Ox in the Mire

I got halfway through crocheting a sock and realized I didn't have enough yarn with me to make a second one. Had to go to Plan B. Before my hubby headed back to the city, I dashed to see if the dollar store in town was open -- and it was! And they had socks that will do.

As members of the LDS church, we're taught not to do work on the Sabbath, and I try not to shop on Sunday. However, we are also taught that if your ox gets bogged down in a mire on a Sunday, it is okay to dig and pull it out. In this case, the only alternative to going through two weeks of winter without socks was buying socks on the Sabbath. And doing that is probably more aligned with the principle than spending my Sunday frantically working myself into a tizzy trying to crochet socks out of dental floss and duct tape. 

Absentminded

 Or in too much of a hurry.  I realized this morning that I forgot to pack socks. I have only the one pair I came in. I will have to wash them out each evening and hope they dry by morning (shouldn't be a problem -- the humidity is only about 20% up here right now). That, or I need to start knitting really fast! 😀

Winter is here!

A blizzard the other day left about four inches of snow, but since then it has been too cold for further snow (about -25 in places). Today I bundled up with every bit of fabric I had and walked down to the lake (I'm back at the church for a couple of weeks). I could see someone has been cross-country skiing on the lake, ploughing neat furrows in the snow. Further down, a man in a red coat was shoveling the snow aside to expose the ice, piling it neatly at the edges to frame a large hockey rink. While he worked, his floppy dog raced and leaped around him and sometimes took off running joyfully across the lake, reveling in his own awesome personal playground. Brio watched this with great interest. 

It was beautiful, the sunlight a glorious colour filtering through the trees, casting fascinating shadows across the undisturbed snow. But half an hour was enough for Brio, so I dropped him back at the church to get warm and I continued to walk for a while longer. Reluctant to leave that wonderful sunshine.

I am hiding out here at the church to get away from the Covid numbers and risk for a while. I've got my stack of books and a pack of pudding cups and I'm snug as a bug. I intend to work on my novel while I'm here, though today I've been distracted crocheting little pink hearts for Valentine's Day. Not sure what I'm going to do with them, but I liked this new pattern. Maybe I'll "yarn bomb" the maple tree outside.

Windows again

We got a quote from that company that has lots of experience doing church windows. Just for the plain glass windows on the outside -- not for restoring the stained glass -- they want about $3000 a window. (!!!) Back to the drawing board.

Change of Plans

I had planned to stay at the church for a couple more weeks, but there's a stay-at-home order in Ontario, and there's no knowing how long it will go on, so Hubby wouldn't have been able to come bring me groceries if it went on for long. And with the predicted polar vortex bringing temperatures of -40 next week, I don't need to hang around to watch for flooding issues in the basement, because it will be too cold to rain or snow. And the critter-catcher was able to get rid of the squirrel without setting traps (which would have had to be checked over a series of days) and blocked the vents in the roof so it can't get back in. And Hubby hurt his back and I thought he may need help at home. So anyway, I packed up and came home earlier than expected. I'm hoping to go back up again in a couple of weeks, but we'll have to see how the stay-at-home order pans out.

Frankly, with the craziness happening to the south right now, it's probably best to hunker down with family at home anyway. I suspect I'm going to need some comfort as things unwind on January 20th. Sending loving thoughts out into the universe...

Iceskating

I was walking Brio today down by the little local lake, and I could hear skating and laughing. Through the trees, I saw several young women skating by. Such a wholesome and simple activity that gives such happiness! I love the sound skates make on ice. I wouldn't have thought the the ice was thick enough yet, though, but apparently it is.

I grew up in a desert and there really wasn't much opportunity or interest in learning to ice skate. My husband gave me a pair of skates when we married (he's Canadian, after all!), but I only used them a couple of times and then gave them to his niece. My sons grew up with only minimal skating ability, which was likely a handicap to them, but hey, you have to choose where to pool your resources. We told each child they could pick one sport and one musical instrument, and while some of them chose more than one in the end, none of them chose hockey or figure skating (thank goodness. Have you seen the size of those hockey equipment bags?). But I do love to watch people skate.

