Self-imposed Quarantine

Given the S*^#@! storm that has become our world today, everything being cancelled and/or closed... Disney... wow, you know it's bad when... even the cruise lines are shutting themselves down for 2 months... where is the leadership - it's so bad down in the US that there are just no words.

When businesses are voluntarily shutting down, but the leader (who is likely infected won't test and insists the world is rainbows and chocolate) - when Corporatocracy is regulating itself at a financial loss because the government just can't bring itself to the new reality... and is putting people at risk by refusing to test because he doesn't want to lose control of the economic profitability of his own businesses. It's time to worry.

So we have self-quarantined. According to those who haven't a clue, we do not have any cases on this island as yet but we know its coming and with a minimum 2 week incubation - is really likely already here, we decided to shut it down last night.

We also received a message from our house sit which was scheduled for today and they have cancelled their holiday because our Government (Canada) has advised all citizens against travel and is considering closing all borders and advising people (including RVers) to get home... so that is great, we were kind of hoping they would cancel - as much for them as us.

2 bags of potatoes planted

2 bags of re-growth carrots planted

1st pot

2nd pot, each bag has 5 although they are not all visible here-they are sticking out, I will add more soil as they grow.

So we have some food, etc stored and we are in isolation. Not much will really change for us except no running downtown for this or that. What we have is it -- so here's hoping its enough. We will still be out puttering around our site - maybe helping the landlord with this or that (at a distance, of course) and we are fortunate that we have a hiking trail not far from us that a very few people use so we can still get out and walk, exercise, etc. 

With the travel restrictions we are keeping our eye out for a good deal on a house rental we could slip in because-if there are no tourists, the rents will be cheap on this island... could be a good opportunity for us if we play our cards right.

People in Canada are fighting with each other in the stores - so that has made it across the border. You know things are bad when Canadians are turning on each other. Shelves are already empty, Costco and Walmart - people are hoarding and now selling Toilet paper for $3/roll and it's not the soft teddy bear kind... 

Brad just read online that a man was stabbed somewhere in the states over a case of Dasani water and taken away by ambulance. Scary times.

I have more stuff to plant but tonight and tomorrow night are going to be soooommmeeee cold so I will wait. What is planted will be put inside the shed and I will hope they hold on.

A surprise sit request

So this am I awoke at 6:45am and headed downstairs at our house sit. Today (Monday) was going home day as the owner is returning this afternoon and the house needed to be cleaned and bedding stripped and washed, all that fun stuff.

Pop the kettle on to boil, turn the Keurig on to pre-heat the water for His Lordship should he arise and start a fire to warm the place up because I cannot stand being cold.

Check phone for overnight dingers (thank God for Do Not Disturb) and someone sent us a message on www.trustedhousesitters.com So a week ago we had applied for a 5 week sit here on our little island which would take us to just before we leave on our nationwide trip... eventually they chose someone a friend recommended and so we decided to stop applying for sits before the trip with the Covid-19 thing going so strong right now - we'd just see what happened with it and go from there...

Covid-19 real-time tracker

Turns out the person they chose to house sit for their holiday in Palm Springs is American and doesn't want to get stuck in Canada -- perhaps they read my last blog LOL... so they called us to see if we could still do it. After much discussion we decided to go ahead and agree to the sit, now if things go to hell (BC had its first covid-19 death today) they obviously won't be going but as of now they still intend to follow through.

They have a beautiful blonde full size poodle named Annie, so we (except Brad who had a massage -- it's Monday people, keep up!!) met at a local park to make sure the dogs were okay together. They got along famously and turns out they play head games with their dog the same way we do with Robbie... sure hope they get to go because I think it would be great fun with these two dogs... and the woman and I have met previously as she was in a 'showing' I did of our campground for the local Information Center last spring.

We will all meet again at their home on Wednesday so they can show us the lay of the land and then likely we'll 'move in' on Friday as they catch the red eye ferry Sat am. Upon their return we will then have about a week at our home until we leave on our trip - all things being equal, of course.

Daffy front and center, the prancing girls pulling up the rear

This last sit was fun but with the accident and some other things on the go we didn't get out much. Sgt Major Daffy Duck and his duo of prancing girls were funny to watch, and I did -- back and forth waddle waddle waddle, squalk squalk squalk. Daffy couldn't walk without commanding his troops at the same time, it was hilarious. You always knew when they were moving because you could hear him barking orders... 1,2,3,4 - 1,2,3,4...

When we went to Courtney for that 2 week sit we felt it was too long (perhaps the rain everyday was the problem), this latest duck sit was only 4 nights and we have to haul a lot of stuff just for 4 nights, our clothes, CPAP, Robbies kit, our groceries, the Keurig and his kettle was broken - so our kettle too - a lot of work for just a few days. Plus I had to take my garden sprouts because they would get very cold left in the RV...

