Month: November 2009

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Discovery Fireweed Honey Ale

Back in early September, I posted a review of the mostly fabulous beers of the Yukon Brewing Company and when I left Yukon later that month, I made sure to stock up on their offerings, bringing south with me one six-pack each of Yukon Gold Pale Ale, Espresso Stout, and Discovery Fireweed Honey Ale, the latter of which I had not sampled yet.

Over the past two months, I’ve finished the pale ale and made a serious inroad into the stout and fireweed ale. The latter has turned out to be yet another incredible offering by the Yukon Brewing Company. It is strong and flavourful, with a hint of sweetness and a hoppy finish. I haven’t had a bad pairing yet with this beer, whether I’ve had it on its own, with a slice of pizza, in beer bread, or with popcorn (a risky pairing that paid off). The website claims that this beer tastes different from other honey ales and I have to agree. I’m pretty sure that I couldn’t tell in a blind taste test whether I was drinking a Belle Gueule, Rickard’s, or Sleeman, but I’d be able to recognize the YBC’s honey ale.

If you’re ever in Whitehorse, be sure to check out their free brewery tour. I haven’t done this yet but I look forward to doing so in the spring!

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So. Much. Rain.

If this weather keeps up, my stories of life in Campbell River are all going to start with “It was a dark and stormy night.”

There’s a lake about a foot deep just off the bottom of the driveway. Going to work in the dark this morning I just about fell in and then came this close to being swamped by a tidal wave brought up by someone driving way too fast through it (thank goodness for my reflexes).

It didn’t rain this morning and I actually saw the sunrise (work has an amazing view), but the rain started up again mid-afternoon and it’s now coming down again in full force, minus the winds we had yesterday.

Last night, the winds picked up so much that Miranda began to rock back and forth. With the water lashing at her from all sides, it really was like being on a boat. I’ve joked about that before, but this time it wasn’t funny and I worried about windows breaking. As it is, I’m pretty sure the picture window in the study leaks since I’ve been having to mop up water every day since I got to Campbell River as well as keep the mattresses away from the wall.

It apparently snowed between Nanaimo and here yesterday, but it’s still relatively warm here and I’m still not running the furnace. All is well!

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A Phenomenal Storm

It normally takes me 5 minutes to walk to work. This afternoon, it took me 10 minutes to get home. It is seriously stormy and windy out there. I walked right into the brunt of it and it was literally like forcing myself through a physical barricade of air and water. I was soaked to the bone, exhausted, and frozen solid when I got home.

The town of Courtenay, just 50km south of Campbell River, has declared a state of emergency because of severe flooding. One of my last customers of the day was a gal just a couple of years younger than me who was evacuated just in time to watch her trailer and all her worldly belongings float down a river, land on a bridge, and get demolished by the gale. She was in remarkably good spirits.

Last time I saw an ocean storm like this was on Gran Manan Island, in New Brunswick, during their unforgettable Labour Day storm of 1994 which just about wiped out the fishing industry. We had been scheduled to return to the mainland, but had to remain on the island because our tour bus could not be secured on the ferry. I remember standing on the pier watching our ferry nearly flounder in waves as high as it was. The passage over a few days later was incredibly rough and I was only one of a few who did not get seasick.

The road below the house is flooded in parts and I am glad to be sitting up high, but a little nervous that I don’t have an escape route for Miranda should water get all the way up here. I know the chances of that are incredibly remote, but like in Dawson this summer I am acutely aware that there is nowhere to go should the world go to hell.

Miranda is well buffered on all sides and is barely rocking. I am warm and cozy and have a fantastic view of the wipe caps rolling in. I’m going to sit here a while, snug as a bug, and enjoy one of the best views mother nature has to offer.

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A Long Short Day

My conundrum this morning was to wear a bandage over my wrist or not. I decided not because the cuts go most of the way around the wrist and would have required a full wrap, making me look as if I’d tried to kill myself over the weekend. Our uniform shirts have long sleeves, so I made a mental note to not push my sleeves up this week. Well, that plan failed. I just hate having long sleeves and before I knew it my sleeves were up and my wrist exposed. This prompted a hilarious quote from a customer and the reason for this paragraph. He said: “Next time, don’t struggle.” I asked him what he meant and he gave me this cheeky grin as he replied “I’ve gotten cuts like that from handcuffs.” So, great. Bare wrist and I look like I was in the slammer this weekend and wrapped wrist I look like I went to the shrink ward. Renos always come with a price! 😀

My 6AM to 10AM shift today flew by. One second it was 5:50 and I was pouring myself a first cup of coffee and the next my replacement had come in. This has thus far proven to be the busiest shift. It’s also my least favourite because I have a hard time being functional at that hour, no matter how much sleep I’ve had.

