Sure feel's like winter! Christmas Decorating Begins! November 16 - 25

 Monday was a quiet day other than Price Alarm finally came after a 3 month wait to upgrade our security camera that points towards the dock for a 2 to 8 megapixel and replace the faulty one downstairs which doesn't work at night! This has been an issue since the renovation when the camera hung for several months until the sundeck was finished before being reinstalled.

New camera view, much clearer down to the dock.

Tuesday morning we braved the very rainy day and went up to Chemainus to visit the Christmas Store. Yes, we came home with some treasures! We started decorating for Christmas here at Kyle's Kottage to help cheer us up with all the dark gloomy days and Covid news. We sold/gave away most of our Christmas stuff we collected over the years when we sold our house in Nanaimo in 2012, not expecting to have a "residence" again for quite some time. With the purchase of the lake house 2 years ago, the border being closed (thankfully with all the US Covidiots) and a new family member next Christmas, that changed our plans and now we need more stuff again. lol Ray and I have always been "Christmas nuts" when it came to lighting and decorations.

The beginning of decorating. (Actually took 8 days lol)

This Santa face was separate from the wreath, but they put it all together for us to make a fantastic decoration. The face is very lifelike. 

The three kings and tree were the only things we kept from our old house in Nanaimo. New Carolers this year.

Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were all spent putting up Christmas decorations. not because we have so many, it is quite time consuming and Ray limit's his time with his back. Lights inside and out. With more runs to the store for more supplies. lol More pictures to come when we are finished. :)

Very dreary weather, rain, rain, rain. The lake is now rising quite a bit, no beach exposed now.

Saturday, finally a day without rain. I took off early to Nanaimo to be there when Costco opened for seniors at 8am. Then a couple of errands to run at Canadian Tire, Lowes and Home Depot, for you guessed it, more Christmas decorations. With the new provincial guidelines I wanted in and out of the stores quickly. Nice to see everyone masked up and most stores with security at the entrance to enforce the mask mandate. I was on my way back home by 9:30 am. While I was gone Ray finished up the outside lights since it was not raining. 

Sunday we continued to put up the remaining lights and garland in the house. We certainly have lots of railings to dress up. :) Things are looking pretty Christmassy here at Kyle's Kottage. Still to come, is putting up our Christmas Tree on Monday. That was pretty much the only thing I purchased 2 years ago for our first Christmas here at the lake. Last year we were down south. Here are Ray's pictures with night time lights and my attempt at a video for Christmas. I have a few distortions with my iPhone. lol We decorated early to bring some cheer to us and thought we might share it with our friends remotely. :)

Here are the "still pictures" Ray took if you don't have the data to watch the video.

Tree finished with the ribbon.

Ray's Christmas Village

Plugs above the stove were supposed to work and did not ... , had the electrician come today and rectify that. :) Andrew came by to sort us out.

Of course everything looks better in person, the pictures hardly do it justice. Merry Christmas early, from us.

Garrett out for a walk with his girls.

Monday, I got our tree up and put on the decorations otherwise a pretty quiet day here.

Tuesday, windy and poured all day. Definitely a day to stay hunkered down. Did a little baking and that was it. We spent the day watching TV.

Wednesday, not raining when we got up ... Ray headed to Duncan to take the kicker motor in for servicing off the Lund. I puttered around, took Freya for a walk to the park and managed to sit down at the dock for 20 minutes with my face into the sunshine. Boy did that feel wonderful. Ray came home and took the above Christmas light pictures of the house and I did a bit of video.

And that was the past 10 days. 

*** Here is a picture of our old house in Port Alberni that Ray used to light up like crazy ... we have always made an effort to decorate. :) Even had Santa and his reindeer mounted on top of our fifth wheel. Notice the Christmas tree looking like it went right through the roof. lol

Cougar in the yard next door!! Wow. Nov 9 - 15

Monday we hunkered down while the cold wind blew. I did a batch of pork ribs in the Traeger. It took longer than usual due to the cold air outside ... something I will have to take into account using the smoker during the winter. lol They turned out delicious though.

We took Freya over to the park for her afternoon stroll. She sure loves her sticks!

Noticed an actual paddle boarder in front of us on the lake. BRRRRR. All of 4C.

