Last Full Day

Saturday, September 14:

 

Today is my last full day / overnight at the cabin.  It hasn’t been a true full day as I went home briefly this morning to take Missy home and yes, check out the progress on the renovation…

Today started at 4:28 AM for me – Missy decided at about midnight that she would rather come in and have cuddles and sleeps with me and Jasmine and that at 4:28 AM (I checked) she was awake and insisting that she needed to go outside.

 

Ahem.

 

Nope – not going to happen.  She has had a BALL down at the cabin this past week – spent most of her time outside (day and night) hunting.  She’s had a tubby little belly all week long and the snakes that normally live near the compost pile we have here have been absent.  I think she’s had a great time eating snakes, small birds and mice all week long!

 

Anyhow, not trusting that I would be able to convince her to come to me (I know some people have trained their feline companions to come when called, but I have had zero success with that concept!) if I left her here with me and Jasmine right to the last minutes on the beach, I decided to take her home this morning in advance of closing up the cabin tomorrow late in the afternoon.

 

So I found myself stumbling across at the barest of walkable low tides in the dark at about 6 this morning carrying a cat (meowing) in a crate and holding on (for dear life) to a dog’s leash and a flashlight that powers by squeezing its handle repeatedly. 

 

Yeah – not one of my finer plans.

 

I did make it all the way across without falling down (yay me!) and made good time back home to drop off the cat.

 

OK – yes, I admit it, I also wanted to see the progress on the renovations.

 

The curtains were all closed (a good sign that my contractor is paying attention to home security) when I pulled into the driveway.  There was a large pile of debris (the old bathtub, the old vanity, some drywall and some pieces of wood I have to assume were cut out of the wall when they created the “through way” from the bathroom into the laundry room spaces.

 

They were actually not as far along in the project as I had thought they might be.  OK – I admit it, I don’t know enough about these kinds of renovations to know how things will look as the days progress, but I thought that at this stage (with me expected home around 5PM tomorrow that the work would be mostly finished and that perhaps the only things left to be done at this point would be things like painting and maybe installation of floor and door mouldings.

 

What I saw made me worry that I may not have a bathroom when I get home tomorrow. The bathroom floor (which has to be fully removed and replaced) was still in place… this means that the plumbing and electrical that needs to be completed is not yet done. The old windows are still in place.

 

Granted, I didn’t expect the windows to be done since the guy who was placing the order for them let slip that those can take a couple of weeks to be made ready (and he was actually supposed to come measure them a few weeks ago, so I have a feeling that my contractor wasn’t too pleased by that oversight.

 

I’m a little concerned that I will not get the hoped for bath in my new tub tomorrow night… hell, I’m a little worried that I may not have a toilet to use when I get home!

 

I know that they will have been working flat out all day today – possibly long through the night, and will be doing more of the same tomorrow… but I’m still a little worried at what stage things will be at when I get home.

 

Wish me luck!

 

With love across the waters…

The Real Deal

Monday, September 9:

I’m down at the cabin – the weather this week is projected to be absolutely GORGEOUS and I am looking forward to a quiet week with Jasmine and Missy at the cabin. I’m here now and once the cabin was open, I checked in with the neighbours (who are down for a couple more days and then they head home) and had a big lunch, I promptly lay down and had a 2 hour nap.  God it was wonderful!

My plans for the week do include some family time - lunch with my folks on Wednesday and maybe a visit with my brother and nephew on Thursday – but for the most part I will spend my time puttering around down here – walking with Jasmine around the islands (the tide it high most of the week I’m down) and sitting around reading. 

And yes, napping.

And while I am here, my house is fully occupied by my contractor and his team – they are going to be working away at gutting the bathroom and laundry room and building a dream space for me.  I’ll still have work to do on it in the form of building some additional shelves, installing some bi-fold doors, constructing a really cool cleat and pulley system drying rack that will hang from the ceiling and a counter space - but in reality, those projects will be small ones that will be easy enough to accomplish on winter weekends.

