We head for the hills

And so in September of '92 we loaded up a big U-Haul truck again and attached the little Datsun 510 on a trailer to the back.
Floyd had taken the '80 Pontiac wagon we'd bought to replace the Jeep over to his place in Burnaby where he was going to load it with some stuff and meet us in Osoyoos where we planned to overnight.
The drive up was quite pleasant and we arrived at the pet-friendly motel by the lake in Osoyoos in late afternoon.
Floyd had arrived a bit earlier with Rayana and Shelagh's Mum, Dorlean.
After a restful evening we left early the following morning heading into a part of the province we'd never seen.
We took our time and arrived in Nelson fairly early in the afternoon.

The truck began acting up with a slipping clutch as we'd headed into the mountain and the final climb into uphill Nelson was a big chore for it as it slipped badly and had us concerned until we levelled off and pulled into 1905 Falls St.
We were thrilled with the view from the living room window and found the house was very well fitted out with built-in cabinets and shelves everywhere.
There was a historic cemetery a few blocks away where we enjoyed many walks throughout the year.
There was a nice little primary school very close by for Harley and he began kindergarten a few days after we moved in.
I again started the familiar ritual of visiting the Canada Employment office which kept me in good shape walking the steep hill downtown and back again daily.
Harley made friends with a little girl and we soon were befriended by her beautiful young single mother and older sister.
Colleen had two rottweilers with her when she walked from her home to pick Paige up  and we fell in love with them.
Colleen, the girls and dogs became part of our family and I was kept busy having the girls and dogs over frequently and for periods of time stayed with us when Colleen had to go out of town.
The female rotti, Justice had her puppies one afternoon and I was summoned to assist which I enjoyed fully. One pup was breech birth too and wasn't breathing.
Thanks to the endless animal shows I always watch I knew what to do and had her breathing and okay before I knew it.
When they were about 8 weeks old we kept the puppies for a few days along with Justice and the girls and had lots of fun during the winter of that year.
The job hunting was worse than in Victoria and I had very few choices an d had several disappointments due to government bureaucracy where I didn't qualify for a few training programs as I was on employment insurance and not welfare.
Early the next year Floyd notified us of his date to occupy the house to be in March, so we began looking for a place.
When Colleen learned we would have our own place  she offered Justice to us since she felt unable to care for her and had her spayed for us.
I remember picking her up following the operation and found she had not recovered from her anesthetic.
On arriving home and trying to get her out of the car we found her nearly unconscious and so groggy we left her to sleep several hours.
When she was finally with it enough to stagger in with my help she stood in the kitchen bleary-eyed and peed about a gallon onto the floor.
Having no luck after searching locally we saw an ad for a house on acreage in nearby Salmo.
One cold February day we drove out to the charming little town in its picturesque mountainous setting where we found a neat, very old looking darkened wood sided house.
The young landlords were a very friendly pair and had a huge Malamute in a fenced enclosure in back who tackled us for some play and gave us a big welcome.
They offered us the house and weren't bothered about Justice, Bandit and the cats.
The house was totally untouched and very rough, but had a cheerful feel to it.
It had belonged to a miner and his wife for many years and featured a few old outbuildings including a tiny shack where Mr. Isrock reportedly did his drinking.

This time we had a short move and used a smaller U-Haul truck along with our Pontiac and newly purchased utility trailer.
We settled in and soon the spring came when Harley and I began working on building a big vegetable garden on the long disused but fertile ground.
Harley had transferred to the kindergarten in Salmo which was down the road we lived on making it quite safe for walking.
The back of the 2 acre lot was forested and gave us a place to hike up the steep hills there.
We also discovered an old dump site where we unearthed interesting bottles and artifacts from the Isrocks' lives.
I now hoped to find local work, but Salmo seems cursed with a poor economy despite the high value of the numerous unused old mines everywhere .
There are mainly forestry-related logging type jobs and a few shaky sawmill operations to be had.
There were plans to reopen two local mills under new management and I had great hopes of snagging a position as I applied as soon as I learned of them.
I wasn't even contacted and felt quite bitter until they both failed a short time later.
Meanwhile Shelagh was talking to one of the attendants at the town's Petro Canada garage and was told they were desperate for qualified help.
Learning of this I jumped into action and rushed down to meet Mr. W.C. Dorey, a pioneer of the Salmo area and terrific character.
I was on my feet again.