Simple update

Ann & Dad sent another pic. Looks like a communal area of the ship? Again, never having been invited I wouldn't know, but it looks like that. :D

I promised house pics so this is the livingroom. To be clear, they keep blankets on the furniture for Teddy & other family dogs - I didn't do this to someone else's furniture for Robbie.

Kitchen

Friends

Brad had had a rough night so cuddled up with Teddy on the couch

Out for a stroll with his Daddy

Teddy is with me

I haven't slept well since we arrived here. The first morning the owners were leaving so while I slept well that night I was up early to see them off. Sun/Mon am Teddy woke me up at 5am eating Robbie's food and generally making whining noises. On Monday I read on the local community FB page that two strange men were on someone's property and our dogs were set off at 6am that morning also so Monday night - no sleep for me with a fair sized doggie door on the house. Tuesday Brad secured the doggie door but then he had a rough night which kept me awake. Wed (last night) the power went off at 1am and as most of you know, Brad uses a CPAP... off to the couch with him once we found the flashlight and ensured the problem wasn't localized to our breaker box. Power returned at 245am with brightness and beeps. However, I feel like I slept even given last nights events so probably won't be near so miserable today. So take that Steve!!! (private joke)

We went to Comox yesterday as we needed a couple odds & ends so I got my outfit on, grabbed my paddle and away we went for a game of pickleball. Except the info I had found was for an outdoor court and of course no one was there. I will perhaps try again today, the sleep I had should help.

We will be going to Denman and Quadra Islands at some point soon, dependent upon weather.

Settling in

Today we heard from my Dad and his fiance. They are on a cruise through Panama to Florida and I assume this was the 1st stop perhaps Panama but in typical male fashion he didn't say so I'm not sure.

Everyone: meet Ann

Ann

We arrived Friday mid afternoon for our house sit on Vancouver Island. They asked us to come up a day early- likely to make sure we were 'okay', but that works both ways... apparently we are - 'okay' because they left Saturday 9am. Meanwhile we stayed in the guest suite downstairs. It had been a long day so we just settled in - he with the iPad and I with the laptop.

My men

Everyone: Teddy the Westie Terrier

\

Of course, you all know Robbie

Beautiful shoreline very close to the house

You can see the ferry to Denman Island from the shore

There is a lovely path and Robbie led the way

followed closely by Teddy

Recent rains made for fantastic waterfalls at the runoff drains

I thought (at first) perhaps woodpeckers but very close to the path and very probably waaaay too big for woodpecker holes... I saw my very first live woodpecker a few days prior while checking on a friends home for her. I've heard them many times but could never find where they were before, that particular one I could see and it was a nice treat to see it in action.

All 3 men waiting while I took the picture above

Brad got this shot of me - a rarity - at the pavilion where Teddy decided we had gone far enough. He would not go much past this point and we thought perhaps he didn't trust us enough to stray to far from familiarity - that was the sense we both got from it anyway.... so we turned around and headed home, but his little legs were tiring out so I carried him the last 50 yards or so and he finished it off coming up the driveway himself.

A lot of runoff

In the afternoon we decided to take a drive up Campbell river way to try to find an old church that was significant to Brad in his youth - and we did. Well, the church was gone but we found the site and that will have to do. 

These trees coming out of the fog were truly beautiful

 A beautiful lake

It was a great first day although I realize now that I didn't take any pictures of the house for you. I try not to put identifying pics online but I will see what I can do today, although the sun hasn't risen it sounds like the wind is blowing a gale and there may even be rain- yes, there is rain hitting the --- oh my, what are they called -- the daylight windows in the roof....... Oh man this age thing sucks.... it'll come to me.....  .....  .... SKYLIGHT. I knew it was there somewhere.

1st official house sit

We have just been offered and accepted a house sit on Vancouver Island.

We had had a different house sit lined up previously but in the end it was cancelled. Today we went to town to have a cup of coffee and while I waited for Brad to get our order I checked the TrustedHouseSitters app. There was a new sit listed, once Brad returned with the coffees I read it to him and we decided to apply.

We were not even finished our coffees when we got a message that they would like us to agree to the sit, which we did. The sit is from Jan 25 (this Saturday) to Feb 8 (2 weeks). After messaging back and forth we then spoke on the telephone and they have asked us to come over on Friday as they leave Saturday..

They are very close to the beach where we can walk the dogs (they have 1 Westie Terrier) every day.

Excitement is just around the corner and given that it basically hasn't stopped raining since a week before Christmas, we are excited to get out from under the tic tic tic... and explore a new area of British Columbia for a couple of weeks while accommodating someone else's holiday. Win Win.

The truck and the honeymoon

We bought the truck, it passed the safety with only minor things needed so the sellers subtracted that from the sale price and we picked it up today. We still need to have the minor things dealt with (this week) before ICBC will allow us to plate and insure it so until it goes to the repair shop this is her parking spot.