I head home on Sunday whenever I can catch the cat, and will spend some of my Monday doing laundry in my new space. 

Sunday night, though, I will be having a long hot bath in my new tub!  Woo hoo!

With love across the waters,

A Raised Bed and a Surprise!

In July of this year, after the bulk of the back fence project was done, I decided it was finally time to start putting in raised garden beds. I have a fair amount of yard space that can be given over to planting vegetables and fruits, but in the interests of keeping Jasmine (not to mention Missy) out of my food supply, I determined that putting in raised beds would be a Very Good Idea.

I picked up four 12’ rough cut cedar planks (I went with 1”x8” but in retrospect I should have gone with 2”x8” instead) and once home set up my portable saw horses and got to work.

The spot where the new bed would go

Portable saw-horse reporting for duty - and behind it
is the pile of dirt left over from digging post holes

Boards cut and ready to assemble

I decided that the bed I was putting in should be two foot deep by 10 foot long and so measured and cut my boards to suit this.  A number of years ago now Mum & Dad started replacing their raised beds (that were made with wood) with concrete poured raised beds – where they are they have to combat the roots of cedar trees and so concrete is a better fit for them. To that end, they gave me the corner connectors that they had bought from Lee Valley Tools (the BEST store on earth ha ha ha) and I took out 8 of them (and the screws) because this particular bed was going to end up being 2 feet wide by 10 feet long by 16 inches deep. Boards cut I got things into place and connected all of the pieces and then stacked the two “boxes” to make one very deep one. This should end up being PLENTY of space to grow whatever I end up planting in there (on purpose) in.

MORE than deep enough!

Bed in place, I next took on the compost bin move project. Before re-claiming all of the compost material, I lined the very bottom of the new garden bed with newspaper.  This will eventually help keep down any serious weeds that may be already in the ground… Next up I took apart the two-bin compost I built at the beginning of last summer and moved all of the material in that over into the bottom of the new raised bed.  On top of that I put another thick layer of newspaper and then on the very top I put the soil that had been initially displaced when Dad and Rob (my brother) dug out the fence post holes.

New bed in, filled with compost material
and left-over post hole dirt

I will need to top dress the bed with sea soil and more potting soil, and I’ll need to over seed that through the winter with something like fall rye (which can be dug under in the spring and rots down into a lovely green manure) but for now… It’ll do just fine!

About a week after I got the new bed in place and all the dirt moved in I noticed a plant… kind of a large leaf plant – that had self-started in the new bed.  I know it is a member of the squash family – I have checked the leaves and now that it is flowering, looked at the flowers and have confirmed it is definitely a member of the squash family.

Volunteer...

Here’s the thing though, I don’t know exactly WHAT it really is.  It might be a pumpkin – I did try to sprout some Crown Prince pumpkin, but thought that all of the seeds were not viable and so gave up on them and chucked them into the compost bin. It may also be a butternut squash… or a regular orange pumpkin – I have had a number of those throughout the year and when I was preparing them I just threw all of the seeds and guts into my compost without thinking.

Female flower

Male flowers

Whatever it is, it may not have enough time to ripen before the frosts come.  I actually hope it does though – I’m curious to see what it is, and I would LOVE to have some of my own squash or pumpkin for winter consumption!

With love across the waters,

My Clever Kitty!

After supper last night I was relaxing with a cup of tea on my sofa.  Screen doors and windows open to allow for enjoyment of evening breezes. 

 

Jasmine was asleep on the living room floor, Missy somewhere outside.

 

The sound of a happy cat meowing drew me outside to see that my very clever cat (who last year caught quite a number of mice and shrews) has started hunting bigger things – namely rats. 

 

Missy was terribly proud of yesterday’s catch.  Me? I’m pretty proud of it too – she can bring home as many dead rats as she likes – I’m definitely OK with this!

"Look Mum - see what I caught?"

What a clever girl!

