A Week of Cousins.

Monday, August 20th

Ray and I hit the ground running this morning. We were out the door at 7 am delivering the motorhome to Revy RV in Duncan to have the new computer board put in to operate our hydraulic jacks. (Under warranty luckily). Finally.... I will be able to open up the slides to put the "motorhome to rights" after moving it over here last March.  Had to be back home by 8:30 am as we had Exchange Energy coming to install my new hood fan for my stove in the kitchen. (Same company that installed my ductless heat pumps upstairs, outstanding work.)

The motorhome is also having the cranking battery charging system looked at. Our new batteries put in a month ago were totally discharged and we had to put the trickle charger on them to be able to fire up the beast. We were going to take the motorhome in on Friday but it was deader than a doornail! Something is not right. I think it has something to the factory installed trickle charger that hooks into our inverter system.... we shall see if I was right. We had known that the switch to transfer power from the house batteries to the cranking batteries didn't work.  This occurred when having the  solar installed five years ago.  We didn't bother getting it fixed as we lived in the unit and were constantly moving and charging the batteries. Now .... need this addressed too as we are not residing in it permanently ... just the winters hopefully. :)

After repairs are made, we'll move the coach into storage at Duncan Storage for a month or so.  We need it out of the way for the concrete work on the driveway which is starting in the next few weeks. Ray and I are having a meeting with the designer tomorrow morning as the work begins next Monday.  They will start by tearing off our sundeck to get rid of any rot and redeck it. Need to firm up plans for concrete, sundeck and painting and repairing the hardy plank siding. We hope to set up a timeline when the other inside projects will begin. The timeline will give us a better idea of when things are going to be done and maybe we can take a mini-holiday somewhere in the fall.

The guys arrived by 8:30 am to install the hood fan for the stove and I spent the morning doing all the laundry for the upstairs bedrooms and preparing the rooms for our next guests, Ray's cousins from Lynnwood, Nicki and her husband Mike arrive Friday morning for the weekend. We have not seen them since a year ago March on our way back home from the USA.

I moved a few wheelbarrows of dirt into the garden area Ray wanted, as Will was in hospital and we needed it out of the way for concrete by next week. After that Ray and I spent a couple hours down at the beach keeping cool. Even though the skies are smokey it is still 30C and muggy.

Old fan and stove that did not work.

Old fan unit out.

The guys were awesome making themselves a platform so they were not putting weight on my stove and had drop sheets everywhere to catch all the dirt. They really clean up after themselves as well Awesome service.

New hood fan installed with my new stove.

Tuesday, Ray's cousin Brian and his wife, Sandy, came for a visit. After Ray reached out to them last week and his sister Judy met them, they wanted to come down and see our house. I wanted a chance to see them as well as I had to stay home last Thursday and missed the meet and greet.

Sandy has several dietary intolerances, gluten-free, dairy-free and caffeine-free which includes chocolate. So .... I made a coconut cream pie with coconut macaroons for the topping, using gluten free shortbread cookies crumbed for the bottom. Amazingly I was able to get the cookies from our little Country Grocer here in Lake Cowichan. The dessert turned out beautifully. Here's one for you Dianne! (I used crumbled coconut macaroons that I baked as I did not have any more coconut milk to make the topping.)

https://bakingamoment.com/coconut-cream-pie-gluten-and-dairy-free/

Dinner was Thai noodle salad with Thai chicken satay and peanut sauce. Dinner was gobbled up, so I guess it worked out. lol

After dinner we all took Freya for her last walk, showing Brian and Sandy the park next door.

The gate to the park across from our driveway. Ray, Sandy and Brian.

Back at home we sat on the deck for an hour before it was time for them to drive home. A lovely visit.

Brian telling a story, lol Look at the smoky sky behind them. Hopefully this blows away tomorrow.

With Ray's other cousin arriving Friday morning from Lynwood Washington for the weekend, I spent Wednesday and Thursday preparing for their visit, menu planning etc. Unfortunately the forecast for Saturday and Sunday is clouds and showers, which the forests desperately need. Oh well we will be all yabbering anyways.

Wednesday I spent the day puttering around, cooking etc. It was so smokey outside that it was hard to breathe. Tomorrow the smoke should start to clear out. Heard from Kristi and Jason. They made good time and are now in Hazelton for the night. They passed through the fires at Fraser Lake and Burns Lake. They said their throats became sore and you could only see 100 feet in front of you with the smoke so thick. Glad they are on the other side for their month long holiday to the Yukon.

Today I also signed the final documents for the sale of Dad's house so everything is a go. Yeah! Next week, August 29th that saga will all be over.

Thursday the electricians were back to install our new light fixture over our lazyboys in the livingroom. We are finding it quite dark sitting there in the evening as the days are getting shorter.

I made Indian Fry Bread for Ray and served up Navajo tacos for dinner. I made the beans and rice so I could also serve it for lunch for Ray's cousins. "Two birds with one stone"!

Friday, Exchange Energy came back to make sure the heat pumps were okay and drop off a couple of filters for our furnace. Nicki and Mike, Ray's cousins arrived around 11 am. Great to see them!

First up once they were settled into their room was a boat ride on the lake before the projected rains came.

Ray telling stories again! Picture from Nicki.

Once we were back and while I was cooking dinner, (barbequed ribs and baked beans) Nicki went out to play with Freya.

Thanks for the flowers Nicki and Mike.

We had a lovely evening and then we all went to bed early. Mike and Nicki had to get up at 4 am in Lynwood WA to drive up to border and make the ferry over to Nanaimo. A long day for them.

Saturday morning after breakfast of Eggs Benedict we set off to the Duncan Farmer's Market.

We even caught up with Deke da Freak aka Robert again. Nicki even bought me a set of their earrings.

They had live music, jazz this time.

On the way back to the car we stopped by the totems.

Back to the car for the short drive down to Cowichan Bay for a stroll and to have lunch at the Belgium crepe restaurant.

These houseboats were the inspiration for the print we bought last week.

Beer from the local Red Arrow Brewery

Notice the herb garden behind Nicki (a pallet) ... something to remember.

Ray's leg was giving out hence his cane.

And then we have the two boys goofing around.

Am I really getting that bald??? Ray

A lovely few hours spent with great people. Back at home we just kind of vegged out inside as it was sprinkling rain and quite cool outside. Needless to say, Freya was not impressed.

Snacks were cheese, pate and crackers Mike picked out and I served up Barbecued Chicken on the rotisserie and finished off with a dessert of cherry pie purchased at the Farmer's Market. A glorious sunset, more great conversation and then bed by 9:45 pm.

The clouds cleared a bit before sunset.

Up early for coffee and Ray giving Mike a couple of fly fishing lessons off our dock and then they were out the door to catch their ferry back to Tsawassen. Thanks for coming to visit Nicki and Mike. It was a blast.