Today's plan, Roche Cove to the "You are Here" sign, and back of course.
Monday, January 30, 2017
Galloping Gourmet...er, Goose
The pair of us have this plan over the next whatever to walk the entire length of the Galloping Goose, A sixty kilometre trail that features a rails-to-trails conversion, and was named after a 1920s gasoline powered passenger car that operated on this abandoned CNR line and now passes through urban, rural, and semi-wilderness landscapes from Victoria to Sooke.
Initially we are exploring to see where we can break the trail into usable chunks, some planning will be involved and we need to obtain a big map to plonk on the garage wall to track our progress.
We tested a few kilometers of it last Wednesday before lunch at the 17 Mile House, we're looking forward to the rest!
Initially we are exploring to see where we can break the trail into usable chunks, some planning will be involved and we need to obtain a big map to plonk on the garage wall to track our progress.
We tested a few kilometers of it last Wednesday before lunch at the 17 Mile House, we're looking forward to the rest!
Monday, January 23, 2017
Seaside Rock
A day of driving, exploring and finding new places, and along the way we were discussing how much we used to hate Mondays as we drove around in our search for new bits.
I think someone wrote a song about that, well, not the searching for new bits, I meant the Monday thing...
Along the highway there was a small bridge across Muir Creek with a tiny car park and what looked like a little panhandle trail to the beach, so we parked up. It was a short hike and we were rewarded with some fantastic scenery with views across the Juan de Fuca.
It was a strange and wonderful set of moments, there was an adult eagle perched on a tall tree, a marvelous cove, a small beach fire burning and a young lady parading backwards and forwards on the wet sand practicing on an accordion (I'm not making this up) and during our explorations, we looked in rock pools, walked past a blue heron, who ignored us, and we ended up talking to a Polish soap maker and his better half about fish and chips and all the bits we have not seen yet.
Mondays are all right.
I think someone wrote a song about that, well, not the searching for new bits, I meant the Monday thing...
Along the highway there was a small bridge across Muir Creek with a tiny car park and what looked like a little panhandle trail to the beach, so we parked up. It was a short hike and we were rewarded with some fantastic scenery with views across the Juan de Fuca.
It was a strange and wonderful set of moments, there was an adult eagle perched on a tall tree, a marvelous cove, a small beach fire burning and a young lady parading backwards and forwards on the wet sand practicing on an accordion (I'm not making this up) and during our explorations, we looked in rock pools, walked past a blue heron, who ignored us, and we ended up talking to a Polish soap maker and his better half about fish and chips and all the bits we have not seen yet.
Mondays are all right.
Rock'N Robin.
Lots of activity in the garden today, and on the roof, the sounds of tiny little bird feet scuttering about. There are many signs that the seasons will be changing soon, and we're on the starting blocks for new projects, to make the garden our own.
A robin landed on the head of our cherished cat that we brought with us from Gibsons. I grabbed the camera and managed a half-decent photo through the window of the cheeky chappy.
A robin landed on the head of our cherished cat that we brought with us from Gibsons. I grabbed the camera and managed a half-decent photo through the window of the cheeky chappy.
Sunday, January 15, 2017
Gotcha!
A few weeks ago we were at Whiffin Spit and an adult eagle flew over our heads, of course, we did not have the camera with us. Today though, along the Sooke River, a friendly bird allowed for a better photo opportunity.
Sooke River
One thing that Karen wished for was that there would be a path or trail along the edge of Sooke River, today, as the ground wasn't soggy and had a little frost, we walked for a mile or so along the river, it was a long thoughtful dawdle as at times the views were breathtaking.
Rock Your Baby
A Sunday afternoon trek along the Sooke River and the construction site. I found an attractive rock and we wondered how we could get it back to the house without anyone noticing.
New Kid on the Block
If you followed Gibsons Nature Watch you would have seen my occasional posts about my Sorel Boots and the Canadian Tire lawn mower, my Honda powered friend that shared my life for over sixteen years. About three or four years ago, the lawn mower hit a huge rock when I was being dangerous in the culvert, and the incident came close to slicing off the end of my Sorel boot, and perhaps slightly worse, a couple of my toes.
The blade had detached when the keyed blade connector broke in two.
I sourced a replacement from Home Hardware and also replaced the distorted blade, but after that, the lawn mower was never the same, it had a slight vibration and shimmy and was, I expect, rather grumpy.
In early September, at the end of the growing season, I sold it at one of our pre-moving yard sales, a ten dollar bargain, I even included some gas, and demonstrated how the mower would still start. The chap who bought it shuffled off with a big smile.
So, here we are, four months later in our new location in Sooke and we (myself and my Sorel boots) have a new friend to accompany us on our walks around the yard.
