An Old Discovered Artifact

Yesterday we dragged the old Hoover carpet cleaner out from its dusty corner behind the hot water tank. It had been so long since we last made use of its services that I suspect the warranty expired somewhere in the previous millennium. We stood there staring at it, completely unable to figure out what latches and buttons to press. It is a truly baffling piece of vintage machinery.

As the photographic evidence shows, Jay eventually came to an understanding with the appliance and got to work in his finest weekend loungewear. The weather was slightly less blindingly bright on Sunday, and the temperature was not quite as hot. However, it was exactly the kind of August afternoon when the balcony door could be left wide open all day. That made it the perfect afternoon for a little carpet shampooing.

We certainly did not attempt to do it all at once. That sounded entirely too much like actual work. The local weather forecast continues endlessly off the right end of the chart without a single drop of rain in sight. Because of this dry spell, we have the distinct luxury of going at the carpeting on different occasions. After all, if we were to successfully complete our domestic chores in a single afternoon, we would have absolutely no excuse to spend the rest of the month lounging around admiring our partial handiwork.

An August Ritual at Carnarvon Place

Living in a high-rise often means you only cross paths with the people in your own elevators, the lobby, the swimming pool, or the parkade. But once a year, the two towers of Carnarvon Place, representing about 150 units, mingle at the ground level. Last night was the annual strata BBQ, a reliable August ritual.

I was thinking about the history of it all. I still have an old poster from 2013 advertising the 17th annual BBQ. This year's posters indicate it's the 28th year. If you account for the two summers we missed due to COVID, the math actually lines up perfectly. It means this annual tradition started the very same year Jay and I arrived in Canada, though it would be another two years before we actually moved into our apartment here.

While some folks at the gathering have been around nearly as long as we have, we also made a point to invite a young Asian couple with two little girls who just moved in next door to us about a week ago. It is always good to introduce the new arrivals to the community.

Jay and I went down for about an hour, just the right amount of time to socialize. It has always been a BBQ organized and paid by the strata, but in years past, potluck dishes from the residents were highly encouraged. While the current approach certainly makes things simpler, alas, we do miss the multicultural culinary variety of those older gatherings. Still, Dax, our resident manager, took on the role of head chef and handled the grilling. The menu was straightforward: hamburgers, sausage-type hotdogs, fresh condiments, various chips, and a few tubs of Costco brownies to finish it off.

It was a simple, well-attended evening, and just a nice part of living here during August.

The Back-Seat Testimony to Laziness

 

Yesterday was the last day of a long weekend in British Columbia.  It took precisely 141 days from our spring return to finally haul the winter car cover out of our back seat. For nearly five months, this bulky sheet of fabric enjoyed a permanent place on the rear upholstery, acting less as protective equipment and more as a fixture we simply lacked the resolve to move.

Our capacity for self-justification relies on a tight sequence of excuses. First, contractors replacing the roofs on both residential towers routinely parked their work vehicles over our hose area, blocking access entirely. Next, a month-long trip to Morocco kept us away from basic chores altogether. Then, weeks of recovering from international jet lag consumed what little motivation remained. After that, municipal water restrictions took effect in New Westminster and banned garden hoses, handing our ongoing procrastination a lovely veneer of civic duty. Finally, watching Jay hose down months of accumulated dirt today forces us to admit that, on occasion, we might simply be a tad lazy.

Like Comfortable Old Shoes

 

The recent nice weather spoilt me. I went out on the balcony this morning and decided it was too chilly to bother taking a walk. Instead, I headed directly down to the swimming pool area in the building. This photo is just hours old. The water is always hot there. And there's hardly ever a soul there during the mornings. New folks move into our condo building and usually use the facilities for about two weeks. Then, they lose interest. 

Jay and I have never lost interest and have made it nearly a daily habit when we're in town. We moved into Carnarvon Place 28 years ago this summer.

