5C's Que Pasa

I put this group of plants, tomatoes, two romaine and one cucumber outside for the first time.  They are on the front porch so that the glass railing will protect them from the wind off the lake. They came inside late this afternoon.

I just read this morning that one needs to harden tomato plants for a full seven days before planting them so that that don’t get sunburn or wind burn.  I ask all of you gardeners out there what do you do before transplanting your seedlings, especially the tomatoes?

This is the forecast from tomorrow on. So should I transplant my tomatoes, cucumbers and zucchini tomorrow?  I know that the romaine will be oaky.  That was a last minute purchase by Colin this morning.

These are put on the back porch and they get a bit of a breeze.  We took a chance this afternoon and transplanted the bean plant in the larger green pot in the middle of the top row into the garden.  We also planted two rows of bean seeds in the garden today. These also are back inside for the night.

Four big pots ready to go outside based on what to do about the tomato plants.

The Swiss chard and carrots are doing great and likely ready to go outside.  We realize that we will need to keep most of these pots close to the house and out of the wind.

Colin spent most of the day in the garden. He started the day by going to the nursery where he got a half yard of mulch to lay on the ground between the beds to help keep the weeds down.  For twenty dollars they placed the exact amount of mulch in a pile where he had to half fill eleven garbage bags and then carry them to the car.  Fortunately we had one of those stands that you can slip a bag over to hold it open.  So he brought that and a shovel along.  I offered to go with him but he said that he was good on his own. So I stayed home and really did not get too much accomplished.  Just before I left for my walk I saw an ad come up on the park FB page offering ten free cement foot stepping stones. So I replied that I would be there shortly. I went to the garden to ask Colin to come with me to look at them.  He liked them so they were ours.  I figured that we would dig them out tomorrow and move them but Colin wanted to do it right away. Good thing as there was someone else waiting in the wings to get them if I did not want them. After my walk I stopped in the gardens to check in and Colin said he would be right home for lunch.  So I went home and had mine and then called him as he was still working.  So I offered to bring him some food and water and to meet him to at least plant the bean seeds ( which we had soaked overnight ) and the bean plant which we had started from a seed.

What a difference a day makes. Colin did lay landscape cloth down first which we had in the shed. The mulch looks great and we both really like the foot steps.  We have one in each of the three beds ( placed in the middle ) on the right and put two down along the middle path which gives me the height I need to step up into the bed. Not too many along the middle path as Colin is worried that I will trip. I can get up into the beds but I can’t get down on my own.  Something I will have to work on. The other five foot steps are placed between the beds.  Likely we will move them around over the next few weeks.

On the left in the foreground ( under the wire to try and stop the quail from dining ) is a row of tall carrots ( the ones in the pot in the house are short carrots) which are already coming up.  In the second box on the left and to the left are peas and under the chicken wire in the same bed on the right is kale which come up very quickly. At the far end in front of the white fencing are self supporting peas which are almost two inches high and to their left is the bed of beets. To the right of peas is the strawberry bed. There is also a row of short peas in one of the beds on the right. More veggies to be planted tomorrow – maybe 😉  Depends on the advice you give me 😎

All this talk of lightening the Covid-19 restrictions is worrying me. Each province has its own directives. Can you believe that here in BC the hairdressers and barbers have sent an online petition to ask the government to please not put them on the list to open to the public? They say that they will be unable to maintain social distancing in order to do their jobs and feel that it is not safe. Plus they don’t want to bring anything home to their families.  I don’t blame them.  As much as I need to get my hair done, I have wondered how this could be accomplished under the restrictions that are in place.  Today I saw so many people breaking the social distancing barriers, some having neighbors over but sitting very close together and others just standing in the street or the gardens to chat and standing almost shoulder to shoulder.  It is so easy to become involved in a conversation and forget about the pandemic for a few moments.  Everything seems and feels normal until you realize the current situation and you need to take a few steps back. The most upsetting to me is a very close neighbour who just got back a few days ago and is in mandatory quarantine. This afternoon we saw his ex girlfriends car in his driveway and from the sound of the music the party was on. So from here she will go grocery shopping or ??,  it does not matter.  Is he safe, is she safe or possibly passing the virus? This is happening everywhere. Please stay safe.

