A new year begins and the first month has gone by and for the most part, we haven't been doing much of anything other than the usual daily "stuff"...you know, just routine everyday living stuff. We have had mainly cloudy, dreary days...some with rain, some without...with a few sunny days thrown in just to let us know what it looks like. We have also had a considerable amount of fog.
When it's not raining, we get out for our morning walks...at either the Airpark/Riverway, Millard Trail, Nymph Falls Nature Park or Seal Bay Regional Park. We take pictures occasionally but we have many pictures from previous walks, so here are just a few...
Friday (Jan. 2)...Seal Bay Regional Park...
That's part of the trail below...
We had a stretch of cold mornings with temperatures around 0C/32F, with a couple of mornings slightly colder. After frosty starts, we would actually see some blue sky.
Monday morning (Jan. 5th), this fir tree along the Airpark path is where the Great Blue Herons hang out. We usually see at least a few...I think the most we've seen is 6...
Tuesday (Jan. 6th) Lots of moss on the trees at Nymph Falls...
After our stretch of cooler days, we were back into warmer temps and rain, rain and more rain! With so much rain, we weren't getting out for our usual morning walks, but we at least try to get out for a drive.
On Monday (Jan. 12), we went for a drive out to Cumberland, and Comox Lake. When we got back, Steve noticed the kitchen faucet was dripping and leaking internally, and when we opened the cupboard doors beneath, we found everything in there soaking wet, including a small area of carpet behind Steve's recliner. All I can say is thank goodness we always turn off our water from the pedestal outside every time we go out. We had replaced our kitchen and bathroom RV faucets with residential ones years ago.
So guess what Steve had to deal with for the rest of the day? After taking the faucet apart he went to Home Depot for a replacement cartridge. After reinstalling the faucet and water lines it was still leaking...Geez!!! Long story short...he ended up back at Home Depot, got a credit for the cartridge and bought a new faucet.
While he was doing that, I was mopping up all of the water that had flowed towards the carpet. At least we caught it when we did...before it saturated more of the carpet.
Tuesday (Jan.13th), on another walk at the Airpark/Riverway, we noticed a barge being towed into the inlet. The barge is being moved in as part of the old Courtenay Field Sawmill site reclamation. It operated from 1949-2004. The site is now known as the Kus-kus-sum estuary, a K'omox First Nations name of their former village which was actually located where the Courtenay Airpark is just a little further down the river where we walk often. The crane is removing pieces of the 400 metre long metal retaining wall that separated the river and the old mill property. Apparently it has a vibrating clamp on it, so it basically vibrates out each sheet pile which are 60 feet long. Logs, and a variety of trees and plants will eventually restore the area to it's natural state.
On Saturday (Jan. 17), we packed the car up and headed down to the Duke Point Ferry Terminal. We have appointments on Monday and Tuesday, so will stay at Chris and Angela's. It was an absolutely beautiful drive down island to Nanaimo, but as soon as we exited the highway towards the ferry terminal, we hit fog...and we were in fog the entire ferry ride over to the mainland.
Chris's living room has a nice view down to the Fraser River...Sunday morning (Jan. 18), the fog was hanging over the river. (For about a week you had to get away from, or above the ocean and rivers to see the sunshine)
At 11:30, we met our good friend, Glenna, for lunch at Browns Social House. You will recall, Glenna and I spent a wonderful couple of nights together in Parksville last October. We got a kick out of the picture the server took of us...the lights are hiding part of the sign in the background...it's says 'Moby Dick'...😂
Monday morning (Jan. 19) Steve had an appointment with his dermatologist to have a spot on his chest removed. Last month he had the spot shaved off and sent for a biopsy...turns out it was Basal Cell Carcinoma, so it had to be cut out leaving a 2" incision. He was amazed that once the freezing was gone he had no pain...ever!
Tuesday morning (Jan. 20) I had an appointment with our family doctor. I have been having lower back issues that radiates to my hips and have been seeing a physiotherapist. Well the pain is not improving. I am still managing to do our daily walks but they are slower and I have to stop often to rest for a moment. Long story short...my doctor is quite certain it is Spinal Stenosis but an x-ray is required to confirm. I will get the x-ray when we are back home tomorrow.
Right after my appointment, we headed for the ferry. This time we are taking the sailing from the Horseshoe Bay Terminal in North Vancouver to the Departure Bay Terminal in Nanaimo. I had made reservations for the 1:25 sailing and we were there in plenty of time.
No fog to start but once we got further out we were in fog again...
Saturday (Jan. 24) was a beautiful day so we thought we'd drive up to Campbell River for a walk along the Seawalk path...it goes for just over 6 km/3.7 miles but we will only walk part of it. It was a lovely walk but chilly at only 1C/33.8F...
The Big Rock...
Our final stop...Painter's Lodge ...
Another walk at Seal Bay...right behind Steve is a deep gully. The park is heavily treed and very mossy!
The rest of the week was pretty wet...but by Wednesday (Jan. 28) it had warmed up to a more seasonable 9C/48F and the forecast is for lots of rain over the next week. 😞☔
As a follow-up to my doctor's appointment, I had an x-ray of my lower back and on Thursday (Jan. 29), I had a phone appointment with my doctor. The x-ray confirmed spinal stenosis in the base of my spine with considerable calcium build up (arthritis). He is ordering an MRI to check if the spurs are pressing on any nerves, etc. I also have osteoporosis in a disc (T2) mid back. Seems my skeleton is starting to give me some grief...oh, don't you just love getting older?! But it's still better than the alternative!
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