5C's Que Pasa

Saturday morning was spent working in the yard finishing up a variety of projects including picking up at least 100 tiny pieces of stone dropped in the grass by accident by the landscapers.  Good for the waist I say.  When done it looked really really good but Colin decided we should get another tree.  He had mentioned this earlier in the week and I had done some online research and after a few calls I found a nursery that had all three of our choices in stock.

Dogwood Nursery was a good 50 minute drive away and the girls got cozy for the trip. They are somehow wedged between our two front seats.

I just love the way Caeli's paw is resting on Carmeh's back. Carmeh will be 10 in 2 months and Caeli just turned 8 on April 1st. We are starting to see more and more white hair on their bodies.

We had never been to this nursery before, in fact we had no idea it existed. It is a huge 16 acres and well run. I wish I had known of its existance years ago when we actually had semi's bring us huge trees from Vancouver. Can you imagine the money we would have saved?

We were treated like royalty at the nursery.  Immediately once they noticed I had trouble walking they brought out an open air type of off road vehicle to drive me around to the trees.  What a tour we had, what a lovely location, I wish I owned an acreage so I could buy everything I saw.  When Lindsay could not help us find our perfect tree she called in Gunther, the owner who took us all around his property and pulled out no less than 10 special trees for us.  Not quite what we wanted.

We went back and forth between 2 trees but he knew I was not totally happy. However I had decided no worries as compromise is alright and we had made a good enough choice.  Gunther said….’no wait I have one more to show you, I had 3 of these and the City of West Kelowna just bought two and I have the one left’…….

It is exactly the tree we want, maximum growth 20 feet x 20 feet. This beauty is already 12 years old and a lot bigger than what we had in mind.

It is a spectacular maple that has white fragrant flowers in the spring, then starts showing long red pod like fruits in August and turns a fabulous neon red in the fall.  Of course it is from Russia and perfectly suited for our hot summers and cold winters.  If you want to see photos of this beauty click here and then click  on the small photos on the left.

My first attempt at photoshop under the guidance of Colin. The pink is the existing tree but we will likely trim it to what is within the blue area. We both love the tree and the price closed the deal.

We paid for the tree and arranged for our landscaper to pick it up next week.  Likely I am in trouble for getting such a huge tree.  He has to dig the hole and plant it.  Our greatest concern is getting the maple tree into the yard, we may have to take the arbour down.  We were there for hours and I know it will be my go to nursery from now on.  Time to hurry home and pour the vino and get ready for……

....pizza night!!!

Struggling to deal with this gluten thing so we use corn tortillas as a base and mound up the veggies with cheese on top. I made 6 but we couldn't eat more than 2 each and that was a struggle.

We even got some relaxation in......

Now that was a full Saturday indeed.  June is turning out to be full of adventure.

Tags: 319, garden, relaxation, The girls, Wine

~ for my Mom, a new chance at life.  Likely she will be moved in a few weeks to a medical sub acute care facility where she will be assessed and hopefully be rehabilitated to return home.  Yesterday she strongly stated she wanted to go home but realized she was not able to do so strength wise.

~for my Dad, an apology from me.  My May 28th post which he just read yesterday upset him….sorry Dad.  As I explained to you on the phone I meant ‘no one from my family on the 22nd of May’.  Yes you and Mom had wished me a Happy Birthday and given me a gift the week prior when I was at your place.  I do love you and Mom but my blog family does mean a lot to me also.

~for Colin and I, the promise of the completion of our yard and the final to do’s on our lovely new home.

A side view of our 2nd new piece of Mexican art.

~for Colin, many very exciting jobs and a few new clients plus time to play his guitar.

I got up about 10PM to go to the bathroom and saw Colin outside in front of our fire pit just enjoying his guitar and the evening.

~for me, just a few more days to get caught up in my desk work and the chance to just sit and enjoy my yard and best of all, the time to read to my hearts’ content.

~for you, a chance to win $100.00!!  Fellow bloggers Kevin and Ruth are giving away $100.00 just for the heck of it.  Click here to enter.  If you scroll down to May 28th on their blog you will get the contest explanation.  They are at the same time entering a contest for a trip and need votes to win.  You need to be on Facebook to vote for them here. Regardless you can still enter their contest for the $100.00.

The first 5-6 weeks back home from Mexico are busy and crazy but we hope to soon have more relaxation.  July and August are busy but not crazy.  Come September and October we are beyond crazy…..and then comes our trip south and all the relaxation in the world on the Isla.

When I saw this I fell in love with it. It is another piece of metal, 3D effect and hand painted. I will have to find out where it was made in Mexico.

I hope that you all have a wonderful month of June and that you get to make some new memories and enjoy marvellous adventures be they on the road or just at home in your town.  Enjoy your life!

Tags: 319, Duck Lake, Family, Isla de la Piedra

So far this week we got the water softener back to perfect working condition with no sulphur odor.  A fellow came out to show me why I was having problems with the fabric softner in our new washer.  All I can say is ” not my fault”.  Colin figured out where to put the printer giving us more office space and where we can both use it via the airport system we have.  I also picked up my repaired eyeglasses a few days ago.

The roof guys finished late Thursday afternoon.  I am not looking forward to seeing the bill.  At the same time they took out the bottom and middle windows of one panel.  It had both a leak within the panes of glass and the moulding had a ‘smile type’ of a curve.  It worked! Fortunately the windows in the sunroom are under warranty and this new repair fellow will have to get permission to repair the rest.  Sadly we are responsible for the roof repairs as the sunroom company closed down after the owner died this past December. A tough situation for  new homeowners like us.

