🏡 A Lick of Paint

 We started to explore painting the house last summer and had three quotes from various businesses.  There was quite a wide range of services and pricing and not everyone was willing to do extra if required.

Click on pictures to enlarge

Last October we met up with Glen and he was willing and able to do just about anything required. From minor repairs, to de-mossing the roof and of course painting.  We felt quite happy with his pricing too, as we had really researched various costs for the various jobs to be done.   Its taken some time for our place to come up in his roster for this year but he did manage to get all the concrete and house power washed just before the 'heat dome' hit us.  So after that heat wave hit, we knew that everything would be bone dry and ready for the rollers and spraying.

Glen started yesterday and is a going concern from 7:30 am to when he feels he's done for the day.  Our house and two garden sheds is a three day project (maybe four?). Not bad for a guy working on his own right now.

So he's busy on the south end of the house right now until it gets too warm there and he will shift back to finish the front entry way.   Bruce went and took some pictures to show areas of the house with before and after colour changes. We'll do more pictures tomorrow and again when its all done.

Glen taking a moment in the shade. Behind him the new colour and he's resting his hand on the old paint.

Left is the new colour and the front entry shows the old scheme. More West Coast, less Palm Springs.

Again... showing the transition. Bear in mind this is currently in the shade. It gets full morning sun. 

Patio furniture and shrubs are all covered against any overspray. Windows are covered with brown paper. 

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More to come.....

☀️🔥 Heat Wave

Sometime last week to ten days ago I recall seeing that the south western USA was experiencing a heat dome effect. Literally a cap of heat that sits over the land and doesn't move. It prevents sea breezes from moderating the temperatures and actually draws intense hot air from the interior.   There is no cool down at night and so it just builds day by day.

I thought " those poor people!" 

Well, a week later and it seems that western Canada has one and we're under it right now. The link is to a local new article on the heatwave:   Heat  Dome Article

So this is a current temperature map for BC  right now.  I live in Campbell River.  For my American readers:  double the temperature and add 30 to get Fahrenheit numbers.  The humidex scale adds in the effects of humidity levels.   Also please bear in mind that we don't normally get high heat like this so many homes do not have AC.  There is usually a nice ocean breeze to moderate things.   

Here you can see the dome effect over the province..... and with resulting increase in forest fires.

Posted today by former astronaut Chris Hadfield is a global map showing our early summer heat. We are suffering here but I would not like to be further over in parts of southern Europe.    Climate Change can not be denied any longer.   

I recommend viewing the documentary at Netflix:  Breaking Boundaries  The Science of our Planet.  Its by the people who gave us Our Planet and Blue Planet and narrated by Sir David Attenborough.  Its a stark look at the boundaries we have crossed at sustaining life on Earth and how the next decade is crucial to our future on this Planet. They also give  viable solutions.

EDIT: June 30th. The sun was so hot for so long that it actually burnt our bushes!  Our highest temperature during the four days was 39.3 Celsius or 108.6 F.   Fortunately the temperatures came down today as the heat dome moved further east. We even have sea breezes again but things are still rather warm. I have heard from friends that they all have sun damage in their gardens.   And summer is just starting....  the forest fires have started. 

😎⛱☀️🍹

Meanwhile: here at home we are keeping cool and still staying close to home for now.    I get my second covid vaccine on July 7th and two weeks later we should feel much more confident about interactions again.  The northern end of Vancouver Island has only one active covid case right now, but we are under no illusions that as summer visitors will bring a lot more with them as they travel than a mask free smile.

💉💉💉

I'm still chipping away at weaving but also winding future warps and generally not pushing myself very hard.  Before the weather turned ugly hot, we were just enjoying sitting outside and enjoying the  garden and I would spin  on my Hansen mini spinner.

 💰 Our big home improvement for the year is to have the exterior of our home painted, along with two garden sheds.  We made arrangements with a painter last October, 2020 and it seems our time has come up in his schedule.  Last Thursday our place was power washed, all concrete power washed too..... and the roof soaked ahead of adding a de-mossing treatment.  

Weather permitting, first thing tomorrow.... and I mean *very* early in the day, painting will start  and take a week.   I will post before and after shots in a future post.   Yes, there will be a colour change....    🏠

❄️  Keep cool!  ❄️