John and Aileen sometimes on the road: 2021

Friday, December 31, 2021

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Aileen and I would like to wish you all a happy and healthy new year. I have included some photos taken recently in our neighbourhood. We haven't been walking the past few days due to the nasty wind combined with the low temperatures. I did make the trek up the river a couple of times and went out in the car once. We do have much less snow than most of Vancouver Island and the BC coast but ours will last longer.

We had our daughter and hubby here from the 27th - 29th which was great. Bev had flown into Kelowna at 1 am and Kevin was there to pick her up. Then they drove straight here arriving about 3 am. Aileen and I were both asleep and didn't hear them arrive so we got a good night's sleep.

We had a great visit with them and Kevin installed a new battery in the motorhome and added another ceiling light in the laundry room. And, magically, a new deep freeze appeared in our house.

Vaseux Lake

Vaseux Lake, the only open water

Taken out our den window, leaf on a snow drift

Ice on the bluffs above Vaseux Lake

See Ya Later vineyard

Male Barrow's Goldeneye in the Okanagan River

Wild rose hips along the Okanagan River

Okanagan River

More rose hips along the Okanagan River

Bluffs above Vaseux Lake

Okanagan River

Sumac

Below the dam, Okanagan River

Tuesday, December 28, 2021

MERRY CHRISTMAS

We had a very quiet Christmas with just the two of us. Bev and Kev had planned to be with us but she had to work a couple extra days so they arrived at 3 am Monday morning. Bev's flight from northern Alberta arrived in Kelowna about 1 am and Kevin was there to collect her. They then drove down to here and the best part of that was that neither Aileen nor I heard them arrive.

Kevin being Kevin he got busy looking for things that needed doing. Great! He installed the new engine battery in the motorhome and added a light in the utility room. A new freezer arrived in his truck so we carried that in and got it set up. Bev and Aileen had a baking day. Thanks Bev and Kev!

The weather has been rather nasty so our walks have been curtailed a bit. It was -21 C Monday morning and lots of records were broken for that day. The nasty wind has continued to blow during the colder weather making it feel even worse. These two photos were taken Christmas Day.

Our house

On my walk up the river trail. I was dressed warm enough except for my face which the wind made very painful. If I cover my face properly then my glasses fog up and I can't see. If I take off my glasses then I can't see well enough to see any detail.

Wednesday, December 22, 2021

ICE IN THE OKANAGAN RIVER

Aileen told me about some neat ice formations in the river when she returned from her walk this morning so I dressed warmly for the nasty wind and headed out with my big old camera with the 100-400 zoom attached. I came home with a goodly number of images.

We went for over a week with no snow on the ground and finally on the 18th we got about 4 inches of really fluffy snow. During that week I got out for a few geocaches and several people were finding some of mine.

Aileen has had some pretty rough days but I did manage to take her up to visit Karen on Sunday for a little while. Most of my outings seem to consist of the necessary shopping which is my job in this house.

Below are a few of my photos from this morning. We were down to -13C for a couple of days but back up to -1C this afternoon and the forecast says maybe above zero tomorrow. They keep forecasting snow but it doesn't usually happen for us. Maybe tonight? They are forecasting lows down to -21C next week!

Looks like we're on our own for Christmas this year.