Blogging has somehow taken over my life. It all started so innocently with this blog, which was just to be a personal diary of sorts to keep track of my convoluted life. Then I decided I needed a platform to share all my knowledge, so Wyldestone Cottage was born. After blogging there for awhile , I decided that I was really writing about two completely different topics on that one. Some posts were about my new floathome and other posts were about alternative health care. I decided that might be too confusing for my readers, so have decided to split Wyldestone Cottage into two different blogs.
I would like to introduce you to my latest creations:
the eclectic ark - all about building my floathome for free and decorating with recycled treasures
with craft tutorials and recipes
sage advice - posts on alternative health care, ways to save the environment, and healing for the mind, body and soul
I have reposted a good number of the posts that I had originally written on Wyldestone Cottage to the appropriate blog and will be adding lots of new content in the near future.
I have worked on these blogs with the intention of reaching a greater audience. I would love it if you can find a way to follow and share them through facebook and twitter.
I will continue to keep this blog going as a way to check in with myself as my life follows it's meandering bumpy path. Now I just need to find a way to squeeze 40 hours into a 24-hour day, so I have time to write all these blogs, work 5 days a week and finish building my house. Can anyone say insomnia lol.
I used to have a good quality camera that I loved. Unfortunately, it up and died on me one day a few years ago. I was told it would be cheaper to buy a new one than to fix it..... I was not impressed with that statement as the camera cost me over a thousand dollars. I think for that price they should last forever, but I guess the digital age comes with an expiry date!
Anyways, I was in Future Shop the other day, and for a lark decided to see what kind of credit they would give me. I lucked out and they ok'd me for 1,500.00. Now normally I don't want anything to do with credit, I'm all about... save up and pay for it in cash if you really want something. However, I need my cash flow too much these days for paying off the house and getting material for reno's, so decided to bite the bullet and get a camera on credit so that I have something decent to take pictures with for the blogs.
So I am now the proud new owner of a Canon Rebel T3 with an extra telephoto lens. As soon as I have read the ten-pound owners manual and figured out how to operate the thing, I hope to be bringing you much better quality photos for the blogs. Thanks for reading and sharing my life with me, I value each and every one of you.
Cheers, Rhianna
Please take a minute to check out my new blogs and find a way to follow and share them, much appreciated, thanks for being awesome!
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Thursday, April 7, 2011
It's Not Over Until the Fat Lady Sings....
....and I can't sing worth shit, so things are looking up! This last month was nothing short of agonizing for me as all I could do was wait and see how the chips fell, having no say in the outcome of things here. The short version though, it looks like we won't be moving from here after all, yahoo!
Our intrepid landlord managed to foul things up for David by refusing to agree to give the new(potential) owner of the water lease, first dibs on buying the place should he ever decide to sell. That was a deciding factor for the buyer and so he backed out.
In the meantime, as part of the sale proceedings, the property had to be inspected by the Port Authority. It turns out they don't have a problem with us keeping a floathome here as long as we put in a pump-out for the septic tank. Not a problem,as we have everything we need to do that! They did however note that we had exceeded our water lot by quite a bit in every direction, so we have to lose a bunch of stuff in order to fit into our alloted water lease. In reality most of the extra stuff is all Davids free acquisitions that weren't making us any money anyway and all needed tons of work and money thrown at them anyway.
So over the next few months, we will be letting go of all the excess boats, barges, spare dock material etc in order to downsize things here. It will be so nice to see this area cleaned up. I am so grateful to the universe for allowing me to hang on to my home. I had put off doing any more work to it as it didn't seem like a good idea to sink money into it if I was going to lose it. Now that I have some breathing room, I can't wait to get on with things.
I started a new job last week down in historic Steveston and things are going really well there. I am working three days a week there and am already averaging 5 clients a day which is wonderful. Ever since they brought in the new HST tax last July, business had died for me in all three clinics I was working in. In March I only had one client out of eight shifts at one place. That was scary to say the least. My other job had gone from eight clients a shift down to two or three. The last clinic, I was averaging one or two clients a shift as well. Hard to make a living with those numbers especially when I have to pay rent at each place. So I am thrilled to say the least. Summer is definately looking up for me now.
I love Steveston, I sure wish I could park my house there! It is the original fishing port in Richmond where they used to do all the fish canning. It lies in the southern-most area of Vancouver and as such gets tons of sunshine and fresh air from the ocean. It's a quaint village with tons of cool shops and trendy restuarants to peruse and as such has alot of foot traffic which is good for business. So far I have been lucky enough to be so busy that the shops are all closed by the time I finish work, heaven forbid I spend all the money I'm making before I can get it home.
