Fall storms are here, Sept 26 - Oct 1st

Ray took this picture at the park next door while on our walk a few days ago.

Sunday, the rain is here ... quiet day inside watching TV and making corn and prawn chowder. Not much else happened. Dark and rainy all day.

Monday woke up to another rainstorm on the roof. Over the 3 days we could get over 75 mm of rain which is 3 inches of rain so far. Another big storm is arriving on Wednesday delivering another punch. We will not have to worry about the lake level anymore this year. Checked Darryl's rain gauge this morning and we have had another 2 1/2 inches so far. 

Tuesday, we headed up to Nanaimo with Freya to visit the kids, especially Amelia. Nice to see the sunshine again for our drive up.

What a happy baby she is. I was able to feed her breakfast and play with her on the couch. Busy baby. They have to put such a large bib on her and anchor it to make sure no food or liquids get down inside her cast. If it does she has to go to emergency and get the cast removed immediately. So everyone is very careful. Jason's spika cast chair and table works out great for Amelia.

Just like a little birdie as soon as she see's the spoon she opens her mouth lol ... she likes her oatmeal.

She sure is getting stronger. She did 10 pushups onto her arms lying on the couch with me. You can see her little arms getting muscle lines. Soon she will be dragging that cast around behind her, I'm sure.

We left about 12:15 pm as Amelia had an X-Ray appointment. Back home we decided to go for lunch at our neighbourhood pub, Jake's at the Lake. First time eating inside at Jake's since we left for the USA September 2019. Coming later at 1:30 after the lunch rush is perfect, hardly anyone inside. Just our kind of place, lol As you can see there are well-spaced tables. We ordered their fish and chips since the manager assured us it's improved, he was correct. Yum.

They are currently building another deck right out the window we were sitting at. This way they can actually have heaters on the deck for outside dining. I noticed during their shutdown in March 2020, they did repaint everything and installed new heat pumps. It is looking great. Unfortunately, one of the carpenters displayed one of the worst "moon shots" we've ever seen! Ray avoided looking out the window!

Across the lake, the crane is lifting out the pumps at the weir that Catalyst Paper only installed a few weeks ago. The rains came and they were not needed. We can see this crane from our house looking down the lake too.

Back home it clouded up and started sprinkling later so we had a quiet afternoon and evening.

Wednesday morning the rain began again. No problem with the lake filling up now. lol Another puttering kinda day at home. 

Jason is busy outfitting Amelia's spika cast table with a holder for the phone or tablet so we can have video calls with her. Grandpa eating his arrowroot cookies with Amelia. lol

Hi tech baby. :)

She is starting to try and crawl with her cast. Jason set her up with cloths under her knees so she can slide.

Thursday morning the rain finally quit for at least awhile. Last night it poured and blew most of the night. Boat still at the dock. lol Ray went out and pump out his little floaty boat and turn on the bilge pump on the big boat. I think the plug in the big boat is leaking a bit from some gas getting into the bilge ... anyways while using my hot tub pump he inadvertently let go of the hose and it's like a snake! Water poured on him everywhere. I could barely breathe I was laughing so hard. Too bad no picture of that! :)

Both boats emptying at the same time. lol

The lake level really come up this week. Last week the level was half way between the log and the beach with 2 feet of the chain exposed just laying on the gravel. No chain visible today. (By Friday the lake is even higher totally covering 2 of the four stumps in front of our stairs to the beach) Now we will be worried about flooding instead of a drought if it rains this much all winter.

I kept busy doing some ironing that I had been putting off for a month or so. 

I've resorted my standup freezer in the garage and now I'm trying to use up old meat products that had been buried. Today, I got busy and put on my "Chef's Coat". lol On the menu is a recipe from a Vineyard in the VQA BC magazine. Sweet potato and bacon hash topped with butter and garlic basted baked chicken thighs and drizzled with a fresh blueberry, maple syrup and balsamic reduction. Turned out pretty delicious. A great use of old chicken. (I always soak chicken in buttermilk and spices for a couple of hours before cooking to ensure moist tender chicken.)

Friday morning finally, the rain seems to have stopped. Ray puttered blowing out the water lines in the motorhome for winter and I pressure washed the front of the house concrete from the mess left from the planters. Later, after lunch, we lite a fire in the woodstove in the back yard. A great day.