Donald made an appointment with a local independent mechanic this morning for an oil change on the truck, so off he went. He took along his crossword puzzles from the weekend newspapers, so he was ready for a wait, however, he says the mechanic is quite a character, so he may be having some long conversations while the work is being done. Ah, such entertainment we seek. We haven't had an oil change done since Parker, Arizona, so it was time. We emailed our mechanic son, who told us there was a new oil out for GM trucks, but school must be busy, or at least the social aspect of school, since he seems not to be in a hurry to answer his Dad's questions about that.
Kim is gardening, walking and quilting up some birthday presents. The weather is lovely, in the 70's F/20's C and we are enjoying the new gazebo. The quilted present has to be mailed, but there may be a Canada Post strike by Thursday, so what to do??? No pictures at this time, (paulette) because it is a present..... later!
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Monday, May 30, 2011
Family Visits
It is not often we have family visiting us here in the Shuswap. Kim's Aunt and Uncle from Ontario and cousin from Kamloops dropped by for supper on Saturday and we had a really good visit. They are continuing on to Vancouver, Victoria and Tofino. It looks as though the rainy weather is going to take a break and they should have a nice trip.
Our new patio furniture came in time for the visit, even though it was still a little too chilly to sit outside for supper. We enjoyed a lovely steak BBQ anyway!
There is not much excitement around here, other than moving a few perennial plants around, planting the new roses and general puttering. Bayfield Al wrote of squirrels around their Ontario estate, and Donald is having some conversations ( actually, pulling the squirrels tail as it gorges itself at the bird feeder) with our wee rodent. I am thinking we shall endeavour to get a picture of that!
Saturday, May 28, 2011
expecting visitors
Life at the lot is always busy, but very relaxed. Today we are awaiting family visitors from Toronto and Kamloops. Should be fun, and we'll have to post some pictures.
New patio furniture arrived in a very quick order from the Home Hardware Building Centre in Scotch Creek. We are very pleased with the set of comfy armchairs and a table. Donald says the seats are warm, compared to just the regular lawnchairs. A visit to some nurseries in Salmon Arm ended with 3 roses and a Clematis. Two of the roses are the new Carpet Rose, and the third is a Morden rose, which is very hardy. There is some growth at the bottom of the rose that we thought was a goner, so it has not been dug out as yet. Sure hope it recovers, as it was producing about a hundred blooms a year. We also have a small plastic window box planter with 4 begonias, which we will take along with us when we head north.
Donald started to wax the 5th wheel, and it looks awesome. Kim has been sewing quilts for birthday presents and our upcoming grandbaby. Yes, we know what gender it is, and no, we cannot say, as some people do not want to know.
When will that sun come out and play?
New patio furniture arrived in a very quick order from the Home Hardware Building Centre in Scotch Creek. We are very pleased with the set of comfy armchairs and a table. Donald says the seats are warm, compared to just the regular lawnchairs. A visit to some nurseries in Salmon Arm ended with 3 roses and a Clematis. Two of the roses are the new Carpet Rose, and the third is a Morden rose, which is very hardy. There is some growth at the bottom of the rose that we thought was a goner, so it has not been dug out as yet. Sure hope it recovers, as it was producing about a hundred blooms a year. We also have a small plastic window box planter with 4 begonias, which we will take along with us when we head north.
Donald started to wax the 5th wheel, and it looks awesome. Kim has been sewing quilts for birthday presents and our upcoming grandbaby. Yes, we know what gender it is, and no, we cannot say, as some people do not want to know.
When will that sun come out and play?
Saturday, May 21, 2011
garage sale saturday
Well, you can tell the 'season' starts here in the Shuswap on the May long weekend ( Queen Victoria's birthday holiday to all us Commonwealth participants ). Man, busy! The grocery store has long lineups, perhaps because it also sells happy juice.
An early trip to town was in order as the local Scotch Creek Volunteer Fire Department was having their annual garage sale and pancake breakfast. I purchased some potatoe bread and brownies. The next stop was a plant nursery for a couple of begonias, and our friend Penny bought a beautiful shade hanging basket. Being in the garage sale mood, there were a couple of cottages having a sale and that resulted in a brand new umbrella stroller for $5 for our expectant son and DIL, and Donald found an extension trouble light cord for $1 and Kim got a Black and Decker Travel Iron and small ironing board for a total of $5. Hot shopping!
