5C's Que Pasa

So today I called the Lake Country Fire Station where I had left a message yesterday and they said that they had called the park manager yesterday and were told that all was under control.  Not!  I then called the Kelowna Fire Station which is where our taxes go but they are much further away.  The Lake Country Station is the official first responder to our park due to their proximity.  I spoke to two people at the Kelowna Fire Station before being transferred to the bylaw officer.  She said that there is no bylaw about cleaning your driveway with gasoline so she could do nothing.  I asked if she could write a letter and she said no.  Eventually she decided that she could speak to someone who knew someone who owned the land we are on and perhaps they could speak to my moron of a neighbor.  By the way check out the definition of the word moron.

…or just read it here.  I think this describes my neighbor perfectly.

This is all that is left of my two dozen anniversary roses. They lasted a full week.

As the fire departments were not too forth coming we sent a letter to the manager of our park this morning.  We reminded him that not five weeks ago we had asked him to speak to the moron about the use of gasoline.  At that time we were told that out neighbor had been read the riot act.  I guess he has a short memory.  We also suggested a letter with the possibility of a fine if it happens again.  We got a quick reply and the letter will be written with the threat of a heavy fine and will be delivered in person tomorrow by the manager 😀   Seriously it is our home on the line.

No idea what type of beetle this was but is was large and ugly.  It was at least 3 inches long.

Sadly I have not had a moment today to address the lost dog and child situation.  Colin joined me for my walk today and that took us out of the park.  Today is my 13th day in a row with over 10,000 steps 😛

On that same walk where we found the beetle ( a few days ago, not today’s walk, more on that tomorrow )I caught some new babies.  These were less than 2 inches, almost walnut like, so very cute and extremely fast, almost impossible to photograph.  The quail here in the park often have two sets of chicks over the summer.

This plaque has hung on our gate since we moved here in 2012 and is now well weathered.

I bought a new one for Colin for his birthday and we finally hung it today.  I prefer the word beach but there was nothing I could find.

Colin was off early about 7:30AM and is not back till about 9 – 10 PM tonight.  I was up early with him and had a good long walk.  It is easier to walk earlier in the morning when it is cool.

The smoke seems to have cleared for the most part and as you can see we have hot weather in the forecast.

I has a visitor for a bit this morning, someone who wanted to see our home as she has hired the same builder and really wanted to see inside of ours.  Turns out that all she really wanted to see was the view and wasn’t really interested in the construction and all the extras we had done.  The builder himself had brought someone over last Friday for the same reason and that person merely acknowledged the view but was more interested in all the special things that we had done with our home and what might work in their home.  When we first moved in we had many people asking to see our home but we only let them through if they were dealing with our builder.  We haven’t had anyone through for over a year until now.

As she was leaving ( she was alone as her husband was working as Colin was ), I spied a lost dog wandering down our street.  This is the third time I have seen this young red colored Pomeranian lost and meandering alone in the last week.  It is unique in that its tail is pink, just that the last 6 – 7 inches.  The last time we saw the person carrying the dog she told us that it was from site #314.  So today I knew where it belonged but first we had to catch it.  We, being me and two neighbors across the street from us.  Once caught you could see that the dog was not being cared for, its hair was matted and it was very skittish if you touched its rear legs or back end.  I fear it has been hit a lot.  Our friend took it over to #314 and said that the dog, a male, began to shake as it was returned to the two little and I mean little as in 6 years old and maybe 3 or 4 year old girls.  There were no adults present.  Between just three of us on this street which is two blocks away from #314 we counted at least 8 times that the dog was been lost and found in the last week.  Over the past month that I have been walking I had observed a new puppy and the rough playing of a very young child with this dog.  I can’t recall seeing an older child but I have seen a man every now and then.  Obviously there is a problem.  The dog should have a tag with the site number or a phone number.  There is now a dog pen of sorts, at first there was only a rope tied to a tree and to the dog.  I don’t know if these people are renting for a few weeks or the summer or own the site or ???  What I do know is that there is a problem?

As always I have to ask, should I or should I not get involved?  I think rather then hone in on two young kids being left alone that I should try and catch an adult on the site and bring up the number of times that the dog has been missing in the last week and the fact that I don’t get out much after my early morning walk yet I have seen it wandering about.  Already there is someone on my street who is willing to take the dog if the owners don’t really want it.  I shall have to tread very very carefully.

Not an hour later while at my desk I began to smell gas.  It turns out the my next door neighbor, the one closest to our home, was cleaning his driveway with gasoline.  The fumes permeated my house and I was soon nauseous.  It took close to three hours for the smell to dissipate.  I was most concerned.  This was a fire hazard.  Look at the temperatures we are dealing with this week.  Did the idiot use a wire brush?  A spark, a fire and another disaster.  For certain there could have been a major fire incident.  I made several calls but the incident has not been addressed to my satisfaction.  At this point I can’t say more.  Colin is home tomorrow and we will pursue and insist on a proper end to this incident.  This type of occurrence should not be allowed in an RV park.  All I can add is that this is the second time this had happened in the last six weeks that we know about.  Obviously the first time that it was addressed did not make an impression on the guy living next door.

…….and some of you wonder why I drink wine 😯

We took yesterday off and did whatever Colin wanted to do.  So other than a long walk together in the morning and some guitar playing in the afternoon we just hung out at home.  I did make pancakes for breakfast which I haven’t done for close to a year.  The girls loved pancakes as we always gave them a few pieces ( without syrup ) but since last summer they could not have anything like that.  It was a treat for Colin.  He thanks for you for your many birthday wishes and comments.  It was an inspiration to him.  Thank you 😎  He did not want to go out to a restaurant as he wanted to be able to enjoy a few glasses of vino tinto and relax over dinner and not worry about driving home.  Of course one would never think that I would not drink wine and be the one to do the driving 😆 So instead we went to pick up Chinese take out and enjoyed that with wine and a good movie about Mexico.  I had already seen it but just watched it anyway.

Today he has been at the computer all day doing photoshop for the jobs he did last week.  We can’t invoice until that is done so it is a priority.   He worked a very long day on Friday and has another home to photograph tomorrow which means another lengthy day.  At the moment the weather conditions are perfect but there is a 40 – 60% chance of lighting this afternoon and evening throughout the central and southern Okanagan.  We have had strong winds all afternoon, 20 km/h gusting to 40.  Fingers crossed that not too many new fires are started.  At the moment we have 152 fires burning in our province.  The good news is that folks have been able to return to their homes today.  That means homes and communities devastated by burnt surroundings.  The evacuees have been advised to return with a full tank of gas and food, water and medications to last at least seven days.

The other day I took a quick 25 second video of two kayaks passing close to our home.  We were sitting inside and jumped up at the loud music.  We couldn’t believe it.  Who would spend a peaceful few hours on the lake with boom box music blaring at full blast?  Sadly the video says it is corrupt so I can’t play it for you.

Instead here is a photo of the girls on the beach on the Isla back in January.

Many of you have been to the Isla over the years. Many of you only know about the Isla because of my posts over the winter. You all comment on how much you enjoy the Isla so I thought I would give those who might be interested an opportunity to give a little to the community of Isla de la Piedra through this GoFundMe campaign I came across.    https://www.gofundme.com/pesosforpublicschools

No sunsets here, so enjoy an Isla sunset. I believe this was the one I took on our first day there last November.

Happy birthday Colin.  Sixty seven years young.

Photos taken over the last twelve months.