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.

Light Me Up

Last week, two of the four old T12 florescent tubes in the kitchen ceiling fixture started acting up.  Within a hour, they went dark. As we're so close to going away for the winter, my solution was to ignore figuring how to replace them until we got back in spring.  Then, right on schedule, last night, the remaining two started to give up the ghost.

I had done some checking on keeping the same fixture because we sort of like the wooden frame and thought of adding LED tube replacements.  In most situations, people change from the newer, skinnier T8 bulbs.  In early products I read about, a ballast bypass was required.  However. a hardware store search, this morning, showed the availability of newer plug-and-play LEDs that work in T12 or T8 fixtures.

So today, I went to find some.  The GE bulbs at our Rona branch were completely out of stock for the 2-pack set.  I bit further along the road, at a Home Hardware, I got Philips UniversalFit replacements.  

They turned out to be about US$10 each but work perfectly.  The price difference over the older florescent type should be returned as now I'll have a total draw of 64w rather than 160.  Oh, as they're LED, I probably won't need to replace them.  Their expected lifetime is 32 years.  Hey, that's most likely longer than I have left!

In order to ensure maximum productivity during how-ever-many years are left, Jay and I had annual eye exams at around noon.  For the check, my eyes were dilated. Now, it is bright and sunny but at 12:30 pm, it was still overcast and darker.  I'm happy to announce we made it home with me half blind at the wheel.

This tree in Edmonds, by the Rona Hardware store, cried out for a photo, even after battling the heavy rain and wind we had earlier in the week.

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.

Rinsing Off the Car Cover ... Finally!

During our winters away, the car stays parked downstairs in our building. It always rests for four or five months of the year. When we bought the car, we bought a cover too.  The parking areas in the building get tons of airborne dust and grime.

   

In 2025, we arrived back in town from South Africa on March 16th. So, we took off the somewhat filthy car cover on March 17th. We loosely bundled it up and stuck it in a garbage bag. That bag had been riding around in the back seat for the last three and a half months. 

Yet, the sun was so lovely today, we chose to move it and spray it down at our buildings' outside garden hose. There's a chain-link fence that is long enough for us to hang it over.  Streams of dirty water ran off as water cascaded over it.

   

As long as the car was nearby, Jay hosed off Kimchi, our EV, too. 

Now, the gray cover is drying on our balcony.  Obviously, there's no need to get to certain chores right away.  Although months late, today was perfect for this task.

 

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.

There's Not Much to Service on an EV

This is getting towards the end of our summer and fall here. So, for the last few weeks, we've had a lot of appointments. Lots were checkups for ourselves.  

This morning, I had a final appointment on my calendar. We took the car in for servicing at Lougheed Hyundai. There's not a hell of a lot that needs to be done on an EV. It was time to rotate the tires and change the cabin filter.

   

Although we booked a 9:30 appointment, we knew it didn't make a lot of sense to return home just to have to go back. So, we walked around the area, stopping in an enormous T&T Supermarket and checking out a Mark's Warehouse. We walked into a McDonalds to take advantage of $1 coffees and sat around inside for a while. As the fast-food restaurant is near Highway 1, we saw a bus load of school kids on a trip and home contractor guys between jobs.

   

The weather seemed downright chilly at around 10°C (around 50°F). It was windy and dark with patchy sun.  My car wasn't finished until noon so we even waited a bit in the showroom.  

My Kona EV is now five years old although it has practically no mileage. The COVID-19 summers prevented much in the way of travel.  We have only been over to the Okanagan a few times.  So, most of the kilometers were spent just going to get groceries and on appointments around town.  

There was a new Kona EV in the showroom and I found them really attractive.  I had the first model year of the EV when designers were afraid to make an EV look 'different' than an ordinary car.  In place of a front grill, mine has a closed ribbed area where the grill would've been.  Finally, the lineup flaunts the fact wind is unnecessary when there's no radiator.  All the designs look sleek.

 

We bought a few things uptown on the way home.

The Power

We'd known about an impending interruption to our electricity supply for at least a month. In our building complex, we have annual maintenance in the electrical vault. First, the city engineers came to the public street vault to turn off everything to our buildings. They did that before 9:10 am. Then, our contractor was able to begin the required maintenance in our condo power supply room. Eight hours were set aside to complete all tasks, but everything is generally up in running in half of that window.

   

So, this morning, Jay and I drove uptown to waste some time in the mall and at London Drugs. We also went to the specialty whole foods store. The weather was decidedly not as pleasant as yesterday. Consequently, we noticed that the rain and wind will soon strip the local deciduous trees of their leaves, and therefore any autumn colours as well.

