More company. Martin and Suzanne come to visit. Sept 1 - 6

Wednesday, Sept 1st. A beautiful morning, sunny and the lake like glass. Ray brewed up another pot of coffee and we put on some warmer clothes and sat on the dock for an hour enjoying the peaceful morning.

I finally saw the lounger at the bottom of the lake ... it moved from one side of the dock to the inside portion in front of the boat. We did try to snag it with Darryl's fishing rod but it is too heavy to lift. Darryl and his friend Brian are coming tomorrow morning with something else to "grapple" it. Hopefully that works.

Ray puttered getting our storage room sorted in preparation to start putting "summer things" away this next month. I started clearing out some planters that have died off. A little sooner this year, but it was so hot a lot of plants ran out their life cycle a bit early.

Ray noticed some bat droppings on the sidewalk again .... so I sat outside on the neighbours stairs and watched. Yup they are back. They managed to lift a piece of drip edge on the belly band of the house to gain access. They crawl out one at a time as the space is so small. Must have been at least 100 of them. Ray will have to nail down the drip edge in November and seal it up once the bats move on for the winter. 

While sitting out there, Pat and Darryl invited us over to meet their friends and drink some wine. A nice end to the day.

Thursday morning a cool start. Darryl and his friend, Brian, came over and managed to fish out my lounger from the bottom of the lake. Yeah, my heroes. lol

I went to Duncan and left Ray puttering here cleaning up the storage room in preparation for summer to be put away this month. Noticed this guy driving while out shopping. What a huge dog!

Friday it clouded up quite early in the day with just a few sprinkles, certainly not the rain we were hoping for. I spent the day prepping food for our company coming tomorrow and Ray puttered downstairs. Otherwise a quiet day.

Saturday morning, a cloudy start. Still no rain but the Weather Network says it's coming later on and into this afternoon. Martin and Suzanne should arrive around 1 pm. I spent the morning getting ready for dinner and making a cheese board. Good thing, as Martin is always hungry. lol Ray and Martin worked together for Western Forest Products for quite a few years together and Martin always came several times through the summers to MackTush Creek Campsite by Port Alberni, for fishing. We had a site there for 15 years.)

By 2 both Martin and Suzanne arrived. Suzanne came from Victoria after visiting her daughter and Martin from their home in French Creek.

A lovely afternoon and evening. My prime rib turned out fabulous, gotta like that dry brine treatment for 24 hours before cooking. Fresh Apple Pie with ice cream for dessert. We spent most of the afternoon and evening out on the sundeck calling it a night at 10 pm. 

Sunday morning after coffee, the boys went out fishing. Unbelievably after a couple hours, they came home with 2 trout. Ray was ecstatic after so many hours spent fishing, finally some fish! I cooked up the trout for lunch with potato wedges, delicious. First up though I made Eggs Benedict for breakfast.

After breakfast, it was time to haul out the new fire pump and hose to give it a trial. It's great Martin is here to help Ray. After testing the flow, the bonus is being able to fill our hot tub with lake water. Unfortunately, this pump is not as strong as we hoped, but did push the water to the front of our house. The snorkel is a bit finicky to stay primed. We will need another couple 50' lengths of hose to reach the woods at the park on the other side of our driveway which was the reason for getting the fire pump. We're concerned with campers throwing cigarettes' down etc. There does not seem to be much in the way of fire prevention equipment at the campsite.

Even though it remained cloudy all day it's quite warm out. Ray and Martin were hot after dragging all the hose around so went for a quick swim to cool off. 

While I was preparing our trout lunch, Ray took the crew out for a short boat ride including filling up the gas so the lads are ready to go tomorrow morning.

Balsamic glazed trout.

We spent the day between the deck and the dock. Martin and Suzanne even managed to go out in the kayaks for a paddle. 

Martin making sure there are no spiders to scare Suzanne. lol

Off they go.

And back they come. 

Three young adults stopped by the dock asking if they could pat Freya. Of course Freya is thrilled, it made her day. Lots of face washing.

Since we ate lunch so late I didn't start my barbecued chicken until late in the afternoon, so dinner was not until 7pm. Of course left over Apple Pie for dessert.

My kitchen crew are awesome, I never touched a dish after making all the meals. Thank goodness for a dishwasher as it definitely is running full out. lol

After dinner we sat back on the sundeck listening to all of the crickets. So peaceful. As the lake water is quite warm, 68 F. it did not take too long for the hot tub to heat up, so Martin and Suzanne were able to have a dip before bed. Another wonderful day with great friends.

Monday morning, a bunch of marine fog at 6:30 am. They guys were out into the boat by 7am to try and get more fish. Ray and Martin were back at 9:30 with one good size trout in the boat. Happy guys.

 After blueberry pancakes our company hit the road at 11 am. A great weekend.

Later in the afternoon, Ray and I just relaxed on the dock watching all the boat traffic. Last day of summer for most people going back to school and work. This long "red boat" for some reason kept going towards the marina and then back down the lake a short ways and back again about 1/2 a dozen times .... don't know what was up with that. lol

This summer sure has gone by in a blink....