lounger.

Dinner ... Yumm, 

On the menu was Baked Beans, Potato Salad, Corn on the Cob and my Barbecued Ribs. Kristi made fresh Blueberry Crumble for dessert, "finger licking good". We all stayed on the deck until 9:30 pm enjoying the beautiful evening. A great visit had by all.

Sunday, another beautiful day. It stayed quite warm last night, the kids found it warm upstairs. Cannot wait for the fans to be installed for their benefit. Kristi and I were in the water by 11 am floating about for an hour before it was time for them to pack up and head back to Nanaimo. We had a fabulous time with the kids visit.

Ray and I spent the rest of the day lounging either on the dock or on our beach in the shade. It was definitely a warm one. Ray briefly went into town to pick up something at Home Hardware and stopped to take a picture of how many people tubing in the Cowichan River.

After our crazy day Friday, Ray's back was toast, no boating for him. He was relegated to his zero gravity lounger and bed for the weekend.  Both nights he was in bed by 8 pm. After spending most of Sunday sitting and relaxing he is finally feeling better.