Spring Cleaning and Bikram Yoga

You may be scratching your head and wondering how those two things can go together, but in the World of Erin there are many such strange pairs of things. In this case there is a natural parallel to these two things. 

 

It is nearly the end of January and though there is snow on the ground where I am, it is mostly melted in other spots and very soon we will be blessed with snowdrops (the flowers, not the flakes) crocuses, and daffodils outside. The arrival of the warmer temperatures and the longer and longer days (hooray!) puts thoughts to the projects outside and the cleaning and, well, airing out, that needs to be done inside after a long winter of closed doors and windows and recirculated heat and air.

 

My home is not overly dirty, but it is dusty with ash (a natural by-product from my wood stove) and since I have a forced-air furnace, there is also circulation of that ash and dust to all of the other rooms. In short, the house needs a damn good airing out and cleaning – but that won’t be tackled until the snow is gone and I have a warm (ok, I’ll settle for warm-ish – even 10*C would do!) day with sunshine outside to inspire open windows.

 

That will also, most likely, be the day that all of the window screens get a wash and get re-installed and that the front door screen gets put back on. 

 

Note to self, I seriously needs to wash all of my windows – so I will need to get my hands on a proper window squeegee (that would be an awesome scrabble word!!) and a decent (read: safe) ladder…

 

Spring cleaning is meant to let all of winter’s miasma and stale air out of the home, and to bring in the fresh clean joy of spring – along with clean new air.

 

To me, Bikram Yoga is like spring cleaning for the body, mind and soul.

 

A quick little bit of background: Bikram (or hot) yoga is a series of 26 Hatha Yoga positions and two breathing exercises that are practiced over the course of an hour and a half in a room that has been heated to a (stinking hot) temperature of 40*C with an approximate humidity measurement of 40%. In short, it is yoga done in a hot sweaty hell. The thought of practicing something I love (yoga) in temperatures that I hate (hot sweaty hell) wasn’t appealing to me at all – but I have a number of friends who have tried it and they swear by the benefits of it.

 

I did MUCH personal research before attending my very first Bikram Yoga class at Bikram Yoga Comox Valley. Bikram Yoga allows you to get the most out of your usual yoga practice. Since you are not starting from a “cold” position, your muscles loosen up much more quickly and you are less likely to injure yourself. There are some offsetting risks that need to be considered – Bikram Yoga practice can be dangerous for those with heart and/or blood pressure problems and there is, of course, a serious risk of dehydration – so being well hydrated before attending a class is a must. I have taken two bottles of water in with me – one to sip while in practice and one to guzzle when done. The need for water and electrolyte replacement is understandable when you realize just how much sweat can come out of your body during practice.

 

My first class was an awesome experience – I hadn’t taken a yoga class for roughly 3 years – I was on the Island of Jersey for my last class! I went with one of my girlfriends who had been to classes previously and I was way at the back of the room where, with my glasses off, I could look to the postures of the people around me so that I could adjust accordingly. The instructor (David Milanovich, also one of the owners) kept his eye out for me and made certain I was OK throughout the class – and in a room filled with 40+ regular participants, his attention to the detail of each student’s practice impressed me.

 

All in all, I had an amazing first experience with Bikram and promised myself that, when I could afford it (it is rather expensive) I would be back.

 

November of this year rolled around and - Woo Hoo – Island Daily Deals had a week special for Bikram Yoga Comox Valley – one week unlimited!! I bought my pass, planning to use it during my week of vacation in early December.

 

Well, I have been sick every month for the last three months – so that pass has been waiting and waiting for me to use it before it expires… I FINALLY made it in yesterday for the first of the three classes I will be able to attend this week. It was GREAT. I sweated out a ton of toxins, I am certain, and had loads of excess energy for the rest of my day. I am a little stiff this morning, but will be attending another class tonight and that should, hopefully, drain out some of that stiffness. I will be attending another class on Wednesday night and then my week pass will be kaput because none of the other classes offered through the week are ones I can attend because of my work schedule.

 

One of my dear friends, who also practices Bikram Yoga here in the Comox Valley attended a charity auction before Christmas with some friends – and one of her friends won a 10-pass gift certificate to the studio. That friend, knowing my friend practices, gave her the certificate – and since she and her husband already have their classes bought, she gave the gift certificate to me! So once I finish out this week, I can pare down to two classes a week for the next 10 weeks!