We returned early and were about to use a Subway coupon to buy a foot-long down on Columbia Street, when the electricity returned at about 12:45.  The New West Hydro guys had come back and got the power flowing.  How nice to have lights and heat.  Oh and we also welcomed the wifi because that means TV, radio, and telephone connections.

Being without electricity seems weird.  Because we live in downtown New Westminster, hydroelectric power lines from northern BC dams head directly into our central location.  I can remember losing our power in an unscheduled outage only one time in all the years we've lived here.

Compliments are as Important as Criticisms

There are 150 apartments in the two towers of our condo. We have regularly-scheduled maintenance tasks that are part of our monthly fees. One of the jobs is our annual, dryer-vent cleaning.

 

Today, before we ate lunch, two fellows came to our floor to do the task.  Our strata has used the same company in the past.  However, the workers this year did an exceptional job.  They pulled out the washer to ensure they had suitable access.  They did thorough work and were polite.  I was so impressed that I just wrote an email to the company commending the guys for their high standard of competence.

Here Comes the Rain Again

 

I walked uptown again and couldn't get the song by the Eurythmics out of my head. I had only put on a hat and my thin jacket over my shirt.  I wore long pants and socks under my sandals. Forty-five minutes later, I came back soaking wet.  

Later, before lunch, I went down to check the mail.  I noticed that our resident manager was looking out the lobby windows.  He was waiting for the 'glass guy' to come and check on a cracked window.  I mentioned in casual conversation that our balcony window lock didn't work because I tried to install a universal handle.  It wasn't designed like the old one and wouldn't lock.  Dax told me that they were the condo's responsibility and said he had a number of spare ones in the office.  

I took off the handle that's been on the door since July of 2020.  Really?  I only know that because I did a search on text on my blog.  So, we only used the foot locking mechanism when we left during three winters.  It's pretty doubtful that prowlers would ever make it up to our balcony on the 10th floor.

It only took a couple of minutes although I had to open my junk container to find two suitably-small machine screws to attach the locking plate.  Now, the handle and lock are just like they used to be.

Inquired Yesterday -- Installed Today

 

Out with the old.  And in with the new hot water tank.

Running Water!

Thank you, Suresh! Having a sink with running water and a working dishwasher seem like a miracle. Out of habit, I may still walk towards the bathroom sink when I need to fill a water bottle. That is no longer necessary this afternoon. 

   

We found out we needed new kitchen countertop when pulling out the old sink and faucet on April 11th. Since that time there's been a hole, then new quartz countertop, and finally an undermount sink and new faucet. Yet it didn't all get connected to water and sewer until a few hours ago.

Being grateful for the little things in modern life is important.

Including the Kitchen Sink

We are a large step closer to having a kitchen sink again.

Last month, when installing a new sink and faucet, we discovered that a water leak had wrecked the old laminate. We ordered new counters at the Home Depot in Surrey. Because of a weekend, it took five days for the laser measurement guy to get the dimensions for our little, galley-style kitchen. That was around three weeks ago. 

 

Being without a kitchen sink, or dishwasher has been a hassle.  We've coped and luckily have been away for five of those nights on a trip.  It is now routine to get water from our nearby bathroom.  However, it will be very welcomed when things are back to normal.  Today, the two pieces of quartz counter top were installed. The appointment was for 1:30 pm but they arrived early and had finished by that time. 

We're waiting to see if the original plumbing team will come tomorrow at their rescheduled appointment time in the afternoon. There's a chance they might be able to fit us in after a job today. It really doesn't matter as we've learned to get by and another 12 hours won't really make much of a difference.

Kitchen Counter Template

 

This guy with the cool sunglasses came this morning to measure the countertop area for the installation of the Silestone Quartz. He only had on his glasses while using the laser measurement device. 

His computer was indispensable to his work. He used his laptop to get the measurements for the job, input data about the replacement sink size for the cutout, and place the order for the material. He even used it to produce the final bill for Home Depot and enter my credit card details. 

Now, we have to wait to hear when we can schedule the installation.

Everything Including the ...

If folks stay long enough in one place, they may get a chance to renovate their previous renos. 

In January of 2010, we finally got around to replacing our white laminate countertops. They were original from the buildings' 1990 construction making them at least eight years old when we bought the apartment in 1998.  

