Yes, I’m Still Here

No, we haven’t left yet. Things have just been a little crazy. OK, crazier than normal. We spent two whole days that we hadn’t bargained on chopping up big branches from our chestnut tree and chipping and mulching the smaller bits. The mistake was allowing a guy to prune our huge nut trees. He cut branches that were way too much for him and ended up breaking part of the back fence. We paid him a minimum to go away and dealt with the resulting mess ourselves. Why do I trust people to have the skills they claim when they so obviously don’t? {smacks self in head} At least the garbage trucks can get down the alley without hitting the tree and the branches aren’t going to pull down the utility wires now. And we’re all cleaned up, the fence is repaired and we’re back in business. Sorry I didn’t take any photos. My hands were too occupied at the time.

Moving right along. I finished sewing the last two pairs of shorts. Methinks that’s all that’s going to get done until I get back. And no, I didn’t photograph them either. I did a lot more housecleaning and found evidence of m@ths in the attic storage where I keep my spinning fibres. Yikes! So that had to be sorted and cleaned out. Luckily the damage was confined to one bag of someone else’s naturally dyed dye sample skeins. It was right by the door. Now it’s gone to the trash. Another morning used up on unplanned but unavoidable cleaning. At least the beasts are not loose in the stash. Quelle horreur!

I’ve also been busy on what will be our home for the next two months. I sewed a screen for the van’s sliding side door. It attaches with earth magnets sewn into little pockets on all four sides. Now we can leave the door open for air and not fill up the inside with flies and mosquitoes. Not to mention mice. (Once we ended up with 2 different types, a field mouse and a deer mouse, running around our van all night long, nibbling our food and making nests in the insulation. They wouldn’t leave voluntarily and we couldn’t evict them so they had to be sadly dispatched. I prefer to avoid the situation.) I also repaired the screen for the skylight where the hook side of the velcro had worn out. We even got some new LED reading lights. Now if I could only figure out how we are going to get all the STUFF we need into the space available! Anybody know where I can get a shrinking ray gun?

Yesterday we made a visit to the BC Automobile Association for maps and guide books. The lady was very helpful and gave us a tonne of useful stuff. (Membership is so worth it.) Google Maps is great but we don’t have wifi out there on the road in the middle of nowhere. And no, we don’t have a GPS. I likes me a real paper map. I can read them just fine if they are accurate. There’s still a few more details to work out with our route but it’s starting to get really exciting!

Or it would be exciting if only things would stop going wrong! Today I have to make an unplanned visit to my audiologist because one of my hearing aids has decided to stop working. I am definitely not in the mood to have to buy a new one, assuming I can only get one and not have to replace them both. Not to mention they are stinkin’ expensive and we can’t really afford it right now! Kind of necessary to my functioning though. Not quite as necessary as glasses but close. I certainly hope it can be repaired. Quickly.

In between all the other kafuffle, we’ve been watching the antics of the baby crows in our back yard. They aren’t at all afraid of us and act just like little kids. So funny. T-Man put out a tray of water for them and they were just like small children in a wading pool, pushing and shoving and tossing in a leaf just to see if it floats:

These are northwestern crows. They’re smaller and deeper voiced than the American crows which are more common in other parts of the continent. They are smart and cheeky and I’m quite fond of them. Except when they wake me up in the morning with their racket!

Similar to the trio above are this lot:

Do not be fooled by those innocent looks. They also are smart and cheeky! Kept us old grandparents hopping, I’ll tell you. That was an exhausting day with all three but one that wasn’t wasted. Precious is the time we spend with the Grandbeasties. They grow up so fast. Hard to believe the biggest one is already turning 9 in a couple of weeks! We’ll unfortunately be away then. I’ll have to promise her a sewing session in compensation.