5C's Que Pasa

On the 4th of February I was to take my computer in for repairs but the fellow had to postpone to Friday the 12th. He was supposed to call us when the parts were in.  We never heard from him all of last week despite leaving texts, voicemails and emails. We also did not have his address as he was working from home during Covid. The appointment was at 10AM. So I simply put his name in Google to try and find an address and was quite surprised at what I found. He has had several reports to the Better Business Bureau as well as many news articles. Turns out that he is shyster and is well know for not returning calls for months and months. Even worse if he has your computer, folks have waited over a year to get it back. He was in trouble for using the funds of a Go Fund Me that he did for friends. 10K simply gone. Allegedly the CRA ( Canada taxes ) took half of it due to an outstanding account. Remember the 2018 Humboldt Broncos crash. He started to sell T shirts on line to collect funds for the team. People sent in their money but never got the shirts.

As I was learning of this Colin received a text saying that he would have to cancel for yet another week. Phew!  Saved from a serious problem. We had already decided to not use him. Colin had taken on the chore of finding a repair place and had found this guy and it all appeared to check out on the surface. There are only a few choices here in Kelowna for computer repairs and my best solution was to go with Simply Computing who are still closed due to smoke damage from a fire. I can’t wait until sometime in March. So I Googled “repairs for Apple products in Kelowna” and came up with the perfect company. They have been in business since 2011, have a proper office, an outstanding website and are so very organized. We spoke on the phone for thirty minutes and this tech totally understood my needs and will simply clone my old hard drive onto the new one. He only charged a $70.00 diagnostic fee as a deposit which will go towards the entire repair. The final price is within a few dollars of the first quote. He is an authorized Apple technician. Gosh, I wish we had found him years ago. While I was still on the phone with him I got a receipt for the fee and a second email with a proper ticket number. He will do the repair on the same day. They are on the second floor and he offered to come down and carry the computer upstairs for us. Really nice guy. He has the SSD in stock but needs to order the RAM and Monday is a holiday here in our province and hopefully the Ram will come in on Tuesday. So it sounds like it will all work out.

I had a chiropractic appointment in Vernon at 11:30AM which we both forgot about as we chatted about the new tech. So suddenly it was rush rush rush to get out of the house. Something was wrong with the car.  The air ride suspension would not work and we were riding on the suspension. Rather bumpy. As we drove I called the Jeep dealership in Vernon and was told that likely the line was frozen due to the cold temperatures we have been having and we should put the car in a warm garage.  Sorry but we don’t have a garage.  He said not to drive it much as it might damage the suspension. We kept driving but carefully. The car did thaw out and started to work by the time we were ready to drive back to Kelowna. However we had the same problem when we went out on Saturday so the car will be going in Thursday morning.  There is a possibility of condensation being in the lines. The following photos are not directly related to my writing.

The edges of both Wood and Kalamalka lakes were frozen. I was on the phone with the Jeep dealership when I saw strange white wispy clouds hovering over Kalamalka. Wish I was better able to see it and get more shots. Must be something to do with the cold air hitting the lake. The chiropractor asked if we had seen it driving in.  She describes it as so beautiful that it brought tears to her eyes.

We had errands that needed to be done before we drove home. Colin made a point of putting the front of the car in the sun each time we stopped. At our first stop I discovered that I had left Fridays list at home and taken Saturdays list in error. So I sat and did my best to try and recreate the list. We forget a few minor items that we picked up Saturday. We had to pick something up at Canadian Tire and it turns out the item had gone up $10.00 as the sale ended Thursday. I even had the price on my iPhone but no go. So we left. While sitting in the car Colin decided to go back in to customer service and buy it anyway. The lovely lady said that she would honour the sale price 😀  Our last stop was to pick up dinner, I had forgotten but not Colin. We really enjoy Papa Murphy’s Take ‘N’ Bake pizza. They had a 20% off promotion for the Valentine weekend. Another savings. I like to add more cheese and it is a tasty meal. Sadly the franchise here is no longer operating so we only can get it when we are in Vernon.

Skaters going down the lake in the midst of snow flurries this morning. We could barely see them.

Finally we were on the highway headed for home, the sun was shining and the car was working properly. There was a large semi in the right lane slowly going up a hill.  We were already in the left lane when I screamed but Colin was already correcting. Thank goodness he is a two foot driver. Those extra seconds to move his foot from the gas pedal to the brake pedal might have been too late. There was a young lady driving a tiny blue car directly  behind the semi. I guess she was impatient with her slowed speed and she made a quick turn of the wheel towards our lane.  She never even shoulder checked  but just headed right towards us. Colin did what he had to do.  She must have been shaken as she pulled back in behind the semi. As we passed she was smiling and her male passenger was laughing.

Later this Valentine morning the snow changed to lovely fat flakes.

It took a few moments for me to settle. Colin is such a good driver. He is always watching and is prepared. We had to drop my books off at the library and finally got home. I was too worn out to post about the day.  Even posting about it now I am emotionally worn out. Yes Friday was certainly one of those days. To be honest I really did not want to go out again on Saturday but we have a few deadlines that we have to meet by next week end.

