5C's Que Pasa

Will the merry-go-round ever slow down?  It is obvious that I have not dealt with jet lag in over twenty years.  As I mentioned yesterday, Monday was spent catching up on emails and a variety of business issues.  I did fall asleep half way through dinner.  Yesterday I ran errands in the afternoon including bank deposits, groceries and an appointment with my eye doctor.  For those who run a business ( Living on the Cheap ) you know how long it takes to deal with all the small stuff.  Gosh she has already started doing laundry after her trip to Greece 🙄   Maybe tomorrow for me.  Oh I almost forgot, we also brought the Jeep in at 8:00AM yesterday to start the prep for towing it behind the RV.

My eye appointment yesterday was major as I have had problems in the last several months reading.  I especially noticed it in Venice as I could not read maps unless they were large print.  I figured it was my left eye and as it turns out it was.  Overall my eyes are in great shape but my vision in the left has has changed.  I have three pair of glasses with my current RX.  The plan is to change both lenses in my favorite black glasses which just got repaired.  We had a joyous reunion yesterday.  They are my oldest and it warrants getting both the left and right replaced.  However once I get the new lenses and try them and are satisfied ( I am so very sensitive to changes re my eyes ) then I will likely only change the left lens in my green glasses and in my sunglasses.

Time seemed to be passing quickly yesterday as suddenly at 6:00PM we realized that we had to eat dinner and head out the door no later than 6:45PM.  Before we left, when I wasn’t tired from traveling, I had booked us tickets to a one night performance of “Broadway or Bust”.  I have been attending live theater, operas and symphonies for over fifty years and have never ever been to a performance that I did not enjoy, until last night.  Both of us called it ‘a Bust’.  Colin was ready to leave half way through the first act.  It was so hot in the theater that I was feeling faint.  However we stayed as I really wanted to give them a chance.  We stayed right to the end, three hours 😯  later.  This was our first time at this theater and it turns out that it was a graduating class ( still amateur ) from the Academy that they have been running for fifteen years and it just went on and on, almost like a talent show.  I would say that only about 30% of the music appealed to me.  However it is a lovely environment and well done.  We will give it another chance in the near future.  I am also curious to check out the Academy part vs the theater only part.

The ages ranged from 15 to 19.

Those that were graduating were moving onto further studies across Canada.

The following Venice photos were taken by Colin. How lucky am I to have him?

The architecture is amazing.

This morning I had a very small spot, about 1/4″, cauterized off my face. The second spot was merely a tiny tiny dot.  What is rather amazing ( and I am still reeling, actually I am doing wine therapy for pain as I type ) it that she did it without first freezing the area.  By doing that I did not have to pay and saved $100.00.  It was over and done in moments.

The Four Horses outside the Basilica ( and me ). The original Four Horses rest inside St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice after being plundered from Constantinople in the 13th century.

Basilica close up.

I will for certain be doing a proper write up with photos of our visit as it will serve as a diary of the trip.  However as usual for us ( don’t laugh Ken ) life keeps interfering.  Not to worry, Colin took over 1200 photos so there will be lots more to see.

So very very happy to be here.  We got the RV unloaded in record time and even put back in the storage lot, all within 4.5 hours.  It helped that we brought a car load over yesterday and put it all away.  Today I had all sorts of bins prepacked so that when we arrived we only had to unload them.  Sadly I am not doing so well re my sore knee and I realized as I was unpacking that something was very wrong with my body.  We have the most wonderful chiropractor and she saw me with little notice just 30 minutes before a dinner party at her home.  My left Ilium was locked and creating many issues with the rest of my body.  So I have spent the last three hours icing then heat and repeat over and over.  The inflammation is what is creating my problems.  I really need this to clear up before our trip or I won’t be able to walk and that is what one needs to do to experience Venice.  Hopefully being home will relieve the stress and help me heal.  Of course I really need to be sitting at my desk checking out the many links on how to make our trip to Venice a good one rather than sit with my legs elevated.  I know that I should just let it ride and go with the flow once we arrive but I do need to know how to get from the airport to our Airbnb and which passes to buy re museums and which for the transport system, etc.

