THE THOUGHTFUL WANDERER TURNS FIVE TODAY

POST # 235

A MAGNIFICENT APPROACH TO MY CURRENT HOUSESIT

Today, The Thoughtful Wanderer turns five which means that I have been doing this house/pet sitting gig full time now for just over five years.  I departed Vancouver on October 1st, 2011 and wandered off to Orcas Island in Washington state and I've been wandering ever since then.  What a life.  And what fun it has been.  Along the way I have been extremely fortunate to get to know some wonderful two-legged as well as four-legged animals.

I decided to look back through some of the blog posts and include them here.  There are five in total, all with the same date as today, with only the year changing each time.

LAKE OSWEGO, OREGON

The very first post was written when I was in Lake Oswego, Oregon.  I fell into this housesit as a result of my housesit on Orcas Island.  Cathy, whom I was housesitting for on Orcas was renting at the time.  The landlords came up to visit from Lake Oswego, and when they arrived, I happened to be out in the garden, weeding.  No doubt I scored a few points with them, so they offered me a housesit at their place later in the month, and they even covered the cost of my transport.


http://wherespaulnow.blogspot.com/2011/10/thoughtful-wanderer-begins.html



ORCAS ISLAND, WASHINGTON STATE

Fast forward exactly one year, and I found myself settled in back on Orcas Island.  Something that I wrote back then, still holds true, and I've included it below.

"This year of housesitting has also allowed me to live the simple life that I find so attractive and stress free. If I have said this once I have said it a thousand times,
"as long as I have a roof over my head and a full belly, I really don't have anything to complain about." I still feel that way, maybe even more so in light of the events of the past year. Now, I am simply happy to just have another day to spend, and so it is extremely easy for me to wake up every day with a smile, knowing that I am alive and that I have another opportunity with the day ahead to just breathe the air and enjoy my life for as long as it will last."

For those who want to read the entire entry it is included here, and the comment above "in light of the events of the past year" refers to my potentially fatal fall down a mountainside on March 4th, 2012.

http://wherespaulnow.blogspot.com/2012/10/happy-blogiversary-paul.html



THE BIG ISLAND OF HAWAII

I do get around.  Even though I had been to Hawaii a few times, this was my first and so far only visit to the big island.  I was a guest of my friend, Mary and I was only meant to be here for a couple of weeks, but my follow up housesit which was going to be back in British Columbia, fell through, so I stayed here for about six weeks total.  The blog entry is short, and I included in it a link to an article about the ocean.  Back then, I didn't know how to attach a link properly, so I have put it here as well.

The blog post:

http://wherespaulnow.blogspot.com/2013/10/two-years-on-and-pacific-ocean.html


The link to the article about the Pacific Ocean, and it describes a solo sailor's voyage.  Being a sailor, I can highly recommend reading it,  in spite of the fact that the author explains the sad state of the oceans, in this case, the Pacific.

http://www.theherald.com.au/story/1848433/the-ocean-is-broken/?cs=12



BEND, OREGON

The blog anniversary for 2014 was spent with my friend Mary (mentioned above) at her new location in Bend Oregon.  I was in between housesits,  which provided me with the opportunity to spend time with her.

http://wherespaulnow.blogspot.com/2014/10/nepal-blizzard-and-genoa-floods.html



DUNCAN, BRITISH COLUMBIA

Well to be exact,  I was just west of the town of Duncan out on a small acreage.  This was a wonderful place to be.  It was election time in Canada and I think I wrote some pretty good words about how useless elections are.  That's my humble opinion of course.  Now here we are a year later, and in the USA where I am currently sitting, it's all about the Presidential election.  I could just change the names of the politicians, and copy and paste the words from last year's blog and it would fit quite well.

http://wherespaulnow.blogspot.com/2015/10/another-pointless-election-that-avoids.html

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Naturally I think that it's worthwhile to re-read all of the above posts, however I am biased in that regard.  I leave it up to the reader to decide.  I suspect that the content of some of my blogs has turned away some of my readers, but that's ok, and it is of course their choice.  After all, there are only so many hours in the day, and others may find that they have more important things to do.


