Change of guard at the house

Ken and Norma left Wednesday at 5 pm  and Thursday at 2 pm our house sitters showed up. Malc and Kathy are staying at the house with Freya for the week we are on the cruise. Jason arrived around 4 with his two dogs as they are staying as well for the long weekend before being picked up by Jason's Mom.

As I mentioned in my previous post my kitchen fridge quit so tonight's dinner was Seafood Newburg with $40 worth of prawns and scallops that had thawed. Tasted great and at least I did not have to throw it out. Last meal to cook for me for 8 days!

Thought the previous picture was fuzzy so took another .... thanks Jason. lol

Last night at home for a week. We stay overnight at Kristi and Jason's and then pick Kristi up at the hospital Saturday morning after her call shift and get on the ferry to Vancouver.

Yeah here we come Alaska.

Auntie Norma and Uncle Ken come for a few days.

After the crew left by 9:30 Friday morning, it was time to get all of the laundry done and prepare for the next bunch. lol A pretty quiet weekend otherwise. Starting to tidy up the deck box gear on the dock in preparation for our US trip down south this fall. Hard to believe we are near the end of August already.

Sunday afternoon we were on the dock enjoying the quiet drinking our piña coladas.

Monday morning was a little cloudy with marine fog and then the sun broke through. Another gorgeous day here at Lake Cowichan. I spent the first part of the morning helping Ray pack his suitcase for our cruise to Alaska this weekend. As with me, he has a bunch of new dress clothes that we bought last year in preparation for going on a cruise that we have not had a chance to wear yet. With the weather up in Alaska being so variable you need to pack lots of layers we are told.

At 10:15, I headed out to the Highway 18 junction to meet up with my cousin Gord, to pick up my aunt and uncle. Norma and Ken are staying here for a visit for a few days. So excited to see them.

Ken, Norma and Gord

After bringing them here and settling them in with their stuff, it was off to lunch at Jake's at the Lake, especially since Monday is senior's day with 25% off all food. lol

Back at home we spent the afternoon on the deck looking at the lake.

I left for Duncan at 2:45pm to take Freya for her vet check so see if the antibiotics were working for her infected anal glands. Unfortunately, the answer was no. She is a little better but still has a little blood inside. So the option at this time is to keep her on the antibiotics until we get back from the cruise to maintain and on the Monday when we are back they are going to do a needle aspiration under sedation to see what's going on ... perhaps cancer or just a fibrous cyst situation. Not very good news. As Freya is 9 1/2 years old, with arthritis and a torn ACL, we would not be going down the chemotherapy route. So we will wait and see. Hopefully there is an easier fix with just a little surgery.

Back at home by 4 pm. The whole house pretty quiet. Ray was laying in bed watching TV and Norma and Ken were napping upstairs. They were pretty tired after getting up at 4 am to catch the 8am ferry from Tsawwassen this morning. Everyone was up by 5pm and I was well into getting our fresh buns made to go with the chili for dinner. Kristi and Jason also came down for dinner to have a short visit with Ken and Norma before heading back home.

Kristi on wasp patrol.

Kristi looked exhausted. She putting in many hours on call at the hospital covering a colleagues shifts as well as her own. I bet the first part of our cruise next week she will spend napping. lol After dinner, Kristi and Jason with their dogs in tow, headed home. The rest of us sat outside until about 8:30 pm when it was declared bedtime by our guests.

Tuesday morning another gorgeous day. Ray and I were up early as usual, but our guests were in bed until 9:15 am. After a light breakfast of toast and juice we were off to tour the small town of Crofton and walk the boardwalk with them. A beautiful warm sunny day.

After our walk it was time for lunch at the Osbourne Bay Hotel Pub. Fabulous halibut and chips sitting on the outside deck.

After lunch Ray took over driving (I had a beer with lunch lol) and we drove on the old highway to Chemainus where we took a quick driving tour through to see the murals. The next stop was for Ken ... the Chemainus Antique Emporium on the highway.



We all wandered around there for about 1/2 an hour. Both Ken and Norma were amazed at how much they were asking for old costume jewelry that Norma has a bunch of. I am sure the stuff the family all thinks is junk in Ken's house that he has collected, would bring a pretty penny.

Back home by 2 pm it was time to get into our swimsuits and get into the lake. 30C here today. Ken stayed up on the deck snoozing in his chair.

It's cold!

 Norma and I stayed in the water for about 20 minutes getting some exercise.

