#58 Golden week

I just had to change my seat because the sun was too blinding and with this sunny greeting I say hello and welcome to the new post.

This link is suitable for your ears, today again with one of my favorite places:

https://bit.ly/3Fa9IKl (53 minutes)

The week started with a surprise, or rather I had simply forgotten about it. I was actually supposed to move into my beloved “Loon Cabin” last weekend, as I haven’t lived in a winter-proof cabin before. This was fine with me because a week and a half ago I saw a mouse darting through my room.

Due to the trip to Bella Coola I wouldn't have had time until Sunday evening, but David said that the water filter for the cabins needed to be replaced and he wouldn't do this until the next day (Monday). That was okay, that one night and that's why I thought David would be there on Monday.

However, on Monday Jenny told me that they were leaving right now to buy the part for the Jeep and in fact I had completely forgotten that they were both going to Kelowna. In total it would be a 12 hour drive and therefore doable in one day. 😋 Of course they divided it into two. Jenny then told me my tasks and then they were gone. How cool...absolute silence. I've already thought about going to bed again. 😁 The squirrels actually robbed me of a lot of sleep, the noise is indescribable. However, I wanted to finish work first and then just finish work earlier. I was lucky that Jenny had given me very few tasks: sealing and covering the roof of the vestibule, covering the “sloping walls”. That's it and not really much. So I took things slowly and I really hoped that all the boards would be the same length and that's how it was... for exactly four boards until the dimensions no longer fit and the board was suddenly too big. In the end I think there was a difference of about 2 inches (~5 cm). Taking the measurements of each individual board took quite a bit of time. However, it wasn't a bad job, as I was able to hold on to the roof beam for most of the time while the scaffolding wobbled beneath me. 😂 After the rock wool was gone, we moved on to the next project. The wood used there is some of the most expensive wood used here. One foot (~ 30 centimeters) costs 4 CAD (~ 2.80 €) and therefore over 250,000 CAD went into the wood alone. 😱 The wood isn't easy to cut, so I understand it's expensive, but 4 CAD, Holy Moly Canada?! You'd think that wood would be cheap here, given all the forest. 😅

The wood also has a kind of plug-in system, which makes it really easy to fold together. Since the roof beams logically do not change their angle as they progress, the height difference was always the same when cutting (3/4 inches ~ 1.9 cm), so I was able to prepare all the boards below and then quickly attach them all to the wall on this beloved scaffolding stuck together. Zack – Zack, put two screws in and you’re done.

Unfortunately, I made a mistake and set the wrong angle on the right side, so the first boards may have been cut at 12 degrees. 😅 But fortunately you can't see that. Neither does the bottom edge, which is not straight. I had to cheat a bit at one point because I was using a board as a guide, which unfortunately was either not installed straight or was already bent. But things like that are no longer noticeable here. 😂

Tuesday was even more relaxed. I barely had anything to do and that was fine because I didn't get much sleep at night. If you sleep with two dogs in the main house and Daisy fights for space on the couch until you have to move, or she suddenly licks your leg and you wake up from your sleep with a terrible start, the night is quite short. That's why I lived slowly into the day. However, I never really woke up, which was simply due to the weather. No sun for days, everything cloudy, windy and wet. That affected my mood and my motivation to work. My motivation was not increased after receiving good news. Jenny and David wanted to spend an extra night in Kamploops and were therefore not scheduled to return until Wednesday. But hello, the day was already over for me. 😅 So I treated myself to my second bathtub. During my first one on Monday, I sensationally dropped my cell phone into the water, but everything is working again. What luck.😁 I was able to enjoy the second tub much more :D and so this very well-paid day came to an end. 😂 On Wednesday I finished the rest of the work (it took me all of 30 minutes) and then cleaned up a bit before Jenny and David came back in the afternoon.

Wednesday was also the first day the sun came out and it's crazy. I always wonder if I just didn't see it in Germany or if it just comes across completely differently here, but the color of the trees! BAM! So incredible!😍 So bright. Yellow, red, golden, red and yellow! It's just amazing and there's also a beautiful contrast with the dark green of the conifers. A pleasure, I tell you! Above all, the days here start with a super thick fog and when the sun's rays slowly come through, the fog moves through the treetops and the colorful deciduous trees are illuminated - beautiful! So really - really nice to look at.😍 (I think my writing style is subtly influenced by the film music that's playing at the same time 😂)

This summery weather really confirmed Jordan's statement. He explained to me that it will be very warm again in October before winter comes. This is exactly the time and unfortunately it won't last much longer. But it's really nice to go for a 20-minute walk after work and look at this play of colors, always on guard for the black bear that lives somewhere nearby. 😅