So now what?  Another 5 more years of blogging in front of me?  I rather doubt it, but I can't be sure.  It's not that I don't enjoy doing this four times/month, but I do wonder whether or not I'll be around to complete the task.  Don't get me wrong, I'd love to believe that this blog will be going for many years into the future, and that I will be happily typing away at the keyboard until I'm very old and very gray or bald, whichever comes first.  However, I can think of a few things that might interrupt this little blog ritual of mine.  Let's see:
-habitat loss due to abrupt climate change
-chaos resulting from energy depletion, therefore no food at the grocery store
-WW111 (and this one would be nuclear) because of the crazies in Washington DC.
-heart attack
-unexpected accident

No doubt the list could be made much longer, but the length of it doesn't matter all that much.  Death can come at any time, which is all the more reason to try and squeeze as much life as one can out of each moment.  It's actually a good thing to think about one's own death because it makes life all that much sweeter, and what could be wrong with that?  So these days I appreciate everything even that much more than I ever used to.  And I mean appreciate everything.  The fresh air to breathe, watching a hummingbird in flight, the light shining on a tree leaf, clean water to drink, everything.  So it's a conundrum.  The more one contemplates death, the more alive one feels, and for me at least, the happier I feel as each day arrives.  Try it sometime.

I was reminded recently of the fifth item on the list above, that being an unexpected accident.  In this case it was a plane crash which caught my attention.  It made the news primarily because one of the occupants of the aircraft was the former Premier of Alberta.  However, one of the other occupants was a person by the name of Sheldon Reid.  A very long time ago I played ice hockey with a Sheldon Reid in Calgary, my home town.  Of course I don't know for sure if this was the same person, but his age was about the same, so it is possible.  The point of the story is that all four people on this aircraft wouldn't have thought that October 13th, 2016 was going to be their last day.  One never knows, really.

Now I suspect that some of my readers might think that I am being morbid, but I don't happen to subscribe to that point of view.  Life guarantees death.  That's all you really need to understand, and if you can come to grips with that fact, then appreciating the precious moments that we all have, whether they last only until I finish typing this sentence, or for decades into the future, seem all that much more precious indeed.

As far as today goes, well, so far so good.  I have a little mental check list that I go through, and if I can put a √ by each of the seven items on the list, then the odds are pretty good that I will get through today.
Here is the list:
1-clean air to breath
2-clean water to drink
3-food to eat
4-body temperature not too hot
5-body temperature not too cold
6-not critically injured
7-not critically ill

Of the seven items, it's really only the last one on the list which is somewhat of a wildcard.  Your heart could stop beating at any moment, and that's not something that you can anticipate.  I do what I can to minimize this by doing regular exercise and trying to eat properly, but hey, there's no guarantee that doing those two things is going to extend how many heart beats that are left.  However, my current resting heart rate is around 47bpm so that's pretty healthy.

Well, I've rambled on a bit on this blog, so it's time to wind things up.  I think I'll finish off, the way I began, with a nice photo.  This was taken a couple of days ago down at the lakefront near where I am currently housesitting.  This was the first I had seen the sun for many, many days and I was happy to be there at that moment to enjoy the scene.

LAKE WHATCOM

living a life of profound acceptance,

Paul

The Thoughtful Wanderer

RAIN BOMBS, WIND GUSTS and a POWER OUTAGE AS WELL

POST # 234

Keeping my finger on the pulse.

It's now just past 9pm on the west coast, and after more than six hours without power, I am finally getting a chance to write my blog for today.  Better late than never.  

Everything turned off just after one o'clock this afternoon, but I have a good book to read so it wasn't really a big deal.  No doubt there were many in the neighbourhood who might have been somewhat more agitated with the situation, but after living for almost 5 years in my little shack in the Yukon without power OR running water, this little drama was a non event to me.  Just go with the flow, and count my blessings.  

A major storm system has arrived and things are expected to be windy and wet for the next day or two. I did manage to get out for my daily bike ride today but it had it's own little bit of excitement thrown in.  A HUGE gust of wind swept across the road at one point, and in addition to knocking numerous garbage bins over,  it almost took me out as well.  I had to really lean into the wind in order to not get blown over.   Fun stuff.  It pays to be living in the moment.  

The link below talks about the storm moving through, and there is a possibility of  up to 2 FEET  of rain in some areas.  Welcome to the new normal.  It's called a rain bomb.  The atmosphere is so warm now, that it holds plenty of moisture, and when that moisture descends to the ground, look out.

http://robinwestenra.blogspot.co.nz/2016/10/extreme-weather-in-pacific-nw.html

All in all, it's been an interesting day, and it's shaping up to be a wet and windy weekend.  I'm not sure if there will be any  more power outages, but if there are, I'll just accept them as they come.   At least I have a gas fireplace to keep me warm. 