I hope that you all had a lovely Valentine’s Day. We were pleasantly surprised by some falling snow. So pretty to watch it fall. The temps rose a bit today and so it did eventually melt. Funny how after the arctic air, we now consider -8C/18F warm. The geese are just coming in now for the evening. We never saw them when it was so cold.

-47C is -52.6F.

Some fun thoughts for my American readers.

I have skipped over yesterdays ( Friday ) events.  Mostly because I still have not recovered from the day. Don’t worry, you will be getting the full story 😯  Today was another busy day for us. I can’t remember the last time we went out to do errands two days in a row.  Sometimes you have to do what you have to do. We were both so happy to be heading home.

As we neared home we could not believe how many cars were parked along the side of the road. Then we noticed the number of skaters.  I  guess folks are feeling confident that the ice is thick enough to use. Where else can they skate during Covid?  See that tree in the middle of the photo. Our home is to the left of the trunk, along the edge of the ice and the bottom of the hills.

From home and by zooming in quite a bit I was able to capture a few of them.

I saw smoke further back to our left and able to zoom in on this! I assumed that they were ice fishing.

Meanwhile the kids and grandkids of a couple who live here in that park were also taking advantage of a skate day. We are still very cold, 14F / -10C, but much warmer than the past several arctic like days we have been enduring.

Shortly after we finished disinfecting our groceries and putting them away I caught movement on the ice. An ATV with a snow plow in front towing a toboggan with what looked like a fire pit. I  hope that they were not dumping the wood or whatever they were burning into their ice fishing hole.

Innovative way to walk your dog. He glided along and the dog ran fast.

I am Sexy Heart Throb and Colin is Sexy Sweet Heart. Feel free to share your Cupid name.

Oh, yes that was me front left of the photo last post, wearing the white pantsuit.  I have no recollection of owning that outfit. I couldn’t have been more than nineteen.

It has been so cold that at times we can hear the lake ice expanding and contracting. We finally figured out what that odd sound we kept hearing was. It is our house expanding and contracting. The noise starts just as the sun is setting and the temps get even colder. It certainly looks like a beautiful day out there until one opens the door. I haven’t been outside all week. I saw someone walking today, she was fighting the wind and had  her head totally wrapped up with only her eyes peeking out. She did not look like she was enjoying her walk. I also saw a couple give their wee dog a walk, they were bundled up but the pup did not even have a sweater on 😥 We remain cold, very cold. Yesterday they even shut down some chairlifts at Big White because is was too cold.

Someone is attempting to organize a 50th high school reunion in Edmonton for May 1st. I know that I won’t be there.  Can you find me in this photo?

Of course I had more computer challenges.  Turns out that one problem that I have been working on for a few weeks is not fixable. I would have to delete Safari and all of my passwords in order to repair the problem. I have decided to just live with the problem. Not sure that I can recall all the passwords that are stored in this computer. Not worth the risk. It took 50 minutes to sort out my Fitbit problem. Basically I had to reinstall Fitbit Connect and start over. In the back of my mind I vaguely recall that one of the Apple techs had me shut down that app. Well at least I am once again functioning in that department.

Someone here in the park actually went outside ( unlike myself ) and got some good photos of the Rescue training exercises.

Before Christmas I had made my favourite shortbread cookie recipe which we really enjoyed. However I got confused and purchased ingredients for an English shortbread cookie that uses pastry flour and icing sugar. Not wanting to waste the ingredients we decided to make the English shortbread yesterday. Even though the recipe is hand-written I am not certain that I ever made it before. It calls for 3 to 4 cups of flour and talks about the dough being like pie pastry consistency but not dry. By the time I had put in 3 cups I could barely stir the mix any more so decided that was enough floor. I was mixing everything by hand.  So we started to bake the cookies but they all came out rather flat.  I don’t think that is how they were suppose to look.  I kept making larger dough balls to put on the cookie sheet but in the end they all flattened out. No matter how they look they are very very tasty. I guess I should have used more flour.

February 9th, 2020. I am doing ever so much better a year later in every which way.

February 23rd, 2020.

Hopefully now in 2021 we will have light at the end of the tunnel.

This post is going to include random thoughts and photos. The photos are some that I have wanted to include in the post for a few months. I am not very perky these days, rather more cranky. Most of it stems from the retirement of our financial advisor the end of December and the unexpected announcement of the retirement of our long time accountant. Both have sold their businesses to employees that they have mentored for a number of years. That does give us some continuity but suddenly we are having to deal with new very young ( well to us they are ) folks who like to do things in their modern way including zoom meetings, electronic this and that. We are happy to continue to proceed as we have been for all these years.  Guess we will have to train them how to do things our way.

Reflection taken on October 19th.

This is a photo of a reconocimiento /certificate of recognition that I was awarded ( me and my friends – those that contributed ) to help the people in need of food on the Isla from April to July because of Covid. It is issued from the Colonias Association on the Isla. I was so humbled to receive this.  The actual certificate is somewhere on the Isla. Hopefully I will catch up to it eventually.

