Another First

As you all know I am walking to the highway now, and carpooling in the mornings and then taking the bus home at night then walking to my place. The exercise is awesome, but I had something odd happen today. After speed walking to the highway, I flopped on the bench to catch my breath. I looked down the highway and there was a large black and white border collie running fast along the highway. Just as it got to me it hopped up on my lap and laid its head on my chest, like he was FINALLY home. Dara wasn't there yet, so I looked in all directions to make sure there wasn't a car accident, and to try and figure out how he got to me. No a person in sight. But he had a beautiful collar on and personal and SPCA tags so he was obviously well taken care of. Anyway, when Dara arrived I convinced her to take him to my office with me. I ran in at the speed of light, pushed him through the door, and asked them to make the appropriate phone calls. After work, I checked and it turned out he lives way far away in OYAMA. His owners couldn't figure out how he got to us. Anyway, glad the guy could get back home. I kinda thought maybe he fell out of a truck or car or something. :-/

Here is a pic of Harvey this morning. He is sooooo cute. I turn on the electric blanket on the couch in the mornings so they can snuggle as I read. But Harve turned over, put his head on the pillow and just thought he had it made with the electric blanket on his stomach.

Everyone have a great weekend. :-)

Love to all,
d

Congregation 50s Party was Fab!

We had such a great time at the congregation 50s party. Everyone, even the littlest kids dressed in their poodle skirts or slicked back hair and jeans. Mary Morey made a ton of poodle skirts for the sisters, and others came up with their own ideas. A couple brothers wore Elvis outfits. Lots of dancing, good food and talking. Mom painted a face cut out of a couple dancing and lots of people stuck their heads through for pictures. Tanya and Tim made an old car for people to sit in for pics. Tim DJ'd music from that era. Also, there was a bubble gum blowing contest, a spot dance, and lots of jiving. So a good time for everyone. For a congregation party, lots of fun. :-)

Never Seen Harvey Do This Before

We got up for our walk at 5:30am. Minus 9. Walked 30 feet outside the gate, and Harvey turned around and ran back to the gate to get in the RV. He is such a walk-lover, but it was just too cold for him (Pearl was in my chest free-loading a ride already). However, tonight was wonderful. It snowed all day, so warmed up a bit, and the walk tonight couldn't be beat. Meeting was cancelled due to snow, and had to do some shoveling, but all in all, a great night.

Hope some of you are enjoying a pretty winter also. :-)

Love to all,
d

First Real Snow!

Hey hi everyone!

The first real snow arrived this morning. Harvey, Pearl and I were the first to put our tracks down in the resort at 5:30 this morning. Stars on a clear sky above - absolutely beautiful. Supposed to snow all day tomorrow so will leave a bit earlier for work so I can walk slower. But minus 9 tonight, so I guess winter is here.

Love to all,
d :-)

This Is The Best Thing About Having A Yard

Even living in a RV it is nice to have a yard. Here at the resort, everyone has their own private little yard, that they can fence in or not. Ours is quite private, and I just love it that Harvey and Pearl can play outside (dad put a doggy door in the side of the RV). Tonight when I was sweeping the two took off playing. :-) Since the clip wouldn't upload direct, click here to see it: Harvey and Pearl playing :-)

This Is How Cold It Is

This past week it has been getting colder and colder. Harvey and Pearl no longer see me off at the gate when I go to work. They used to jump and wag their tails as I rode away, spying on me with one eye looking through the crack in the wood fence. Now they do all of the above from the couch as I walk out the door of the RV. It is really cozy and warm in there so I can't blame them. Harvey will still do the morning 5:30 walk, but Pearl has given-up on that one too. This morning I thought it may help if I put on her pink snowsuit and carried her to the end of the driveway so she could be inspired by the lights of the other units. But when I put her on the ground she scurried like a squirrel back to the RV. So I popped her into the belly of my jacket and we kept going. I guess that is the beauty of being only 8lbs. In comparison, at my weight, if someone were to carry me I guess they would have to be the size of Andre the Giant...or Jehovah God. :-) Anyhow, it is getting colder but it is pretty here. The morning walks are beautiful. I noticed this morning though that Harvey and Pearl's outside water bowl was frozen over though, so shouldn't be long before snow falls.

