Adios 2020
August 28 we are packed, empty, cleaned
and last sleep in the townhouse prior to moving an hour and a half away.
The moving nightmare begins . . .
The day before our movers were due to pick up our furniture, the company called to say they did not have any movers available for the 27th to pick up our furniture and boxes.
After many calls, they said they could only move our belongings at 8 pm the night before (the 26 Aug).
Marc informed the neighbors and she drew a hissy fit - they have an under two year old child and that is her bedtime - how dare we arranged noisy movers at that time of night!
Movers called with some welcoming news - they could come at 9 am the Aug 27, the day before we get possession and they would park the truck with our belongings at the Airforce Base overnight and arrive around noon at our new home Aug 28th.
August 27th, day before possession day and moving morning, the 2 Burley Men truck arrives. No movers on board! Just a driver.
Just Marc and the driver load all of our furniture and boxes. Marc had already loaded up a storage locker in Chemainus with boxed items, truck hitches, bikes and garage things.
A guy shows up halfway through to help (the company found him somewhere) but he couldn't lift any heavy furniture due to back problems.
ANOTHER PHONE CALL THAT UPSETS THE APPLE CART
Our realtor (for the new house) calls late afternoon to tell us the money did not go through and the lawyer's office is closed. We may not get possession of the house in the morning and won't until the lawyer's office is contacted to find out what happened.
6 am
I stay behind in Courtenay, waiting for the lawyer's office to open while Marc drives down Island to check-in with the realtor to get things sorted out.
Just hangin' out at the Puntledge River Estuary at 6 am
The lawyer's office was available long before opening hours for Marc's phone call. Here is what came down:
Our deposit from the lawyer's office did not get picked up by the courier and taken to the bank on time, the bank was closed when the error was found out. So our possession date was defunct until the transfer of money was made. The bicycle courier came by late afternoon, dropped off mail but neglected to pick up ours (and five other couples) funds for transfer regarding purchases of property. The reason this mistake happened is because the person who worked on our file works downstairs and the funds were in the out basket upstairs & got missed.
Fast forward to ten o'clock: We arrive at the new property in our separate vehicles and our realtor meets us. The owner is in the house and furious - refusing to give us the keys until the money has been confirmed that it was transferred.
We are standing in the street and chatting with the neighbors (whom we have met and had coffee with a few times during our house hunting). A few from the neighborhood came by to greet us and say they 'heard' we were having financial difficulties! Haha ... only in a small community.
In the meantime, the cleaners left our new house, everything cleaned up, the money was transferred and confirmed by noon. The woman apologized for her reaction and the moving truck with all of our belongings showed up around 12:15.
This time, two burley men showed up to work and they were fabulous. Nothing was scraped or damaged and they put furniture wherever we wanted (some went upstairs in the loft room).
The moving begins into our new stand alone rancher, bare land strata in a small cul-de-sac, with agriculture land reserve land behind us (means no housing).
We were given some compensation from the moving company when one of the workers did not show up.
Some barstools were to be delivered from the furniture store in Courtenay. This happened the day after moving in. Plus a large TV stand for upstairs. Around 7 pm two kids showed up - somehow our bar stools had been scratched along the backs. The TV stand is heavy, wooden, with sliding barn doors. The kids panicked when Marc showed them the steep stairs to the loft. They picked up the stand and the doors are flapping (Marc snarls at them and says these should be tied down). They continued up the stairs and the kid on the bottom drops the stand saying its too heavy and of course, punched a small hole in the wall. Of course Marc jumps in and tells the 20 year old to get out of the way and him and the worker continue up the stairs with no issues.
After a few months, this too has been resolved and compensated for damages.
Electronic wires are going underneath the wall unit and totally hidden - big project!
The woman cave
The man cave (where the entire series of Game of Thrones was watched in two weeks).
PERFECT - we have our own spaces!
The everything garage - two car garage! Kayaks, bikes and gym during Covid times. TRX system, the Zwift bike system, exercise ball and weights.
Sadly, we won't see the beautiful Comox Glacier each and everyday but we are close and this area will be visited again and again.
Was able to capture a blue heron capturing an early morning meal in the estuary, as I leave the Comox Valley.
One of the first things we had done when moving into our home was to have the fence moved back. The fence was in front of this rock retaining wall.
Behind it is a variance for the neighborhood that you can do anything with along your property line to this back fence which backs onto agricultural land reserve (forest). It opens up our back yard alot (still a small back yard).
Secondly, Marc hauled, by use of a wagon, a ton of rock to get rid of the pea gravel along the walkway to our backyard that was spilling into our neighbors yard and wreaking havoc on their lawnmower. Free Rock that was dumped into the lower gravel area just below our dead end street.
Finished with paving stones!
OUR NEW NEIGHBOURHOOD
(Chemainus, BC)
One our first visitors in our backyard was the California Quail.
We have never seen them in the Comox Valley. Guess they have not gone that far north of the Island.
CHEMAINUS
In 1858, Chemainus was a prominent First Nations village and quickly became the most prosperous logging town on Vancouver Island. The name comes from the native shaman and prophet "Tsa-meeun-is" meaning broken chest. Legend says he survived a massive wound to the chest from an arrow in battle to become a powerful chief.