Very pleased with my new dock ladders. Very stable for people with limited mobility. Norma had no problem getting in or out.

I left Norma down at the dock to sunbathe and headed up to get the pork rib roast on the barbecue.  Glad we have A/C today. About 1/2 an hour later she was back up to the house and said her legs felt the best that they have for quite some time. The swimming must have helped with her circulation.

After dinner it was back sitting onto the deck until dark as it still was pretty warm outside.

Back inside to watch Global News that we had taped and then to bed by 9:30 pm. A fabulous day with my aunt and uncle.

Wednesday morning Ray and I were up at 6 and it was so warm I actually sat down at the dock with my coffee for a while. Once the crew woke up at nine, I made breakfast, bacon and scrambled eggs for Norma and Ken. Ray went to cut a pat of butter and it was soft and the milk with breakfast warm.... oh  oh!  Our not even a year old Kitchen Aid fridge quit working.

Once everyone had eaten, I did a quick run into town to the pharmacy for some last minute things for our cruise while Ray started to unload the fridge.  This is when he found the freezer had thawed everything too .... Awhhh Nuts!

My planned day of dock time with 30c weather, turned into a big cooking day.  Gathering up everything salvageable I made a big pot of chili and another big pot of spaghetti sauce. Ray kindly took Ken and Norma for a drive to the park for the outing today as I was way too busy with all the cooking and all of the dishes created. Fortunately they did not mind taster dishes of my sauces as their lunch as I was way too busy to make anything else.

Ken and Norma at Lakeview Park, next door to us.

By 3pm I had finally finished cooking and all the dishes done. My cousin showed up for an hour's visit and to pick up his parents for the drive back to Victoria and over to Coquitlam. Gord enjoyed my chili and ate two bowls. He said it was the best thing he had eaten all week ... especially since there was steak in it. lol They all headed out about 4:15 pm. What a day! The good part is I was able to utilize a bunch of meat and veggies and now have quite a few meals for our winter vacation.

Once everyone cleared out I quickly put on my bathing suit and jumped into the lake. It was pretty hot cooking all day even with the A/C on in the house.

Hopefully tomorrow is a better day ... unfortunately I cannot get anyone here to look at the fridge until next Tuesday. They said they will put me on the cancellation list but at least I have 2 other fridges that work in the house for our company to use while they look after Freya for us during our cruise. Malc and Kathy arrive tomorrow.

RV Friends arrive.

Monday as I had said previously we had 2 painters doing, we hope, the last of the painting on the house. A lot of high ladder work.

The front of the house looks awesome with the new cream garage doors and changing the shakes to cream from dark brown. This is what it looked like before our renos, concrete etc.

At the end of the day the painting was finally done.Yeah!

Monday at noon since the weather was so great finally, I called Dianne to see if they wanted to come up a day early and go for a boat ride before we take it out of the water for the season. The kids had all left and cleaned their way out of the basement. I had lots of leftovers to serve for dinner so did not have to cook. They were supposed to arrive tomorrow anyways ... sure they said. lol

They arrived around 4:30 pm and after beverages in hand we took off for a boat cruise down the lake. A beautiful afternoon with minimal wind. Dianne had not been in our boat yet. Steve took a bunch of pictures.

How lovely is this?

Back around 5:30 pm we had our beans and rib dinner. Still great on day 2. lol The rest of the evening we sat on the sundeck with the firetable on until dusk when we called it a night at 9pm. We were quite tired after days of company.

Tuesday morning sunny and warm. We all started the day as usual with coffee, computers or tablets. Eventually we had breakfast and once Dianne and Steve did the dishes (thanks a bunch guys) it was time to get the boat out of the water for the season.

Normally it would stay in until mid-September, but with the lack of rainfall this summer and our lake being so low, the papermill in Crofton is set to begin pumping water out of the lake into the river to ensure ,their water supply for operations. The lake could drop up to 20" which would make taking the boat out at the boat ramp very difficult so we decided to get it out before pump begins later this week.

Once loaded on the trailer we parked it in the driveway. Steve helped Ray wash it and then it was put back into the garage for the season. Dianne and Steve went for a short kayak ride. I  had to dump Dianne out of the kayak once she was done as our beach is virtually non-existent with the low water and I did not want her to hurt her knee in the muck. We all spent the rest of the afternoon sitting on the dock swimming with Dianne and I floating in the water loungers. A fabulous afternoon even though it was cloudy it felt pretty warm. We managed to have Dianne and Steve experience all of our summer "water activities" in a day and a half before the rain tomorrow. Lol

Helping Dianne get in to not hurt her knee.

