Builder Bob is Back in the House!

Only a few days until I am taking time off work for my other job. I become Reno-Man (Cape is optional)! So I can go gangbusters on getting things moving forward with the Home Reno. Going to be a blast. My Mother-in-law is coming down (arrives today) to help my Wife paint the outside and fences, a very good friend is coming from Edmonton to work with me on the building side of things. I have a lot planned, and it looks like the weather is going to cooperate too. When I took all the time off last year it was really rewarding as to how much we got done and how fast everything went. Since then it has hit a lull after Christmas, so I think this focus on things will re energize and motivate me to get going, plus getting together with family is always good for the soul. 

While I am doing this will be able to update the blogs, FB and Flickr with pictures of the events. We start tonight with St Patrick's and some Guinness of course, like a christening of a maiden voyage  ;-) . Then some pre-planning of how to proceed and organize who is doing what, I need to book the inspection for the Vapour barrier and Insulation. I was going to hire out the Drywall but may take it on ourselves due to time constraints (unless I can get someone in on a moments notice). Damn I am excited - some say not much of a holiday but considering how much we will benefit from this for years to come it is a great investment of time and coin.

I have been working a lot with Odin, and using ideas from Cesar" The Dog Whisperer" Millan's TV Show, not that Odin is trouble so much as he is just a dog that wants to be boss and I want to rein him in before he starts to believe he is in charge. It's really different for me, having a dog that has Rottweiler in him, I suppose the same with many other more assertive breeds. You have to handle them so much differently. Watching the show I can see where the wheels begin to fall off if your not careful.  I am surprised how well Cesar's hints and tips work, and how much behavior troubles are caused by us humans instead of the hounds. They had a Marathon of his shows dedicated to his dog "Daddy" who passed away in February, a beautiful Pitbull who helped re socialize other aggressor breeds. 

This past week, Gérémi Adam (FBI claimed he was Canada's biggest Movie Pirate - supposedly) was sentenced to 2 1/2 months plus Community service etc. What a crock, now I am not saying downloading movies is right or wrong, what I am saying is the Government is starting to put Commercial and Corporate interests (and lobbying groups) above the civil rights of the individual. Even bowing to foreign pressure to strip these rights from Canadians. All the while proceeding with further negotiations for ACTA (Talk about a envisioning a communistic police state - this act or at least what little has slipped out to the general public would completely restrict all of us, including artists, and would assume each of us to be a criminal without rights before any proof needs to be presented by the police or Border Services). Michael Geist has much about this on his website here.  Some further comments here. I think some radical protests are going to be necessary to stop this from going through or at least from stopping Canada's participation in it. 

Keep your eyes open and don't let it slip through.

EOF  - LC

Snap! Your life can change that fast..

Yup you hear about it all the time, and sometimes you get little reminders from time to time about how fragile life is, sometimes you get big ones. How we all have to live the moment to it's fullest, to be thankful for everything and everyone in your life. How no guarantees come with this life, no expectations for any amount of time you have or think you have. Putting off for tomorrow that may never come. Jeeze!!!

Two friends from work, whom I have known for the past nearly 7 years, took advantage of a beautiful day on Saturday, (it felt more like Spring than February), geared up for a ride on their motorcycle. I can imagine how exciting it would have been to look forward to a trip north from Victoria, so many other wintered bikes out of their cocoons, Motorcycle Gear that had been hanging in the closet throughout the winter brought out for an early ride of the year. I really don't have to imagine too much, when the weather turns like this I feel the anticipation of a more pleasant ride than my usual winter rides.

Unfortunately fate, destiny or whatever you call it was rushing at them from the other direction. a mid 20 year old steals a car out of North Vancouver, boards the ferry to Nanaimo it has not been released what he was doing or what kind of record he has but one assumes this is not his first trip down this path, travelling down towards Victoria on the Malahat, decides to take an illegal left turn into a rest stop in doing so my friends future is sealed, travelling at the speed limit or even below it when someone pulls this crap, well it always ends bad for the motorcyclist. Not usually for the Car driver.

Sure enough it was bad, no it was worse than bad...... She had just retired in September, her daughter had just married, she was just starting her life our now that work was over.. He still worked with us here I spoke to him regularly as he was in this building many times for meetings or for work on his laptop. they both were very positive and full of energy and life. Yes I said "were". Sad to think that that's it, finished , kaput, families and friends left in chaos and grief because of the selfish act of one little ***** who, I would not be surprised, probably feels no remorse (other than being sorry for being caught - he left the scene.. left them there to die. Little coward!) I am sure he and his defense lawyer will be working out something to absolve him of any responsibility. To ensure he gets a slap on the wrist instead of the life sentence he should be getting to think things over.

That's it it's over... We are all shell-shocked here at work. At home. I Can only imagine what the immediate families must be going through. Our Thoughts and Prayers to them of course...

Snap! that fast ...

UPDATE: Full Story on Victoria Times Columnist Newspaper Site.

EOF L.C.

February Hawk

It’s great that we can almost see the end to the winter, this one was very wet and very grey. I will be glad when it is behind us. Come on Spring! Came home from work last week to a surprise in the driveway. Drove in with the Westy, I was very surprised that he did not fly away. I took some pictures, and apologize for the poor quality my little point and shoot produced (although in all fairness it was from the inside of the Van with the front window creating a lot of glare.). This is a Cooper’s Hawk, a good size for the species, unfortunately he was there hunting the little birds attracted by our feeders. We saw another hawk last fall but thankfully they do not come hunting in our yard very often. Very cool to see him though, later when I was in the house I saw him drop over the fence hit the ground and he was away. As he never came back I presume he got what he came for.



Took some time off from the Reno’s over the Christmas and New Year’s, but we have started back into it again. Just finished getting a new Front Fence up, spent the past weekend moving a large pile of soil from the driveway to build a ramp from the new gate down into the front yard. We pruned the Fruit trees, cleaned up the garden (front and back) and loaded it into the truck to take it all to the Green space at Hartland. Alison is taking another load today, nice to have the driveway cleaned up again. Looks like this week in the evenings I will be pulling more wire, getting the space under the breaker panel insulated then vapor-barrier it off. I have to glue the styro-insulation in the crawlspace then arrange the Inspection. After that Drywall, Paint, Tile, then finally install the switches, outlets and Pot-lights. Get the final electrical inspection, then we can move into the room!

My Mother-in-law is coming down late March to help Paint the outside including the Hardie-Plank, as well as stain the fence. I am going to book a couple of weeks to focus on the next portion of the reno and get some headway in moving forward.

Emma, our 11 year old Boston Terrier has been doing very well after a bit of a scare where she stopped eating and lost nearly 1/3 of her body weight. This is year four of her fighting the immune disorder, and she seems to have made it through this years highest threat time fairly well. She is continuing to fight the Cushing's Disease as well and have seen no serious issues with this.

Odin, (Rottweiler – Lab – Sheppard X) who will be 2 this July has been doing fantastic. He typically gets 2 solid walks a day, and many visits to the local dog park. While at the Colwood Creek park, he is off leash and loves running everywhere and greeting everyone. He responds well to commands, I am very impressed how good he is. It was funny when he was a pup you could not get him to walk through puddles, now you can not keep him out of the ponds, lakes and creeks… great to see him have so much fun. It’s what having a dog is all about I think.

Well better get back to it, more soon.



EOL