A Family History In Print

Hi friends,

A couple of years ago, an old family friend published two limited edition books about the logging industry on the BC Coast from the 1930's to the 1970's that feature stories and pictures of some of my own family members. My grandfather and his father both worked with the author Len Crawford, and it was my grandmother who kindly supplied the photos of my family members for these books. Sadly, because these books were published in such a limited run, I wasn't able to get my own copies.
Well a couple of nights ago I was talking to my mom and she told me the books have been reprinted, so I wasted no time in ordering them. They got here Wednesday - and are signed by the author!

People who know me might find it kind of ironic that I love trees and would rather save them, yet my ancestors were loggers. I try not to think of all of the giant trees my grandfathers cut down. They were hard working men who did what was needed to get the job done and I share that spirit. I just apply it to a different trade.

My great grandfather on the left, and my grandfather on the right.

I never knew my great grandfather, but I remember my grandfather. He gave me my first guitar when I was 16. He worked at high altitudes and loved being on the water, and I figure that's where I get those traits from. I wish I had gotten to know him better before he passed away several years ago, but at least with these books I can get a little more insight into his life as well as the lives of some of my family members going back a few generations. I honestly can't tell you how special that is for me.

The Wandering Oak

I'm Still Here, I Just Bought a New Home Is All...

Hey friends!

I know I've slipped off the Radar lately, but I'm still around. My job as a painter is still keeping me pretty busy, but what's really been filling my time lately is getting ready to move into the new condo Megan and I just purchased.

The process of buying our first home has been a long one, but it's almost over. We signed the last of the legal documents a few days ago and if all goes well we will have the keys in our hands tomorrow! We're not moving in until the end of the month, but we can officially say the place is ours!

My friend Kate and her husband are just starting out on the same journey to find their first home and I wish them all the best.

Hey! I just had an idea for tomorrow's photo of the day on my 365 page...the keys! Speaking of my other page, have you folks been checking out my pictures? I've been posting one a day for almost 70 days now. I don't get too many comments, so I really have no idea how many people see that page, but I don't care (okay maybe I do, a little). I took on the challenge to see if I could do it. My friend Chelle warned me it would be tough, and she was right, but I'm not going to give up.

Well I'd love to stay and chat, but I've still got some packing to do and I'd best get to it. As you can see, our cat Merlin is eager to help...

The Wandering Oak

Saturday Tidbits

Hey friends,

   I guess it's been a couple of weeks since I posted anything on this page, but as mentioned in my last post, I've been pretty involved in purchasing a new home and my day job as a painter has also kept me pretty busy. At least I've been been able to keep up with my 365 Project.

   I have a little free time this Saturday morning, so I thought I'd share a few tidbits of my life as of late. I said tidbits, not Timbits. Mmmm Timbits... Ahem, sorry. I shouldn't write when I'm hungry.

• Megan and I are about 5 weeks away from taking possession of our new condo. We'll move in about 3 weeks after we take possession because we need time to have the floors done and for us to paint the place. It's easier to do those things when the place is empty. The other upgrades we want to do can be done while we live there.
• I'm looking forward to painting our new home. It will be nice to paint for myself and take my time to do the job the way we want it done. Megan and I are still trying to decide what colours to go with. The nice thing about working in the trade is that I can get paint and supplies quite easily and at contractor pricing. Bonus!
• No pressure or anything, but I'm going to have to make sure I do a good job. Some of my friends are painters and will be invited to our housewarming party...
• Work is going quite well for me so far this season. I'm no longer working the night shift at the DND Hazmat building on the Navy base and have been bouncing around from one job site to another for the past few weeks. As time goes on there are more and more places I can look at on a map of Victoria and say "I worked there!"
• My supervisors seem to really like me and have really done their best to keep me working. I've also earned their trust over the past few seasons and that makes me happy. No longer do I have supervisors looking over my shoulder telling me to paint a certain way or to go faster. They just tell me what to do and do it as I see fit.
• I'm the type of person who will ask questions if I'm not sure about something and ask for assistance when I need it. I also take responsibility for any mistakes I do make and clean up after myself.
• The difference between a pro painter and an amateur is that a pro will clean up his or her mistakes before anyone else notices.
• I like the fact that I'm always doing different things and I'm always gaining new skills. It's hard to believe that only 4 years ago I was working in a call center for an American cell phone company doing the same robotic tasks day in and day out.
• I still cringe whenever I see one of that cell phone company's commercials, or any of those Jamster ads.
• One thing that makes me sick to my stomach is the oil rig disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Isn't that heartbreaking? I'm old enough to remember the Exxon disaster in Alaska 20 years ago and they're still cleaning that one up. This new one is shaping up to be the worst ever! I don't give a crap about the financial losses of the oil company. I'm worried about all those birds, sea creatures, and other animals that live down there, as well as the livelihoods of the people who make their livings fishing in the gulf.
• The world really needs to ween itself from it's dependency on fossil fuels.

