Salt Spring Island - Day 2 - Lavender, Goats and Beer

We started day two at Ruckle Provincial Park. It was on the South East side of the island and promised some good hikes along the water. When we got there and were in the woods a bit it seemed cold but once we got into the sun, despite the wind it was a great day for a hike. We walked along the ocean for a bit before heading inland. The park includes a working farm and with Oliver with us we were limited on where we could go. I think I would like to go back at some point without a dog.

We didn't do a lot of research on where to go on Salt Spring other than looking up "Top 10 things to do on Salt Spring". On this list included a local goat cheese farm. There were chickens in the yard and lots of options for goat cheese. I stayed in the car so I still haven't had a chance to taste any of it yet but Kerry and the kids insist it is excellent. The social distancing at the goat farm was well done and Kerry was surprised at how knowledgable the teenaged staff was.

I think the highlight for me was the lavender farm. It wasn't very big but they had quite a few products and the owners were happy to share their trade. I bought a lavender plant as well as an Immortal plant to try in my garden. They gave me some tips on where to plant, how to water and most importantly how to trim it back each year. Lavender grows from the top of the last years growth so you want to cut it back as far as you can without going past the current year. It means it gets a bit bigger each year but I can then use cuttings to get new plants.

After one more farm that makes beer we headed back to the cabin to wander around and think about plans for dinner. Our cabin is just up from a small lake that included a dock and some water sport equipment. The lake looked swimmable though we didn't find the time to try it out ourselves. Carter and I also discovered that our Cabin has the potential for another full floor on it. For some reason it's just set up as a crawl space but you could definitely put a room down there. Maybe a good investment opportunity. We went back to Ganges for dinner for calamari and pizza on the boardwalk.

Salt Spring Island - Day 1 - The Dog Table

I've finally made it to Salt Spring Island. It's the largest of the Gulf Islands and to be honest the only other island I've been to is Bowen. Salt Spring has appealed to me because there is apparently quite the artists community and I was hoping to see some interesting makers. We took a direct ferry there and as we were docking we could see the tiny dock which was somewhat disconcerting for Kerry. It didn't really look like there was even room for cars to drive off.

Our first stop after we got off was Salt Spring Wild Cider and it was pretty much what I was expecting for the entire island. A quaint tasting building with some food options and quite a few people coming and going. I was glad to see it was outdoors but I will admit there were a few too many people without masks for my liking. We found this the entire weekend. I think Salt Spring is waiting for their first case before they get really strict.

We then headed to our 'Cabin' which was available after 3:00p. It was a full sized house and had been recently renovated. We were only staying two days so we found the nicest place that could take dogs. After checking in we went to downtown Ganges to find dinner. Carter has been missing a sit down dinner so we did find some place where we could order and stay. They happened to have a nice out door table for people with dogs at the Burger Shack. Carter and I both had the Fish n Chips which was quite delicious.

Attending a Conference in Oliver

Two weeks ago Kerry and the kids went up to Oliver to help take care of Kerry's Dad who had just had hip surgery. They had to shorten their visit due to commitments related to Callie's dance before and after the weekend so they wanted to go back the following weekend. I looked after Oliver the first weekend and stayed in Surrey but was able to go up the second weekend. With the new 'Work From Home' model I now have the option of shifting what 'Home' is and didn't technically have to take any time off. We drove up on Saturday and I attended a conference from the basement during the week before coming home on Tuesday.

It was nice being able to work during the day and then head over to the lake or the park with Carter in the evening . I also got put to work helping solve some dog digging issues in the backyard. We went to buy rocks in the morning and I spent my lunch time placing the rocks. It was a quick 4 day trip but I could get used to working in Oliver instead of Surrey. I fully expect that there will be additional people who will try to find ways of working far from their previous home base.

The Big Pause - Day 90 - June 9 - The New Normal

When I started this blog at the beginning of the Covid outbreak I wasn't intending to do it daily forever. I figured I would do it until life got back to normal. Little did I know that 90 days in and we are still a long ways from normal and may never get back to where we were. Things are open in BC but physical distancing rules are still in place and will remain until a vaccine is found. The disease is to prevalent across the world to ever go away. Sports and movies aren't back but that will come. The disease has died down in the news and likely will be lower in the summer. From now on I'll go back to blogging bigger life events. With no travel, there won't be many of those for a while. Most people expect the disease count in North America will jump again in the fall based on similar diseases. This time full shut down likely won't be seen as an option. Unfortunately I think we've grown numb to the numbers and will just accept a percentage of the population dying each month. I suppose it's not that much different from third world countries with malaria and other third world countries. The difference here is it's impacting the first world.

I got the tops of the cabinets glued up and cut to size..... The new normal.

The Big Pause - Day 89 - June 8 - The Wrong Colour

The day started like every other Monday. Roll out of bed and turn on my work computer to do a bit of work before breakfast. I find I can get ready for the day by doing 30 minutes of e-mail checking and planning. I'm working on some projects with people in India and Denmark so I get emails at all hours of the day. The weather was nice again so I went for my regular bike ride. I think I need to find a new route. I like the one I'm doing but there are probably some other areas of the neighborhood I should explore. In the evening I was hoping to get the top for the cabinets glued up but when I planed the wood I noticed that one of my pieces was a very different colour then the other pieces. It was going to be in the back of the counter but it was different enough that it would still be noticeable. I will have to see if I can take Kerry to work tomorrow so I can use the car to go to Windsor Plywood to get another piece.

The Big Pause - Day 88 - June 7 - Historic Stewart Farm

I've been somewhat negligent in my volunteering duties this year but I'm likely not the only one. I volunteer in the garden at Historic Stewart farm and I've been out a couple times but not as much as I usually do. For March/April I wasn't quite sure if we were supposed to go in and we were occupied with other things. Sunday was supposed to rain but looked clear in the morning so I headed out to the farm. People have definitely been there because everything is  cleaned up though some of the areas need some thinning. I worked on the native garden which has been my area for the past few years. Looked much better when I was done.

After the garden I headed into the office to pick up a package. I had ordered a set of masks from the BC Children's hospital through the Power Pioneers and they delivered them to my office. It was a bit depressing going into work after almost three months. Hand sanitizer and arrows were everywhere and the place seemed empty even for a weekend. I picked up some more things from my desk and got my masks. They are well made but a bit small for me. I've not had good luck finding a comfortable mask other than the disposable ones. I will keep looking.

The Big Pause - Day 87 - June 6 - Floating Steps

Carter and I took a road trip to Langley this morning. Parks opened this week and he really wanted to go to the Parkour Park in Langley where they have some more interesting obstacles that are very similar to what is on the American Ninja Warrior. We tried everything but we really concentrated on the "Floating Steps". They are some 45 degree platforms that you jump back and forth on. With a bit of coaching from me he managed to master them. They aren't really that complicated but you definitely have to commit when you're doing them. After about 50 tries he was doing them with ease.

After the park we had a few errands to run including Windsor Plywood, Port Kells and Lee Valley. Each of them has their own physical distancing measures. Windsor Plywood is low volume and you can move about easily. Port Kells has moved outside and we did curbside pickup at Lee Valley. I hope they keep curbside pickup at Lee Valley. It was much easier. In the evening I got caught up on blogging and planted the final vegetables in the garden. Some peppers, cucumbers and some sort of chocolate tomato.