I have a renewed sense of hope and optimism now and can't wait to get on with things. Now hopefully I can spend some time and energy getting a grip on my health. I quit eating chocolate for Lent and that is going well. I actually have lost my craving for all things sweet in general which is a good thing. Sadly that hasn't resulted in any kind of weight loss, which surprises me really as I ate a ton of chocolate every day. Oh well, it can't be a bad thing to cut out all that sugar.
I have been in tons of pain the last year with what feels like arthritis. All my joints especially in my feet, legs and hips have been giving me all kinds of trouble, so I finally made it to my naturopaths.I got a bunch of supplements that will hopefully take care of that problem. Once I'm not in screaming pain, I can start moving again and get some exercise. I'm battling my demons one at a time and am making good progress in cleaning up my lifestyle. I think my next goal would be to try and eat a raw food diet as much as possible. I am increasingly disturbed by plastic packaging, dangerous food additives and the high cost of groceries. I think the time has come to simplify my diet and get back to basics. Good wholesome organic produce and fresh fish from the docks should make a huge improvement in how I feel. Onwards and upwards, tommorrow is another day, and this time I am looking forward to it... cheers and thanks for your prayers!
Our intrepid landlord managed to foul things up for David by refusing to agree to give the new(potential) owner of the water lease, first dibs on buying the place should he ever decide to sell. That was a deciding factor for the buyer and so he backed out.
In the meantime, as part of the sale proceedings, the property had to be inspected by the Port Authority. It turns out they don't have a problem with us keeping a floathome here as long as we put in a pump-out for the septic tank. Not a problem,as we have everything we need to do that! They did however note that we had exceeded our water lot by quite a bit in every direction, so we have to lose a bunch of stuff in order to fit into our alloted water lease. In reality most of the extra stuff is all Davids free acquisitions that weren't making us any money anyway and all needed tons of work and money thrown at them anyway.
So over the next few months, we will be letting go of all the excess boats, barges, spare dock material etc in order to downsize things here. It will be so nice to see this area cleaned up. I am so grateful to the universe for allowing me to hang on to my home. I had put off doing any more work to it as it didn't seem like a good idea to sink money into it if I was going to lose it. Now that I have some breathing room, I can't wait to get on with things.
I started a new job last week down in historic Steveston and things are going really well there. I am working three days a week there and am already averaging 5 clients a day which is wonderful. Ever since they brought in the new HST tax last July, business had died for me in all three clinics I was working in. In March I only had one client out of eight shifts at one place. That was scary to say the least. My other job had gone from eight clients a shift down to two or three. The last clinic, I was averaging one or two clients a shift as well. Hard to make a living with those numbers especially when I have to pay rent at each place. So I am thrilled to say the least. Summer is definately looking up for me now.
I love Steveston, I sure wish I could park my house there! It is the original fishing port in Richmond where they used to do all the fish canning. It lies in the southern-most area of Vancouver and as such gets tons of sunshine and fresh air from the ocean. It's a quaint village with tons of cool shops and trendy restuarants to peruse and as such has alot of foot traffic which is good for business. So far I have been lucky enough to be so busy that the shops are all closed by the time I finish work, heaven forbid I spend all the money I'm making before I can get it home.
I have a renewed sense of hope and optimism now and can't wait to get on with things. Now hopefully I can spend some time and energy getting a grip on my health. I quit eating chocolate for Lent and that is going well. I actually have lost my craving for all things sweet in general which is a good thing. Sadly that hasn't resulted in any kind of weight loss, which surprises me really as I ate a ton of chocolate every day. Oh well, it can't be a bad thing to cut out all that sugar.
I have been in tons of pain the last year with what feels like arthritis. All my joints especially in my feet, legs and hips have been giving me all kinds of trouble, so I finally made it to my naturopaths.I got a bunch of supplements that will hopefully take care of that problem. Once I'm not in screaming pain, I can start moving again and get some exercise. I'm battling my demons one at a time and am making good progress in cleaning up my lifestyle. I think my next goal would be to try and eat a raw food diet as much as possible. I am increasingly disturbed by plastic packaging, dangerous food additives and the high cost of groceries. I think the time has come to simplify my diet and get back to basics. Good wholesome organic produce and fresh fish from the docks should make a huge improvement in how I feel. Onwards and upwards, tommorrow is another day, and this time I am looking forward to it... cheers and thanks for your prayers!
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Living with Fear
In my life I have had many occasions to be afraid. Afraid I wouldn't fit in, afraid I wouldn't make new friends, afraid of spending my life alone but one of my biggest and all time overwhelming fears is the fear of being homeless. I have stood on this precipiece more than once in my life and it never gets any easier.
