5C's Que Pasa

We took the girls for a walk this morning and the park doesn’t look like it is a holiday weekend.  Not many folks out & about and certainly no one at any of the pools.  It is a warm 19C  but  overcast with a cool wind.  The next few days will bring rain.  Glad we can stay inside and watch the wind and the waves.  Looks like it is going to be a weekend to get caught up on laundry & cleaning and the odd chore.

Can you believe that gas went up 10 cents last Thursday? Crazy.

I found this cute picture of Colin and Carmeh that I had taken in Mexico. She continues to improve and did well on our long walk this morning. However she has to be near Colin all the time. When he is at his desk she curls up next to his chair. She follows him around the house. I have no idea how she gets by with so little sleep. When he is gone she keeps her ears open for any sound like a car. She then rushes to the window to see if it is Colin. Caeli on the other hand sleeps all the time.

I think this duck is confused. It sat on the juniper for a very long time before waddling down the road. At first I thought it was nesting there.

We have seen so few geese with their babies this spring. These families seem to have merged. Shortly after they had passed we saw the beaver go past. He was swimming too fast for me to get a shot.

I spoke with my Dad a few times this week.  There is only one pay phone on the floor he is on in the hospital and he says it is always in use.  I wish that I could talk to him whenever I want but he no longer has a cell phone by choice and does not want a phone in his room.  So I have to rely on him to call me from time to time.  He says that he is happy there and feels that he is getting a very thorough assessment.  So far he has been told that he is below normal in agility and movement.  They have given him several, new to him exercises which he feels will help strengthen him.  Meanwhile he is not allowed to even walk 6 steps unsupervised to the bathroom and that is using his walker.  He has to ring for a nurse to go anywhere including to the pay phone.  The patients there wear their own clothes and take meals in a common area.   They have also arranged for a specialist to come and check his hernia and someone to check his hearing.  I’m fairly certain that they won’t let him go back home until he is rehabilitated and able to continue living on his own.

Hope you are having a great Saturday wherever you are.  I’m off to curl up with a book.

The day started out with Colin meeting some potential clients that resulted in some jobs down the road.  Always nice to know that the dollars will soon be flowing our way.

By midday he was back home for just under an hour and then off we both went back into to Kelowna to meet with our new financial advisor.  This guy is top notch and gave us some fabulous advise that will soon have us making mucho pesos.  Meanwhile we discussed the monies we were transferring to his company. Due to the numerous commissions to liquidate our portfolio ( within our RRSP’s ) we had to payout $5000.00.  This new fellow immediately added the $5000.00 to our portfolio at his expense. In effect that means that we did the transfer with no loss and are guaranteed an 8% annual growth.  However last year his clients safely increased their portfolio by 15%.  Needless to say we are happy with the deal.

On the drive home we encountered stopped traffic and being the long weekend, here in Canada, figured it was an accident.  As we rounded a curve, we noticed an RV ( Class C towing 2 ATV’s on a trailer) stopped, pretty much blocking the road.  It was only one lane in each direction and the RV was about 8 vehicles ahead of us.  As we slowed to a stop, we noticed a dark square bundle on the side of the road.  Colin figured that they must have dropped something.  As we came nearer we saw that it was a small very fluffy black dog.  It was dead still standing on four legs but in total shock.  Then we saw a woman running towards us, by now we had passed the dog.  At first I thought that the RV had struck the dog and was coming back to check on it.  I watched from my rear view mirror as the woman ran to the dog and scooped it up and cuddled it.

I knew in an instant  what had transpired.  The dog had fallen out of the window of the RV.  Likely the animal was sitting on her lap and jumped out of the window.  Now I was the one in shock.  I insisted to Colin that we turn around and go back and help them find a vet.  A few miles later we found an area that we could safely pull off the road where we waited for the RV to appear.  I ran out to the highway intending to flag the RV down.  About 5 minutes later I saw it coming around the curve in the road.  I boldly stepped out into the traffic lane waving my arms, trying to get the RV to slow and pull over.  It did.  I ran to the window, asking about the dog. I had guessed correctly, the woman had the dog in her lap and had opened the screen and within minutes the dog was out the window.  Can you imagine driving at 80KPH/50MPH and having a dog drop from the height of a Class C to the pavement????   We offered to guide them to a vet just a few kilometers down the road.  I had no idea if they were local or just traveling in the area because of the long weekend.  It turns out that they were local and did have a vet in the area and after speaking to me agreed to drive there pronto.  The woman said that the dog was fine and moving okay.  I told her that there would be injuries that she was not aware of.

My heart pounded for a good hour afterwards and we were tempted to follow them to the vet but what good would it do.  I just hope and pray that that precious baby is out of pain as I type this.

We finally got home, freed our girls, gave them lots of hugs and kisses and then loaded them up for a few local errands.  Finally back home by 4:50PM.  Our Calgary neighbors who are here only on long weekends had arrived late last night and they wanted to do happy hour.  So over we went.

