Forest Fire on the Mountain August 17 to Aug 23

 Exciting morning here at the lake as the lightning storm last night created about 14 fires down here on the southern end of Vancouver Island. One of the fires is just over the ridge across the lake from us. Ray and I watched them using helicopters to bucket water and then two bombers came and spent the day attending the fire. By 5 pm they quit and the smoke was now minimal.

Minimal smoke that almost appears like clouds unless you looked through polarized sunglasses.

Freya is not too worried about the fire.

One of the "colourful" boats floating on the lake. 

Tonight we are at our neighbours, Pat and Darryl, for dinner with our other neighbours June and Roy. Again it was just the 6 of us social distancing on their sundeck, each couple at their own table with hand sanitizer. lol

   

We had a fabulous time and lots of wine was sampled. :)

Tuesday morning was very cloudy. Once the marine cloud moved off the choppers started up dropping water on the fire again. We don't see smoke today though so hopefully they are getting it under control although it is listed as "out of control" on the website. 

Once the sun came out and the marine cloud moved off, the helicopters began their flights again. 

Ray headed into Duncan for an 8 am appointment to get the window changed out in the car and came home with the loaner for the 4 hours wait before the car was done. At 12:30 pm we both went back into Duncan, picked up our car and went for lunch at the Brunch on Third little restaurant. We were able to sit outside on their patio. Great sandwiches. Finished up a little shop at Walmart and then back home.

Jason unexpectedly came to stay overnight as his Shaw cable and internet was down on his street and he had a big "Raid" on the computer to attend with his online friends. Great to see him for an hour then he went to get set up for his gaming. In his panic to get here in time, he forgot his power cord for his computer. You should have seen me giving him every power cord I could find to see if we could help him out. It ended up my cord for my computer would work only if he held it carefully in place to keep his computer going. :) So for 2 hours he held it in with one hand and used his left hand on the keyboard. What a procedure. Fortunately his game only lasted 2 hours instead of up to four hours sometimes. :)

Someone else getting a new dock. We certainly see lots of things being towed by us.

We also saw from our deck a runaway unicorn! They left from the campsite next door and bumped their way down everyone's docks ending up in the bay. They had to call to get towed back ... silly girls.

Wednesday morning Jason helped Ray with a few things before heading home. Thanks a bunch Jason. Later in the afternoon Robyn and Amalia came for a dip in the lake before the winds came up with the approach of the rain that has been predicted. Hopefully that will help with the fires. Robyn also came bearing gifts, smoked salmon that Korey just made from one he brought home from the Charlottes.

At 4 pm the piling driver showed up to put in two new pilings for the guys new dock we saw installed last week. Lots of people watching from their neighbours dock.

The rain that had been in the forecast had not started before we went to bed, but we did hear it during the night. Thursday morning had showers and rain. I had turned off our irrigation last night as I knew it would not be needed this morning. lol  A most miserable, well needed day for the forests. Definitely a stay inside day to putter.

As of 12:30 pm today, with all of the rain, all the fires on south Vancouver Island are under control except the one over the mountain from us, Meades Creek. Hopefully this rain knocks this one down too. 

Ray drove into Duncan to do some shopping while I spent time on the phone again .... my kitchen fridge has totally gone "off line" and stopped cooling completely. Arghhhh. Now the panic to move the frozen meat to wherever I could stuff it in the other 2 fridges whose freezer parts are mostly full. Finally after trying to buy a stand up freezer with no success due to Covid manufacture stoppages so no supply ... I remembered our fridge in the motorhome so we got that one going so I could use it's freezer.

More lures to catch those trout!

Friday still more rain ... needed but sure makes it dreary. It was still warm out though at 19C.

Still nice to look out at the lake.

Put the frozen meat from the cooler into the freezer in the motorhome. Thankfully that fridge is working. Off to Duncan to pick up some groceries I cannot get here. I ordered a huge prime rib roast from superstore as it was on sale to be used for our next neighbour get together which is my turn in about 3 weeks.

