Uncle Ken and Aunt Norma come to visit.

Week two of the deck reno. The guys were here at 7 am again and the rain was teaming down. The forecast for this week is somewhat soggy. I set up a lunch area in the basement for them so they could get out of the rain for their break.

Monday morning I was out the door at 9 am heading for Nanaimo. I will meet my cousin Gord, at a shopping mall close to the ferry, where we will transfer my aunt and uncles luggage to my car. That way they don't have to carry it all by foot off the ferry. Gord is here on the island on a business trip and will pick them up on Thursday to take them back to Coquitlam. Perfect solution so they don't have to drive themselves.

Well the day turned out much longer than anticipated. There was a crash on the Ironworker's Memorial Bridge in North Vancouver, so that it was closed to traffic for awhile, so Gord re-routed through downtown Vancouver and over the Lions Gate Bridge. That detour cost them 2 hours, so they missed the 11 am ferry. Next one was at 1:15 so I did not end up meeting them until 3:15. I ended up doing a bunch of shopping and eating lunch at our favorite Sushi restaurant while waiting. lol Once I transferred them and their luggage to the car, Gord went north and I went south. We arrived at home about 4:15 pm.

Fortunately I had made a turkey lasagna in advance so supper was easy.

Ray, Norma and Ken

Tuesday, after breakfast, Ray stayed home and I took Ken and Norma to Cowichan Bay for a little walk around. Unfortunately the Maritime Museum was closed which was my destination for Uncle Ken. I bet though, he has more things in his basement than the museum has! lol

We did a quick walk around and then decided to go eat at the Pioneer Inn. Unfortunately, when we arrived their sign said they were still closed due to a fire a month earlier. Oh well, there is always the WhiteSpot in Duncan ... which is what we did. While there, the rain pelted down so much that it bounced up 2 feet in the air! Needless to say we took our time with our lunch. lol

As usual ... they had the toasted shrimp sandwichs.

 Back home, everyone relaxed while I put our Beef Bourgingnon together. Gord was coming back and spending the night.

I must have fed them well as they all became comatose after dinner. lol

Wednesday morning, I ran a short order cook station ... ha ha... Made Gord eggs on toast before he left to continue his sales calls and waited until Ken and Norma got up at around 8:30 am to make waffles. Norma says she is having the best sleep in that bed and wants to take it home with her. lol



Once everyone was fed, I took Norma and Ken for a tour around the town and down North Shore Road and up to Youbou. When we got back we picked up Ray and went for lunch at Jakes at the Lake. Ray had stayed home to keep an eye on the work being done at home, especially as his back has been pretty sore.

While we were at Jake's for lunch, Ray received a call from our dock builder. The dock has been launched and do we want to see it! Yeah.... So after we all finished we headed out to the yard a few miles down the road to see the finished product. They still have to stain it, assemble our gazebo on it and put in the dock cleats. It should be floated down the lake a few kilometers next week. Can't wait!

Apparently this is one of the larger docks they have built in recent history.

Back home we relaxed, including Freya!

After dinner it was early to bed for all of us at 9 pm again.

Thursday morning, Ken and Norma had a great sleep and did not leave their bedroom until 9am. I made the old Scottish Breakfast of porridge. Once everyone was ready to go (at 11 am) it was off to Maple Bay. Ray came with us this time. We walked around the Maple Bay Marina. Ray and I had been there many years ago on my Dad's boat.

This is the Ranger Tug that we contemplated buying before we settled on travelling in the motorhome.

A fabulous pic of Ken and Norma

They had lots of little boats filled with greenery around the marina.

Norma loved these boots filled with flowers.

 Very quaint buildings.

Next up was lunch at a Scottish Pub on the water called the Lions Rampart Scottish Pub a short ways down the bay. Thanks for lunch Norma. (lunch pic was taken on Norma's Ipad so I don't have it. lol)

View from the pub

Back home by 2 to meet Gordie who was picking up his parents. After a short visit everyone was sent on their way at 3:30 pm. Whew... what a week. Sometime today the back of my left knee/calf was bitten by something. Probably a spider. Wow did it hurt even after taking Advil and Benadryl. Hardly slept all night with the pain. Could not walk or bend it very well. Fortunately it subsided more and more on Friday as the day progressed. This is the second spider bite I have received this summer ... even though we sprayed for them.

This week the 2 man crew worked at finishing the drainage and hooking up the downspouts and

they pulled out the door downstairs, concreted the pony wall in preparation to put in a window. Boy was that door frame rotten. Good thing it is still warm outside!

Unfortunately, Thursday night at 11pm our alarm kept beeping and beeping. It turns out that the door they removed had a wireless sensor in it (I knew that but forgot) and it was letting me know that the signal was "lost". I had to call the alarm company for instructions on how to disarm it and then call them  again Friday morning so the tech department could take that zone off the list. The dog was going crazy with the beeping trying to climb up on my lamp ... she hates alarms of any kind as the beeping started up again at 11am Friday morn

So another busy week. The guys prepped the  driveway for the concrete. A machine is coming in on Monday to work the grade so the driveway will be more level side to side, which will help with leveling the motorhome. It will be fabulous to have concrete to stop all the gravel coming into the house.

Two concrete stairs to be made and the rest of the path will be gravel down to the back yard. Another drain put in at the bottom as the water seems to pool there, so not too great for our neighbour.

We noticed on Thursday that our grass seed finally sprouted. Ray was concerned that with all the rain,  the seed would just rot. Fortunately not the case. The weather is perfect for starting a new lawn. This next week is supposed to be quite sunny so should help getting it going to grow fast.

Friday it was fairly mild with a few clouds.  As the sun was out for half the day, I tried to start up the irrigation as the seed was drying out. Oh no! , Mount Vesuvius! The guys had punched through the irrigation line, even though I reminded them a bunch of times when they were digging close to it. They will have to repair it on Monday as the sun is supposed to be out for most of the week and we need the grass to grow. Ray managed to spray a little water on the seed with our hose to tide it over today until the rain begins again.

Looking forward to a quiet weekend.