Posts from — April 2009

Our house was built around 1950. At that time most of the homes were heated with Fuel Oil. Anyway, when we moved in 21 years ago it was not a big deal that there was still an oil tank still in the ground, even though the furnace was now natural gas. Well nowadays it is a big deal. It’s kind of like having the Exxon Valdez parked in your backyard. The tank needs to be removed if you ever want to sell the home because the new purchasers cannot get home insurance; but that’s another story. Don’t get me started on insurance companies. Anyway, since we were aware that we had the biggest environmental disaster since the “1991 Kuwait Oil Field Sabotages by Iraqi Forces” situated under the lawn in our backyard we decided to have it removed. This first involved contacting a company and discussing how this could be done without destroying our garden. After much discussion and with some prompting from Kevin we decided to dig it out by hand. So, I located the tank and dipped it to see if there was any oil remaining. Luckily there was none and the tank was dry…. that was real good news. I also was able to determine that the tank was down about 6 1/2 ft. It was about a 250 galleon tank and was approximately 4 ft long and 3 1/2 ft in diameter. The soil was mostly clay so digging was fairly easy. To end a long story after a couple weeks of digging and a little ingenuity I got the tank out and it’s ready to haul to the scrap dealers this Friday.

Okay. We have been a little delinquent in our posts lately. So, here are a few just to catch everyone up to date on what’s been happening around here and in our life.

First off is a visit with the grandkids at Easter. It was a really quick visit and it is always great to spend time with them. Attached are some pictures from the Easter Weekend.

Well, as you may have read earlier the golf season has officially begun in the Kamloops region. All the courses are open and they are in varying states of readiness depending on elevation, how they wintered and of course general course care and condition. My home course, which is Eagle Point is in very good shape for this early in the year. We are playing regulation rounds and entering our scores and except for the first round of the year we have not had “winter rules”. There is a “lot of rust” on my golf swing and I have shot from a high of 91 into the mid 80’s. However today I got it going pretty well and ended up scoring an even 80; so I was really happy with that score and how I struck the ball except for a couple of drives. My index is 9.1 so my handicap is between a 9 and a 10 depending on the tee box and the course rating. I’ll provide more updates as the season progresses.

Last Sunday we had a quick trip to Princeton. It’s a long story and you best ask Kevin and Tamara. Anyway, the roads down to Princeton were a little snowy and slippery on the Coquihalla between Kamloops and Merritt. As usual, people were driving like idiots and well beyond the capability of the vehicles, the roads and the winter tires. Personally I don’t worry about our vehicle however if the numb-skull that passes you ends up in a slide the chances are he and/or she is taking you with them. We stayed overnight had a great visit and headed home Monday afternoon. No post is complete without grandchildren pictures. Enjoy………. Larry & Brenda.