Cruising Adventures of the Red Witch

May 28th, 2023 While it seems that most of our days are busy ones, our first day back in Ocean Falls was a particularly extra busy one.   The weather forecast was for rain, so we had to get our truck fully unloaded and everything inside as soon as we could.   This meant that Jason had to make many heavy trips down our long set of stairs from the back lane.    Also, our water had been shut off for the winter and our house had been left winterized, so we needed to get our water running again.   However, when we turned our water back on nothing came out of the taps.   So, while Jason worked tirelessly to unload the truck, I moved Falcon around from room to room with me while I tried to figure out what was going on with our water.   Eventually I disassembled our inside shutoff valve, and while I held a rag over the now open pipe, Jason turn on our outside shutoff valve.   I waited for the anticipated spray of water, but when still nothing came out I r...

May 26-28, 2023  Friday, May 26th, was a big day for us, as we finally, after having been in Canada for two months, began our journey back to our house in Ocean Falls.   While making the long drive up Vancouver Island to Port Hardy, we were happy to have been able to stop to visit friends along the way.   We then spent the night in a hotel in Port Hardy, and Falcon and I spent the following morning visiting with a good friend of mine from high school, while Jason did our last minute shopping for produce and refrigerator items.   In our truckload of items, we had two large boxes of frozen meat, which my mom and I had repackaged from the fresh family-packs of meat that I had purchased during our major shopping runs.   Thankfully we were able to put these boxes into my friend's deep freezer overnight in order to try to keep them frozen until we got home.     At 14:20, on May 27th,   we arrived at the ferry terminal to begin the long wait to see if we...

May 23-25, 2023 On May 23rd, after Jason had finished his first-aid course, my brother and his wife, who live in the UK, arrived in Victoria for a visit.   It was nice for us to get to see them, and it was also especially cool for them to get to see Falcon again.   They had joined us in Mexico when Falcon was only 17 days old, but they had not seen him since then.   The changes that they got to experience with Falcon were significant.     During the time of their visit, my parents had an oil tank that was buried in their back yard removed.   It was a time in which all of us were curious about how the process would go.   It ended up being a two-day project, so Falcon got to have the experience of sitting on a big-boys' toy one evening when the workers had gone home.     On May 25th, Jason and I carefully packed up our truck, and even though we utilized all of the space efficiently, the truck ended up being very, very full.   Despite havin...

May 4 - 20, 2023 After getting back to British Columbia again from our time in Nova Scotia, Jason took a two-week Occupational First Aid Level 3 course.   While he was hard at work going to classes all day and studying in the evenings, my mom, Falcon, and I went on many long shopping trips to some of the big grocery stores like Costco, Walmart, and The Canadian Superstore.   We also ended up going to several hardware and parts stores such as Princess Auto, Canadian Tire, Home Hardware, and Lordco to gather the many parts and accessories that Jason and I would need to complete some of the work that we wanted to do when we returned to our house in Ocean Falls.   As my list of things to buy got shorter and shorter, the pile in my parents' living room got bigger and bigger.   When Jason and I are in Ocean Falls the only option of places for us to order groceries from is Save On Foods in Port Hardy, and on top of the grocery price we pay an additional 50 cents per pound f...

April 20th - May 3rd, 2023   On April 20th, Jason, Falcon and I took the ferry back over to Vancouver to board a flight across the country to go and visit with Jason’s family in Nova Scotia.    We spent two weeks with his family, and we also took some time to travel to the town in which Jason was born.   During our time in Nova Scotia, Falcon rolled over for the first time, which of course was the first of many rolls to come.   Falcon also experienced his first swing, his first quad ride, and the opportunity to jump around in a jolly jumper.   We were also treated to a lot of good down-home cooking from Jason’s mom, and a true Nova Scotia lobster feast.   There were some massive lobsters at the table that night, with the largest one being for Jason.   It was the biggest lobster that Jason had ever seen, as it was over 5lbs and about as long as Falcon!   Then, after a wonderful visit, it was back to British Columbia again for another very...

March 26th - April 20th, 2023   After arriving back in British Columbia we had a very busy time.   Our first stop was in Okanagan Falls where we got to visit with my 97-year-old grandfather, Falcon’s only Great Grandparent.  Falcon also had the opportunity to meet a Great Aunt and Uncle who had come to Okanagan Falls for a day to visit.   We had a lovely visit with all of them, and we even got to help my grandfather with planting his large vegetable garden.    Four generations.   In addition to visiting with family, we also got to see Jiji again (our rescue-kitten), as she now lives with my grandfather.   It seemed like Jiji recognized us even though it had been eight months since we had last seen her.   She was very curious about Falcon, and whenever he would fuss or cry during the day or night, Jiji would come running to see what was happening. We then visited with friends in Vancouver for a few days, before heading over to my parents...