With love across the waters,

2013 Vacation - Part The First: May

I am coming to the end of my initial 2 weeks of vacation for 2013 (yes, after 22 years with the company for whom I work, I have a whole PILE more vacation booked) and this last couple of weeks has been spent doing great things.

 

I spent the first week of this vacation at the cabin - my own personal Heaven on Earth.  This time around I took both Jasmine and Missy with me.  I didn't take my camera, but I did take my iPod and so was able to get a few pictures here and there. 

 

Jasmine has been to the cabin a few times - and LOVES it there.  This was, however, Missy's First Time.  Missy likes it there!  She wasn't overly impressed with the weather, I am sure (it mostly rained while we were down) but there was great hunting (mice) and exploring, lots of happy cuddle time (I had the wood stove on) and I am sure that she found a few hidey-holes to curl up in outside because she would disappear first thing in the morning and not show her face again until supper time.

 

Here are a few pictures from the first week of vacation:

 

"Excuse me - it is POURING out there - you're
kidding me when you say come out there, right??"

Happy Kitty in the Window

 

Sleepy Fur Kids. 
But where am *I* supposed to sleep??

 With love across the waters,

Screening Soil

Today's project was to dig out where my initial vegetable bed will be, and then screen the soil dug out of the hole so that what was being placed back INTO the hole is less, well, rocky, than what was there initially. 

You may recall that initially the space I am using was home to that horrific sumac tree (yes, horrific) and a whole host of its off shoots. Last summer/fall I dug and dug and dug some more to get the runners and most of the initial stump dealt with and then in October Mum & Dad came up and helped me get the rest of the stump out.

 

Horrific Sumac with Pretty Clematis 

That was the project that involved my digging out (and then, yes, breaking) a perimeter drainage line and also making most of my back yard into what was a great a muddy mess for the fall and winter.



Sumac Stump with Punctured Perimeter Drain Pipe

Not content with just that, a few weeks ago I dug out most of the hump that was beside the pond (deepening which is another project for this summer) and flattened out that space so as to make the yard more inviting for lawn chairs and, once the grass grows back in, perhaps little nephew feet to play in the grass.

 

 

OK - back to the soil screening.  I had been looking to get my hands on something to screen the rocks out of my soil for quite some time - my brother came to my rescue (thanks Rob!) and loaned me the soil screen that he and his wife have.  It's pretty cool actually and some day I hope, very much, to be able to build something like this for myself - I am certain I will need it each year to screen out my compost AND screen more rocks out of my soil when I start working on the REST of my garden-related projects and space.  It is a pretty cool thing, with handles, and it rests on top of my wheelbarrow quite nicely to allow the needed stuff to sift through and the rocks to stay put.

"Tools" for today's project work included the screen (of course) my wheel barrow, a garden fork, a shovel and a damn skookum pair of work gloves.  Also in use was a hat and  LOTS of water to drink. Once I had breakfast and my coffee I was ready to get started...

 

I got right into it and, of course, forgot to take pictures while the project was "in progress" but the end result is a nice bed that measures 3'5" by 11'.  I have my lattice bamboo lengths stretched across it both to discourage pussy cats from considering it to be a bathroom and to discourage large black dogs who live in my house from using it as a motor-way for chasing the aforementioned pussy cats. I also outlined the bed edges with large rocks to keep my brain in mind of where I have screened soil and where I have not yet screened soil

 

Once blocked out with rocks, I direct-seeded some kale and spinach (likely too early for the spinach, but I will know in about a week if any of it sprouts) in the bed and sectioned off where I will be planting some beans.  We've been forecast to continue with the above zero temperatures and sunshine for the next week - though living in Canada I know that WILL change!

 

That bed dealt with, I took my small hand-held garden fork to my garlic bed and did some weeding. 

 

Garlic Bed - Pre-Weeding

Last but not least, I pumped up my bicycle tires and went for a short bike ride with Jasmine. It was just over 3 KM and I can promise you, I will NOT be getting onto my bike in the next three or four days - my sit bones are NOT happy with me right now!  Good thing that it is still a touch on the dark side for morning bike rides - maybe by the end of this week I can start getting a bike ride in a few mornings a week before work.  Jasmine will love that and I have to admit that I am looking forward to finally conquering the damn hill!