Well, my friends, I'm out of things to say for now. I'm hungry and need to eat something before Megan and I embark on another busy day leading up to the big move. People to go, places to do, things to see, etc... (I messed that up on purpose :P ) I'll try to get back into blogging more often once the dust settles.

Take Care!

The Wandering Oak

Losing Our Property Virginity...

Hey folks!

   Some of you might have read on my Facebook page that my wife and I have been on a quest to lose our property virginity and purchase our first home. Anyone who's ever been in this situation knows how exciting and frustrating this can be.

   We've looked at a dozen different properties. Most of them were instant rejects and the few that we did like usually had one or two features that were deal breakers such as no in suite laundry or the building itself needed too much work - or the cost was too high.

   There is one place out of that dozen that really jumped out at us and has everything we're looking for: in suite laundry, additional storage downstairs, a bike lock-up room, great location, and a fully renovated building. So, after discussing it at length and sleeping on it for one night, we decided to call our realtor yesterday and tell him we wanted to put in an offer. I think he was pleasantly surprised!

   I think the offer we presented is pretty fair and the realtor agreed, so now my wife and I are holding our breath as we wait for a response. If the offer is accepted and everything else goes through without any snags then we will be homeowners by the end of the week and be moving in early June!

   I'm going to have a hard time focusing at work today...

The Wandering Oak

Elizabethan Collar...the latest in fashion for cats.

Hey Gang,

"Yep, my humans have decided to post an embarrassing photo of me on the internet."

   Actually, this photo is also going to be the photo of the day on my 365 page. Let me tell you what happened.

   On Saturday afternoon our little cat Merlin was giving himself a regular bath, like normal cats do, but we noticed that he was fixating on the area just under his tail a lot more than usual. This was a red flag for us because several months ago poor Merlin suffered from a condition in which the little scent glands near his bum became inflamed and swollen and even abscessed. Sure enough, when we checked we discovered that he was having a relapse and we weren't going to let it get as bad as it did last time.

   Now last time we were able to put Merlin in his carrier and take him to our regular vet within walking distance, however because of the holiday long weekend they were closed so we had to call a taxi (Merlin HATES car rides) and rush down to the 24hr Emergency Veterinary Hospital. The staff there was terrific and even though they were very busy they were able to treat Merlin that day and didn't have to keep him overnight. It just took a few hours. This time the vets actually put Merlin under anesthetic while they lanced, drained, and flushed the wounds and kept him under observation for those few hours as the anesthetic wore off.

   When we picked him up at 9:30 that evening he was as high as a kite and was sporting one of those fashionable Elizabethan collars. Anyone who has ever had to take their cat or dog into the vets for any procedure that involves wearing one of these things knows that this can be both heartbreaking and hilarious at the same time. The poor little guy keeps walking into walls and corners that he would normally clear and you can almost see the frustration in his eyes. Unlike dogs, cats don't grasp the concept of walking backwards and so poor Merlin would often keep hitting the same spot.

   The real challenges came when he tried eating or drinking. My wife and I had to find creative ways to elevate his food and water in such a way that he can reach it while wearing the cone, but not knock it over and make a mess when he misjudged the distance and clipped it with said cone.

