Kai's 15th Birthday

French Beach

Bittersweet

 

The 1910 windows upstairs are done.  Some broken, all of them warbly glass, the wood is rotten and the wind whistles in.  Today he starts the swap for the new modern windows.  

I know I'm going to love the ability to open them for fresh air.  Control heat better and have a clear view out.  The bittersweet part is knowing I'll miss the look of them outside when we drive in.  The new ones will definitely not match the main floor whatsoever.

Eric is installing them from the outside so the old molding inside stays untouched.  

It will be a long day of pounding.

I had hoped to take off camping on my own this afternoon but the weather is looking pretty iffy.

How is life for ya'll?

 

Last infusion.  Got there and vital check showed blood pressure of 84/67.  Bit too low.  So lots of talks and rigamarole to get through.  My nurse hung around pretty close and did like 20 checks. Even using two machines to make sure the machines agreed.  Sheesh. Then I had to stay extra long for extra fluids.

I did get an appointment for St Paul's Anal Dysplasia Clinic.  Did I mention that already?  It conflicted with the next Tremfya appointment so the date was rearranged while I was there.  The lab, the carriers, the pharmacy drop here, carrier to the island, matched with an appointment date at the private clinic. Phew.

Both happening while Eric is away.  I'll need my Mama to help with the boys to get through those days.

R.i.p. my Queen.

Then heard this morning that Tim Curry passed too. 

The boys were dragged with us yesterday.  School shopping.  Five pairs of pants for Luk, 3 for Kai.  A stack of shirts and shoes for Kai.  We still need to find shoes for Luk that will fit over his orthotics.  Then rewarded with Chinese smorgasbord.

We booked another Mexico cruise for February with Shannon, Ken and kids!  Royal Carribean, Voyager of the Seas.  It was a mega sale.  We booked two inside rooms.  40% off 1st passenger, 60% off the second, 3rd and 4rth free.  What?!

It's a huge ship.  There are street parades and an ice show.  So fun.  Even better, Shannon found it, I just had to book.  

Woke yesterday to the news of an active shooter.  He was caught.  Good lord, what is happening to our little town?!

Thanks Facebook for the memory.  Sob.  Is there a way to turn those off?

So, I have no plans yet for the day.  A responsible person would get Luk going and hunt out shoes.  Or at the least find Crocs in bigger sizes for the boys for their February trip.  

I didn't eat a snack before bed.  I'm usually high after an infusion so I was hoping to combat that.  Diabetes won again.  You can't overthink it.  Woke to a low.  Surprise, surprise.  There is no way to get all 42 factors aligned all the time.  I've eaten my cereal with milk.  The shaking has stopped.  I anticipate likely being wonky all day.  Yet again, cursing the surgeon that removed part of my pancreas.

When you witness a miracle.

 

Home from the hospital to see this going on in the kitchen.

Miracle.

Luk said he asked Kai to help and he simply did.  Luk said I obviously didn't let him touch the knives.  Lol.

My boys.  Growing up so fast.

Love ❤️ 

Today is my last Tremfya infusion.  Next month it's needle injection training.  Following that it will be delivered to the house.

So the boys are coming with us today.  Thrift store stop.  Then to drop me off.  I have my lunch packed.  Afterwards our plan is to hit the mall for a bit of back to school shopping.  They don't need much.  Pants and shoes for the most part.

Jia and Rob got hit.

 

They're ok.

Just off a shift together, on the way home and they were hit hard on the back passenger side.  

They dealt with reports.  Called his Dad to come and deal with the other driver who wouldn't talk to Robert.  Rob's uncle was there too.

When the other driver left, the uncle followed him.  He went directly to a pawn shop.  It was also reported to Eric that he was driving an old red van full of jerry cans.

So, there have been a lot of suspicious fires around here.  A fellow has been named as our local arsonist.   I have zero clue what is needed to get him.  Anyways....same guy who hit the kids.

They believe he was high.

We met the kids at the hospital to get Jia's health card to her. And visably "see" that she was ok. Then back again later with cords and power packs as they both had dead phones.

They were seen relatively quickly.  All good.  Rob's back is hurting though.

Jia was teasing gramma that her leg was broken and her lung was punctured ;)

Unplugged Again

 

A weekend trip to Nitnat River.

Plus 2 more that came Saturday.

So quiet, so peaceful.  It's insane how much I enjoy no phone.  For short periods.  No noise or light pollution.

Love.  They stay like that when the door is open until I came back.

I asked Eric for a screwdriver so I could open my water tank on Squirrel.  A butter knife (girl tool) wasn't strong enough.  I didn't know why Mr wasn't producing one for me.  I was contemplating a trip to the thrift store.  Haha.  The delay was so he could find a tool that specifically fits this opening.  Too funny.  I was shocked such a thing existed.  It took him a minute to find it.  It was from our old boat 20 plus years ago.  And he had 2 :)

He also installed a bracket to hold the umbrella from Cheese.  So I have a dry kitchen in case of rain.  We only experienced a drizzle.  The wicked storm didn't hit where we were.