This Kingfisher dropped in this morning to say hola.  It was directly in front of Colin as he played but as I ever so carefully walked up to see it, he took off.  It landed not so far away and my zoom could pick it up.  Very special as we don’t see these very often.

Colin took the Jeep in today to Craftsman Collision to get the necessary bumper repairs done.  Most of you will recall that we were rear ended in Las Vegas back in November. You can read about that by clicking here. The repairs will be covered by ICBC, our insurance company and we will have no deductible. Fortunately they gave us a loaner car which we hope to not have to use. My car remains remains parked with storage insurance.  As Colin arrived they had a bottle of Lysol that they were spraying everywhere in the vehicle and then wiping down with a cloth.  Before Colin got in he used several of our Lysol wipes to go over the entire interior and the exterior door handles. We should have our car back by the end of next week. Meanwhile we never heard anything back today about the RV repairs, if the parts arrived and fit.

Colin got creative with the pillow decor this morning. We take turns making the bed and try to come up with different ways to place the pillows. This was a first.

I just love these colors. She looked so very peaceful out on the lake. Hopefully with my knee I might eventually be able to get into our canoe or my kayak.

It was a momentous day for me in that I increased my ankle weights to 3 lbs each for my leg exercises. I am doing them twice per day and doing about a 40 minute fast walk as well.  My steps are between  7 – 8 thousand on a daily basis.  Pretty good for me as I haven’t done much if anything since last October. I hope to increase the walking time bit by bit.

Those of you back east continue to enjoy low fuel prices. When we arrived late March the local price for gas was .899 and now overnight it has risen to 1.059.  Gosh we never even got to add cheap fuel to our tank as we were still full from filling up in the US.

We had a turtle ramp float land on our beach the other day after the high winds. I put it out on the park FB page that we had found one but no one has contacted us. Colin has always wanted one. Only thing is that the geese love to use it as well. That means lots of poop.

Colin saw the beaver today 😀  I hope to see it soon. It is always so special to see it.

The snow is melting and that means that the lake will rise but by how much? Will we be flooded yet again?  I certainly hope not. As you can see our river rock beach has been covered since we got back in March as had the first step. We plan to keep a sharp eye out.

I heard that toilet paper may become a precious commodity yet again.

The day started with the long drive ( well at least it was for me ) to Freightliner.  The driving itself was fine but the stop and go and slow down and speed up created some knee pain. The repeated small motions were aggravating.

So happy that once we dropped this off that Colin could take over driving and I could stretch my knee.  The pain quickly dissipated.

Next stop was Home Hardware where the window handle replacement had been shipped for us to pick up. You can barely see Colin here.  I stayed in the car while he went in.  We wanted to get a few strawberry plants but they were $3.98 each so I told him thru the fence to not pick any up.

The next stop was to pick up the two cases of wine that I had ordered plus we picked up several more bottles.  I do not want to be heading out every week to buy things, anything, so why not stock up on wine. Heck I bring enough down to Mexico with us so that I don’t have to shop there so why not stock up here.  So we did.  However just the trouble of putting a mask on and gloves on and trying to remember to put your credit card somewhere you can reach without contaminating your purse and wallet was tiring.  The mask is hot and my hands were so sticky inside the gloves.  All I could think of was about how many layers the first responders and especially the medical staff in the ER and ICU have to wear.  So why was I complaining.  Anyway we got it selected, paid for and loaded.  So glad it will be several weeks before we have to do that again.

Next stop was Superstore.  This is the major store here that you can order online for pick up but you must do so two weeks in advance.  This is the staging area where the food is waiting to be picked up.  A very large area and the outside designated parking spots were all full of vehicles waiting for their orders.