It was very weird to end my day at 10AM! I came home (with mustard and clam chowder!) and went to work on the *expletive deleted* wardrobe. The new counter and over fridge cabinet mean that I lost room for the baskets that held linens. I moved the baskets to the wardrobe, filling one with rolled up jeans and the other with rolled up sweaters (which worked out so brilliantly I think this is going to be a permanent solution!). I then needed to find room for the linens and got about halfway through that project. What a puzzle it is to get a home organized. At least, for the first time, I know what the final picture looks like (even if it’s a tad fuzzy) so now I only have to figure out what pieces I have, possibly in the wrong place, and what I need.

Last, but not least, this weekend’s wicked storm finally broke in the wee hours of the morning and I was able to watch a magnificent sunrise. A dark cloud rolled in shortly thereafter and we were back to rain, but, hey, five minutes of sunshine is more than I had some days last spring! 🙂

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Counter Installation, Part One of ???

There is nothing like having had a vision for more than six months and seeing it come to life. The new counter is far, far from done, but the steps I took today have brought Miranda much closer to realising her full potential as a solo full-timer’s home.

Today, I completed most of the ‘rough in’ for the new counter. It will need a lot of finish work, but I am not sure yet what material I will be using, so I am holding off for a bit. Croft left me something that could be perfect, but I have another option to explore first. Another thing that I need to do is install a door in the front that I will close when I drive so my dishwasher won’t go flying. As it is, I’ve installed it over skidproof material, which will go a long way to ensuring it stays put. Finally, I need to put a shelf over the drawer to hold a garbage can. Recognize that drawer? It’s going to be much more useful now!

So far, the project has cost me nothing other than the bottle of wood glue I’ll need to replace. I got the counter supports from Croft’s wondrous scrap bin and all the angle brackets and screws came from the dismantled dinette back. Under the dishwasher, I put the other dinette bench’s thin plywood covering and then a few spacers to raise the dishwasher up a few more inches. I’m running a test load right now and if I find drainage wasn’t adequate I can move the dishwasher up another two to three inches.

The only thing that hasn’t gone according to plan is that the hoses are much too long and inflexible to be poked through an opening and coiled away. Moreover, they tend to hold a lot of water, so leakage could be an issue. I therefore need to rethink how I’m going to store them neatly when the dishwasher isn’t in use.

Injury count for today was just one. No matter how many safety precautions you can take, power tools can be unpredictable. I managed to get hit in the right wrist by a piece of plywood flying at high velocity and the result was some pretty impressive cuts and bruises. Now that I have been properly injured while working on a reno project in Miranda she is officially home. 😀

Even though the project isn’t done yet, I can already see that it does not look too out of place. Using existing materials and components has kept certain proportions and enabled me to greatly improve the kitchen’s efficiency without compromising Miranda’s balanced layout.

Another thing I need to do is get some stools so that I can sit at the counter and work on the laptop or eat! It’s not obvious from the pictures, but I did build this like a proper sit-at counter, with the counter being wider than the base so there is space for my legs.

Wait till you see what I have in mind for the other dinette bench. But that won’t come for some time yet as I want to get this project buttoned up first.

Before making a hole in the paneling to feed the hoses and cord through, I wanted to make sure that there was nothing hidden within the two layers. So, I removed one side of the paneling and got an added benefit. The dishwasher has a bit of a bump in the back, which fits nicely between the supports, meaning I that I won't have a huge gap between the back of the cabinet and the dishwasher.

Before making a hole in the paneling to feed the hoses and cord through, I wanted to make sure that there was nothing hidden within the two layers. So, I removed one side of the paneling and got an added benefit. The dishwasher has a bit of a bump in the back, which fits nicely between the supports, meaning I that I won’t have a huge gap between the back of the cabinet and the dishwasher.

making sure the door opens free and clear

making sure the door opens free and clear

I've done a lot of recycling and rearranging of Miranda's components. The former dinette drawer is going to get a lot more use here.

I’ve done a lot of recycling and rearranging of Miranda’s components. The former dinette drawer is going to get a lot more use here.

I've only had that extra 2' of counterspace for an hour now and I already have no idea how I lived without it. I have a place to put a mixing bowl or to cut vegetables or to rest a hot platter!

I’ve only had that extra 2′ of counterspace for an hour now and I already have no idea how I lived without it. I have a place to put a mixing bowl or to cut vegetables or to rest a hot platter!

Next project is to put a shelf above the drawer for a garbage can. This is how I'm going to 'deal' with the cupholder holes in the counter; I can just drop garbage down them into the can. Shame about the holes, but I think that I've come up with the best possible solution to deal with them.

Next project is to put a shelf above the drawer for a garbage can. This is how I’m going to ‘deal’ with the cupholder holes in the counter; I can just drop garbage down them into the can. Shame about the holes, but I think that I’ve come up with the best possible solution to deal with them.