   Then there are mornings. Like many cats, Merlin loves to come and wake his humans up by climbing up onto the bed and getting his face as close to ours as possible and meowing loudly while gently tapping our faces with his paws. Well the paws are fine, but that cone hurts when it hits our faces - and it amplifies the meow!

   As for the cause of this whole ordeal, the vets simply told us that poor Merlin just has narrow ducts that are prone to blockages and that the best thing we can do is keep our eyes on him and bring him to our vet for regular exams. Fortunately those exams will cost far less than the hundreds of dollars we've already spent getting him treated twice. But we love our cat and this is exactly why my wife and I have money put aside for emergencies.

   Poor little Merlin is going to be fine - and for now he gets lots of TV channels.

The Wandering Oak

The 365 Project

Hey friends,

   As mentioned in a previous post I've decided to take on the challenge of The 365 Project. I hope to post a picture a day for the next 365 days, unless of course I can't get to my computer for some reason. If that happens I'll just do a catch up post. One way or another there will be 365 pictures posted between today and April 1, 2011.

   Here is the link to The Wandering Oak's 365. I'm also going to put the link somewhere here on this page so my friends on facebook can come here first then jump over to see the picture of the day.

The Wandering Oak

Midday Monday Musings

Hey folks,

   It's midday (at the time I'm writing this) and I have a little less than two hours before heading off to work this rainy Monday afternoon, so I thought I'd post some random musings.

• It's taken about a month but I'm adapting to working the late shift. It still sucks that I don't get to see my wife very much, but we make the most of the time we have together.
• I've developed a midnight routine now: I get home, feed and pet the cat (because he demands SO much attention), have a shower, and make myself a cup of caffiene free herbal tea. Some nights I'll have a bite to eat like some toast or something, but nothing too filling. I don't like to eat big meals late at night.
• It takes a bit of time to wind down after a hard night's work, so I usually stay up for a little while before climbing into bed - otherwise I'd be tossing and turning for who knows how long until I finally pass out.
• I usually spend my winding down time sitting in my living room under candle light (less power consumption, and no bright lights to disturb my wife) sipping my tea and listening to music through headphones. Some nights I'll just pick up one of my guitars and strum random melodies. My electric guitars are actually pretty quiet when they're not plugged in.
• I only wish my cat would understand that I want to wind down. 1:00 am is not the best time to start wandering around the apartment howling at the top of his little lungs, nor is it the best time to start trying to pry into cupboards, lift the oven burners, or climb around on the entertainment stand.
• Turning to more exciting news, my wife and I have taken those first tentative steps towards home ownership. Our bank gave us the good news that we both have excellent credit and could take out a mortgage with no trouble whatsoever and that made us feel great. We've been saving our pennies for a few years now and we're happy to be finally in a position in our lives to even consider home ownership. We realize it's going to be tough with the way the markets are, but we're prepared.
• We've already looked at a few places this past weekend and there is a standout unit, but we're going to keep looking. We have a few specific needs, but we also understand that we may have to compromise on some things. The suite we like does not have laundry machines or a very big storage room, but it has a great kitchen, lots of windows, is located on the corner of the building, and has big bedrooms. Installing a laundry machine is possible, but we'd lose space and it could cost a bit to do it. We still like that suite though. All things to consider...
• Finally, in other news, a few friends of mine have started doing blogs in which they post a picture a day for 365 days and I've decided I'm going to give that a try. I hope to get that going on April 1st. I already have a few pictures that I've saved for this project.

   Well, friends, I'm running low on time. I now have less than an hour before I have to leave for work - and I haven't had lunch yet. Some of you might have read on facebook that I've been given the task of counting all of the nuts and bolts in the building I'm working on and it's been quite the undertaking. Our company may be contracted to paint them and in order to provide an estimate on time and materials we have to know how many there are. Strangely enough, we can't seem to find this information on the plans or through the iron workers that installed all of the beams and rafters that support the roof, so someone has to count them. That someone is me. When I left off on Friday night I was up to almost 12,000 and I have 3 more rooms to count! My boss told me to be thorough!

Have a good week!

The Wandering Oak