The snow pack that still has to melt.

The following is from a bulletin sent out by the Central Okanagan Emergency Operations Centre

It’s a phrase often heard during auctions and telethons: “Where are we going?” The response: ‘Higher’.

That’s the case with lakes, creeks and streams across the Central Okanagan during this ongoing weather driven response to flooding.

And in the next week, you can expect to see further increases as the melting snowpack in upper watershed elevations increases with daytime temperatures expected in the low 30’s late this weekend.

Tuesday night’s high winds are a good indication of what we could expect and perhaps more, as Okanagan Lake continues rising. This morning, Okanagan Lake was at the 342.98 metre mark, up three centimetres from yesterday. That’s just two centimetres below the projected 343 metre figure.

In response to this, local governments throughout the region are checking, monitoring and bolstering defences in place to protect critical infrastructure and upland areas. This is what private property owners along water bodies should also be doing. Prepare for the worst and hope for the best!

Meanwhile our lake has gone down just a titch since yesterday.  Sadly it looks very likely that a large portion of the City of Kelowna is going to experience flooding.

Having been on the evacuated side of this situation I feel so very badly for those now on evacuation alert.  Our city is entering record breaking conditions.

My fall was last Friday about dinner time.  My knee is still bothering me.  I had the opportunity today to walk a few blocks and it was a bit of a struggle.  Not good news for Venice but I intend to start in a few days to build up my walking.  I have realized that we haven’t had a good walk since our last long beach walk with the girls the end of March.

You may remember that when I fell I thought that I had broken my eye glasses but Colin assured me that they where only bent.  The arrow shows where the barely visible break is.

It was a long weekend here in Canada so today was the first opportunity for me to take them into the only place that I trust with my glasses as I am extremely sensitive and the fitting has to be perfect.  Sadly when Deb picked them up she told me that they were broken.  She is going to call tomorrow and try to get just the one piece required to repair the frame.  I certainly hope so as they are my most favorite frame.

We went to check out our lake yesterday and we were surprised to see it had gone down.  The water level has actually decreased to the point that two of our cement steps are now visible.  Meanwhile the city of Kelowna is only 5 centimeters away from flooding.  Okanagan Lake rose 4.5 centimetres overnight to a new level of 342.95 meters, five centimeters below its highest recorded level of 343 meters in 1948.  Flooding is imminent  yet our small lake level continues to lower.

We are quite surprised at how quickly our lake came up, this was taken May 4th.

This was taken the next day, May 5th and by the 8th we were being evacuated.  You saw the photos of our lawn covered and water up to the house on May 9th.

Colin and I are wondering if the powers that be might have made an error.  The incident commander chief we spoke with on the 8th or 9th told us that they had had to open the dam way up in the hills in order to release some of the water pressure as the dam may have burst.  Was our flood man made?  Had they opened the culvert drain at the far end of our lake and decreased the lake level before opening the dam, the flood very well many have been avoided.  The only other difference is the two days of heavy rain that we had.  However without the dam being opened for just a bit ( that is what they say, just a bit ) our flood may very well have been avoided.  In the past we have always been able to deal with the spring melt.  Over the past several days we have experienced abnormally high temperatures and yet our lake continues to lower.  Something is not correct in this equation.  With my new older age I am going to wisely let this theory of mine go.  Life is short and I really need to start enjoying it.

So that brings us to the good news.  We are going home tomorrow 😀  😀  😀   Finally.  Colin was supposed to work today but it is snowing up at Silver Star so the shoot has been delayed.  As our lake was cooperating we decided to move our return forward a few days.  So today we did some packing and loaded the Jeep.  I can’t believe how much one can pack into that car.  We brought a carload of stuff back home today and unpacked it and I also drove my car home to park it as we can only drive the RV and the Jeep tomorrow.

So very happy to be going home tomorrow.