2007 Ford F-350 Crew Cab

Daddy

My Dad is off on his pre-wedding honeymoon with his fiance. He sent a pic of the two of them also but I do not yet have her permission to put her face online so all you get today is Daddy - happy guy. They are taking a cruise from San Diego to Florida.

I know you won't believe it but they didn't even ask if we wanted to go too. Who wouldn't want their kids on their honeymoon? I don't get it.... Hahaha

We moved here for the weather

I picked up more Xmas lights to extend the run the length of the fence.

Yesterday we had a sprinkling of snow

Larry the Lizard (bearded dragon?)

33 Geese, Chickens and Ducks.

This morning we awoke to 4.5 inches of snow

We are supposed to be getting a blizzard today and by 6pm 'they' say we'll be in + C temperatures... high winds expected. Will be checking the trees above us once daylight arrives. By Saturday the overnight temps will be above 0C and we'll be through it...

Today: Dentist for us both. Brad for extraction and I for a finish to my pre-christmas cleaning.

New truck?, HouseSitting and Dentist

It doesn't seem like anything has happened so I wasn't writing but now sitting here it seems a few things have happened...

We have a tentative deal on an F350 Crew cab. It is plated in Alberta so has to be put through a safety for BC, assuming all is well -we will buy it. The next few sections all hinge on this truck.

As previously mentioned (I think) my Dad is getting married in May (*** Longime Readers: yes she did and yes he's ready, as it was a 6 year process.) in southern Ontario.

A friend of ours needs his trailer pulled out to eastern Ontario this spring.

We need to haul our belongings west from 'hell'.

So, the friend is paying us for the delivery of his trailer and we are using that to help offset the cost of the truck. Win Win.

We will drive the truck pulling the trailer to southern ontario for Dad's wedding, perhaps staying in said trailer (yet to be decided) and then drop trailer in eastern Ontario, visit with now 2 sets of friends in this area before heading further east to hell (and you thought hell was down - ha!), grabbing our belongings and coming back home to BC. Of course, each way we will undoubtedly stop in Saskatchewan to see the family...

We have also been looking into the whole 'get a new 5th wheel' thing again since we will now have an F350 to pull the bloody thing with... still very much up in the air since we've heard from plenty of RVers that dealerships will not give us what it is worth - I personally think if we can swing it it would be better to sell our current RV privately and then buy another. Trick is to find accommodation and space for our belongings in the between time. Not easy to do on this island.....

Anyway, that has really been our excitement so far this year other than the regularly scheduled Pickleball 4 times a week and dentists appointments.

I will say that we started a new 'diet'... there is an online program www.eatthismuch.com and its actually been really great. The meals are fantastic, and we've been finding ourselves looking forward to each nights dinner to see what unique dish it will be.

The program lets you set the boundaries, including all the foods you can't/won't eat, calorie intake, vegetarian vs pescatarian, etc... a wide range of options there.... it gives you the weeks plan which you can edit via drag and drop, provides you with the weeks grocery list and you just click the item on the plan and it gives you the recipe. You can also include items that you already have in your pantry and it will try to use them up.

A complete all in one meal planner. I don't like to call it a diet, we're not (well not specifically) trying to lose weight but just looking for a more balanced meal plan and this provides it. Unexpectedly, the recipes are really delicious.

I wish to request of the weather guessers to MAKE IT STOP RAINING! Thank you.

We are expecting evening wind chill temperatures in the -18C (-0.4F) range, this is not ideal when you live in a summerized RV, this is to last apparently for at least 5 nights. Daytime temps hovering in low single digits and even overnights are under -10C, must be expecting winds... I'm too fed up about the weather to even bother looking and I can't do anything about it anyway except huff in the other direction.

The rain has been falling quite consistently since at least Dec 15. The ground is saturated and if the winds do pick up then living under a bunch of 30 ft trees also will not be ideal. We will be monitoring this situation closely and should it appear necessary we will go to a hotel for a couple of days. Not the end of the world but you can see it from here. LOL

Our landlords left today for their Bermuda holiday and I am looking after the multitude (seriously about 20 of them) of Ducks, Chickens, Geese, 2 Cats and a Dragon somethingorother lizard. I am also looking after the home of one of our picklers but she returns before our landlords do so I can't winge about that.

This of course means that we will not be starting our HouseSitting travels until they return on Jan 20th. After that though..... Mama wants to go places. I have our profile all set up and some wonderful friends have given us great references, I have my eye on a couple of sits on Vancouver Island in February but need Brad's input into choosing one and he is in a world of hurt lately with a tooth that is giving him trouble, so I wait.... patiently... mostly...

Okay, anyone got a skate and a Wilson volleyball?
(We just watched Castaway again last week - love Tom Hanks).

Happy New Year

Wishing everyone the very best for this brand new year!

Lucky stars above you

 Sunshine on your way

 Many friends to love you

Joy in work and play

Laughter to outweigh each care

In your heart a song

And gladness waiting everywhere

 All the whole year long!