Okay, have a great day! Love to all,
d :-)

One of Those Weeks

I think all of us at one time or another, put our head in our hands and wonder why we are in the line of work that we are. I thought I loved teaching but then this week began to question that idea. On one hand I have the serious students that saved every penny to be in college or uni and dive into any task set before them; on the other hand I get the lazy students who are spoiled and told to study by their parents and act as if they know everything. The latter tax my brain and heart at times and make me contemplate the possiblity of working in an office or some secluded cubby-hole somewhere. Mind you, then there are the students that somehow give me a little hope and pull me out of my lulls. Like Sultan. He is Saudi. He came here six months ago. He is STILL in level one but won't give up. He went to his teacher last week and told him that he wants him to start teaching him to write everyday "like teacher Darci did" for him because he wants to learn and not have learning just be easy (I taught level 1 for a month, and I harp about hard work). For a student that has to almost walk backwards uphill to learn that is quite something. New alphabet, new characters, right to left. So now I feel good again. I guess it is all about feeling like one is making a difference in someone's life. Therefore now I don't feel like working in a dark room with a computer as my only companion. :-)

We had a fabulous Special Assembly Day on Sunday. Brother McEwan came out from Bethel to deliver a couple talks. I liked his points. Not only did he have a good sense of humor, but his perspective on matters was different than how others had said it before, and I appreciated that. He made an interesting point about not judging others by looking at what they are doing, because there is so much going on behind the scenes in peoples' lives. The key: take a personal interest in others. I have to look at my notes again, as he mentioned a few other good things to think about.

Harvey, Pearl and I are house-sitting Otto this week as Dad and Mom are down at the coast. Will be great. With all the rain up here lately H&P can have loads of fun playing with Otto in the basement.

Okay, must run, time to teach.

love to all,
d :-)

My Cargo-Mobile on Two Wheels

Harvey and Pearl have been riding instead of walking these days. There have been a few days of rain here. Pretty cold actually. Harvey and Pearl will not walk in the rain but I decided they should get out for some fresh scenery regardless, so I loaded them into the bike trailer and took them for some pushes around the park. Good for them and good for me. :-) I discovered something wonderful at the dollar store this week. Mostly for Harvey. It is a long arm of a thing shaped like an ice-cream scoop that is used to throw balls far for dogs. I usually go to the dog park shortly after 5:30am with Harvey and Pearl and I was trying to think of how to get Harvey more exercise. My throwing is kind of whimpy and he doesn't get much of a run when I throw, but when I use this thing I can wing the ball clear across the field. By the sixth time I wing the ball, Harvey is so pooped out he just picks it up and goes and stands by the gate waiting to go. Exactly what I want. :-)

I am getting closer to finishing off the skirting on my trailer. I am trying to do a little each night after work. There was a man moving his unit a few weeks back and I offered him $100 for all his skirting. He was in a rush to get everything together for his move so he said yes. Now it is just a matter of cutting it to size and reassembling it under my unit. So far so good. Has taken my afternoons and evenings, but coming along good. And I do notice a difference in the heating and cooling of the unit. Doubly, it has been good exercise but I will be very happy once it is finished because there is some more winterizing stuff I would like to get done before the cold and snow eventually arrive.

There are a couple of items I had to pick up for the RV; winterizing items. I was looking for some carpets for the flooring and curtain rods. I went down to the thrift store and found some beautiful lined curtains. The theory is that once it gets colder a lot of heat will go out the windows so if I have lined curtains I can draw them and keep the heat where it should be - inside. Well I found all these great items at a sale at WALMART yesterday. So I bungyed them to the back of my bike. It was kind of comical seeing the look of people faces, but mission accomplished; I got it all home. On my way home I had to make a pitstop at the doctor's for an appt. I obviously couldn't leave everything on my bike while I went in so I carried it all with me. The nurses COULD NOT BELIEVE IT, and were amazed that I could tie that much to my motorcycle. ...on another note I have to say that a nice advantage to living up here is that there is a lot less traffic, so it seems no matter where a person goes it is not difficult to find parking...and it's usually free! Much different from the big city. :-) I included a pic of a motorcycle loaded down. No, it is not me, but it gives the general idea of what is possible.

The motorcycle is still doing good for getting me around as you can tell. My goal is to use it for commuting right until November 12th....so NO snow before then I hope! I have to say though it is getting a bit nippy in the mornings riding in. I am now using my balaclava to protect my neck and ears and chin. But I am very thankful regardless because this saves me about $250 per month in vehicle costs. I took my truck off the road completely a while back, because between insurance, and gas, I was putting about $300 to $400 per month into it. Too much. But this week I will start wearing my heavy duty winter gear while riding.

I took the students at the school to see the salmon run in Mission Creek park. It was actually pretty cool. There were not as many as the Adams River, but definitely enough to see what was going on . We were only able to stay there a couple hours though because a bear and her cubs came into the park, and we all got kicked out by the parks people. At least they know for sure that there are bears around, and they have to be careful.

Okay, I must run and get ready for service. Everyone have a great week.

Love,
d

Riding In the Mountains Can Be Cooolllldd!

