WE WENT LOOKING FOR WINTER AND FOUND IT!

 

We made a couple trips up past Apex Mtn Ski Hill to try out Aileen’s new snowshoes.  I have had a pair for quite a while but haven’t used them since we started going south in 2008.  The first time we parked where friends had mentioned there were some trails.  Being off on our own is more our style so yesterday we found a new spot that was very much our own.  We had our lunch in the car and one vehicle went by while we ate.  From that time until we returned to the car, we never heard another manmade sound, not even an airplane.  Just perfect!  It was -5C, sunny and no wind so perfect again.

One day after lunch needing to get out of the apartment for some fresh air, I walked up to the dam on Penticton Creek and the ice was rather nice.  I will shop at the IGA store which is walking distance during the day since it usually is fairly quiet but for the bigger stores, I shop late in the evening close to closing time.  Often I will be the only one checking out and the aisles are mostly empty of people.

Our bubble is still just Bev and Karen and we get together once in a while.  We have taught them how to play Mexican Train which has provided us with some fun times.  We will teach them another game next time.

Penticton Creek

Penticton Creek

Penticton Creek

Penticton Creek Dam

Aileen and the owl

In Karen's orchid room

Yesterday

Aileen and myself

Dropping down into the fog zone on the drive home

Frost on the moss

Frost and snow on the trees

I GET A ROAD TRIP

 

For the most part there’s not been much happening in our lives, just hunkered down waiting it out.  Yesterday Aileen had a couple of online zoom meetings so I headed off on a drive.  I started down the east side of Skaha Lake and didn’t get far when I noticed some neat ice sculptures created by the wave action in the -5C temperature.  A little further along, I took a loop road and was able to watch some bighorn sheep up on the bluffs.  Too far for photos but nice to see.

I took a drive past our lot to see how they were progressing on the unit moved in beside us.  Looks like it is move in ready.  I paced around on our lot getting a feel for how it will be sited and where our windows will be and the view they will have.  From there I found a new road for me that went from Oliver over the hills to Cawston.  I think this will be a favourite drive throughout the year from our new home.  I was able to travel yesterday without driving on the same road except for the parking lot here at the apartment.  I love circle trips.

We continue to keep our bubble small with Karen and Bev being the only ones we visit.  We played Mexican Train with them the other night for the first time and had an enjoyable evening.

One of our Colorado friends who had some severe health issues contracted the virus and passed recently.  Another of our Colorado friends has been taken to hospital as she was getting very ill from the virus.  The last I heard, sixteen people have tested positive in Caliente, our Arizona park.  Two were hospitalized and one since released.  In Canada, it seems the majority of the deaths are happening in care homes although there are some fairly young people succumbing to the disease.

As I write this, I see some parts of Vancouver Island are getting snow.  Our ground is still bare and while they keep predicting snow, it just gets put ahead day by day.  The wind has quit the past couple of days which is very welcome.   I had never realized before what a wind tunnel Penticton is.  It is in a north south valley with a lake on both ends of town so I guess it shouldn’t have been a surprise.

As I was driving along the lake, I noticed these sparkles on the surface.

Skaha is a shallow lake on the east side which is why it is so popular with migratory birds.  It was the ice on the grasses that I saw.

Along the edge of the lake the waves had splashed water up creating some incredible artwork.

Can you see the man and woman sitting there?

Now can you see them?  They look like they are hooded.

Some of the above were taken with my full frame Canon camera with the 100-400 lens mounted and some were taken with my iPhone 11.  The both did a great job and I doubt most people could tell them apart.

Up at a higher elevation there was frost on the shrubs

Getting down on the western side and losing the snow

Grasslands not far north of the border near Cawston, BC

Moonrise

I'M STILLHERE!

 

Well, this has been a long dry spell for my blog.  Staying put as much as possible and not interacting with others kind of makes life dull so not much to share.  I have done quite a bit of scanning of old photos and slides in the past few weeks.  I’m up to nearly 1,000 now.  I have tossed out thousands of slides keeping just a few that I may want to scan at higher resolution in the future.

               I have been spending a lot of my time editing the scanned images and sharing them.  Old family photos are being shared five a day to a Facebook page shared with my cousins.  The rest of the images I’m posting six a day onto my Facebook page to share with my friends.  Most of these are pre-digital so are new subjects that I haven’t shared before.

               Our weather has been quite moderate so far this month.  The day before yesterday the thermometer read 8C and when I pushed the conversion button on the back it said 48F.  We have had a couple of days with no wind but generally there is a lot of wind here in the valley.  Given that, we didn’t have any of the devastation that occurred further north in the Okanagan and Shuswap or especially on Vancouver Island.

               Not much to report on the house front.  The new unit is in place next to our lot and they are busy completing it.  There are three stakes on our lot showing our unit placement so that’s a positive sign.  We have a face to face meeting coming on Monday regarding the carport and deck.

