The Past 6 Months

[dancer_flight]

It's been a while since I updated this thing, so first things first:

Yes, I'm alive and well in BC.  I'm not very often online these days owing to a lack of internet connection at home. I'm posting this from a public library in Sechelt.

So what have I been upto since the summer?
 

1. Home repairs and maintenance:
   
   • Removed moss from main house (three stories up at its peak), and outbuildings.  This usually involves peeling a mat of moss off the shingles, sweeping the roof off, and applying a solution of ZnSO4 to prevent regrowth, usually done on a bright sunny day.  It is hot,dirty, nasty work.
   • Repaired back stairs (cutting 2x6 pressure treated lumber to size,removing old tread and nails, and screwing new treads in place).
   • Repaint living room ceiling after cleaning off water stains and mould.
   • Scrub a 10'x7' fieldstone fireplace (20 odd years of nicotine and oil heating residue, Blech!)
   • Patched a leaking roof.  Trowelled buckets of roofing cement into unflashed valleyes in any obvious week spot in the roof (and no it didn't fix things for long).
   • Watch Professional roofers strip and reroof the house.
   • Repair living room ceiling (why the roof needed to be replaced). Remove old, wet, mouldy drywall, and mouldy, inadequate insulation.Scrub out rafters and spaces between. Paint with mould resistant paint.  Re-insulate with new insulation, add missing vapour-barrier,sealing every last leak.  Install new drywall (each sheet weighs about 54lbs, so cut each in half). Tape, Mud, Sand, paint.
   • Removed shower door assembly and replace with shower curtain and rod.
   • Installed safety bars in the bathroom (One bar by the toilet, two in the shower).
   • Organized the recycling so we have separate bins for various paper products, refundable and non-refundable containers and so forth.
2. Deal with health crises:
   
   • Dealing with my own situational clinical depression which precipitated my move out west in July.  Things were going along nicely (roof demossing, roof repairs, first living room paint job) when:
   • Mom sprained her ankle severely in September and was off work for several weeks (repairing back stairs, hiring the professional roofers).  She had just returned to work in late November when:
   • Grandma had a stroke (she has recovered quite well and is back home after rehab). The roofers came and fixed up the roof, Mom and I re-did the living room ceiling, and removed the shower doors while Grandma was away (between visits to Vancouver and Mom going to work).
3. Taking up new hobbies:
   
   • I completed a crocheted afghan for one of my best friend's kids and one for my Dad and stepmom.
   • Taught myself to knit and made Christmas presents for Mom.
   • Continued to take pictures, Mostly panaramas of the Lake at the foot of our road, and I'm taking up a little astrophotography with the new Nikon.
   • Relearning to drive.  I got my learner's license and am making short trips now.  I need to hold a learner's license for a year beforeI can test for a class 7 license (new driver).  I need to hold that for at least 2 years before graduating onto a class 5 license (normal driver).
   • Learning to cook some basics that I never needed to learn before: Mostly large chunks of meat (whole chicken, beef roast, etc).Generally one doesn't cook a large chunk of meat when you live by yourself.  So far I'm doing okay, and I've managed to impress my mom with my attempts (Thank you PBS cooking shows!).
   • Missing friends (yo tawejea and kiwano !) and hobbies (but not the job I left).  I miss sailing and archery (I probably couldn't even draw my old bow right now), and even the shooting clubs.  I wonder, if they got themselves organized enough to carry on without their old funding.  I'm also wondering how the House and the University took that. All in all, I'm doing alright.  I guess I'll be looking for work come the fall, hopefully well away from Vancouver and Whistler in 2010 'cause those places will be nuts and I'd probably go back to feeling stabby.

I've rambled on long enough for today so, I'll catch you all later.-DF