Post COVID Trip to Oliver

Our last trip to Oliver was last summer. COVID was in full swing and the province had convinced itself that we could travel again. Since that time there have been multiple lockdowns that prevented anyone from travelling in the province. Now that 75% of adults have at least one shot, we may actually be reaching the end of this, assuming the US doesn't screw things up due to vaccine hesitancy. When we arrived in Oliver we were immediately put to work. Reg has a hedge that was getting hard to control and he needed our help to remove it and add some pavers in preparation for a new fence. It was hot work but the results were very obvious when we were done.

We took our traditional trip to Hester Creek. We picked up bread from Platinum Bench, made up some wine and cheese plates and brought the dogs. Things almost felt normal again. They had a check in so they could take your name but other than that most COVID protocols were gone. We still choose to wear our mask indoors when we can't social distance and the staff would wear masks for the tasting. It was good that we got there early because it was a hot weekend in Oliver with temperatures over 35 degrees. I think the only part of the tradition that didn't happen was Carter and Gampoo running on the grass. They might both be too old for that.

Carter made sure we made it to the lake every day. He purchased a new floatie from the Canadian Tire. I wanted to strap it to the back of the car for our trip back to Surrey but there wasn't a lot of places to attach to. Tuk-El-Nuit lake was very nice and it looks like Oliver is spending a bit of money on their public beaches. They were raking the beach every day and had permanently anchored some floaties off shore. The private campground usually does this so it was nice to see the same treatment for the public portion. 

The local native reserve has leased some land to a new experience just outside of Oliver. It's called the Hub and the plan is for 14 wineries, breweries and eateries to all be in one location. When I first heard about it, we thought it was more of a centralized tasting area which it is, but its more than that. They've got space for entertainment, misters to keep things cool and each location has their own patio. There seem to be rules about where you can drink each locations wine but that might loosen over time. I can see it being a nice place to be for an evening of dining and entertainment.

Our last day ended with ice cream and fire. We were on our way to OK Falls and noticed what appeared to be a relatively new fire. It turned out to be past where we were going so we still got our ice cream. They ordered evacuations later that day. We also almost had to deal with fires on our way there and our trip to Prince George will likely involve dodging road closures. Fire season is bad again this year which isn't surprising considering the heat we had so early in June. It's mid July with no rain for weeks and none on the horizon. This is a tradition that I don't look forward to each year.

 

Hottest Day Ever!

June 28 was an unusually hot day. It reached over 40 degrees in the shade at our house. This would have been a hot day for July or August and was even more unusual for June. Local temperature records were being beat by almost double digits. Things got progressively warmer on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and them culminated in the 40 degree day for Surrey. It got to 36.5 degrees inside the house and even the next morning it was still 29 degrees inside. This is the final straw for us regarding air conditioning. We have a single unit that does a single room but its not enough. I'm not looking to cool things to 21 degrees but we have to be able to cut the edge at night and there are more and more of these hot days. It would be silly to try to get something now so we'll plan to do it later in the fall or early spring. 

It was hot across the province for this week with multiple cities breaking the Canada record. Lytton took top spot and was unceremoniously burnt to the ground the following day. Literally. Climate change is real. 

Last Day at Frost Road

June 25 was Carter's last day at Frost Road. Not only was it his last day, it was the last day of having a Schwab at the school. Kerry had started teaching there 18 years earlier and Callie and Carter both spent all of elementary school there. Kerry's not teaching there anymore so now that Carter is gone we will no longer have a presence at the school that is only about 500 feet from our house. Carter unfortunately got the short end of the stick for his grade 7 year. With Covid restrictions, he missed out on camp and a formal grade 7 graduation dinner. We did surprise him and his friends the following week with an event at one of his friends house. Just dinner and water guns but I think they were excited they got to do it. Some were suspicious but most had no idea it was happening. Hopefully Kerry ends up being a principal there at some point in the future. 

Dance Recital Weekend

For the past 10+ years Callie has had an end of year dance recital for her dance classes. We didn't get to do anything last year due to Covid as the year ended in May and there wasn't enough time to recover from the lock downs that started in March. They had managed to switch to dance at home before the end of the year however no one knew what kind of recital you could do considering you couldn't even get a single class in the same room, let alone a recital hall of dancers and parents. This year they were prepared and had arranged for a stage in Vancouver and they taped everyone's dance as individual classes. 

This was at the end of May and we haven't seen the results as of mid July but hopefully soon. Hopefully they were careful with all the recordings. I wouldn't want to have to redo any of the dances at this point. 

Although the weekend was not a normal recital weekend we still made the best of it. Since the dances were at different times in Vancouver, we drove down as a family and stayed for the day. We went to my old neighborhood of Kerrisdale for lunch and later to Greek Town for an early dinner. Kerry and Callie just happened to have been talking about how they wanted toone day eat at a restaurant that had been on 'You Gotta Eat here' and as we were walking around we found just such a place. Apparently they had filmed breakfast there and although we were having lunch/dinner we weren't disappointed. You really gotta eat there. 

