Author: Contessa Jewall

What can I say other then busy busy busy?  We leave in 16 sleeps including today, the last day of September 😯 Where has the month gone? Fortunately the RV is perfectly ready to be on the road. Somehow we just need to load it and figure out where to put all of our stuff. Colin is already saying that I can’t bring this nor that 🙄  Well, time will tell.

I have done some special food shopping for things that we can’t get there. I know that we can get some vegetarian items there but I am not current on that and I am certain that there are many I am not aware of. As you know over the past few years I haven’t been very mobile because of my knee so I need to get out there and check things out. This is probably a good time to let you know that I have not done my kinesiology exercises for 7 days. Yes please tell me that I am bad. Somehow I have to find the strength and time do to them everyday. Otherwise there will be no beach walking nor shopping for me. Colins has been suggesting I do them but honestly I am way too tired. I will try again tonight 😥 I can feel the difference in the strength in my body if I don’t do them.

The girls are mostly sad and unsettled. We just don’t have the time to spend with them as much as we usually do. They nap more than usual but I catch them with their eyes open just watching us. I am looking forward to driving way and holding them in my lap all day. When I say the word “beach” they go crazy, so hopefully they are understanding what this is all about.

In medical news I have a cataract growing on my right eye ( if I have told you this already, I apologize ). So the wait is 6 – 12 months to see a specialist. I have yet to see anyone for my right knee issues which kept me grounded all last winter.I have been trying to see someone since this past April. They will not book me an appointment for May 2024 so I will have to start all over once we get back.  Heck even the government is willing to wait for both the company taxes and our personal taxes!

I did get in to see the EENT specialist ( amazing how quickly that happened ). He confirmed that my left ear is hearing much less than my right ear. The nerve endings in my left ear Cochlea are damaged. Surgery will not help. He does want to see me again in six months ( it will be closer to 8 months before we get settled back here ) to see how fast the nerves are deteriorating. Looks like I will be getting hearing aids once we return. The other option is putting a screw into a bone in my head so that I can screw on an amplifier 😥 Looks like hearing aids it will be be. He also said that my ear canals are the smallest he has ever seen. So why does my body not reflect my ear canals?

A very special thanks to a blog reader ( E, nice to know that you are still there ), who was able to direct me to the eye drops I will need in Mexico. I am relieved that that worked out for me. You are all there for me and are a huge help in keeping me functioning. I can’t thank you enough.

I need to get going on my post about our new home on the Isla. We are for certain going to be on Stone Island / Isla de la Piedra but in a different location. A door closed yet another opened (much much better for us ). Keep checking back for those posts and of course photos.

Glad you all liked the red shed doors. I think the house front door will be next. Once we get back from Mexico.

So I am finished writing this post. Took me close to 120 minutes. I am happy that I was able to do this. So now what? Do I go cuddle the girls ( Colin is working today ) or do I go do my exercises?

 

 

 

When I went to start to put these in my blog last January I realized that I did not have the photos on my desktop. And then of course I forgot. So here are the first three and cover photo to catch us all up.

January 2023

February 2023

March 2023

 

A few days ago a tragedy has become public. A dachshund breeder about 60 miles away, had their 30 dogs seized by the SPCA. Apparently someone left the tip on an animal help hot line.They were all dachshunds. In fact one of those dogs gave birth to five puppies late today. Such deplorable conditions.

It is a horrific story to read but please do. This link actually includes a video. It is hard to believe that this can actually happen.

‘Terrible living conditions’: BC SPCA seizes 30 dachshunds in Okanagan

The Kelowna Dachshund Club (https://www.facebook.com/groups/727014434042198) of which I belong to, are doing everything we can to help. At this point we are raising monies to held care for these dogs and feed them. The SPCA has seized the dogs and they are being held somewhere here in Kelowna. At this point we have started a fundraiser in order to pay the vets who are working to save these animals as well as gathering supplies and food. So many in our club have already offered to adopt a doxie or to foster one. As we all have this breed we know what that they need, what their personalities are and their various  idiosyncrasies.

