Canada Facts.

If you visit Dawson City, Yukon, you can join the “Sourtoe Cocktail Club” — all you have to do is finish a drink (of anything!) with a real human toe in the bottom. The club’s motto says, “You can drink it fast, you can drink it slow — but the lips have gotta touch the toe.”

Champagne, cider and prawns.

The Okanagan Valley in south western Canada is best known for its many vineyards and orchards all made possible by one or two things.  One of those things is the climate, although it enjoys very warm and long summers it is balanced by very cold winters.

Another element is the rich soil left behind by the glaciers of the last ice age, which were also responsible for the rich gold deposits present in all the valleys.

One of the characteristics of a glaciated landscape is huge valleys left behind in the wake of the glaciers which eventually fill with water forming the many large lakes. 

Large lakes provide lots of lovely clean water ideal for irrigating crops.

So there we have it, perfect climate, rich soil and plenty of water equals plenty of vineyards all producing wine, cider and champagne at the same time. I say all at the same time, what happens is because the winter weather comes in fast and hard, the vineyards must harvest quickly and precisely to avoid a frost killing the crop. (Unless the crop is grapes for the ice wine, previous story).

Anyway, all the vineyards are desperate to promote and sell their products in a small window of opportunity so this weekend, every year, they all try and outdo their neighbours by having tasting days. They put up lots of coloured lights and all manner of tricks to entice the passing punters to come and sample the goodies. Lots of food, wine, cider and champagne, and all totally free!

One has to simply follow the road signs that meander through the vineyards and stop off at whichever floats your boat.

We went to Summerland and followed the signs up the mountain road called Giants Head Mountain where we followed a long line of what looked like airport landing lights up to the Saxon winery. We were met by two very lovely looking ladies who guided us into a patio area heated by a log burning stove and a bar.  We were offered white, red, cider or champagne whilst we thawed in front of the stove. Classical music playing, light snow falling. Being English and naturally cynical, Im thinking this is going to cost me somehow.

Then we were introduced to the owner, a man called Paul who hails from Tunbridge Wells. He had a successful IT business in the UK but sold up and went for the good life Canada style.  He was very welcoming and keen to talk English. We bought some Champagne, tasted everything in sight and left after an hour.

On the way down the mountain we were passing a Cidery (?) so curiosity got the better of me and I reversed back for a look.  These people were also very keen to impress their goods on us to the point where I had to ask him to stop giving me cider.

It was delicious, so I bought a big bottle of the sweeter mix. Not quite Rattler but very easy to drink.

We got home eager to try our goods over a prawn dinner, rather annoyed with myself for breaking my rule of absolutely no drink and drive, but as Lyn pointed out, I had only five very small tasters which might amount to half a pint of beer. Im a bit of a demon, I know!

So in the time Ive written this I have drunk the whole big bottle of cider and Lyn has emptied the Champagne which might be a problem in the morning as we have a cast on and off knitting lesson at the church at ten o'clock!

This & that.

Today presented me with with an array of mundane problems, none were life altering but problems nonetheless. 

1. Ever since I lagged and fitted an electrically heated element to the fresh water pipe it has sprung a leak. Not a massive leak but just a drip which you might think is not worth worrying about but it drips down along the lagged pipe to the lowest point where it falls off forming an ice mountain. Still not a problem, but the water seems to be inside the lagging which to my mind takes away the benefit of the heating element?  I have replaced the O ring inside the bit that enters the trailer: still drip drip. I wound at least 5 layers of PTFE tape around the threads: drip drip.  Im thinking maybe I ought to be replacing the whole inlet port plus a new flexi pipe and lagging?  Strap a pair on I hear you say but all this goes on with wet fingers when its minus 9-10 c!

2. I cant remember point 2 but its very cold tonight and Lyn wants a hot water bottle. Personally I don't like them but I do remember my dad teaching me the basics regarding hot water bottles and very important points they are. 

3. Always put a small amount of cold water into the bottle before the hot water.

4. Always squeeze out any excess air from the bottle very carefully before sealing the bottle with the stopper.

5. Im sure my father taught me many more valuable life skills which I might share with you dreckly.

6. I must learn how to turn off these numbered bullet points.

7. I must stop drinking vodka and go to bed.

8. Goodnight.

When the s**t hits the fan.....

Our trailer is very well equipped with shower, central heating, air conditioning etc.  The waste system is quite up to date as well involving 3 waste water storage tanks, one for kitchen waste, one for bathroom waste and another for the toilet. Now, the two "grey" water tanks feed directly into the sewage system via an airtight connection to the septic tank. The "black" water, (poo etc) is held in the tank and is released weekly which involves flushing the tank with a sanitiser once dumped. 

Last week I forgot the scheduled dump so the "black" water tank filled to capacity and the overflow outlet made itself known to me. Luckily the outside air temperature is very low so there was no smell under the trailer however we did grow a slightly odd coloured stalactite, os is it a stalagmite? 

Ice Ice Baby............

Just back from a wild night out involving a Slovakian woman and loads of wine.......

