Ticked off – small time!
One expected – and yet not expected – element of living out beyond is the ever-present danger of exposure to creatures.
The city has its bedbugs; the country has its ticks. I blame the deer.
Our neighbours were mentioning how they had already pulled out about five of the little monsters from their dog since January. Quite a bit higher than normal. Given that the weather has been cooler on average for the past few months, this was to be expected even though by now the tick season should be over.
So, we had a mild notion that Kepler – our miniature Schnauzer – would at some point come into contact with them. However, given his longer hair it wasn’t quite clear how they would be detected. And we haven’t been good about implementing a foolproof methodology of daily inspection.
A couple of days ago I was simply patting him, and while running my hand down his back, I felt a little “bump.” Looking a little closer, I noticed an orangy thing sticking out from under his hair. It did appear to be pressing into his skin and I immediately thought of a tick. However, I wasn’t sure because I somehow expected a tick to be black or brown, not orange.
I called John over for his inexpert corroboration. He called the neighbour and they said to bring him over for inspection and cure, if necessary.
And so it happened. Sharon confirmed that it was indeed a tick and went into action. She applied vaseline and left it for ten minutes. I think this suffocates them. Then she used her finger nails to extricate it with a counter-clockwise motion. Her diagnosis was that it had probably only been there for a few hours because it wasn’t engorged with blood. Good.
Hopefully he wasn’t infected with Lyme Disease or some other dastardly affliction.
Device for pulling out ticks Photo: Darren Bond
Yesterday I was in Comox and stopped in at the animal hospital. They gave me a little plastic contraption to pull out ticks. They said that the counter clockwise motion wasn’t necessary; straight out would be fine. Kepler was also groomed yesterday while in town. I think we’ll keep him more closely cut than normal now that he’s a country dog and has to “live out beyond,” too.
Hopefully the weather will now warm up and we can rest more easily – but not too easily – about the dreaded wildlife.
Back to the future with a view to the past
In preparing the site we’ll be building on, we’ve had to take many trees down both for the house site itself but also to garner a little view to Lambert Channel and Denman and Vancouver Islands to the West. We are not on the waterfront, but just across a lane from waterfront properties.
The good news is, the waterfront property in front of us is my family’s who have owned it since 1965 and is the house we’re living in until our’s is finished. Back then, it was an open field with just a few tall firs and some smaller cedars, firs, maples and arbutus near the shore.
Over the last 45 years, did things ever change. The photo below is different angle but you get the idea.
My parent’s built a small cabin in 1966 with a view looking west. We could see most of the beach and then out to the water and islands in the distance. Slowly—or not so slowly—trees started to grow and the view over the years gradually disappeared until one time in the mid 1990s there was no view at all.
Dan Hamilton at work
Various attempts have been made to fight back the brush, but it’s costly and/or a lot of work to deal with all the mess that ensues. Carrying branches to the beach to burn or sawing up the fallen trees takes a lot of time. In most cases this was done largely by my dad, George.
I think he may love the trees that block the view so much partly because he knows the work and expense in removing them and it’s usually been him dealing with it so maybe, just maybe, he’d rather just leave them standing than deal with them. Can’t really blame him.
All these years have passed and it was time to clear so that the million-dollar view and the taxes paid for it, really was a million-dollar view and not to one of a tree farm.
Enter Dan Hamilton and his crew from Whiskey Jack Tree Service. Dan is a faller but also an arborist so he knows about trees and their health. We’ve learned a lot about the health of trees and what causes problems as well as marvelling at the tree climbing and falling.
The view, I’m happy to say, has come back. I feel like a six year old kid again standing on the deck of the cabin looking at the spectacular vista. With just a couple more trees to go, they will be finished on the waterfront lot and will then complete the house site work.
We’re looking forward and back today.
You can see a more complete set of images from this whole process on Flickr.