Mining, fishing and forestry were the original industries that gave work to many Chinese who worked in "bull gangs" struggling to move huge lumber planks to the ships in the late 1800's, and who arrived to work on the trans Canada Railroad later. Japanese, later, east Indians, Scots and Germans came to work in the mines, in forestry ad fishing.
Today, Chemainus has a population of approximately 4,000 and in 1981 the downtown benefited from a province wide redevelopment fund to revitalize the town with benches, improved public space, parking, paint and, after more than 120 years, the sawmill shut down in 1983. The town needed help.
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| Native Heritage Mural by Paul Ygartua |
The local mayor and council and residents rallied and then the Chemainus Festival of Murals was born. Today there are 52 murals around town and several restaurants, gifts shops and outdoor music venues.
One of the most famous murals is the "Hermit" mural (painted by Paul Ygartua).
The "Hermit" trails lie just below our house and in the forest behind the ball fields where I take Tazz everyday for exercise and meet ups with people and dogs.
Charlie Abbott arrived in Chemainus around the 1970s and spent his life in the forest. This forest is walking distance to downtown. He created these trails by slowly and painstakingly creating a garden and path through eh woods. Through winter and summer, he built these beautiful walkways and steps from slate and other stones. He shunned human contact and had no sense of ownership over his woman. He said, "I can't take it with me when I go."
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| Photo by Kit Cross |
A once rock garden with a now 100+ yr old Douglas Fir.
He built steps from huge slabs of slate, down to the Askew Creek (which, I find, during the winter months rages like a river). A huge undertaking. Also, beyond this garden area, is what is now a large gravel pit where he made a 'roadway' with pieces and slabs of slate to the bottom of the hill.
A shelter built along the trails
Askew Creek, mid-September
Grasshoppers checking out the new neighbors (stuck to the glass French Doors)
Alot of Orb Weavers (or Cross Spiders) in the yard.
They are harmless and they belong to a family of over 2800 species worldwide. They are the third largest family of spiders known behind the jumping spider.
They are said to eat their webs each night along with insects they have caught.
New webs are spun each morning.
I witnessed a hatching brood one late summer. In late September, females take leave of their webs and seek out protected locations in which to deposit between 300-900 eggs. The eggs are enclosed in a cocoon of yellow, silken threads.
FUNGI OF CENTRAL VANCOUVER ISLAND
INKY CAP (Mica Cap) Mushrooms
Shaggy Parasol Mushroom (edible)
There are many look alike of this mushrooms which are deadly. If the bottom of the stem is scraped and stains red, it is edible and a shaggy mushroom.
Chicken of the Woods
Edible, with a risk of an allergic reaction. They grow on dead trees, or cracks or stumps on living trees. These are turning old as they appear like cork and will eventually turn to chalk and fall off the tree.
The first Barred Owl I have ever seen. I only had the little Olympus snap shooter camera at the time. Went back a few times but was unsuccessful in seeing the owl again within 'shooting' range, even with the 'big gun.'
The agility and acrobatics of a grey squirrel! Of to be no nibble!
At the closed-down ball fields (five in all) plus, one soccer field, there are alot of dog walkers and regular people. One group comes mid afternoon, another around 2-3:00 and another group that regularly go, when I go around 3:15-4:00. The ball diamonds back onto the trails. I often see black squirrels and sometimes the grays.
Everyday (until the end of Sept when the city shut down the water for the winter, in case of freezing temperatures), this water tap was dripping. Everyday, about six chestnut-backed chickadees came by around 5 pm to drink.
BEV'S BIRTHDAY
A new restaurant opened late November, even during Covid times. They, of course, are following Covid protocols as all restaurants. They became very popular, very quickly. We have not ordered anything takeout or eaten in a restaurant for probably eight months. Ordered three dishes and some sides for my birthday (take out).
Fabulous food! Well worth it. AND, I had even more specialties!
The bakeries are not baking cakes unless ordered well in advance. Marc had planned on a small gathering (outdoors) with amazing cheesecake slices. Weather turned ugly with snow and people opted to not come - we enjoyed these immensely all to ourselves over about a week. For the first time in over twenty years, I had a 'white,' snowy birthday. It was beautiful.
And, our pickleball friend Arlene made me an incredible pumpkin spice cake to share at the courts. (YUMMO)! We have an outdoor, propane fire pit so outdoor birthday cake celebrations are great!
Winter pickleball. NO indoor pickleball for us and we only play in a small bubble of people who we know are staying away from any social groups and no gatherings.
Our new neighborhood has been great. Looking forward to getting a little normalcy back. Doctor's appointments over the phone, mask wearing everywhere, no social activity other than outdoors. A very different world right now. Most contact is through FaceTime, Skype, and Zoom. Tazz is meeting doggy friends through our outdoor walks.
Been nice to see Marc's mom and his sister more than we have in a long time as they now live closer. My mom - well, I use the phone alot! Sometimes, I am sure, like tonight, she was hoping I would go away as her dinner was getting dried out!
Not going to travel anytime soon or stay in any hotels.
Time for me to get out and start the photography walks again. I
have been missing exploring nature with my friends - EOS R and Tazz!
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