 

Next week I am seeing a Naturopath for the first time... I am seeing her to find ways to boost my immune system and general overall health so that I am NOT sick every month for another three months - so this spring I am looking forward to spring cleaning my home, my yard, AND my self.

With love across the waters,

Dog Days of Summer

It is DAMN hot here right now and, with the exception of a few days of rain that has been spread out over the last month, we’re dry dry dry.  Yes, I know that, in the relative comparison to other places, this isn’t terrible (32*C with the humidex yesterday and likely to hit about 35*C with humidex today) but for Vancouver Island, this is hot weather.

I am very grateful, though, that this latest few days of heat falls over my weekend and that by the time I head back to work on Tuesday, the bulk of it should be done for another little while (I hope!) Because it is falling over my weekend this time, my bad sleep patterns won’t impact my work ability too much and if I need to cat-nap during the day I can.

Thus my VERY light plans for this weekend.  Today my big plan was laundry (all of which is now outside hanging on the line drying) and reading and *maybe* a little bit of paperwork and puttering, and then tomorrow I will be loading Miss Jasmine into the car, heading down to Cedar for the afternoon and spending time relaxing, walking dogs at a lake where they can play in the water and then having an evening BBQ before heading back here.

I have been very bad lately with updates – I haven’t felt especially inspired to write and there isn’t much of anything happening around the house or yard now due to the heat and the current lack of money.  Ah well – once the temperatures back off and the rains soften the ground a little more I will be able to get back at the yard projects… for now I am being quite content to look at the progress my apple tree is making…

With love across the waters,

Transplanting and Other Weekend Fun

This weekend was a typical summer weekend for me.  Or rather, is typical of how I hope my summer weekends at home will be.

On Saturday before work started I went into Canadian Tire and picked up an outdoor laundry umbrella rack – you know the kind – once they are positioned you have about 5 lines on either three or four panels on which you can hang laundry? Saturday after work rushed home, set it up and hung out some laundry.  Yay for energy conservation AND for laundry that smells like fresh air! That night I had been invited to a friends’ house for a dinner and visit with a few other people I know – yummy food, good laughter and great people – a wonderful way to start the weekend!

Sunday I did another little bit of laundry, puttered in the house and just generally relaxed.

Today I took Jasmine for a short walk, mowed front and back lawns, cut off dead peony blossoms and then headed into the front yard to remove the boxy looking hedge shrubs that were running along the side of the driveway.  My plan for that space is to eventually move the pink peonies from the centre of the back yard (as well as yet another couple of roses I have found) out to the front yard and to replace the ones moved from the back with things that are more highly scented. 

All of the peonies I have found (as well as the roses, come to think of it) are scentless – and I LOVE scented flowers… so the eventual plan is to move anything unscented out of the back yard and replace with flowers that will fill the summer night air with perfume.

Cool, huh?

For now, though, most of what I have been getting up to is actual W O R K!! Digging out the boxy shrubs was hot sweaty stuff.  

With boxy shrubs

Granted, I actually didn’t NEED to do it in full daylight with the sun beating down on me – I could have done it earlier in the day – but you know how it is – the urge to do stuff didn’t actually hit me until AFTER I had some lunch and cider.

Boxy shrubs gone!

Horrible soil and rescued rose...

Come to think of it – maybe it was the cider that caused this urge to do stuff!

Anyhow… what I am thinking I will do is now leave the peonies that are in the back yard where they are until the foliage starts to die off – and then around the time I am turning the compost, replant them all then.  The thought for that one is that, since I will have all of this lovely black compost to use, I may as well use it to bolster up the dry and very unhealthy looking soil in the front.  I’ll dig a trench, fill it with compost, plant the peonies directly on that lovely rich stuff, and then top fill with the less that stellar soil that’s already there. 

I will need to spend some time with a shovel and screen – much of the “soil” in the front garden bed is filled with gravel and stones – and I’ll want all of that stuff out of there…

Isn't that soil terrible??

But look how pretty Rescued Rose is!