Again today I spent a few intense hours online trying to sort out problems in two areas. One involved 75 minutes with yet another Apple support tech. Turns out that my problem is nothing that can be fixed. My head is spinning. At least I can let that problem go. I really don’t need nor want to do complicated anything. I have earned my relaxation time yet it seems that everyday something new needs  2- 4 hours of my time. I am tired of sitting at the computer. We never know from day to day what is coming next but it is always something. Last week I noticed that Fitbit is no longer on my iPhone nor my desktop. I simply don’t have the energy to spend at least an hour with a tech. But I really like to see my steps charted, it inspires me to move even more. Mind you, who can move while tethered to a desk and computer. Another thing that came up today was a problem with our bank re a deposit.  Another phone call, more time on the computer, another hour wasted. Is it just me or does everyone go through  this?

A different view of our home from the beach next to the golf course. Taken in November. You can see our peaked roof just past the stepped down cedar hedge with our new fence sticking out.

Also taken October 19, 2020. I just love the cloud reflection in the lake.

Normally I can handle all these issues but of late I have little energy and perhaps Covid brain, whatever that means. I keep getting mixed up in what year it is. My main thing is that I didn’t know what happened to 2020. I had to think about it. On January 3rd 2020 I had emergency knee surgery and before I had recovered from that, we were quickly packing up to head home because our government asked us all to return to Canada because of Covid. I spent until early July moping about until we really got into the growth of our garden. The summer was fine but in the last few months we had to deal with a new fence and all that entailed and then that stupid digging to find a water drain. Then Christmas which was great, all the lights, Christmas movies and just our happiness. Oh and great cookies and Christmas cake that we baked. Fortunately spring is just around the corner.

This is the butternut cauliflower coconut curry that I made a few days ago. I posted the recipe within the past few weeks. I served it with rice on the side. It was very very good.

Click here for the recipe.

Today we woke up to -22C/-7.6F. In a word, cold. Late last night Colin had noticed that the temperature sensor in our on demand hot water heater area was getting low. So he took out the curly lightbulb that was in there and put in a real lightbulb. The temperature rose as expected. This morning he checked it at 6AM and it was only -1.6C/29F. So he ran the hot water tap in the kitchen for a while until the temperature rose. Of course with it being so cold out he waited until this afternoon to go and put a second light in the area. The water heater sits in a box lined with two inch blue styrofoam which is flush to the house but it does not have a heat source. Of course it is aways blown out before we head south for the winter. I read today on the park FB page that at least six people had frozen pipes this morning. Others had simply left an indoor tap dripping all night. We will be fine tonight. At no point has the temperature under the house dropped below 41F. Colin did insist on a good deal of insulation when we built this house because of the wind off the lake. We have no heat on at night. In the morning we use the furnace, fireplace and three oil burner heaters to bring the temperature up to 70F.  Then because we have so much sunshine we shut all heat sources off between 9:30AM and 4:30PM.

Another fall sunset, taken November 8th.

Let’s hope that this is not the same for 2021.

My father often used the expression hodge- podge.

We stopped at a Dollar Store Friday. Okay I get the Valentines Day stuff, but St. Patricks Day! To the extreme right between the pink/red Valentine merchandise  and the Pepsi sign are Easter egg flowers. I guess business is slow but this it too much.  Actually I am never here at this time of year so perhaps this is normal??

We all want spring to come soon. Many people were shopping for garden seeds and supplies. I think I will wait a bit longer.

A few days ago it was 48F/9C. We had water just off our beach. Hmm perhaps spring was on its way.

Yes that is someone in a hole in the ice. Now the team has to rescue him.

The Lake Country Fire Department was training on the ice both yesterday, Saturday and today, Super Bowl Sunday.

No one else on the lake except for some Trumpeter Swans ( mid left ) which we heard as they came in to land.  That was a thrill. The tiny black dot on the right of the shot, in the white section, is a coyote.

In fact two coyotes were sniffing around. The swans were onto them and ready to flee if necessary.

I saw one of the coyotes turn his back to the swans as if to say, if I can’t see them they can’t see me. He finally gave up and sauntered over to the land. This is the exact area where all the people are usually skating and playing hockey.  The coyote is 1/3 in from the right towards centre, just at the ice and shoreline. He disappeared into the trees.

Tonight will be our first blast of the arctic cold that has covered most of our province.  We are to get temperatures between 10 – 20 degrees cooler than normal. No snow, but a good deal of sunshine which will give us some solar heat here in the house. Love the sun coming thru all the windows. Tonight we are going down to -16C/3.2F and at least down to -26C/-14.8F on Wednesday. Our high for tomorrow with the windchill with be -18C/-0.4F. Good thing we don’t have to go out for anything and are well stocked. So far it is going to be an eight day deep freeze.

It was -48C/-54.4 this morning in Edmonton, Alberta with the windchill. It did warm up to -37C/-34.6F.  I keep thinking about my friends who normally winter in Phoenix. They must not be too happy.  Now that is something to complain about 😥 Well actually it is going to get worse, they have been issued an extreme weather warning, frostbite in minutes. Tonight they are going down to -52C/-61.6F. I used to live in Edmonton and I don’t ever recall temperatures that low. Sending all my Edmonton friends warm hugs.