The morning after we finished the rough grading of the back yard, we found this contented deer enjoying the newly leveled surface just outside the dining room window.

These are Saskatoon bushes in bloom – there are hundreds of berry bushes on the property.  There were no berries last year due to the lack of rain so we are hoping for more rain and berries this year.

We went to a CD-issuing party of the Trips, a local band that plays bluegrass, a week after we saw ZZ Top. Both were smaller venues and most enjoyable.  Jan someone from Saskatoon opened for the Trips and played, inter alia, a cover from two of my favorite musicians – Ry Cooder and J.J. Cale.  At both concerts, you could by a glass of beer or wine and take it to your seat – something we had not experienced in Ottawa, Seoul, Paris or Riyadh.  Who knew Kelowna was such a paragon of the liberal laid-back life.

Mizuho did a great job splitting this wood – she is getting to be a real pro at it.  This will be used in the downstairs wood stove as there is another even larger pile for the shop stove.  We will use the bark for mulch.

We finally decided on some details of the landscaping for the back yard.  The white pipe will carry the rainwater from the downspout, the conduit will be used to run low voltage wire out to the yard for lights, and both will be covered with rounded river rock to give the look of a dry river bed and to mark the change from lawn to natural ground cover.  Hope to order and place 10 tons of topsoil next week.

Several projects are underway.  Am sanding and staining the parts that will make up the fir door for the guest bedroom, and applying polyurethane to kitchen and bathroom drawers, which are sitting on the cedar posts and spruce beams that will be planed and sanded and finished and eventually erected. 

Decided to finally take some time and build a workbench.  It is made of maple veneered 3/4″ plywood with maple edging and will have a 3″ thick laminated maple top.  It should provide a really sturdy and much needed working surface and storage to help get me organized.  There will eventually be drawers in the middle two bays, and doors on the outside two.

Big news is Lee Valley just opened a store in Kelowna two days ago!  Really great to have them in town and to not have to go to Vancouver or order on line.  MEC opens this week. 

Good thing we are making some progress as the house-building front will slow down this summer.  I bought this Black Beauty this week and there is much to explore in the valley and beyond 🙂  First bike I have bought since 1994 (just before we went back to Japan) and 6th overall.  Was great to be back on board as I had not ridden since Paris days, about 7 years ago.