Dave in Retirement

A cool and wet June in Garden Bay is coming to an end. This is the disappointing June weather that I remember from when I first moved to BC. The garden is growing well with all the water but it saddens my heart to see all those beautiful flowers hanging on the ground.

We have been healthy and feel lucky to be living where the COVID-19 pandemic has been relatively contained. In early June we went to Powell River, ate in restaurants, and spent the night. In mid-June we travelled to Vancouver for the day to get haircuts and shop at Home Depot. This week we resumed playing soccer in Gibsons. Slowly but surely life is returning to normal.

After finishing the plumbing project I installed recessed lighting in the living room. The result is excellent and satisfying, but the job was messy (cutting holes in the ceiling) and uncomfortable (working in the cramped attic).

Next I repainted the guest bedroom. That involved moving all the furniture out, protecting the floor with plastic, repairing all the flaws in the walls and ceiling, masking, painting, clean-up, and finally moving back the furniture. Good work for rainy days.

It hasn’t rained every day of course, and rarely it rains all day. We’ve been to the cabin three times so far this year with the focus on completing the roof over the back deck. It’s almost done and there’s no hurry. We are also going to construct a new outside shower stall and I have been staging the materials at home where it is easier to work.

I have been spending much of my time in the garden, which is the whole yard. Much of it is cultivated and the rest is rather wild as I have a laissez faire policy outside of the cultivated areas. This year the wildness got away from me and I have been working to get it back under control. I’m almost there! The weed policy has been updated to eliminate certain plants that are not charming enough the tolerate. I really enjoy being “in the weeds” because it gives me time to evaluate the garden and ideate improvements.

I finished my plumbing project last week and obtained approval from the building inspector. He asked me to fix one part of the 2″ drain line and I was happy to oblige. It was the building inspector’s second last day of work before retirement so that was lucky timing, as with getting the permit.

The picture above shows the entrance to the hardest working room of my house. You see the hot water heater, Internet gear, and a line of old kitchen cabinets along the far wall which serve as pantry and other much appreciated storage. The water supply pipes used to run along the wall under the cabinets and the laundry drain pipe used to run along the floor. Also in the middle of that wall was the dryer vent exit with a flexible pipe running along the floor to the dryer.

Looking right you see the new laundry sink and stacked clothes washer and dryer, which I did last year and was the start of this renovation. Above the sink and running all along the other side wall is a wire shelf which provides more needed storage space.

This is what the project was all about, adding another toilet and creating a new half bathroom. As the building inspector said when he looked at the toilet rough-in “I see the magic”. It truly is a marvellous addition. You can see the bottom of a nice looking medicine cabinet which adds a bit of elegance to a very utilitarian room.

Welcome to my crawlspace. All the waste plumbing starting in the foreground and back to the far wall I installed. Below you can see all the details: the toilet pipe, the 2″ laundry drain, and the new PEX supply lines.

So the plumbing project is complete and all that remains are some finishing details. On to the next project which I have started planning, recessed LED lighting in the living room.