With love across the waters,

Pussy Cats and Paper Bags

I'm not certain what it is about the good old fashioned paper bag that cats love so much... Maybe that it is a place in which one can "hide" and still see what is going on in the room around them?

 

I have left paper bags on the floor of the kitchen - Missy rarely pays much attention to them (perhaps because a Belgian Nose's makes an immediate appearance?) but one evening I left one on my kitchen table and Missy was in like Flynn!

 

 

 

Right Now The Bear is Winning…

… But not for long.

On Saturday morning I got up for work as usual.  Let the dog out.  She came straight back in.  Cat wanted out.  She turned around and also came straight back in.

This is not usual, but on Saturday morning it also wasn’t wholly unexpected either as we were in the midst of what on the Island of Jersey (Channel Islands) is known as a Right Hoolie (not to be confused with a regular Hoolie which just blows the rain around and makes things generally miserable.  We were having gale force winds combined with rain so heavily pouring down that visibility was being impacted. I didn’t force the outside issue as I could let the cat out the front door to a covered (if windy) front step & Jasmine and I would be going out for our regular walk later on anyhow.

After the walk I actually had to strip at the door (inside, not outside) so as not to spread puddles of water all around my living room. Into the shower and ready for work I then got.

Last pre-departure pee time outside for Jasmine and what do I see, but a whole section of my fence lying down in the alley AND one of the walls of my marvellous compost bin lying on the ground with compost pulled out on top of it.

Hm.

When on my breaks I looked up how to repel bears from compost and also bear proofing fencing. FYI, bear-proof fencing sounds scary as hell as the best ones are electrified with high voltage as it takes a lot more than a simple electric fence to stop a determined bear.

Yipes!

I stopped on the way home to pick up some more zap straps, some 2.5’ screws and some groceries for me (I found mint flavoured rosebuds!!) and while looking for the zap straps and screws I also asked about purchasing some lime. Evidently it helps break compost down faster AND it masks the scent of anything a bear would consider to be “yummy”.  None to be had, but the gal I was speaking with DID offer an interesting suggestion – cayenne pepper.  Bears don’t like to smell it (having taken a big whiff when I was dousing my compost pile, I can understand that) AND the taste makes them think twice about eating.

All items in hand, I came home and went outside to prop up the pulled down panel and douse everything with pepper.  It was actually more fun than it sounds.

I spoke with my folks that night & Dad will be coming up to help me repair/replace at least the back section of the fence (which actually has no posts sunk into the ground – no wonder the damn thing just fell over) in a couple of weeks time, but my job for yesterday was to go outside and shore up the fence and compost bin.

While it wasn’t terrible work, it was raining and so it was damp.  Everything was even still in place this morning when I got up, so maybe the cayenne pepper is still working even though it’s wet out!

Today’s projects are more domestic.  Some leaves raked and into the compost bin, bread in the oven baking now and cookies planned as well. I also needed to make a couple of calls to find out where I could get something called “navijack” which is a composite of sand and gravel used to make concrete.  Great news, there’s a big gravel pit not too far from my home that sells it either by the yard, or at a $20 minimum – so the half yard I will need isn’t going to cost as much as I thought it would – woo hoo!

Anyhow, for your reviewing pleasure, here’s what I was working on yesterday…

Propped up

Yes, this is a corner. That's right - that "corner"post
is mostly gone and wasn't actually in the ground!

Look at the right side - yes, that's an 8-foot length
of re-bar, bent at a 90* angle!

With love across the waters,

Tapas Dinner, Chocolate Buffet, and My Critters

It’s a pretty diverse title this time, I know, but it is also the main highlights of this past week for me.