My problem with Superstore is that they expect you to put in a dollar coin to unlock the shopping cart 😯  Who is carrying quarters and loonies?  Here I am gloved and masked and I can’t get a buggy.  So I went in and the security guy came and got me a buggy, thank you kind sir. They also give you one wipe as you enter to clean the handle of your buggy.  It is a bit of a free for all inside and not everyone, in fact not may are practicing social distancing so the onus is on you to stay safe. The only mark on the floor re social distancing was the line for the checkout stands.  But the head of the line was so far away that you could not tell which line was empty.  No washing down of the conveyer belt but I did use a wipe to do so.  We got all that we needed except for flour and yeast and romaine in a bag.  We did get one separate head for $3.98 when the bag of 4 -5 heads usually is only $5.98.   They only had two 22 pound sacks of flour. I just needed a small 2 -5 pound bag.  Such a pain loading the car and not touching anything in order to keep the inside clean.  Then once the gloves are off we realized that they do not have any garbage cans in the parking lot?  No wonder there are gloves littered everywhere.  So we created a corner of the floor in the car for dirty gloves.  Oh yes, then remember to sanitize the door handle and anything else we touched.

I almost forget to mention, that we ended up buying strawberry plants here at Superstore for even more money at $4.50 each.  So I only bought three instead of five.  Later as we were unloading the car at home a neighbour walked by and told us about the local nursery was selling 20 strawberry plants for $25.00  😥  We were just trying to keep our stops to a minimum.  Oh well, you can’t always do the right thing.

You have to have seen the movie Groundhog Day to understand this. If you have not seen this movie then this is a good time to watch it.

Next stop was Robinson Lighting to buy a tiny LED lightbulb for one of trio of hanging lights we have over the bathroom sink.  I again stayed in the car while Colin went in and it took forever.  They had to look up the original order from 2007 to find the type of bulb we needed as there is no number on the actual bulb.  The salesman then told Colin that he wasn’t sure how much longer we will be able to buy those bulbs!  S0 are we supposed to replace our custom lighting system because there are no more bulbs? Coin purchased three bulbs at eight dollars each before tax.  I will have to try and find them on Amazon and be sure to buy enough to last us until we are in our nineties 🙁

While Colin was inside I called Walmart which was only a few blocks away to see if they had flour and yeast. I was told that they had no idea and that they were too short staffed to check. I then called Save On in Lake Country where within one minute I was told that they had the large bags of flour and no yeast. I next called the IGA where she immediately knew that there was no yeast but she would double check just in case. There was none and she said that she would try and order some tomorrow if she could find it. So we drove over to Walmart and suited up as I like to think of it and entered to only find empty shelves. Time to head home. We had been gone four long hours.

But it does not stop there. First I had to rush inside to use the toilet and then the unloading began. Everything went from the car to the outside steps where Colin totally sanitized every single item, top to bottom and all around.  I would then carry it inside and eventually put it all away. I truly hope that we don’t have to leave the house for groceries for at least two weeks. Next big shop at that time will be Costco. Today we drove past and the line was extremely long. Not looking forward to when we end up having to go.

Did any of you see the above?  Colin saw this on one of his news feeds and sent it to me yesterday but tonight here in Canada they say it is only for the US.

The only good news is that we have a full fridge and a full wine rack ( plus some boxes in storage ) and we don’t need to go anywhere for a few weeks.  Once our garden is growing we might only need to go out once per month.

This is how I am see myself tonight, rather frazzled.

Please stay home as much as you can and stay safe.

