Oct 05, 2022

More not so great news.

My blog has been offline for a few days. This was the explanation.

There’s been an hardware failure (hard disk).  The RAID array was not picking the drives.  Data center technician has replaced the faulty drive(s), reinstalled the RAID software and did a bare metal restore and recovered the website. Hopefully it will not happen again.  Sorry for any inconvenience caused. 
Terry

Mid August our Mountain Ash has more berries than we have ever seen.

So now you know why there have been no posts. However there hasn’t been much positive news to share other than the fact that the blog is once again functional.
DANG, dang, dang!!! I just right now noticed that the last post I had created the day that the hurricane landed as a Category 1 is missing. It must have been somewhere in space when my server went down. It took me over two hours to write that post. Colin just told me that he thought it was a really interesting post. If anyone was able to get it can you please send it to me. Very long story short, both Mazatlan and the Isla suffered no damage from the hurricane. At the very last moment Orlene turned to the south. The sun even came out that afternoon. I had some neat shots taken from some Mazatlan webcams for you. I am unhappy that I lost that post but it is not the end of the world.

Mid September and the berries are becoming more red.

So just two days ago Colin took the RV in for the third time to get the windshield installed. The shop looked closed when he got there but he proceeded to unhook the Jeep ( which he had hooked up only 40 minutes earlier ) and prepared to drive the RV into the shop. But the doors did not open. So Colin went around to the front of the building and walked inside to find the owner sitting at his desk with a stunned expression. He had just received an email from his main staff member saying that he was quitting via email right that moment. You might recall that his other main guy suffered a stroke a few weeks ago which delayed the install until now.
So this third attempt to install the windshield was a no go. Once again Colin hooked up the Jeep but instead of driving home he kept going east to Armstrong. What I have not told you is that either last Thursday or Friday Colin went to start the RV just to check it. The RV would not start.A yellow light kept coming on, a fault code light but which one? Eventually the RV started but it was a very rough start. Colin shut the engine off and waited 15 minutes, still the same hard start. So he called Cummins in Las Vegas. The technician that he spoke with said  that likely some fuel filters needed adjusting. They had just been changed less than two weeks ago and perhaps one was not tightened enough. He then called the mechanical shop in Armstrong who did the work and they thought is was a simple fix as well. So seeing as Colin was more that halfway to Armstrong he took the RV there and left it for those easy repairs.
Just to remind you, we are leaving in 13 sleeps including tonight.
Finally Quality First Motors called us this morning, the first chance that they had a moment to look at it. They also experienced a hard start but it did start. They then attached the computer to the engine and the machine said the an engine sensor was not functioning.  There are two sensors for our engine and the first one was what had given us so much trouble this past spring as we tried to get home. But we can’t understand why after working perfectly the past two months ( back and forth from Kelowna to Vernon re the windshield install that has not yet happened ) that suddenly the RV did not want to start.

By the end of September the berries are a lovely red colour. Most Mountain Ash trees have orange berries but we made sure to get this reddish colour. It looks stunning in the snow.

Colin then immediately called his contact at Cummins in Las Vegas where we hung out for a very long time this past April. The head of the service department called Quality First Motors and ran through their diagnostics. The local shop had already done a fuel check to make that there were no fuel problems. Las Vegas agreed with Armstrong, BC  on the diagnostics. Fortunately the part was sourced in Memphis and hopefully will be here Friday. However this is the Canadian Thanksgiving long weekend so we shall have to see. Meanwhile the glass shop is looking for people to install our windshield. It sounds to me that it will be another full week before we get it RV back. Yes stressful.
The thing is that we have prepaid 21 nights at our first RV park in the US.
Colin is somewhat down because of all these things happening.  We can only keep trying to stay focused and positive. We have held back on buying our Mexican vehicle travel insurance as well as ordering MXN pesos. But it is getting close to D- Day!