These last few months have been nothing short of terrifying. I'm in a horror movie that just won't quit. It all started a few months back when David put an ad on Craiglist looking to sell the "Sea Ferring".
(Some background on the "Sea Ferring"..... this was a 75 foot ferro cement boat with no motor that used to belong to Greig and Tana, the previous tenants of this marina. They moved and took it with them but eventually sold it to a man who ended up bringing it back here to be moored. This man through not hooking up his bilge pump after moving it, managed to let it sink. At great expense to life, limb and pocketbook, David finally managed to get the boat floating again. The owner refused to pay the bill for salvage or the rent and basically walked away. The boat sat here for over a year taking up valuable space that Dave couldn't rent out and being another chore to have to check on constantly etc , so in the end he decided to try and sell it)
The fellow that answered the ad (Rob) couldn't pay up front so entered into an agreement with Dave to pay $500 a month towards to cost of the boat and to help out around the shipyard 75 hours a month to cover his moorage costs.Everything went fine for about two months until one day when Rob showed up at the door and asked when he was going to get paid? Paid for what, Dave asked him? For the work he had been doing around the shipyard... no Dave says.. what are you talking about, thats our aggreement for your moorage.
The guy went beserk, started screaming that he wasn't going to pay moorage and if he couldn't keep the boat here for free he was going to sink it. He stayed up for 3 days straight sitting on his deck screaming at the top of his lungs the most vile shit ever. On the third day he pulled all the pumps on the boat and it started to sink. He wouldn't let Dave on board to fix things so we called the cops. They restrained Rob long enough for Dave to hook up the pumps and save the boat. At that point Dave told him he could have the boat for free, just get it out of here.
We didn't want him around anymore.
The next night we got a call around 4:30 in the morning from another boat owner, telling us the Sea Ferring was sunk. We scrambled out to see what was going on and there she was, completely underwater with Rob sitting up on the shore watching everything, threatning to kill David if he went near the boat. In the morning when we could see better, it was also discovered that he had cut through some of the major lines that hold the marina together as well as cutting a line to one of our biggest tenants (a vessel over 100 feet long with 6 kids sleeping aboard). Needless to say we were shaken to the core, he could have killed us all while we were sleeping, sent us all flying downriver.
This man then continued to harass and torment us for another three weeks. He wouldn't leave the property. When we pointed out to the police that he had no where to stay as the boat was under water, they told us to change the locks on the gate. We did that and he still got on the property. He went on another of Daves large boats and pulled the pumps on it to try and sink that one. He would show up at all kinds of times and wander around the docks. He phoned Dave, one call right after the other for hours and hours and hours on end. Dave can't turn the phone off as he needs it for business and emergencies. We had the police here probably a dozen times over this guy and every time they would say there was nothing they could do. They would put him on a bus and send him downtown only for him to turn around and come right back.
We were petrified, couldn't sleep at all, getting up to investigate every tiny noise (and down on the docks there are tons of stupid noises at night).Hours were spent peering through the windows trying to decipher shadows in the bushes. Just when we would let down our guard we would look up and he would be standing two feet away on the docks. He continued to threaten Dave and then enventually me as well. Threatened to sink the whole marina as a matter of fact. Some of our tenents couldn't take the stress anymore and moved away with no notice.
The final result of all this was that at the end of the month David couldn't pay the lease without the other tenants rent money so got threatned with eviction. Tired of the stress, David put his business and the marina on the market and found a buyer after only a few days. Suddenly it was a done deal, someone else is taking over here and they have their own agenda for the space which doesn't include my home being here.
I have been scrambling to find another berth for my home, but it's really not looking good. The province of BC has cracked down on the whole liveabord scene as it's not allowing it to happen anymore.The few marinas left who can do it legally have a ton of things they have to adher to now, which is making it difficult and very expensive for them to operate. That coupled with the fact that the Port Authority doesn't dredge the river anymore and everyone faces sitting on the hard at low tide is making it not financially feasible to run these places. This seems to be a lifestyle that is going the way of the albatross.
Once again I am staring a very uncertain future in the face. This gets harder to do with each passing year. I'm not so young anymore, work has been almost non-existant since the new HST tax, I can't afford to rent a space bigger than a closet in this town and I can't afford to run away.
I'm pissed off too. Once again I have sunk my heart, soul and money into something that I will have to walk away from. I didn't even get to finish unpacking. I didn't get to try out my beautiful steam shower that I spent a fortune on and payed to store for two years. Overnight my world has once again shifted as it seems to be doing for a whole lot of people these days. I feel like I'm walking on quicksand. God save us all! These are uncertain times indeed.
