Sep 10, 2020
Que pasa
We have been slowly getting over the shock of the fire. I don’t get out much but in the past few days I have seen the RCMP ( local police ) at the fire scene. The more I look at the building, the more I believe that the fire started upstairs at the restaurant. Now Chef Rob whose restaurant it is was, is thinking of possibly rebuilding. Both the park and he have insurance but first the cause of the fire needs to be determined.
Tuesday morning we awoke to very heavy smoke. We had to keep the windows closed all day. We could not even see the mountains and at times we could not see the end of the lake nor the trees that you see here. There are currently two different alerts re air quality which had deteriorated due to an unusual type of inversion. Environment Canada meteorologist Doug Lundquist, who says a strong inversion actually shifted winds 180 degrees, bringing thick smoke from fires burning in Washington and Oregon states into the Okanagan.
The smoke is being seen all the way down to Mexico. You can read the news article by clicking here.
You can imagine our surprise when out of the smoke a hot air balloon dropped down. This is the first time we have seen this one.
As you can see by the first photo and the ruffle of the lake, it was windy. At this point the balloon was moving rather rapidly. Almost too fast to be descending.
That bit of white just below on the right the balloon is a truck on the highway. There is a very narrow space to land. Moving that fast, it must have been a rough landing. This is the end of our lake to the west, the direction that I take my sunset photos from.
Touch down! You can see by the white truck in behind that there was not much space between the lake, trees and the highway. They were fortunate because of the wind.
Someone has been eating our tomatoes. I suspect a rat rather than a mouse based on the size of the bite. The first tomato we found was half eaten. And I found a third tomato today about a third eaten.
I just Googled rats, mice and tomatoes. They both eat tomatoes as well as chipmunks and voles. I mentioned it to the park and they are going to bring in some traps. This is what was deters these critters. But are those instant potatoes cooked or just how they come out of the box?
- Mothballs.
- Ammonia.
- Peppermint Oil.
- Owl’s Feather.
- Pepper Flakes.
- Onions and Garlic.
- A mixture of Plaster of Paris with Cocoa Powder.
- Instant Potatoes.
We have been enjoying highs of 86F this week and our garden is growing. All of my newly planted seeds are up as well. We have to check twice per day to make sure that nothing is drying out. This was our garden harvest on Tuesday afternoon. The chives are from the tops of my seed onions. Yesterday, Wednesday, we picked two large cucumbers and a zucchini.
A unique way to walk a dog. I think they were both enjoying it.
Longtime friends Jannose and Colin, from Edmonton, stopped by for a quick visit while enroute to see family in Oliver. As we visited we figured out that we have known each other for between 40 – 45 years. Their oldest son turns 40 this year and I was there when he was born, so for sure over 40 years. We spent so much time visiting that this is the only photo I got. The plan was for happy hour followed by a take out dinner. I guess happy hour filled us up. No matter, as our original plan had been dinner from the Italian Restaurant which was destroyed Monday morning. It is always a pleasure to spend time with them. Fortunately the smoke unexpectedly cleared and was not a problem for our outdoor visit.
Usually they stay here in the park at one of the rental condos but because of Covid there is a new rule that it is now a minimum three night stay. Likely having to do with the extent of the amount of cleaning that needs to be done between guests.
Colin worked today, 7:30 AM departure and he just now got back at 9:30PM. A normal day for him. So I had to water the garden on my own tonight and had no choice but to pick beans and tomatoes. That is when I found the third rat eaten tomato. I decided to pick the large ones that you see because I would rather ripen it on my sunny window sill than lose a tomato to a critter. The small tomatoes and the few beans on the left come from our patio plants, the rest all from the garden. Looks like I will have to start freezing tomatoes to use in soups, stews and chilies over the winter.
Meanwhile currently sitting on my kitchen window sills.
Just the other day an article on how to dine in a restaurant along with the proper protocol of how to wear, store and use your mask popped into my inbox. I leaned some new things. You can read that article by clicking here.
Hopefully this will give you smile.
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Pests of all sizes will dine in your garden but like yourselves we would rather eat things ourselves.
Nice to have your long time friends over for a visit and that Colin is still busy working.
We’ll keep an eye on those Fires on the west coast. They unfortunately know no boundaries.
Like both your last photos.
Be Safe and Enjoy!
It’s about time.
Thanks for hosting us. It was great to catch up with you guys!
Good to hear the smoke cleared a bit for you. And congratulations on your bountiful and beautiful harvest of the day.