Hm.  This is looking like a LOT of work.  Maybe I should think about this and have another cider?

With love across the waters,

Intensity

The word intensity raises all sorts of feelings in me – emotional ones like fear, anxiety, excitement, exhilaration, and physical ones like headaches, excited butterflies and knots in my guts.

It isn’t a word I choose to seek out to describe my day or any planned activities I might want to try – and yet… well, intensity is the perfect word to describe something I tried for the first time ever today – Bikram Yoga.

WHEW.

The pre-activity nerves were intense – could I do this? People commented freely to me on how hot it would be in the room and I am so not a hot weather girl.  Can’t sleep when it’s too warm, don’t want to move when I’m too warm – would MUCH rather be feeling cold rather than feeling warm because I can ALWAYS put on more clothing.

Speaking of putting on more clothing – yes, part of the pre-attempt nerves also surrounded what to wear.  Yoga pants? Tee-shirt? Singlet? Shorts? Hm.

I ended up settling on a skin tight lycra tank top with a built in bra and a pair of lycra running shorts I had bought myself a few years ago when I was still able to run.  Things I would NEVER wear in public where actual people could see me - I know how I look!

Anyhow, in light of the amount of sweat I anticipated I would be losing, I elected NOT to have any boozy beverages at the cabin yesterday and have been drinking LOTS of water for the last few days.

I got to the Comox Valley Bikram Yoga studio and almost swallowed my tongue – the guy behind the desk (who also turned out to be the instructor) was GORGEOUS.  I mean OH MY GOD gorgeous.

He was also, however, as most yoga practitioners and teachers tend to be, extremely peaceful to speak with and very genuine in his desire to put me at ease with what to expect. He explained a few things to me and told me that if it got to be too much for me, just to lie down in corpse pose and breathe.

I dropped my stuff in the ladies change room and headed into the studio itself and walked into a wall of heat and humidity – one that reminded me very much of how it would feel to leave the nice cool air conditioned office at the end of the day (when I was in Ontario) and walk into a wall of hot smoggy air to get to the train station to head home.  Thankfully this was just hot.  BC doesn’t do smog!

I settled myself at the back of the room, set my things out (I now understand why two towels – thank GOD I read the website instructions!) and lay down in the dark to wait for things to start – and also to try and acclimatize myself to the heat.  What I read online warned me to expect 105*F (for us Canadians, that’s a good solid 40*C) (yes, you read that right!)

The instructor came in and turned on the lights and it was time to begin.  I glanced around once and noted that in spite of how little I felt I was wearing, I was still wearing more than many of the others in the room.  He welcomed us to the session (and me in particular as the only total newbie in there) reminded us all that even if we couldn't manage the whole session that the most important thing to do would be to only leave the room as a last resort, and then got us started with a breath exercise to warm us up (literally AND figuratively) and then we were off to the races.

I started to sweat as soon as the first breath exercise started.

Impression? Intense.

I was most definitely not the only person who had to stop every once in a while and re-group my bearings.  I managed *almost* all of the poses – and the ones I couldn’t manage were ones I have ALWAYS had issues with – namely balance poses where you are trying to be on one foot. I am carrying a lot of extra weight now, and so some of the poses were simply not manageable because I can’t reach around myself as easily as I could when I was running regularly and slimmer than I am now. I also had trouble with the breathing exercises done at the very end of the session - they were short burst breathing exercises that, when I started them, made me feel dizzy and lit off a whole pile of sparklies in my head - I stopped that, and went back to a long slow breath pattern and the dizzies went away.

I was not the only one running with sweat. Even my knee caps were sweating – I have NEVER seen sweat bead up on my knees! 

I was not the only one breathing like I was in the middle of running the hardest sprint ever.

I was not the only one who, toward the end of the class when the instructor opened the door, reacted with an almost audible noise of relief at the cool breeze – I thought I had died for a second there!

And then, at the end of the class, I was not the only one who was smiling. A couple of people came up to me after the class was over and commented on how well I had done – and my girlfriend Steph (who came with me for moral support) was almost as proud of me as I am.

