My birthday weekend and visit with Larny and Mark July 21 - 28th

Monday's a chore day. Laundry for me and Ray's busy staining his bench and bistro table so they are ready for Jason to epoxy on the weekend. The afternoon's warm so we sat on our sundeck.

Tuesday I have a hair appointment in the morning  The back home at noon to pick Ray up and off to Nanaimo for our lunch date with Larny and Mark. Larny was my Dad's fabulous homecaregiver for 18 months. She was like another daughter to my Dad and made his last months of his life wonderful. I haven't seen them for over 7 years. Great to catch up.

After lunch we stopped in at Jason's for a short visit after her marial arts class. I gave Amelia her new jacket with Skye on it. Her favourite Paw Patrol character.

Wednesday, the irrigation guys dug up the sprinkler heads over the course of the day. They were hired to work at Roy and June's, so they just popped over periodically to dig a few heads. The owner of the company came at 6 pm and changed out the heads. Now my whole garden is getting water. The other sprayers were too short, since my plants have filled in so much after 6 years.

Ray's busy putting another coat of stain on his bench and bistro table. There is always something to do here in the garden too, with deadheading and trimming. 

Thursday we went into Duncan for some errands and then Ray took me to the Cook and Butcher in Cowichan Bay for my birthday lunch. They make the best caesars. My actual birthday is on Saturday and Kristi, Jason and Amelia are coming for the weekend to help celebrate.

Ray's Miso Salmon

Butcher Roll

The server surprised me with this.

Birthday ice cream cake

There was this cool old boat at the marina, so Ray looked the name up and got some history on it.

Falcon Rock (DFO Patrol Boat):

• Built: 1960 at McKay-Cormack Ltd. in Victoria, BC.
• Original Purpose: Fisheries protection and patrol.
• DFO Service: Served the Department of Fisheries for 37 years.
• Current Status: Privately owned by George Karras in Victoria, BC.
• Restoration: Undergoing restoration to preserve its history.
• Unique Features: A "pretty workboat with beautiful west coast lines".
• Part of the "Rock" class: One of the old DFO Grey Boat fleet. 

The Falcon Rock.

Next up a quick trip through Dinters Nursery. Surprisingly, I came home with nothing. :)

I picked 3 bouquets of flowers from my garden for me.

Wednesday and Thursday, we hung around spending some time down on the dock. Friday at 4 the Perry Family arrived for my birthday weekend.

Jason immediately got to sanding the bench and bistro table, so he could put the first coat of marine epoxy. He managed to sit down for dinner in between sanding and painting. I'd made a pork shoulder roast on the Traeger. It turned out delicious and moist, with corn and a ceasar salad.

After dinner Ray, Kristi, Amelia and I went to the park to fly the new kite Ray purchased. It flew really well, up about 100 feet.

Run, run, run Mimi!

Saturday morning I got to open my birthday presents from Amelia, Kristi and Jason. Amelia decorated a rock for my garden that she took from here a couple weeks ago. She did all the wrapping and colouring on the paper.

Jason made me a beautiful charcutterie board. Apparently this has been in the works for a year. It is made out of Olive Wood from Europe. He purchased the wood last year in Halifax and brought back in his suitcase. He'd been trading favours to get the use of a C & C machine to put in the letters He then poured coloured epoxy in the grooves before finishing the whole thing. Absolutely gorgeous.

After coffee, Jason went out in the garage, putting on second coat early. 

In between doing the bench and table, I fed him bacon and eggs before starting our blueberry pancakes and sausages. Amelia and I always make blueberry pancakes together.

After breakfast Kristi took Amelia for a bike ride on the trails, while her and Olaf ran. All day I received birthday greetings on Facebook. 

The sun came out and although it's cooler outside at 22C, Kristi and Amelia got into their skin suits and hit the water. I'd bought Amelia a new swim mat. Olaf thought it's his lol. Jason went swimming in the hot tub instead. :)

Olaf jumped on the mat, but is so scared he almost dumped Amelia in the water.

After applying the epoxy, Jason and Kristi made 3 batches of dill pickles. I think a bomb went off in my kitchen lol

After 3 batches, they still have 1/2 a laundry basket of cucumbers. They donated them to June next door.

After that, Kristi made a wonderful Chicken Marsella with mushrooms and mashed potatoes for my birthday dinner. Busy day for them. 

Fortunately, my dishwasher is still functioning even though we must frequently restart it when the error code for the pump comes on. Fingers crossed it works until August 5th when the new one will be installed.

We spent the evening out on the sundeck with the fire table on until it bedtime at 9:30. 

Sunday, more work for Jason, another coat of epoxy. Kristi's been working a lot of call shifts and hasn't got a lot of sleep. While she went for a 2 hour nap, we took Amelia down to the dock. We made an "Amelia Space" for her to relax and watch her tablet and also supplied lots of snacks. When Daddy came down and tried to tickle her ... she said this is "my space". Ha ha. Olaf thought it as his space too.

Ray threw the stick for Olaf and he decided to jump onto the mat to reach it .... then wouldn't get off the mat. Ray had to go in up to his waist to pull him off the mat. lol

Dinner tonight is our treat at The Riverside Pub, as no one really wanted to cook anything. With Amelia it's an early dinner. She's tired and hungry so kinda grumpy. As soon as we were seated, I asked our server if they could bring a glass of milk and a side of fries before ordering anything else so Amelia would be more reasonable. They were awesome, I think they delivered that on the table in 5 minutes. Hissy Fit averted.

Back home we relaxed on the sundeck. Amelia had a dance party. lol

Monday morning and it's pack up day. Jason and Kristi moved the bench down to the back yard where it will cure for 7 days. They also moved the bistro table into the house, ready to move outside on the deck next Sunday. Both look awesome. Thanks a bunch Jason. 