Long story short.  Colin left at 6:30AM this morning to take the RV in for new tires at Fountain Tire in Kelowna and then for its annual check at Freightliner in West Kelowna. He got there about 11:20AM.  He just called me at 6:00 PM, well in fact he has called me a few times throughout the day. Turns out that the last thing that needed doing on the RV became problematic. At 4:30 PM they sourced a part in Kelowna but when it came back it did not quite fit. I guess that comes with having an older RV.  In fact today they called our RV vintage in a very complimentary way. The only part they can find at the moment might be in Tennessee.  Meanwhile the RV has one wheel off and the brake taken apart. It won’t be repaired tonight nor tomorrow as they have to source that part. Likely they will do that rather quickly as the RV is taking up one of their bays.  It is a very small but necessary part. We are fortunate that they found the problem or down the road it would have cost us a good deal of money, certainly before we got into Mexico.  This particular Freightliner is a thousand times better than any other Freightliner we have ever dealt with in the US.  We have been dealing with them for about 14 -15 years and they are very accommodating.

If you look closely you can see that the right side of the tire is tapered and parts of the tire were flat ( out of round ).  We definitely need new tires.  Fountain Tire did a great job for a good price.  Later at Freightliner the mechanic told Colin that the tire was out of camber.  So now we need an alignment. The tire was fine when we headed south but once back in the US we noticed the thump thump, looks like the rough Mexican roads threw our alignment off.

So Colin calls me and asks if I could pick him up.  He is 25 miles away and it probably is at least a 45 minute drive right through the heart of Kelowna and over the bridge.  I have not driven the Jeep since October, in fact I have not driven any vehicle since then.  Plus I have had two glasses of wine.  So I was forced to say no. When Colin checked in at 4:30PM they said that if they could not find a part that someone could drive him home.  So at 6PM when they realized that the part did not fit, most everyone was gone and there was no one coming back this way to give him a ride.

Freightliner discovered that the back left wheel hub seal was broken and had spewed oil all through the brake lining. That means that the brake shoes are slippery and might break apart, in other words not safe at all.

Because the lining is porous ( you can’t wipe away the oil ) this brake pad needs to be replaced ( this is the new one ) even though it is hardly worn after 146,000 miles.  Because there is hardly any wear only the one brake pad needs to be replaced.  Good driving, eh!

They decided that they could loan him a car to drive home but it would have to be back first thing in the morning.  No problem, in the morning I can follow him in the Jeep and return the loaner.  Then we could do a wee bit of shopping as we were already in Kelowna.  I haven’t been to town since we drove through it in the RV coming back home on March 26th.  Small problem is that our park is mostly shut down ( because of the virus ) and at 6PM the public gate area is closed and of course Colin does not have his resident gate pass with him. Okay, I can call security to open the gate for him or I can drive up in the golf cart and do it, which I had earlier retrieved from the storage lot ( Colin used it to get to the RV early this morning ) which was a good thing as it will soon also be locked.  Next issue is that he has only 15% power left on his iPhone. So we hang up.  A few moments later I call him back saying do not and I mean do not get in that loaner car until you sanitize the door handle, the steering wheel, the drivers seat and area, etc, etc.  Now I am worried about all of this.

This is the seal ( not very large at all ) that needs to be replaced but this new part did not quite fit.

Another thought pops into my mind.  Where the heck is he going to park the loaner car?  I will have to contact security on that one. Hopefully he can park it by the pool or at the front area near the Italian restaurant which is of course closed.  They are very strict about stuff like that.  Hmm I just had another idea, be right back.  I have to make a phone call.

I am back ( 40 minutes or so later ) and so is Colin.  Found an empty parking spot just half a block away and called to get permission to park there and by then Colin was at the gate.  Off I went in the golf cart and unlocked the gate for him. So he is home with a loaner ‘pick up truck’.  He told me that just as he was leaving that Troy ( the service manager that Colin kept checking in with all of last fall as we were on the road with our various RV issues ) had taken a general look over the RV and came back to say that the compressor fan belt ( for the dash air which we had replaced in Mazatlan  ) was not tightened sufficiently and was slipping and therefore prematurely wearing out.  It will need to be placed.  So maybe all of this was meant to happen as had not the part been wrong and Colin had to wait for a loaner vehicle then Troy would not have stopped to look over our RV.  Bottom line, if he had not found that frayed compressor belt, we for certain would have had no dash A/C next time we headed south.  Not sure I could have survived that two years in a row.

