Finishing up outside chores for the winter. October 20th - 31st

 Had a great day today. Ray started out fishing in his favourite spot and managed to catch a small trout, which he let go. Here is the morning sunrise from the boat.

Once it warmed up I went out to the front garden and planted 75 daffodil bulbs so the garden is ready for the spring. Nice to have that all done for the year. 

With all the digging in the front garden I was able to collect about a dozen worms so we finished up the day with sitting in our chairs and fishing down on the dock for an hour before the wind chased us away. Next up was starting a fire to burn up all of Ray's bits and pieces from his workshop. A lovely way to spend the afternoon. It was hot enough at times, Ray even had his shirt off on October 20th!

Wednesday morning, we had a slow start as Ray decided not to go fishing today. We will pull the boat out for the winter tomorrow.  Our sprinkler dude came and blew out all of our irrigation ready for the winter this morning, so another thing off my list.

Also, our Mobile RV Tech, Mike arrived to replace our cabinet locks on 4 doors of the coach, where the locks would not lock anymore. I had ordered them myself and received them from Tiffin so they were ready to go, keyed the same as our other ones. He also fixed our door latch on the entrance door that broke last winter in Quartzite.  Again, I had received the part from Tiffin so we only had to pay 2 hours of labour. He sure was quite reasonable. Still waiting to replace a toilet that water leaks into the bowl, filling the black tank quicker, but with Covid, he cannot get one until the New Year. Mike says that this year since Covid, fridge and toilet parts and full replacements have been unavailable so we will wait until the New Year for that. He has been incredibly busy though with all of the snowbirds now roosting on the south island. Repairs that all of us would normally do in the states will have to be done here.

Our neighbours, Roy and June, had a guy over pruning their hedge and topped the trees close to our deck to provide us with more sunshine. 

They also took down the 2 trees by our ramp to the dock as they were leaning over. Certainly improves our view and theirs. I hated all of the mess dropping from these trees onto the ramp.

For dinner I made pork tenderloin medallions with a cream, Carolan's sauce, rice and green beans for Ray. He couldn't wait to dig in and he loves anything with sauce. :) Ray's "perfect bite". 

Funny guy!

Thursday I left for Duncan early to meet up with Dianne and do a grocery shop. I am lending them our dehumidifier that we have for the Motorhome for this winter since they are stuck here on the island. It should help with the moisture. We managed a 10 minute visit in the parking lot with our masks on and no hugging.. :( So different now that her and Steve increased their bubble to be with their grandchildren who attend school and their parents and we have Kristi and Jason and their godchild and parents). With bubbles having to be reduced as per Bonny Henry with the uptick in Covid cases, we all take more precautions.

 A successful trip for me as I managed to get a bunch of Christmas shopping done too. I usually am done by November 15th anyways, or just give money being down south, but with the Canada Post saying to send stuff as early as possible as it will be much harder this year with package delivery from orders, I got going. Stands to reason though, as the guy said, "with less planes with people not travelling, there is less packages coming and going in the bellies of planes to get to their destinations". 

Friday, the forecasted rain began around 4 am, at least we are not getting any snow! It will be an inside day here other than a few errands here in Lake Cowichan. Ray spent his morning downstairs working on a Christmas Project for Jason. While doing laundry, I played in the kitchen prepping dinner and making brownies. :)

Here is a picture of our improved view with the trees down. Definitely a wet fall morning.

Three years ago today, we were in Zion National Park. Here is a picture Ray took of Court of the Patriarch's. 

This was a warm t-shirt day.

Saturday started really cold at -1C as predicted. Everything had a layer of ice on it from all the rain yesterday. Freya is going crazy rolling in the frozen grass. We waited a few hours for it to warm up some ... a whole 2 C and then went and got the boat out of the water for the winter. A much better day being sunny but the forecast was calling for wind this afternoon so sooner was better. I drove the trailer over to the boat launch and met Ray there so he could drive the boat up on the trailer. We stopped and fueled the boat up at the Co-op so the tank is full for the winter. 

Once we were home, he gave the boat a bath and then he emptied out the garage the boat was to go in.  Next up we maneuvered everything out of the driveway (motorhome and utility trailer) so the boat could go in the garage behind the motorhome for the winter. Everything was then backed in and relevelled etc., I put back all our chairs etc. in the garage around the boat. Our car now fits in it's garage, so no frozen windshields for me. Made sure the snow blower was accessible though. :) Tomorrow morning it's supposed to be -3C and feel like -6C! I put the heater back on in the motorhome. 

Managed to go for a walk over at the park with Ray and Freya just to stretch out. Still very cold.

Both of us were tired with all the pushing and shoving of trailers so we are done for the day. A good day. Glad I made a big dinner last night so we have leftovers and made a big pot of soup this morning. :)

Sunday -4C. Yikes, this is January temperatures! Once it warmed up slightly we decided to go on a bit of a photography road trip as it was such a nice sunny day and capture some of the fall colours.

Out the door at 10:30 am and first stop Skutz Falls and hopefully see some salmon jumping at the fish ladder. Beautiful fall colours, but really cold out.

We did not actually see any fish but this native fellow was sure trying with his net.

We jumped back in the car and headed for Cowichan Bay. I read reports that the fish are at the mouth of the river and the sealions are on the government docks.

