Snow and home renovations and a book deal
As the weather gets warmer and the snow keeps falling, I have a whole lot of projects going on.
The rebuild of my blog is coming along well – I have 179 posted so far. This is post number 1,229 since I started the blog on April 25, 2006, so I have a long way to go. The posts are all listed in the “Blog Post Archives” link in the top centre of each page – the posts with a link have been rebuilt. If you see something that interests you, please pop me a note and I’ll put those at the top of the rebuild list – I do 2-4 per day on most days.
All my photos are on an external drive, but the drive was getting so tired that it wouldn’t even consistently search for specific photos – that made finding the photos for the blog rebuild slow and frustrating. So I bought a new 5 TB Seagate Portable. Copying the photos from the old drive to the new took a while (!) but things are going much smoother now.
Cathy and I have been discussing the possibility of getting me a new car for a while now. But its odometer turned over 160,000 km a couple of days ago. Not bad for a 2010 (a Cadillac CTS). To put on the last 10,000 km took 4 days short of 18 months – there was a time when I’d put that on in 3 months. If I needed confirmation that I don’t need a new car, this was it.
We have a big home renovation project underway at the moment – the crew will be back in a couple of hours. They’ve got the tv room (seen in the next photo) and basement stairwell walls repaired and painted, and are now installing or replacing all the baseboard and door/window trim in the entire house – almost 1,000 lineal feet of it. The trim is one of those jobs I could just never get my head into even though it constantly bugged me, so that will be huge to get it off The List of things that need to be done.
As I mentioned, the snow keeps falling. It’s now at a near-record level – this graph is from Rolf Campbell, the @YXY_Weather historian on Twitter. Another few centimeters have fallen since it was tweeted.
Our firewood supply that’s in a dry places may last until Spring. There’s 6 cords at the side of the house ready to split and stack, but now buried so deep in snow I’m unable to deal with it. If the snow ever stops falling I may see if I can dig into a corner, but that’s not a high priority.
Getting more firewood isn’t a high priority because we can use the propane furnace all the time instead of just occasionally. The truck was here a few days ago and filled our 3 tanks.
I peck away at the snow, but about 10 minutes is all I can do, so I’ve hired not only a skidsteer to do the driveway, but also a fellow with a shovel for the packed snow on decks and sidewalks.
Spring actually is coming, though. The light this time of year is wonderful, and on social media is regularly commented on. And it’s fairly warm now – this is the Whitehorse forecast as of this morning.
Through the winter, even when the sun is out, it has no warmth. Now, the rays do send some heat, and in places where the deck is bare, the snow is actually melting.
The big news in my life is that I was offered a book deal a couple of weeks ago, to turn the best material from my Yukon History & Abandoned Places group on Facebook (YHAP) into a book! I got a call from MacIntyre Purcell Publishing, Inc., a Canadian book publisher, out of the blue, and have signed a contract with them to write/compile the book. The image below is just something I whipped up to show you – the book will be 9 3/4 x 8 inches in size, 128 pages, with release planned for early Fall 2022. The book will be largely photos, with related captions and stories. I have 6 months to get my material together, then MacIntyre Purcell has a year to get their part done.
The response to my post in the group about the book deal was amazing – I have so many offers of support and material, as well as hundreds of congratulatory comments messages. I got a call from Dave White at CBC Yukon very quickly, and did a phone interview that went on the radio and then was turned into a really nice article. I also did an interview with The Whitehorse Star, but if that was published, I’ve not seen or heard about it.
Health-wise, I’m still struggling and fragile. I’m starting with a new therapist this evening, in addition to the osteopath and massage therapist that keep me functional. I was able to accept the book deal because once they sent me a sample of what they’re looking for, I realized that the format fits my abilities. Finding photos and captions, or writing captions, are things I can do – if there would have been any amount of creative writing, I would have had to turn it down because of the cognitive issues I’m still having since getting injured in August 2019 (though they are much diminished).
My beautiful new e-bike is still sitting in my office, teasing me, or perhaps encouraging me to get better so I can actually ride it.
So there we go – the weather is geting warmer, the light is beautiful, and I have exciting projects on the go! I hope you’re all doing well, too! 🙂
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CommentThe mail I sent to last address I have for you has come back undelivered. I can re-send if I have the correct one. Will that be OK?
I just sent you an email 🙂
Comment: A voice from the past. I am very sorry to hear of your fall and on-going trouble … here’s to continuing improvement. Congratulations on the book, and although I am not on Facebook, may all the stamina in the Yukon be yours for that horrific task of re-posting all your blog entries. I will get on to sending an email soon.
OMG, it is SO wonderful to hear from you, Marie! Yes, I’d love to catch up outside the blog 🙂
mment
I will offer my tardy congratulations on the book (and the book deal) and thanks for your ending toil to repost all the past blog posts… And the continuing updates on all things Yukon and most importantly your health. \
Thanks, Brad. The rebuild is as enjoyable as it is tedious, as silly as that sounds. It’s bringing back so many great memories, and I hadn’t been happy with those little photos for years.