FALL IS COMING

 

Aileen has been housesitting for our friend Karen.  She started last Tuesday and finishes this Friday.  The old cat Sidney is diabetic and requires insulin shots twice a day.  Aileen has been gardening and renewing acquaintances along her walking route.

I elected to stay at our house and have been doing lots of geocaching stuff.  I have placed twenty six around here so far that are active online and I have another eight ready to upload.  A few days ago I did a marathon day trip over to Greenwood where I finished the run that Aileen and I had been over twice so far.  It was nearly two hours driving each way then I cached for nine hours getting 74 caches.  I had another six that I couldn’t find that took a lot of time looking before giving up.

Locally, I have been scouring the thrift stores looking for suitable containers to use for geocaches and then preparing them.  If they are bright or colourful I spray them with camo paint to make them less obvious to the general public.  Ideally they are only found by geocachers actively searching, not stumbled on accidently.  While I was out placing a new run of caches the other day, I hiked up to a cache that someone else had placed.  It was a gorgeous morning and I enjoyed rambling around the hills before getting to work setting out mine. 

Setting out a cache is quite a slow process.  First you need to find the perfect location.  Then you have to make it so others can find it which entails getting GPS coordinates as accurate as possible.  You need to take multiple GPS readings letting the GPS settle down between them which can take ten to fifteen minutes in total.  Then you must decide whether to leave a hint or not.  You have to go online and fill out a form detailing your cache information which then is edited and hopefully approved by a volunteer at Geocaching.com headquarters.  Sometimes they require more information or tell you why that location is not acceptable.  All local laws must be adhered to, of course.

We are hoping to take the motorhome out for a few days next week and go somewhere a little different for a change.  We’ve stayed in a fairly small area ever since Covid grounded us.  We’ve had a bit of rain here at the house but a little north of us Penticton has had quite a bit of rain.  Hopefully, we’ve seen the last of the smoke and it is cooling down nicely for sleeping.  We’re hoping for some decent weather for travelling.

I spotted this old bruiser as I was driving to where I putting caches out

Yearling cub

This big momma and two yearling cubs I saw while on my big caching day

Milkweed

Historic Phoenix, BC graveyard.  A local group has taken over maintaining this old mining area cemetery.

The view from the geocache I hiked up to

Fall is coming

Further along from where I found the cache, if you look closely you may be able to see my car in the upper right.

Poplar leaves

Red leaves on some brush

These asters are just starting to bloom now.  So nice to have the colour when most other flowers have died off.

Looking down over Tucelnuit Lake and the western part of Oliver, BC.

A bit of colour on my walk the other evening

Almost dark photo of Sumac with the iPhone

The motorhome actually fits on our lot.  We have been busy cleaning inside and out.  It was amazing how much ash worked its way inside.  The low quality windows just don't cut it.

SEPTEMBER ALREADY

 

Well, it has been a long while since I last posted here.  We have been keeping busy with canning.  We have now done apricot jam, blueberry jelly, grape jelly, pickled beets, peach jam and canned peaches.  We’ll do more peaches and some pears in a while.

Geocaching has been a large part of the past couple weeks as well.  Aileen and I did a long day trip over to the Greenwood area and cached up in the hills.  We only saw two vehicles the whole time up there.  Lots of squirrels and chipmunks and a couple bears but not much else for wildlife.  The road ended a couple hundred metres from the US border.  We picked up about 56 caches that day.  I also drove up to White Lake west of Salmon Arm one day and did a maintenance run on the fifteen caches I have placed up there.

Closer to home I have done a bit of geocaching but mostly I have been putting caches out for others to find.  I have twenty six placed and published and people are finding them.  I have plans to put out quite a few more in the nearby area so they won’t be too far away for maintaining.  While setting out caches, I several times heard Sandhill cranes high overhead on their journey south.  A strange thing with them, they will be flying in a perfect formation when all of a sudden they will start spiraling around and back and forth.  I wonder if they ran into different wind currents and they are trying to find a more favourable one to continue south.

Our friends from Penticton, Bev, Karen and Pat are going to Cluxewe Resort near Port McNeill on northern Vancouver Island next week and Aileen is going to be housesitting looking after Sidney the cat.  He is diabetic and needs insulin shots twice a day.

A couple weeks ago our daughter Bev was home for a short visit so we drove up and visited with her and Kevin while they were laying paving stones on a jobsite.  We had a nice outdoor visit and helped pack blocks as well.  We did a bit of geocaching on the way home.

We’re enjoying the cooler air and when it isn’t smoky have the windows open for some fresh air.  It is much nicer for sleeping.  We’ve been to Karen’s a few times gardening and fencing.  The fencing had to wait for this cooler weather.  We’re still waiting for our kitchen table and chairs to arrive.  I ordered them June 2.

Lots of trees in this area and the bears kept hiding behind them

A geocaching supper in the hills

Sunset from Deer Park

A pair of spit bugs exchanging spit on my windshield.  I'm shooting from the steering wheel with my macro lens on my large camera.

Milkweed pod has burst open

White Lake just north of us

Paintbrush up in the hills where we were caching

Ready to can peaches

The geese heading north over us to go to Vasseux Lake for the night

Sunset here a few nights ago

The view from one of my caches looking down to where we live.  Taken with my phone.

To take this photo I had to poke my lens through one of the openings in the fence.  It turned out to be a shocking experience as I hadn't noticed the electric fence hiding in the grass at my feet.  That is one experience I don't wish to try again!  Just beyond the lake is McIntyre Bluff on the right.  We live just beyond that.  Taken with my 5D full frame DSLR with a polarizer filter.

Getting a view over the fence

SMOKANAGAN SUMMER

 

Yes, another smoky Okanagan summer.  Further north up the valley the fire situation is much more severe with lots of evacuations occurring and some houses destroyed.  We have smoky days then some clearing will happen for a while before the smoke returns.  The extreme heat has gone thankfully and perhaps it won’t return this summer.

With the smoke there is less walking happening.   I try to get out each evening and have resumed carrying my Canon SX 60 camera as well as my phone.  There is a lot less wildlife activity but I don’t know if it is the smoke or just the time of year.

I have been helping Aileen canning fruit and make jams and jelly.  Our new kitchen is working very well for this so our design thoughts have paid off.  So far we have canned some peaches and made peach, apricot, blueberry jams and grape jelly.  We will buy more peaches to can soon then beets to pickle and next month, pears to can.

We have been enjoying veggies and herbs from Karen’s garden that Aileen still helps maintain.  We seem to get up to Penticton at least twice a week.  As soon as the weather cools off enough I have some more fencing to do for Karen.  The peaches we planted last year at Karen’s have done well this year.

Evening sun

A little later as the sun got down into thicker smoke

The next evening the smoke wasn't as thick so the sun is brighter

Mallard hen at Vaseux Lake

Eastern Kingbird on my evening walk

Quail on my evening walk

This rabbit was about seven feet away while Louie and I were chatting at his fence

Let's have a closer look

Great Blue Heron at the Okanagan River on my evening walk

Vaseux Lake where Aileen went for a swim the other night

Our set up for straining the grape juice prior to making jam.  We hung it overnight.

Some of the peach trees we planted at Karen's last year