Windows

Hubby is driving up today and will stay on for a few days. Monday we have two window specialists coming to look at the stained glass windows. One used to work for Sunrise Stained Glass for many years, and he can give us a better idea what to do to repair and preserve them. He might also be able to give us a deal on doing the work for us, which would save us a decade but likely cost thousands. Part of me wants to do the work myself, to leave a piece of me in this building. And part of me says get'er done. There are plenty of projects and other ways to leave my fingerprints on this building, and I want these windows to be done right so they don't have to be done again. They're important to the integrity and feel of the place.

The other fellow who is coming will give us some recommendations about the plain glass windows to go on the outside of the stained glass. My husband had some ideas about how to do it in a narrower way than a usual modern window, with a screened hole at the bottom to allow ventilation in summer that could be stopped up in winter (since there's not room for a slider). We'll see what this fellow thinks of the idea. It's only one of many designs Hubby has come up with, but I think it's the most clever. 

The saga continues

 Today I took the dog out...and there was my hat by the steps.

Hiding Out

Scott from Paul Davis came to check out the mini flood, but by that time it had dried up, and no more sign of leakage. We couldn't tell where it came from. Water should not be able to come through the foundations because of the work they've already done. I suspect it may have had to do with snow on the roof melting and getting under the flashing between the old building and the addition. But now the snow has all melted, and the utility room remains dry. Hoping for another miracle. It's too mucky out to ask anyone to come fix the roof if that's the trouble. Difficult to diagnose!

Meanwhile, chaos is breaking out to the south, and I am huddled in my little church, clinging to personal peace like a life raft. And eating tapioca pudding. I think right now it's more important than ever to find faith, find that still centre within, and hold to it while the world spins around us. This church is a peaceful refuge in spite of all the spiders and needed repairs. I feel safe here, and am glad to have it.

Water seems to be a theme

Just before Hubby went home yesterday, we discovered another leak in the utility room -- water all over the floor. Same spot as last time that Paul Davis fixed. We've emailed them and I will call their office tomorrow to arrange for them to come back. Sigh. Not sure what the problem is or what they can do, with snow on the ground. There are times I want to just put down a pond liner and throw in some goldfish and pretend all the flooding is on purpose.

I have distant memories of my grandparents' basement perpetually flooding. All the years we visited their farm, I never once went down the basement stairs, but I could stand at the top and hear faint clinking. Grandma said it was mason jars floating around and bumping into each other.

An adventure in kindness

 A while ago I consulted a neighbour about available internet in Warwick. R is a young fellow, probably in his mid twenties, and was helpful and friendly. This morning when I went out to walk Brio, R was out walking his dog and recognized me and asked which internet company I had ended up going with. A brief chat and I went on my way.

When I got back to the church, I tied Brio to a post and shoveled the snow from the front walk. I got overheated doing it and pulled my winter hat off, setting it on the front steps. I finished shoveling and took Brio in, then went back out to get my hat. As I came out of the church, a woman in high-heeled boots was just coming from around the corner of the church, walking a huge black dog. I said hello and she didn't acknowledge me, but kept walking, so -- suspicious that she hadn't realized this was a home -- I peeked in the side yard and, sure enough, there was a tidy bag of dog poop lying there. She had scooped but left it there. I went back to the front steps, disposed of the bag in my ceramic container where I collect these things, and went back for my hat. And it was gone. And there were the high-heeled boots' prints on the step. She had walked off with my hat!

Bemused, slightly worried about being here for a month without a hat, I went out to the sidewalk and looked up and down. Saw R just going into his house. He stopped when he saw me and said "That was weird." He had seen the woman and didn't recognize her. I told him she apparently left the poop and took the hat. Strange!

