THE ROUTINE

POST # 28 On most days since I began this fulltime house/petsitting gig, I tend to wake up early which seems to me to be rather odd, considering I don't have to head off to anywhere in particular, and since breaking my leg, I really am quite housebound for most of the time. Perhaps it's because I have animals depending on me that I like to get off to an early start. And the two cats here, Tai and Maggie are no exception. Take this morning for instance. I awoke around 6am to find Tai the siamese, curled up on the bed beside me which is exactly where she was when I turned out the light the night before. As soon as she realizes that I am awake, she gets up, stretches and then wanders over and climbs up on top of me, with her purr engine working at full speed. She loves to be patted gently on the top of her back, just in front of her tail and while I do that, she gives me a few licks on the face. Now, normally at this point I would begin the process of getting up, but this morning, I decided that 6 am was a little too early, so I closed my eyes again, and Tai took this as a sign to settle back down, which she proceeded to do on top of my chest. I dozed off for a few minutes more, enjoying the fact that I had a warm, purring furball on top of me. Once I was awake for the second time, Tai moved back over to the other side of the bed, and Maggie, the persian decided to hop up on the bed to get her early morning cuddles. Most mornings, Maggie can be found snoozing beside the bed, as she seems to let Tai be the dominant cat, but every once and a while she gets up the courage to leap up, and she is rewarded with plenty of affection as a result. So this morning I had my hands full, petting Maggie with my right hand and patting Tai on the rear end with my left. Stereo purring and all three of us feeling pretty contented about the whole affair. It would have been very easy to just stay in bed for quite a while longer, but because this is blog day, and because I have an afternoon appointment, I needed to get up and get going. The cats are keen for me to get up as well, as this means that I will be feeding them. So while they head off to the room where their dishes are located, I spend the next few minutes getting myself dressed. Since last Friday I have finally begun to go to bed without any cast on my leg and so the first item on the agenda is to place it back into position, and wrap it to the leg with a couple of tensor bandages and clips. The remainder of my dressing procedure goes pretty smoothly now, as I am getting quite good at balancing on my one good leg. Finally, I put my one sock and one shoe on, grab my crutches and hobble over to the kitchen. First stop is to get the coffee brewing, followed by a trip to the fridge, to grab the can of soft cat food, and while the coffee maker is doing its thing, I head over to the bedroom where I know I will find Tai and Maggie waiting for breakfast. Most of the mornings that I have been here have been sunny, and this room faces east, so when I arrive, Tai is up in the cat tree, lounging in the sunbeam, and Maggie is doing the same thing, but she is curled up on the carpet. The first order of business for me is to get down on the floor. I do this by first sitting in a chair, and then easing myself down to floor level. I have two strategically placednew bags of catlitter on each side of the chair, and I use these as a "step" down for my hands, and from there I ease myself to the floor. From this position I am free to "bum" around the floor and over to the food tray, where I dispense both types of food for the girls. Tai, being the dominant one, is the first to get tucked in to the food, while Maggie seems content to spend a few more minutes basking in the sunbeam until Tai is out of the way. While this is taking place I bum across the room to the litter box, and clean it out which is kind of like a treasure hunt. With all the chores complete, I get back to the chair, lift myself up with my arms balanced on the litter bags, then up onto the chair, grab my crutches, grab the bagwhich now contains the contents from the litter box in one hand, grab the cat food in the other hand and with great caution, so as to not step on top of either cat, I make my way back to the kitchen, first stopping at the top of the stairs to put down the litter bag, and then I continue on to the kitchen, to wash my hands, place the remaining cat food in the fridge, and pour myself a cup of coffee. Fortunately I have a coffee travel mug with a lid which has become a real asset now. I can hook my index finger around the handle, and I still have enough fingers left to hold onto my crutch, and so I walk over to the stairs, place the coffee cup up on the ledge next to the stairs, lean the crutches against the wall, and slowly ease myself down to the floor for the second time in the morning. Next, I slide the crutches down the first 7 stairs to the landing below, grab the coffee cup in one hand and the litter bag in the other, and bum my way down to the landing. Here I make a 180 degree turn, slide the crutches down the last 7 stairs to the floor below, and proceed to the bottom. The litter bag gets deposited in the garbage, and with coffee cup in hand, I continue my journey to the room that houses the computer, and fire it up for the day. With a few minor variations now and again, this is how my days have started here. I've done the commute up and down the stairs so many times now, that it has become second nature. Today is a busier day than normal, as not only do I have this blog to finish, I also have to make a trip to the Saanich Penninsula Hospital, or SaanPenn as the locals call it. This will be my third visit, and the reason is to go to physio for my leg. Last week I had a follow up x-ray and visit with an orthopedic surgeon to see how the bones were mending, and it all looked good, so now it's a matter of getting the ankle joint moving again after all these weeks of inactivity. I have today's physio and then one more appointment tomorrow, and I hope to continue this after I get to Calgary next week. I leave this housesit on Thursday this week, a couple of days earlier than anticipated, but the owners will be arriving home then. It's been a very relaxed time here in Victoria, which I am very grateful for as it has allowed my leg to heal day by day. Come Thursday I will be off on a new adventure with more new sights to see, more people to visit and more thoughts to ponder. I am looking forward to the next phase of this journey That's all for now. Paul The Thoughtful Wanderer PS. I have left this blog unedited due to the fact that for some reason if I try to edit text, the computer eats up the words following where the cursor is placed, and since I don't want to have to re-write this whole thing I have decided to post it, warts and all. So I apologize for any errors.