We all went for a walk to the park in the new subdivision above us, for Amelia to play before the trip back home.

Back at the house, more packing up of the truck and then pulled pork nachos for lunch. The kids were on the road by noon. In between laundry for all the bedding and towels, we spent the rest of the afternoon on the dock. So much quieter on the lake on a Monday.

What a great birthday weekend for me. Thanks a bunch to our kids for making it so special.

A lot of repairs and great times with the neighbours. - July 14 - 20

 My gardens have new flowers blooming every day. Hydranga now blooming, as well as some gladiolas. With the plants growing so tall, our irrigation is not reaching the back of the garden in some places. As June next door, has an irrigation company doing their's right now, he suggested extending our sprinkler heads to 1 foot instead of 6 inches and that should fix it. Should happen next week.

The week turned out to be a busy. Wednesday night, Pat and Darryl accompanied us for dinner and the show Footloose at the Chemainus Theatre. Another great performance.

Home by 10:30. I woke up at 2 in the morning cooking .... checked heat pump and it's 23C in the house and the heat is blasting out of the vents. Turned system off and opened up window, fortunately it's 16C outside, so tolerable. Called Exchange Energy in the morning and they sent someone out. (Levi) We just had our system serviced 5 days ago by Mike.....

Turns out the thermostat installed 2 years ago March, has a short in it and keeps calling for heat. It's warrantied for 5 years, with their professional installation, so it shouldn't cost much for replacement. Meanwhile, they've disconnected the heating part, so at least we still have A/C until the new one is installed and they deal with the warranty with Honeywell.

We are still waiting on a date when Exchange Energy will come back to fix the ductwork for the powder room fan and kitchen fan. We've known that they share the same vent!!!! You can imagine when someone uses the bathroom and turns the fan on, the smell comes into the kitchen! There's definitely been some weird things done in this house during construction.

Also, this week, our main water valve in the basement started screeching everytime you turn on the water. It's not reducing the PSI  pressure from 100 down to 75 psi to protect household appliances, so needed replacement. JS Plumbing are great and someone came the next day. While Will's here, I asked him to check out the toilet in the powder room. Sometimes there seemed to be a little water on the floor. 

Turned out that the toilet doesn't have a big enough wax seal, and it's not even touching the toilet. The toilet isn't screwed down to the floor tightly. We could have had a much bigger mess .... that problem now fixed. He checked the 2 toilets upstairs and apparently the bolts have been glued to the toilet so you cannot get the toilet off to check the seals..... Wow! If we ever have a problem, the toilet will have to be broken to change it out. Fortunately, they seem solid with no movement. 

Our neighbour is using a tiler, so we asked to come over and check our ensuite shower, as we noticed some black coming through the grout.  Apparently the concrete pad was poured for the shower and instead of a waterproof membrane put on top, it's painted black. It's the same material used to paint the concrete on the outside of a house to prevent moisture coming into your basement!  So we need the floor of the shower redone, which won't be until the fall. Fortunately we have 20 of the 12x12 tiles left so the floor will look the same when replaced. Always something! He also showed us the drain pipe is loose and this play caused the grout to break off. So when Will came, we asked him to strap it tighter to the basement ceiling.  Ray sealed it with clear silicone.

Our neighbour Todd came in the helicopter for a visit to his house this week. Pretty cool. He constructed a landing pad made on the empty lot he owns beside his house.

Smallest houseboat on the lake.

There's been a couple of cloudy days, so I played in my kitchen. I baked a fresh blueberry tart and have a brisket going on the Traeger.

Ray went into town on Friday afternoon to pick up a gallon of stain for our bench Jason gave as Ray's Christmas present. Ray noticed the Rock and Gem Show is on, so did a quick visit to look around. Certainly not the size of the event in Quartzsite, Arizona.

Saturday night, Pat and Darryl hosted a Tapas Party with all the neighbours. What a great night. I made a Spanish Seafood Paella. (Chorizo, Chicken, Mussels and Prawns) Think I have enough ingredients??? I prepped in the morning, and Ray went into Duncan to get me the fresh mussels. It takes about an hour to make the dish, but it certainly helps having all the ingredients ready to go.

Our hostess, Pat.

Pat's grandson Ashton, helping serve. Her granddaughter, Emily, also helped serve and she baked various desserts. Great kids.

Sara, Karsen and Ashton

Ashton, Pat, Darryl and Todd

Sara, Karson, Tyler, Debra, Joe and June

June, Roy and Mike

Pat made some delicious tapas, ginger beef, bruschetta, desserts and more. June made prawn skewers. The party lasted until 10:30 and moved to Mike and Debra's with their kids. I came home to bed. :) Ray left at 10 as did June and Roy. Darryl snuck away earlier in the evening too, so just Pat's left to tell everyone to go home. lol

Sunday and the sun's back out. We decided to take a boat ride and cruise down the lake. There sure are some beautiful houses. We putted along for 1.5 hours, enjoying the views. Got back home just as the wind came up and became quite choppy. 

Houses along Point Ideal Road we pass on our way home

Houseboats for rent at the marina.

More housing along Point Ideal

One of the best houses along the lakeshore at Honeymoon Bay

We thought troubles come in threes, not with us! Along with all the repairs mentioned earlier, the next repair this week, our dishwasher. It's struggling ... with the pump is showing error codes. I cleaned all the filters, and it chugged along some more. After doing more research, to have the pump fixed is around a $500 bill According to the model and serial number, it turns out the dishwasher is 14 years old ..... not worth it. I ordered a new one from Home Depot and they will install it in about 10 days and take the old one away. Hopefully I can convince the dishwasher to hang on a few more days. :)

That's our week!