Maybe my dream home was just that, a dream.. right now I just want to wake up from this nightmare.
These last few months have been nothing short of terrifying. I'm in a horror movie that just won't quit. It all started a few months back when David put an ad on Craiglist looking to sell the "Sea Ferring".
(Some background on the "Sea Ferring"..... this was a 75 foot ferro cement boat with no motor that used to belong to Greig and Tana, the previous tenants of this marina. They moved and took it with them but eventually sold it to a man who ended up bringing it back here to be moored. This man through not hooking up his bilge pump after moving it, managed to let it sink. At great expense to life, limb and pocketbook, David finally managed to get the boat floating again. The owner refused to pay the bill for salvage or the rent and basically walked away. The boat sat here for over a year taking up valuable space that Dave couldn't rent out and being another chore to have to check on constantly etc , so in the end he decided to try and sell it)
The fellow that answered the ad (Rob) couldn't pay up front so entered into an agreement with Dave to pay $500 a month towards to cost of the boat and to help out around the shipyard 75 hours a month to cover his moorage costs.Everything went fine for about two months until one day when Rob showed up at the door and asked when he was going to get paid? Paid for what, Dave asked him? For the work he had been doing around the shipyard... no Dave says.. what are you talking about, thats our aggreement for your moorage.
The guy went beserk, started screaming that he wasn't going to pay moorage and if he couldn't keep the boat here for free he was going to sink it. He stayed up for 3 days straight sitting on his deck screaming at the top of his lungs the most vile shit ever. On the third day he pulled all the pumps on the boat and it started to sink. He wouldn't let Dave on board to fix things so we called the cops. They restrained Rob long enough for Dave to hook up the pumps and save the boat. At that point Dave told him he could have the boat for free, just get it out of here.
We didn't want him around anymore.
The next night we got a call around 4:30 in the morning from another boat owner, telling us the Sea Ferring was sunk. We scrambled out to see what was going on and there she was, completely underwater with Rob sitting up on the shore watching everything, threatning to kill David if he went near the boat. In the morning when we could see better, it was also discovered that he had cut through some of the major lines that hold the marina together as well as cutting a line to one of our biggest tenants (a vessel over 100 feet long with 6 kids sleeping aboard). Needless to say we were shaken to the core, he could have killed us all while we were sleeping, sent us all flying downriver.
This man then continued to harass and torment us for another three weeks. He wouldn't leave the property. When we pointed out to the police that he had no where to stay as the boat was under water, they told us to change the locks on the gate. We did that and he still got on the property. He went on another of Daves large boats and pulled the pumps on it to try and sink that one. He would show up at all kinds of times and wander around the docks. He phoned Dave, one call right after the other for hours and hours and hours on end. Dave can't turn the phone off as he needs it for business and emergencies. We had the police here probably a dozen times over this guy and every time they would say there was nothing they could do. They would put him on a bus and send him downtown only for him to turn around and come right back.
We were petrified, couldn't sleep at all, getting up to investigate every tiny noise (and down on the docks there are tons of stupid noises at night).Hours were spent peering through the windows trying to decipher shadows in the bushes. Just when we would let down our guard we would look up and he would be standing two feet away on the docks. He continued to threaten Dave and then enventually me as well. Threatened to sink the whole marina as a matter of fact. Some of our tenents couldn't take the stress anymore and moved away with no notice.
The final result of all this was that at the end of the month David couldn't pay the lease without the other tenants rent money so got threatned with eviction. Tired of the stress, David put his business and the marina on the market and found a buyer after only a few days. Suddenly it was a done deal, someone else is taking over here and they have their own agenda for the space which doesn't include my home being here.
I have been scrambling to find another berth for my home, but it's really not looking good. The province of BC has cracked down on the whole liveabord scene as it's not allowing it to happen anymore.The few marinas left who can do it legally have a ton of things they have to adher to now, which is making it difficult and very expensive for them to operate. That coupled with the fact that the Port Authority doesn't dredge the river anymore and everyone faces sitting on the hard at low tide is making it not financially feasible to run these places. This seems to be a lifestyle that is going the way of the albatross.
Once again I am staring a very uncertain future in the face. This gets harder to do with each passing year. I'm not so young anymore, work has been almost non-existant since the new HST tax, I can't afford to rent a space bigger than a closet in this town and I can't afford to run away.
I'm pissed off too. Once again I have sunk my heart, soul and money into something that I will have to walk away from. I didn't even get to finish unpacking. I didn't get to try out my beautiful steam shower that I spent a fortune on and payed to store for two years. Overnight my world has once again shifted as it seems to be doing for a whole lot of people these days. I feel like I'm walking on quicksand. God save us all! These are uncertain times indeed.
