A GREAT SUMMER

Once the warm weather arrived, the summer was fantastic!  The veggies in the garden perked right up and flourished all season.  I still have peppers, tomatoes, zucchini, cabbage, tomatillos, squashes and carrots in the garden, no frost yet.

We golfed more than ever this year, clocking over 40 rounds so far and hopefully, more rounds in early October.  It was good to have the balance between recreation and “work” at home.  

Painted all of the exterior doors in the house and the shop (6 man doors and 2 overhead doors)

Colour Before

We also went out boating on Christina Lake more times this year and swimming was pleasant.

One of Stuart’s projects was to replace all the valves in the 9 zone irrigation system.  He did the first 4 valves in one manifold box individually and it was tedious.  So for the second manifold box of 5, he built the entire manifold in the shop where it was easier to work.  Then he cut all the pipes, dug up the manifold box and inserted the new build.  It worked well, much easier to do and no leaks in any of the valves.

We have no idea if or when we might be able to return to our RV lot in Arizona so we are moving ahead with home plans for the next few months.  It will be nice to take our time getting the outside winterizing done and not be in a hurry to put the plants to bed for the winter.  We do have a new inside project in the works right now and will update the blog when that is done.

Take care and stay safe.

FLOORING IS FINISHED

We’re happy to report that we officially finished installing our flooring on June 13 and the end result is great.  We had some delays with delivery to Home Hardware and the last box wasn’t delivered until a week ago.  Before that box was delivered there were only 4 rows to complete, so installed most of the trim in the rest of the rooms before then.  Such a good feeling to be done and to put all the tools away.

BEFORE

Now we’re taking it easy with the usual golf, gardening and small projects.  The weather has been cool and very wet, not good for the garden.  The peas and other leafy vegetables are doing well, the peppers and cucumbers look very sad.  Oh well, warmer weather is on the way!

Yesterday, we went to Kelowna to do some shopping—first time out of town since we arrived home in March.  The drive was okay, rain for parts of it but nice to see the trees and rivers.  Shopping wasn’t all that great—too many people in Costco, no physical distancing or following the arrows.  

We’re happy to return to our small town where people are more respectful of the rules.

So that’s it for now.  No major projects in the near future, but I’m sure we’ll come up with something.

KEEPING BUSY AT HOME

Well, so far we are healthy and adapting to the changes in our community during this pandemic.  Stuart shops for groceries once a week and we’ve limited our other shopping to the hardware store and building supply stores.

Fortunately, our golf course opened up in mid-April and we have been out 2 or 3 times a week since then.  Play has been restricted to members only and it’s been fun to get out in the fresh air.  We adjusted to the reduced facilities (no restaurant, no putting green, no benches, no ball washers, clubhouse restroom only) and find that it’s quite easy to keep your distance from the other golfers.  A bit of sanity in this crazy world.

At home, we’re moving ahead with the gardening, a little later than last year.  I had to heat the greenhouse for more hours each night but most things sprouted and are growing well.  Yesterday, I put the first of the bedding plants in the garden, the ones that don’t mind the cooler temperatures.  It will be another week or 2 before I plant out the tomatoes and peppers.  I did a better job of managing the number of plants but I still gave away a large box of extras to our neighbour.

So the big job this year is flooring in the dining room, living room and master bedroom.  We’ve never been really happy with the condition and colour of the maple hardwood and didn’t want to go through the lengthy process of refinishing it.  Instead, we are installing luxury vinyl plank on top of the hardwood and it’s been a good project so far.

We planned to take our time with all the phases and are re-constructing a few things along the way.  Last week, we hit a snag with multiple boxes of defective finishes on the planks so we are waiting for the replacement boxes to be delivered, hopefully today or tomorrow.  No shortage of things to do, so thankful that we have a house and yard. 

Stay tuned and I will give you an update as things progress.

CHANGE OF PLANS

We had originally planned to start our trip home on this date (Mar 23) until the whole coronavirus situation blew up.  On March 13 our resort announced that they’d be shutting down all the activities and facilities on the following Monday, so we started packing up and making arrangement for the trip home.

We were able to prepare the RV, shed and the lot for the summer and pack the truck in 2 days.  We didn’t take many photos as we were working steadily but here’s the painted outside kitchen covers (new project).

This time, we took the route through central Nevada spending the first night in Ely, NV and the second night in Pendleton, OR.  We’d made reservations before leaving and were pleased with the hotel in Ely.  It was a new Holiday Inn Express and they were working hard to keep everything sanitized.  In Pendleton at the same chain hotel, they had shut down all the facilities including the hot breakfast so all we got was access to a room.  Lots of construction workers staying at the hotel were unhappy about that as well as the travelling guests.

We knew that we needed to buy groceries on the way home as we had nothing there but canned and dry goods.  Also, we knew that we’d have to self-isolate for 14 days after crossing the border.  So, we shopped in Pendleton for meat, cheese, dairy and eggs where we could find it.  That was a challenge as shelves were empty but between 2 major stores, we did get most of what we needed.  We topped that up by stopping at another grocery store in a small town further north in Washington state.

So, we arrived home last Wednesday and have been busy ever since.  After unpacking and settling in, we started on outside projects like clearing snow and getting some seeds planted.  I went ahead and planted peas and leafy greens in my squash bed, which is in full sun and I also have some things planted in pots in the greenhouse.  It’s been cold at night, so I’ve been bringing the pots into the house.  A bit of work but it’s good to get an early start with the hot peppers.

We have plenty of other projects both inside and out to keep us busy until we can get out to the grocery store again.  Other than shopping for food, we have no plans to go anywhere else for the foreseeable future.  Hope you are all keeping your safe distance away from people.

Here are some photos of our last 2 hikes in Arizona which were great fun.

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A TIME TO PLANT

All is well here, having fun and getting plenty of exercise.  The days are mostly sunny now and getting up to 20 in the afternoons but down to 5 to 7 degrees at night.  Spring is on the way!!

Not many projects left to do for this year.  We built a box with a lid to cover the water pipes coming up from the ground.  This will protect them from the sun and the frost as well as looking tidier.

We’ve been on the lookout for cactus cuttings to plant in a couple of areas of our lot and picked up 4 of them from a maintenance worker at the dumpsters.  We had to leave them for 2 weeks to “heal” over the cut ends and then planted them about a foot deep in the ground.  It will take a while to determine if they are putting out roots, might have to wait until the fall to see what’s happening.

We have friends from home coming for a short visit and then back to the routine.  Won’t be long before the go to our Grand Forks home countdown begins!

WINDING DOWN ON WORK

Time is just flying!!  It’s been a cold winter so far, night temperatures of 2 to 3 C for almost 2 weeks.  Some days, it was warmer at home in the morning!!  Here, it was sunny most of the time so that helped a lot and we could still play pickleball and get out for walks, etc.

I’m still tap dancing with the group and we have about 8 new dancers.  Great fun and exercise.  There are no club performances this year so we’re working on a routine for next year.  However, there is a club fair this Friday and we’ll be performing one of our routines as a demo.  No costumes, no pressure.

Our project list is getting shorter and we’ve been knocking them off steadily.  We’ve also made some purchases to make life more comfortable here.

NEW SHOE RACK

CAN YOU SPOT THE DIFFERENCE?

(Answer:  we extended the landing area)

INSTALLING A NEW OUTSIDE FAUCET

TOOL BOX CADDY

HAD TO REPLACE THE OLD COMPRESSOR WITH THIS ONE

UPGRADED THE LIVING ROOM FURNITURE

We’re past the halfway point of our winter stay and will soon be thinking about spring things.  Hope the snow melts before we get home!