Can you please make a donation? $10.00 will go a long way.

Is it true what they say? That as you get older the days go by ever so quickly! Remember when we were children on a sunny summer afternoon and it seemed like we had hours and hours left to play. Tick tock 😮  We must make the best of every day and every hour and every moment of that hour.

Life is certainly speeding up for us. I am trying to slow down but the earth keeps turning. As we say in Spanish, poco a poco.

I have had a lot on the go including my hair breaking, falling out and not growing. The Blissy pillowcase helped a bit but me and my hairdresser are baffled. At this point I might have to cut it short and add no colour. Use the winter to try and get it healthy. I have new shampoo and conditioner which makes it feel nicer for a day or two. I had some bloodwork done for other reasons and there were a few indications of what possibly might be affecting my hair. So I am on some supplements. I am doing all I can.

Last week I had my annual eye exam. I had gone in, in early June, as I had burning eyes. My doctor did a good check then including checking my eye prescription. She also gave me three different eye drops to use. One is a sort of antihistamine that has helped. Only $60.00 for a tiny 10ml bottle which is only two teaspoons. I have checked and these drops are not available in Mexico. They are the only thing that takes the pain away. My eyes have been better these past 2 -3 weeks. So all I can do is get one bottle ( they expire very soon after they have been opened ) and keep it on hand. So when I saw her last week she was surprised to see that my vision in my right eye had changed quite a bit in just a few months. Did you guess it? I have a cataract forming at the back of my right eye which is supposed to be the worst type possible . Both my parents had cataracts so I guess this is to be expected. Wait list so see a surgeon is 6 – 12 months so I am now on the list. Nothing growing in my left eye.

Speaking of medical wait lists. You likely recall that I had right knee issues all of last winter. I saw my orthopaedic surgeon there and had an MRI, that I paid for. I can’t afford to pay for knee surgery like I did in January of 2021. So once I got back this spring I saw my MD and she said that none of my Mexican tests will be accepted here in Canada 😥 Then I had to wait almost two months to get an X-ray which was needed to forward my case to the local orthopaedic guys. I just now found out that they can’t see me until after January. Also they will not book me an appointment for next spring. I have to go to the back to the line once we get back from Mexico 😯 So not logical.

We have to find out about applying to the medical system for so much much ( not a lot ) per month once we get to Mazatlan. I would be seen in a matter of days and have whatever treatment I needed. Can someone remind why everyone thinks our Canadian health system is so great?

Colin has finished working for this year. I am just tidying things up and pre paying a bunch of taxes etc so I don’t have to worry about it once we get to Mexico.

As of today the large fire in Kelowna, the McDougall fire, is considered held and everyone has finally been allowed to return home.

We have been enjoying various ducks passing through as they head south. The geese were plentiful last weekend and were practicing their ‘V’ formation. We have only seen a few these past few days. I guess we won’t be too far behind. We leave in 25 sleeps.The fall colours are peeking out and one can smell fall in the air.

The plan was for our high school class to get together in June of 2021 to celebrate the fact that we had graduated 50 years prior. As we all know the pandemic shut that year down and most of the next year as well.

We graduated in 1971 and then I did my nursing course and over the years worked at the Edmonton General Hospital and the University of Alberta Hospital. I slowly left working in a hospital and instead did nursing related jobs. One day I heard that Air Canada was looking for new employees and that the requirement was that you had to speak French. I went for an interview and the rest is history, I was accepted, worked for a bit in Edmonton and then transferred to Vancouver. I managed to get quite a bit of traveling in before I married Colin in 1987. Needless to say I mostly lost contact with my high school friends except for a very very few.

You might want to scroll to the end of this post and click on the You Tube video sung by Andrea Bocelli and Edith Piaf ( produced in 2013 ). It will put you in the right frame of mind, to read the rest of this post.

We all attended Grades 7 – 12 at Académie de l’Assomption. It was an all girls school run by nuns. For the first so many years we all had to wear a uniform. Of course the majority of the classes were in French. We were a small class and some have passed over the years, several are living in abroad, so it was a small group of twelve for this reunion, which is almost 50% of our graduating class. Plans for future get togethers are already in the works.