And speaking of fireplaces, here is an old video of when I was housesitting in Grand Forks, which had a nice wood stove, and some extremely relaxed looking critters as well.

Now I better go and check to see if the ice cream in the freezer melted.

living a life of profound acceptance,

Paul

The Thoughtful Wanderer

DOLLARS VRS SECONDS and A COUPLE OF VIDEOS

POST # 233

You walk into your local convenience store to pick up a few items, and while there, you decide to have the clerk check the lottery ticket that you purchased a while ago.  You know that the odds of you winning are infinitesimal.  You also know that people do win every now and again.  With your shopping complete, you amble up to the counter, pay for your items and have the cashier run your ticket through the lotto machine.

YOU CAN'T BELIEVE WHAT HAPPENS NEXT.

She tells you that you have won.  Not first prize, but one of the smaller prizes.  The amount is $86,400.  What luck!!!  And what a fantastic start to your day.  You thank her, grab your ticket and groceries and go bounding out of the store, extremely happy, even happier than you remember being decades ago when you finally completed your last day of school.  It's shaping up to be a great day, and you start making all sorts of plans on how to get the most out of it, and enjoy your new found wealth.

Here is a second scenario.  Same convenience store, same day, and the same amount of prize money, but this time, in order to collect, you have to make a big decision.  You can only have the money if you agree to give up your life at midnight.  Say what???   If you offered that option, I suspect that virtually everyone would decline the money, in order to save their life, and live another day.

 The number is significant.  It's the amount of seconds that we all have to "spend" each day.  Given the choice between dollars and seconds, it seems rather obvious which is more valuable.  So what's the point of this whole story anyhow, Thoughtful Wanderer?

That's a reasonable question to ask.  The point is to help the reader appreciate just how precious each moment (second) really is.   But it's a difficult task if you're human.  Dogs, cats, birds and the myriad of other sentient beings that live on the planet spend their moments in the now, but humans probably spend more time in either the future or the past than in the present.  I'm as guilty as the rest, however I do try to catch myself when I find that I am not concentrating on the current moment.  Try it some time. Try focusing on being present for as long as you possibly can.  You'll probably discover that it is a challenging, but highly worthwhile thing to do.

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I'm settling in at my current housesit, and enjoying my daily routine.  It's a pet-less sit again, however there are plenty of animals around and occasionally I even get to be up close and personal with one.

This is one of the neighbourhood furballs, and I was fortunate enough to have a few minutes to spend with it yesterday.

Aside from keeping an eye out for pets, and plenty of deer,  I also like to get my daily ride in.  Here in Sudden Valley, there is an excellent road  to travel on which is low in traffic, and at the same time is a very good work out due to its roller coaster configuration.  The other day I decided to duct tape my ipod onto the handlebars so that I could capture the thrill of going downhill.  This isn't the entire video, however it gives the viewer some idea.   Talk about having to be in the present moment.  Especially with all of those deer lurking in the bushes.

living a life of profound acceptance,

Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer

SOME FINAL PORT TOWNSEND THOUGHTS

POST # 232

 My recent housesit in Port Townsend is now history, however there are a few memories that need to be recorded here, starting with, Bogachiel the Malamute.

I had the good fortune to meet Bogachiel out front of one of the shops at the marina in Port Townsend. With a face like this, it would have been virtually impossible for me to not stop and say hello.  After spending almost an entire week with three furballs, it was a pleasant change to have some bonehead company for a while.  Bogachiel was happy as well, because there was plenty of cat odour on me for him to sniff.  He has an unusual name, so I asked the owners about it.  There is a state park on the Olympic peninsula with this name, and according to them, Bogachiel means, "muddy when wet."  No doubt, he lives up to his namesake during the rainy season, but he was looking pretty clean cut when I took this photo.

This last housesit had a nice view looking east, and I managed to capture this sunrise one morning.  

Prior to running into Bogachiel, I peddled past the tall ship that I had seen last week, and decided to take another photo.  The workers had removed the tarp and so I managed to get the whole ship in view.  It's name is the "Lady Washington".