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Oct 01, 2022

There is a Hurricane 2 ( almost a 3 ) approaching Mazatlan

Sadly Hurricane Orlene, Category I, has just recently become a Category 2 with winds possibly bringing it closer to a Category 3 before it makes landfall. Landfall is projected to be Monday afternoon or later in the evening.

One of the first projections showed a direct hit on Mazatlan. Plans are underway as to which areas need to evacuated and shelters are being set up. Even the Isla has a shelter set up.

A few hours later Orlene’s path moved to the south which is terrible for those communities but much better for the Isla and Mazatlan itself.

About 6:15PM Mazatlan time Orlene officially became a Category 2. Based on the winds it may or may not become a Category 3.

RV2 has been sand bagged. I was unable to confirm if RV1, where we stay, has been sandbagged.

This is what is approaching the west coast of Mexico.

Sunset this evening on the Isla.

Better days on the Isla which we hope we will be able to return to it.

Caeli and Carmeh at least five years ago.

Please send a few prayers if you can. This storm has the potential to affect so very many folks. In this article which was issued at 6PM EDT is says that Orlene will be making landfall in the region of Mazatlan. It appears that the landfall projection has changed back to Mazatlan.

 

 

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Sep 28, 2022

Did that really just happen?

This photo was taken during my surprise birthday treasure hunt set up by Colin a few weeks after my birthday.

I want you to note the light hanging behind my head. It gives light to that small counter area behind me.  We were very careful to make sure that it was positioned so that we could open the cupboard doors and not touch the light.

I use that top shelf for extra storage of saran wrap, zip lock bags etc.

Our kitchen has track lightning with suspended pendants. Five Rock Candy mini pendants ( 10″ with a 3.2″ diameter ) and four Swarovski Crystals pendants that depending on the of location sun send multiple rainbow prisms throughout the kitchen. Again on the far right you can see a single pendant rock candy light hanging directly from the ceiling with a bronze cord and plate.

Rock Candy pendant at night.

So last Saturday ( the 24th ) Colin went up on the ladder to check for me how many zip lock boxes I had up there, wax paper, etc in preparation of what I need to purchase for our 174 days away from home. As he came down, the top of his head ever so gently knocked the pendant light which barely swung. About 30 -40 seconds later the light came crashing down.

The electrical cord came away.

We wonder if the light had not been installed properly! This was attached to the fallen fixture. There are no photos of the clean up. It was a huge mess with glass everywhere. Colin certainly did not knock the pendant with enough force to cause the break.

It wasn’t until we were cleaned up that I noticed that the fixture had crashed into the cabinets below where it had hung. Three gouges!!

We can’t deal with that right now. I am just happy that Colin did not have a light drop on his head 😯 The major concern was replacing the fixture that we had purchased in 2012 when we built this house. Back then we spent about $263.00 for each of the Rock Candy pendants. Colin called around and we were quoted $750.00CAD to replace the light. I have since found it for sale in the US for $340.00 USD, approximately $500.00CAD.  We have to make a decision within the next week. Perhaps we should just find another fixture the might fit in at a lower cost?

So yes this really happened.

The sun coming through an upper window shows how bad the spiders have been this year. The straight streaks have also been caused by spiders.

Last night we had a very tasty dinner of quiche served with beets, Swiss chard, carrots,tomatoes and cucumbers all from our garden.

Colin can’t figure out why 95% of the plots in our community garden have been pulled up and put to bed for the winter. Our veggies are still growing and producing 😀

The same night of the light fixture crash we had the most beautiful sunset – but before the incident. There is even an airplane taking off for parts unknown.

All as painted by Mother Nature.

 

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Sep 26, 2022

Tick tock, tick tock……

Time is moving at warp speed. We leave in exactly 22 sleeps. So many things on the to do list which seem to take more time than normal. And I have so many photos to share with you. But first I must share our final visit with Susie & Roger, last Thursday the 22nd.

As I was strapped for time I chose to make an appetizer that only took twenty minutes to prepare or so said the recipe. Plus I had all the ingredients except for the phyllo pastry.