I forgot to mention that I was up at 3:30AM this past Wednesday the 13th. The airline had changed my 10AM 🙂  flight to 6AM 😡  My good friend Carol picked me up and drove me to my chiropractic appointment and patiently waited in the car for me. We then drove to her home where I was spending the night. I unpacked a wee bit and changed for the festivities.Then we were off to the reunion, back to her home where we enjoyed a bit more vino and chatted until midnight. I believe that it was shortly after midnight that I went to bed. Such a very long day. I truly was tired. Next thing I knew Carol was waking me up. I had slept until 10AM and we had to leave in just under an hour. Yet another chiropractic appointment, I had spent the money to fly to Edmonton so I might as well make the most of it. Carol then very kindly drove me back to the airport. She went above and beyond to make my few hours in Edmonton special 😀 By the time I got back home Thursday and unpacked it was dark ( why does this happen so suddenly in the fall ). I was beyond tired and Colin had to get to bed as he was leaving at 5AM Friday morning to drive to and to work in Vancouver. More on that situation Saturday, my next post.

I wonder if I need to hire someone to keep me going in the correct direction? So much to share but always running out of time. Overall I think that is a good thing.

A few days ago there was a very huge rain storm over the Isla and Mazatlan. Much flooding, many palapas blown down and trees uprooted not to mention that the roads have become lakes that need to be navigated ever so carefully.

So many people affected in that horrific earthquake in Morocco, well over 3,000 have died. Many of the wonderful historic sites in Marrakech have been damaged. The Jemaa el – Fnaa Square, the main square off the Medina has had severe damage to some historic sites, Also parts of the ancient walls  surrounding the Medina and homes have been damaged. Our first thought was to reach out to our dear friend Fawzy whose Riad we stayed in while visiting Marrakech in June 2019. Click here for part of that story. More photos of the famous square.

Thank you Fawzy for getting back to us. Wishing you and your country a smooth and quick recovery from this world event. We will always be here for you. You only have to reach out to us.

We have no idea but it’s far enough away not to be a threat.

As usual we have some activities and events to share with you all.

The ash from the fires has been totally cleaned up at least here at home. Colin even washed the windows inside and out and got rid of as many spiders and their nests as possible. Sadly the fire activity increased this weekend. Mostly heavy smoke at the moment. Of the three main fires only the McDougal Creek fire on the Westside remains out of control. It is approximately 14,000 hectares / 35,500 acres and still growing.  They say that it will burn for at least another two months, likely into the winter. Last I heard 405 homes are still under education order.

While up on the roof cleaning out some debris from one of our rain chains he noticed some areas in our metal flashing between the house roof and the add a room roof that needs to be resealed. Prevention is the best way to stay ahead of unnecessary repairs.

I just want to emphasize that we are not going to be selling our home ( unless something hits us on the head this winter in Mexico ). Even so we will only rent in Mexico. Many of you have commented on us receiving our OAP ( old age pension ) and CPP ( pension that we paid into while working ) if we move away. We are legally able to get it wherever we are living in the world, even Tahiti. I have been there and that is not a choice, Mexico is mucho mejor 😎 Our medical insurance is good for 7 months at a time per year. Or we can take 24 months once every five years. Or take 7 months from one year followed back to back with 7 months for the next year for a total of 14 month. However we still need to take out  medical travel insurance. I truly can’t see us spending our summers in Mexico. So so many options. We could store our RV in the USA and drive back to Canada for few months.

A few days after Colin did all the power washing he went into our outside freezer and discovered that the contents were 95% ruined. So glad that I was not home. It was a huge job for him to clean up. I had already purchased some things for the winter which we can’t get in Mexico. C’est la vie 😉

Meanwhile the girls have been muy ocupada these past 8 or so days. Somehow they have even able to catch a snake on two separate days. As you can guess Ciela Bella captured the first one, clenched it in her teeth and swung it from side to side until it expired. The snake bled red onto the patio 😥  A few days later Carlie caught a snake and did exactly what her twin had done. I am so glad to have been away ( shopping and appointments ) and missed seeing these events.