I had some visitors pass through town while I was there.  Cathy and Jeanne are from Orcas Island, and they were doing a bike tour for a few days, so they stopped in at Port Townsend to say hello.  We had a wonderful visit, with plenty of thoughtful conversation, which is hard to come by these days, and  very much appreciated.  I first met Cathy almost 5 years ago to the day (October 1st 2011) when I arrived on Orcas Island for the very first time in order to housesit her three furballs.  This was my very first housesit after becoming intentionally homeless, as a result of selling my sailboat in Vancouver.  My last night on the boat was September 30th of that year, and I headed out bright and early the next morning, bound for Orcas.  I met Jeanne as a result of knowing Cathy.

Jeanne (L) and Cathy (R) at the Blue Moose Cafe which is located in the marina at Port Townsend.  The cafe was right next door to the shop where I had met Bogachiel a few days earlier, but unfortunately he wasn't there on this day.  

I also ran in to my friend Bill again, down on the waterfront, while he was out for his morning walk.  Since last visiting with him, I had sent him a printed copy of the blog I wrote which featured Bill, and he was very appreciative of the fact that I had done that.  We talked about that, and many other topics.  He's a great guy to visit with.  I decided to take a photo of the two of us and also do a video as well.

All in all, the past week in Port Townsend was time well spent as far as I am concerned.  I spent time with three lovely furballs, and also had a chance to catch up with friends.  

Now it's time to settle in at my new housesit in Bellingham.  

I've got fresh rhubarb growing outside which is a nice treat to have every now and again.

living a life of profound acceptance,

Paul

The Thoughtful Wanderer

PORT TOWNSEND REBOUND WITH ADDED FURBALLS

 POST # 231

If one were to pick a location on the west coast that you might find a tall ship being refitted, it would quite possibly be in Port Townsend, Washington.  And Port Townsend is where I find myself again,  furball sitting.  It's just a whistle stop this time around compared to my recent  three month housesit.
 I'm here for only a week, but that is enough time to make three new furball friends. Make that four.

So here they are.

SQUINT

KIT

GREY JAY

They are typical furballs, each with their own very unique personalities.  In the short time that I have been here, Grey Jay seems to have decided to be my best buddy.  Perhaps this is due to the fact that on my first day here, he disappeared.  Eventually he was discovered hiding in the wood box near the fireplace, after having been in there all day long.  Now he wants to be as close as possible, which is ok by me.

Kit just likes to eat a lot and sleep in the sunbeams, and Squint is somewhat more independent than the other two.  

As if I didn't have enough furballs to keep me company, I met this one outside this morning.  He sure wanted to come in the front door, but that would likely have caused chaos, so we just sat out on the front step and had a visit.  He's extremely friendly, even though you might not detect that from the look in his eyes.

Even though this property isn't quite as rural as my last place, and even though it is in town, I'm surrounded by greenery, and it's pretty quiet so that makes me happy.  Here's a view out of the kitchen window at an abandoned shack which is next door.

If only the walls could talk.  The place probably has an interesting history.

One of the advantages of being at this location is that I have been able to continue my daily bike ride, and much of the route is similar to the last time I was in Port Townsend.  It's always a great way to start the day, and with the new route, there are new things to see, like this pretty flower,

and this old mansion on the hill overlooking the town.

You never know what you might see on a ride, and the following photo is just one example.  It was actually taken last week in Sudden Valley, but I thought that I would include it here.

This sign reminds me of the woman a few years back who had phoned into a radio station in Fargo, North Dakota, complaining about the fact that "deer crossing" signs were placed on major roads.  She thought that it would be safer for the deer, if the signs were on roads that weren't so busy.  She actually believed that the deer would follow the instructions on the sign.

Here is the link to her phone call, and subsequent call, after she realized her stupidity.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/19/donna-radio-caller-deer-crossing-sign-complaint_n_1987405.html

Perhaps deer don't know where to cross roads, however this deer certainly knows how to jump a fence.  I captured this moment, yesterday morning in my back yard.

I'll be here for the remainder of the week, and I should have enough time to pick a bunch more apples as there are apple trees everywhere, groaning under the weight of all the fruit.  