Wholey Moley it turned out to be much bigger than I anticipated. I brought it home and cut it in half for the party and then the other half  was cut into two. The whole thing was over 20 lbs. 

OMG way too big!

Fridge guy can't get here until Tuesday! He does have the new computer board though so hopefully this will fix it!

Quiet afternoon and evening with rain showers on and off.

Saturday morning it finally cooled down overnight to 10 C. The rain has quit and \once the marine fog burned off it was a nice sunny day although a bit breezy. Temps finally got up to 22 C and we were able to sit down at the dock for awhile in the afternoon. I spent the morning making a fresh peach pie for Ray.

There was a small float plane that kept landing in front of us and taking off again. Must have been practicing as it did it about 3 times during the afternoon.

First landing

Taxing towards the marina.

Taking off again.

Sunday a little cloudy at the beginning but we decided to go fishing anyway. A lovely morning to wash our gear. lol No fish. Saw one caught though by another boat. Came back home around 11 am. It clouded up more, but was warm enough to sit down at the dock for a couple hours before we moved up to our deck.  We didn't try all the new gear yet.....

Good times at the lake, August 11 to 16

 Monday, Ray headed out the door to go to Duncan to have the windshield replaced in the car ... he cracked it carrying lumber. We have ordered an aluminum utility trailer now to carry the wood needed for his projects. lol  Also tired of all the sawdust in our car. :)

They had a courtesy car for him to use so he decided to take a walk through Somenos Marsh. This walk is located right beside the highway as you drive south into Duncan. Ray has driven past it hundreds of times while working in Duncan and never stopped. Here are some pictures of what we have been missing. lol There was not any birds to view (lots to hear) today though.

Ray was home by 10:30 am.  They ordered the wrong windshield, so now he has an appointment for next week. After chores around the yard, we sat down at the dock for a bit but it got too windy. Received a message from Robyn late in the afternoon, asking if she could come over with Amalia. Of course!!! So back down to the dock we went. lol Amalia sporting her new to her water wings. They really did not stay on very long as she was not impressed. :) After an hour of playing in the water they went home at around 5:15 pm.

Tuesday woke to  very cloudy skies. The sun did not manage to come out until around 11 am. Our gardener arrived in the morning to take a bunch of branches away that Ray had pruned from some of the trees in the yard and do some weeding.

Around 1:30 pm the fridge guy came and changed out the fan for the icemaker. This is the last possible fix for this fridge! (stay tuned) So if this doesn't work then I should get a whole new fridge! We shall see. :)

It was pretty breezy today and not that warm but we managed to sit outside close to our hedge for awhile and finally moved to the front of the house in the shade to get out of the wind. Our garden makes for a nice view too. :) My perennials have grown huge this year. Another great day at the lake.

Wednesday was my shopping day in Duncan. I was out the door by 7:45 am and back home by 11 am. It is nice that Walmart has mask wear mandatory now. Wish all the stores would do this.

The rest of the day after finishing up our daily chores was spent in our favourite place, down on the dock. 

Mother Goose and her ducklings. lol

Thursday, out the door early for doctor's appointments in Nanaimo and then up to Coombs to pick up our new aluminum utility trailer ... so Ray's wood stays out of my car! lol

I suggested to Ray that since we are in Coombs, we should check out the Walker Bay dingy's at Industrial Marine just up the road from the trailer place. We went and had a look at their small boats and decided that we would pick up the 8' one that would fit in the trailer. This will allow Ray to fish all winter when the big boat is put in the garage for the winter. He could also take this little boat to Kissinger Lake where there is great trout fishing.

After purchasing the trailer and getting insurance we decided to have a bite to eat at the Treehouse Restaurant and Bakery located in the same complex as the trailer shop. They had some picnic tables well spaced on their patio so we had lunch. Our first restaurant meal in 5 months with Covid. Great fish and chips.