We will keep you posted.
The blade had detached when the keyed blade connector broke in two.
I sourced a replacement from Home Hardware and also replaced the distorted blade, but after that, the lawn mower was never the same, it had a slight vibration and shimmy and was, I expect, rather grumpy.
In early September, at the end of the growing season, I sold it at one of our pre-moving yard sales, a ten dollar bargain, I even included some gas, and demonstrated how the mower would still start. The chap who bought it shuffled off with a big smile.
So, here we are, four months later in our new location in Sooke and we (myself and my Sorel boots) have a new friend to accompany us on our walks around the yard.
We will keep you posted.
Saturday, January 14, 2017
Stranger on the Shore
Running along the shore today, avoiding us as much as possible, were a bunch of Killdeer. This little chap was running along in little bursts, then stopping suddenly to forage, then on occasion, jetting off in a flash of tawny white, slender wings.
I was lucky enough to grab a half decent photograph with the Lumix.
I was lucky enough to grab a half decent photograph with the Lumix.
Friday, January 13, 2017
Normal Weekly Routine
If you followed the old blog, you would have seen that a few years ago we started using a five dollar breadmaker from the thrift store, and here we are, on another blog, but still with the normal weekly routine of baking a morning loaf. It took us a few minutes while making coffee this morning to set up the Panasonic and as usual, three hours later, it beeped three times and one of these appeared :
The cost of a loaf like this is fascinating, and worthy of note.
A 10kg bag of whole wheat flour is $6.50 and a loaf uses 375g. So, the flour costs 24 cents. A 4kg bag of sugar, $3.75 so the 3 teaspoons, 12g, cost 1 cent, the yeast costs $6.24 for 908g, so the cost per loaf is about 2.4 cents, salt costs less than 1 cent, water is (relatively) free and a splash of olive oil is perhaps another 7 cents. Add the hydro costs to bake, at 550w/hr during the 45 minute cooking cycle, plus a bit for the proving cycle and mixing, let's say, to be conservative, a kilowatt, then the cost is 9 cents. So, cost per loaf is less than 45 cents which is a fraction of the average cost of a loaf of whole wheat bread at the supermarket.
Karen and myself have just had a fresh, buttered crust of the new loaf, and it is marvellous, plus this basic whole wheat offering makes perhaps the best and freshest toast you can imagine.
Hungry yet?
The cost of a loaf like this is fascinating, and worthy of note.
A 10kg bag of whole wheat flour is $6.50 and a loaf uses 375g. So, the flour costs 24 cents. A 4kg bag of sugar, $3.75 so the 3 teaspoons, 12g, cost 1 cent, the yeast costs $6.24 for 908g, so the cost per loaf is about 2.4 cents, salt costs less than 1 cent, water is (relatively) free and a splash of olive oil is perhaps another 7 cents. Add the hydro costs to bake, at 550w/hr during the 45 minute cooking cycle, plus a bit for the proving cycle and mixing, let's say, to be conservative, a kilowatt, then the cost is 9 cents. So, cost per loaf is less than 45 cents which is a fraction of the average cost of a loaf of whole wheat bread at the supermarket.
Karen and myself have just had a fresh, buttered crust of the new loaf, and it is marvellous, plus this basic whole wheat offering makes perhaps the best and freshest toast you can imagine.
Hungry yet?
The State of the TV Nation - Sooke
I thought it would be a good idea to update where we are on our journey without cable TV, I did this three years ago on our Gibsons Nature Watch blog, and now that we are in Sooke, we should revisit the topic.
Graeme Wright, my buddy who lived in Ontario has now gone off to the left and retired in Nova Scotia, in a parallel world he has started his own blog, the South Shore Tidal Watch and it makes for fantastic reading (I have added a link over on the right of the screen).
Graeme, when he was still working, would often ask if there were any flaws in the financial plan, and our answer was always none. In December 2012 we had just "cut the cord" and gone off the cable TV mortgage, something that was costing about $85 a month, and we can say that over the four years we have saved something like $4000 and to be perfectly honest, we have a far better TV experience than we ever had with cable TV.
In the transition to Sooke, we changed our phone and Internet Service provider, at the moment it is Telus fibre and if we look at the package cost, we're paying $10 a month more now. Our yearly savings have reduced to something like $900 and we expect, as streaming becomes more popular, that these companies will continue to edge up the costs of their internet plans.
In Gibsons we could receive a few over the air HD channels, but here in Sooke we are surrounded by mountains and high ground which block the transmitters, so we have lost some live TV, but we have also found some IPTV channels that are live, and overall, our viewing choices continue to expand, not diminish.
If there are any flaws in this cord cutting plan, we have yet to find them.
Will update again in a few years time.