Time now to finish off this tale, and what better way to do that then to have a photo of a tail.  This particular tail belongs to Grey Jay, from earlier this morning, after she hopped up on the bed.

living a life of profound acceptance,

Paul

The Thoughtful Wanderer

FRANKIE'S NOW GONE

POST # 230

Boo hoo!!! Frankie's gone!!!  She was here for almost six days and we had the pleasure of pet-sitting her for about half of that time.  With a bonehead (dog) like Frankie, it didn't take long to fall in love with her.  Of course the downside to that is the fact that the house felt kind of empty once her owner, Dawn returned on Monday to pick her up.  By that point, Frankie had definitely settled in with her new caregivers, and so when Dawn arrived, Frankie was beside herself with excitement, not knowing just which lap to jump up into.

One of the highlights of our time spent with Frankie, was when we took her to the local off leash dog park.  I'm not sure if this is something that she has had the opportunity to experience in the past, but she seemed to enjoy it, as can be seen by the photo below, with her resting happily on a bench in the park.  This photo was taken after she had walked, ran, pooped, sniffed at,  and been sniffed by her fellow canine friends.  And to top it all off, she's got a treat to munch on, which is nestled between her front paws.  What more could a bonehead ask for?

Contrast this look to the two images below.  After her owner had spent a couple of hours visiting, it was time for Frankie to head south.  Here she is with a WTF look on her face just after being loaded into the car.

And here is Frankie a few moments later when she has come to the realization that the time with her new human friends is coming to a close.

This second look is more of a "how could you do this to me, after all of the love that I have shared with you in the past few days?" kind of look.

The house sure seemed empty later on.  No dog to curl up with on the couch or chair.  No more walks around the neighbourhood, and worst of all, NO MORE DOG PARK.

However, my friend Mary and I told Dawn that we would be more than happy to host Frankie again in the future, so something tells me that this was just a temporary goodbye.

And how could a blog about a dog be complete without a post poop video.

With Frankie now gone, we drove to Mary's car repair place this morning to get an oil change.  It's a great place to go if you're a furball lover because there are two of them in the reception area.  The business specializes in Japanese autos, and the cats names are Lexus the mom, and her daughter, Sky.  Here is a photo of Lexus from earlier this morning.

Having spent plenty of time with a variety of furballs over the years, I would have to say that Lexus wins the fat cat award, hands down.  Or is it paws down?

Finally, I have included a pdf file of the latest edition of the Klondike Sun newspaper.  They were happy to put a slightly edited version of my story from August 7th, about my friend, Breaker the bonehead. The article is on Page 5.  There is plenty more to read in the paper as well.  Enjoy.

Klondike Sun September 7, 2016 E-file .pdf

living a life of profound acceptance,

Paul

The Thoughtful Wanderer

THOUGHTS OF PORT TOWNSEND AND FRANKIE THE BONEHEAD

POST #229

Introducing Frankie.  More on her in a moment.

My Port Townsend housesit is now over, and it was a wonderful experience in many ways. I am grateful for having had the opportunity.
I did one final trip down to the waterfront, and took a photo of my favourite reading spot, that I would go to every day.  Time to read, and then have an afternoon nap in the sunshine to work on my tan.  On this final day in town, the sun was nowhere to be seen, but it doesn't seem to matter to the three otters that were my daily companions at the seaside.

My friend Dahr was happy with all of the garden work that I completed during my three month stay.  Here we are standing in front of one of his apple trees, prior to my departure to the mainland.  The reason we are standing so far apart is because we were trying to show off the apples in the background, however it looks like we're trying to avoid each others smell. :-)

His girlfriend Laurie, took this photo, and I'll be returning to Port Townsend later in the month to housesit her place for just over a week, where I will be surrounded by three lovely furballs.

I'm back on the mainland now, hanging out for a while in Sudden Valley which is near Bellingham.  My friend Mary and I went on a walk the other day through the woods near here.  There were plenty of wonderful mossy trees to enjoy along the way.

Mary's friend, Dawn arrived yesterday for a short visit from Edmonds, WA, and she brought along her bonehead named Frankie.  Having been starved of dog company for three months, Frankie and I hit it off right from the start.  She's a real sweetheart.   Here are some recent photos of her.

As you can see by the above photos, she's pretty adorable.  I would be happy to housesit her anytime.

I'm enjoying my time here, and even though it isn't as quiet as the last place I was at, it's certainly a pleasant place to be for the time being.  Each day is precious.

living a life of profound acceptance,

Paul,

The Thoughtful Wanderer