I went looking for the oldest photo I could find of the hot tub.  I'm not absolutely sure this one is the first. I can quickly search my Flickr collection but if I did not add a tag then an older image may not pop up.  However this one from January 2006 is more than two decades old and does show how dramatic it looked during a late winter afternoon.

Because It Feels Good

There are times when I pause to evaluate my decades of creating daily entries for my eJournal and images. The effort seems somewhat unprecedented, certainly with anyone I know personally. What is keeping me documenting my existence? 

• I enjoy setting aside at least fifteen minutes a day for the quiet effort of creation. 
• Taking photographs that are never seen is insane and this allows many to potentially hit a screen. 
• I absolutely cherish being able to pick an exact date or a topic to see what I've said. 
• Doing this allows me to potentially share the fantastic things I see on a daily basis. 
• Continuing also confirms that I think I'm special, live a unique life, but will be unable to show most people our lives in person. 

So here are three images of my walk to the other end of downtown New Westminster, BC this morning. I walked down Fourth Street and tthrough Westminster Pier Park.  They are followed by three more of our apartment building.

 

After returning, I went to the hot tub before Jay got back from the Rec Centre in Burnday.  I had to walk through the lobby of our condo tower and through the connecting hallway.  The view is out of windows towards the front of the property near the fountain garden.

Enjoying Our Walk by the River

I was going to make a note to myself that we should always arrive back in New Westminster during the second week of April.  Doing so would eliminate that taste of the BC winter that we hit when arriving earlier.  Yet upon further thought, perhaps it's useful to feel the sting of grey skies, rain, and temperatures near zero just to feel the joy of having it finally turn nice.

Today felt nice.

We were going to drive Queen's Park but decided just to walk along the riverfront here.  The entrance to Pier Park is around 250 meters from our building's front door.  We walked around the Pier West skyscraper and continued to the Quay.  We walked back over the tracks on McInnes Street Overpass and through the New Westminster Station.  Finally, we came back to the apartment via Carnarvon Street.

It was a nice morning for the 4K walk in the sunshine.

We Weren't Even Curious

Jay and I did grocery shopping this morning, even though we don't have much time remaining until we leave at the end of the month.  We drove by the spot earlier than usual and noticed that few people left any goodies.

Today was another junk day disposal.  For folks without large vehicles, getting rid of old furniture and broken appliances is difficult.

At our buildings, one cannot dispose of large items using normal rubbish collection.  So, the strata, has always had a type of amnesty day.  Four times a year, a date and area is set up to bring down things to throw away.  We have a removal company come.

Over the years we have disposed of things like an old dishwasher, various cupboards and old belongings.

Today, things looked pretty sparce but it was early in the morning.  We didn't bother to go down and check out the treasures either.

As well as heading down, the items sometimes head back up in the elevators for a new home.  That is something we weren't in the mood for.  So we didn't even check to see how much junk was there before the late afternoon truck came to haul it away.

Across the Road and in Our Apartment

The weather continues to be wonderful, especially for October in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia.  Often times, we can be overcast and dreary by now.  This fall, we've actually had quite a run of clear, dry days.

The sun was downright inviting!  I had to take a morning walk through Westminster Pier Park as it's just across busy Columbia and Front Streets from our apartment.  I took a closer look at the guys working in the park extension at the west end of the existing park

There was a lot of activity.  It will be exciting to return in the spring and see things after they're pretty much completed with new landscaping.

From Westminster Pier Park, I could look back towards our apartment building.  The park's trees are getting taller each year!  Today I started to learn how my apartment will be getting a dash more intelligence through Google Home.

This afternoon, I noticed that the search bar within the Google Home app was switched on.  It will become a way in which complex automations will be created.  I set the app manually, to turn on a few lights exactly at sunset if someone is present in the apartment.  

Google Home is smart enough to know the sunset time in New Westminster each day.  So this practice routine will trigger two minutes earlier each evening during the upcoming week.  Today the glorious sun you can see in the photos above will slip below the horizon at 6:38 pm.

