A Heat Warning!

Well now I am very confused??  I received multiple alerts on my phone this morning at 4:53 a.m., just as I was starting my morning walk.  I have to say it gave me a scare, what could be so urgent that I needed multiple alerts before most people are even out of bed?

I immediately stopped to read what was going on.  I couldn’t believe it when I saw that I was receiving a heat warning!  We have had so much rain lately that I feel like I’m living on the coast, and we certainly haven’t had anywhere near our normal temperatures for this time of year.  Usually June in the Okanagan sports temperatures in the mid to high 20’sC (78 to 85F) but this year we have been sitting in the mid-teens to low 20’sC (70F).  We did reach a high of 23.8C (75F) yesterday before it quickly cooled down and the rain started again.

Hubby caught this picture of the Mountain Sheep trying to sneak into the park.  They actually were finally running away from an ambulance, enroute to an emergency call.  They wouldn’t let the ambulance past but I guess the lights and sirens eventually convinced them to let it move on.

But back to the heat warning.  When I read the headline I was very happy, it was going to be above normal and very warm … because otherwise why would I be getting a heat warning at 4:53 a.m.?  Nope not so, upon reading further I realized that this early morning heat warning was telling me that, starting Saturday, we would be hitting 27C (80F) and Monday we would hit 31C (88F) and then the temperatures would start to drop again.  How is this a “heat warning”?  Those temperatures are normal summer weather for us and I have been anxiously awaiting them.

If the warning had been a flood warning I would understand.  Right now a sharp uprise in temperature could lead to the snow pack melting too quickly and our rivers and lakes are already above full pool, they can’t handle a quick thaw … that, to me, deserves a warning.

Just like our cold rainy spring I guess summer is also changing.  A few weeks ago the province of BC announced a newly formed Heat Committee who determined that our regional temperature threshold was a daytime high of 35C (95F), and a nighttime low of 18C (64F).  That also surprised me because … guess what … that is our normal summer temperature!  Once those temperature thresholds are met the committee will make the call to send out an emergency broadcast through the national text alert readiness program.  Really? I don’t need a text telling me we are having a normal summer!  Although wait … maybe I do … because by the time it finally happens this year I might have forgot what a normal Kelowna summer is 😀

But I think this means that if we ever get back to our normal summer weather, I can expect to be annoyed every morning at 4:53 a.m. with an alert telling me our weather is NORMAL!  Good thing I’m awake at that time of day!  And to be fair this morning’s alert was from Environment Canada not the Heat Committee, maybe the Heat Committee will alert people later in the day.

Okay, rant over and since the last few days have warmed up slightly I will really, really, try to stop complaining about the weather … honest, I will try 🙂

Until next time …

Guess What?

This blog is not a complaint about the weather 😀  Well one day of very heavy rain which of course was the last day of our coffee group camp out, but our first two days were sunny and pleasant, although not overly warm.

Our temperatures are still well below normal and we are still getting lots of rain but at least slightly warmer temperatures have finally arrived.

We have had a busy few weeks that started with our oldest grandson’s graduation from grade twelve.  That day started with rain but the rain stopped in time for me to get some outdoor pics of the very handsome graduate.

That event was followed by a fun three days with our Tuesday coffee group at the campground, and I was having so much fun I didn’t take any pictures.

They all left and a few days later we went to mass where two of our grandson’s celebrated their confirmations.  Our older grandson should have been confirmed two years ago but COVID delayed that, but it was nice to see the two boys celebrate together.

We saw this interesting set-up across from the church, I wonder what the story is?

Last Thursday and Friday night we had the pleasure of attending two band concerts where our grandson’s did an awesome job!

These guys posed nicely for a picture the other morning.

Now I am keeping my fingers crossed that summer will arrive soon, or at the very least this spring weather … minus the rain … will continue.

Until next time …

More Weather, But Interesting Information

A friend and fellow blogger Six Saturday’s and a Sunday posted this comment on yesterday’s blog.  This is information about Seattle, WA which is 520km/323mi southeast of us and generally cooler and rainier than we are:

Copied this from a Seattle News Facebook post:
Number of hours at or above 70° F in Seattle by year through to May 29th:
2015 – 77 hours
2016 – 144
2017 – 85
2018 – 107
2019 – 103
2020 – 85
2021 – 80

and, 2022 – 5 hours.

This has certainly been a cool spring.

I keep temperature and wind speed records for the park, recorded each day at 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m., and those records show that our highs this year are about 7C to 10C lower than our low temperatures at this time last year!

