May 20 - 26th "A little of this and a little of that!"

Monday after Dianne and Steve left ended up being a very quiet afternoon. We were pooped. Ray got leftovers for lunch and dinner. lol

Tuesday back to business ... major laundry, and vacuuming up all of the dog hair from Kristi's dogs as well as Freya. lol By 1 pm I was done. Ray puttered around his shop and took the Motorhome to the sani dump and got the propane filled up. I had filled the black and grey water tanks when I was sanitizing the water system to freshen it up a few weeks ago after the MH was sitting for 18 months. Tomorrow it goes back to Revy RV for the backflush valve to be fixed as well as a few outstanding items, ie. replacing the water pump. (They cancelled this appointment until next week.)

Our painters, Mona and Andrew stopped by this afternoon for a beer while kayaking on the lake. I had started a fire and was ready for their arrival. After an hours visit they headed off. The weather turned out nice and warm this afternoon and it was nice to sit outside again.

Wednesday, another lovely day. Freya had to go to the vet and after I brought her home, it was back to Duncan for grocery shopping. At 3pm it was dock time. lol

Thursday, Ray headed off to Nanaimo for a Periodontist appointment. He has a tooth that is probably dead causing some bone loss, so now he has to have the tooth pulled and a bone graft that will have to heal for at least 5 months and then he's looking at an implant which is not covered by our dental plan. :(

While he was gone, with the lake flat calm I decided to go for an hour's paddle in the kayak. Absolutely beautiful. Love our "backyard".

When I got back, Andrew from Kurtis Electric arrived and the electric plugs were put back in the downstairs kitchen so the basement suite is officially finished. Now as long as the window guy shows up this weekend as he promised on Wednesday after measuring up the window repair, we will be done with David Coulson. This is to fix the damaged window frame that was smashed during deck renovation. To remove the window and replace it would be a huge undertaking as the window is rocked in so it is not a case of removing a few boards to access the sides of it to remove. Arrow shows frame that has a big hole and crack in the frame. As this was damaged way back in September it is a good thing that it is protected with the new deck that does not leak as this has been exposed now for 7 months!

(Old picture before renovations)

Below, this ominous cloud came over and it turned out to be quite a cell.  Just a mile down the lake it hit a trailer park and pissed and blew so hard many residents experienced leaky roofs.

That night Ray took a nice sunset shot.  Not quite as brilliant as Arizona sunsets, but still very pretty with the lake as a backdrop.

Friday morning a little cloudy and we had a rain shower overnight. Stayed pretty cloudy for the rest of the day. I put all of the deck cushions away as rain is forecasted for later today and tomorrow. Deen came and finished putting on the sealer on the driveway so it is finally done and the Motorhome is back in the driveway ... apparently our next door neighbours were not too happy it was on the street during the long-weekend with all of their company. (Ahh, there kids to walk an extra 20', boo hoo!) Oh well, they usually take up the whole road on weekends with all of their kids so don't feel too bad about the whole thing.

Ray and I went into town for a little shopping at Home Depot and then went out to lunch at a place called Hudson on First, a lovely old house with a restaurant.  They have a limited menu but one of the items was fish and chips using snapper. Absolutely delicious. They do change up their menu frequently they say. Unfortunately it was too cool out to sit on one their patios.

Saturday morning we woke to a cloudy, drizzly day. We are hosting our annual strata meeting here at 10 this morning. Should be a short and sweet meeting. Three of the couples have to be somewhere else by noon. There were 11 of us in total. Got to meet the people who own the "yellow house" Todd and Tyra who rent the upper floor and live in Victoria themselves. They have also bought the empty lot next door that will close on June 7th.  So now all of the lots in this strata are taken. Nice to know all of our neighbours. House #1  with "Jo" has no representation today but we met her last October at the last strata meeting.

Roy, Tyra, Debra, Pat, Donna, June and Ron. Mike, Todd, Ray and I are not in the picture.

Saturday afternoon was spent hunkered down in front of the TV watching the storm move through. Here we did not receive very much precipitation as it just drizzled but hopefully the other end of the lake received lots as the lake is quite low for this time of year. By late afternoon the sun began breaking out of the clouds.

The house that had it's dock beached last winter had tried with a pickup truck and then a dump truck pulling on the dock to try and float it again earlier this week ... this did not work. Today they brought in a bulldozer and were finally successful.