New thought by Colin and he called Freightliner ( they work until midnight ) that perhaps both wheel hub seals should be replaced. The mechanic that Colin spoke with agreed.  So now they will order two and with that it means that the other wheel and brake assembly will have to come off as well.  Of course that means more $$$$$.

Fortunately I had planned a lovely dinner which is only slightly delayed ( an hour – so normal for us ). Fish chowder in the crockpot. I was going to make homemade bread from a supposed easy recipe but I had no yeast and not enough flour, mostly because Colin is making banana bread every week.  Last night I had an idea and sent a message to the couple that do the baking in the park to keep busy during the pandemic.  I asked if they were making bread soon.  They asked what I wanted and delivered a homemade loaf this morning. So I do have a lovely meal to end out this strange day.

Will this year ever end?

Because I am so far behind I won’t be able to make a reply to your comments until the morning. But I think we need to relax and enjoy our dinner.  9:30PM is late enough as it is to eat and we do have a full day ahead of us tomorrow.  Really appreciate you stopping in to read and to comment.

What we used to start growing our seeds.

They sure got big fast.

We had frost again last night.  At the moment I am growing zucchini ( 2 plants ), cucumber (3 inside ), tomatoes ( 10 plants inside ), carrots ( 1 large pot ), beans ( 1 large pot )  and Swiss chard ( 1 large pot ) inside my house.  So looking forward to moving them outside.  Oh and nine small pots of petuanias .  Ahh, also an onion, that is an experiment.  Meanwhile in our garden, we see a few beets peeping up as well as two types of peas and lots of kale.  There is a low of 4C for Thursday and after that hopefully we plant some of our seedlings and bean seeds.

We planted seeds in these starter pots we picked up in the states.

They grew.

And grew.

Some were transplanted into the large green pots ( otherwise known as my flower pots ) and others into smaller pots to transplant into the garden, if it ever warms up. Cucumber on the top left and a bean plant on the right. Two tomatoes and two zucchini. You will see further down how large the cucumber and bean plants have already got.

I planted Swiss chard and carrots seeds into these pots.

The carrots are doing well as is the Swiss chard. I will plant more of both in the garden as well.  We are here all summer ( can’t go anywhere ) so we will eat from our garden.

The bean plant is going crazy. See those two thin feelers, they grow several inches per day.  They are rather fascinating as they cross over each other  and intertwine and then the next time I walk by they are going in different directions like this.

Looking forward to seeing how cucumbers grow in a pot. We will have three other plants in the garden, two from plants we grew from seeds and then we will start one from a seed planted directly into the earth in the garden.  My thinking is that they might grow at different speeds.

This zucchini is more than ready to be planted but after growing  it from a tiny seed there is no way I am taking a chance on a late frost.

The tomatoes are looking really good.

We are having fun with this project and are looking forward to a great harvest without having to spend too much time dealing with all the weeds from our first garden site.  The problem with that site is that it is too close to the trees and invading weeds.  I hope the folks that got our site don’t have too many problems but I will be keeping an eye on them.

There was another article about the hungry on the Isla and how they are asking the government to please give them food baskets.  They are feeling forgotten. Click here to read that article. Fortunately I have raised enough money that 130 families were fed last Friday and another 130 families will get food this week as well, likely many of the same as the previous week.  I believe that there might be enough money left to feed 60 – 90 families for the third week.  After that the money will run out.  I will do a post soon with all the details.

I buckled down and went back to work yesterday. Hope to have the company and personal taxes completed by end of day Friday. And then I can kick back and read a book.  FYI, I do it all by hand.  No way do I want to learn how to do it on the computer.  Too much trouble and too much of a learning curve at my age.  I love that I can just erase a mistake and rewrite the correct figures.

That flag has been ripped by the strong winds. Still made for a lovely sunset last evening.