And this is what we see out our window this morning 😦

You can’t see the heavy rain falling but trust me it is, and is forecasted for the whole day.

I’m sorry I’m still complaining, I just can’t help myself.

Until next time …

Now The Spring Rains Are Here

Is it really June?  Once again I am blogging about the crappy weather!  It hasn’t really warmed up, still mostly around 20C/70F if we are lucky and chillier when I walk in the morning.

The wild rose has finally started to bloom, but they are very late this year.  Last year I took my first wild rose picture on May 20^th, and in 2016 they were in full bloom on May 14^th, this year they are many weeks behind.

We had hoped to ride our bikes into town last Wednesday but the weather didn’t cooperate, next week we are not going to our two coffee groups, but hopefully we can ride our bikes to them the following week.  I would hope by mid June it will be warm enough to ride!

We did have a few sunny blue skies earlier this week.

I haven’t seen my Goose family around but the McDucks are back at our site every day.  They are pretty mellow and don’t bother to move when we walk around them.

Last night we went out on a date night and it only cost us $100.00 … at first I thought that was pretty expensive, but when I thought about it I decided it wasn’t that bad.  We went to see Top Gun, which was great, and then out for dinner at a nice restaurant.  We didn’t have anything to eat at the movie and only had one drink with dinner but it was a really nice evening for $100.00 😀

Yesterday the Bridal Wreath started to bloom.

The last few days have been very rainy and that is all that is forecasted for the next few days, but I’m hoping it will stop before Tuesday when our Tuesday coffee group comes out to the park for three nights.  Also on Sunday our oldest grandson graduates and it would be nice if the rain would stop for that as well since he wants me to take photos 🙂

Until next time …

We Had A Hint Of Spring

We have had a few hints that spring may actually be here …

Sunny blue skies and temps around 20C/70F last Sunday

But then the weather quickly turns and gets cold again 😦

Even the sunrises haven’t been as good as usual

Friday morning I was able to wear my flip flops for my morning walk, the first time since we left Tucson at the beginning of April and I though, oh boy spring is finally here!  But by 9:00 a.m.  it was pouring rain with a thunder storm.  It lasted for about an hour but that was enough for my bones to get chilled and once again I was dreaming of the day when warm weather would arrive.

Even the geese are hiding, but I did see this family out one morning.

I know I sound like a broken record, but I am just really tired of being cold, hopefully next week I will have something better to write about!

Until next time …

Evely Recreation Site

A few weeks ago we went to see our nephew’s new house further up Westside Road, which is the road our park is located on.  My sister and brother-in-law picked us up and off we went.

There are signs that spring is here!

Last summer our nephew and his girlfriend purchased the house but barely had a chance to get moved in when they were evacuated because of forest fires 😦  They were out of their house for a long time but were some of the fortunate ones that didn’t lose their house nor are they surrounded by burnt out forest.

The Okanagan Sunflower is out in full bloom.

We had a tour of the house and then spent some time sitting out on their deck overlooking Okanagan Lake.  And then we all loaded back into vehicles and took the short drive down to the Evely Recreation Site along the shores of Okanagan Lake.  Once on the road into Evely, the surface changes to gravel and does a couple of switchbacks down to the lake and the picnic area.

We spent an enjoyable afternoon at the small picnic area roasting hot dogs and enjoying some great conversation while enjoying the spectacular scenery along Okanagan Lake.

This park was originally called Okanagan Lake Forest Recreation Site, but the name was changed to honor a Vernon Auxiliary RCMP Officer named Glen Evely.  Aux. Cst. Evely was killed November 13, 2004 when the cruiser in which he was riding was struck by a stolen truck.

There are 50 campsites with most being along the water and a few up on the hill overlooking the water.

The sites along the water have direct access to the lake, which is nice during our hot Okanagan summers 😀

The road for the water campsites eventually dead ends with a tight cul-de-sac to turn around, which means this is not a good site for larger, or even medium size RV’s.  We camped here one weekend when our children were small and had a tough time getting our tent trailer turned around!

The beach going out into the lake is completely gravelled, but the upside to that is the water is very clear and clean which is great for swimming.  There is also a small boat launch at the park.

Camping is on a first-come, first-served basis and I think it costs $15.00 a night.  There is a camp host on site who collects the fees.  There are a couple of pit-toilets on site but no running water, so come prepared.

This was a great place to spend a Sunday afternoon and the weather even cooperated and it felt like a nice spring day … now if spring would just come full time, I would be happy … or better yet, lets skip spring and bring on the warm days of summer!