5 weeks and 2 days for this next sit so definitely worth the haul and being on our island we don't need to deal with long drives or ferry schedules for Brad's massage or Dr appts so I don't think it will be a problem. Very much looking forward to it as they have lovely views from their place and the weather is getting nicer now.

Staying close to 'home'

Because our girl took a holiday -- I know, right?!! -- Brad didn't get his massage early in the week and we were both booked in with her on Friday, thankfully because Brad needed it after the accident. I needed it too it turned out but I wasn't suffering with it. Anyway, we've been staying close to the 'house' just trying to recoup from the last week, it was a bad one. Here are pics of the property.

Garden/Duck waddle area

Top of the driveway done up very nice, would be gorgeous in summer, I'm sure with the little bridge there.

The Ducks, there are only 3 somehow I thought it was 5 but nope. The front one is the male and he is very aggressive about protecting his girls... hissing and threatening to come after you, etc. So far its just bravado, he better hope it stays that way...

Pathway to the garden/waddle area

The ducks walk around the property all day, they are let out in the morning and put in at dusk so the raccoons don't get at them. That's the extent of it other than a little feed in a bowl. 

They have a pond at the other end of the driveway, the gate is never shut but they do not wander out - this is amazing to me... but I've been watching them closely and they don't. They waddle all day long back and forth: pond to grass beside house and around the back then down to the pond again, etc. all day long. It's amusing to watch and the girls are so cute with their little warrior leading them around everywhere. 

Can't believe its Saturday already, we're back home again on Monday. Seems like we just got here...

Accident update: Since it happened on private property and we cannot find a witness who saw it - unless they went to the police on their own - there is nothing the cops can do. A claim has been filed with ICBC - there has to be some consequence. As far as I'm concerned the guy should have just owned up to it as ICBC will be more expensive in the long run than a ticket for a couple of hundred bucks.

I just hope he learns something from this so it won't happen to an elderly person or small child next time.

New sit, hit and run and cleaning

We were set to start a new house sit today at 1pm and around 1030am Brad went to town to grab a coffee before we loaded the Jeep and set off across Salt Spring Island. 1230pm and he hasn't returned... something is wrong. Or is it? You can never tell with men, can you?!

Has he gone by Buzzy's and got chatting and forgotten? Do I take the big truck and go without him? Where the hell is he? He knows we have this appointment to meet the owner of the house...

Now at 1130 ish I was talking to the landlord about that diagram I've been teasing you with... and switching the laundry around the same time... Well at 1245 I got up to go to the bathroom and just happened to push the button on the phone to check it as I passed by. Sure enough Brad had called around 1130 from the Police Station. Someone had driven into him and he was heading to the ER....

W T F?!?!?!?!?!?!  I grabbed my purse and took off running to our friendly neighbourhood landlord for a drive to the ER and he quickly obliged -- thank you, kind sir.

Apparently, after checking our mail Brad had stopped to help a little old lady who's car wouldn't move and she was stuck in the driving lane outside the post office. She was not strong enough to strong arm (car wouldn't turn on) the car while he pushed so 2 others joined in the effort, once she was secured in a spot out of harm's way the others left and then Brad turned and began walking back to our Jeep. BAM!! Some guy in a little yellow smart car literally whipped out of his parking spot -- backwards -- and straight into Brad. As per, Brad did not move (anyone who knows him, knows what I mean by this) --anyway, the guy mouthed to Brad that he was sorry and drove away.

WELL! Several people witnessed this event in the parking lot of the local post office. Brad got the plate number and went to the cop shop trying to remember the plate number while trying to speak to someone at a small island police station... suffice to say, he got the last number wrong. However, he had seen the car turn towards Moby's and so when the police insisted he go to the hospital he decided to find that car enroute to the hospital (opposite direction)... and he did. Directly across the street from Moby's there it was at the Harbour House Hotel.

He provided the police with the proper plate number and they were off to do whatever they do when someone hit and runs a body... I'm not sure what that is, but I'm damn sure it isn't good for that guy.

Doc in ER says he has whiplash and will likely have a lot of bruising but nothing is broken so he'll be sore for several days to a week or 10 days before hopefully recovering. Clearly, Doc says, he has been thrown out of alignment (his RMT and Chiropractor are not going to be happy about this either).

Even with all of that going on we still managed to arrive shortly after 1pm to meet the sit and then went home and Brad looked after Robbie while I loaded the first of two loads of stuff to haul over to the house sit (2 door jeeps hold almost nothing, do not buy one)... the truck would make sense except this island is not designed for such a large vehicle and I'm not sure it would make the turn into the driveway to be honest... the Jeep doesn't seem like it would fit either but it does...

On the way home we stopped at Buzzy's for lunch - it was a bad day after all. They couldn't believe Brad had been hit by a car! And yet completely believed he had been hit by a car as people drive crazy on this island, its just insane and summer hasn't even hit yet. Barbra Streisand has been punted for Meghan and Harry, she declined to comment.

