Is it still Winter! or is it almost Spring! March 11 to March 14

After the spectacular weekend we just had weatherwise it was unbelievable to see the snow falling again Monday afternoon. It melted as it hit the ground at first and then it stuck as the temps dropped.

Snow has started but there is still green grass.

Snow is now sticking and the grass is covered.

 Hopefully this is the last gasp of winter ... tired of the snow.

Today we had a delivery from Canadian Tire. When Ray and I were at their store last Friday, they had tool chests on sale with more than 50% off. I have been hearing Ray vacuuming like crazy in his workshop, trying to keep all of the sawdust off his tools everytime he uses his saw ... seemed a big waste of time so I encouraged him to buy something to put his tools in that would help with this problem. It did not take too much to convince him especially with the price tag being reduced so much.

Old way of storing his tools.

New way of storing his tools.

The delivery guys were awesome and as they were not very busy they took the chests down the sidewalk and right into the workshop for us. The chests were unpacked and they also installed the legs and lifted the second chest on top for Ray. All Ray had left to do was put the corners on the unit to attach the two pieces together.

It kept snowing all afternoon but only accumulated about 1/2 inch. Took Freya out for her last walk and she loved the new snow.

You coming mom?

We have David Coulson and the deck contractor coming on Wednesday to see about addressing Ray's issues with the deck and finish putting in the last of the tile, we hope. Thursday, the ceiling guy should be coming to fix the corners of the suspended ceiling as they are too thick and the ceiling tile does not seat well in the corners ... apparently his tool to deal with this properly when the tile was installed was stolen with some other tools he had previously that week. So not coming back to fix this since he knew about it ?????? Still have the window frame to be fixed and now that the weather is warming up hopefully this also gets fixed soon. By next Monday we should have a few days between 13 and 15C. It will feel like summer.

Wednesday morning it was a cool 1C that felt like -2C. There is fog on the water thick enough I can't see the other side. Ray had his meeting with David this morning while I was at yoga.  Things will be fixed regarding the deck and the downstairs fireplace that was poorly cemented in. We are going to get a slate slab like we originally intended. The meeting was a "little heated" apparently .... Freya had a "hard day" at her office. lol

I gave up letting her on the couch. She has spent the previous 6 years on the couch of the motorhome and when she is hurting (arthritis) it makes her feel better. lol

Thursday Les and his team from Gordon and Gordon arrived at 7:15 am to fix the corners of the t-bar ceiling. They were done in 10 minutes ... too bad they did not get it done before. Much later in the day the drizzle of rain began. We certainly need it for the lake levels, actually we need three days of torrential rain to fix the low water ....

Tomorrow it is off to Squamish to spend a couple of days with Garrett and Kat. Looking forward to it. 

Visiting Martin and Suzanne in French Creek

Ray and I got the invite to drive up to French Creek and spend the afternoon and evening overnight with our good friends Martin and Suzanne Blyt. What great hospitality we received.

First was the drive to Nanaimo where we dropped Freya off with Jason and Kristi.  They are in the middle of a major main floor renovation Jason is DIY. New kitchen and bathroom countertops, new flooring and taking the texture off the ceiling. Their house is totally upside down now, with only the basement bathroom functioning. Fortunately, they have the suite downstairs where Kristi hides from all of the dust as it affects her asthma. Freya was excited to be with her "packmates". Apparently she slept all night on the bed with Kristi, one of her favorite places. lol



On the way to Blyt's we saw a sign at the French Creek Marina for sidestripe shrimp so we pulled in there first. The herring fishery is about to open in the next day or so. The harbour is filled with boats. Managed to pick up a couple of pounds of fresh frozen shrimp off the boat and then went over to the fish market for a few more things.

One shrimp boat in one crowded marina.

The marina is only a few minutes from Martin and Suzanne's and we arrived at 3pm. Lots of laughs and catching up with each other was achieved. They served us a great dinner of barbecued steak and fixin's. (Awesome mushroom caps) It was to bed by 9:30 as we are all early risers and the time change was tonight! We slept in their downstairs  rental suite and had a great sleep. With the time change we got up at 7am. Yeah back to normal time. lol We were treated to Crab Cake Bennies for breakfast. Yummm.

Entrance to their BnB suite.

Martin helping cook our breakfast.

After breakfast it was off to the Parksville boardwalk for a little bit of fresh air. What a beautiful day. There were quite a few fish boats using the sonar for the herring and the Coast Guard was also cruising around. Apparently the fishery was opened yesterday but we did not see any nets deployed.

All the fishing boats getting into position off French Creek yesterday.

