5C's Que Pasa

Last Thursday was one of those miserable days but that was the only day our landscaper had time to come.

Between my car and the first Alberta tree you see is where Colin parks.  The second tree on the right belongs to the yard with weeds.  We have a second Alberta spruce to the left of my car at the other edge of our property.  They were both here when we purchased this lot.

The trees have grown over the years and it is becoming increasingly difficult  for Colin to get in and out of his vehicle.  So we decided to remove the spruce.

Once the cutting began we saw how large a tree was.

The inside was dead, you can see how little green there is all around the tree.

So much debris.

A huge stump. A chain was attached to the stump and to the hitch on the work truck.

Ever so slowly the stump came out.

Roots and all.

The next phase was adding more Oyama shale aka pink crush to our golf cart parking area. What a neat trailer.

Colin and I were spreading the shale and taking some inside the yard to the few places we wanted to freshen up. Our original rocks were from 2012 and I felt they needed to be ‘spruced’ up 🙂

While we did that, W and his son were filling in the hole with sand, tampering it down and then adding two of the four 24″ x 24″ patio stones we had left from when we built the patio.

It looked wonderful once they were done.  More shale at the road edge and that open area on the left was filled the next day.  Walter took one of the patio stones home and cut it to fill the space.  Those splotches are the beginning of a heavy rain shower.

When we were flooded two years ago the lake sat on our patio for a long time before receeding and much of the sand under the patio tiles was washed away.  You can see just below Colin’s foot on the right how the patio is no longer laying flat.  We waited until this spring/summer to add more sand and to try and even it all out.  You know me and my tripping issues.  I wanted as few hazards as possible.

So W did the lifting and Colin did the sanding. It was too wet for me to go outside.  By the time they finished the sun came out.  It is not quite complete.  A few more slabs need to be adjusted.

How it looked when all was said and done that day.  That dark grey area on the pavement and the third patio slab back is from the tree.  I will eventually get around to power washing that area and maybe the rest of the driveway.  I just hate wasting water on that.

We have had some cool, windy and rainy conditions over the last week. Fortunately yesterday the weather has started heating up, finally. We have not had our normal Okanagan hot summer.

So I decided to make borscht with the end of our beets, left from last summer. Somehow the electric grater is in the slide out of the RV and we can’t get it out.  Fortunately Colin, my manual grater, was home.

It looked good going into the crockpot.

But was a bit pale when I put them in the jars while still very hot. This way, once the jars seal, the soup will keep for two weeks in the fridge.   I still have 2.5 jars left.

Our garden continues to be overrun by weeds. The supposed landscape cloth and gravel have yet to be put into place by the park. Meanwhile Colin shovelled out over 12 inches of weeds the entire length and behind the garden area and put a few boards down to try and keep them out of our garden.  As you can see we have finally put up our fencing all around again.

We found some screened covers in the community garden storage area and have covered most of our garden. After eating all the kale the quail started in on the Swiss chard so we are trying to protect our small seedings.

The newly planted kale seeds only took a few days to germinate.  The beets and carrots are also doing well.  We have had our second cucumber and two medium sized tomatoes.  Enough for a toasted cuke and tomato sandwich for lunch today.

Colin’s lunch for his 17 hour day to and from Vancouver.

He had 16 maps like this to take photos of several specific sites. Many have arrows indicating photos from different directions.

This is an overall perspective of almost all the area he had to take aerial photos.  It was a vast area from Langley to Richmond and all the areas in between.

He came back today from his job with two sheets of PVC lattice privacy fencing. He cut the 4′ x 8′ pieces in half. He built a temporary fence along our patio so that we no longer have to see the nieghbors weeds and also to keep the renter’s dog ( when he returns in September ) from coming into our yard to do its business.   Photo next post.

My anniversary roses opened perfectly and still smell so good.

Almost ready to go. It was very cool last night. I wore long sleeves, a shawl and a scarf. It was chilly moving along in the golf cart. Maybe we should have taken the car.

There was a live band who were playing light jazz.  They were very good and we were one of the few who applauded.  Why do people ignore the band?

We had the lobster pasta special and every bite was right on.  The best thing is that as residents of the park we get 15% off the food.

We were surprised with a complimentary chocolate torte “Happy Anniversary”  dessert.   Oh my, so very rich and decadent and I want to have another.

This has been our RV travel card since 2012 or 2013.  We have run out of cards and needed a new one.  The print company controlled the set up and printing of this card.

Colin is just not ready to remove the girls from our card so here they are.  However after six hours of searching, he actually found the original photo in our 2012 files and did some photoshop.  The card is not so dark and I changed the wording.  I quite like it.

Colin surprised me this afternoon with a lovely bouquet of roses.  They have a lovely aroma.

We are long past giving gifts and cards but I just wanted to this year.

In my opinion ( his opinion is yet to be decided ) Colin needed a dressier jacket to go see clients in ( like the rainy windy day we had today ).

I also decided that he needed a second jacket for travel or just outdoor whatever.  Both jackets are windproof and water repellent with sealed seams.  Plus I got both on sale and saved $100.00.