Winter 2012

So after much harrasment from you know who I am updating our blog.

We have now been in our "new to us" home for a year and much has change. We have been busy on the inside first of all removing a decorative beam that went from side to side which did nothing. After that was done we changed the lights in the kitchen as niether of us liked them.
We converted part of the room that was the laundry into a small office for Susan so now she has her very own computer of which she is quite happy about. We are now in the process of remodelling the living room to reduce the length of the windows. Sound weird I know but there is really no need to have windows that stop about 18 inches from the floor. So what we are doing is leaving the windows in place but closing them in with gyproc for about 30 inches from the bottom. This way it will look like we have shorter windows and more solid wall. Who wants to look down onto the ground anyway??
Thats about it for the inside for now I am sure.

Now the outside, the deck has been completed with railing and glass panel inserts and we have put up a cover over half of it which looks pretty good even though I say it myself. We have also removed a lot of the cedar hedging and replaced it with cedar fence panels as you can see in the pictures. Susan had a pretty good year with her garden boxes, growing tomatoes, swiss chard, beans and peas etc. This coming spring we are going to build a small greenhouse so she can hopefully grow more vegies etc.

 

Our apricot tree was loaded with fruit, some of which we ate and some we dried for the winter. We also were able to go and pick about 200 pounds of cherries. A friend has an orchard and the cherries were not worth picking because of the low prices so we picked them. Susan and I juiced most of them but we also froze a lot after our friend Meip helped her pit them. Yes they must have pitted around 50-75 pounds. We are now using the frozen cherries and boy are they ever yummy. She also dried a lot of apples and peaches also.

Since our last blog entry which was a year ago we have purchased a new to us pick up and trailer. We had hoped to use them this winter by going south but my health this year would not allow it. So hopefully next year we can so we meet up with our good friends in the USA and have a fun winter. Man we are looking forward to doing that.

Well we hope you all have a good Christmas and we wish you all happiness and the best of luck in the new year.
Stay safe and keep warm.

As you are all aware we have not gone south this winter. We purchased our park model and have been busy changing things and getting it arranged to suit us. So far the weather has been pretty good except for one overnight when we woke up to -17.5c. which was pretty cold. After discovering that our water had frozen I went outside to investigate and found that something had nibbled at the insulation around the water line. So out came the hair dryer and I slowly defrosted it and then re wrapped it with insulation.

As for some of the changes we have made, the hedging outside our living room windows have now been removed and we have installed cedar fencing which gives us a better view of the river. As you can see above. We did start to stain the lattice top but stopped as we are not sure if we like the color.
We have also installed the deck along with Susan's new garden box, but we have yet to put the railing up as we have not decided yet how we are going to do it, so we used some pieces of the old fence as a temporary railing.

Here are a couple of pictures after the dump of snow we received, it was about 3 inches. As you can see it is quite picturesque.

Now that the snow has all gone we can now finish off organising the shed and shop so we can start unpacking our storage trailer. That is going to be fun as there are boxes packed up in it that have been packed for 10 years. More about that in the next blog update.
Thats all for now so until next time safe travels and keep warm.

OK, so it has been almost a year since we last posted. A lot has changed since then and I am going to explain what has been going on in our lives.
As you all know we bought a lot at SunKatchers in Keremeos which we just love, and now it is time for change. No we are not leaving SunKatchers, just moooving on up to another lot with a Park Model already on it. Whilst we were south last winter Susan explained that she was done with living in a motor home and I agreed, so we decided to look for a park model. First we started looking at putting a unit on our present lot which was feasable but we really wanted a lot facing the river.
We have been very lucky in selling the motor home and our present lot to a nice lady from Mission who wants to start doing what we have been doing for the past 10 years. After agreeing with her to buy our lot we negotiated with a couple in the park that have been trying to sell their park model facing the river. So on October 1st we become the proud owners of a park model facing the river. Our address will not change just the lot number, but so there is no confusion the complete address is as follows.

#107-4155 Highway 3 West
Keremeos, BC.
V0X1N1

Phone #250-499-2065 Ext.107

Top picture is a view to the front.

2nd picture is a view from the river.

3rd picture is a view from the east side.

4th picture is a view standing where the top picture was taken from.

Last but not least a view towards the river from where our deck will be.

So now you all know what is happening with us as far as living accomadation goes.

As we have sold the motor home we will not be going south this year at least not for 6 months, but we will probably go south for a month or so maybe around February.

Thats about it from here, so take care all of you and even though we are not travelling this year please stay in touch. You are always welcome to come and visit as we still have hook-ups for you.

Gaia & Rob's Wedding Day 10.10.2010

 On this date  Gaia & Rob were married in Kelowna BC.
 The happy occasion took place at  Gelatley Regional Park which is on Okanagon Lake.
 The weather was chilly but bright and the sun came out at the right time. There were many family and friends  present to witness this happy occasion.
The weekend started with a meet & greet at the couples suite at the Cove Resort Hotel on Saturday evening. The wonderful food that Colin, the Best man and his partner Rita had helped to prepare was enjoyed by all, and there was not a drop of bad wine to be had.
  The ceremony which took place the folowing day was informal and moving with family and friend's interacting within the ceremony.