After our lovely stroll it was time for Ray and I to head back to Nanaimo, pick up Freya and come back to the Lake. Ray can only take so much sitting in the car and it is over and hour and a half drive from French Creek and with the stop at Kristi's it will be 2 hours before we get home. A fabulous visit. Thanks guys for a wonderful visit.

First weekend of March ... come on Spring!

Saturday was the Legion Fishing Derby. Freezing cold out but we saw several boats braving the cold heading out down the lake. Across the lake from us there has been quite a bit of activity as Cliff Gibson's guys, (who did our dock) were busy putting in concrete supports for what I think will be a dock system on the reserve. I don't know where people will park though, as it is located down the bank from North Shore Road.

This boat going by trying their luck. This spot I saw a big fish jump last summer, so there must be a hole there. Lots of other people seem to try their luck over there as well.

Hard to see but there is stairs coming down from the road.

After it warmed up a bit, Ray and I headed into Duncan to do a bit of shopping at Canadian Tire (man cave stuff lol) and then went to the Duncan Farmers Market. What a gorgeous morning. A little chilly but nice in the sunshine. Back home by lunch. On the way to Duncan we stopped to take pictures of a herd of elk, right beside the highway. Very cool.

Whatcha doin down there Dad?

In January I purchased tickets with Pat and Darryl to go to the Chemainus Theatre for dinner and see the Sound of Music production. What an awesome performance, dinner was fabulous as well. They even had a chocolate fountain ... yumm.

Darryl managed to squeeze into his seat. I had booked seats on either side of the aisle so Ray and Darryl would have more legroom.  

There really is not a bad seat in the house. 

Ray and I had such a good time with those guys. Didn't get home until way past our bedtimes though lol. Coming home on the highway close to Lake Cowichan we saw more elk on the side of the highway. Thankfully they stayed off the road. In the dark they are hard to spot before it is too late.

Sunday, I got busy getting our Prime Rib and fixings prepped for tonight as Jason and Kristi are coming for dinner. I bribed them with the beast. :) I called Kristi from Super Store on Thursday when I saw this beauty 7 1/2 pound 3 rib roast on sale. This oven cooks beautifully, I love it. Kristi says hers never turn out as well as mine so she just comes here. lol

A great dinner was had by all. This roast was huge ... enough that after we all had our fill they took a whole rib home for leftovers including the fixings (hands off the yorkies though) and we had a whole rib left over and fixings for us for tomorrow's dinner.

Monday cold and clear again at -7C. A beautiful day. Bernie from Coulson's came by to shovel off the sun deck in hopes of installing the last 10 tiles ... I guess Dave did not believe us that it was still so frozen. Bernie shoveled off a bunch and we put some Alaskan De-icer down, so hopefully it will melt. Checked it again later in the afternoon, it still seems to be frozen. We don't get any sun on the deck at this time of year.

Andrew and his apprentice showed up from Kurtis Electric to change out the breaker that keeps popping on Ray and actually moved one of the 20 amp plugs to the other side of his workshop that will work better for Ray.

Everyone was gone by 10am and we headed to Duncan to meet up with Katie and Brad from The Rogue Less Travelled. Today they came over from Salt Spring Island with their coach and jeep to have it "Safety Inspected" to transfer insurance to BC instead of Alberta. We had lunch at Original Joe's, always a great place to go for good food ... a little pricey though for a pub. While at lunch they heard back from the shop and their motorhome needs a "King Pin" replaced and some bushings ... not good news. They live in their motorhome full-time and manage a campground on Salt Spring Island, so leaving it at the shop to wait for parts not an option. They don't have relief hired yet to have any days off so need to get back. Here is a picture of them from December ... forgot to take a picture today. lol

Brad, Katie, Ray and Brad's service dog Robbie.

Tuesday another cold clear morning. Apparently this high pressure ridge that has been holding for the past month is the kind you get in the summer ... not this time of year. This could pose some lake level issues for the summer as the lake is currently only at 40% capacity. What you would see in August. Catalyst Paper is asking for the weir to be closed as of March 11 to retain whatever they can... three weeks earlier than usual. Hopefully more rain will come to fill the lake before the summer season. 

By 8:15 am I was out the door headed to Nanaimo for my two doctor's appointments my GP and our daughter, Dr. Kristi Kyle for lunch. lol  She only had 45 minutes between patients, so we ate at the Country Grocer a short distance from her office. Another great day.

Wednesday, cold and cloudy. Pat, my neighbour said it was -8C out when she took her grandchildren to the bus this morning. Brrrr. Possible snow flurries tonight. Pat and I attended my first yoga class at 9am this morning for two hours. Hoping this will help my neck and get the muscles working together instead of "fighting" in my back and neck due to my scoliosis. A quiet afternoon getting all of the slips together to send to Dad's accountant for his final tax return, a little sad.