Hunters or Farmers
I’m bucking the trend (as well as the trees) when it comes to where I call home. At least that’s how it feels when I read posts on the Net about people who have a “location independent lifestyle.”
It’s perhaps somewhat a little trendy to be moving about the world with no place to call home, living here for a month or two and then somewhere else and then somewhere else. This is not travel in the traditional sense, but a deeper desire to spend time in various places.
More power to them. To each his own.
For me, moving and building on Hornby Island makes me feel like I’m going in the opposite direction. I’m choosing to make my physical world smaller, not bigger. I feel like I’m going back in time to how most people lived for thousands of years, since humans started becoming farmers instead of hunters (or nomads).
Reviewing the house site and talking dirty sewage
L-R: Darren Bond, Ron McMurtrie, Dave Colley, Michael McNamara, Tim Wyndham
Ok, sewage talk isn’t very interesting, but it’s sure important.
In the following video you can see the area that has been cleared so far and where a culvert will be installed to bring vehicles into the lot to work on excavation and other clearing.
The architect (Michael McNamara), builder (Tim Wyndham) showed up to discuss the house placement and septic/sewage issues with the environmental engineer (Ron McMurtrie) and Dave Colley who will be installing the system and field as well as the driveway.
To see some photos on Flickr, click here.
See this post for the most recent tentative house plan.
If you can’t see the video below, click here to view it directly on YouTube.
Let the clearing begin
Dan Hamilton and Nick from Whiskey Jack Tree Service showed up to start taking down the trees on the lot. The first job was to take some out so a culvert could be put through as well as begin the process of clearing a “view” to the ocean.
You can see a series of photos on Flickr but the video below (click here if you can’t see it) shows some of the trees they strategically brought down in a ditch and on the front part of the lot. Next week, the portions that were bucked up into sizes suitable for milling will be stacked and the rest dealt with.
After that, more clearing will be done on the actual location of the house. Finally, a number of trees on the family waterfront lot will be cleared creating a view corridor to Lamber Channel, Denman and Vancouver Islands to the West.
Welcome to Hornby, of a sort
We’ve actually moved here. It was a few weeks ago already. Tranquil? Not yet. Not by a long shot.
First Night on Hornby
The first few days were calm: getting settled in to the “summer place” (living here while our house is built over the next fifteen months). Then, going for our first bike rides on our new bikes. Getting full grocery loads at the Co-op. Checking out the dry goods section. Ordering wine and liquor from a three-ring binder and giving your slip to the “girl.” A bit of jogging. All good.
Ordering Liquor at Co-op
Our first weekend morning – a tranquil Sunday morning – we were doing our first load of laundry with the new “portable” washing machine and doing various bits of internet work. Suddenly, the lights flickered a bit and then there was a kind of shaking and a bang. “Was that an earthquake?” The lights went out.
It turned out that, by some fluke, our power lines – as they connect to the main system at the pole at the back of the lot – snapped off. The lines were lying across the back yard. Hmmm, what to do. Wait! Are the wires hot? No, they’re disconnected. So, that’s good, I guess. Now what?
John called BC Hydro – the electricity provider hereabouts – and they were very accommodating. However, they couldn’t make it over to the island that very afternoon because they were tied up at a house fire – good excuse – but would come over on the first ferry Monday morning.
In the meantime, being early spring, we knew it would be a chilly house in short order, so it was time to get the fire going and warm things up as much as possible before jumping under the duvet and getting the extra woollen blanket from the top of the closet. Kindling – always in demand – was a bit too much to tackle when there were lots of dry branches and twigs around the road from the windy winter. Soon enough, a cheery fire was laid in the fireplace. Kepler kept close.
We thought they might show up around 9:00 or 10:00 or 11:00am but, sure enough, we heard the beeping sound of the big truck backing down our little lane at 8:00 sharp. Yay!
They had a couple of guys and their little hydraulic bucket was quickly raised and the one guy had things reconnected within fifteen minutes. There was also an old pole that was supposed to have been taken away a year ago by TELUS but he graciously got out his chainsaw and had it down in seconds. Great service!
