Studio Renovation: Day 2

The studio is now one big room. There had been a dividing wall where the
floor changes colour. Darrell took it out AND CLEANED UP!

Darrell also took out the ceiling and insulation, home to several rats, so the
outgoing trusses are exposed. The new ones start going in today to.

Today I feel human again. Migraines are hard-hitting. Yesterday I had one plus a zombie hangover from the day in Vancouver so I didn’t do much except take some hardware off the doors and windows that hosted the old plastic venetian blinds.

I was up at 3:30 am yesterday because of going to bed so early (7:00 pm) Monday night. I stayed up until around six am and then I went back to bed for another three hours. When I got up, I was surprised to see Darrell at work in the studio. It’s nice he’s working in a dry space now that the fence is finished and exciting that the studio work is underway.

He discovered the building was infested with rats. One fell out of the ceiling just beside him and scurried to join two other large ones. That was the bad news. The good news is that the room is huge — well it feels huge to me now that the wall that divided it into two spaces is out.

He took the dropped ceiling out and today he’s start taking the old trusses out and replacing them with new trusses that will allow for a much higher ceiling. I’ll have lots of kindling once I saw up all the old trusses.

So we’re well underway and have a vision of where we’re going; I’m having the whole floor replaced and I’m putting Pine siding on the lower walls and cork on the top. The floor and ceiling will be Pine as in the house.

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The bond between Fred, my brown kitten, and Sheba, the puppy, continues to grow. Last night they slept together in Sheba’s bed and I fell asleep listening to him purr. They were there waiting for me in the morning. Fred loves Sheba.

But wait. Where’s Ethel?

I found her inside the chaise. Inside the lining! Seriously. One of them — Sheba, Fred or Ethel — had opened the zipper on the underside and she’d climbed inside. And the fabric has been chewed off buttons on my nice living room pillows.

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Life is expensive here. It’s a good thing my move here left me with some cash in the bank.

Food is more expensive, presumably because it is trucked in from the island.  I drive everywhere and I drive almost every day and, of course, there’s the incredible cost of commuting to see Dr. S.

I buy water because my well is broken. It’ll soon to be fixed but I have to pay to have it services regularly — and to have my roof and chimney cleaned annually as well. And then there’s garbage: I had to buy a lot of containers and tags and I have to hire a service to remove some stuff every once in a while and pay hefty transportation, dumping and environment fees. And going to Nanaimo for supplies and to visit friends north and south requires ferry fares.

This isn’t a complaint; it’s an observation. I’ve no strata fees here and no entertainment or “fashion” expenses. I never go out to restaurants now either. I buy pet food, and pet pooping material and veterinarian fees.

I’m living a permanent Christmas. That’s what it feels like, I bought this home, then I bought a ton of furniture to fill it, then I built a fence and got three wonderful pets and now we’re building a studio and then a sunroom. It’s terribly exciting and it’s addictive.

Before it ends, I get to furnish the studio and move all my stuff from storage into it and then I get to decorate my sunroom with plants and a comfy little seating area. Then I get to create gardens and container gardens and — and this really excites me — I’ll get a couple of birdbaths.

I’ve never had and always wanted to have a birdbath and to watch the birds in it. And I’ll add more feeders. Pinecone Park’s major feature is going to be its bird life.

I think about summer coming every day. I pine for December 21/22 when the days start to get longer. That’s the fist step to summer and I celebrate it. Whereas Christmas? Pooey!