Smokey skies continue Sept 15 - Sept 21

Tuesday woke up to everything wet. It rained a bunch more than forecasted ... apparently the smoky skies are screwing up the computer modelling at Environment Canada. So the boat got a little wet as we did not put the cover on. Also, another smoky day with fog/cloud/smoke right down to the water.

Last year at this time I was madly filling the motorhome up for our winter trip down south after just getting back from our Alaskan Cruise. We left Lake Cowichan on the 22 of September for a wonderful winter coming home March 12 just as Covid 19 restrictions came into place in BC. We all will just have to amuse ourselves with previous pictures of the warm Arizona sun this year with the ongoing pandemic. :)

Wednesday, took Freya for her annual vet appointment. Everything is good. Yeah. Ray worked on more deck tiles ... the never ending job, with his back limiting the time he can spend on it. I was back home shortly after lunch, did my chores and then we spent some time sitting out on the deck as the smoke was not too bad. I made us a "Happy Hour" plate for Ray and I ... of course I always make too much. :)

The guy down the way is finally doing something about his gazebo that sunk into the lake as it came off the pilings this past winter with the high water.

Thursday, the skies are even lighter so hopefully this smoke blows away soon. I spent the morning emptying planters and replanting with daffodils for next spring. Lots of bits and pieces to do, clean garden solar lights and put them away for the winter. They are full of spiders, yuck! The first year here, I left them out and the snow decimated them knocking them over etc. so now I know better. :) Ray continued putting in a couple of hours on the deck tile leveling project. He is finding more and more spots where the contractor did not support the tiles correctly so they tip when you walk on them. Totally pissed off at our contractor again ..... hopefully he gets to the end of this soon. He must have 40 hours in this so far, not to mention the $400 on new supports. He has been working on this since last spring!! He's almost at the finish line though, just in time for the winter!

My sundeck is looking emptier. lol Once Ray is all done, it will be time to haul out the pressure washer so I can clean the deck from all the summer debris from the planters. Still smokey outside. I also managed to empty and move all my planters from my front garden to the back of the yard and planted them with daffodil bulbs for the spring. Still have to plant bulbs in the front garden but need the perennials to die off a bit first. 

The gazebo has been dropped to the ground ... don't know what he plans to do now though.

Another good day other than the smoke in the sky. Rain tonight so hopefully that will clear more of the smoke out of our skies.

Friday the showers arrived as predicted. Ray headed to Duncan early for an 8 am dentist appointment. We had to change dentists as our here in Lake Cowichan could not get a hygienist since the pandemic for his part-time practice, so we have not been able to have our teeth cleaned for 18 months. Ray was set up with this dental office in Duncan from his Endodonist who installed an implant in August. Our dentist here at the lake also does not do anything with implants. I switched as well as I need my teeth cleaned and checked too. He spent some time running errands in Duncan including buying two live edge slabs of maple for some shelving I would like in my laundry room.

I spent the day in my happy place, my kitchen. After giving Freya her Fall Bath of course in my ensuite shower. Of course then I needed a shower. :) Poor dog was smelly and very itchy after swimming in the lake for the past few weeks. I do bath her in between in the lake with eco friendly shampoo, but she gets smelly pretty fast after swimming again within a couple of days. To not have this happen you have to dry her off completely every time she gets out of the water ... not happening. lol She was not impressed.

I made breakfast mini quiches, apple crisp and prepped my shortrib dinner for the InstantPot. While this was going on all of Freya's bed covers and towels were washed... she has 3 beds scattered in the house. :) So hopefully the "Eau de Dog" is managed for the fall. No more swimming for her!

We ended up not having shortribs tonight as Ray came home armed with a fresh crab and fresh mussels for dinner, so shortribs will be tomorrow. Just have to make some mashed potatoes and some kind of fresh veg.

Saturday morning we woke to cloudy skies and it seems to be "smoke free" at present.  More puttering today putting some summer stuff away, like the white loungers off the dock. Ray was back at his tile levelling project. He is 3/4 done I think. Yeah.

I managed to get all the summer stuff off the dock and the wicker chairs and cushions that we had just put into the basement, stuffed into the space under the stairs out of the way until next year. With the air clear we were able to sit out on the deck for a couple of hours watching the squalls come through periodically. Definitely a fall like day.

The Covid 19 news is not great here in BC with the kids back in school. There are several schools in the lower mainland and others in the province that now have positive cases. I think this winter is going to be awful. I feel for the teachers and kids as they are at the mercy of  other people in their bubbles at home that could be infecting them and so they bring it inadvertently into the schools.

We are getting the highest new cases per day in BC that we have had since this pandemic started. Friday had 179 new cases and 3 more deaths. The worst number going up are hospitalizations at 59 people with 20 in the ICU. We have only had a handful of people  in the hospital and maybe 3 in ICU since the high numbers in March, so this is not a good trend. Fingers crossed that the younger people smarten up with their gatherings to protect them and others. B.C.’s active cases climbed to 1,803, a new record, while another 3,075 people were in isolation due to potential exposure to the virus. About 74 per cent of B.C.’s 7,842 total cases had recovered. Ray and I are very fortunate to be on the island where the numbers are significantly lower than on the mainland, at least so far. We are so thankful that we have Kyle's Kottage to stay at for this winter. No way would we go down south with their numbers exploding and no direction from "the powers of political will" so help stem the spread of this horrible virus and no vaccine. 

Sunday morning a few low clouds moving through but no more smoke, a lovely morning. Jason and Kristi arrived at around 11 am and Jason began helping Ray with the deck. 

Fed the dogs their breakfast. lol

Here is a current picture of our Granddaughter Stella. Such a cutie.

The guy with the "tipped gazebo" has finally had machinery come and take it down to the water. They put floatation under it and have secured it to the other dock and piling. Also they cleaned up their beach.

The dogs helping. lol

We brought back some memories for Kristi. She took me on a rowboat ride in Kyle's Klinker ... we were a little heavy in the stern end with me in it. Just like when she learned to row with my Dad all those years ago at 6 years old. :)

After Ray and Jason were done for the day, we all were able to sit down at the dock for awhile.

The dock is looking very empty!

Monday morning, after Jason helping Ray with a few more tiles and blueberry pancakes, the kids headed back to Nanaimo. Another great visit. Ray and I decided to drive into Duncan as he needed more parts from Slegg for the remainder of the deck project. After a quick shop at Walmart while Ray waited in the car and since is was actually sunny we decided to go to the Lions Rampart Pub in Maple Bay for lunch. They have a great outdoor patio overlooking Maple Bay. Delicious fish and chips. The forecast by Wednesday is "buckets and buckets" of rain so we were happy to take this opportunity.

And that was the week at Kyle's Kottage.