September in a Nutshell

In some ways this has been a very quick month, in others it was long.   Long was because we did a lot in September, short because, well, at this age time does seem to fly by.

First there was moving.  Moving wore us both out more than either of us realized.

Disassembling the recliner

Loading up the motorhome

Even the car was loaded

August and September were harvest months and I don't like anything to go to waste.  Canning and freezing.  We even made prunes.  We did our best to eat all the vegetables and even made grape juice.  Our friend just gave us another box of apples which I will get to tomorrow.

Tomatoes became sauce and canned tomatoes

Peaches became jam, preserves and frozen

Plums became prunes

We made a quick trip to Manitoba to see our daughter Charlette, her husband and their two teenaged sons.  They had just acquired a big dog, Ken, to add to their 3 cats and a rabbit.




In September we were thrilled to find a doctor.  Dr. Mackay 
(pronounced the Scottish way Ma key).  He and his family are not long from Scotland.  He seems like a real go-getter .   He had me going for  blood tests, chest x-rays and I had a trip to the Sleep Clinic (no fun believe me).  I have a follow-up appointment coming up and will have some kind of contraption to help me breath properly.

I was excited to find a quilting class, two mornings a week for the month of October.  And then it was cancelled due to lack of interest.  I will teach myself with the help of YouTube.

Seems strange but suddenly there is wild life all over.  Quail to torment Zoe in the yard.

And deer in the yard to show us that we have to put more fence in if we expect to grown vegetables.  

Not a good picture but that's what you get when you have to run, get the camera and shoot.

We have joined the garden club and went to our second meeting Thursday night.  Seems like a very fun group of men and women.  

Driving home after the garden club meeting we hit a raccoon on the highway.  Sorry guy but hey you cross a highway with a 100 km speed limit after dark chances are....

Strangely enough the following night, there were 7 or 8 raccoons on the deck outside our bedroom.  Doug took a bunch of pictures but we have screens on the windows and not one turned out.  He thinks the raccoons are seeking revenge.

Yesterday I got a tattoo.  Something I have been thinking about for a while.  Neither of us want to grow old so we do things that younger people do.  I chose to memorialize our cat Zoe.  I was amazed that it did not hurt at all.  Not at all.  I am so pleased.  The tattoo artist, a girl, was great. She made the stencil from pictures I shared with her.  The resemblance is unreal.

Monday will be the first day of October.  Let's see what we can get up to then.

A SHORT TRIP - A LONG WAY

We needed to make a short/long trip.  Our daughter who lives in Neepawa, Manitoba bought a new house and we wanted to see it.

So we packed up the motor home and headed out across the prairies.  

We expected to come across one or two wild fires.  We saw the smoking remains of one near Salmo, BC.  The highway seemed to work as a fire break as there were smoldering remains on one side and no evidence of fire on the other.

We spend the first night in an RV park in Fort McLeod and the second in another park in Moose Jaw.

We arrived in Neepawa, saw the house, hung out with the family and stayed in Riverbend Campground where we spend time the year before.

We did not take our car with us so we used theirs for a couple of errands.

And then....

We really, really missed our new house and headed home.

THE NEW HOUSE - We're in!

Monday evening we picked up the key to the new house in Summerland and dropped off a car load of boxes.  Tuesday morning we were on our way by 7:30 am with load after load of belongings.  I drove the car, packed to the rafters.  The motor home made a great moving truck.   We finished about suppertime.  

The next morning, the true moving began.  I had to be at the new house by 8:00 am because the Cable Guy was coming.  Doug rushed back to Penticton to pick up the rental van.  He met with our neighbour, Laura, and her pick up truck.  Together they brought one load each.  The big stuff was done so Laura was off.  Doug and the rental van brought two more loads.  Then we took the rental van back and made a Walmart run for a few needed household things.

The rest of this entry will be pictures with explanations.  Needless to say after 4 days of moving, unpacking and set up, we are exhausted.

The dining room.  The box on the wall above the sideboard is the central air-conditioning.  There is a separate unit in all the upstairs rooms which are independently controlled.

The living room. You can see the motorhome out the window. 

The kitchen.

The kitchen from the dining room.  Love the fact that there is so much counter space for baking and cooking.  The backside of the island is full of deep drawers.  The door beside the stove is a pantry with loads of shelves.

The deck.  Proper deck furniture to be purchased soon.  See the lake in the background

The hot tub is behind the louvered wall

Our bedroom.  Love blue-grey paint.  There is a deck off it too.

In addition there are two more bedrooms, a huge family room and a room that we have decided to call the library.  It will have a huge wall of books and this is the room with the working wood-burning fireplace.  These rooms are not yet furnished but we are working on that.  There is also another full bathroom and a fully kitted out workshop and the garage is also full of cupboards and shelves.

We have met a few neighbours but so far only cats and birds.

A very cool picture of a neighbourhood cat checking us out.