Then came Thursday night when I slept in my cabin again for the first time. It started with the squirrels being active in the roof until shortly after midnight and when they calmed down a bit, I could already hear the mouse in my cabin. The last time she noticed me, she didn't come back and that was my great hope too. So quickly turn on the light and just make some noise for a moment. The mouse was gone and the squirrels were finally quiet....I fell asleep and BAM! It's unbelievable how quickly the body can react, but at five o'clock I jumped out of bed like a crazy person because the mouse was on my foot. 😱 Wow, that was really nothing and then when you see, how she crawls under the covers, falls out of bed and quickly runs away... Oh, I thought to myself, such shit. The thing is, there's no way you can fall asleep again. The body is permanently activated on “jump out of bed” and couldn’t rest at all. Of course, around six o'clock I felt incredibly hungry and so I started the day with a 2/10 night and immediately asked David to change the water filter so that I could move that same day. And so I moved back into the Loon Cabin for probably the last time here. Which in my opinion is really the best.

At work I was assigned a new project because there was still no insulation material and so I was supposed to close the wall in the vestibule. FOR WHATEVER REASON?! Jenny started building this wall not straight but at an arbitrary angle and I can finish it now. The beginning was fine, but the last corner is incredibly annoying and David could often hear me swearing from his office and was having a great time. This corner is so stupid and I don't know why Jenny didn't just build it. The only advantage is that the huge tree post obscures the corner and therefore my “perfect” work. 😅 You can hardly get close there. From the inside it is too narrow due to the roof and from the outside I can't get to it from the ladder without tipping backwards. Oh, and since the angles were chosen arbitrarily using the roulette method, I was able to try it out a few times until I found the angle and if you then set the angle on the wrong side, everything is subtly topped. I'll put it this way: In the end, no one sees it. 😂

That's how this week ended and yesterday evening Kingsley actually bit me for the first time. However, the bite mark isn't even considered a wound, so it would be too embarrassing to show you. 😅 It's like starting to pull a piece of skin on your finger, which then gets bigger and bigger and that's pretty much how it felt.

This Saturday I actually picked up my car. I had this examined at a second workshop, who then gave me a different (and cheaper) diagnosis, so I agreed. Ordering the parts just takes a little longer... four weeks approximately. 😅 The journey to the workshop takes about 1 ½ hours and is amazing. This fading fog and these deciduous trees. I can't say it often enough, it's really, really beautiful. 😁😍 Sometimes you feel a little grounded again when you have to go through a cloud for a moment, only to be greeted again by stark-looking deciduous trees.

By the way, the mechanic told me that something else needed to be repaired and it was no longer completely safe. He advised me against a trip to Vancouver (approx. 10 hours). That somehow shows again what kind of guardian angel I had on my road trip. 😅 The repair would cost around 800 CAD if I only replaced one part. However, this is a part where it is better to replace it on all four wheels at the same time. There is no question that I am of course not prepared to pay this. The repair has already cost me CAD 1,100.

However, the good man continued to tell me that he would be interested in my car if I gave him a good price. He would be willing to pay $2,500 CAD, which of course in no way represents the price of the car, but now let's get to a few things. The car is the last thing I have to get rid of before I fly back to Germany. This is probably the worst time of year to get rid of a car, as hardly anyone travels through Canada in a Ford Edge in winter. This means I would have to sell it for significantly less than I wanted anyway. In addition, no one can guarantee that I will be able to sell the car in Vancouver or that it will be scrapped. So with his offer I at least have some possible protection. If I did this, I would fly to Vancouver in a few weeks, spend some time there and then come to Germany.

Yes, it's really time to say goodbye to my block. I have to leave the country by November 30th at the latest and I'm pretty sure I'll be in Germany by then.

Of course, it's too early to say thank you for your continued readiness, as I know that my blog is now a kind of book. :D So here's another unusual situation in which a dead animal appears and finally something nice. 😁

On the way I saw my first dead cow that had been run over. That was a real shock for me. 😱 I drove around a corner and then there was this huge something that I couldn't see yet and then it was just a cow. I was so incredibly sorry about that. 😔I'm guessing that it might have been the truck driver who had a suspicious windshield, since it was just completely fucked up, really... But that wasn't something I necessarily had to see. Unfortunately, it's really the case that people here just race past horses, cows, bears, etc. without stopping, regardless of the losses. I've noticed this several times now and find it shocking every time.

But now something nice again.

The return journey and these trees. Really, this yellow, golden color, it's so beautiful to look at, time goes by so quickly because you can just marvel at the intensity of this color the whole time. 😍

Even now, as I write the last lines, I still enjoy the last golden leaves in my field of vision. 😍The wind that has been coming up since yesterday evening has left a good clear-cut here, so I strongly assume that winter is now slowly knocking on the door. I'll watch the snow edge on the mountains. 😅

But yes, these deciduous trees, which I was unfortunately far too rarely able to enjoy here in their full splendor of color, were an incredibly beautiful autumn experience.

Until then and have a nice start to the week.

Samuel✌🏽