Next up buying the dinghy. One happy guy!

Kyle's Kart. Yup the dingy fits perfectly. 

I drove back home towing the trailer. It is hardly noticeable that I was towing anything. Hugs the road well. A rather long day for Ray, but we accomplished what we had hoped. The rest of the afternoon we spent down on the dock enjoying the day.

Friday, haircut day ... YEAH. I have been waiting to get into my hairdresser for months and had to get someone else to cut it in June before getting into see her yesterday.

I did not get back home until 1:30 pm so time to sit down at the dock as it was really warm at 27C. Darryl our neighbour out trying paddleboarding for the first time. lol Stayed down on the dock until 5 pm when Freya vocally told us it was her dinner time. :)

For dinner it was barbecued hamburgers. We sat out on our new little bistro table I purchased from Wayfair. It all folds up to a small rectangle out of the way when not used.

2 chairs and folding table.

Kristi texted me and they are coming tomorrow for two nights and will be here in the morning to enjoy a lake day. Yeah.

Little Stella is 3 months old today. What a smiley little girl. Growing like a "weed". Apparently she is a pretty happy baby.

Our little "frog" is getting so big.

Ray spent the morning fixing the sundeck tiles. The original install was done pretty shoddy with not enough support under the porcelain tiles so some of them rock. He had ordered more supports and is gradually working through the tiles and fixing the ones as necessary. Not a great job for him on his hands and knees but he does a little bit here and there.

I did my chores, and prepped a salad for dinner and put the prime rib into some marinade ready for the rotisserie later in the afternoon.

The gang arrived by 11:30 am and we all headed down to the dock to enjoy the day. It got up to 31 C by late afternoon. The breeze on the lake kept us pretty cool though. Only Kristi opted to go for a swim. The dogs just chilled after getting them all wet.

At 5 we all came back up to the house and by 5:30 were sitting down for dinner. It was too hot to be on the sundeck until after dinner. A great day.

Sunday was a cooker! The boys went out fishing early. Jason styling in his fishing outfit. lol

Off they go!

Unfortunately they were unsuccessful but it was a beautiful morning.

Once the boys were back and after breakfast we all went down to the dock for the day. Kristi made the suggestion that we pack a lunch and go for a slow boat tour on the lake so that is what we did. Captain Kristi driving as she was the "DD". lol

Everyone jumped in off the boat except Jason!

After an hour or so it was back to the dock for the rest of the afternoon. Hot enough that Jason went in for a swim for the first time in 3 summers!

Freya using Zeus as a pillow.

Then we introduced Jason to the floaty! He likes it! He must have stayed in it for an hour.

This guy's weekend did not end well getting towed into the marina! We see at least one or two every weekend. Sometimes it's a houseboat that is towed. :) The people on the lake seem really good about helping out though.

We came up to the house for dinner at 5:30 pm and noticed some clouds in the sky ...

Dinner was hamburgers on the BBQ and salad. Too hot to eat anything substantial.

After everyone cleaned up and did the dishes, Jason retired downstairs for an online meeting, Ray sat inside and enjoyed the A/C and Kristi and I with the dogs, sat down at our beach with our feet in the water. It was still so warm outside.

We all got woken up at 9:30 (yes we all went to bed at 9 except Jason! lol) with an incredible lightning show and some thunder. Wow. Of course Kristi's dog Athena not impressed and neither was Freya. Fortunately more lightning than "booms". Ray and Kristi tried to get pictures but they were not as great as the one's our neighbours daughter took that I copied from Facebook.

Pretty incredible. We could hear people at Lakeside Park next door hooting over the display. Apparently this event caused 6 fires in the Nanaimo area, most in heavily forested areas. The one in the town outskirts was put out by the fire department. The rest of them will be checked out tomorrow.

With this came about a 10 minute downpour that was totally unexpected so all the chair cushions got a little damp. 

A fabulous weekend with the kids.