Tuesday morning, we anticipated a bit of snow overnight but it did not develop here. The tops of the mountains around us are all white though. A very cloudy/foggy to begin the day. I am reorganizing drawers and cupboards, after moving here over 2 years things have migrated and I need to put things where I want them if I use them a lot. Still baking items made with the apples we were given. Today a skillet apple and gingerbread cake. Delicious. A make again.

Picture from Google

I also reorganized my pantry so I know what I have before I go shopping tomorrow. :)

Wednesday, out the door early by 7:30am to run up to Costco. They now have reinstated seniors shopping from 8 to 9 am. What a lovely shopping experience with hardly anyone in the store and no lineups to check out. We did a little more shopping at Cabela's and Canadian Tire and back home by 12 noon. We did pause at 10:50 am and parked with the radio on to the Remembrance Service on CKNW and did our moment of silence. Ray and I would have been at a service if we were allowed to go this year. These are pictures from the service we attended here in Lake Cowichan in 2018.

I later drove by our cenotaph in Lake Cowichan. They did not have any ceremony but people did lay wreaths all week.

 Ray received a call from our gardener that a cougar had been sighted in the subdivision this morning at the first house coming in the gate and then the next house ... Well, I had Freya out at 4pm in the back yard playing and noticed the tail of a cougar next door!!!! Ran in the house and told Ray.  On our sundeck we looked at their yard and there it was, laying down beside their gazebo! A little too close.

Here it the picture they took next door with a better view!

We found out later that it even went on another house's sundeck and then was spotted trying to find a hole in our hedge along the driveway for the subdivision to get out. He or she is very healthy looking so it makes me wonder why it's hanging around here when there are tons of deer around. The people whose deck it actually went on, called the local authorities and they are keeping an eye out for it and we are supposed to call if we see it again.

Thursday, the predicted rain started about 8:30 am. Freya not too happy about having to stay inside instead of staying on her mat outside the basement door waiting for Ray to throw her stick. An inside  day for us as I wait for my new fridge to arrive. Finally after 3 months I will have a fridge working again in my kitchen!

The delivery guys arrived at 11:30 am. We left the gate open for the truck and hopefully the cougar leaves our development now!

The two guys carried the new fridge in with straps hooked to them! Took the old one out the same way.

Glad they came this morning because by 1 pm the rain was just teaming down outside. Now I wait until tomorrow and move my things back into the fridge in the kitchen. Finally! This one better work. It started making ice within 3 hours ... yeah!

Friday, still raining in the morning but by 10 am there were some breaks in the clouds and the odd sunny break. New fridge purring along great and I loaded it up from the other fridges I used. What a treat to have the milk for your cereal right in the kitchen instead of out in the garage. lol

Saturday woke up to some sunny breaks but cold at -1C. Today Kristi and Jason came for dinner as it is Ray's birthday tomorrow so we shall celebrate today. Prime Rib on the rotisserie. The kids arrived at 3 and we had a great visit while I finished with dinner. The beast hit the table at 5:30. A great evening which we finished with birthday cake and watched a movie. Of course I forgot to take pictures. lol

Wind gusts predicted to 88km here tomorrow ... I think there will be power outages on the island tomorrow night for some. Thankfully we will stay warm and dry if that happens. Monday it is predicted to have 50-75 mm of rain. That is 2" in one day. The lake definitely will be rising.

Happy Birthday Ray!

Sunday morning overnight there was a big thunder and lightning event. Of course Freya was not too excited about that! At 6am there was another very loud boom right above the house. That was it ... all the dogs were up. lol

After everyone drank their limit of coffee, I made Eggs Benedict for breakfast. A lovely relaxing morning. 

Weather still pretty iffy outside. By 10:30 the kids headed back to Nanaimo. Kristi has a bunch of paperwork to do. Ray and I decided to bring out all the boxes of Christmas stuff from the garage so I could see what I actually have. Some of the stuff got put up and Ray worked on lights outside as the rain quit for awhile. This was also to see what else we needed to buy before the stores empty out this year! lol

Ray received birthday wishes from Stella this morning. She sure is growing, 6 months old today.

A very blustery day, lots of rain squalls came through. Glad I am not cooking outside today!

And another week goes by. Forecast for the next week pretty wet. We will have to develop webbed feet. lol

November is here! Nov 1 to 8th.