Saturday of last week I dropped Jasmine at my friend Terri’s home – to be boarded for a week… Sunday morning I took Missy to the Blackberry Hill Kitty Kottage (the boarding kennel) for her week-long stay, and then Sunday evening I flew over to Vancouver (under much protest, I must admit) to attend a week-long training session for work. 

While the work-related pieces were interesting and will, I am certain, prove valuable, the highlights of the training week for me happened on Tuesday night and on Thursday night. 

Tuesday night I was able to connect with a long ago love of mine to have a delicious Tapas dinner at La Bodega and, more wonderful for me, a great long catch up and visit.  I can’t say he hasn’t changed a bit – he has – but then again, we all have. The years are being beautifully kind to him. He’s also changed somewhat on the inside, from what I can see.  He’s matured.  He was always sweet and kind and very thoughtful – but the years have refined him somehow, and the person I see when looking at him now is someone that I would want to get to know better, even if I didn’t know him already. Truly, I would like to get to know better the man he’s grown into. I hope we don’t end up going another ten years between visits, but lives have a way of getting busy and so if I am unable to see him for another ten years I will content myself to Facebook updates.

Thursday night I was able to meet up with a couple of high school chums for the purpose of partaking in the Sutton Hotel’s Chocolate Buffet.  OH MY! The highlight of the food portion of the evening was, most definitely, the crepe station. YUM. While I didn’t hit ALL of the samples I wanted to try out, I did manage to make some inroads into some delicious options and all in all the food review of the portion of the evening is a positive one. Catching up with my girlfriends? It was truly wonderful to see some great friends.

Friday afternoon I headed back home – got here around 6:30 in the evening… Blackberry Hill was closed and I just didn’t have three hours of driving in me, so Saturday morning I headed down to get Jasmine… When I arrived Miss Jasmine was up on the grooming table being brushed and combed, blown out and beautified.  She wasn’t exactly thrilled with the process, but I did get climbed on and kissed when I got close enough for such attention (and I LOVED it!)

I missed the “lunch break cut off” time and so headed home and had a small nap & then went and picked up Missy around 2PM.  She was also happy to see me (not as thrilled to see the dog though) and told me in no uncertain terms (in loud and plaintive tones) that I was missed and not to do that again any time soon please and thank you!

Since arrival at home, Missy has been in and out (and in and out and in and out!) and has so far brought a red collared bird and a snake into the yard.  The snake was alive, the bird not so much. Jasmine is not letting me out of ear-shot at the moment.  I stand up from the computer and she comes to find out exactly where it is that I think I may be going.

How does the old saying go? East or West, Home is best?

Truth.

With love across the waters,

An Angel – When You Need One

Something happened to me yesterday at work that has had me thinking about angels and how, in a whole multitude of forms, they appear for us when we need them the most.

A gentleman and a friend of his appeared in the branch yesterday afternoon – he was visibly upset and she was there, I could see, as support.  I had been headed across the floor to do something – whatever it was has now completely escaped me. I changed direction, walked straight over to them, looked him in the face and asked him “How can I help you?”

A simple question when you work in a bank.

He explained to me that his partner had just died and the government was willing to help him cover cremation costs and burial expenses, but he needed to provide them with paperwork and didn’t know where to start.  His friend was there for moral support.

I knew what he needed most right that second was for someone to actually listen to him. I shot the assistant manager of client care a quick look to let him know what I was up to (I was a bank teller at the time) and took them straight into my office and let them have the privacy that was initially required to help get the needs identified.

The transaction itself – what he needed, I mean – wasn’t complicated or onerous – just a couple of statements.  I faxed the documents off for him and then placed a call to the government agent who needed them to let her know that the paperwork should be in her hands within minutes. It really wasn’t difficult or complicated.

When I completed the transaction and phone call for the man, his friend said to me that the man had just told her that I was such an angel for helping like that. The man looked at me then and told me that it was almost as if his partner knew that I needed to be the one to help, and guided me across the floor at just that moment so that I could.

I thanked him from my heart for the compliment and told him that I believe that angels always help is when we need them most.