We have offered to host afternoon neighbourhood get together at 4 today. Better not rain. Enough already with the rain.
An early trip to town was in order as the local Scotch Creek Volunteer Fire Department was having their annual garage sale and pancake breakfast. I purchased some potatoe bread and brownies. The next stop was a plant nursery for a couple of begonias, and our friend Penny bought a beautiful shade hanging basket. Being in the garage sale mood, there were a couple of cottages having a sale and that resulted in a brand new umbrella stroller for $5 for our expectant son and DIL, and Donald found an extension trouble light cord for $1 and Kim got a Black and Decker Travel Iron and small ironing board for a total of $5. Hot shopping!
Friday, May 20, 2011
Sun in the Shuswap
Finally we are online! Previously, we were driving 7 km to the local library to hookup online, but that was becoming a hassle.... so we made a trip into Salmon Arm to the Telus store and now have a Telus SmartHub. It works great, we can run multiple computers wirelessly off of it, and if we wanted we could even plug in a 'landline' telephone to the Hub.
What else have we been up to? Our youngest son dropped by for a couple of days on his way to British Columbia Institute of Technology where he is studying. He brought 5 months worth of mail, and that provided 5 days worth of work catching up for us! Donald poured a small cement pad behind the fifth wheel for a new umbrella clothesline. Love that smell of line dried clothes!
A quick trip to Kamloops and Costco was made and we have a shade providing new gazebo - and patio furniture is on order from Home Hardware. They always say it will be on the 'next truck', so we'll see how fast it arrives!
The bird feeders are out with visits from: Stellar Jays, American Finches, Pileated Woodpeckers, White Crowned Sparrows, Grackles, Evening Grosbeaks, Juncos, Spotted Towhees, Pine Siskins, Chickadees, Western Bluebird ( stunning!), Robins and Nuthatches. The squirrels are trying their best to reach the feeders - to no avail! There has also been a couple of visits from a Merlin, and the birds are very quiet when it is around.
Kim has been busy sewing baby items like burp clothes, receiving blankets and a quilt, with a break to make a computer bag. ok - Paulette - here are some pictures! Donald made a small deck to sit beside the fifth, which will be easier to move aside when the fifth wheel is pulled out of the lot. Today he is planning out a set of stairs to build, to use when we are here at the lot, instead of the fifth wheel entry stairs. It will be nice to leave those squeaky, rocking stairs folded up! The flower boxes are planted and some more new perennials have been placed into the beds. We would like to do more plantings, but we will be heading north near the end of June and may be gone for 6 - 8 weeks or more.
Whew! That was a lot to catch up on.....now I can catch up daily, or almost daily.
What else have we been up to? Our youngest son dropped by for a couple of days on his way to British Columbia Institute of Technology where he is studying. He brought 5 months worth of mail, and that provided 5 days worth of work catching up for us! Donald poured a small cement pad behind the fifth wheel for a new umbrella clothesline. Love that smell of line dried clothes!
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| 6 bags of redi- mix! |
The bird feeders are out with visits from: Stellar Jays, American Finches, Pileated Woodpeckers, White Crowned Sparrows, Grackles, Evening Grosbeaks, Juncos, Spotted Towhees, Pine Siskins, Chickadees, Western Bluebird ( stunning!), Robins and Nuthatches. The squirrels are trying their best to reach the feeders - to no avail! There has also been a couple of visits from a Merlin, and the birds are very quiet when it is around.
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| A laptop bag perfect for a visit to the coffeeshop |
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| little quilted wallhanging for the 5th to remind us of the Southwest |
Kim has been busy sewing baby items like burp clothes, receiving blankets and a quilt, with a break to make a computer bag. ok - Paulette - here are some pictures! Donald made a small deck to sit beside the fifth, which will be easier to move aside when the fifth wheel is pulled out of the lot. Today he is planning out a set of stairs to build, to use when we are here at the lot, instead of the fifth wheel entry stairs. It will be nice to leave those squeaky, rocking stairs folded up! The flower boxes are planted and some more new perennials have been placed into the beds. We would like to do more plantings, but we will be heading north near the end of June and may be gone for 6 - 8 weeks or more.
Whew! That was a lot to catch up on.....now I can catch up daily, or almost daily.
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