Martina (the Slovakian woman) runs a vineyard called Lunessence vineyard in Summerland. As the name suggests there is a Lunar connection. Their signature wine is an ice wine, white and very expensive. To command the high price and status of this plonk they guarantee the grapes are picked under a full moon when the air temperature is at or below minus 9c. (How come the grapes dont freeze?)

So last night delivered the perfect conditions and the moody Martina called begging for our assistance.  From 23.30 the pick began. About 20 heavily wrapped up souls with headlamps and buckets trudged tween the vines and snipped the night away. 

I wore tights ( cheeky black number) two pairs of leggings under heavy jeans with six layers on top crowned with 2 hats. I measured minus 12c but apart from my fingers, felt rather warm.

As the night progressed, one by one, the cold souls began to drop out beginning with the two drunks that lasted 25 minutes. Lyn & I made it through to 5am but were outdone by a group of lads from Quebec who are probably still there.

We got $110 each for our trouble but it might be quite a while before I can eat a grape!

Canada Facts.

In 1962, Pincher Creek, Alberta experienced the fastest, biggest temperature change ever recorded in Canada as a result of a Chinook (a warm, dry wind that comes off the Rocky Mountains). The temperature rose from -19C to 22C in just one hour!

Getting slightly cooler

Its Saturday night, ate chicken & chips, couple of beers and settled down to watch an Ocean trilogy. 

You know the movies, Oceans Eleven, Twelve and Thirteen.   George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts etc.   Good stories but you really have to stay tuned to keep up with the plots which seem to run concurrently with at least 3 or 4 other sub plots.  So tonight the 3 movies run back to back. Its an American TV channel from Boston and starting at 7pm I check the running time cos we have church in the morning, the series ends at 5.30am!    So Im thinking we have hit gold here, some kind of editors cut special feature length super dooper movie.

Ten minutes in it all becomes clear.  For every 4.5 minutes of movie they run 5 minutes of adverts, the same adverts every time.  I know because I timed it!

Its more like "The advert show" with a bit of movie chucked in here and there.

I will never criticise UK television again.

Now for something completely different...............

Its getting rather cold over here like minus 9c last night.   We have a fresh water feed via a 3/4 inch plastic pipe of 20 feet running from an underground hydrant which is heated electrically.

Yesterday I had to buy and attach a 20 foot heating element to the pipe with plastic ties, then wrap the pipe in glass fibre insulating tape, tricky!  Then I encased the whole length in plastic foam insulating casing secured with insulating tape.

Total cost=$120.

As if thats not enough to worry about, it was pointed out to me that the engine in my truck, being a 7.3 litre V8 has an awful lot of coolant fluid which might freeze any time soon. Lucky for me the clever people at Ford have already thought this might be a problem for me and fitted a heating element in the sump of the engine so all I have to do to ensure I sleep at night is plug the truck into the mains at night to keep it toasty.

Just have to remember to unplug the cable before I take off in the morning.

Apparently we have a full moon this Wednesday.  The Okanagan valley being an important wine growing region is known particularly for their Ice wine.  New to me but Ice wine is made from grapes which have to be picked under a full moon when the temperature is below minus 8c. This Wednesday the conditions are predicted perfect so locally it becomes something of a traditiopn to turn out to pick the grapes at 3am. Guess who Lyn signed up for 4 hours grape picking?   If I had a bucket list Im fairly certain I wouldn't find early turn frozen bits grape picking there.  Still, I will get $100 for the effort, which offsets the cost of insulating my cold water supply.

 Is that Karma or swings & roundabouts?

Its now 01.30, I really have lost the plot of 13 but I do know where to get the best lobster, my winter tyres, the best moisturiser and the best KFC deal amongst many other deals.

Canada Facts.

• The coldest temperature ever recorded in Canada was -63C (-81.4F) on February 3, 1957 in Snag, Yukon.

The first snow.

Well, here we go. The snow has arrived early, one foot deep overnight and the buses ran to time, people went to work on time...in fact it made no difference to anything or anybody at all!

Strangely that evening I bought myself a new hat in readiness for winter. Tomorrow I buy new boots.

Crash, Bang, Wallop!

So Sunday morning the sun is shining, Lyns gone to church, Archie is asleep so Im outside sweeping leaves.  Between me and the lake is the main road into Penticton and Im looking across at some kite surfers skitting along at unbelievable speed just above the water.

Suddenly a horribly loud bang caused me to duck to the ground, I looked down to the road to see a big black motorcycle flying through the air toward me and crash landing on the pavement all of 15 feet away!  It was a Harley Davidson minus its rider which was really odd because the rider was nowhere to be seen.  I looked further along the road to see a body unmoving about 250 yards away. Before I got there several people had appeared and began tending to the casualty so I went further down to slow the traffic coming around the corner toward the human and vehicle debris strewn everywhere. It seems the driver of a white car pulled out of a car park and hadn't seen the bike, (familiar story?) 

 Anyway, all the services turned up and carted the poor fella off to hospital, he regained consciousness but looked like a busted leg or two. The fire department cleaned the road and both broken vehicles were taken away and the driver of the car was arrested. I was impressed by the speed & efficiency of all concerned........so back to sweeping leaves then.