Settling Into Cabin Life

the bathrom, pretty standard

the kitchenette area - Stormy is in the window seat

the wood stove can really crank the heat out!

the kitchenette is pretty small but adequate

the living space

the storage space up overhead

the sleeping loft - just a few feet above my head is the roof

Well, after a few weeks hiatus, I reckon it is about time I posted an update. I was in Whitehorse for Christmas with my daughter and came back to Victoria on the 29th, and packed up to move. It didn't take long to pack, as I didn't have the mass of stuff I used to have before the fire. It took just two trips in the van to get most of it out here. I made a final trip yesterday and brought the last few things. It hasn't been without incident, of course. I had asked a friend to help me load and unload on Saturday, but she was pretty hungover and didn't show up until a few hours after I was ready to go. Once she got there we headed out to Sooke, only to receive a rather frosty reception from the landlady who was miffed that I was making her late for a scheduled dinner. We hadn't arranged a time, and she said nothing about it in her many emails, and I hadn't promised to be there any specific time, just sometime in the afternoon. She rushed me through the lease, and then took off.


I wasn't moving much furniture, but the one thing I couldn't manage on my own was my mattress. I could drag it here and there, no problem,  but once I arrived at the cabin, it would have to be lifted up over the loft railing to get it there, and as stubborn and strong as I can be when I want to, I cannot physically lift the mattress up to the loft alone. Impossible, at least without a pulley, which I did not have. The next-door neighbors offered to come out and help me, taking anything I couldn't fit in my van, in their car, and would help me with the mattress. Great. Wonderful. Thank-you. The only problem was when the time came the next day, they came to inform me they had forgotten a friend was coming to town from Vancouver, and they couldn't help me. Great. Wonderful. Thank-you...they did help me load the van, but I could have done that on my own. I needed help getting that mattress up in the loft! The landlady had already informed me she does not work on Sundays, so I couldn't ask her. I left Victoria in a pissy mood, tired of people who break promises. They were not the first. I didn't even attempt to drag the mattress in, but figured I could throw my foam pad I used in the van for the night. And then I laid down on it, on the hard floor and realized that was NOT an option. My hips would never forgive me. So I curled up on the loveseat with Stormy and spent the night tossing and turning there.


I paid for internet access and telephone, neither of which were working when I got there, given that I did not see any jacks, and while there were two wireless networks that showed up, one didn't work and the other required a password I did not have. Great. No phone, no net. What am I paying for? I'll find out in the morning, or so I thought.


I realized that night I had not deposited some cash in my bank account that was needed to help cover the rent so went off in search of a Scotiabank. None in Sooke. Great. The nearest one was in Colwood, about a 20 minute drive away. Fine, I'll go in the morning, as it was a holiday yesterday and my rent wouldn't be coming out until today. I got up the following morning and drove to Colwood, only to have both bank machines tell me they are unable to accept deposits at this time...WTF? out of envelopes was my guess, but who the hell knows. So then I was forced to head into Victoria to go to the bank there, WAYYYY farther than I wanted to travel yesterday. Once there, I decided I might as well finish cleaning the apartment, and that would save me from going into Victoria another day to do it. I rented a carpet cleaner, borrowed a vacuum cleaner and I was off like a herd of turtles. I finished up in short order, returned the vacuum, carpet cleaner, and my Shaw boxes (cable, tv, phone). The line was ridiculously long and it took me a half hour to get through it.


So then I was finally on my way home about 3pm, and went off in search for the landlady to find out just what I needed to do to get the internet and phone working, along with a bunch of other questions I had but did not get to ask as I was rushed through everything with her. She was nowhere to be found. There were 5 phone numbers posted at the office to call, including two cell phones. No one answered. There was an emergency number on my lease. No one answered. There were two different doorbells to ring for service. No one came. WTF? I tried for hours, walking back and forth to the office each time. Hours turned into two days. I had important things to do both on the phone and the internet and the landlady was MIA. I was super pissed. Where in the hell did she go? And why in the hell isn't anyone answering ANY of the phones? I ended up driving into town (Sooke) for cell reception so I could make the calls, and get someone else to do on the internet what I couldn't. They didn't come home last night, and were not around all day today, and finally pulled in about 8pm tonight. They weren't home long before the landlord came over and sorted things out. The internet and phone cables were behind a bookcase, and the phone was not currently hooked up for my use. The internet was working, but the landlady had turned off the modem when she left yesterday morning and didn't think about my desire to use it...sigh...


I did have beautiful moving weather, not too cold, and blue sky days. A rarity this time of year, as it has been raining for weeks, and today it started to rain again. The cabin has a tin roof, and the rain sounds awesome on it. I may change that tune however once a downpour comes while I'm in bed and the roof is just 3 feet above my head...


I am all unpacked and settled in, and Stormy seems to like the cabin, particularly the many windows he can look out. The one problem is he has not yet figured out how to get up into the loft yet. I brought him up a few times, but he slept downstairs last night. I missed him, as he always sleeps on the bed with me. I reckon he might figure it out one of these days, but the nearly upright ladder isn't easy for kitties. I put his kitty condo next to the ladder, hoping he might leap from there somehow, but so far, no go.


So here I sit in my cabin in the woods, overlooking the tiny Poirier Lake. Life is good.