Tubs and Rings

 

This was the season's first hint of an atmospheric river, previously known in local weather terms as a pineapple express. A low pressure system lines up dumping a load of rain stretching from the area around the Hawaiian islands. The other end of the hose generally hits the coast of Washington State or British Columbia. These sort of days are fine for spending a little extra time in the hot tub downstairs. I did that. 

I also printed up a number of rings. I like wearing a ring but I tend to lose them. It's not worth it to buy a good one as it is never long before it is gone. So, I have taken to 3D printing a half dozen at a time. The PLA thermoplastic comes on cheap spools of filament. I could get hundreds from a roll. One hasn't been removed from the build plate below.

   

Ease on Down

 

The weather today was sunny and warm. It reached nearly 30°C today in New Westminster. I saved this image from the security camera that sits on the curio cabinet in the living room. When we're away, I occasionally take a look at the empty living room on my phone. Often the time zone means I see a night scene. Instead today, I'm looking at myself, looking at myself in a sunny southern exposure.

It was one of those days when it felt great just kicking around. We went to buy some fruits and vegetables and enjoyed the drive under clear blue sky. This can't last forever, and won't. It's mid-September already!

 

Eating Burgers Outdoors

It is August! This is the time when our condo buildings have an annual barbeque. The bulletin board poster says that it is the 27th. By chance that is how many years we've lived here. However, it started before we bought our apartment. Numbering on annual events has to account for the years that COVID prevented many types get-togethers. Now it'll be easy to remember the number going forward as we'll match up.

This is often time when we have a chance to see some neighbhours that we don't run into in the elevator, lobby, or swimming pool area.  There are fewer folks who've been here as long as us nowadays.

   

I had a hamburger and a smokey sausage.  The last time I had these items many well have been during last year's BBQ.

I'm a Power User

In Canada, this is the third day of an annual, civic long weekend. In British Columbia it's called BC Day. It's a great time of year to have a three-day weekend. Vancouver hosts the Pride Parade during this weekend. Other than that we didn't do much special. Of course, we just got back from a five-night trip to Alberta but that aligned with my birthday.

Earlier during the weekend, I replaced an old ceiling light in the bedroom with a cheap, 12" flush-mount LED light.  Today, I put the other in the utility closet.  It was honestly less than a ten-minute job.  The lights can be adjusted and we kept the setting on a bluer hue because of its location and purpose.

Now, I'm expanding my electrical experience by ordering modern switches for these two lights.  All the switches in the apartment are 35-year-old, traditional type. I'm not going to bother going through the whole place and replacing them with toggle switches.  Aesthetically, the newer ones might be nicer but I have dozens of WIFI bulbs. My lighting is under Google Assistant voice control and I never ever need to touch many physical wall switches.  For example, after I get under the bed covers, I often say things such as, "Hey, Google, turn off the living room lights."

So, I'll start with just two, single-pole switches for our new lights.  I can start replacing more, if the exercise proves enjoyable.  The prices were the same on Amazon.ca as on HomeDepot.ca.  I'll let my delivery guy bring 'em to my door, even though he won't be able to deliver the switch plate covers until Wednesday.  LOL

 

Something to Do on a Long Weekend

Between our bathroom and the bedroom there are two closets. They act as a hallway. For light, there was a standard, drum-type ceiling fixture with a frosted 9" glass bowl shade. It wasn't particularly ugly but rather non descript.  When removing it, I found a ton of attic-type insulation and a foil covering on the inside top section.  Old incandescent bulbs used to get hot! A label inside read Russell Industries, Canada and boasted its manufacturing date as February 1990. There was a warning label in there about only putting in a 100 watt bulb but we'd switched to a very-early type of LED bulb years ago. 