Before we hit the highway we stopped at Mayo dam where there is a little lake stocked with trout for kids to fish with a fishing platform. We saw a young man with his nephew catch is first fish.

Next up the mouth of the Cowichan River. We stopped at the bridge and went for a look but did not see any fish again. There was a native fellow there with a spear but he did not see any fish either. There had been fish though as the whole walkway across the bridge was covered in fresh fish blood.

Found a parking spot and walked down to the Government Dock. Boy the smell!!! Lots of sea lions. Apparently only the males come here every year following the spawning salmon.

Cowichan Bay

They have quite a houseboat community down there on the water.

On the way down the docks there was a fishboat selling spot prawns so we bought 1 lb of frozen tails for dinner.

The "tug" in the picture is a Ranger (this a 25' but comes in 27 and 31), built in Union Bay, Washington.  We came close to buying one years ago.  It's trailerable, so someone could take it around to some great lakes in Canada to fish and camp.

A great outing and back home for lunch. Freya was happy to see us. I managed to sit out on the deck with the heaters on for an hour or so enjoying the view of our lake. Our maple tree is starting to turn red.

Another great day here at Kyle's Kottage.

Monday still quite cool out at 2C. Woke up to clouds and a few sprinkles. Glad we were able to enjoy the weather yesterday. I puttered around in the house and ran a few errands in town while Ray puttered with his dingy getting it ready for fishing now the big boat is put away for the winter. Most of the day was cloudy.

Kyle's Klinker

One of the items I picked up at the Post Office was my new apple peeler. Wow what a difference. Had enough apples peeled cored and sliced for a 9" pie in under 2 minutes! Our neighbours gave us 3 huge grocery bags of apples from their tree and because they are small, they were taking me a long time to peel, core and slice by hand ... now I can do 10 apples in about 2 minutes. :) Makes Ray a happy guy.

Tuesday still a little cool outside at 3C. Started sprinkling around 8:30 am. Ray played in his shop for awhile and I headed out for some errands and my massage appointment. This was mostly a drizzly, grey day. Spent the afternoon taking it easy as directed by my massage therapist. When all my muscles started tightening up again it was lovely to be able to get into the hot tub for a soak. Made me feel much better. I have made a few more massage appointments in the next month to see if I can alleviate the chronic pain in my neck for the past 2 1/2 years.

Wednesday, another grey day. Not much to report. :) other than I received my order for 15 lbs of fresh Chum salmon that I brined with brown sugar and salt so it will be ready to smoke in the Traeger on Friday morning. Nice that it was already cut to correct portions so no mess for me. :) 

Ray headed to Duncan for a few errands and came home with fresh Salt Spring Island oysters that were on sale for a buck a piece from Thrifty's.  He shucked them and I prepared the mignonette for them. This was very reminiscent of our time last spring at Newport Beach, where we ate them at a little bar on the beach several times throughout the week we were there. Yummy.

Thursday another gloomy day. Even though it was not raining first thing this morning there was a steady mist that made everything wet. So far no fishing for Ray in the Klinker. Did a few house chores and Ray worked in his shop for the morning. Fish is now out of the brine, rinsed and into the "drying stage" in the downstairs fridge. I will smoke it in the Traeger tomorrow. Nothing much else to report. :)

Woke up to a beautiful morning. Our maple tree is finally getting into it's colour phase. It will be solid red by the time all the leaves turn colour.

Friday was a busy day for me. Salmon into the smoker.

3 1/2 hours later it was done.

15 packages ready for the freezer.

I also received my order this afternoon of 10 pounds of fresh ling cod fillets to package. I did make fish and chips for us for dinner. Delicious. 

Once the Traeger was cleaned, all the fish dishes and trays washed it was 3 pm. I was able to sit outside on the deck for an hour all bundled up to get some fresh air.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Our son-in-law Jason, is all prepared for the trick or treaters tonight. Jason, Kristi and his parents, Nadine and Dale will sit in the garage with a propane fire and hand out candy to the kids. Kristi has even bought costumes for her dogs.

Saturday morning was a little foggy but the sun is forecasted to come out later. Ray launched the Klinker and tried his luck fishing for the first time in the new dinghy. Launched out into the fog.

Had fun but no fish.

Once he was back and warmed up we drove into Duncan for a few things and carried on to see if one of the wineries had good fall colours to take pictures of. Nope. So back to Lake Cowichan. We took a little detour and drove to Bear Lake. What a lovely little place. Ray accesses this lake with the big boat through a channel to fish but we have never actually drove to the lake.

Ray comes in usually on the other side of the lake to the left.

Once we had lunch, Ray started a fire (he had another bucket of scraps to burn lol) and we spent a couple of enjoyable hours outside in the yard. A great day. With it being Halloween, I fed Freya early as she usually gets quite upset with fireworks and there were lots later on. This year though she was only a little unsettled and did not seem to mind them as much, possibly because we have had quite a few gunshots lately echoing off the mountains for deer season so she is more acclimatized to the noise.

Kristi and Jason only had about 10 kids this year. Too bad with all the work he did creating his "launch tube". :)

Picture from Squamish, Stella sure is getting bigger.

Hard to believe nearly 2 weeks have gone by since our last post, and tomorrow is November 1st!