Category Archives: Something About Us

Crazy Canucks invade Curacao

Pam and I have made a major change in our life. First and foremost, Pam has retired as of June 22, 2017. She is officially out of work. Her last few days were filled with get togethers and parties and lots of tears, hugs, and reminisces about her long 36 year career. It was an emotional week for everyone.

 

View from apartment 8Second of all, and perhaps equally earth shaking, is that we have sold our apartment. Yes the one we thought we’d grow old in… Just 22 short months after moving back to Vancouver, we’ve cashed out. We are moving to the Caribbean Island of Curacao. We have had movers come in, pack about half our stuff, and off it goes. It will arrive in Curacao, along with our car, in about 35 days. The other half of our stuff we left in storage for the apartment we’ll buy later, somewhere in the Lower Mainland.

Bailey in her spotWe fly out of Vancouver on July 5th. Hopefully we’ll have a place before our stuff shows up! Luckily, Curacao has no quarantine for pets so long as you’ve had all their medications and shots done properly. And of course the Canadian government had to have some forms, and the airlines needed forms and the vets needed forms… but still, Bailey will be coming with us! (We hope…)

 

 

Notes about weather

The view towards Mt BakerIt’s been another crazy year for snow. Walking around right now is still a little treacherous in spots, but no where near as bad as it was last week. And January was brutal for lots of snow and lots of cold. It really does have me considering winter tires for next year, that’s for sure.

Once again this year Pam and I both got sick: Pam was sicker, by her estimate, but insisted it was not the flu. She was sidelined for a good three weeks or more. It was a tough go… another sign we’re getting old I guess.

Stellar photo of BuckThe photo of Buck in the header is an old one, from 2002. Not sure what age that makes Buck, but he looks adorable as usual. So attentive.

Dogs allowed

Happy Birthday Pam!

Pam and BaileyBuck ready for a walkMax at Surrey Lake

Ana White Brag Post

Shoe dresserLoved a shoe cabinet at Mobler Furniture, but hated the 300 dollar price. Figured Ana White would have a plan: She Did.

I modified the plans a bit. I built the gables in one piece to eliminate the need for separate feet. We also used hinges instead of the pegs to open and close the doors. The overall length is only 38 inches. I built it counter height.

Because we used wood that we had laying around from previous projects, the drawers, and the unit are made of pine, while the top is made of oak. Total cost for the wood was 30 Canadian dollars, spent years and years ago.

Shoe DresserRather than buy catches like the plans call for, I ran an extra support rail under the top, which made attaching the top easy, but also served as a “bump” for the closing door – it adds a satisfying clunk when closing the doors. I did the same for the second door too. The handles were purchased for a project in our previous house and used here instead.

For the finish, we used paintbrushable Tremclad matte black for the interior (23 bucks – used less than half the tin.) We used 1.5 cans of spray Tremclad red enamel for the exterior (8 bucks a tin).  We hit it all with two coats of Zinsser sealer first – 14 bucks, used half. Total hit was well under a hundred bucks, although we were really only out of pocket for the paint.

Took us a couple days to work out the details, a day to construct, and about three days to paint, one for the undercoat, one for the black, one for the red.

We’re both pretty pleased with how it turned out.

The title of the post, “Ana White Brag Post” is a reference to Tiny House star Ana White’s blog with all her free plans.

The Best Getter

Hydrating after the raceThe Best Getter is a race in the MEC Racing series, an inexpensive way to enjoy a good workout. For a measly 15 bucks you get to run your choice of 5k, 10k or half marathon distances, all with chip timing, well marked courses, and friendly supportive people. Afterwards there are free massages, free hydration and free snacks.

Bailey gets some loveI was super thrilled with my run, especially considering how poorly I ran yesterday in the Run for H2O. I knocked over 5 minutes off my time from yesterday – admittedly a poor run by me, but still I ran the 5k in 32:15 and had a nice sprint to finish up strong. And for me that IS a personal best on a chip timed, measured 5k.

I really want thank Pam, not only for giving up her sleep to come with me, but for all the videos and pictures she takes! But more importantly, I was going to weasel out of this race because I ran (unplanned) in the Run for H2O yesterday, and we got up a little late. It was at her urging that I got my ass on the grass, and I’m really glad she did!

Where there is water, there is life

Before the raceThe Run for H2O events fund raise to complete projects around the world to bring fresh drinking water to communities that do not have easy access to water. They chose to run through our community this morning, so I when Bailey and I saw everyone lining up, we figured it was a cause we could support. The park where Bailey and I are standing in the photo is literally 3 minutes from our front door.

The video tells the tale of need, but the logic for running the race in our neighbourhood is terrific I think. We’re a new community on the water, so bringing water to another community just seems the right thing to do.

Pretty shocking way to have to live your life right? So we hurried home and changed into running clothes and got back over to support this great cause.

Bailey helps outBailey was a big hit there – everyone wanted to come over and pet her and she put on a heck of a show for everyone! See how she helped one of the young ladies checking people into the race?

Anyway – great cause – fun race. Nice music. Great people. Wonderful weather. Nice day all around. I ran rather poorly, but was still lots of fun.