Late night and dinner cooked in the dark.

Right by the river.  Man did we sleep great.  1am to 7:30!  

Eric found gold.  Lots of veins and glitter in his rock.  His find got everyone having a look around for a few hours.

We found a scary guy in Youbou.  He stood like that and stared at us for half an hour!!  Once we were done with goodbyes and were all aired up it was sure nice to drive away from him.

The gold hunting trek.

Squirrel's first night wheeling.  It went better than I expected.  No oncoming lights.  No road glare.  Easy to follow the lights in front of you.  Plus Squirrel got to show off all her fancy extra lights.

Unplugged

 

Remote camping on Mount Washington.

Our 3 Jeeps did the trek up.  Squirrel and I did an intimidating obstacle on the way.  Called Sketchy Bridge.  I did not see evidence of a bridge.  I did have to drive it entirely by trusting my spotter (Eric) 
and blindly doing what his hands said to do.  Scary.  Another family joined us later.

The spot was worth the trek.

Those are squirrel lights.  

There is no light or noise pollution.

So relaxing.

Eric was the only one to go in.  He reports it's warmer than our pool.

Erik making dinner.

Eric making dinner.

They needed to carve a bit of bark off.  Both of them whipped out their knives.  Too funny.

We were cozy.  We could talk through our windows.  I slept great.  Eric is struggling to get his bed comfy.  At least we were warm enough.

Tea in my Squirrel mug :)

Fun fact.

 My Tremfya infusion medication is live.  They call me each month before the appointment date to make sure everyone is on track.  The next appointment is Aug 25.  The live culture for me starts it's growth today.  I just got the call :)

Botanical Beach

 

Sasha had an appointment with our vet on Friday.  The second we went in the door she started panting and promptly peed on me.  So I took my t-shirt off for the appointment.  She did a blood sample and we discussed the meds long term.  I did tell her I felt the seizures in the emergency vet were because they overdosed her.  The blood work came back and on Monday I got a call from Dr. Amelia and after talking to the emergency vet and reading the file she agrees with me, so we are thankfully weaning Sasha off of the anti seizure meds.  They keep her tired and dizzy and need to be given every 8 hours.  So right now I do noon, 8pm and 4am.  I'd love to drop the 4am!  However, Sasha is now taking her pills in peanut butter!  So it is easy.

Then we were asked to get a pee sample.  Haha.  The suggestion is to walk her on a leash for her morning pee outside and have a ladle to put under her.  Omg.  She is 5.6lbs and uses a pee pad.  I woke this morning, locked Coco out of our room, put a pee mat on the floor upside down and she peed on it.  What a doll.  It's like she understood the mission.  We poured it into a ziplock and Eric delivered it to the vet this morning.  I'm feeling accomplished and that might be enough for today.

Eric is helping a friend today.  Fei worked last night so she'll sleep all day.  Luk wakes in the afternoon, such a teen.  Kai was up at 4:30 today so he should be napping soon.  Jia and Lili are working.  I ran my errands yesterday.  So there isn't much on my shedule today.  

I did wake in another low.  3.8.  So, another cereal morning.  Shreddies with banana.  The shaking and cold  sweats are almost over.  Next will be a chill, then I'll need a nap.  Eric hung around today until my brain was functioning a bit better.  I get very confused in a low.  With all I have happening physically, the diabetes is 1000% the worst.  It staggers me to hear that I'm actually really well managed.  How are others dealing with regulating their blood all day, every day.  No breaks. Ever.

On Saturday we joined another family and did the back road from Lake Cowichan to Port Renfrew and visited Botanical Beach.  We haven't been in many, many years.  The pools have been decimated by poachers.  It's not like it used to be.  It was fun to hunt for critters.  It's bleak though.  When you compare it to the abundance on Side Bay.  

This was funny to me.  Wicked wild, curvy road all the way but where a wee bridge was repaired there is now free standing lights.  In the middle of no where.  

The hike down is 1km.  The hike up is more like 3.  Haha.  Kidding.  It's 1km up.  I gave myself a head start and did it more leisurely.  It did mean time alone in the deep forest.  Bit scary.

It was a good day.

Our plan was to head out just Oscar and Squirrel on Sunday and find a couple lakes on our own.  However, Oscar was chirping.  So, we were grounded.  Turns out he needs a new front drive shaft.  We're waiting for it to come in, fingers crossed for today.

We have two camping invites.  One to Franklin Falls in Port Alberni and one to camp on Mount Washington.  I want to do both.  We can go together in Squirrel if Oscar is still throwing a fit.