 You see, when I have needed them most, the angels have always stepped in and either guided my hands, placed me in the right location, sent me the right pets or sent me a messenger.

My father has told me a few times about how, when my brother and I were small, we slept in a set of bunk beds. One afternoon, when my brother and I were to have been napping, Dad was out working in the yard and he told me that he just got this feeling that he NEEDED to be in the house – right away.  When he got into the bedroom my brother and I shared, I must have been fiddling around, and somehow I had managed to get my body between the rail and the mattress of the top bunk bed and, though I was holding on with my hands, had I let go, well, my head was on one side of the rail and my body was hanging out on the other side. I don’t remember this myself, but I can only imagine how much it scared my Dad. I forget how old I was when he first told me, but I know I was being watched over then.

The first time that I can really recall that I really became aware of how totally looked after I am, I was in my teens.  I’d had a dream one night and the next night, while out on a date, the dream helped to avert what could have been a disastrous car accident.

And then later on, when I was in my mid twenties, I was in the throes of despair over a guy (one of the many times) and I had gone off to a beach to sit and stew in my depression and sadness - and yes, not just a little self-pity. While sitting on the beach feeling miserable and desperately sorry for myself, an elderly gentleman came up and sat beside me.  He was telling me about how he had just lost one of his dogs. He looked me in the eyes and told me that God only sends us bad days so that we can appreciate the good ones.

Isn’t that a thought to stop you in your tracks? We only have bad days so that we can appreciate the good ones?

I have noticed that lately I have been happy – and having a lot of good days. I’ve been grateful for them.  Just this morning, while out walking Jasmine, I was thinking about how happy I am.  How happy at just being able to get out for a quiet walk at 5:45 AM with my dog, as the light is shining through the trees and the dew is sparkling in the sunshine.  How riding my bike downhill makes my heart laugh. How the sound of my nephew laughing makes fills my heart to overflowing. How snuggling up with my dog and my cat makes me feel wanted and needed and appreciated.

So here’s a thought for you: What if, in appreciating all of the goodness around us each and every day – being thankful for small and simple things and the taking that split second it takes to just offer thanks to God, Buddha, the Prophet, the Angels, Mohammed, the universe (or whatever you choose to call your highest power) for all of the little tiny blessings we are given each and every day… what if that is what stops the bad days before they happen?

For now, I will offer up my gratitude for another wonderful day. I am thankful that just by listening I can help make someone else’s day a fraction easier. Most of all, tonight I am thankful for the angels who guide my footsteps.

With love across the waters,

Cougars and Kitties and Bike Rides

Last night, just before bed, I was surfing through Facebook (yes, it is a bad habit) and saw that Currently Cumberland (my village’s little newspaper) had posted a village safety notice: A cougar had been spotted yesterday evening and disappeared into the bushes behind the houses… since I haven’t been here that long, I needed to look up where it was.  Thankfully it was on the other side of the village – but since the village is small, well, cougar sightings are something to take to heart and pay attention to.

I promptly did some Cougar Safety research and determined that I really and truly do NOT want to see one up close and personal – either in my back yard OR while out riding my bike.  Thankfully, Environment Canada notes that sightings are rate and attacks on humans even rarer that that.  I’m still not going to go looking for trouble, thank you VERY much!

This in mind, I decided that yes, I would still go for my planned bike ride with Jasmine this morning – just a teensy bit later to make absolutely certain full daylight was upon us. It wasn’t a glorious sunny morning this morning – overcast and a little humid in preparation for the forecast rain we are to get today – but it was cool and crisp. The trees are in full push for pollen and the air smells like honey dust. 

Home again, I fed Jasmine and took the garbage out to the curb in preparation for the wonderful waste removal people to take care of today on my way back into the kitchen to make my lunch,  I saw this through one of my windows:

Missy enjoying some early-morning fence-sitting time

I guess that when I get around to replacing my back-yard fences, I’ll need to make certain that there are suitable kitty-sitting spots available…

With love across the waters,