Maybe my dream home was just that, a dream.. right now I just want to wake up from this nightmare.
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Looking Back 2010
I think I have to say that 2010 was one of the highlights of my life so far. I've had some pretty spectacular years in the past so I don't say this lightly.
It all started with the Olympics. I think I'm still feeling the buzz. I had no idea what to expect. Too be honest, I didn't really think anyone would show up. Boy was I wrong! To see the normally frosty citizens of Vancouver dressed up in their best interpretation of the Canadian flag and filled to the brim with giddyness and joy was an experience I wasn't expecting. I fell in love with my country all over again. There is an amazing power that comes with strong patriosm that just sweeps you along for the ride. I'm so proud of all our athletes and their amazing showing on home turf. The final hockey game was the nail-biting icing on the cake. What a wonderful way to start the year.
The mild weather, while maybe not ideal for a winter olympics, was welcomed by me especially after last years frosty wonderland. I really don't like to battle the elements! It can snow all it wants to on the mountains, but please by all means, rain on my parade, I really don't mind at all.
I spent the spring living in a beautiful heritage home with a fabulous garden. Every day was a treat seeing what new life had burst forth. All the lucious scents and colours were a gift for the senses. After three years of living in an industrial park, all that beauty and life was like water to a parched plant. I spent hours in that garden, inspecting plants, taking their pictures, looking them up online to learn more about them and absorbing their lovely energy.
The rest of the summer and fall, I fell off the face of the earth and into a love affair with my home. It looks an aweful sight these days, full of my belongings and construction material all over the place, but I can see the final vision, I see past all the chaos to the castle it wants to be. Each project finished, each decision made, each new purchase is a moment of pure joy and contentment. I live for the day when I can fling my doors open to the world and say "come on in". I look forward to years of entertaining and working on many projects.
As for the rest of this winter, I just can't wait for it to be over. I live in fear of snow. I don't want to have to get up and shovel off my roof. I don't want to battle my way to work and back in vehicles not equipped for bad weather. I have a bunch of projects on hold because it's too cold to work downstairs. I am counting down the weeks until the worst is behind us. I can't wait to see what the new year has in store for me. It will be tough to beat this year, but a nice calm, middle-of-the- road year would be nice, no drama, just things getting done. Work when I need it, lots of sunshine and some headway on my thousand and one projects would be so sweet.
The only fly in my ointment is my weight. As I knew I would, I've ballooned since quitting smoking. I'm so ashamed and embarrassed, I haven't been to a single function involving my friends in over 6 months. Nothing fits, I look horrific, I have a massive 60-70 pounds to lose to get back to where I was when I first arrived here four years ago. It's such a daunting number, I don't know where to start and the thought of starving myself and exercising like a hamster in a cage just to lose one pound a week makes me feel so helpless. So once again, I start the New Year vowing to get control over my body. I don't know why I bother, none of my resolutions ever seem to go anywhere. Maybe this year, I will resolve to eat more chocolate, be more sedentary and not give a shit what I weigh. Maybe then the opposite will happen, a girl can dream can't she?
Wishing you all a safe and happy New Year, may all your dreams come true and do take some time to stop and smell the roses, it's those little things that make life worth living.
Linking to Cindy's Show and Tell Friday
It all started with the Olympics. I think I'm still feeling the buzz. I had no idea what to expect. Too be honest, I didn't really think anyone would show up. Boy was I wrong! To see the normally frosty citizens of Vancouver dressed up in their best interpretation of the Canadian flag and filled to the brim with giddyness and joy was an experience I wasn't expecting. I fell in love with my country all over again. There is an amazing power that comes with strong patriosm that just sweeps you along for the ride. I'm so proud of all our athletes and their amazing showing on home turf. The final hockey game was the nail-biting icing on the cake. What a wonderful way to start the year.
The mild weather, while maybe not ideal for a winter olympics, was welcomed by me especially after last years frosty wonderland. I really don't like to battle the elements! It can snow all it wants to on the mountains, but please by all means, rain on my parade, I really don't mind at all.
I spent the spring living in a beautiful heritage home with a fabulous garden. Every day was a treat seeing what new life had burst forth. All the lucious scents and colours were a gift for the senses. After three years of living in an industrial park, all that beauty and life was like water to a parched plant. I spent hours in that garden, inspecting plants, taking their pictures, looking them up online to learn more about them and absorbing their lovely energy.