It was hard.  It was hot.  But you know what? It wasn’t as hard or as hot as I thought it was going to be.  This is something I could see myself doing on a semi-regular basis. Yes, as Steph told me, it kicked my ass in a BIG way, but the verdict (which was “in” as I was driving home) is that I am going to try and make one class a week work for my schedule and my budget.

I now understand some of what makes this so addictive to people. I also now understand how one of my other friends could call a yoga class a cardiovascular work out. The first time she mentioned to me that Bikram is her cardio, well, I admit it, I thought she was nuts. I mean really, how the hell is yoga a cardio work-out? 

Wow - did I ever eat my words today!

With love across the waters,

Namaste

New Wood Stove - The During and The After... AH!

Well, the wood stove installation was successful and I now have my furnace turned off and a cheery fire burning happily away in my wood stove.

During... The guys arrived (a team of 2) around 1PM this afternoon and got started right away - one with unpacking bits from the truck and cutting up bits to go inside the house and then placing bits in the chimney and so on and so on.  The other guy got ladders set up and set to work on the roof.  

I took Jasmine out for a quick walk and when I came home the thought that struck me was that my house, from about a block away, looked like a giant house-shaped hookah pipe!

The Hookah Pipe

When I got back into the house, they had brought the stove in and were working on making connections between the chimney insert and the thimble - the insulated thing that goes through the hole in the fireplace.

Getting Closer!

Fairly soon after that, they were done and on their way.

I ran out, located some wood I could burn (at Home Depot - fairly inexpensively, until my lumberjack friend brings me wood and cuts down my tree...) and 45 minutes later (I had no newspaper with which to start the fire so I used my shredding bin material - which I will most definitely use again - it worked a treat!) and much blowing involved, I had a little fire going.  

A Little Fire Started...

It's now about 3 hours after that and I have a warm and cheery fire burning brightly, I have the wood out of the bags and neatly stacked on the hearth for quick use and the stove has warmed up enough that the blower has even kicked on!

Warm and cheery fire burning bright.  Hearth and environs decorated once more...

I can foresee many comfy evenings spent reading happily in front of the fire...

With love across the waters,

A Big Thing Off The List

Big day in my house today!  Today is Wood Stove Installation Day. A power outage on a very cold day in October (I think it was October) made it patently clear that my house is in desperate need of a secondary heat source.  The power went out at around 10:30 in the morning and didn’t come back on until nearly 6 PM and though the day wasn’t below zero outside, it had been snowing and was pretty chilly.  When I got home from work that afternoon, the inside of the house was roughly 10*C and it was dark, damp and cold.

It was at that point that I determined that a wood stove was a necessity.  Last month when my oil tank was “topped up” and I found that the tank needed 500 litres of oil and the bill for THAT came to almost $700, well, the wood stove became a DESPERATE necessity! Long-term plans involve changing my oil furnace into an electric furnace – but it will, when all in said and done, be my secondary heat source.  The house is not properly insulated (more on that later) and wood as a heat source is MUCH cheaper (and better for the environment.)

And really, there’s nothing quite like sitting curled up in front of a wood stove, watching the flames and soaking in that lovely drowsy heat and, well, just BEING.

Today is the big day – the stove and pipes and blower will be installed. In preparation, my task (completed yesterday) was to dismantle the electric fireplace and take apart the mantle.  Not a difficult chore – all I really had to do was break some glue seals and pull it all apart.  The fire screen, wood from the mantle and the heater itself are all out shoved into my mud room – I’ll move it all to the shed in a little wile – once the team is actually here and my wood stove is on its way to being installed.  It's almost 1PM now, though, and I'm starting to be concerned the job might not get finished today...

Anyhow, just so you can see where I am progress-wise, here are some pictures for you.

Before - this was taken just after I signed the paper-work to buy the house – the furniture shown isn’t mine:

"Before" - complete with fireplace screen and electric heater in place.

This is “disassembled” and waiting for the wood stove:

A blank slate to work with.

I added the towel about a month ago when I pulled off the mirror
the hole was just open and leaching out all of my heat!

These brick outcroppings are interesting - the brick to hold up original mantles!

And hey – look what else I discovered while I was taking it apart – yes, painted leaves on the hearth – they had been covered by the brick that was holding the mantle up – with the new set-up, they will be totally visible!