 After dinner we watched a movie and managed to stay up to 10pm. lol Ray noticed that we were getting beautiful sunset colours so jumped up and went down to the dock. We had a spectacular sunset with all of the fluffy clouds in the sky.

Sunday breezy and sunny. Ray off first thing to take the recycling to Meades Creek Waste Management. We have a lot of cardboard taking up residence in the garage from the deck boxes and various other purchases for his shop. We met up with Mona and Andrew for a late lunch at Jake's at the Lake meeting their friend Joy. A fabulous day.

That was our week.

May long weekend and the Colibaba's come to visit!

May long weekend ... lots of eating and drinking ... drinking and eating, hot tubbing, sitting in various places and a little fishing!

Thursday afternoon the rain started as predicted. I am sure Steve is unhappy about that as he spent quite a bit of time washing his truck a week or so ago and hates to get it all splashed up again with road dirt. Don't blame him as his truck is a beast to wash! At least it is all pavement to get here. lol

The Colibaba's arrived at 2 pm. We sat on the deck for most of the afternoon watching the rain. It was quite warm and muggy with no wind for the most part. Ray settled them in with his famous Margarita's.

It was also World Ceasar Day so later Ray made Dianne and I one.

At 5 the wind came up so back in the house we went. Glad they are here.

Dinner was easy as I had made a lasagna the day before, add a salad and voila.

For a treat I also made a gluten-free cherry pie. Our Country Grocer has a great gluten-free freezer of a large variety of items.

Back on the deck for the rest of the evening as the wind had quit.

Dianne's picture

Dianne's picture

We all came in and crashed by 8:30 pm, especially since both Dianne and Steve are getting over horrible colds. (They had not drank alcohol in 9 days ... hence the colds me thinks!)

Friday morning after fueling everyone up with a big breakfast it was off to Duncan for Dianne and I to do some clothes shopping for her. We always enjoy a "girls day".  Dianne had a very successful shopping trip and I treated her at Original Joe's where we shared an order of fish and chips. Didn't want to be too full for dinner. We did not have to worry about the guys as they had leftover lasagna.

Breakfast

While we were gone, Jason arrived to grout the backsplash with his dogs in tow. Awesome tile job Jason. 

Steve and Jason helped Ray with a couple of shelves he was building and then it was time for the boys to go fishing leaving Jason to finish his grouting.

Here is the entrance to Bear Lake, a perfect place for fly fishing. There are a few cabins up there.

That's not a fly rod ... it's my new spin casting rod. lol

They did not manage to catch anything but had fun. Once they were back we sat out in the backyard in the sunshine out of the wind.

Ray and Dianne had a hot tub. Ray for his back and Dianne for her knees. They both felt much better after.

Steve's picture

Ray and Steve decided they better gas up the boat before the weekend traffic at the gas dock. We thought we had put it away for the season with a full tank but we didn't. Probably because we were in a hurry to get it into the garage before they tore up the driveway getting ready for concrete!

Steve's picture

We sat on the deck, including Jason waiting for Kristi to arrive. She was in surgery today at Nanaimo General so we had to wait for her to get off and come here. She arrived about 6 pm and after a Malibu Rum and orange juice with Dianne ... it was time for Steak, Salad and Corn.

We will get rid of your cold Dianne! lol

After dinner and the dishes done by our wonderful guests we watched a movie to stay awake at least until 9:30 pm lol

Saturday morning was cloudy and a little breezy. Dianne had put together a "Wife Saver" Egg Puff breakfast yesterday so we only had to pop it into the oven and fry up bacon to feed the crew. Thanks a bunch Dianne.

Picture by Steve

Kristi and Jason headed out to golf at the Duncan Meadows Golf Club leaving the dogs here with us.

Ray and Steve headed out to fish even though it was slightly breezy. They did not catch anything other than another boat that needed a tow over to Gordon Bay, the Provincial Park. Apparently this guy had a Suzuki outboard motor. We had one years ago and it was horrible to start and this appeared to be this guys problem too. Here are Steve's pics.

By the time they had unloaded those guys at Gordon Bay the wind had come up substantially so Ray and Steve had to troll slowly home so it was not too bumpy for Ray. A much longer trip than anticipated so Ray's back "NOT GOOD"!

This water really is not too lumpy if you don't have hardware in your back ... but for Ray there cannot be bumps.

