Settling In

Souvenirs of the move and recent work.

Last night all the work of late caught up with me. I went to bed at 8:00 pm and slept solidly until 5:00 am this morning. It felt great to finally get a long, deep sleep. It’s a sign of slowly believing this place is home.

And I’ve discovered the miracle of electric heat. I’m already sick of heating exclusively with wood. I’m going to use electricity during the days and the fire in the late afternoons/evenings. There are five baseboard heaters but I only use two at a very low setting. It’s so easy!

Yesterday my newly fixed guest toilet flooded and last night my plan was to chill with Netflix and Leon but my Netflix access was denied. Then this morning my email wouldn’t work after working yesterday. As Gilda Radner, whom I adored, used to say: “It’s always something.”

Everything is working now except the toilet and I’m going to try to fix that tomorrow. Today I’m stuck at home waiting for Telus to install a landline. I’m using my time to figuring out garbage collection — I’ve sent an email to the Regional District for instructions — and where to find and how to access my surface mail.

On the plus side: My bird feeder is hugely popular — particularly with Steller’s Jays. My yard is alive with birds — even a huge, gorgeous Pileated Woodpecker and his mate. I hung the feeder on the side of the house where I could see it every day; it’s away from the backyard where all my life will be in the summer. And this morning I hung my hummingbird feeder.

And I’m on my second pie from the pie lady whom the local government is trying to shut down.

I took the tangled and broken venetian blinds off the windows and cleaned the glass and what a difference it makes. To celebrate I’m on my second pie from the pie lady (whom the local government is trying to shut down).

I still can’t talk to strangers. I’ll admit to being a little disappointed by that. Perhaps I was naïve but I did hope there’d be an immediate improvement. Sigh. 

The Telus guy came and was as friendly and chatty as the Shaw fellow. I’m really impressed by the friendliness of everyone.