               I’ve made a couple trips down to the lot recently which is about our only travel and photo opportunity.  The last trip down I managed to get up close and personal with five trumpeter swans so I will include a couple of new images of them.  We did take a quick trip to Salmon Arm recently to gather our mail but we didn’t see anybody.  We were surprised how much more wintery it was up that way.  They had lots of snow and icy sidewalks while down here we had bare ground.  Maybe we are making the right decision to settle in Oliver rather than going back to the Shuswap.

Young trumpeter swan

Mr and Mrs Trumpeter Swan

MERRY CHRISTMAS

 

This is our first Christmas in Canada since 2008 and that wasn’t in our long term plans.  The time will come soon enough that we won’t be going south every winter, didn’t need to rush it!  Oh well, we are warm and comfortable thanks to the generosity of friends.

I’ve been using all this downtime to downsize my photo collection.  I’ve gone through about 10,000 slides in the last week or two and tossed about 8,500 of them.  It doesn’t matter how good they are if they are of no use to anyone.  I need to reduce as much as I can since there will be limited storage in the new house.  We will have about half the floor space as we had in our last house so we will need to be creative in how we use it.  I will try to digitize many of the slides I have kept so they can then be tossed, too.

On the house front, we have been given a tentative delivery date of March 15.  Occupancy will be several weeks after that, of course, as there will be quite a bit of finishing required on site.  At least the weather will be improving by then making the move easier.

We continue to stay mostly to ourselves except for Karen and Bev, our Penticton friends.  Aileen is trying to maintain her three walks a day and I’m trying for two.  I’m perfectly happy to lie in bed in the morning and wish her a nice walk.   We had about three inches of snow a few days ago and it is still around but now is crunchy and icy in spots so we have to be selective as to where we walk.

Swans on Skaha Lake taken with my Canon 6D full frame DSLR and 100-400 lens

Penticton Creek from a pedestrian bridge taken long after full dark with the iPhone 11.  The rest of these photos were also taken with the phone.

Skaha Lake near Okanagan Falls

Skaha pano

The fourth and last bag of slides heading for the dumpster

Our little Christmas tree with a few new ornaments from Georgia

GOT OUT FOR SOME PHOTOGRAPHY

 

Winter keeps taking a run at us but so far isn’t really getting a foothold.  We get a dusting of snow and it disappears fairly quickly.  We had a couple days of respite from the wind but it is back again.  Last night it was so nasty we cut our walk short and went for a drive to look at Christmas lights. 

We’ve been shelling walnuts for several days and finally completed it today.  Our friend Karen has three walnut trees and most people have had their fill over the years so I didn’t have much competition when I was gathering them.  I wandered around under the trees for several days picking them up then spreading them out in beer flat boxes in the storage container so they could dry.  We ended up with 8.9 pounds of finished product which translates to about 30 pounds of dry walnuts in the shell.  Aileen uses walnuts in her homemade granola and gluten free breads.  I’m not fond of them myself.

Two of my Facebook friends recently posted a photo of an old Ford truck and I just happened to know where it was taken since it is only 23 kms (14 miles) from here.  I thought it might be neat to show them some photos taken in the snow.  Since it is higher elevation than here and the fact that I can look across town and up the valley toward it, I knew there would be snow.  So that was my mission yesterday morning.  I always find it neat when somebody from a long distance away posts a photo and I’m able to say that I have been there and I know exactly where it is. 

With all the hoopla about Covid and the new orders to limit visiting, Aileen and I are having Christmas dinner on our own this year.  I went and bought us a nice turkey.  I also found our electric roaster in storage for cooking it.  We’ll be just fine.

With lots of time on my hands I’ve been going through my old photos that are stored on external hard drives and retrieving a few that I hadn’t edited before.  I’ve been sharing them on various platforms to give some entertainment to others with time to spare.  It’s one way to combat boredom.  The majority have been going onto Facebook so if you’re on Facebook but not a friend of mine, you should be able to search for John Pickard and find me.  Others (old family photos) I’ve been sharing with a Facebook page that is for my cousins and me that someone else started.

Spotted this horse in a sheltered spot on my drive yesterday

An old building and I got photobombed by a couple horses, you might have to look closely to spot them.  You did click on the photo, right?

As we were returning from our evening walk a couple of nights ago, these racoons crossed in front of us.  I'm holding a flashlight and the phone in the same hand.

Along on my drive yesterday the sun came out for a bit

Old timer

Fordson tractor and Ford truck

On our drive last night to look at the lights.  This is the SS Sicamous the last sternwheeler to run on Okanagan Lake.  It is 200.5 feet long and is now a museum on the beach at Penticton.

Spotted Mr Bones on my walk this afternoon