Graeme Wright, my buddy who lived in Ontario has now gone off to the left and retired in Nova Scotia, in a parallel world he has started his own blog, the South Shore Tidal Watch and it makes for fantastic reading (I have added a link over on the right of the screen).
Graeme, when he was still working, would often ask if there were any flaws in the financial plan, and our answer was always none. In December 2012 we had just "cut the cord" and gone off the cable TV mortgage, something that was costing about $85 a month, and we can say that over the four years we have saved something like $4000 and to be perfectly honest, we have a far better TV experience than we ever had with cable TV.
In the transition to Sooke, we changed our phone and Internet Service provider, at the moment it is Telus fibre and if we look at the package cost, we're paying $10 a month more now. Our yearly savings have reduced to something like $900 and we expect, as streaming becomes more popular, that these companies will continue to edge up the costs of their internet plans.
In Gibsons we could receive a few over the air HD channels, but here in Sooke we are surrounded by mountains and high ground which block the transmitters, so we have lost some live TV, but we have also found some IPTV channels that are live, and overall, our viewing choices continue to expand, not diminish.
If there are any flaws in this cord cutting plan, we have yet to find them.
Will update again in a few years time.
Monday, January 9, 2017
Monday
It was warm today, we just spent an hour or so dawdling along the beach, doing nothing but perfecting the art of the dawdle.
Oak Bay VIP Seating
It was a cold and windy day in Oak Bay on Saturday morning, but we found a couple of nice warm chairs on the rocks for a bit of a rest during our walk around the coastline, they provided a lovely view of the Olympic Mountains, a mountain range on the Olympic Peninsula of western Washington in the United States.
It was around this time that we started thinking about beer again.
It was around this time that we started thinking about beer again.
Sunday, January 8, 2017
More Cartoon Characters
Here, like an extra from a Wallace and Gromit episode is a real life Oyster Catcher down at the spit.
Hat of Sensibility
You probably don't know about the hat of sensibility, it is an ancient tradition here in the family, I thought that it deserved a post of it's own, looking out longingly to the juan de fuca, towards Sooke point...
Twit on the Spit
Friday.
Yes, the good other, standing, willingly being ridiculed by her longstanding millstone, showing off a fine piece of bull kelp, full of valuable nutrients, to be made into a precious, delicious stew when the pair of struggling lovers returned home.
The hat will return in the next post.
Yes, the good other, standing, willingly being ridiculed by her longstanding millstone, showing off a fine piece of bull kelp, full of valuable nutrients, to be made into a precious, delicious stew when the pair of struggling lovers returned home.
The hat will return in the next post.
Friday, January 6, 2017
UFO
What is it?, a strange object high in the sky, such energy, such a wonderful sight down there at Whiffin Spit on a cold January afternoon.
The days are getting longer, there is hope!
The days are getting longer, there is hope!
Tuesday, January 3, 2017
Timing and luck.
Karen has just been surfing the internet and was interested in our new assessment for this house, and at the same time, could not help but look at the values for our old house in Gibsons. It seems that the TV news is flooded at the moment with how much Vancouver house prices have rocketed in the last year or so, the ridiculous price of gas and the potential increase in the price of bananas.
The old house in Gibsons has increased, according to the new BC Assessment, by 29% and most of that is the property has been acknowledged by the land office to be a two storey house with a finished basement. Karen had always warned me that at some point the house could be reclassified and we believe it was the selling process that triggered the new assessed value.
That does mean that the new owners will see a 29% increase in their property taxes in 2017 plus whatever the Town of Gibsons will raise the mill rate by, probably another 3% or so.
Ouch!.
The new house, well, it is the same configuration as it has always been, and the value assessment has risen by around 7%, which is less than we were expecting actually, so no complaints there. I think we should expect our house taxes to increase by about 5% because of the revised assessment and the effect of new Sooke mill rates.
Taxes always go up...
It was perhaps timing and luck, but more likely a bit of cause and effect because of our move.
The old house in Gibsons has increased, according to the new BC Assessment, by 29% and most of that is the property has been acknowledged by the land office to be a two storey house with a finished basement. Karen had always warned me that at some point the house could be reclassified and we believe it was the selling process that triggered the new assessed value.
That does mean that the new owners will see a 29% increase in their property taxes in 2017 plus whatever the Town of Gibsons will raise the mill rate by, probably another 3% or so.
Ouch!.
The new house, well, it is the same configuration as it has always been, and the value assessment has risen by around 7%, which is less than we were expecting actually, so no complaints there. I think we should expect our house taxes to increase by about 5% because of the revised assessment and the effect of new Sooke mill rates.
Taxes always go up...
It was perhaps timing and luck, but more likely a bit of cause and effect because of our move.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)