Tuesday, July 28, 2015

FLOWERS AND FIRE

So - here we are and well - here we are again with pictures of our garden.

We do leave the park once in a while but what really holds our attention when we aren't working is what's in bloom or what's growing or what's ready to eat!

We are finding it hard to believe that it's the end of July with our next camping hurdle is upon us. Derek and I equate our working season to a marathon with the long weekends being the hurdles. The August long - which is British Columbia's Family Day - this Monday - is one of the largest. Summer is in full swing ..... This weekend promises to be very busy especially since after some cool and wet weather we will be back into the heat -- 35C to 38C here in the Okanagan


Here is a picture of one of the amazing poppies we had in our front garden for the last few weeks. 


And the amazing rudbeckia. I showed you them a couple of posts ago but they really grew to impress.


This post was to be full of pictures from our day at the Fintry Estate Summer Fair on July 12th. Unfortunately, Derek and I were too busy working to go but thankfully Cassia was able to attend with friends of ours. I was able to take this picture of Cassia visiting with the Alpacas early in the morning. Cute eh?! Quite the hair cuts.


Last week Cassia's Aunt and Cousins came to visit us for a few days. Here is Cassia with her only cousins - Krysta and Tylar. She was one excited little girl when they arrived. They have the same eyes - right?!


Krysta helping Cassia with strawberry picking. Cas is the designated picker because she is the only one that can get in the cage.


A group photo before they left - Lisa is Derek's lovely sister.


Just as they were leaving we entered into the most exciting event of the summer. A wildfire began on Sunday night about 10 kms south of the Park due to a lightning strike. It was reported to have been contained but by Monday night it had flared up again. This time it took on a life of it's own.


These pictures were taken Tuesday morning when we had strong southern winds.


Although we didn't notice it much smoke wise, for the remainder of the week the fire burned in the end covering 450 hectares. The major issue for us was a week of sporadic electricity and water. For Tuesday and part of Wednesday we had neither electricity nor a cell phone signal. It was a bit strange having no contact with the outside world. 

Thankfully by the end of the week cool wet weather arrived and the crews were able to contain the fire - open the road back up and get the electricity back on line.



For Wednesday and Thursday we felt like we lived in a militarized zone listening to five planes fly by for hours on end. 


So - that was interesting for sure. Our first dealings with a close wild fire. Sadly, they are all to common here in the Okanagan. 

Back to the garden...... our sunflowers are out and doing well. Nice to look out our windows to a bunch of yellow.


Although I really dig the red variety.


Of course they are swarming with bees - I got this shot today. Pretty neat.


And, well, that's all I have for you.

Seemingly all very calm but we are having a crazy ride here at Fintry. Since Derek and I are used to smaller parks the summer has been full of issues and challenges. Thankfully we have a super group of employees - Britt, Avalon and Landon have been stellar - very hardworking and a joy to be around. I'll have to get pictures of them before too long. As well as a great Supervisor and Contractor helping us out and getting our backs.

You won't be hearing from us again until next week as we host our biggest camping party of the summer!

Teresa 


21 comments:

  1. Again, gorgeous pictures of your flowers, they are doing so well! Happy to hear that the fire is out and didn't make it your way or make you have to evacuate. How did the park manage without electricity and water during those times? I am assuming that you have some pit toilets there!

    We are totally booked this weekend as well so we will be jumping too! Nice that you have a team of good employees. Our one really good one had his last day today because he heads back to Toronto to do work for the college that he goes to. Our other two are younger boys and they are good boys but they don't have much ambition to work very hard or very fast, which can be a bit frustrating at times.

    www.travelwithkevinandruth.com

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    1. The electricity was the issue for the park rather than the water as we were able to keep the reservoir topped up and it feeds the washrooms due to gravity. Unfortunately we had to close our shower buildings each time the power was out which made for grumpy campers. Many campers left or didn't show at all because of it. Also - Westside road was closed on one side so many campers had to endure a huge detour to get here. We only have three pit toilets for 100 sites so good thing we could keep the washrooms open.

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  2. Glad the rains came....I also read Kevin & Ruth above....it it's extremely interesting reading your blogs re: camp life. It is funny about fires:- when they have showed us who is the boss in nature and caused distress...the rains come and we all breath easy...it happens here as well. Great to have family to visit.

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    1. Timing is everything! Although there have been times in the Okanagan when the rains didn't come and houses have been lost so we were lucky!

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  3. Busy weekend most any campground in Canada, hope you make it through just fine and no more wildfires.

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  6. Your life certainly is full - wild fires notwithstanding. What's important is that you are safe. We visited Therese Long and the boys in Michigan. All is well.

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    1. Hi Barb! Very full indeed and never a dull moment it seems - people are crazy sometimes. I saw on Therese's facebook that you guys were getting together - hope it was a good weekend!

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  7. I was hoping you wouldn't be too affected by the fires, your garden is amazing, enjoy the rest of your summer (after this coming hurdle)

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    1. Hi Jean! Thankfully it didn't move any further north....... evacuating the park would not have been fun. So nice to be gardening again after not having the opportunity for years.

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  8. Oh the stories working a park....I now understand:) The good, bad and the funny!!! Sunflowers are the berries!!!

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    1. Ha! Books could be written Cj! I don't really go into all craziness on the blog - and forgo the rants - but it's not for the faint of heart that's for sure!

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  9. Oh the stories working a park....I now understand:) The good, bad and the funny!!! Sunflowers are the berries!!!

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  10. Beautiful photos! And some beautiful weather you are getting but I hope the fires are under control.

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    1. We are flower photographers aren't we Croft! And bees too! Fingers crossed no fires around here for the rest of the summer.

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  11. We were thinking about you during the fire and are glad the park faired well. Really wish we were heading out there this weekend, hopefully all goes well 😊

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    1. Hey you two! Ya - a bit strange here at the park that week - lots of people left so very quiet for the middle of the summer. It was actually quite relaxing in that respect. It'll be a bit of a zoo!

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  12. Great flowers. The fire actually burned 560 hectares. Too bad about the electrical issues because of the fire, we just had a lot of smoke being on the other side of the lake and directly across from it. Let's hope that this is the last big one in our area for a very long while. Enjoy your weekend.

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    1. Thanks Contessa - I hadn't realized that the final size was that large! Our contractor's office is over by you and they sent pictures from their vantage point also. You actually had a better view of it then we did. Yes, let's hope for sure!

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