RAIN-O AND A SURPRISE

POST #27 Raino,Raino Fall upon the earth again and make it good. Make it cool and fill the river, fill the pool, quench the thirst of every fool and every sage and every sour soul who's lost so much he doesn't know his need. 1971 song by Chilliwack When I awoke this morning there was the sound of rain falling on the skylights here, and it is a sound that I have hardly heard since arriving here in Victoria on April 27th. This old song by Chilliwack began to play in my head as a result, and so that's what ends up on the blog today. Last September when I had my sailboat for sale, I had many people come to look at it, one of whom was Bill Henderson, the lead singer of Chilliwack. As much as he appeared to like it, he chose not to buy the boat, and it eventually was sold to someone else. Too bad, maybe he could have written a song about the Fortune 30 sailboat, but it was not to be. So today we have to be satisfied with Rain-O and all the other hits which that band produced all those years ago. Yikes, it makes me realise how old I am getting now. So yes, it's a grey rainy day here, which really isn't a big deal and in fact, in my current condition it actually makes it easier to be stuck inside. There has been a long string of sunny days prior to this, and if I had been healthy, I would have been putting many miles on my faithful bicycle, but alas, that is a dream for the future. I had to be content with sitting out on the deck and soaking up the sunshine that way. At least I had that. And I made a point of getting out there every day even if it was for a short period, as it was a good opportunity to take the bandages and half cast off of my leg and let the sunshine do some healing. On Wednesday this week I go to see the doctor and have my leg x-rayed to find out if the bones are healing properly and if so, then it won't be too long before I can begin to start walking again. Hopefully the doctor will be happy with what he sees then. Now getting back to the rain issue. It is easy to complain about the rain, especially when you live out here on the west coast, as we do get our fair share of the stuff, and maybe that is what motivated Bill Henderson to write the song in the first place. Anyhow, we all need water so I guess it's not a good idea to complain. Perhaps a spell in the desert would solve that issue. Now on to other news in the life of the travelling housesitter. Two days ago I received a surprise email from one of the owners of the place I am currently housesitting, and the email informed me that she would be arriving home yesterday, about 2 weeks ahead of schedule. This was quite a shock initially however I am sure that we can come up with some arrangement that suites both parties, or at least I hope so. This is the very first time this has ever happened and so it came as a total surprise to me. Hopefully later today, we can come up with a solution to this situation. I had made all my plans on the assumption that I would be leaving here on June 2nd, and I have booked all my travel arrangements accordingly, but now that might all have to change. But it is what it is, and so now it's just a matter of coming up with a solution to the problem that will work for both parties. If I had two good legs, I would probably just take the opportunity to go for a bike/camping holiday, but in my current condition, that is obviously not possible. One final note. A few weeks ago, blogger.com upgraded this site to quote "make it easier" to navigate around. Now that might have been the case if you're 20 something, but it isn't for me. But one thing I have noticed since then, is that even though I type my blog and do paragraph breaks, the final result just comes out like one long paragraph and I really don't know what the solution to that is. If there is anyone out there in blogger land who can solve my problem I would love to hear from you. By this time next week, I am not sure where I will be, but maybe there will be some more interesting stories to tell, because lately I don't feel like I am coming up with much good content. Maybe I need to go break some more bones so that I have something interesting to talk about. But if that's what it takes, then I guess it will have to pass, as I think I've broken enough bones for one lifetime. That's all for now folks, all the best, Paul The Thoughtful Wanderer