Dianne and I took a quick trip into town to pick up some fixin's for the burgers I was going to make.  There was apparently a "Logging Truck" Parade this morning for the town's Heritage Days, but it was done. I had Dianne take a couple of pictures in the car as we drove by. One of those things "you blink" and you missed it! lol

Black threatening clouds but we did not get rained on.

One of Steve's favourite things is burgers so I made him my "garbo burger" with fried onions, mushrooms and bacon with lettuce and tomato. He was a happy camper.

You have to unhinge your jaw to make it fit in your mouth. lol

Once lunch was done and the kitchen tidied up, we all went to sit outside on the back lawn as we were out of the wind and it was beautiful out. Kristi and Jason arrived from golfing shortly after. I had purchased a couple of yard games, bean bag and ball toss so Kristi assembled it and everyone had fun.

The bean bag set had really small bags to throw so Ray was able to play for part of a game and then I finished for him. With his "pick er upper" he did not have to bend over.

After playing a couple of games Kristi and Jason went for a boat ride, the dogs were not impressed!

A great day spent in the yard. Tonight for my belated Mother's Day, Kristi and Jason made us all dinner. Tomato and Sausage Risotto, all gluten-free. It was awesome, thanks so much guys. Dianne and Steve with the help of Jason and Kristi did all of the cleanup and dishes too, while I sat out on the deck.

After dinner, Jason headed back to Nanaimo as he needed to pick up his Step-Dad's birthday present, before he goes golfing with him in Victoria tomorrow. The rest of us sat outside for a bit until bedtime and then watched a little TV. Freya is adamant to lay on the couch between Steve and Dianne. lol She nudges them until they let her up.

Sunday morning after waffles for breakfast and dishes were done again by Kristi, Dianne and Steve.  Steve tried his luck again fishing off the dock, no luck again. Apparently he was having fun fly casting into the pilings. lol Ray is "couched" today from fishing as he put in too much time yesterday and is pretty sore today.

At nine, Kristi and Steve with her two dogs headed out to hike Bald Mountain by Youbou. Freya could not go as she is way too crippled up. Dianne is also too crippled up to go hiking until she has her knee fixed. It is a fairly steep climb with a lot of switchbacks.

Here are Steve's pictures. Kristi and Steve said they were the only ones on the trail going up but more people were coming up while they were going down so they did not have to "share" the views. They had a great hike. They were back at noon.

Athena and Zeus with Steve

While they were gone Ray, Dianne and I went into town to get propane and some hot dog buns for the smokies we were going to roast over the fire. Kristi and Steve came back just in time. It was a little cool out and cloudy this morning, so a perfect day for a fire. Later on the sun came out for awhile though.

After lunch it was "girl time" in the hot tub, for my neck, Dianne's knees and Kristi's legs from her hike. Of course internal medicine is also good, so Ray made us all Margarita's lol.

After the hot tub, Kristi headed off for a nap with her dogs. She has been putting a lot of hours working lately and is tired. She has to work tomorrow, so will go home after dinner. At 3 pm we moved up to the sundeck so I could put on the pork roast on the barbecue and have dinner earlier than usual so she can get home sooner.

 We sent Kristi on her way right after she had eaten. Ray helped with clearing the table and Steve and Dianne did all the dishes again. Wow what great company. After cleanup we all sat back on the deck and Ray and Steve had ice cream for dessert. We stayed out there until the sun went behind the trees.  Once inside we decided to watch a movie so we would be able to stay up until 9:30 pm. Steve managed to snap a picture of the sunset. What an awesome day.

Monday morning we woke to rain as predicted. We all sat watching Global News and had our faces stuffed in our computers and tablets while we enjoyed our first cup of coffee by 6:30 am. Good thing Steve and Dianne have the same morning routine as us. lol After our first cup, Dianne and I moved outside on the deck with the radiant heaters and fire table to enjoy watching the rain snuggled up in our blankets drinking our second cup of coffee. What a life! After an hour I came in to make "Monkey Bread" as promised for Steve. I made it for him the last time they stayed here and it was requested again.

After breakfast, Steve and Dianne packed up all of their stuff and it was time to say goodbye. Gonna miss you guys, but it will be great seeing you again in 3 weeks in Campbell River. Thanks again for all your help with the dishes ... the part I hate most about cooking for a crowd. lol

Apparently our "remedy" for colds, lots of liquid, preferably alcohol must have worked because Steve is back to normal and Dianne is feeling way better today to go home. lol

And there they go!

The Grizzly Den has left the Driveway!!