Ray the "stinker" getting us wet in our floaties!

Steve the guy who never naps ... Busted!!!

Thanks for the Margarita Ray!  He's starting to call himself Cabana Boy! lol

Around 4:30 pm we came up to the deck as it started to get too windy to stay down at the dock.

On the menu tonight Chinese Bbq pork tenderloin and fried rice. After dinner back on to the sundeck until 9 pm again and then bedtime. Dianne is really struggling with her knee that she will have surgery on shortly, so going up the stairs to their bedroom and down to the dock repeatedly, I think she is exhausted and ready for bed early just to get off of it.

Wednesday morning we woke up to rain as predicted. Unfortunately it is forecasted to be rainy until later this afternoon. Dave and Leslie from Chateau Roche, arrived by 11:30 am in time for lunch, chicken wings, fried rice and Dianne's caesar salad.  Thanks to the cleanup crew for dishes etc.

Steve and Dianne

Leslie "cheers".

Clean up Crew, Steve, Dave, Dianne and Leslie

Margaret in the middle.

Hiding from the rain.

The rain stayed misting until late in the afternoon but we managed to stay all cozy under the gazebo with the firetable and heaters on.  Steve arranged all the seating so we could all fit, we just had to remind Dave to duck. lol as the centre of the gazebo has a lower part that only very tall people could hit. What a great group of people, lots of laughs.

For dinner I put prime rib on the rotisserie and made yorkshire pudding for Steve...  and apparently for Dave and oh oh Leslie (where's the gravy). Lots of kitchen help with the other fixin's and again a great kitchen cleanup crew. We all sat down at the dock watching the sun go down and then back up to the deck for the rest of the evening. Everyone to bed shortly after 10am.

Steve is telling me to stop for the picture but yorkies are very heat sensitive .... so he caught me in motion.

Dinner is served.

More beverages ... you can see the clock that is now 9:50 pm. lol With the firetable and radiant heaters no one really cared about the rain.

Margaret.

Thursday had some marine cloud to start, but by 10 am the sun broke through. I made the boys Monkey Bread for breakfast and Dianne and Leslie ate their scrambled eggs and bacon. (Keto diets). Dianne and Leslie did look longingly at my creation though. lol

Charge!

 Not much left after the boys got at this.

The painter came this morning for the final touch ups and payment. We are officially done all of the landscaping, outside renovations and inside renovations. It was a long haul since we moved in May 2018. When we come back from our winter holiday we won't know what to do with ourselves. lol

After breakfast we sat outside out on the deck. It still was a little breezy down at the dock. For lunch we were treated to lunch at Jake's on the Lake by Les and Dave. Thanks a bunch guys.

Dave and Leslie

Before coming back we took a short drive to the park to view the tubers in the river.

Back home by 2pm, the rest of the afternoon we spent down on the dock swimming, kayaking etc. A beautiful warm afternoon. Pat, my next door neighbour, came over for a visit to meet everyone. Dianne and Les had a hot tub after swimming, Leslie's back was really sore and of course Dianne's knee. The group stayed down on the dock to almost 6 pm it was so nice, before coming back up to the house. We could not have planned better weather for their visit.

Leslie

Steve

Dave

Toodles!

Dianne and Leslie

Dave in the water. Freya making sure he's OK.

Everyone is so full from lunch that dinner is just leftovers with everyone microwaving their plates. We did have a birthday cake for Steve as his birthday is on Saturday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEVE! (I'm sure you enjoyed our singing, lol)

Back out onto the sundeck until 10 pm. Lots of laughs with "stories". A great day.

Friday morning we woke up to rain. Glad it didn't rain yesterday. For breakfast I made Eggs Benedict and once everyone finished the clean up crew worked their magic again cleaning up my kitchen.  Thanks once again guys. Dianne and Leslie changed their beds and brought down all their laundry. Now the rooms are ready for the next bunch of company. lol Ray headed out first for an appointment in Nanaimo and the rest shortly after. By 9:30am I was on my own with only the laundry ... The rain had stopped for pack up though.We all had a fabulous time. Thanks a bunch to our guests for taking care of all the dishes, it certainly made entertaining easy. See you all down the road in Arizona this winter.