Hand-painted leaves!

With love across the waters,

Bears? Really??

You may not know this about me, but sometimes I need to learn things the hard way.

Alright, alright!  I admit it, I USUALLY need to learn things the hard way.  This week’s “key learnings” have been no different – and quite interesting.

At about 2:00 am Wednesday morning Jasmine woke me up by barking – there was some scuffling and banging outside, but I figured it was just kids messing around, told Jasmine to shut up, and went back to sleep.

When I took her out for her morning “constitutional” walk, there was nothing out of the ordinary (that I could see at 6am, in the dark) when we came back home. This in mind, we went inside and I got ready for work & exited the house… Wednesday is garbage day, so I went to get my garbage can and IT WAS MISSING! 

Those Damn Kids stole my garbage can!!!  Mumble mumble, curse curse,

A small side note? I *might* also be turning into a Grumpy Old Person.

I turned to get into my car and there it was, wedged between the car and one of the upright posts holding the overhang up… jammed in between actually… I walked around the car and saw the lid was off and the can was completely empty – the garbage bag vanished.

Hm.  Maybe it was not kids after all?

I picked up the can (which is plastic) and then the lid and THE LID HAS HOLES POKED IN IT – I MEAN HOLY CRAP – ARE THOSE TEETH HOLES???  F-ME – ARE THOSE BEAR TEETH HOLES???????

Wednesday was a Good Day – and around 10 in the morning, one of the ladies told me that it is “snowing like a bugger” out in Cumberland (where I live)

Yippee!!!!!!!!!

I do have to say it though, there was bloody HORRIBLE weather in Courtenay, all day – rain and wind and fricken cold… I sat in my office, hoping the snow would stick around until at least I got home and could let my dog outside to freak out in it and run around…

5:00 PM rolled around, and I headed home… driving along the connector highway I noted that lights were off – and an intersection light was out as well.

Hm.

Closer to home, yup, more lights were out…

Hm.

I pulled into Cumberland and ALL of the lights around were out.

HM.

I have a land line (thank God) – that (and the cell phone) is the only thing that will work when the power goes out.  I called Hydro and the power was hopeful to be back on around 6… apparently there had been an horrific car accident at about 10 in the morning that took out power to about 10 000 homes and businesses…

The power came on at about 20 minutes to 6:00, and the furnace a minute or two after that.

Key learnings from Wednesday?

• Garbage can – MUST keep it in the house until garbage day – there really ARE bears out here and they really DO attack garbage cans for stuff. 
• I need to learn how to put the chains on the tires of my car (you know, just in case)
• I had to change “top priority” items on my “to do” list – the top item now is to have the chimney repaired & make certain the flue is in good shape and then get a wood stove (and a couple of cords of wood) because when the power goes out I have NO heat source in the house.
• Candles won’t cut it when the power goes out – I also need some safety lights and maybe a Coleman stove (or something like that) that run on battery and “mini” propane tank power…
• I have no salt – I NEED to get some salt. ASAP. For my driveway. It’s a sheet of fricken ice out there right now and I used the last of my old Sifto table salt to make the path to my car a little safer to walk on…

With love across the waters,

Winterizing Windows

Since my house has a couple of sashless windows (essentially single panes of glass that slide along each other) And I can't afford (yet) to replace them, this winter I need to winterize them.  What does this mean? Essentially I'm shrink-wrapping plastic on the frames in order to prevent heat loss and stop (or at least slow down) condensation.

Not having done this before, I spoke first with my brother and sister in law, who also live in an old house with a lot of single paned glass windows to find out how it works. My bother has built frames that tuck into the window structures and these help them keep in the heat and keep out the damp.  I'm not at that particular level of sophistication as yet, so I went to my local hardware/building supply store and bought an RCR Climaloc Shrink to Fit Window Insulator Kit.

The kit includes a giant sheet of uber-thin plastic sheeting and a roll of double-sided sticky tape. Additional tools needed include a hair drier and a pair of scissors.  Today being a good day off for me to tackle installing at least a couple of windows' worth of this, I started in the living room.

