Monday, June 29, 2015

Day 2 and 3

     I should have wrote this sooner as the dementia is setting in and Im having a hard time separating days. We left Merrit and headed to see mom in Kamloops.   It was another hot day. Mom was glad to see us and we were very happy to be with her for a couple days. We hung out a lot relaxing and eating as mom loves to put out food. Even when your not hungry you find yourself filling your mouth with what ever was in a dish on the table beside you. Mom wanted to make supper but we told her no we would order pizza in so we could all relax. After dinner we went up to a park where i like to bird watch. There are lots of different birds there. Mom and Patty walked Dante around and I went bird hunting. Got lots of photos as usual while using my new lens extender, which was handy as the birds are pretty shy. The male yellow headed blackbird and the red wing blackbird were being very evasive from my camera lens.

Mostly male and female yellow headed blackbirds with a goose and red winged blackbird thrown in!






















     The 3rd day we waited for Natalie and Peter to show up so we could all go see Pat [pops] together. Mom went a bit earlier so she could feed him his lunch. This care facility is pretty good as you can pretty much come and go as you like. The nurses all seemed very friendly. I liked that we could bring Dante in and Pops was so happy to see him. Dante climbed right onto his lap and pretty much stayed there the whole visit. Pops shared some of his lunch with Dante and we made Dante do some tricks for him and a couple other patients. Pops was in a good mood the whole time we were there. It was a nice visit. Albert called on Friday and was thinking of coming for a visit but it was raining pretty hard in Merritt and so he decided to stay there and relax. He was in town for a baseball tournament with his friend Nick. We were going to go watch a game on Saturday. 

     That evening i went back to the park to do some more bird watching. I saw a couple different birds and even a baby Muskrat. I thought it was dead at first but it was just getting a drink and relaxing. Then it came out of the water went about 10 feet and stopped to nap. It did that a few times till it dissapeard in the bushes. It was pretty small so I think it was a baby and I did get a glimpse of what might have been mama muskrat swimming by probably looking for the baby.



Ruddy Duck













     On Saturday we went to Merritt and went to see Als game. I took lots of photos but i have them on a disk for Al. Patty doesn't like me posting family photos so i don't take many any more. So your all stuck with my nature shots lol. Most of the rest of our visit in Kamloops was going to visit Pops as often as we could, eating eating eating lol and even a visit to the casino where i lost 20 bucks and mom broke even,On Tuesday we headed back to Merritt to stay with sista Natalie and her beau Peter.  More of that in my next post if i remember lol

2 panoramic shots of Kamloops!



Sunset our second night in Kamloops




Saturday, June 20, 2015

Day 1 of our trip!


      Our first day on our trip we didn't set an alarm just got up when we felt like it.  I checked the times of the ferries and we decided which one we should catch then loaded up the car and headed out. Dante didn't start off to good on this trip as he was shaking from the time we got on the ferry till we hit Merritt. He had always been a good passenger as we started taking him on long drives right from the get go. Ever since I got my truck he has changed. He hates my truck and shakes most of the time in it but he seems ok in Patty's car until this trip. Anyways we stopped in Merritt the first day to spend time with Peter and Natalie. They took us to the river where they like to go for a walk every day. It was a gorgeous day for a walk along the river. Natalie and Peter always take peanuts and the crows know when they are there. Along the trail they drop peanuts to feed the crows. Every tree seemed like there was a crow waiting for the peanuts. I had my camera and took lots of pictures of the crows and other things along the river.



I always forget what kind of bird this is. Ive posted pictures of one of these birds on my blog before!



This crows a pig and managed to get 2 peanuts at one time in its beak!


Natalie and Peter hide peanuts in the holes drilled in this rock for the crows to find!




     After our walk we took Dante back to Natalie and Peters so we could go out to dinner where we met up with Patty's friend Anitta. We went to a sports bar and the meal was great. After dinner we were outside taking group photos when someone spotted a Marmot. I grabbed my camera and kept creeping up seeing how close i could get. I actually got pretty close before he took off. Then we went back to the house and thats when we found out how unhappy Dante was for being left there. He decided to chew on the french doors separating the dining room and living room. So that night and part of the next day I was busy trying to fix  what Dante had done. I gotta say for a quick job I did pretty good!





