The year of the stumps

It has been a long job, we had a cold winter about two or so years ago and then a heat dome, so we are not quite sure what damaged our three leafy palms, but they went mushy and deadish, so I chopped them down to the ground and then over the next year, they grew the leaves back, then started to die off again. It happened to most of the same type of palms in the area, and we decided that we needed to take the stumps out, which proved to be a mammoth job. 

Well, I reckon it was almost two hours for each one, so six hours of digging, bashing, using the maul, using up energy, but even though it was a challenge the feeling of triumph after each one was removed was huge, and as we say, any excuse for a beer.

The bed was dug over and yesterday we travelled up to Russell Nursery near Sidney and bought three variagated Pieris shrubs for the bed, and a couple of others for somewhere else, a bed to be made later as we say. A big shout out to Karen's mum and brother, Pat and her Stephen, for providing a generous gift card at Christmas, we spent it all.

It will be fun to watch these three grow over the years, they grow slow, but this variant can grow big, so at some point they will need to be managed. It was a happy hour planting and mulching them, thay are three happy little shrubs in their own bed, a project two years in the making.

Any excuse for a beer.

 

Birthdays approaching...

It won't be long before the Acura has the special birthday, in a little over a month it will be 20 years old. I was chatting to a couple of friends last week and I told them about the compressor we have, well we have two, one very modern, made in China no doubt and the second, that I use to inflate tires and blow out dust bunnies on computers. I decided to take a photo or two for posterity.

It was bought at a Gibsons public auction 10 or 12 years ago, I think it was my $20 bid that was a bit too rich for all the other bidders, and this little baby became mine until the end of my tenure with it, whenever that may be, it is a piece of history that has been travelling through time and has ended up in my workshop.

It has travelled in time that is for sure, and space too, originally manufactured by Webster Air Equipment Ltd in London, Ontario. Webster founded in 1932 bought an Oakville die-casting company back in 1936 and through the passage of time sought CESA and then CSA applications for their various compressors. An approximate date of manufacture for mine would be between 1945 and 1955 based on a similar model on the web that was CESA approved. I am sure that model and serial number could help me find a more exact date, but information is often elusive.

This heavy little unit, with the little cart and wheels, but missing it's handle,  holds a lovely warm place in my heart, it was from an age when we manufactured stuff like this in Canada, is built like a brick outhouse and will outlast us all, and of course, it still works like a champ. I think my $20 was a reasonable price....

The weather here in Sooke Christmas 2022

We had an interesting week of weather here in Sooke, all starting with 10cm of snow with large drifts up to 40cm and Karen and myself were out for two and a half hours shovelling our driveway just before Christmas, it was a happy time, most of the neighbours were out doing the same, some sherry was being drunk at the same time and after the snow was cleared, we closed the garage door and locked ourselves away for the rest of the day.

Then, over the following four days, the rain came, and by golly did it rain and all the snow has gone as quickly as it arrived. The forecast for the next week is more rain, so we will not be snow bound, just rain bound, which is certainly not as bad.

Christmas Eve was spent down at the brewery, Christmas day we locked the doors, cooked the traditional everything and had a lovely day away from the world. Today, boxing day, we will do the same, but if the rain holds off we will go for a neighbourhood walk to see what the locals are up to.

Happy New Year everyone!

Vegetable dodging

The stove is to be replaced this week, so I thought I'd show the last lot of vegetables that were cooked in it. It seemed that while we were in the UK there was a definite community avoidance of fruit, vegetables and salad produce, most restaurant meals seemed to present a few token peas or the odd carrot for the begrudged five a day, and supermarkets dedicated a lot more floor space to monster munch and beer than the lowly green things.

Garden Update.

 A couple of photos to show how the shrubs are doing.

We now enter the second phase of the gardening year, which normally means a little hardscaping and planning for various zones, but of course, there is always something else to do besides the things we really want to do, in other parts of the garden, weeds are attempting to take over while we are distracted with the established areas.

But that's what it's all about.

Car Wash

 A belated spring clean for the chariot.

The Acura RSX is in it's 20th year, we bought it in March 2003, so it is about nineteen and a third years old, 135000 kilometres on the clock, still a relative baby in the world of Honda engines. It was demanding a clean, and in my mind, after driving the Fiat 500 around winding British roads for two weeks, our car needed a little TLC to not look as tired as it did when we arrived back from the UK.

We have never owned a car this long, and it shows little sign of giving up it's reliable nature, which is a good thing as the current market is a little sad, not only for availability, but also for features and options that no longer seem available, no sign of two door hatchbacks from Honda or Acura. 

As for the cost of gas, well, in our little life, it makes no difference, we spend perhaps twenty-five bucks a week on fuel, and we could spend less, but after all, we are perhaps the last generation to be allowed to drive magnificent vehicles like this, and from what I am seeing in the marketplace, the trend is definitely away from magnificence.

Nice place to visit.

Two whole years, the eight weeks before, the two weeks in the UK and the aftermath.

The planets aligned and we managed to fix a date to travel back to the UK to see family, booked KLM in April and then spent eight weeks thinking about it, organizing things, getting the house ready and then went off to North Vancouver the day before to be sensible.

Arriving at Vancouver airport the following day, covid restrictions regarding masks were still in force, but we went to the Fairmont and had a few maskless beers. The flight was long, but again maskless, and then we sailed through Amsterdam, a brisk flight to Manchester and a hurried beer, and after an almost invisible walk through security, we were at the car rental place within half an hour. Fiat 500 Hybrid, red and new, just the right size for parking at the apartment in Southport.

A licorice allsort in the 12 volt plug socket...

Popped a sim card in an iPhone, unlimited talk and text, 12gb data, ten pounds from Asda.

We were in business.

Two weeks went by in the blink of an eye, visits with friends, my brother, family matters sorted out, a nice goodbye and celebration of life for Karen's dad, lashings of ginger beer and a British diet for 15 days, but we fixed that when we got back to Sooke.

It was a successful two weeks.

The aftermath, well jet lag like never before, then a head cold that I was convinced was covid, but it wasn't, and here we are, three weeks after landing back in Canada, back to normal, ready for a vacation away from a vacation.