June/July were anxious months for me as I held my breath and crossed my fingers and toes waiting for all the paperwork and neccesary manouvers to acquire my home and get it transported down here. The day it finally arrived was like a dream for me. I had to keep pinching myself to make sure it was real.
The rest of the summer and fall, I fell off the face of the earth and into a love affair with my home. It looks an aweful sight these days, full of my belongings and construction material all over the place, but I can see the final vision, I see past all the chaos to the castle it wants to be. Each project finished, each decision made, each new purchase is a moment of pure joy and contentment. I live for the day when I can fling my doors open to the world and say "come on in". I look forward to years of entertaining and working on many projects.
As for the rest of this winter, I just can't wait for it to be over. I live in fear of snow. I don't want to have to get up and shovel off my roof. I don't want to battle my way to work and back in vehicles not equipped for bad weather. I have a bunch of projects on hold because it's too cold to work downstairs. I am counting down the weeks until the worst is behind us. I can't wait to see what the new year has in store for me. It will be tough to beat this year, but a nice calm, middle-of-the- road year would be nice, no drama, just things getting done. Work when I need it, lots of sunshine and some headway on my thousand and one projects would be so sweet.
The only fly in my ointment is my weight. As I knew I would, I've ballooned since quitting smoking. I'm so ashamed and embarrassed, I haven't been to a single function involving my friends in over 6 months. Nothing fits, I look horrific, I have a massive 60-70 pounds to lose to get back to where I was when I first arrived here four years ago. It's such a daunting number, I don't know where to start and the thought of starving myself and exercising like a hamster in a cage just to lose one pound a week makes me feel so helpless. So once again, I start the New Year vowing to get control over my body. I don't know why I bother, none of my resolutions ever seem to go anywhere. Maybe this year, I will resolve to eat more chocolate, be more sedentary and not give a shit what I weigh. Maybe then the opposite will happen, a girl can dream can't she?
Wishing you all a safe and happy New Year, may all your dreams come true and do take some time to stop and smell the roses, it's those little things that make life worth living.
Linking to Cindy's Show and Tell Friday
Friday, November 26, 2010
Tough Times
Boy this week has been one of the hardest in my life. It started when Davids cat almost died. Smoochie had run outside, jumped onto a large box and off the other side only to land in a barrel of oil that Dave had just drained out of the tugboat. He was completely immersed in the oil and scrabbling like mad to get out. Dave heard the racket , hauled him out of the oil and tried to hose him off. The cat didn't like that at all and got away by running under the workshop and staying there for hours. Finally when he was 90 percent dead from hypothermia( the temperature was around zero, it started to snow later that night!) we were able to push his limp body out with a large stick. I spent the next 5 hours just holding the cat next to my body while wrapping him in warm towels and a hot water bottle to get his body temperature back to normal. I set him down for a moment to do something and he crawled off into an inaccesable corner of the attic where he stayed for 24 hours. Needless to say,I didn't get any sleep as I kept checking on him with a flashlight to see if he was still alive.
He finally came out of hiding the next night and I was able to give him a bath to remove most of the oil. His fur still looks way too shiny and spiky and he could use another bath but didn't want to stress him out anymore at this time. It took three days before he came out and walked around and had anything to eat or drink. He still looks completely shell shocked and spends almost all his time sleeping. Poor guy, I feel so sorry for him, his fur has started falling out and he is so skinny right now, but he does seem to be on the mend, so time will tell how he will recover from all the trauma.
That was the start to a rough week indeed. As I mentioned in my last post, winter hit us with a vengance this year. One of the reasons I moved to Vancouver was the mild winters we are famous for but this year I might as well have been back east. One day we hit minus 22 with the windchill and got all kinds of heavy thick snow. As long as the temperature stays around the plus 5 mark we can keep our homes comfortable with space heaters and the woodstove. Once it gets below zero, it becomes a battle to not freeze to death.
Our average temperature inside the house was probably about 5 degrees at best. I basically put on all the clothes I own and went to bed with four blankets and a feather quilt, a cat tucked under each arm and stayed there for the last few days. Dave on the other hand had to battle the elements and go out each day to take apart all the hoses and bring them in to defrost them in an attempt to get running water going again. He spent hours cutting firewood, shoveling the docks, checking all the boat bilges, shoveling snow off his roof and a meriad of other chores that left him exhausted and frozen. I'm so proud of him for having the moxy to get out there every day and do all of this stuff. I was a total wuss and just hid in my bed and moaned about the cold.
