Catching up: History, downsizing, and house work
It’s been almost 2 months since I last posted here. That’s one of my longest absences ever, but as my long-time readers probably know, it’s not because there’s nothing going on. It’s actually just the opposite – my life is so crazy that I hardly know which way is up. Here’s a brief look at the self-inflicted chaos.
While each one of these projects would nicely fill the time of any sane person who claims to be retired, I’ll start with the most amazing one. In November 2014, I started a Facebook Group that I called Yukon History & Abandoned Places. It had been growing slowly but steadily, and with just over 300 members we were getting some great material posted. All of sudden in January, something clicked – I have no idea what – and membership went crazy. As of a minute ago, there are 8,607 members! Some of the stories and photos being posted are simply amazing. For me, seeing this many people getting interested, and even excited, about our history is wonderful, but it has also made thousands of people aware of the fact that their family photo albums may very well contain images that are important in interpreting our history.
CBC reporter Sandi Colman noticed what was happening when she and I started talking about the old hospital in Whitehorse, and invited me in to their studio to talk about the group. You can hear that 8-minute interview here.
The weather has been very erratic this winter – it’s seems to be getting more so each year. In mid-January, we had another dip to -40° (which is the same in Celsius and Fahrenheit) – I think it bottomed out at -43°C (-45.4°F). Although I don’t those temperatures to hang around for very long, I don’t mind a few days.
Cathy and I have always hated the en suite bathroom, and I finally came up with a plan for it. On January 15th, I began the demolition. The jetted tub has never been used in the 10 years we’ve been here, so a shower would take its place. The black tiles are high quality and may have been cool in 1992, but they’re quite awful now.
The wall that divided the bathroom into 2 rooms was the main thing that I couldn’t wrap my head around – it had to go before I could get a proper vision for the new room.
I gave the jetted tub away, and on January 17th could finish off removing the tiles. It was very well attached, and the drywall came with it, so smashing holes with a hammer and then ripping off large slabs was the easy way to deal with it.
With the tub and dividing wall gone, we could see that the room had a lot of potential. By moving the toilet and swapping the 30-inch vanity for a 48-inch, installing a large modular shower, and adding linen closets, we’d have a much more functional and pleasant en suite. The sheet at the far end is keeping demolition dust out of the walk-in closet. Another big change was making the door frame smaller and installing a real door to replace to bifolds.
I’ve parked my old F-150 pickup and it’ll be for sale soon, so moving stuff now entails renting a U-Haul. For the 3 or 4 times a year that needs to happen, the trailer rental is much cheaper than keeping the truck on the road. Not as handy by a long shot, but much cheaper. This was the bathroom demolition load to the dump, on January 20th.
We had a few days of spectacular weather, with sunshine and thick hoar frost. This photo was shot on the Alaska Highway heading into Whitehorse on January 22nd.
Man Not Working! Taking a break on January 25th at my favourite pub, The Cut Off, a couple of miles down the highway.
The delivery guys from Home Hardware scratched the modular shower getting it off the truck, and I refused to accept it. They had to order another one in, and on January 30th, a different crew successfully got it into my garage.
I’ve hardly taken photos of anything except stuff from my collections for weeks now, but did mange to stop long enough to get a few shots of the Toyota dealership’s new building on the Alaska Highway near the airport.
The City of Whitehorse arranged an Indoor Garage Sale for February 10th, and I booked a couple of tables to see if I could make some substantial headway in my downsizing. I had a whole lot of stuff to go through, and some of the bulkier stuff like this router system went on the local Buy & Sell site, priced to sell (and for $50, it did quickly).
Holey moley I have a lot of stuff! Sorting, sorting, sorting… It took me about a week to make some sort of sense of what needed to go. A lot went on the Buy & Sell site, but I soon had far more than what would fit on the 2 tables at the Indoor Garage Sale.