 Sunday, November 1st

As this was the last day of sunshine, after morning chores, we decided to take a little walk along a creek with Freya. This short trail is in behind our Country Grocer, a lovely fall morning. Freya sure enjoyed all the new smells.

We decided to have lunch at Jake's at the Lake on their patio as it was such an nice warm sunny day. This is the first time we have eaten there since Covid broke out last March. It was way too busy this summer with all of the tubers in the Cowichan River.

This could be the only time we eat here this winter. lol They do not have heaters on the patio and are having trouble procuring them. Ray and I will not eat inside.

Spent the rest of the afternoon having a campfire in the back yard enjoying the day. Ray however put his bathing suit on and climbed down the ladders on the dock to secure a rope so we could pull them up for the winter... that was cold! We should have done it when the big boat was still in the water. :) He first tried from the dinghy but almost launched himself into the water.

Monday, the last dry day before the monsoons begin tonight. Ray worked in the workshop in the morning and I played in my kitchen making homemade beef burritos with Mexican Rice and Refried beans. Of course lots of cheese. Delicious.

Not very sunny later in the afternoon so I stayed out on the deck with the heaters on for some fresh air. While we were sitting there, Ray and I saw a bunch of fish rise in the lake so off he went to cast a few times. lol The water was so still so lots of reflections.

Overnight it started pouring, we could hear it on the roof. In the morning Ray had to take my hot tub pump and empty out the dingy of water at the dock. Worked like a charm. Most of the day we spent puttering around inside as it was so miserable out.

Here is a picture I received of Stella for Halloween, "The Gangster Bunny". So cute at 5 1/2 months old.

Wednesday, more rain and wind. I spent the morning making sushi for Ray and I with tempura prawns and veggies and Japanese mayo and eel sauce.  He has been missing his sushi, and my sushi molds arrived yesterday from Amazon. :)

This mess translated into this 3 hours later. lol 

Ta da!

Later in the afternoon, Ray headed to Duncan for a dental appointment while I dealt with laundry and the massive kitchen clean-up. :) Otherwise I just watched the wind and the rain out the window, making sure our dinghy stayed put. lol There was quite a few things floating by on the lake, a float tube, some kind of box and a huge blue tube??? The neighbours Roy and June's dinghy almost came off their dock so I phoned them. :) The first of the big winter storms.

Thursday morning the rain had quit and no wind. Last night it poured and blew most of the night. There must have been some thunder as Freya was very unsettled and woke me up several times. All good this morning though. Today I headed to Duncan for my grocery shop and my monthly pedicure. Ray worked in the shop on Jason's Christmas gift. Mostly cloudy today.

Kristi arrived with her dogs at 8:30 pm. She is here for the weekend as Jason is staining things and she hates the smell of the paint. :) 

Friday, we had a lazy morning and then I started prepping dinner and making another apple pie with a crisp topping ... still using up the apples I was given by our neighbours. :) Kristi worked on my computer and making phone calls for work. Ray of course, was downstairs in the shop. A beautiful sunny but cool day. Nice to have Kristi here. She gave me a recipe to make for dinner, sausage and bean cassoulet and of course I Debbiefied it! It turned out delicious. Enough for tomorrow too.

Saturday Kristi, Ray and I piled into the car and headed to Duncan. Our destination the sawmill to get a maple slab for a shelf in the laundry room. We also stopped at Blue Grouse Winery, but the tasting room was by appointment only, The main reason for going there was for Ray to take some pictures of the colourful vines, but after this week's windstorm everything is off the vines.

We decided to take Kristi to the Lion Rampant Pub in Maple Bay as they have a patio. Unfortunately, they did not have their heaters on with their window panels in so too cold to sit outside. We all had to use the washroom lol from our morning coffee so ... as we were the only ones there, we decided to break the rule this once and eat inside. By the time we left there were only 2 other tables well away from us with people after an hour. We all enjoyed our lunch and then headed back home to the lake. 

Sunday woke up to clear skies but pretty cool with the north wind. Quiet morning everyone just chillaxing. lol 

Later on, Kristi headed out to visit her friend Robyn and Amalia who are in "our bubble". Darryl called and took Ray out fishing in his boat at 10 am on the lake. Brrrrr.  Hopefully with all the sunshine it is not too cold.

Once both of them were back, I made lunch and then Kristi headed back to Nanaimo. Another great visit.