By the time I figured out how to work with the phyllo ( which was a huge mess ), unthaw the wild shrimp, peel and cook it as well as make the cheese filling I was very close to 3 hours of prep time. Not the best presentation but they were tasty. However I will not be repeating that recipe. Not easy to find frozen phyllo cups.

We had another great evening together.

The girls were interested in all the smells coming from the table. They did get some carrot and cucumber but that was it.

Cute.

Cuter.

The cutest of them all.

It was a love in. Look at those flapping years.

Ciela is enjoying every moment. In fact we all enjoyed the visit. Hopefully the next time we see them it will be on the Isla in a year or two. They will fly over. I can hardly wait. Safe travel my friends.

We saw our friends Tuesday and Thursday yet the best sunset was the evening in between.

A few days ago Colin was looking for his second Jeep fob – I can’t remember why. That is when I noticed that my second Lexus fob was also missing!! So we spent a good 30 minutes looking for the missing key fobs. I went thru my purse four times as Colin thought I was the culprit. Then he checked both vehicles. We kept searching and searching.

After a long time Colin lifted the lid to replace it on the box ( which we picked up in one of our trips to India) where we store keys. Well I just have to wonder who put the lid over the two “missing” key fobs. Twas not me. Missing fobs now found.

This stool is placed between our driving chairs in the RV and the bright dog bed was sitting on top of that piece of plywood on top of the cushion. But it kept sliding all over the place.

A few weeks ago, Colin took the bottom of the stool off and actually attached a larger piece of plywood on top of it.

He then was able to screw the original bottom on and now we have more support that will not move when the bed is on top.  We also place a piece of non skid mat between the wood and the dog bed.

In real time, today, I had my right leg veins treated. OUCH!! Seriously in all the years I have done this, today was rather painful. She was using ultrasound to find a particular vein. Over 65 needles. I used to do the left leg the next day and then I had to wear stockings on both legs for a week.  Way too hot to do that. So the left leg is next week.

Saw this the other day. Seaside, Oregon had a huge doxie meet up earlier in September. 350 people and 250 dachshunds. Guess where we are going next September? Along with many other Kelowna doxie families. Can you imagine?

 

 

 

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Sep 21, 2022

A visit with friends from long ago.

A few weeks ago we got an email from friends we knew from 2009 – 2015. We met Susie and Roger the first winter that we stayed on the Isla. That year we were in RV2.  We have not seen them since as they live on Vancouver Island, but we have kept in touch off and on and thru my blog. In fact at one point Susie briefly entertained the thought to get the third sister of Carlie & Ciela. Reality set in when they realized how difficult it would be now that they live in a condo.

We last saw Roger in Palm Springs in November of 2016. We were on our way to the Isla. Roger and Susie now had a place in Palm Springs for the winter. Susie was still in Canada undergoing some medical tests. Of course their doxie Sara ( named after the Duchess of York) came along for the visit. The last time we saw all three of them together was on the Isla was in March of 2014.

We did see Roger and Sara the next day at another Isla RVers  site in the same Palm Springs RV park that we were in.

So it was so very special to see Susie again yesterday, 8.5 years later. They are on a trip thru BC and stopped in our park for a few days. Both Susie and Ciela look so beautiful.

Neither of them have changed at all, in our opinion. Susie had emailed me that she needed a wine and chocolate fix. She got her wish.

The girls were a little shy at first but once the treats and veggies came out they were happy.

Sadly Sara is now in doggie heaven probably playing with Carmeh and Caeli. The three of them did play on the beach together on the Isla.

This is Sara getting a wee massage their RV. It appears that all dachshunds love massage therapists and massages, even our chocolates.

After an extensive happy hour we moved on to pizza for the main course. We had so much to talk about and there was a great deal of laughter.

These two always have a fun time.

We had some yummy mini chocolate eclairs for dessert. It was difficult to say goodnight. They are very special friends.

Roger & Susie have many friends to visit but we are hoping for another few hours together. Susie needs more chocolate 😎

 

 

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