5C's Que Pasa

…here in Kelowna and the Okanagan in general we are in the midst of severe thunderstorms and record amounts of  falling rain.  We haven’t seen the high winds nor the hail yet but I suspect we will soon.

This is an alert to the potential development of severe thunderstorms with large hail and damaging winds. The rain is predicted to continue until midnight.

The rain chain is not keeping up.  Good news is that we have a second one to install but it only came today.  The girls are each hiding in two different areas of house.  It is their first big thunderstorm here.  I can’t find Carmeh’s thundershirt and I think in might be in the RV.  Just waiting for Colin to get home.

Lots of water.

It is snowing once again on the Coquihalla HIghway and the storm drain in front of the house is under water.

No Mom update other than she had the test this morning but no results yet.

Tags: 319, health

We had a to do list for the weekend but most of the things that we did were not on that list.

Colin wanted to finally get our pictures put up. As we have limited wall space we had to carefully choose which ones were going to be put up.

Once we decided which picture went were he had to make some meticulous calculations so that the final effect was perfect. While he was doing that I caught up on my mending. No sooner had I repaired the yellow toy in Carmeh's mouth that I noticed she had another toy just waiting for me to mend! She loves to pull all that fluffy stuffing out.

Once we finished inside we went out and did a few jobs in the yard.  We brought 150 feet of warm white rope lights back from Yuma.  I had found a deal online for $65.00.  We also put up our solar lights and the yard did look nice last night.  I am trying to keep it simple this year and decided to take out my one flower garden ( I had 7 in the other yard ) and not put in roses.  Instead soil and weeds were removed and we are waiting for our landscaper to bring in a load of Oyama shale.

Meanwhile I could not wait so we placed some of our stuff in that area. It actually looks pretty good so once we have the shale in place we will properly position everything and add some interesting stones.

We have boxes of shells from wherever we have travelled in Mexico and I put this little centre piece together for our patio table. Usually I just leave the bowl empty. The bowl is from Acapulco, the gravel type sand from San Carlos and the shells from four different beaches.

Meanwhile the girls hunted for snakes in the rocks.

Mom Update:  She is still 50/50 but hanging in.  She can now have liquid foods and jello ( how nutritious ! ).  She is still bleeding from her right lung and tomorrow they will do a special test to check that out.

Tags: 319, Family, garden, health, Mexico, The girls

We were invited to a 70th birthday celebration Saturday night.  But first right after the garage sale clean up we went shopping.

Colin had popped into the Santa Fe store a few days ago and had found a piece of art he thought might be perfect for our new home. So armed with the $58.00 profit from the garage sale we went shopping and we spent about 13.5 times that much and filled up the back of the car. That fellow should look much happier considering what we had just purchased.

You are going to have to wait to see what we bought.  All I can say is we bought Mexican art in Kelowna!  The owner goes to Mexico every few months and brings back all these treasures.  I have to say it is the best collection of a variety of Mexican products in one location that I have ever seen in a Canadian or USA store and the prices are beyond reasonable.  So we rushed home, unloaded the car and got ready to party!!  We both really needed to unwind and to be honest we both really did.

Our neighbour Diane had created the most wonderful evening to celebrate her husband's 70th complete with a gourmet sit down dinner for fourteen. She is already known as the hostess with the mostess but she surpassed herself Saturday evening. The food was delicious and the wine was generous and we all had a very happy time.

Colin decided to become Diane’s kitchen helper, table setter and photographer while I sat and indulged in both the food and wine and just relaxed.

I was truly able to relax and I felt good and did finally have a great sleep last night.

Dan the birthday boy who kept saying he was only 69 and his lovely wife Diane who created the evening and did all of the cooking. Seven candles, one for each decade!!

As Dan opened his gifts, Diane passed around the cake. Oh, she made 3 different types of cake. I had to pass on the cakes which everyone said were delicious due to my gluten situation but I did have some of that creamy vanilla ice cream.

Several hours later we meandered home….we only live a few home away:)

Tags: friends, Holiday Park, Wine

I think today may have been our 3rd in a row but possibly our 4th.  Each time we say never again.  But we have so much neat stuff to sell.  Last May we had tons of stuff which netted us a nice sum.  Most of that was from the packing up of the house as we moved into the RV for the year.  This time we have stuff that won’t fit into our new home.

But really the weather could have been better.  In addition to the wind, we had some showers ( hence the umbrellas ) and it was chilly.

We didn't have too much too sell. The entire RV Park was doing the garage sale so it was good for those living outside of the park to come and search for bargains. There were over 60 people selling things.

What surprised us was that, that unopened pink bag of insulation in the foreground never sold.  50% off!!

We did make $58.00 ( as opposed to just over $300.00 last May ) and in unpacking our things I found $60.00 worth of things that I would have had to re purchase because of my upcoming hip surgery so that was a savings.  We also kept a few things aside for Mexico and the rest will be donated to charity.

Honestly we are done.  No more garage sales.  Ever!

MOM UPDATE:  She has been moved to a real bed in a real hospital ward.  She is asking for a toothbrush and a hair brush.  Positive signs to all of us.

Tags: Holiday Park

It was an eventful evening and night.  The family were called in at 1230AM to say their goodbyes to Mom.  Meanwhile I called the hospital and found out that she was still in Emergency.  I spoke to Mom’s nurse who explained why the family had been called in.  My reply was that for my Mom that was healthy!!!!!!!!  She hadn’t had vital signs that good in a long time.  Mom now has a ‘bad’ pneumonia, when is it ever good?  She is on heavy IV antibiotics.  I feel so bad that my family had to go out in the middle of the night for a false alarm but then you never know.  It was 3:30AM Edmonton time when my sister called to let me know the outcome.

So here it is 13 hours later and she is still in the ER as there are no beds available in the hospital.  I just spoke with Dad who says she seems very alert.  He is exhausted but relieved that she is better.  Now we just have to take it one day at a time.

I spent today at my desk trying to catch up on paperwork but I need another 8 hours of work to finish.  I think I am moving at a slower speed.  Colin was out all day meeting clients and doing job quotes.  The girls have been unsettled but of course they are picking up stress vibes from me.

The great news is that the big long weekend is here aka the first big camping weekend of the season.  Our park is filling up and people are walking around, biking and just having an excellent time.

This couple had their 2 children out in a canoe several times today and I could hear their happy chatter as I sat at my desk.

Sadly our neighbors bird house fell into the lake and floated away. You can see the small black mid photo between the 2 sets of geese. I don't think there were any babies inside as they had just put it up two days ago.

That is it for today.  Colin is bring home some fresh wild salmon to BBQ so we shall be feasting tonight.

Thank you all for your comments and personal emails.  It means a great deal and it is comforting.  So many of you have already gone through this process. The fact that you survived and you are such wonderful friends is a huge comfort to me and I know that with your help I will persevere.

Hasta manana!

Tags: Duck Lake, emergency, Family, health