We only spent an hour with Karen and Lyle and of course had a great time catching up.

Life continues to be great for us.  However why do we only get to eat dinner after 800PM?

Tuesday afternoon Colin wanted to go visit a new client.  Did I want to come?  Not really, I have things to do.  It’s a winery he said.  You wouldn’t believe how fast I was ready to join him  🙂

50th Parallel, so named because we are on the 50th parallel.

61 acres with lovely views. A small winery whose name is becoming more known both locally in restaurants and in Canada. They are building two new massive buildings which is what they need Colin to photograph plus in a few years, for some event photography.

Great wines to taste ( 6 or 7 in all ) and we did buy a bottle of the Pinot Gris. Note all the awards in the background.

The girls had been cooped up in the car and when we let them out they made a direct beeline to the tasting room. Nice concept to have the tastings open to the vineyard.

Suddenly a ground squirrel made its high pitched call and the girls were instantly on the hunt. They climbed that mound in a second.

Apparently there are hundreds of the squirrels living in the vineyard. At one point I was beginning to wonder how we would get them back to the car I just told them that the squirrel was 'right here' and they came running. Phew!!

At this time of year the hills around us are dotted with splashes of yellow.

Lovely wildflowers abound year after year.

After the winery, we drove through the hills to Vernon where we stopped at Papa Murphy’s to order a pizza which I cooked for dinner.  The Kelowna franchise closed down this past winter so if we want a Papa Murphy’s, which we like, we have to drive about 50km/31miles round trip.  We were already almost halfway there which is why we made the trip.  It was fun to drive some backroads that I have never been on.  After dinner I had to say that my homemade pizza is much better.  It’s just that sometimes it is nice to have someone else do all the preparation.

Yesterday I had some errands to do and it was finally nice enough to take my car for a spin, the first of the season.

I had a blast and the fun continues for the 5C’s  😆

Last Monday was a nice warm and sunny day and we took some time to play.

Carmeh enjoyed the heat of the sun in a new spot. So many areas to chose from in this house.

The new flowers are enjoying the warmth. We only put three plants in each pot so they don't get too crowded like last year. We'll see how they turn out.

These two pots are strategically placed so that when the windows are open ( they swing out ), no one will walk into the sharp corner.

I love this turtle planter we got two years ago in Mazatlan. When we went back a few weeks later to get another one, they were all sold out. This year the turtle is planted with cactus type plants.

Because it was sunny, Colin was able to do a quick, or so he said exterior, of a home for a magazine cover.  Us three girls went with him for the ride and we got a few errands done along the way.  The photo shoot ended up taking close to an hour mostly because he is a perfectionist.  He had to sweep the patio, reposition the patio furniture, etc.  Fortunately I brought a book along so my time was not wasted.  Before the photography we stopped at the Dairy Queen.

The girls knew that a treat was in store for them.

I loved the creamy rich taste of my plain vanilla treat but had a difficult time relaxing and just enjoying it.

It was one spoon for me and then with a different spoon, a tiny bite for Carmeh and then a tiny bite for Caeli. This continued over and over until it was all gone. Meanwhile Colin was on the phone with yet another client but did finally manage to get his eaten. This is not a normal treat for us but is sure was tasty and fun at the same time.

Yes we are still using the fireplace and the furnace comes on at 6:00AM for a short time. I have seen frost for the past 5 mornings, until Monday morning. The girls love laying as close as possible to the heat of the fire. Carmeh is doing better and going on short walks.

There was huge community garage sale here on Saturday morning. It was freezing cold and I had on three layers plus I put socks on for only the second time this year and wore gloves. We took the golf cart to get around faster. Sadly we never found the perfect bikes to bring down to Mexico next fall, maybe next time. Didn't even look at anything else.

It warmed up enough to get our flowers planted.

Lots of unsettled weather.

I took this from inside the house looking thru a window.

This video was taken on a very windy day.  I wanted to capture our wheel in motion.  It actually is a Mark White original kinetic wind sculpture that we purchased in Taos, New Mexico about  9 years ago.  We both fell in love with it but waited all winter before deciding to purchase it.  I just found out the other day that it is now valued at over $5000.00.  It is made of stainless steel and copper and should last forever.  Special thanks to Croft for helping me get the video to work on my blog.  For some reason after doing my Mom’s memorial YouTube videos I could no longer embed a video.

Lots of relaxation over the weekend. I read two novels which I pick up from the library when we are home. I always preorder my books so I just have to do a quick in and out. Doing things online saves so much time.

When Colin gets to the bottom of his peanut butter he lets the girls finish it off. That is Caeli waiting ever so patiently for her turn.

Caeli has a really long tongue and can get to the bottom.

The sun came out on Sunday which was perfect to get some things done in the yard including washing both cars and the golf cart.  We even spontaneously invited friends over.

Colin and Robert sat at the bar where they caught with their and our various events.

We sat in the sun while Michele got her dog fix. If the girls go missing we always check their place first.

It was really nice that we were able to take the time to relax and just enjoy a weekend.