Hm.  Minor issue at hand - the windows are a titch grimy and so I actually FIRST needed to clean them. OK.  Window cleaned, I opened the box and then read over the instructions.  Pretty simple:
Step 1 - use hair drier to heat up window frame
Step 2 - attach double sided sticky tape around window frame
Step 3 - wait 20 minutes

It was more like 45 since I decided to have a snack and coffee while I waited.

Step 4 - measure window and cut film to size (allow extra room all the way around to be sure I can stick it all around)
Step 5 - warm up tape with hair drier, pull off non-sticky stuff and position plastic all the way around
Step 6 - reposition to pull out wrinkles and then press firmly into place
Step 7 - use hair drier (from outside to inside) on film to "shrink" to fit.
Step 8 - trim off excess with utility knife.

How hard could this be?

Surprisingly, the biggest challenges I had were first getting the windows clean and streak free and then second actually finding my hair drier!

Two windows have been sealed - one of the living room windows (the smaller of the two) and one of the sashless windows.  The other sashless window is in the laundry room and I will actually need an extension cord in order to use my hair drier in there, so that one has to wait until after the Telus guy shows up to install my jacks (he's now an hour and a half late past the appointment window END time) and I can take a run over to Slegg Lumber to pick up an extension cord and a couple of lamps.

Hopefully the Telus guy will show up soon - Jasmine and I have a walk-date for 4PM this afternoon and I would like, very much, to get the window dealt with before then.  I know I could do it after dark - there's a light in there, but Slegg closes at 5:30...

With love across the waters...

Daylight Hours, Daylight Savings and a Canine in Season

This time of year I start to get antsy about daylight hours. I’m one of the lucky people – I do not suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder, but come early February, despite the fact that this is my birthday month, I still can’t wait for Daylight Savings Time and time after work where there is daylight enough to be doing stuff outside with my dog.

In most of Canada, Daylight Saving Time begins at 2:00 a.m. local time on the second Sunday in March. This means that, for us, this year, Daylight Savings time kicks in on March 13th – a little less than five weeks from now. Yes, that first morning is always a little harder for getting up since it’s a whole hour earlier, but by then the sun will be rising (here at least) around 6:30 in the morning and setting around 6:00 at night. That one day change means we will be getting up in the dark BUT we will have daylight that night around 7:00 at night – a good trade off, if you ask me!

For the last few weeks Jasmine has been in heat, and so I haven’t been able to take her up to Seal Bay Park for our usual hour-plus long daylight walks where she can race around like a mad thing without her leash. We have been restricted to shorter, leash-on walks around my neighbourhood and we are BOTH getting tired of it all.

Essentially the canine estrus cycle (heat) cycle has four stages. Proestrus – the stage where they are have a sanguinous discharge (OK, basically they drip red) - this is where they secrete the hormones that attract male dogs. Estrus – where they are still swollen, the discharge changes to a pinkish-straw colour and their vulva is swollen – this is where extra extra extra care needs to be taken because this is when mating can occur and pregnancy happens. Metestrus (or diestrus) which is basically a space of time after mating – if they got pregnant this is pregnancy, if not, this is where the body goes back to “normal” state. The last one is anestrus – inactivity.

The cycle from proestrus through to the start of metestrus can last anywhere from nine to thirty five days depending on the breed. Jasmine took about 28 days last time and, I would anticipate this time will be about the same. Technically, this means she should be “off-leash & park walk-able” this coming weekend. Likely I will wait until the following weekend though, just to be on the safe side.

In between now and then, I get to suffer through Valentines Day - the most hated day of the year for most single people. The day of the year where retailers and service companies alike make single people feel like they are less important and worthwhile than those people who are part of a couple. Oh Joy!

Following that, by a week, is my birthday. I don’t have any set plans – other than to not be working. I took Saturday and Monday off work, but ended up picking up a shift on the Thursday, to give myself a four-day weekend and am quite looking forward to some good-old-fashioned sleep in time! I’m thinking I may go spend a night at my parents’ place in there (maybe I can talk my Mum into making me a chocolate cake with chocolate mint icing?) and this will also be the great weekend where Jasmine and I can return to long park walking! In addition to all of this already great stuff planned for the weekend, this is also the weekend where my chiropractor (Dr. Doug) has said I can try my return to running!

Yay!

With love across the waters,