Fantastic Week Camping

Hope everyone is having a great week!  We just got back from camping.  A group of sisters started out by camping at Herald Provincial Campground in Salmon Arm, BC, but then when the forest fire smoke got too thick in the campground, I, Harvey and Pearl took off to the coast to finish the week.  It was awesome!  I loved camping especially at Derby Reach.  Lots of trails to walk and then Fort Langley was close by to go and wander around shops, or just take drives to explore.  One night we had a bear in the campground - people were banging pots and yelling to scare it off, and at that moment Pearl decided it was the PERFECT time to go out to pee. :-( She darted down the steps so I had to follow.  Anyway, she speed-peed and we got back in the the truck tent.

Yesterday a big storm moved in so we headed on home and now is the unpacking and washing time. :-/

Okay, everyone take good care!  Love to all,
d

Having an Incredible Time in NYC and DC

Found some family at the Stanley Theatre.  My friend Marlene hs been doing NY with me since Friday but now I will be on my own for a couple days.  Big blisters on feet but totally worth it.  Gonna rest for a couple hours then off to Staten Island ferry.  If anyone wants to see more pics I am posting on instagram.  Even found a pic of a dog like Harvey doing sandwich-board work way back, when during the Bethel tour.

Okay, everyone have a great week.  Love to all!
D

Another Great Nature Walk at Kekuli Bay Today

It is just gorgeous there.  Thought I would attempt a selfie with Pearl - it is more of a anti-selfie, or me with Pearl's bum selfie.  Nonetheless, a pic of what we were up to.  And then of course the pups were exhausted after.  :-)

I Love Walmart

Hey hi!

Hope everyone is having a good week.  All is good here.  I have been doing renovations on my RV during Spring Break.  I have to do everything on the skinny because I don't like debt, so when I decided to make some changes I decided I was going to use the local thrift shops as resources.  Below is a picture of some bench covers I made.  Now I can't afford to go to an upholstery store and look for material so I went to one of our shops and found the end of a bolt of upholstery material that someone had donated.  It was $2 for the entire thing and just the colors I wanted so it was the perfect purchase.  But then I was thinking that it would be really hard to keep clean without inhibiting the living style of the fur-kids, so I knew I had to cover it with plastic.  Buying the plastic by the yard was more than I wanted to spend, so off to Walmart I went shopping for a solution.  I found I could by a shower curtain made of the stuff I wanted for $19 - too much.  I could buy what they called a Fancy tablecloth cover for $10 - still more than what I wanted to spend....so I kept wandering through the housewares section to a deep dark little corner where the cheapo stuff was and found the treasure I was looking for.  It is a piece of plastic of the exact material the shower curtain and Fancy tablecloth are made of but it is called the $2 tablecloth - no edging or anything, but long.  Snatched it up and it did the trick perfect.

Everyone is snoozing around here right now (Meeting not til 1).  Here is a selfie of my cutey Harvey and me.  Bad hair and no makeup but basically that is how we look at 6am - Harvey doesn't do anything with his appearance until he is ready to run down the hill.

Okay, everyone have a wonderful weekend!

Love to all,
from Darci, Harvey, Pearl & Otto

A Quick trip to Rock Creek...and White Knuckling it Back

Hey hi everyone! :-)

Hope everyone had a great week.  I was so excited to finish work on Friday because it is the beginning of Spring Break  Yayyyy!   First thing on the agenda was a few days at Rock Creek to bring my rv home for some projects.  So went up early Saturday morning and was planning on staying until Monday afternoon.  But as the four of us were lounging in bed on Sunday morning listening CBC the news broadcast said a sudden snow storm as moving in to higher elevations and the mountain areas and roads would be getting six inches of snow.  So I flew out of bed and started getting things together.  There was no way I could afford to be trapped up there while highway people  were clearing snow.  Everything came together very quickly.  Bill Godfrey, who was conducting the WT for his congregation got home just after lunch, came over and checked my tires and topped them off and then we were flying down the road.  If was odd/funny, that as soon as I started driving with the RV in tow the dogs all sacked out completely.  They just slept and slept which was nice because as soon as we hit Beaverdell the snow started.  It was coming down pretty heavy all the way through Big White.  I had it in my mind that if it started packing on the road then we would just pull over, climb into the RV, and wait for everything to be cleared.  However, it was still early enough in the day that temperatures kept it watery when it hit the highway.  Tonight will probably be another story once the temps drop.  But the high point is that we got back!!!  The pups had a few good walks and runs up there and I had a couple hours of sharing a drink in front of the fire with Jan and Bill at their place.  Jan is regular pioneering up there.  She says even though they drive miles and miles through their mountainous and ranch territory she has a good call or study each time she goes out.  She says her two service partners are a 90 year old couple.  They like to go out for 7 and 8 hour days and it just works out perfect for her.  Anyway, even though the trip was cut short by weather it was still a wonderful time.  Now, I am going to join Otto, Harvey and Pearl and lay like a vegetable on the bed.

Love to all,
d  :-)

Raptor Trail

Hey hi everyone :-)

After service today we headed over to Raptor Trail.  Beautiful and quiet - only met one other hiker the entire time.

In one section the ground brush is bright red - must be a spring thing.

Harvey and Otto LOVE hiking.

On the North Side of the hike you have to use ATV trails at some points.

Beautiful views of Wood Lake.

Pearl did great - didn't need to be picked up at all.

