September Sept 17 Weekly Update

There may be hope on the househunting front.  We asked for an expansion of our search and have come up with two possible homes in the Osoyoos area.  (Not anywhere close to Vernon….in fact, close to US border….is really desert country……)  There are two homes we have viewed twice, and will see again tomorrow.  With any luck, we will be in a position to be more clear on our next steps by the weekend following.

In the meantime, we have had some fun activities this week.  Our friends, Rita and John were in Penticton, and we joined them for a couple of days to fit with our Osoyoos househunting trip.  I’d show pictures, but how many meals do you want to see?  Isn’t that for Facebook users?

Vernon hosted the BC 55+ games this week, and Brian volunteered to assist at the cycling event.  He participated in setup and breakdown and couldn’t get over the spirit of the riders.  There were men’s 75+ and 85+ categories:  the participant in the 85+ won his round because he was solo.  Regardless, observers and participants cheered loudly for everyone, and the spirit was tremendous.  One observer had ridden his motorcycle from Kelowna to see his 75 year old sister participate in her race.  Needless to say, Brian will go into training for next year once we are settled.

The city put on a number of events for the games, including a downtown “Taste of Vernon” to see some of the vendors and services.  The weather was beautiful and the crowds good.  Note that most of the participants are of a more experienced age.

One might notice that the line-ups were at booths featuring wine or food.  Us 55+ are not stupid!

There was also a Pipes and Drum Band as well as Highland Dancing!

The littlest (and least experienced) dancer in the middle followed a principle well-developed in clogging.  Even if you can't do the right steps, keep the feet moving and you will fool many of the crowd.

We went for a walk yesterday, back to a trail we had done about 5 weeks ago.  The smoke situation had much improved.  Consider the picture of a scene from our first trip from the same the second time:

BC lifted its state of emergency due to wildfires yesterday, but the fire situation is still extreme.  Everything is brown and crackly.

So much for this week--maybe there will be more news for the next!!

Sunday Sept 10 Update Little Things

No new things on the house front, and we are extending our scope to Penticton and Osoyoos this week with showings on Tuesday.

In the meantime, although we have had (amazing) 7 mm of rain this week, the deciduous trees and shrubs are suffering, choosing to lose their leaves rather than trying further.  Everything is brown.

I have started putting out more food choices in our front view and have the red squirrel and the dark-eyed junco mooching out front.  The eastern dark-eyed junco is grey and white while our BC version (Oregon sub species) has some brown as well.

The bird seed I am strewing should attract California Quail as well (judging from their calls they are all around) but there is not evidence, yet................

The next week should be more interesting with house showings, travel to the southern Okanagan, etc.


Temperatures are under the 30's this week and I am freezing...

With the rain, the smoke has cleared, and we have had a chance to see the lenticular clouds generated in mountains today......

Sunday September 3rd Update

This week started off with excitement early in the week.  On Tuesday afternoon, we heard there was a new fire in the BX area, fairly close to our B&B, (and an area we consider attractive for housing).  At 6 pm, we had our pre-dinner libation while watching helicopters bringing in big water bags to help douse the fire, and thinking about what we could stuff in our cars in the shortest period of time.  Apparently, a resident became a local hero—he had a tractor with a water bin in the back and a fire hose.  He drove right through the gates of the burning property and had it contained by the time the fire department arrived.  Two helicopters and a fixed wing aircraft came in to douse the area, and were wrapping up Wednesday morning.

Vernon is now officially in a level 3 drought as of September 1 (meaning serious ecosystem or socioeconomic impacts).  July has been the driest since weather records started in the early 1900’s, and August the second-driest on record (because of a huge rainfall of .8 mm during the month).  Normally Vernon would receive about 90 mm of rain total during July and August.

The deciduous trees are showing the worst of the strain; their leaves are all curled and limp.

Since we have arrived, we have had 27 days of 30+ temperatures, and 18 days of 20+ temperatures.  We went out hiking yesterday and ended up enduring temperatures of 34.8C.  The dryness makes this heat much easier to bear, and now, temperatures below the 20’s cause us to put on lots of extra clothing to overcome the chill!

This week has been far more exciting than the last one.  First big event was the Armstrong (popn 5000) Interior Provincial Exhibition or IPE.  This was its 118^th year.  All the good things were featured.  The midway, the rodeo, riding competitions, animal exhibits....

Preparing the animals for display was a far more serious business than I ever anticipated.  In the cattle barn, everywhere there was "cattle-primping" including washing, shaving and blow-drying their coats.

Of course, I loved the petting barn.  There were two 3-week old miniature goats, who looked normal up close.  Then you got a perspective on their size compared to a teenage girl who had one sitting on her lap.

There are always whimsical items for sale.

Saturday featured a hike in one of BC’s many attractive provincial parks:  Fintree.  We climbed a steep set of stairs to get some views of Short’s Creek and the waterfall, which creates its own microclimate because of water spray.  

The temperature got to 34.8C, AND there was no smoke to obscure the sunlight.

In fact, see the amazing picture of a cloud over Lake Okanagan.

The rest of the trail meandered over very dry rocky land,   Most was mundane until we turned a corner and found an inukshuk family picnic underway.

And for the finale, see a couple of signs posted in a cafe in Armstrong:

Cheers!