There are only several small ceiling lights in the apartment here. We are the second owners and the light I removed was original equipment as the buildings were constructed sometime in the early 1990s. (We bought the place in the late 1990s.)  As we replace electrical and other fixtures, we notice how they all used to be made in Canada and were strong, rugged, and heavy. 

Earlier in the week, I got several, thin, 12" flush-mount LED ceiling lights from Amazon. Of course, they were made in China. I managed to get one installed today. It took me a while to figure out its universal mounting fixture. I had that piece of plastic upside down for a while and couldn't figure out why it wasn't working. The new wires are so tiny and frail compared to the thick copper wire of the building. We chose a temperature that we thought appropriate for the area. It is working. However, I'm still digging out spackled ceiling bits from my nose, teeth, and hair.

   

I guess I'll wait to install the other one in the utility closet some another day.

The Offending Culprit Discovered

Our small apartment has a utility closet directly when you enter from the hallway. One must turn right to walk through the galley kitchen into the living room, or further right for the hallway to the bath or bedroom. 

This narrow walk-in closet has our hot water heater and electrical panel.  There's a sliding pocket door that's seldom closed completely. We use the room for shoe storage.  It has useful shelving that a friend, Joel Thomas, installed decades ago. The space is useful for luggage and junk storage.  The vacuum cleaner and brooms sit inside.  A small stool helps when putting on shoes and a plastic milk cube sits under it for miscellaneous items such as used batteries for recycling, etc.

I needed into to relay all this because of something a bit disgusting that we solved today.

Sunday, July 27 - We did a bit of grocery shopping after being away for most of the week on a road trip.  We got bananas, a half dozen fresh corn on the cob, and three or four lbs. of skinless, boneless chicken breast on a Styrofoam pack.

Monday, July 28 - Jay suggested that my sandals may have gotten sweaty and needed to be washed.

Tuesday, July 29 - I washed the sandals but a faint bad odor was still present in the closet area.

Wednesday, July 30 - The utility room started to smell as though something had died inside.  As there's an emergency pipe for the hot water tank, I was assured that something had died some floor below us.  I surely hoped there wasn't mold in the wall or someplace.  I picked up a bottle of Febreze and we took all the movable items outside to the balcony and cleaned the floor and shelving.  I even opened stored luggage in case something had gotten inside.

Thursday, July 31 - The smell was now worse.  It was rather sickening because the scent of Febreze and foul odor had combined.  Today, we were recovering from our second Shingrix vaccinations.  We both needed to nap in the morning and afternoon because of a fever and aches.  To add insult to injury, the smell was not diminishing.  We took the entire shoe shelves outside and put them on the balcony.  We washed the floor again.  We checked all the items but couldn't locate a source.   Lastly, I noticed the plastic milk cube under the stool might be the problem.  We carried it outside on the balcony too.  Apparently, I'd tripped on the bloody Styrofoam tray earlier in the week.  I must have slid it under stool.  We'd not disposed of it down our floor's garbage chute as we always do.

Ah ha!  It was the stench of dead animal.  Thankfully, the room smells of only Febreze now!

Raining Outside, Wet Inside

 

It was rainy when we got up. That's good. When the ground gets too parched, we now witness an increased forest fire hazard. A damp day in the middle of a great streak of weather is surely okay.  I spied a few moments this morning when it looked like it was clearing.  

I took the SkyTrain one stop to the west and went to see if the local thrift shop had any suitable 36" shorts.  I am a big fan of reuse.  It seems more logical and kinder to the environment to make use of good-quality, pre-owned items like clothing.  I donated all last summer's size 38" shorts to them.  When I lose or gain weight, I treat the thrift store as an exchange.  

As I entered, a sign read, "30% all swim wear."  I picked up a couple of pair that looked like new.  I didn't get them for us.  We have a hot tub and swimming pool in our building.  It's good to have a few extra pair if guests visit and want to go for a swim or spend time in the sauna.  