FAR FROM SUBURBIA

POST # 26 Sitting here smack dab in the middle of the suburban sprawl which has become the way of life for so very many people in our world, my mind is focused on a more rural existence. The housesitting that I do these days has offered me the opportunity to move around from suburban to rural life and as a result I get the chance to compare the two and work out which is a better choice for me going forward. And even though for the remainder of this year a substantial portion of my time will be spent in the suburban environment, it has become quite clear to me now that as I move forward towards the rest of my life, the better choice for me will be to live in a rural area in a smaller and close knit community. I know this feeling has been with me for some time now, probably starting when I was fortunate enough to spend a few years living in Dawson City and more specifically at my little cabin, Snug, nestled on the banks of the Klondike river in the Yukon. The wide open spaces, the fresh air, and more than anything else, the peacefullness that a rural life offers have become qualities of life that I treasure now, more than the convenience that the current suburban lifestyle offers. My life began in suburbia, and if it wasn't for the fact that I chose to go travelling early on, I would quite likely be still living in the same city and maybe even the same suburb that I grew up in. But something inside compelled me to go and seek out the bigger world far away from my roots. Where that sense of adventure comes from is a mystery to me. Perhaps I come by it honestly, as my long ago ancestors sailed away from Fecamp in France way back in 1667 en route to North America, settling in the village of Trois Rivieres Quebec. Now that really would have been an adventure, knowing that you were leaving your birthplace and all that was familiar, and heading to a totally unknown destination. There were no glossy travel brochures back in 1667 expounding on the many sights to see in Trois Rivieres. The two brothers who made that journey would have been on the adventure of a lifetime with absolutely no idea how it was all going to turn out. And perhaps that was one of the big attractions, the unknown that awaited them in the new world. And I suppose that is one of the things that attracts me to the wandering life that I have chosen. I just find it much more interesting NOT knowing what's ahead. And I guess in light of recent events regarding my leg, I am happy to not know what is ahead, otherwise I probably wouldn't have gotten out of bed on March 4th. Another aspect, and maybe the best aspect of all this wandering around has been the opportunity to meet so many interesting people and make some very good friendships along the way, which brings me around to the topic I started off with about living a rural life. I was fortunate to spend time with friends this weekend. A couple of them own a farm just up island from here in the Cowichan valley, which is a very pleasant rural setting. I spent a couple of days there last year not long after they had made the move, and it was enjoyable to be out working with ones hands and breathing in the country air. My other friends that visited will be moving to the island of Crete in Greece, later this year. They have now had enough of the urban life and are looking forward to their new life in a much more rural area. I feel that both sets of friends are on the right track for the future, living closer to the land and closer to where their food comes from. I think that as more time passes, this idea of being food self sufficient will become even more important. And even if it wasn't an issue, it just seems to be a much more healthy and therefore less stressfull lifestyle. Perhaps next year I will be able to find a housesit in Crete and get the opportunity to see how things are working out for my friends. Back here at my suburban ranch, the cats and I are enjoying the summer like weather, and we all take the time to sprawl out and have a nap in the nearest sunbeam when the opportunity arrises. My leg continues to improve and I am almost pain free, which puts a smile on my face. I even had a dream this past week in which I was walking on my "new" leg which maybe is a positive sign for the future. We'll see. And now that it is late afternoon, and the sun has swung around to the west, it's a great time to head upstairs and find those cats and that sunbeam and have an afternoon nap. All this writing has made me sleepy. Happy trails, Paul The Thoughtful Wanderer