I made one attempt to flee the island on the coldest night and only got four blocks away before my engine overheated and something blew. It's still parked on a side road waiting for next Monday when my mechanic gets back from his holidays. I only pray that its a quick easy fix as I have no money for extensive repairs. Not having a vehicle has put me in a bad spot as I have finally gotten some calls for home massage but can't get all my gear to their house without my van. It's a catch-22, I need money to fix the van, can't earn any without the van , arghhhhh!
Last night was the final straw, the power went out for a few hours and things got really cold with no electricity for the heaters. My cell phone battery was dying, no vehicle to get out of here, no where to go, no money for a hotel room, my plants on the verge of freezing to death. I've never felt so helpless. All I could do was huddle under the covers with the cats and hope we survived the night.
Today we woke up to a balmy plus four and most of the snow melted. Halleluyah! Hoping this trend stays for awhile, so I can get on with things around here. That was a week I don't want to repeat again ever!
Monday, November 22, 2010
It's way to Cold to Kiss
A song for winter, sung to the tune of Sealed With a Kiss
Yes we had to say good bye to the summer,
And now it's come down to this
Minus twelve in November,
Now it's way too cold to kiss
Guess it's going to be a long nasty winter,
I'm huddled in bed writing this
Too cold to get up and start a fire
Don't know how I'll make it through this
The water pipes are frozen
The propane hose is cracked
Ice is on the docks
Not enough wood got stacked
I didn't want to say good bye to the summer,
Knowing the heat I would miss
If I could have left in September,
Then it wouldn't have come to this
Guess it's going to be a long nasty winter,
Promises of lots of ice and snow
If only I was was rich, I could get on a plane and go
to Mexico
Where it's warm enough to kiss
And away from all of this
Bah Humbug, I hate winter and more so with every passing year. There was a few years in my twenties and thirties once I had learned how to ski, where I found a modecum of enjoyment from the sight of fresh snow, but now that I am older, stiffer and poorer that small joy is forever gone. Now it's just a struggle to survive each day. Living on the water makes that job even harder.
It's a constant battle against the elements here. We are limited to one hundred amps of electricity for the whole marina and that has to be shared by everyone. That means there isn't enough electricity for everyone to run a million space heaters
24/7, so alternative sources of heat must be found.
First you have to insulate EVERYTHING! Seal all the windows with plastic, stuff all the cracks with insulation, and hang blankets in all the doorways. Our main source of heat is the woodstove which eats firewood in amazing quantities. We seem to spend a large part of each day chopping wood which then vanishes in a a few short hours and requires setting an alarm to get up in the middle of the night to stoke the fire.
Luckily we live in a climate where it rarely dips below freezing but when it does we are in trouble. All of our water comes to us through garden hoses which freeze solid. The regulators for the propane tanks also freeze meaning no hot water or cook stove. Any dampness on the docks turns to ice making them extremely treacherous to navigate. If the cold snap lasts long enough, the river itself freezes, sending large dangerous chunks of ice sailing down river to crash into us.
Over the last two years, so much sediment has built up under us, that Dave's house sits on the hard at an angle during low tide. With last night's full moon making an extra low tide and the extreme cold, his house was making huge cracking noises which sounded like all the beams were breaking.Thankfully they didn't but the noise was something fearful to experience.
Even with 4 heaters and a fire going for most of the night, when we woke up the temperature in the house was at zero, the water pipes all frozen and this is just November! Our really bad weather typically doesn't start until the end of December.
I wish I was a bear so I could just hibernate until this is all over! Or rich enough to just leave for somewhere tropical for the next four months.
Yes we had to say good bye to the summer,
And now it's come down to this
Minus twelve in November,
Now it's way too cold to kiss
Guess it's going to be a long nasty winter,
I'm huddled in bed writing this
Too cold to get up and start a fire
Don't know how I'll make it through this
The water pipes are frozen
The propane hose is cracked
Ice is on the docks
Not enough wood got stacked
I didn't want to say good bye to the summer,
Knowing the heat I would miss
If I could have left in September,
Then it wouldn't have come to this
Guess it's going to be a long nasty winter,
Promises of lots of ice and snow
If only I was was rich, I could get on a plane and go
to Mexico
Where it's warm enough to kiss
And away from all of this
Bah Humbug, I hate winter and more so with every passing year. There was a few years in my twenties and thirties once I had learned how to ski, where I found a modecum of enjoyment from the sight of fresh snow, but now that I am older, stiffer and poorer that small joy is forever gone. Now it's just a struggle to survive each day. Living on the water makes that job even harder.
It's a constant battle against the elements here. We are limited to one hundred amps of electricity for the whole marina and that has to be shared by everyone. That means there isn't enough electricity for everyone to run a million space heaters
24/7, so alternative sources of heat must be found.