 

It hadn't turned very pleasant while I was in the store, so I went back home.  It wasn't pouring but it was still dark.  It seemed like a good time to visit our hot tub area.  I didn't make use of either of the extra swim suits that we now own.  

The water felt great.  I like looking outside at rain when I'm sitting in comfortably hot water.

Out Front

Our condo complex consists of two towers and a one-story middle section with our swimming pool and hot tub.  Each tower has a small circular driveway.  However, between the pool area and Carnarvon Street, there's a small, private garden space.  It has two park-type benches that are little used.  

Today, after taking a bit of time in the hot tub, I walked outside and took a photo of the hydrangeas and another of our three-pillar, water fountain.  It would be a nice space to read a book, sit with a laptop, or simply enjoy the rather pleasant surroundings. I must add that task to my to-do list. 

Oh, and I shot a 26-second video clip, so you can hear the sound of the water too!

 

Beep ... Fire, Fire!

Over the last ten years, smoke alarms have learned how to talk, I guess. 

After we got home from our travels on Wednesday evening, we heard our smoke detector chirp a few times. Our apartment has wired junction box in the ceiling between the hall and the bedroom. So, it usually only makes a fuss for a few minutes after we shut off the power to our unit for the winter. However, we had left everything powered on during our recent trip.

   

I mentioned it to our building manager as we were coming back from the hot tub that night. He said that it may be 10 years old, and handed me a box with a new Kidde. We didn't hear it again. It didn't make a peep yesterday. I was about give the box back but heard the sound again morning. Okay, it really is time for a replacement. I took down the old one and the date printed inside showed it would reach its end of life in May 2025. "Cool it did," I thought aloud. 

The new one startled me after I plugged it in. During testing, it beeped and then shouted. "Fire, Fire!"  The beep is ear-piercing but I guess it is better to have voice confirmation too. There are so many damned things that can beep now.  If half asleep in the middle of the night, I might just wonder what was making a ruckus. 

Oh, incidentally, as I'm in Canada, my smoke alarm has an option to alert me in English or French.

Hot Tub Time

It's the end of April but the weather didn't get the memo. It's 1:10 pm and the outside temperature is just 11°C (52°F) and drizzly. 

Our building has two residential towers with a covered swimming pool and hot tub between them. We're right next to the Columbia SkyTrain Station with a tunnel opening by our property. However, I snapped this photo, so you could see the edge of the pool facilities along the left side of the image.

 

The hot tub is where I head on a morning such as this one.  I brought down the DJI NEO drone with me today.  Because the mini drone doesn't require a GPS lock, it can be used indoors.  I'm am not experienced and competent with the device yet.  So, I am doing little practice sessions whenever I find the time.  

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING VIDEO CONTAINS IMAGES OF ME IN A BATHING SUIT.

Today's clip is a mere 34 seconds.

Showers Continuing

Today's weather continued along a similar path today.  It was raining when we got up and now at 5:11 pm it still is.  However, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Friday are when I take a walk uptown for an hour's worth of exercise.

I put on a rain coat, put on my headphones, and headed up the hill.

Today, I walked up Fourth Street.  On the other side of Tipperary Park, some of the houses have remarkable landscaping.  Recently, I've noticed many pricey homes are forgoing traditional grassy lawns.  It surely makes sense to plant endemic plants and throw away the old lawn mover.  A weedwhacker surely won't take as much room in the garage, although a number of these houses rely on on-street parking. 

Today's little hike took an hour and seven minutes but totaled only 4.52 km.  The benefit I'm more keen on checking was Fitbit's #494 today.  An extra 400-500 calories burned on my walks may eventually result in some positive benefits.

When approaching our building near Carnarvon Street from Fourth, I noticed we have one less parking space across the street from our buildings.  We now have a dedicated space for electric LIME shared bikes.  The company has them waiting all over town now.  How convenient to zip around on an errand rather than the hassle of getting out the car.