     The second day after I was done painting the doors we left for Kamloops and to spend time with mom. I love going to moms she always spoils us when we are there. We decided we would not leave Dante alone for the rest of the trip lol.

Thursday, June 18, 2015

        This is my first post about our trip to Kamloops and Merritt to visit family. We both had a great time and miss our family dearly! Mom spoiled us as usual with never ending food. She cooked breakfast every morning. We always made sure some was left over for Dante. Moms not really a dog person but I know that by the time we left she loved Dante as much as he loved her.We got to spend some quality time with Peter and Natalie and except for a little mishap with Dante trying to eat through the dining room doors when we left him alone we had a great time. My first day was spent repairing and painting the doors. It came out of Dantes allowance!

      I'm working on my photos from our trip and will post them here soon. First i have to post a time lapse video i shot from moms balcony. I've never tried before although I've had the technology for all my cameras. I just used it as a cable release for my night time photography. Anyways after seeing a beautiful sunset and taking a few pictures with Patty i decided to try and do a time lapse of a sunset the following night. Of course the first night was the best night but i did it anyways.  I put it together on my computer and added some music and if it works you will see it now!


Wednesday, June 03, 2015

    Well not sure how long this post will be but I was out at Beacon Hill Park with Patty and Dante taking photos so I thought I would share some. Also got off the phone a short while ago from talking to my niece Jessica about her trip out here in the next couple weeks. Wanted to see where she was on her plans and what times were open. Patty wants to see The Lion King over in Vancouver and I thought we could make a great outing to Vancouver with Jessica. I just finished booking the tickets and was going over my photos showing Patty what i took today. Im hoping we can see lots of nature when Jess is here so she can use her new camera to get some good shots. Looking forward to having family visit again! I know this time Jess will get to see some seals, probably her first morning here when she has breakfast with her Nana at Oak Bay Marina.

    I'm back to work again after 4 weeks off with my surgery. My arms still tingle but i'm not leaking and not in pain so everything is good. I worked 1 day [Monday] now I'm on my days off and then Monday i start holidays! Nothing out of the ordinary happened. When I went in Tuesday morning to pick my summer work the Manager told me to not rush out she had something for me. Other drivers around said oh oh someones in trouble! They came out with a piece of paper and said what do you know about the Beatles? I laughed and said I've forgotten more than i can remember. He said I could tell by the grin your the right driver. Every once in a while i do trivia on my bus. One night I did Beatles trivia and i had about 5 or 6 guys on the back of the bus headed home from the bar. They as well as the other passengers were really enjoying the ride home and the trivia. I told everyone they could use their smartphones if they wanted to but that group wouldn't allow each other to do that. They all came up and shook my hand leaving and one stopped and asked me my name. He said I'm going to write BC Transit and tell them about you. Well lots of ppl say that but usually don't so i was shocked that he actually did. He actually wrote in his email that he never sends in positive comments but that i had made a good night out even better by having the trivia and calling out stops so they didn't miss their stop. He continued to say he could tell that this driver enjoyed his job and should be commended for his great public service. That's the letter i got lol. It's not much but i appreciate it when people take time out to do that. That's the second one I've received in my 1 year of driving conventional. I was also told by an office worker that was riding my bus one night that i was by far the best driver he had ridden with in quite a while. He said he would let my boss know. I found that he had called it in and that was his last night working for BC transit and he was just out riding for fun when he got on my bus. I do it for myself. I love my job and its even better when you can have some fun and brighten someone else s day. I try to greet everyone getting on my bus with a smile and i say goodnight to them as they get off my bus. There are times when you get idiots and they try and ruin your night but you just have to try and shake it off and keep smiling! I even wish them a goodnight as they get off.

     I really didn't know where i was going to go with this post it just started rambling out of me. Well that's all for tonight hope you enjoy my photos!