Thursday morning -4C and SNOW! Out I went to use my snowblower by 7:30 am before it melted and froze to the driveway. Unbelievably by 10:30 am  there was brilliant sunshine and most of the new snow had melted as the temps rose to 7C.

I'm having quite a bit of trouble with my neck as I have mentioned and my new Lazyboy chair arrived today. Yeah, feels like I am getting a hug and it fits my neck so much better. The back is not as tall as my old chair. In fact Ray finds it too short for his back when he tried it out.

New Chair

Old Chair (This one is Ray's)

Friday morning cloudy and -1C, a little warmer. There was another snow event overnight that missed us this time. Duncan and Ladysmith did get about a couple of inches whereas Surrey and some parts of Coquitlam received a foot. The winter that never ends ... The sun came out for the afternoon so we had a campfire for a couple of hours to enjoy being outside. Freya certainly appreciated it.

That was our week and hopefully the last week of WINTER!

Last week of February 2019 and hopefully the last of winter.

Not a very exciting week lol!

Saturday at noon received a phone call that our blinds for the downstairs are in and would it be possible to install them later this afternoon. Well yeah! Another thing off the list.

Kitchen side windows.

Now you see the neighbours, 

and then you don't. lol

Bedroom window blinds.

Not a bad day weatherwise until 4 pm when first it rained, then it snowed, back to rain and back to snow!

In the wee hours of Sunday morning we received 2 inches of snow, so once the temps warmed up I was out using my new snowblower again. A little more work this time as the snow was the wet slushy stuff we are more used to. The forecast is for sunny and cold for the most of this next week and I did not want it to turn to ice on the driveway causing Ray or I to slip.

Not a bad day weatherwise until 4 pm when first it rained, then it snowed, back to rain and back to snow!

Monday, a beautiful but chilly day. I headed out into Duncan once it warmed up at 9:30am to pay for our deposit on our cruise..... yes a cruise, the first week of September to Alaska.  Hopefully this will include our daughter and son-in-law and our son and daughter-in-law. I have the booked for now but Garrett has to get his passport for the first time. lol This will be a test to see if Ray can handle cruising before we go longer and further afield. So excited. Ray and I are treating them to this trip with my Dad's life insurance money. A fitting way to spend it I think, all of us together.

Tuesday sunny and -7C Burrr. Nothing much to report ... just usual house stuff ... what used to take me an hour in the motorhome takes me considerably more time now. lol

Wednesday, cold and cloudy with possible snow later this afternoon and tonight. Yikes. Ray headed to Nanaimo for a doctor's appointment and lunch with Jason and his fly fishing's club luncheon. I stayed home and went through my freezer for meat that needed to be used. I came out with italian sausage, ground turkey and ground pork .... so I made a batch of homemade red pasta sauce (also threw in shredded carrots and zucchini to cover the veg!) which simmers for 4 hours, and mixed up a batch of Italian meatballs baked in the oven. Fresh pasta dough was also made to run through my mixmaster pasta attachment at dinner time for fresh noodles. An all day endeavor. Love my kitchen, my happy place. Ray will sure enjoy his dinner tonight.

Thursday, the snow forecasted overnight did not materialize here at the Lake. A little warmer this morning at -1C.  The sun made an appearance today, and temps actually got to 6C. I shopped in Duncan and Ray played in his man cave. Out for lunch at our favourite water hole ... and that was our day. Saw two motorhomes parked in the Walmart parking lot with the generators on to stay warm. I bet they wished they stayed south for a couple more weeks. lol

Friday, wow March 1st already!  Another clear cold day although it warmed up to 6C here at the lake. Ray and I took a drive into Chemainus to check out the antique store to see if they have an old library card stand that he could use for his bits and pieces. They did have one but for way too much money for something for his workshop. lol But we did find a framed Carl Brenders Print of a fox and her kits for a steal ... so we bought it. I am going to hang it in the window that is covered in our dining room. We never open up this blind anyways as you only see the side of the neighbours house and into their office window. So it will be a frame in a frame and I think it looks fabulous.

The fox and her kits.

That was our week. Okay spring you can come now!

February 16th Week ... Basement is finished.

Well almost finished. lol Other than blinds, kitchen backsplash  (Jason is doing for us at Easter) and the deck tiles ... we are done. Saw the back end of the painters this morning.

The Big Melt is On!

As the temps have warmed, we left the last 2 inches of snow to melt. Threw some Alaskan Snow Melt on it and it's doing a pretty good job of clearing it. All the main roads have been cleared and salted as it does get to the minus temps overnight.

