First weekend of March ... come on Spring!

Saturday was the Legion Fishing Derby. Freezing cold out but we saw several boats braving the cold heading out down the lake. Across the lake from us there has been quite a bit of activity as Cliff Gibson's guys, (who did our dock) were busy putting in concrete supports for what I think will be a dock system on the reserve. I don't know where people will park though, as it is located down the bank from North Shore Road.

This boat going by trying their luck. This spot I saw a big fish jump last summer, so there must be a hole there. Lots of other people seem to try their luck over there as well.

Hard to see but there is stairs coming down from the road.

After it warmed up a bit, Ray and I headed into Duncan to do a bit of shopping at Canadian Tire (man cave stuff lol) and then went to the Duncan Farmers Market. What a gorgeous morning. A little chilly but nice in the sunshine. Back home by lunch. On the way to Duncan we stopped to take pictures of a herd of elk, right beside the highway. Very cool.

Whatcha doin down there Dad?

In January I purchased tickets with Pat and Darryl to go to the Chemainus Theatre for dinner and see the Sound of Music production. What an awesome performance, dinner was fabulous as well. They even had a chocolate fountain ... yumm.

Darryl managed to squeeze into his seat. I had booked seats on either side of the aisle so Ray and Darryl would have more legroom.  

There really is not a bad seat in the house. 

Ray and I had such a good time with those guys. Didn't get home until way past our bedtimes though lol. Coming home on the highway close to Lake Cowichan we saw more elk on the side of the highway. Thankfully they stayed off the road. In the dark they are hard to spot before it is too late.

Sunday, I got busy getting our Prime Rib and fixings prepped for tonight as Jason and Kristi are coming for dinner. I bribed them with the beast. :) I called Kristi from Super Store on Thursday when I saw this beauty 7 1/2 pound 3 rib roast on sale. This oven cooks beautifully, I love it. Kristi says hers never turn out as well as mine so she just comes here. lol

A great dinner was had by all. This roast was huge ... enough that after we all had our fill they took a whole rib home for leftovers including the fixings (hands off the yorkies though) and we had a whole rib left over and fixings for us for tomorrow's dinner.

Monday cold and clear again at -7C. A beautiful day. Bernie from Coulson's came by to shovel off the sun deck in hopes of installing the last 10 tiles ... I guess Dave did not believe us that it was still so frozen. Bernie shoveled off a bunch and we put some Alaskan De-icer down, so hopefully it will melt. Checked it again later in the afternoon, it still seems to be frozen. We don't get any sun on the deck at this time of year.

Andrew and his apprentice showed up from Kurtis Electric to change out the breaker that keeps popping on Ray and actually moved one of the 20 amp plugs to the other side of his workshop that will work better for Ray.

Everyone was gone by 10am and we headed to Duncan to meet up with Katie and Brad from The Rogue Less Travelled. Today they came over from Salt Spring Island with their coach and jeep to have it "Safety Inspected" to transfer insurance to BC instead of Alberta. We had lunch at Original Joe's, always a great place to go for good food ... a little pricey though for a pub. While at lunch they heard back from the shop and their motorhome needs a "King Pin" replaced and some bushings ... not good news. They live in their motorhome full-time and manage a campground on Salt Spring Island, so leaving it at the shop to wait for parts not an option. They don't have relief hired yet to have any days off so need to get back. Here is a picture of them from December ... forgot to take a picture today. lol

Brad, Katie, Ray and Brad's service dog Robbie.

Tuesday another cold clear morning. Apparently this high pressure ridge that has been holding for the past month is the kind you get in the summer ... not this time of year. This could pose some lake level issues for the summer as the lake is currently only at 40% capacity. What you would see in August. Catalyst Paper is asking for the weir to be closed as of March 11 to retain whatever they can... three weeks earlier than usual. Hopefully more rain will come to fill the lake before the summer season. 

By 8:15 am I was out the door headed to Nanaimo for my two doctor's appointments my GP and our daughter, Dr. Kristi Kyle for lunch. lol  She only had 45 minutes between patients, so we ate at the Country Grocer a short distance from her office. Another great day.

Wednesday, cold and cloudy. Pat, my neighbour said it was -8C out when she took her grandchildren to the bus this morning. Brrrr. Possible snow flurries tonight. Pat and I attended my first yoga class at 9am this morning for two hours. Hoping this will help my neck and get the muscles working together instead of "fighting" in my back and neck due to my scoliosis. A quiet afternoon getting all of the slips together to send to Dad's accountant for his final tax return, a little sad.

Thursday morning -4C and SNOW! Out I went to use my snowblower by 7:30 am before it melted and froze to the driveway. Unbelievably by 10:30 am  there was brilliant sunshine and most of the new snow had melted as the temps rose to 7C.

I'm having quite a bit of trouble with my neck as I have mentioned and my new Lazyboy chair arrived today. Yeah, feels like I am getting a hug and it fits my neck so much better. The back is not as tall as my old chair. In fact Ray finds it too short for his back when he tried it out.

New Chair

Old Chair (This one is Ray's)

Friday morning cloudy and -1C, a little warmer. There was another snow event overnight that missed us this time. Duncan and Ladysmith did get about a couple of inches whereas Surrey and some parts of Coquitlam received a foot. The winter that never ends ... The sun came out for the afternoon so we had a campfire for a couple of hours to enjoy being outside. Freya certainly appreciated it.

That was our week and hopefully the last week of WINTER!