Yesterday, I decided to ride up to Rock Creek to see a bunch from the congregation at mom and dad's cabin. Since with my motorcycle it would only cost about $4 each way I thought this would be an affordable, as opposed to a very expensive trip if I were to be driving the truck. Before I took off I decided to insert the lining into my motorcycle jacket, and toss in my winter riding gloves instead of the summer ones. I thought I was probably being a little over cautious as usual, but decided to do it none-the-less. It turned out that I WAS SO GLAD I DID. The ride is exactly 84 miles from my place. At the half way point I decided to pull over to thaw out my hands. I really had no choice; they were so cold I could barely hold onto the handles any longer. I decided if I could thaw them out to the mildly painful but okay to ride level, then I would keep going. So I stood on the side of the road with my hands sandwiched in my armpits for 10 minutes. I then decided I could keep going. When I started closing in on 30 miles left to go, I knew I could make it as the sun was starting to peek through.

The experience reminded me of the time I decided that Armstrong, my previous dog, and I should ride to Idylwild for ice-cream. When I took off in the afternoon it was hot and sunny so I just had my "hot air" jacket on. But that night coming home the air got brutally cold and I honestly considered walking into a pub and offering someone money for their coat. We made it home, but it was rough.

Anyway, Rock Creek was great. Murray and Rita Hammon were there, along with Aunti Jean, Don Gauvin, Tanya and Tim and the kids, Rick and Hannah Bray and their dog Tuppence, Talbots and their dog Boo, Mary and Doug (My brain has froze on their last name, sign of early alzheimers I'm sure), and of course Dad, Mom, and Otto. Went down to the Rock Creek fair and just wandered aimlessly looking at animals and booths of hand made crafts.

For the ride home, Tim gave me a pair of hotshots for my gloves and dad lent me his work gloves to put over my regular gloves, and even though it was still brisk it was still much better than the ride up. I could actually enjoy the scenery, instead of over-focusing on my frozen digits. :-) Anyways, will do it again, but next time on a 30 degree day. :-)

Okay, must run for the meeting.

Love, d :-)

ps. all the photos from yesterday's ride did not turn out, so I decided to post one of Harvey and his blankets. He can never seem to bury himself into enough of them. Funny pup.

New Direction

I hadn't blogged in a long long time, but today I read something that stirred me on. I was catching up on a usual blog of a couple and they were talking about the usual stuff of their travels and how they were so excited because they had upgraded their RV - an older couple - Bruce, Margie, and their dog Annie that they doted on. Margie had written about how after all these years of full-time RVing with Annie she, at 13, just developed a health problem and they were giving her new medications. ...so I scrolled up to the top to read the next entry to see how little Annie was making out on her new meds. However, within reading two sentences I noticed that it was someone else writing. A different style, but also within a paragraph she said that she was the daughter. After the last entry a couple days before, her parents had gone out for their daily evening walk with Annie, and a car with an occupant had hit them and killed them. Annie had survived. The daughter and her husband were flying down to Pismo Beach to drive the unit home. Apparently the driver had been trying to commit suicide, had sped up to go over the bank but hit them instead not seeing them walking, and survived the crash. How tragic for everyone.

Anyways, it inspired me to do some writing because even the most mundane things to someone are special to someone else (I loved reading their blog), especially if they are interested in your life. The last while of being here in Winfield, and working in Kelowna, I thought no one in their right mind would be interested in hearing about Kelowna and life here, but I have decided to try to show a side of it that maybe is a bit different from the usual. Maybe someone will be interested in that. :-) Kelowna is the third most expensive city in Canada, behind Vancouver, and Toronto. I am trying to expand my theocratic activity here, as challenging as that may be. I live on a teachers salary based on a 27 hour week, so that means I live life on the "slim". Translated, that means I live a rich full life, but on a meager budget, focusing on and enjoying the simple things in life, and making adjustments wherever I need to, to make things happen. Chances are I will not be the person that retires with a big pension, but I will have enough to cover the expenses. Last week I found a list on CNN that read: 15 countries where a person can retire on $1500 per month or less. Oooo sounds like one could be my future residence :-) Most of them are tropical, so that means I will have to maintain Harvey and Pearl's life jackets and pick a country where their future rickety little bones can enjoy sand and surf mixed with service too.

So that is the plan. For the next while we...as in me, Harvey, and Pearl...are planted here, but I will try to show how one can expand their service in the ministry, and live with zest and enjoyment on the "slim" in the third most expensive city in Canada, through the good months..and the winter (burrrrr). You will see how oversight and direction from Jehovah are the ONLY way things come together sometimes for me, and WHO He uses along the way at times, when I am unsuspecting. There are moments when I imagine he directs His angels to answer my prayers only because he doesn't want to see my prayers escalate from mildly intense to the weeping level. And you will be amazed, as I constantly am, to see how He maneuvers things to answer my prayers. Hasn't let me down yet. I realize some may think that it is better to be quiet with their challenges, but for me I thought maybe if someone sees how someone else can make life happen and their goals be realized with a similar mindset...that they can do it too. :-) So, I hope you enjoy the journey, adventure, and challenge, with us.

Love, d :-)