Friday night our new kitchen table for the basement finally arrived. We had the guys carry it downstairs for us. They were only supposed to take it to the door, but they graciously did it. After dinner, Ray and I got it out of the box and put the legs on. It is stunning. Love the live edge. The basement is now done and ready for family and guests. We have a one bedroom suite available at Kristi and Jason's house for us and so now they have one at ours.

Just love this table.

Everyone sure likes the finish we have on the floor ... us too.

Saturday morning woke up to the heat pump in defrost mode again. With the overnight temps about -2 C, the dripping water from the upstairs dormer roof has it all frozen up again.  We proceeded to pour hot water on the sides later  and out the bathroom window. I think it was worse before we put the snow guards on the roof to prevent huge hunks of snow and ice coming off the metal roof. Apparently last year a huge lump came down right on top of the heat pump. Now it collects the snow on the roof, forms icicles and then as these drip,  they land directly onto the blades of the heat pump and freeze it solid so they can't turn.

Called Exchange Energy yesterday and sent them a picture ... they will be having a confab with their guys as to how to solve the problem with a roof/overhang. Need to get this solved as we are planning to not be here next winter. We now monitor the heat pump daily to keep it ice free.

The extended forecast is for four more days of snow starting next Friday, so I will make sure all the previous snow is shoveled off the driveway and sidewalks if it does not melt in the meantime.

Sunday after the fog burned off it was a spectacular sunny day. By the time Ray did the "dump run" I had our fire going in our outdoor wood stove to enjoy the sunny day. Finally the sun is high enough in the sky to give us a couple of hours of sun in the backyard.

An absolutely beautiful afternoon. I have taken this picture many times ... but not with snow. lol

Our neighbour decided to take his aluminum boat out to his dock with his son to shovel the snow as it has started to list on one side.

They started a campfire too as they had all of the kids this weekend. At 3 pm we came in as the sun had gotten too low in the sky to shine on us. Freya sure enjoyed the fact that we stayed outside for 3 hours throwing her stick.

Monday, Family Day. Ray and I headed into Duncan at 8:30 am to get in and out of town before it became busy on the highway. I had grocery shopping and he had Canadian Tire Shopping. On the way back we had a bit of snow flurries. Back home by 11 am watching all the traffic going to town. lol The sun came out after lunch. We both just lazed about occasionally getting up to do odd jobs and Ray giving Freya a short walk.

Tuesday, Pat and I went to Nanaimo for a Costco run and I had a doctor's appointment. The predicted flurries did not amount to anything fortunately. We were up and back home by 1:30 pm so Pat could pick up her grandchildren from the school bus.

Ray was asked by Greta our glass etcher to take a picture of her work installed in our front entrance. Here it is. A much better picture than I took previously. lol

Wednesday, Ray played around making the trim for the small vault area in our great room. For some reason this area was never trimmed out and you could see the cut drywall edges and light coming through the beam and wall join. This has been driving Ray crazy since we first noticed it last June. Now with his functioning "man cave" i.e. workshop he can do some odd jobs.

Later in the morning we decided to head out into Duncan as it was such a beautiful day with the sun out. On the way back just before coming into Lake Cowichan this vehicle was completely in the ditch for no apparent reason. The roads were clear and dry and this was a completely straight stretch??

Traffic was reduced to one lane with a flagger to stay out of the wrecker's way.

Later in the afternoon we sat out on our sundeck with the heaters on and the propane fire table. It was nice to get some fresh air and Freya enjoyed being outside in the snow. Saw this guy go by in his inflatable zodiac. Burrrr.

Poor Freya. We were watching a TV show and there was a sound of fireworks and that was it. The shaking and crawling on your lap started. I put on her Thunder Jacket and wrapped her up with a blanket on the couch and she was fine. After half an hour she unwrapped herself, we took the jacket off and that was it. The jacket certainly seems to work.

Thursday, another cold morning at -4C but sunny. Possible snow to come overnight tonight. I don't see much change in our temperatures in the long range for the next two weeks. It is not until March 7th before the overnight temperature warms up to 0C! I went for a walk with Ray and Freya to the park.

Now that's a stick!

Later on I decided to make Ray a Seafood Feast. Cioppino. What else to do on a cold blustery day.

Friday morning we were supposed to get a snow event but it did not start hear until around 7am and was done by 10:30 am. I didn't even have to get out my new snowblower.

Fat flakes, this is Freya 10 seconds after brushing her off!

By noon the sun came out and melted all of the new snow. Chris from Coulson's arrived at 8 am to replace the rotted patio door with the new and newly stained door. This turned out to be a real finicky project and took Chris until 10:30 to finish.

A little cold with the door completely out. lol

That was our week at Kyle's Kottage.