It may be a bit difficult to see but the horizontal bar above the bottom window does have a bit of a smile. Some of the windows are worse than others. The concern is that the weight of the top window will crack the lower one.

So they took the glass out of this window, the bottom and middle sections but not the very top of the window. Once they worked their magic the smile was gone. Now we wait for the window company to authorize the other five that need to be de - smiled.

Colin is so impressed with this company that he is going to give this guy a shot at repairing the ever leaking basement.  That problem if you recall comes from when the cement was poured  last spring and they simply blew it and created a slope with a dip at the end that leads right under the house.

Found out that a few things like our Pressure Pro tire kit was sent to our old address of #315 versus the correct one of #319 which I had given them!!  Ena…you might want to check where you mailed my card to?  I wonder if that is where some of our receivables have gone to?  People tend to use what they have input their computers instead of reading the invoice.

I have not been able to find 3 inch high house numbers for our address so I gave in and ordered online from the US.  I really love shopping online from south of the border.

The rain chain permanent install should be completed by end of day today.  And I will be good to go by end of day today after my final medical appointment.  Well almost.

One final repair to mention.  My neighbour Diane also needs a new left hip.  In fact we both were at the Dr’s on May 1st.  Same office but different MD’s.  She just found out late Thursday that her surgery has been bumped up to this Monday June 3rd.  Now that is fast service.  I can’t even get a return call as to when my surgery ‘might’ be!

Had a wee visit from this beautiful creature yesterday afternoon.

Mom staying stable but Dad now reacting to all the stress.  He is scheduled for more heart tests mid June.  He is managing but at least he has a break from being Mom’s caregiver.

Tags: Family, health, repairs

This morning I went to Weight Watchers where upon weighing in I reached my Lifetime Goal.  I have lost 32 pounds in the last ten months.  Good on me.

This is my third go round with Weight Watchers.  I have lost weight each time.  The only reason I gained back the pounds since July of 2010 was due to circumstances beyond my control and my not being mobile for those years.  I am still not very mobile but by following the WW program and making the correct food choices I still lost those 32 lbs.  Of course my first choice of points distribution for the day are for my daily glass or glasses of vino blanco!!  Then I eat everything else healthy.  Hey I have to be allowed one vice in life.  I do hope to be able to loose another 5 to 10 pounds over the next year.

The rain has stopped as of this morning and there is heat and sun in the forecast.  Finally!  There is still a cool wind off the lake today with only a high of 18C.  Meanwhile  I read that Mazatlan just experienced  it’s second highest temperature of the year, 35C, with a heat sensation of 45C.  The highest temperature was 37C, recorded in February and we were there!  I never stop thinking about my garden there and hopefully soon I my wee garden here will start to flourish.

Mom is still holding her own and smiling and communicating.

Life is good!

Tags: Family, garden, health, Mazatlan, Stone Island, vino

…and kind wishes and wonderful words and positive thoughts have all helped.

THANK YOU !!!

The past few days have been busy with my appointments.  I have one today and then two on Friday and then I am pretty much done until the hip surgery whenever that will be.  My mind will be freer by the end of this week and I will be totally flexible.

Mom is stabilized, whatever that really means.  She is being monitored closely and they are going to start trying to decrease her oxygen intake.  She is on a full face mask from the top of hairline to under her chin.  They even brought in another bed with a better mattress for her.  I don’t really know why but they say it is better for her.  Hopefully it is to help prevent beds sores as this is her 14th day of laying in bed without getting up.

Sadly Dad woke up yesterday morning with some very serious health issues.  He pushed his way ( good for him ) into his Dr’s office yesterday and had tests done at 7PM last night.  Now we wait on that.

The rain has been relentless and despite an 80% completed repair on the roof we still have a few leaks….in the area of the completed repair.  The company will be back tomorrow.  There is always something that needs doing.

I really need my stair railings.  It has been three weeks since that company came out to measure.  It seems that the hold up had something to do with a bunch of engineers in Vancouver that need to approve everyone’s stair railings.  Some law that is in place that certain rules and regulations have to be met in order for safety.  Well I am not safe without railings in place.  Since when did this become a major issue?

I got my eye glasses back yesterday.  Do you remember back in December when they got broken?  I finally gave up getting them repaired in Mexico and purchased a new pair in January.  It has take almost three weeks to get my glasses repaired here in Canada.  First the part was ordered and sent here to Kelowna but the optical company could not make the repair so they sent the part and my glasses back to Vancouver.  Turns out that Vancouver could not do the repair either so they were sent to Montreal.  Fianlly I have them back and I realized that the ones I had made in Mazatlan were not quite right.  Something about where my bifocal line sits.  Much easier to use the computer now and to read.

I had enough energy last night to make us a good meal using just left overs.  It really helps to keep a full fridge of good ingredients.

In addition to a good glass of vino blanco I added my special apron and was ready to cook!

Start by frying an onion with fresh zucchini, add chopped up precooked/ left over cauliflower and broccoli, a 1/4 of a baked potatoe found in the fridge, a bit of cooked rice and 1/2 cup of Mexican cheese. Add seven pre whisked eggs and let to start to set. Place your fry pan in a 400F oven until the eggs are set. Be sure you have an ovenproof frypan.

Voila my first ever frittata! An easy and filling dinner with left overs for 2 more meals.

..got to go or I will be late.  Adios for now and thanks for being there for me.

Tags: Family, food, friends, health, Mazatlan, Mexico, RV repairs, vino