The new house sit. 3 Ducks, kept outdoors, obviously - I assume that's obvious....

Robbie in the TV Room watching BBCan8

Spent half an hour cleaning the kitchen so I could make dinner only to realize I didn't have anything out so Brad drove to town and grabbed Pizza for us as Big Brother Canada season 8 began at 7pm and I was still scrubbing the kitchen at 630pm.

Living room

Remember my peas? With herbs on the left. Coming up nicely.

In yesterday's blog post I'm sure I posted a pic of this and no carrots were coming up yet (middle) between the green onion on the left and garlic on the right... well 6 have sprouted today. Still no peppers but I learned today that peppers take 1-4 weeks to sprout depending on the type and I've no idea what the type is other than Organic...so I wait...

Okay so that diagram: has been squashed I think. It was an earthbag dome building we were planning so that company would have somewhere to stay when they visit but after much consideration and with the layout being so sloped and nowhere to drop a literal tonne of dirt except at the bottom of a big slope we have decided to just build a normal cabin. Given our trip and the mountainous amount of work to build an earthbag dome, I think its safe to say we have chosen another path with the cabin idea.

Now I say this but we haven't exactly all had a chance to digest everything that has happened today, however I spoke to the landlord and mentioned it to Brad today and I think everyone seemed to be in agreement on the cabin. I will revisit this again in a few days once Brad's pain level normalizes and we can speak more to the landlord. It was exciting while it lasted but I think with everything we have on our plates already that this is probably the best option all around right now. Sorry Meg/Mum.

Trusted HouseSitters 25% Discount

Trusted HouseSitters have provided us with a 25% discount for our readers.

This is a great opportunity for you to get in on this incredible system, 25% off of anything is a great bargain these days and this allows you to travel very inexpensively as accommodation is often the most expensive part of any trip.

We love this system as it allows us to travel almost anywhere in the world, we then stay at someone else's home for free while they are away on their own adventure. We look after their house and pets and receive free accommodation in return.

The system offers contracts for those who prefer a more formal arrangement or just online communications as we have been using and they provide a free 24/7 vet line should it be needed while you are sitting someone's pet.

More information about How It Works can be found HERE

Click HERE for a direct link to The Rogue Less Travelled's 25% Discount

Or just go to www.trustedhousesitters.com and enter Discount Code RAF287324

Our previous blogs about house sitting can be found at these links:
http://www.theroguelesstravelled.com/2020/01/1st-official-house-sit.html
http://www.theroguelesstravelled.com/2020/01/settling-in.html
http://www.theroguelesstravelled.com/2020/01/simple-update.html
http://www.theroguelesstravelled.com/2020/02/day-on-denman-island.html
http://www.theroguelesstravelled.com/2020/02/home-again.html


We would very much like to thank Trusted HouseSitters for offering this very generous discount to our readers.


We have another sit coming up very shortly, right here on our little island.

*Disclosure: Should you use our discount code we will receive a small credit towards our own membership fees.

Home again

On our last night of housesitting and looking after Teddy we decided to go for Vietnamese. Long time readers will likely know that Vietnamese is our favourite and we are always trying local restaurants wherever we go. Our favourite remains our old haunt back in our Saskatoon days some 15 years ago (restaurant sold to new owners and just isn't the same anymore).

A few selections, we enjoyed the lemongrass beef dish the best although it was all palatable (not always the case)

I have heard from Dad & Ann, they are off the cruise ship and touring around in the Florida Cays before heading home to Windsor mid week.

Our first experience with www.trustedhousessitters.com was a good one. Although we failed to inquire when exactly they would be returning, only knew that it was on the 8th (today), what none of us considered was that their flight arrived very late and we had plans to be home by supper out with friends on Salt Spring... so arrangements were made with the owners family that they would pick up Teddy for the evening so we could head home on schedule. 

Note to self: confirm the return date/time.... had we known we would be needed until the 9th, we would have made arrangements as per but as it was, expecting to be home today we made other plans... turned out okay though, I believe. 

Little Teddy sure is a delight. What a good doggie, he loved to cuddle with me specifically which Robbie was none too keen about but suffered the atrocity in disgusted silence time and again... poor little guy. We sure are going to miss little Teddy, just soo cute. It was a great place to be with some great sites to see but with all the bloody rain we just were not able to get out much and experience it particularly. 

We did get to Denman Island, but every other day we were there we'd wait until the rain stopped long enough to take the dogs for their daily walk and then the rain would start again... and not just a bit of rain - torrential downpours,    all   day   long  !! Which is why we wanted to do the sit in the first place, as an opportunity to get out from under the tick tick tick on the roof.

Funny enough today the sun came out and it is 'supposed' to be sunny for the next 5 days or more. Go figure.

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.