I went back in the house and my Hubby, who was about to go back to the city, offered to leave me his hat, since he had another at home. Problem solved!

A few minutes later, R knocked on the door. He said he had found the woman walking down toward the conservation area and had confronted her for me about the hat. At first she denied it, but when he said, "Look, we saw you, and people don't do that here. We're a tight-knit community" she apologized. He said she didn't give the hat back, and he suspected she was maybe high. R said he didn't tolerate that kind of thing here in Warwick, and that he had moved here to get away from the drug scene in town. A friendly chat, I thanked him for being noble and confronting the woman for me, and that was that.

A few minutes ago, he came to the door with a hat he said he owned but had never worn, and I was welcome to it. I thanked him for his kindness and told him Hubby had left his hat for me. But wasn't that a sweet gesture? What a kind person! It changed the weird experience with the woman into a heart-warming interaction with this young man.

Happy New Year! Various musings...

We came up to the church yesterday and found all well. Made ourselves beans on toast for a simple lunch and just relaxed. Hubby considered going back home the same day, as planned, but decided to stay the night instead. Beef bolognese on linguine for supper. And then the freezing rain started. Woke this morning to a light dusting of pretty snow over the ice, but the snow plows have been out and it's now above freezing, so hopefully Hubby's drive home today will be safe. The plan is he will leave me here for most of January, though he may come up to visit when he has time off work mid-month. 

There are a couple of reasons for the prolonged visit. I want to see with my own eyeballs what the weather does here in winter. I want to put thermometers in various places around the church to see if the heat is distributed the way we want it to be. I want some uninterrupted writing time. And I want to avoid the comings and going of Hubby and the renters, who work outside the house, as Covid numbers are skyrocketing in the city. Here at the church, I don't shop, I don't interact with people, and no one comes in and out of the place. It's a sheltering cocoon.

At home, Brio sleeps in his own little bed on the floor beside our bed, and he hardly moves all night. We brought his bed up with us. But because of the weeks I spent here at the church with him when there was no heat, he got used to sleeping with me when we're here. Last night he wormed down under the covers between us (no idea how he can breathe under there), and seemed quite content. But he kept squeezing up against my husband until Hubby was clinging to the very edge of the mattress. Will have to try to cure him of this habit.

Hubby and I spent most of yesterday and this morning talking about ideas for glassing in the gothic windows in the sanctuary in a way that will keep heat in and rain and cold out but still allow us to ventilate in summer, all without breaking the bank. There is a limited amount of room to work with due to the wooden framework around the stained glass, so a regular sliding-type window isn't an option. We've come up with some ideas but will have to decide soon, because it takes about a year to get windows manufactured to order. Propane is costing us about $150 or more per month, so the sooner we stop the leakage, the better. 

We've also kicked around the old ball about whether it would be smart at some point to install in-floor heating, or propane fireplaces in the sanctuary, or solar panels, or a heat pump. In the end I think it makes more sense to stick with what we have but find a source of income to offset the cost of propane and electricity (which is another $200 a month on top of the propane). At our city house, the two renters basically cover the cost of utilities, taxes, and insurance. But here at the church we don't have a rental option. We could try to host events a few times a year, but with Covid threatening to be around for many more months, I don't see it happening. We could do virtual, online workshops. Create some sort of online business. Something that won't interfere with the fulltime jobs we already have. Install a bank of computers to generate Bitcoin while at the same time generating heat...but I don't think you can then use Bitcoin to pay your electricity bill! Will have to think about it, anyway.

My goal this coming year is to pay off the repairs we've already done and do some planning, but not spend a further fortune if we can avoid it. I want a year of recovery from the horribleness that was 2020, a year of peace and quiet and observation and thinking. All in all, we've come through it all okay. Things are manageable, the family is healthy, there's leftover pasta for lunch today, and the snow is very pretty in the cedar trees outside my window. 2021 is starting off nicely!