Gaia's Parents - Susan Kennard & Wayne Marsden

  Whilst the happy couple were off getting pictures taken the guest's moved to the reception which started out  at Quail's Gate Winery. There we were all treated to canape's and champagne which was really nice. After the couple arrived more pictures were taken with family and friends using the winery slopes as background.

Gaia - The BEAUTIFUL Bride



Rob - The LUCKY Groom



Susan & Heinz Mueller  - Rob's parents

After all the pictures had been taken and talking was done we returned to the hotel where they had prepared a wonderful BBQ for all their guests.
  We are of course not prejudiced but the bride was the most beautiful we have seen and the groom the most handsome.
It was wonderful to see Susan & Heinz again as well as meeting Rob's brothers and other members of his family. We hope to see them all again in the near future, and  feel very fortunate to have them as part of our family.
   It was the BEST Thanksgiving we have ever had!!

This is what has been happening since the last post in August.

At our new place in Keremeos we have done some additions to give Susan more gardening space and also giving our sun-room more shade.
We left home on the 25th October as we saw SNOW on the mountains. Stopped overnight the first night in Omak Washington at the casino. Next morning we started our drive heading towards Pendelton Oregon. On the way we stopped and picked up some apples at 20cents a pound. We reached Pendelton and stopped at the casino which is a great place to stop.
After a rather good nights sleep we started off the next morning and finished our day after a good days drive in Jerome which is in Idaho. The driving through Boise was rather nerve racking with all the road construction going on but we got through it. This night we stayed at the Walmart which was fine.
Next morning it was on to Nevada area. We checked our info books and decided on a rest area just before Overton, but just before the rest area we noticed some people parking in a Wild Life Refuge. So we decided to stay at the rest area and the next morning we drove back 6 miles to the Refuge and drove through it. Well it was beautiful so we decided to stay a few days. We were parked right next to the lake where we could watch the birds and the other wildlife. We were also able to ride our bikes around the lake which we did a couple of times. This place was really amazing, the camping spots were large and it was FREE so we stayed for 5 days. However a funny thing happened whilst we were there. We were sitting in the MH when there was a knock on the door, so we opened the door and low and behold the 2 people standing there were Terry & Wayne Bevington from our park in Keremeos.
After our stay at the Refuge we moved onto Overton for and overnight where we saw Wayne & Terry once again. Did some laundry and grocery shopping before moving on.

Next stop was Las Vegas Bay State Park where we decided we would stay for 4 nights. Whilst here we visited the Hoover Dam which is very impressive. As you can see in the picture's, they built a new bridge to go over the dam after 911. That was the bridge we drove over to continue our journey. VERY impressive.
So after staying for 5 nights, we extended by 1 night as it became very windy we left Las Vegas Bay and headed for Wickenburg which is in Arizona. Hooray warm and sunny. We boondocked in Wickenburg on Vulture Mine Road for 3 days which is not bad.
After leaving VM Road we travelled down to Casa Grande where we have been staying with some good friend's Ken & Joanne Parson's at their house in Arizona City. After a great week with them we are leaving this morning and heading for Green Valley and Tucson and Benson for a while before heading to Yuma.
Until next time.

So here we are in the Sooke Basin on Vancouver Island. The weather is great but the fishing really is slow, but it will pick up soon. We hear that the salmon are moving down the coast.

Susan is on the East coast in Nova Scotia enjoying her visit with our good friend's Anne & Peter. She will be there until the end of the month. We will be staying here in Sooke until the end of the month also.

Top picture is Dave's boat which we live on. Middle picture is a sunrise shot from the swim grid. And the last picture is our home on the water with our fishing boat tied alongside.

So it has been 9 months since we last posted and a lot has happened in our lives since then. The last post was when we were in Utah with Tim & Jan and what a great time we had. The scenery is fabulous and should never be missed if you ever have the opportunity to visit. Here are some pictures of Capitol Reef area.

From Utah we headed for Benson and the SKP park as we had volunteered to be their "security" in the storage area. We arrived at the park and set up in the storage area. This was home for 4 months, and we were not sure about being in the same place for that period of time. However the winter went well except for the cold and the wind and the rain. But as usual there were enough of our good American and Canadian friends to keep us occupied and busy. There was always something going on in the park and the lot owners always made the time and effort to include us.
We left Benson early March as we had to be home in BC no later than the 23rd. as that would be when our 180 days were up.
After we arrived back in BC we drove up to Keremeos to look at our potential 'new' home. It is located in a park based on the Escapee's parks and that suits us.
After all was said and done we decided to purchase, so we did. We moved onto our 'new home lot' at the beginning of June after I had gone prawn and halibut fishing, which by the way was a success as usual.
So here we are up in Keremeos in the southern Okanagan enjoying our new home in the "heat".

As you can see above we have a really nice lot which we are happy with.

Since we have been here we have had a few visitors which has been very enjoyable.

Our next adventure begins on Tuesday July 20th when Susan flies to Nova Scotia to visit a close friend and I am going fishing with a close friend. Neither of us will return before August 30th which means we are gone for about 6 weeks.