With the power on, everything fell back into pattern. All our problems were over. Until Tuesday.
One of the nice features of our new bikes is the “grocery bag” that attaches to the bike. Perfect. We went to the Co-op – I was getting confident riding again after forty-odd years – and picked up some items. Now, perhaps the load was a bit heavy for each of us. And maybe this was a bit of foreshadowing.
Returning home along the road – so sunny and pleasant that I neglected to put on my cycling gloves – all was well. Until my memory goes blank.
I think I must have a hit a patch of gravel on a down-hill curve and lost my balance and control. The next thing I recall, the ambulance crew was looking down at me. John was a bit ahead and noticed that I wasn’t behind him. He came back and found me in a heap on the road and flagged down a car to call 911.
It was all a bit of a procedure to transport me from ambulance to ambulance to ambulance (they can’t leave their respective island territories) to hospital in Comox. However, the speed, care and attention was phenomenal.
Darren in St. Joseph's Hospital in Comox
It was the oddest kind of “welcome wagon” I had ever experienced! But, in the end, it was a great experience, too. My few days in the hospital (mainly because of a damaged kidney) were fine, even being kept in an emergency room overflow area… John collected me and brought me home.
Again, I was able to experience first-hand the local medical care by going in to the local clinic to have my dressings changed (not pretty). As it turns out, I was one of the last in the existing clinic. They have just taken possession of a brand new building, and so the next time one of us is in need of immediate care, we can trust our local facility.
Now, having returned from a four-day conference in Vancouver, and another week under our belt, let us now hope that the “living out beyond” can begin. However, perhaps that has already happened, just in a slightly different format than we imagined.
Late Light on Arbutus
Isn’t that always the way?
Welcome gift of flowers from neighbours
A door to the toilet for the pleasantness of everyone involved
We met with architect Michael McNamara this week to move along the design discussion focusing on issue related to the studio/second bedroom, kitchen and bedroom.
In the following video, we are discussing issues related to the bedroom and master bathroom layout. In the next week, Michael will be starting to fill in the details here.
There was discussion of doors. Due to the design of the house, where a foot drop down to the bedroom on one side exists, we will not put a door to the bedroom, nor are we planning to have a door to the clothes closet and shower area. It will just be the water closet (toilet) area that will have a door for what Michael refers to as “for the pleasantness of everyone involved.” Couldn’t have said it better ourselves.
Further updates… the plan now is to clear the land in the next month. This will be a radical change to both the lot we are building on but also the lot of the house we are living in right now which is adjacent to the empty lot. Some trees that were planted 40 years ago as small “shrub” plants are now 60 feet tall. Many will be coming down. It’s going to feel very different and be a mess for a little while.
Stay tuned.
NOTE: if you’d like to see images of a house Michael McNamara of Blue Sky Design recently completed on San Juan Island, Washington, you can see them at this link.
Memories of Shingle Spit Resort
Though it’s now called Hornby Island Resort, in my mind it will always be Shingle Spit Resort. It’s the place my family stayed the first year we came to Hornby Island in 1962.
Here is one side of a brochure for the resort from about 1966. Click on the thumbnail for a larger view:
This video below shows a little walk-around of the current facility where the store, restaurant and pub are/were. It’s changed a little over the years but not a whole lot. There are plans underway to redevelop this complex. In a weird sort of way, I’ll be kind of sad to see it go only because it holds a place in my childhood memories.
The evening this was shot, it was almost dark with grey skies and a bit of a south-easterly blowing. I was the only person around.
After first week on Hornby Island
A few thoughts about the first week on Hornby Island and the bicycle accident that Darren had. It was a hard way to find out how the emergency services work.
Our living room in 1971
This photo is of me, burning grass on the exact spot where the living room of our new house will sit.
What’s 40 years?
