Babysitting Amelia and more Atmospheric Rivers. November 22 - 30

Monday morning I finally got my haircut. I postponed it last Monday due to the washouts and storms. No point going to Honeymoon Bay and the chance of bride washouts and getting stuck. Also cancelled the car appointment for servicing as well, last week. Quiet day after having company all weekend. Debbie's kitchen is closed so Ray took me to lunch at Jakes at the Lake. lol

Tuesday, Ray ran into Duncan for some errands and managed to get the oil changed in the car. I spent the morning making beef meat pies and beef broth from the leftover prime rib we ate from Saturday. I hate wasting anything and no dog to help with the meat. lol We had the large meat pie for dinner, which turned out great. The two smaller ones were put into the freezer for Christmas.

Wednesday, we were on the road by 9am heading to Nanaimo. I babysat Amelia while Ray and Jason went for a pub lunch with the fly fishing club. 

Kristi was in the OR today and not back home until 1:30 or so in the afternoon. Once everyone was home, Kristi made meat loaf, mashed potatoes and carrots for dinner. Poor girl had a meeting from 5 until 6:30 so she ate her dinner on her lap on the zoom call. Busy lady.

The major rain storm did not start until overnight Wednesday. It was a little windy and some places did have power outages the next morning we were ok. Good thing as lots on the agenda today.

Jason headed out the door at 6:30 am for his appointment in Victoria, hoping not to get stuck on the Malahat from the previous week's washout. Checked at 9 and he made it ok. Hopefully he gets back just as easily around 3pm. With this rainstorm we have today .....

Kristi left me with the baby at 8 am as she is on call today at the hospital. She may be home later, or not, depending on what is going on there, hence why I am here for the day. 

Ray left at 10 or so to do some errands and a doctor's appointment this afternoon, so it will just be mostly me, Amelia and Zeus holding down the fort. :) 

Baby and me had a busy day. She did not have a very long nap as Kristi's housekeeper also came and of course made some noise vacuuming and woke her up after only an hour. Consequently she was a little out of sorts and it took quite a bit to keep her happy. Amelia does not really cry, she "growls at me" when she wants a change of view, either picked up or put in her Spika Table. Amazing how she lets you know what she wants even when she can't talk. She was not too pleased being stuck in the playpen with the housekeeper cleaning the floors. I was also the recipient of the "big poop". My greatest fear was getting it on her cast. Without any more details ... I managed. :)

Snack time. Good cookie Grandma.

Let me use the phone Grandma!

Amelia loves looking at the QR code on my phone. I turned on the selfie so she could see herself and she managed to take her own picture. She will be a professional "swiper" real soon with those busy little thumbs of hers. :)

So 4 bottles, 2 meals and 1 snack, 3 diaper changes, I was busy. :) She is a little eating machine. I put her down for her next nap at 1:10 and Jason arrived back an hour later. The little monkey slept for 2 1/2 hours, I must have tired her out. Once Jason was back, Ray and I headed out at 2:30 so we could get home during daylight as it was still raining pretty good with this big storm. Quite a few big puddles on the highway, but once I turned up Highway 18. the rain eased off.

Once we were home we checked. and the lake didn't rise yet with the overnight rainstorm. Next rain event set up for Saturday and then Tuesday.

Friday we woke up to a dry morning. Even the sun managed to come out for awhile. The lake is still managing to expel the water. Quiet day. Ray dug out the Christmas tree box and ornaments so we plan to put the tree up tomorrow and I did laundry. 

Saturday even though the "big storm" was a commin, we decided to go to the Craft Fair at the Cowichan Exhibition. Glad we went early and waited the 10 minutes before they opened. About 20 people waiting to get in. Within 30 minutes the place was buzzing ... time to leave. :) We did manage to purchase a few treasures. We also found some ideas of Christmas decorations we could make ourselves ... maybe a summer project. :)

Next up was visiting Bahnmann Timber in south Duncan. He sells lovely slabs of live edge wood all different species and sizes for tables, bars etc. We needed a piece to put on the top of our Bistro table I bought last year. I knew the top was garbage when I purchased it and after a season outside, the top was all delaminated. I really bought it for the powder coated black metal frame. Found a lovely piece of Douglas Fir live edge for Ray to refinish.

Lunch was at Original Joes before coming back to the lake. The storm was here and the rain was pounding by the time we headed back to the lake. Fortunately our Highway 18 drains pretty well so no problem coming home.

Sunday, Christmas Tree Day. It's the last piece of our Christmas decorations we needed to be put up. All the lights are certainly cheery with the dark gloomy days lately. The next day it's not raining in the morning, Ray will finish the Christmas lights outside.

Monday another day watching the rain ... I did all my present wrapping while Ray puttered in his shop trying to put the fire pump together on it's cart. Unfortunately, there are missing pieces so the project is put on hold again.

Tuesday Ray took me to lunch at Jake's at the Lake for Fish and Chips. A nice little outing on a wet day. Their fish and chip special is $12 for 1 piece and $16 for two pieces. What a deal.

RAIN, RAIN, RAIN, pretty much sums up the past week. Those poor people who are being flooded out on the island and in the lower mainland up to Hope and Merritt. What a storm season. Our major highways out of Vancouver to the interior have been destroyed in many areas. Our biggest trucking route, Highway 5 has more than 20 spots taken out. It will be months if not years for some of these areas to be properly fixed. For now the government is trying to at least, get open single lane traffic for the movement of goods and services. There are hundreds of families out of their homes not to mention thousands of animals drowned. Here are a few pictures from the internet of the Abbotsford area, near metro Vancouver.