Dianne and Steve come for the weekend! March 1 - 10th

The weather has turned into spring weather. Warm days and showery weather with the odd sunny day thrown in. We did manage a campfire in between days of rain.

Someone trying out fishing before the Frostbite Derby on the weekend!

With the nicer weather, I fired up my pizza oven on the deck.

Ta Da! Only one edge slightly over toasted this time. :)

It was a bit of a cooking week for me. I even made fresh pasta for the first time in a long while. Used my new food processor I got for Christmas and of course used my pasta maker attachment for my mixmaster. Turned out delicious with my homemade tomato sauce from last year's harvest and mixed with ground beef and mild italian sausage. (Description for you Frannie!)

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday Ray spent getting stuff ready for Steve and Dianne's arrival on Thursday. Steve is coming down to go in the Frostbite Derby on Saturday and will help launch the boat Friday morning. Ray managed to finally get ahold of this guy across the lake from us, Dennis, that actually catches fish all the time. After a great conversation on the guys boat, Ray took a bunch of pictures of his gear. Then it was off for a quick trip to Nanaimo on Tuesday morning to Harbour Chandler for more fishing tackle lol.

Boat batteries were dead as a doornail .... someone forgot to turn off the battery switch over the winter and did not periodically put the charger on them????? They were dropped off on Monday and we picked them up on Wednesday as I had some grocery shopping to do in Duncan. Fortunately, as they were only a year old, the charge came back up ready for launching the boat Friday morning. 

My Aerogarden is doing well on my counter. Soon I will have fresh herbs outside at the end of April.

Jason dropped Olaf off about 9:30 am as we have him for 5 days while the kids are in Vancouver. Dianne wanted to meet him forever..... Olaf turned 2 years old on February 2nd. Part of the deal if we took him, Dianne would have to help walk him. lol

Steve and Dianne arrived around 2:30 pm on Thursday and we were able to sit outside on the deck and enjoy the fire table and heaters.

I made a Prime Rib Roast on the barbeque for dinner with the fixin's.

Hang on Dianne!

Friday morning after a big breakfast, the guys pulled the boat out, and installed the bimini cover. Soon after, they headed out to launch the boat. Fortunately it started easily and Ray was soon at the dock, while Steve drove the car and trailer back.

Here he comes.

Ray got the boat all tied up and then Steve and Ray put the trailer back into the garage. Now my greenhouse can move up to the front of the house. :)

Steve helped Ray get the greenhouse bolted to it's platform and then they pushed it up Mike's driveway and down ours to in front of the boat garage. Got a little snow on it Monday morning. lol

Since the sun had come out we decided to go for a drive to Duncan (Ray need an extension to his downrigger power) and have lunch at Arrowsmith Brewing for a little outing. Tonight will be beef dip leftovers anyways. Thanks for lunch Dianne and Steve. They had this cool sign there as this used to be motorcycle shop, now a brewery.

Back home we were back out on the deck for the rest of the afternoon. Good thing I got those heavy poly curtains. :)

Friday morning, the boys were out of the house and in the boat for 7:45 am to hopefully catch a fish for the Frostbite Derby. Unfortunately 4 hours in the morning and a couple more after lunch they were unsuccessful. It was a windy, grey day but at least it didn't rain. Ray was warned by Dennis that this time of year is not great fishing. There were 20+ fish turned in though, but we think they caught them at the end of the lake near Shaw Creek or Bear Lake, and it was too nasty on the water for the guys to go that far in our boat.

These guys stayed out really late, we saw them come by our dock later in the afternoon.

2 guys fishing from shore

The guys were in by 3 and called it a day. After sitting outside for an hour or so, they headed out to the legion at 4:30 for the weigh in and prizes. Dinner apparently was disapointing. Dianne and I just relaxed and had leftover Split Pea Soup with buttermilk biscuits I'd made earlier in the day to warm the guys up.

There apparently were lots of prizes to give out by a number drawn. Steve got a fish gaff/bonker, Ray got a pair of boots that hopefully he can exchange for a proper size. There was probably 100 people there that had entered. They guys sure didn't see that many boats out though, but you were allowed to fish Bear Lake too.

While the guys were out, Dianne and I chillaxed. :)

Sunday morning I made crepes for breakfast after a relaxing morning.

After breakfast, the fabulous kitchen crew did the dishes, then the group took Olaf for his walk in the park next door. I went shopping for some dinner ingredients. Baked chicken quarters and fried rice and lots of veggies. I prepped for dinner when I got back from the store. Lots of chopping for a quick cooking dish. :) and the rice had to be made and cooled in the fridge until cooking it later.

Since the weather turned out so nice although very windy, we decided to go into Youbou and have a late lunch at the Youbou Pub. Our treat this time. With the time change last night the day got away from us. Good thing today was not the derby with the wind. Whitecaps everywhere.

Again the rest of the afternoon spent on the deck.

All too soon the visit was over. It started snowing this morning while the Colibabas were getting ready to leave. Apparently it was only snowing here and once they hit Duncan, it was dry roads and sunshine all the way home to Courtenay. We had on and off snow showers, hail, wet snow and sunny periods all day. What wacky weather. Only here though. A delivery driver came at 2:30 and it was still sunny in Duncan, while snowing here.

Tomorrow our car goes in for servicing in Duncan for an oil change and regular maintenance. Hopefully the roads are ok, more snow forecasted for tonight.

Jason will be here around noon to pick up Olaf. 

Tuesday morning, snowing at the lake, but as soon as I was on the hill on Highway 18 there were dry roads all the way to Toyota. Glad I left early.

The snow started in Duncan at 8:20 am, an hour after I left the lake. Ray took a picture at 8:30 and we have more snow.

Our maintenace took 6 hours, from 8 am to 2 pm. Good thing I went instead of Ray. After doing a couple of errands and lunch at Whitespot, I managed to get back home by 3:30. No snow in Duncan and 6C. Coming home I hit heavy snow about 13 km from home. It is only 1C here. There was apparently a big 3 car accident earlier this morning on Highway 18 and one of the trucks was still in the ditch. Nice to be home safe and sound.