Have a great weekend!  Love to all, d H&P...and O

Kekuli Provincial Park

Hey hi everyone :-)

Thought I would show you a couple pics of our walk around Kekuli Provincial Park.  I have driven past it many times on the way to the assembly hall in Vernon so when I got a day off last Friday I threw the dogs in the truck and headed out there.  It is absolutely gorgeous!  The walking trails are fabulous and the campsites are situated with a view of the lake and mountains no matter where you are.  I think I will plan a few days out there with the RV this year.

All the campsites are so spacious.  Many parks now are so close together you feel like you are on top of one another, but these were wide with a view.  No utilities though so it is strictly battery only.  There are four with power down the hill...but who wants that. :-b   ...no view.

The hiking trails were rustic yet well groomed.  Benches along the way for a rest if needed.

Pearl in her trusty pink winter sweater.

Absolute perfect hiking for the dogs...and me. :-)

Otto and Harvey taking a snooze after getting home.

Everything has been good here.  The next day we did another hike but I forgot the camera.  I have made a list of ones I want to do now that it is Spring.

Pups are doing good.  Otto gave me a scare last night.  He has a bit of heart failure happening so he has to clear his tubes sometimes - usually doesn't have to do it until he wakes up in the morning.  ...He and Harvey have the cockroach style sleeping method generally mastered: flat and stealth - you don't know they are there til morning.  However last night at 2am I heard him start to clear his tubes but started having trouble.  He started to panic and fell and couldn't get his legs under him, so I leapt outta bed grabbed his chest and got him up.  It worked. Gave him a little shoulder massage for a few minutes and he was good to go.  Crawled back into bed and no more problems. 

Anyway, off to work now, so everyone have a great week!

Love to all,

d  :-)

February Is Off To a Snowy Start

Hey hi everyone! :-)

February blew in with wind and snow today.  Cold but beautiful.  Went walking with the dogs and watched the snow fall around us.

I am pup-sitting for my mom and dad while they are in the Desert for 3 months, so here is their baby all tucked in and ready to sleep for the night.

Have a wonderful first week of February!  Love to all, d  :-)

Snowmageddon

Hey hi everyone!  :-)

Here is a little update on the big storm that went through this week.  We haven't had this much snow at one time since I have lived here. So a few photos to show you what's up with us:

Mom and Dad are in Palm Springs for the winter so I thought I would clean their patio for them.  I tried but it was just too much.  I told Dad just to pray for a heat wave to come.

Otto, whom I am dog-sitting for 3 months, and Harvey are slow waker-uppers in the morning.

Otto, trying out the new dog path that I carved.

Pearl, surveying the room, making sure all of us are behaving ourselves.

Otto and Harvey are so funny.  I got up from teaching online this morning and found those two had cuddled themselves into a chair behind me.

Stylish babe alert.  I'll tell you, the most ravishing part of the outfit is a neon lime green touque I bough at the hospital auxilliary for $1

I decided that since the snow was over the pups' heads that I should carve a path down the hill for them.  I wish I could have had a camera as it was me with snow up to the top of my legs with the three of them following behind as I pushed through.

Anyway, I hope everyone is having a fun winter too!  Love to all, from Darci, Harvey, Pearl & Otto.

Almost The End, But Near The Beginning

Hard to believe it is almost the end of the year.  Harvey and Pearl are doing marvelous.  And I am doing good too.  :-)

As said, it has been a jam-packed year.   Highlights for me were the Annual Meeting notes, going to Vancouver to stay with family, and hangout with my friend Leanne.   I absolutely loved that visit down there.  I hadn't been there in so many years and it was wonderful to see the changes and feel the excitement of the city.

A lot happened this year though.  I went to college in the evenings and weekends until the end of June (felt like walking in a daze many days due to working full-time).  Then a week after finishing the program I had a motorcycle accident and was pretty much in bed or had my arm strapped to my chest until the end of summer.  And then my college was affected by the new immigration laws in Canada so I was laid off.  However, I was then hired by the school district.  ...I guess it's kinda been like a Jerry Seinfeldt episode.  Up - down - up - down was the formula for that show. :-)  Anyway, I truly am grateful to good family, but most of all Jehovah God for how it all ended, because all good things ultimately go back to him.  And there were so whips and turns to it all, but in the end it all came together even better than I could have imagined.  I am loving working for the school district.  And I have my online and private students that just round it all out.   ...When I was driving to town the other week, for the first time, I genuinely had a feeling of true contentment since moving here.  I often reminded myself of what Warren Crowe used to say years ago (brother from Vancouver area)...every situation is 10% reality and 90% your perspective on it.  In some ways moving to the Okanagan has been like trudging up a hill with a box of rocks, not pushing it (because that would have been a bit easier), but rather pulling it.  Just limited with work and lower wages than other places.  It seemed like there was never enough to make ends meet.  Blessing or a curse - all depends what we do with it, and how we look at it.  I saw a movie called Nicky's Family, about a man that saved children during the Holocaust. True story.  In the end it was said that the people that helped the most generously were the people that were the poorest - they had the least so they helped the most.  So maybe hardship isn't easy at times in life, maybe it teaches us something valuable for when we encounter others in difficulty.

Now I am looking forward to the new year.  I have some projects to finish in the RV so that we can take off for the summer.  Would love to go to Goose Neck canyon for hiking in Utah but am open to other ideas too.  Can't hardly wait til it all happens though. Starting those final projects in March, and will show everyone as they proceed. :-)

Anyway, I hope that all of you have a wonderful beginning to your year too.  One day it will be the last year we have on this side of Armageddon, so make the most of it. :-)  Remember, 10% / 90%, and when we (as in you and I) undergo hardships we may hit this year, just remember that it may be polishing us for something more coming our way, or preparing us to step up to help someone else with something that hits them. :-)

Love to all,
d  :-)