Until next time …

A Week With The Little Ones

A week ago Thursday we flew out to Calgary to spend a week with our youngest son and his family, and once again we had a great time with lots of warm squeezy hugs from our two youngest grandchildren.  Oh and bonus for me, since Mother’s Day fell into our stay, I also got a few extra hugs out of our baby boy 😀

Leaving Kelowna and yucky weather behind!

Landing in Calgary, looks nicer but still not spring weather

On Saturday hubby helped our son put some additional shelves in their new RV while our daughter-in-law and I shared a bottle of Prosecco and the grandchildren snuggled into their bunks with their tablets.  It was so roomy in the new RV and we were having fun so we decided to order pizza.  I placed the order and made a note to have it delivered to the RV parked in front of the house, you should have seen the grin on the delivery drivers face when he walked up to the RV with our pizza!

On Sunday I was treated to a Mother’s Day pedicure with our daughter-in-law, her mother and our granddaughter … yup a fun time was had by all!  Our son, with a little help from hubby, made a great dinner of roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, mashed potatoes, and veggies.  There may also have been a few mimosa’s consumed 🙂

The rest of our time was spent watching the grandkids play soccer, walking them to school, and on the last day, when it finally warmed up a bit, we were able to get out for a walk and play time in the park.

They have some really nice walking trails around their house.

We had another great week in Calgary and it was sad saying goodbye on Thursday but I sure am looking forward to their week at the campground in August.

Until next time …

The Yard Work Is Almost Done

The nice thing about selling our house and becoming full time RVers is the need to never do yard work again … unless we want to 🙂

I didn’t necessarily mind doing yard work but we had just under a half-acre with a pool, hot tub and outdoor kitchen so the maintenance end of our house was time consuming … and at times seemed never ending!  So the life we lead now is much easier, if we feel like it, we do yard work, if we don’t feel like it, someone else does it … how could it get any better than that!

These were collected our first day, many more bags came after that.

There were a lot of leaves to rake out of the trees but I think it looks so much better now and the Oregon Grape have really taken off now that they are no longer buried under leaves.

Before

After

We decided to get rid of our two vegetable gardens, we just don’t get enough sun in our site to grow nice vegetables.  Our three grandsons helped hubby pull the gardens out and spread the dirt around the back of our site.  Once they had done that, they overseeded the grass and we should have a nice back lawn this summer.

Before

After

With the help of the boys, we were able to finish off the side of our site that we spend the most time in.

Before

After but before I bagged all of the leaves

Before

After

I still have the back of the site to finish off but I am waiting for warmer weather and it looks like it might finally be coming our way … of course that happened as we were leaving town for a week, but more on that trip later.

Until next time …

A Visitor

Well it is warming up a little bit but it is almost the first of May and, other than some rain this morning, I don’t feel like we have hit spring weather yet 😦

I finally gave up, took a chance and planted all my flower baskets.  They have been out for three nights now and are holding up well even though we have had some low overnight temperatures.  I think from now on our overnight temps will rise, so my plants should be safe.

The two geese on the pillar were enjoying the sunrise

We are into another weekend and the campground is once again full with happy campers, but none happier than this camper because we had an overnight visit from our oldest son.

I waited for a long time hoping that one goose would lift his head and look at me but he was being very stubborn!

He was on his way home from a trip to check on a job he had going in Castlegar and, since he got away late yesterday, he decided to spend the night with us.  Normally he will stop for a visit but it was nice to have a much longer visit and fun for him because he had some time to walk around the campground and relive memories from his childhood.  We enjoyed an evening around the fire with great conversation.  It was sad to say goodbye this morning, but so nice to have had that time with him.  I of course hope he has to make many more trips to check up on that job in Castlegar, I’m sure he, and our daughter-in-law, hope that’s not the case 😀

Until next time …

Please Bring On Spring!

Despite it being well into April it still feels like winter here at home 😦  Our daughter and family were out at the campsite for five nights over the Easter weekend, along with many others – the campground was full, and while the weather was okay it definitely wasn’t the spring weather we normally have this time of year.

We were lucky enough that we had no rain so we were able to get a good start on cleaning up our site.  We don’t have to do this work, park staff would eventually get to it, but we like to do it and feel it’s only fair to keep our area tidy.

With the help of our three grandsons, we pretty much had it all done by the end of the weekend, but I will show you those pictures in another blog.

Along with raking leaves I was also able to get my bird feeders up and the chickadees have been eating heartily!  I have three feeders up and I have to fill them every two days, and now the finches have joined in.

The campground is full again this weekend and it actually looks like it may warm up and be a pretty decent weekend … fingers crossed 😀

Until next time …