First you have to insulate EVERYTHING! Seal all the windows with plastic, stuff all the cracks with insulation, and hang blankets in all the doorways. Our main source of heat is the woodstove which eats firewood in amazing quantities. We seem to spend a large part of each day chopping wood which then vanishes in a a few short hours and requires setting an alarm to get up in the middle of the night to stoke the fire.
Luckily we live in a climate where it rarely dips below freezing but when it does we are in trouble. All of our water comes to us through garden hoses which freeze solid. The regulators for the propane tanks also freeze meaning no hot water or cook stove. Any dampness on the docks turns to ice making them extremely treacherous to navigate. If the cold snap lasts long enough, the river itself freezes, sending large dangerous chunks of ice sailing down river to crash into us.
Over the last two years, so much sediment has built up under us, that Dave's house sits on the hard at an angle during low tide. With last night's full moon making an extra low tide and the extreme cold, his house was making huge cracking noises which sounded like all the beams were breaking.Thankfully they didn't but the noise was something fearful to experience.
Even with 4 heaters and a fire going for most of the night, when we woke up the temperature in the house was at zero, the water pipes all frozen and this is just November! Our really bad weather typically doesn't start until the end of December.
I wish I was a bear so I could just hibernate until this is all over! Or rich enough to just leave for somewhere tropical for the next four months.
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Giving Thanks
I was out of town on Saltspring Island last weekend taking a course for my massage therapy continuing education, so didn't get a chance to work on things around the house but this weekend was very productive.Slowly but surely I am making some headway. I'm still working on the kitchen but can see light at the end of the tunnel now. The walls are all painted, the cabinets painted, knobs for the cabinets... you guessed it, .. painted as well.
The original white knob on the left, how they look painted green to match the kitchen colours on the right. Quite proud of myself for thinking of stringing them up on fishing line to paint all sides of them at once.
I got the two leaded glass sliding doors resized and proper handles put on them and they are now installed.( Go here to find out exactly how I made small doors bigger so they would fit the frame) The upper kitchen cabinets have been installed and the plumbing for the sink and dishwasher has been run through the walls.
The original white knob on the left, how they look painted green to match the kitchen colours on the right. Quite proud of myself for thinking of stringing them up on fishing line to paint all sides of them at once.
I got the two leaded glass sliding doors resized and proper handles put on them and they are now installed.( Go here to find out exactly how I made small doors bigger so they would fit the frame) The upper kitchen cabinets have been installed and the plumbing for the sink and dishwasher has been run through the walls.
The next step is to sand and varnish the floors which should take up most of my next group of days off. Once thats done, I can install the base cupboards and hook up the sink and dishwasher. I'm supposed to have an electrician here tomorrow to finish the job of hooking me up. I really hope he comes and does the job. I've been camping in here since July. I didn't mind at all in the summer, but it is getting colder and darker in here every day. If the temperatures drop much more I won't be able to stay here without heat.
If I get power hooked up, there are baseboard heaters in some of the rooms and I have portable heaters I could use in other rooms. I have a woodstove but am waiting to finish running the plumbing through the walls and floors before finishing the floor and setting up the stove. Also I have to cut a new hole in my house for the chimney and am nervous about doing that right. Don't want any leaks, don't want 15 feet of chimney swaying in the breeze either, not sure yet how I am going to do it. The other issue with woodstoves is keeping them going. I have no wood and nowhere to store wood,... meh!
God must have heard my pleas to send me someone to help as I got an interesting offer today. Friends of mine dropped by with two young men who have their carpenter tickets and want to find work in Vancouver. They are willing to trade work for accomadation while they get settled here. They seem to know what they are talking about, so I hope this works out. When I have a helping hand, alot gets done in short time. Trying to do this all by myself is extremely hard. Sometimes all I need is an extra pair of hands to hold something while I nail it in place, but without those hands, a small job becomes a huge hurdle. I figure if I could have an electrician, a plumber and a few carpenters for even one day, I could get a big chunk of the basics done and have the neccesities taken care of. Keeping my fingers and toes crossed and hoping I can come up with enough material to keep them busy if they do stay here.
I have so much to be grateful for in my life right now. I want to thank the universe for providing me with this opportunity, Daryl and my Dad for backing me financially, David for giving me a place to work on things, my friends who helped me move, gave me a hand with my projects and dragged me out of here on occasion to come up for air. A huge THANK YOU to each and everyone of you, from the bottom of my heart. Happy Thanksgiving and a Happy Birthday to my Dad who has the auspicious birthday of 10/10/10 and is spending it at the pyramids in Egypt. Hope your having the birthday of a lifetime Dad, you deserve it!
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