Mother's Day and will spring weather every come? May 3 - 14

Today after a great sleep in our own beds we woke up to mostly clouds in the skies. Apparently this week will remain cool and wet! We managed to unload most of the MH yesterday, but will finish this morning before the rain begins this afternoon. By 9 am I was on the road to Duncan to check out bedding plants for my planters. A lot of driving around to confirm that the best deal was at our Country Grocer here at the lake for most plants. I did get my square planters, though, from Home Depot as usual. The prices of plants with the fuel prices up were quite a bit higher this year. I did expect this though.

These herbs I bought two weeks ago but it's been too cold to plant with overnight close to freezing temps. Now we are finally into warmer nights although still very rainy. I did manage to find 2 hanging strawberry plants yesterday though.

Planters from Home Depot for my back deck.

Bedding plant starters, hanging tomatoes and pepper plants. Hopefully this will be enough for all 13 cedar planters Ray has crafted for me. lol I also have 11 clay pots to fill in the backyard. I will have to wait another week to plant these though until the temps warm up a bit. Rule of thumb is not to plant flowers until May long weekend. Last year was quite differen,t as we got warm in April and it stayed that way all summer.

Ray's turn today to head into Duncan and pick up his little motor for the Klinker. When it would not start after sitting all winter, he took it to Duncan for a tune-up. While the kid was loading it back into the car 2 weeks ago, he tripped and almost knocked himself out and must of hit the choke button because when Ray went to start it the button came off in his hand. They repaired at no cost thankfully and it was time to pick it up.

Since the rain held off I planted my herb planters. Cool weather is fine for herbs.

Thursday, a very rainy day. We spent time making phone calls for various things we had been putting off. I have our flights and car rental booked for when we come home for Christmas next December from Phoenix. I also did our ferry reservations for August when we go off-island for the Rocky Mountaineer trip. It should be an exciting next 6 months.

Homemade pizza for dinner, other than that a quiet day.

Before

After we devoured half of it. lol

Friday morning, the electrician came to see what he would need for wiring up Ray's new table saw. Unfortunately he did not have the wire with him, but the good news is we have room on the panel to have a dedicated plug for the saw and not have to break up the ones we already have in the workshop. Darryl and Pat came over for coffee and both Darryl and Andrew, the electrician, helped Ray stand up the saw. Andrew will be back on Monday morning so Ray should be ready to "saw" something Monday afternoon. lol

Once they all left, we headed into Duncan so Ray could pick up his new air compressor. His old one of 20 plus years that Darryl already fixed, quit when he fixed the wood trim around the motorhome oven last week. The extension cord started to heat up and smoke rose from the compressor! Back home after lunch, once our gardener finished his regular mow and trim, he filled all the planters with dirt, So I'm good to go with planting as soon as the weather warms up. lol I threw my neck out 5 days ago so am in quite a bit of pain and lifting anything heavy is now a problem. Last time I did that, I encountered problems for over a year, hopefully not this time.

Saturday, another cool morning at 4C, but at least it is not raining. Should be a dry day today. Kristi called on google duo first thing in the morning giving me my Mother's Day surprise. Amelia now calls me Nana! Melted my heart. Kristi had been practicing with her all week.

We ate our lunch and headed out to Nanaimo. The kids were taking us out for dinner at the Golf Club in celebration of Mother's Day. Amelia was so well-behaved for the hour and a half we were there eating. 

Views looking out the window over the Nanaimo Golf Club.

We had a wonderful day and evening and then everyone went to bed at 9:30 pm. We received lots of hugs and kisses from our little peanut while there.

Relaxing like the "big people"

Sunday morning Jason made us Eggs Benedict for breakfast. Yumm. By 9:30 am it was time for Amelia to go down for her morning nap, so after more kisses and hugs, we headed back home. 

Once we were home with the sun out, I planted up my boxes in the front of our house. They are fairly sheltered so if it rains they should not get too wet. The other boxes on the sundeck will wait until the temperature comes up. My hanging baskets are waiting for better weather too.

We managed to sit outside for awhile enjoying looking at the planters and sunshine. After half an hour unfortunately the clouds came in and time to retreat back indoors.

Monday a cloudy and breezy morning. We mostly puttered in the house, with Ray busy downstairs assembling his new saw. Telus Security arrived to install a "smart lock" and door bell camera on the front of the house and the electrician arrived to install the 220 plug for Ray's new saw. By 1pm the rain began in earnest and stayed that way until 7 pm or so when the clouds cleared.

Tuesday, a rain off and on kind of day. The sun would come out and you would think yeah, I can get outside. 5 minutes later the rain was coming down again. I had an appointment just before lunch and Ray headed into Duncan for some more parts for his workshop. Laundry is also on my list. Not very exciting stuff. lol  

Today, my house cleaner detailed the inside of the motorhome. With my current neck problem, I cannot bend it to do ceilings etc. and that all needs to be done after the past couple years of mostly sitting in the driveway. She needs the money and I needed it done. Perfect. Elvira cleaned it within an inch of it's life. lol Looks fabulous. It is now ready for our next short trip out next week and then definitely ready for our trip to the USA in the fall.

The most exciting thing today, is Ray driving to Ladysmith for our fresh spot prawn order. I cooked

some of the prawns and spring salmon for supper. The rest of the 10 pounds were de-headed and frozen in tubs with water for future use. I boiled up the heads with veggies for seafood stock too. No point wasting all that flavour.

Wednesday, another cloudy day. Yeesh, when will it get nice out. Ray spent the day figuring out where to situate his new table saw in amongst all his other equipment and still be able to move around his shop. lol I went for my hair cut and then spent the afternoon making Shepherds Pie, one for dinner and a big one for our camping trip next week. Also, laundry was happening with changing our bed. Exciting stuff! lol That took up all afternoon. 

Thursday, torrential rain! Good thing I didn't plant the back deck boxes yet! Ray is also making up plastic panels to attach to the railings to protect my plantings from the wind for a month before the weather is more consistent. I hope to plant them up this weekend so they are in before we leave for our camping trip next week.

Today's project is making lasagna, one for us tomorrow night and one large one to take camping. I am trying to make up some meals that Amelia can eat and that don't take me forever to create when we are camping. The weather so far is predicted to be showery with sunny breaks, so not the warmest. 

Tonight, our first time going out to an event after a three year hiatus due to Covid. I booked us and our neighbours, Pat and Darryl Hansen tickets to the Chemainus Dinner Theatre to see the 39 Steps, an Alfred Hitchcock/Monty Python mashed up comedy. It was fabulous. What a great performance. It's amazing what a few props and 4 very talented actors can do, what imagination. Dinner was only so so, but the company was worth it. Being a non-profit organization, I can only imagine how hard they have worked to cut their costs to stay afloat for three years and try to retain their staff. I'm sure their meals will improve after they have some more experience and more money to purchase ingredients.

Our other granddaughter Stella, is growing like a weed as is her puppy Charlotte. Stella will be 2 years old on May 15th.

Friday morning a cool 1C outside. Yikes! The sun is out at least, for a few hours to warm up my plants. Saturday it rained all day. So tired of this weather! The forecast is for the same kind of weather for the next two weeks. Looks like we miss Spring entirely and go straight into summer!