Redneck in Training

We're now a full week living on Denman, and things are starting to settle down some. There are still some loose bits of moving stuff that need a home, but there's so much storage space here, it's just a matter of time and organization. It's not been 100% move move move all the time, as we have been taking chances to just lay back and enjoy our new environment. Plus, it's still summer vacation time for Bethy before she starts teaching at her new school over in Courtney.


Had my first run at cutting the lawn yesterday, as you can see (I'm on the boulevard there). What fun! Instead of cutting up and down in rows, you have to take a more zamboni-like approach. It will take some time to work out the best pattern, but I had it done in less time that I thought it would take.


The garage contains some boxes I wanted out of the way, they'll be sorted into their places later on. The guy who sold us this place has left behind all sorts of things, some of them useful (garden tools, power tools, soils, gasoline) and some less so (broken things, used oil, dead plants). But we can't complain because he's a super guy and doesn't move around too well. Ol' Pete was very apologetic that he could not clean up everything in time. Plus, we think we got a very good price on this property, so we're not about to raise a stink for having inherited too much stuff!















Before he left two days ago, Pete did a walk-around the property and showed us the basics on how everything works. Also pointed out projects he was meaning to get to, and offered advice on how to best proceed with those. He's such a kind fella, we hope he's happy now down in Victoria closer to family and friends. We expect to see him visiting Denman friends from time to time, and he'll be back for the odd item from the garage.


On moving in, we got the kitchen set up first so we could eat. Then we made the bedroom sleepable, the bathroom functional, and the past five days we've been plugging away at the rest of it. Got the Internet working a few days ago, and one of the initial projects is to string that cable under the house to the Telus box. Ran into a snag as I don't have a drill bit long enough to reach through the whole wall. One of the few stores in Denman Village is a hardware outlet, so if they don't have what I need, we'll have to hit Home Depot in Courtney the next time we're over.


Did a huge grocery shop the other day on the "Big Island", along with stops at Home Depot and Canadian Tire for various household items. We'll get the feel for what we need each time as we go along here, and we're stocked with basics for a while. There are some things we can get here, lots of folks have egg-laying hens so those are abundant. Also fruit! For fresh peaches, we need go no further than behind our own garage:















mmmmmm, juicy. Gotta go, but stay tuned! We'll put up some Ireland vacation photos soon.