HOUSE
So much has been accomplished! During the hottest weeks of summer we decided to put up the siding. We could only work for about 4 hours at a time and as early as possible in the morning...of course, with us this meant 9am or a little later. Well, you don't want to wake up the wildlife. We had absolutely no idea how to install siding so we spoke to a fellow who had just done his shed with channel siding, got some great tips and he also loaned us his staple air gun. Woo hoo! As we thought we'd be using palm hammers (remember Bill's wrist is still painful) this was a great blessing. That air gun just does it in no time. Our first attempts on the road side of the house had the line just a little off so we did it again and finally went with the flow. As two Libras working on anything that requires symmetry it can get really frustrating. Once we decided that perfection was just foolish and "looks good" was the better option, we had a much better time of it. Although, it was stated many times that triple windows were a killer. The belly boards were done plus the flashing/drip caps. It's so easy to type about all the work we did but was it ever hard! We did an amazing job for two ol' farts and are very proud of ourselves.
Final pics of siding and belly boards
Then there is the staining and the shingles for the gable ends.....
The gutters are up, the rain chain (oh, I love my rain chain), the entry way tiles are in!, and the bedroom has been mudded and taped. And the bathroom has just had it's first coat of paint on it! Alcove with primerThere will be beadboard to put up and the shower to do but we will be putting the floor in before the beadboard which is just so exciting.
With Bill's injury we were set back about 6 weeks and dealing with local suppliers has been a bit of a nightmare (!) but I think we still accomplished a heck of a lot. It would have been nice to do the deck but we still have a couple of months yet. Fingers crossed. The biggie is to get the holes dug for the deck needs 4 foot holes with 16 inch anchors or whatever you call them. It's finding someone with time to do such a small job. We absolutely cannot dig those holes ourselves. So, maybe in October....
COMPANY
Summer was a riot of visitors. Family and friends galore. My daughter started it all off with a wonderful visit at the beginning of July...she drove the Canyons in no time at all, had no problems in her zippy, fuel efficient car and only got lost when she was one block away (well, not lost but a little turned around). It was a great visit with a day off from the house and we took that zippy little car and gave ourselves a treat to Kamloops. The big city. We did a lot of shopping and J2 helped with the picking of the tiles which really did save my little brain. It was a deliciously hot day in town (heat is what J2 lives on)and we had a great lunch at Boston Pizza as usual. I've still to find a good, diner style restaurant there. There were ice creams, visits to view the puppies and visit with the grandchildren aka niece/nephew. The camper was given the Princess Seal of Approval. It was the perfect nest for her! We thought it would give her a sense of privacy and where she could throw all her belongings without getting covered in dust! Hard to say good bye but she promised to come up again at the end of August with the Deka Lake Convoy.
Next was a colleague of mine from the Library. He stopped in for a couple of nights on his way to PG and even further north for a well deserved holiday. S is an avid amateur naturalist and while he was here I learned many of the names of plants in our plot. On his way back down he stopped for another evening. It was great to see him and to hear of his adventures and to treat him to a little Inspector Lewis. We both love our English mystery shows.
Then came C, my lovely sister. Just can't get enough of her. She arrived mid June and stayed for about 5 days at our favourite lake. It works perfectly; she gets her morning swim, walk and coffee on the deck and then visits with us or we go there for bbqs or coffee. The kids and J1 came over one night and we had a great time. C and I really enjoy our time together and see more of each other now that I'm on the mainland. This is C's favourite area in BC and travels here often.
A and L were to stay a night with us but on their way home they developed car troubles and had to cancel. Hopefully, next year.
Then, glory be~~~the sister is here again. This time she's at her annual family pilgrimage lake...the family has been going there for 15 years! It's a working ranch and therefore there is lots of riding, riding, riding! My nephew also drove up with two of his friends. The gchildren aka gniece and gnephew are always treated to a ride. On the day of the ride C and I waited at the halfway point for the riders, met them for a snack and then I went home leaving the kids for the afternoon. Then on the Saturday we had the boys and C over for supper. Although I had meticulously drawn a detailed map on how to get from one lake to another it seems the boys decided that going all the way to 100 Mile was the best way here. Hmmm. Once here it was a great dinner party. D and his friends are talented young men and it was an evening of great converstation and lots of laughs. Hope D makes it up again. There were two in the family missing in action---one with contracts up the ying yang and the other working her tushy off in Costa Rica. We hope to see them this fall, though. Missed them lots. But it is wonderful to have this opportunity to see them so often.
And then----the Deka Lake Convoy rolled into town. D and S arrived a day early and spent the evening with us and then the day exploring 100 Mile House. We met everyone on the Friday night and prepared supper for the troupe as the drive was long for them. It was the first time driving the Canyons and they really enjoyed the journey. The Lake and weather were perfect . We spent so much time with them, J2 and R joining us on the Saturday. Laughs, swims, chatter, chatter, wine, Guinness, food, ice cream and again with the chatter, chatter. It was great! They spoiled us rotten with their company and wine and many wonderful British mystery dvds as a gift. Miss them awfully. J2 and R stayed in the Princess suite and we really enjoyed being with them. J2's friend, R, helped me enormously with my mudding techniques. He was very kind with his comments and had some excellent hints for future mudding. It was hard to say goodbye to J2, ever so hard.
And now we await the next contingent of friends in September/October. Can't wait~
FIRE AND SMOKE
Everyone in BC knows the horrible fires that have been and are still burning throughout most of the province. At Deka we have been extremely lucky and the Interlakes area has not had any major fires. Those that did start up were quickly put out by the DKVFD. But there were also a few summer "residents" who blatantly ignored the signs and the newscasts saying the whole of BC was an Extreme Fire hazard. We had to actually ask a camper if they knew there was a fire ban! They had a campfire burning away; the camper then demanded what we would do if he didn't put out the fire. We just left and reported it. The camper then started another fire two nights later. Honestly! No respect for people, animals or their homes.
Smoke lay over the Interlakes area for about two weeks. Mostly it was from the Kelly Creek fire and Lava Canyon. You would wake up in the morning, a beautiful, gorgeous morning and smell smoke. It made for amazing sunrises and sunsets but so many people were evacuated from their homes; livestock needed to be found and accomodated. Quite a nightmare. We normally can see hills to the West, North and East....you couldn't see anything. It was very eery. This is the East side where you would normally see hills East of our home
WILD AND NOT SO WILD LIFE
Where to start?? The latest sighting was a mother black bear and her cubs. Three cubs...1, 2, 3! I was so gobsmacked I forgot that I had the camera and poof they were gone. It was on Horse Lake road; we saw mama on the side of the road and by the time we screeched to a stop it was too dangerous to reverse. So we watched her cross the road and wow, then one cub, then two more. They were all sleek and very healthy looking which was good to see. The mom had the most beautiful cinnamon nose. She seemed small but maybe just young. But THREE cubs!
Many deer, moose, cattle, frogs, moths, foxes, marmots, you name it...we've seen it. It's been a wonderful summer for wildlife and not so wild-life
Can I keep this blog going? Let's see....