The Marvel Puzzle

On March 23, towards the end of Spring Break, Carter and Kerry started on a new challenge. Carter had recently purchased a new 3000 puzzle. This blew past our typical puzzle size of 1000 pieces and apparently puzzles get exponentially more difficult as you add more pieces. It took more than a day just to find the outside pieces and get all the pieces flipped over. We had to expand the size of the dining room table and add a second and third table to the dining room just so we had enough space for to both lay out the pieces and have a place to build the puzzle. It didn't help that the color palette of this puzzle was somewhat limited with a lot of red, green and black.

Things started promising with the first 500 pieces or so put in place. This included the easy parts like the sky and the Marvel sign. After that there was a significant drop off in production. Kerry and Carter did the vast majority of the work. I did just enough pieces so they couldn't claim they did the whole thing themselves. After a large break of about a month things picked up again and they managed to finish it on May 11th. To get a sense of just how much effort it was, I tried to do a dismantling video and got bored after 2 minutes. We don't recommend doing a 3000 piece puzzle. 1000 pieces is where its at.

The Beginning of the End

On April 26th it was my time to get vaccinated. The clear front runner based on efficacy was the Pfizer or Moderna but Canada was having trouble getting those into the country. They did have plenty of AstraZeneca available so they were starting to offer it to the younger age groups. I figured a shot in the arm of something was better than nothing and we'd probably need boosters next year anyways so I signed up. The process was seamless, right from the sign-up process to the day of the vaccination. You got a time slot and had to show up within 10 minutes of that time. A quick form to fill in and an electronic check in process and they sent you to sit in a row for your shot. 

They came to you and after you were done they wrote your time to leave on the glass divider between you and the next person. They also gave you a card to take home with what you received and when. Although vaccine passports aren't a thing, you can also go online and see what you got and when and can print out a form as proof of vaccination. Not necessary for moving around the country but I think we will need it when we go to the US.

It's now July 3rd and I just got my second shot as well. This time I went with Pfizer and some studies have shown that mixing and matching is as good if not better for immune response. It will be a few years before they can figure out if I will grow and a tail or an extra eyeball. Another couple weeks and the kids will also have their second shot. Once the whole family is vaccinated, we just have to wait to decide where we want to go. Unfortunately it might not be until next spring break but at least we're getting closer to being able to go places without a mask. Its been a long haul. 

 

Don't Let the Dog in After He Gets Skunked

This post is just a quick lesson for our future selves. If your dog gets skunked, do not let him run around the house and when you catch him, do not bring him upstairs for a bath. Also, you should have skunk shampoo ingredients on hand. On April 22nd Oliver was out for his last pee before bed and started barking. Kerry could see the skunk but couldn't get Oliver to come in. He eventually ran into the house and jumped on the couch. The skunk got him full in the face. Kerry grabbed him and took him to the tub but it was too late. The couch took 2 weeks and dry cleaning to address and Callie's bathroom and Oliver's face still smell like skunk when they get wet 2 months later.
 

Our Second Covid Easter

This was our second Easter during Covid. The vaccine is available and Kerry has her first shot but the province is still pretty much closed. We remain working from home and you can't travel outside of your health district, meaning no one can come to or from Prince George or Oliver. We did still do our own thing for Easter Sunday though. The kids woke up and looked for chocolates from the Easter Bunny. At this point I'm not sure we're ever going to be allowed to stop that. Carter is getting much more competitive so perhaps we'll stop when one of them gets seriously injured.

We also had a traditional easter dinner of turkey, potatoes, stuffing, buns and Brussel sprouts. I would have been fine without turkey since there are a lot of leftovers with 4 people and no Uncle Ronnie, but Carter really wanted a giant turkey leg for Easter. Callie made the buns and did a great job. Things are looking much better for next year. Covid should be done by the summer and we should be able to have regular family holiday events in the fall. 

Bathroom Reno Completion (Almost)

In the fall last year our toilet broke. We bought a new one but quickly discovered that it had been leaking for a while and we would need to remove the particle board floor around the toilet. At this point of course it made sense to redo our whole bathroom. Covid was in full swing and everyone's vacation funds were being turned into home renovation funds so contractors weren't cheap. The guy up the street with a similar house layout to us indicated he had asked for a quote and been told $35k to $40k. I figured we could do it for about half of that so we started purchasing materials before Christmas including the shower, vanity and fixtures.

There were two pieces that I didn't really want to do. The first was the plumbing. Our house has the old Poly-B pipes that are prone to sudden failure and needed replacing. It was going to be easier if we did the half of the house that included the bathroom now so we hired a contractor to do that and install the shower and drain for the tub. The other piece was the tile. I've done tiling myself before but its not my favourite because if you screw up you can't just sand it smooth. You have to rip it out and start over. We tried several options for someone to come but in the end none of them called us back or gave us very high prices. Kerry and I set aside a weekend and made the attempt. I placed the mortar on the floor and she back buttered the big tiles. There was a lot of swearing but we survived. It took about 4 months from plumbing start to all fixtures in place although it is July and I'm not quite done. I'm working on a cabinet to store toilet paper for the apolocolypse and unfortunately it seems the plumbers didn't install the drain correctly so I have to figure that out. Should be done by the end of the summer.