CAT-VALESCENCE IN VICTORIA

POST # 25 Since I began this blog back in October of last year, I have been in the habit of waking up on the day that I am about to write with usually a few ideas of what might spill out of my brain onto the page, and once I begin, the words just seem to flow. This morning however all I could come up with was a play on the word convalescence. So let's go with that, shall we? If there is such a thing as the perfect housesit while one is recovering from a broken leg, then this housesit fits the bill. Tai and Maggie are the perfect companions for me at the moment. When I arrived, Maggie was doing a bit of cat-valescence herself, but we are through that now, and they are both happy to do what cats do best, eat, sleep, and purr a lot. This makes my job very easy indeed. I also might add, that they are indoor only cats which is great as I couldn't imagine having to wander around the neighbourhood looking for a lost cat in my current condition. The funny thing I have noticed about myself when I am taking care of cats only, is that I tend to become more cat like in my own habits. And with spring now here and the sun streaming in the various windows of the house, there have been times when all three of us have found a place on the carpet to stretch out in a sunbeam and just enjoy the moment. CATS REALLY HAVE IT MADE. After just over a week here now, I have settled into a comfortable routine and over that period I have slowly refined my movements in order to minimize any effort to get from a to b and also to help prevent any accidents. Even though I have to be carefull all of the time, one place where I pay extra special attention to is when I am standing at the top of the stairs preparing to go down to the basement where the computer resides. A fall down the stairs would be a very bad event, and I have worked out a specific procedure now which allows me to make the journey safely. Feeding the cats and cleaning their litter boxes was somewhat tricky at first, but by now I have that routine down pat as well and the cats are happy about that I am sure. As everything for them is located on the floor, the safest way for me to accomplish these tasks is to be on the floor as well. Since March 4th I have become quite proficient at propelling myself around using two arms, one leg and my buttocks. It aint pretty, but it works and it's safe which is all that I am really concerned about at this point. One other endeavour I am slowly perfecting is the act of preparing food and then getting the food to a place where I can sit and eat it. Through a combination of backpacks, plastic bags, and index fingers, or a combination of all three, I seem to be managing o.k. and of course as each day passes I get more refined with my transport activities. Also, I am moving around better than before on my crutches. This is certainly an activity that improves over time. The main thing is to consider myself a tripod and concentrate on having my one good leg and the two crutches placed solidly on the ground before I move forward. It sounds logical to do, but all it takes is to be in a rush, or to think I can do two things at once and then I get myself into a potentially bad situation. So far I have been lucky, and in fact I have been doing this now for so long, that crutching around is beginning to feel normal. I will be using this mode of transport for another five weeks, and by then I should be somewhat of an expert. This week has really just flown right on by and I have had the opportunity to catch up with old friends either in person or over the phone which has been one of the benefits of being back here in Victoria. I also had the chance to spend time with my niece Kathryn this past week, and that was fun. She helped her crippled uncle by driving me to a clinic to book an appointment for my follow up leg x-ray and then we headed over to the grocery store to do a big shop, something that I couldn't have done on my own. From now on, the shopping list will have to be whatever will fit in my backpack. Let's call it the backpack diet. The other thing worth mentioning is the continued healing of my leg. When I arrived here, the wound from the operation was still weeping some blood plasma and of course that was a concern, but now it is completely healed, so I have no risk of infection which is a big load off my mind. I am also getting significant movement back in my toes and also in my ankle, however I think it will be the ankle that will be the last to come back to whatever kind of normal I can expect in the future. And finally after almost two straight months, I finally have kicked the pill popping which was mainly to manage the pain but also to keep my digestive track working as it should. So April 30th was the final day for all that, and even though I still have some pain, it's more of an annoyance than anything else. I still have to keep my leg elevated as much as possible, as the swelling is still there, but I have plenty of locations around the house where I can accomplish that task, and I usually have Tai and Maggie close by giving me moral support. All things considered, life is pretty damn cushy at the moment. The cat-valescence continues. Paul The Thoughtful Wanderer