The Indoor Garage Sale was very successful. Not only for me – everyone seemed to be pleased. As fast as a spot opened up on my tables, I added something else from the boxes below. I went home with a full wallet and half a dozen fewer boxes 🙂 I also heard about an Antiques and Collectibles Sale coming up in a couple of weeks – more about that below.
Even with all that’s going, it’s very much in my mind that Spring is coming quickly. April 20th is still my planned date to be on the road in the motorhome, so on Valentines Day, I shovelled the snow off its roof and took it for a short run.
With the Antiques and Collectibles Sale coming up on February 24th, I booked 3 tables and got back to work. With the material for this sale, there’s some scanning of documents to do before I let them go. This is a photo of what is now known as Old Valdez (Alaska) because it was completely destroyed by the tsunami that followed the 1964 Good Friday Earthquake. It’s in an album of photos from an Alaska cruise in 1930.
I have many envelopes (called “covers”) that have been carried by sled dog teams, including this one from the 1987 Carcross-to-Atlin Commemorative Mail Run.
Pretty much anything that doesn’t store well will be on the block, like this limited-edition diecast Alaska Highway Jeep Cherokee (it left the table very quickly at the sale).
It really pains me to get rid of some stuff. For 60 years now, I’ve been moving/storing/moving/storing an extra roll of wallpaper from when Dad papered my bedroom in our home in Surrey. Is this design classic or what? It went to the first person I showed it to at the sale, a collage artist 🙂
I have a lot of royalty china. In theory, the Antiques and Collectibles Sale would be the perfect place for it. I only took a haf-dozen pieces, and there was zero interest in it at any price 🙁
I’m still pulling out other stuff as well, such as my scuba gear. It went on the Buy & Sell – I could have sold 6 tanks, but to get it, you have to take everything, and I still have it all.
Sure, let’s babysit a puppy for a couple weeks, too! Elvis is a cute little bugger, but Tucker hated him. He’s a a pug and Brussels Griffon mix – apparently a popular designer-dog.
Regardless of what Tucker thought, Elvis got very comfortable. This is what happened a few seconds after I sat down on the couch to make a phone call one afternoon 🙂
We had very little snow until February 23rd, and then Mother Nature dropped a load that came close to breaking that day’s record. Which still wasn’t a lot – about 9 inches.
Bella loved the deep snow and fairly mild temperatures (about -15°C). With the snow pretty much over his head, Tucker more shared my level of enthusiasm about it.
The Antiques and Collectibles Sale was very successful, and the Yukon Historical & Museums Association (YHMA) hopes to be able to sponsor another one in April. As well as selling a lot, I met a few people from my Yukon History group, which was fun.
February 27th – more snow. sigh…
A post by the Yukon Animal Rescue Network (YARN) a few days ago, looking for a short-term foster to help get a dog from Carmacks spayed, put me back in dog mode. I met her family in Whitehorse on Tuesday, and once we got home, Ruby settled in quickly. She’s a Siberian husky, but I think there’s a pit bull in there as well. She’s incredibly sweet, and she and I bonded quickly and deeply.
Even in dog mode, there’s lots of other work to do. Raking the snow off the roof is one of those jobs. The overhang and the gutters are the only worrisome areas – other than that, the roof will take far more of a load than we’ll ever get.
Yesterday, March 8th, I took Ruby to the vet to get her spayed. I had planned to keep e for a few days after the operation, but that didn’t work out, so after I picked her up, I drove an hour north to the Braeburn Lodge where I met her family. It was lovely evening for a drive.
One last photo of Ruby as we waited for her family to arrive. She’s a very special girl, and she made me wish that she could in my family. Cathy jokes that I do this with all dogs, but that’s not true – very few dogs get this reaction from me. Anyway, she has a wonderful life in Carmacks now 🙂
So there we are, all caught up. The craziness isn’t quite over yet, but the end of the tunnel is near. Soon – very soon – I’ll be talking about the summer’s plans. And have I got some cool places to show you this year, my friends! ttyl…
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