We replaced that 20-year-old laminate with a more colorful, but equally cheap laminate. We made the mistake of ordering a style with a backsplash. The original didn't have one, so the installer just butted it against the bottom of the existing tiles. We also reinstalled the same cheap, aluminum sink at that time.

   

Let's fast forward to the present. Only fourteen years have passed.  However, it was past time for a new faucet and we decided to put in a new sink at the same time. The Home Depot installers arrived at 7:00 am today  They were going to replace the old sink and faucet and replumb without a garburator (the term for a garbage disposal in Canada.)

   

Once the old sink was out, we discovered the old faucet had been dripping into the particleboard. It didn't leak enough to drip into the cupboard below, just enough to rot out the fiberboard of the laminate.  We didn't know it was deteriorating.  How interestingly gross!

 

As the contractor said, "This isn't going to work."  Now it has, rather unexpectedly, become time to replace 25 sq feet of kitchen counter..  The old sink is history and we have a rather obvious hole where it had been.  We rushed to the Home Depot this morning and decided to go with Silestone Quartz.  I'd just as soon this be the final time we buy countertop for this apartment.

I hope we can arrange for the installation within a few weeks.  It's not going to be easy living without a kitchen sink!  

Our Humble Abode

 

Jay and I have now lived in this building for 25 years. There are 84 units in just our tower, the larger of the two in our complex. Most every floor except the top-floor penthouse has a 1-bedroom, two 2-bedroom, and two 3-bedroom apartments. So, over the years a whole lot of neighbours have come and gone from here. 

We'd never bothered to go to a realtor's open house, ever! Today, though, we noticed one was taking place on the ground floor. Then, we discovered another on the floor above us. So, we checked out those places just to see the design changes over the years. We moved here when the building was less than a decade old and therefore was mostly original. Over such a span of time, identical apartments probably look less and less similar. 

Our one-bedroom place has a simple galley kitchen. There's no separate dining area; one corner of the living room contains our table. We put up some white wainscoting to visually separate the area a few years back. I am pretty sure this is the only apartment that looks quite like this one.

 

Spray with the Garden Hose and Dry

 

Warm weather is coming! Warm weather is coming! 

It was nice enough today to wash the car cover. When we leave for winter, my car stays on one of the parking floors in our condo buildings. It is protected from the weather but as cars come and go they create a lot of dust. I bought a car cover in 2019, the year we bought the EV. When we get home in March or April, we pull it off and stuff it in a garbage bag. That bag sits on the balcony until the weather is nice. Guess, what?  The weather started being nice just now!  And presently, the cover is drying on the balcony.

Kimchi is the car's nickname because it was manufactured in South Korea. Fortunately, it doesn't have to drive us around on the dirty, winter roads. But I find, even an occasional wipedown helps to build an emotional bond. We took down a little soap and warm water.  I always care for my vehicles. My former Ford Ranger stayed with me for 23 years.

 

Details Matter

We talked our plumber guy, into coming on a Sunday morning to install the sink we bought for the kitchen. He came but decided it wouldn't fit the opening. Damn. I went to return the granite composite one and the weekend clerk didn't have an override for the register  I'll have to run back with it tomorrow. 

Sigh. Some things just don't fit in.

 

Where Are You, Spring?

 

I keep hoping that spring is just around the corner. We have been waiting since getting back to Canada a month ago!  Still, it seems exceptionally wet and chilly.   I had to resort to creating an AI bird.

We're one step closer to being ready though. Last fall, we threw away the old chairs on our balcony as they were plastic and getting quite decrepit. I did like the Adirondack-style one but it took up a lot of space and I seldom sat in it. Since getting back from Buenos Aires in March, we've had no chairs outside.

   

Today, however, we went to the Home Depot across the river in Surrey. Even though we don't plant much, Jay enjoys walking around the large outside garden section. We picked up two, cheap balcony chairs when there.  It took a while to take off the plastic, shipping protection.  They are no longer inside but it's actually still too cool to use them.

 

A New Sink on Order

This morning we drove to the closest Home Hardware Store, a Canadian retailer. This branch is on Edmonds Street on the Burnaby side of the New Westminster border.  We were heading that way to pick up fruit and vegetables at Langley Market. 

I guessed they'd not have a granite-composite kitchen sink in stock, so I wanted to ask about shipment times. She said it would arrive on next Monday's truck, so we paid for a sink and a pull-down faucet.

 

I discovered we have surprisingly few photos of our present kitchen sink!  I found my image on Flickr.  It was taken during the summer of 2020 at the beginning of the salmon season.