Ciela went on a hunger strike, she had been eating less and less day by day. Carlie’s body is not happy and she has had trouble keeping her food down and was not getting any nutrition. And with the baby deciding to stop eating Colin decided it was time for a change. So he did a great deal of research. He brought back a small bag made by the Honest Kitchen, Grain Free Chicken Recipe Tasty Whole Food Clusters.

Of course more expensive than their regular kibble but they both loved it. Pet owners know that new foods need to be introduced slowly at least over a week. The girls simply gobbled it up. They only ate the new kibble and left the old in their dishes. The girls only wanted the new stuff. It has been almost a week now and they are content and we are happy. So glad this all came together before we purchased 6 months worth of the wrong dog food.

Overall the fires are less hazardous to the city of Kelowna. However they continue to burn out of control. They are considered held due to backburns and various ignitions set to counter the direction of the fire. However whenever a firetruck comes down the highway at night I bolt straight up and get out of bed to check around us.

We are eating as much as we can from our garden. The rats have arrived, perhaps they have been displaced because of the fires. Our garden neighbours ended up pulling out their entire garden because they did not like that the rats were around.

Last Friday we finally made it to our hair appointment, a week late due to evacuation. It appears that the silk Blissy pillow cover did not help. My hair is officially breaking all over. No haircut for me other than a few edges. No colour for me. My hair has no get up and go, no life, no lustre, it looks awful. I am increasing my biotin and trying a different shampoo, etc. However there is a good possibility that it will be cut short before we leave for Mexico. Then I will grow it out over the winter and hopefully I will be back to normal.

Unlike the US there are few telecom companies here in Canda and now one less. Rogers has bought out Shaw which is with whom I have my cell plan. I had no choice but to switch. I had the choice to keep what I had for two years or to make a change. I used Shaw last winter to use as a three country ( Canada, US and Mexico) from my phone using the same SIM card. It really only worked half the time and was expensive. So I sort of made my own plan. I now have unlimited talk and texting within Canada and 1GB of data for only $10.00 CAD per month ( I can purchase another GB at any time for $10.00 ). Plus I now have unlimited calling to and from the US as well as roaming in the US at no extra charge. What a deal @ $10.00 per month. I finally made the switch earlier tonight. It took me, Colin and three different people at Rogers to make the transfer but I am good to go now. Thank goodness for Colin’s eagle eyes, he spotted the tiny lost new SIM card which had fallen onto the computer keys. This was all supposed to happen before we evacuated and then Fed Ex was holding back on deliveries because of the fires. Good to have that sorted out. I decided to get Colin’s cell service with Telus checked. Today I got his monthly price dropped from $40.00 to $35.00 and I increased his data from 1GB to 3GB. It was only supposed to be 2GB but the young lady said she would make it 3GB at no charge 😀 It was just last year at this time, that between us we were paying over $175.00 per month. Lot of time and energy on the phone but well worth the savings. It appears that we are good at our new rates for at least two years.

Then there was yesterday, Monday. I had had my teeth cleaned about 10 days ago but had to come back for the dentist part of the cleaning yesterday. As I was pulling into the parking lot I noticed that the fuel tank on my car showed a big red E as well as a lit up image of a gas tank 🙁  So I called Colin and asked if he could come and drop off his car and come and get mine filled. He had to go out and pick something up anyway. So I reached into my purse to pull out my wallet to leave the fuel credit card out for Colin. My wallet was not there 😥  Oh and my cell was on red with about 8% charge left 😳 So while I held on the cell, Colin ran all over the place looking for my wallet at home. It must have dropped out of my purse in his car last Friday, he found it under my seat. I also recall mentioning to him that day that I was about out of gas 🙄  What a crazy Monday morning. Long story short, Colin picked up my car, delivered my wallet and his car keys to me at the dentist. And my phone was being charged while I saw the dentist. All is well and my car is on full 😉