Apartment living. Oh, how I'd forgotten you! Well, I had not actually lived in an apartment prior to this but did live in a basement suite and townhome suite in like 1985. Nothing has changed? Sold the home, moved, now am on a small learning curve about apartment life. Simple things that one took for granted living in a house, are no longer. Or at the very least, they've changed.

Moving day(s). Except for the "junk", moved everything by myself, in my Westy. I had the time, and vehicle, so figured I'd save a few bucks but more importantly, gauge just how much is involved in doing this and determine what stuff I'd keep or unload. eg as much as I like my grandparents dining room table and eight #@*% chairs, they may have to go; I want to be as mobile as possible.

Yes. A sousaphone and case will fit.  (it too needs to go)

Felt only a little bad dumping the nice door skin wood, lawnmower etc. but this company prides itself on donating what it can to charity. Besides. I'd donated a LOT of stuff to my favourite local charity and given away nearly as much via craigs list.

The bottom line with apartment living it seems, and something that's always bugged me, is noise. So far, I'm experiencing what is likely a normal amount of noise; low hum of voices in suite above me, clunks, clanks, foot steps. But thankfully, people seem respectful of quiet time. But the traffic. Shit. I had no idea. I knew there was a bus stop out front, that the street was fairly busy, anticipated potential noise as much as possible, but stupid people with loud exhausts or motorcycles with same, (or just smelly 2 cycles), make things un-fun. I now sleep with one ear plugged. Am hoping I get used to the noise but waking up 6 times a night is not cool. The new Ikea arm chair bed may not be helping but it may be temporary.

On the plus side of life, things seem to be according to plan. I rented a garage (shop space. More stuff has been added, including the slate blue Westy)

then found this apartment not too far from it. It's about 1.5 miles or less so within walking distance. One of my first projects is to rehab my bicycle. The apartment is good value overall. Decent sq. ft. for dollar, has elevator, I'm much closer to the US border, there's suitable shops and businesses not far away and street parking is fairly easy with no posted limits. This bodes well for the man owning 2 Westies and Honda DD.  ;)

I'm happy I sold and have little to no "sellers remorse". At this point in my life, I can pretty much choose any path I want. But as ridiculous as this may sound, (and to misquote a good family friend), the current goal is to learn how to "spend" the rest of my life.

Apologies for posting before editing.

Snowlar Power

Yup. The latest project.  ;)

Yes, this shows a funny dichotomy, but clearing snow off the panel is something one has to be aware of. And a responsible car owner would clear off their car roof regardless. Right? In past years I'd not used my Westy as a daily driver, but even light snow fall on a Westy is an added workout beyond that required to clear off the Honda.

It hasn't snowed that much here in the GVRD but truth be known, while somewhat better in the snow, the Nokian 14" studdable tires I installed weren't a huge improvement over the mud & snow Yokohama's. Granted, I've only done limited testing, all of which was done in my hill riddled neighbourhood. That said, they are an improvement and as a Syncro owner pointed out, airing down the tires might help.

Things have been slow business-wise, but this isn't an issue per se. For some time now, I've been acting out my intentions of quitting the music business and have planned accordingly. But. As anyone in this business knows, quitting is not easy. Even the level of dedication required to wait and watch for the phone to ring, is something to get past.    ;)   Seriously though. The phone can ring at any time, possibly for a (youtube) great gig. (Yes. I'm in there somewhere.  :)  Oh wait. Here I am!  ). As you turn down more gigs, you start falling down "the list". And if you stop playing altogether, your skill set loss increases exponentially over time; getting back into the business becomes really tough. But, I understand and accept that this is all business as usual. That said, contractors have been quite faithful to me in spite of me teetering on the edge of "retirement". This has been greatly appreciated. Anyhow. I have worked hard, been as (youtube) "smrt" smart  as I could, and hope to reap the rewards. We'll see.

The music business, and whatever art I contributed, was hard work most of the time, but it certainly had some highlights. There were others of that ilk  and live performances with great artists that were equally as important to me or more so, but those opportunities have long since subsided. Great memories though.

My trend seems to be "do it or lose it" these days. With a family member's sudden health issue at the forefront of my mind, I am slowly changing my ways and trying to "do" instead of "think". I find this a challenge. Hollywood would have us believe that any time this kind of thing happens, we are immediately transformed into a "bucket list" individual who will take action. Sadly, I believe this isn't anywhere near accurate and it usually takes a health issue to strike an individual before they take action with their lives.

Small steps work. We always have a choice. Choose wisely.    :)

Just a quick note. Enjoyed a 1 week trip through WA. Short on details, but some pics and stuff here:  WA Trip: Glamping and exploring

Give'n it away. Give'n it all away!

Feels good.

Today a young woman with an Orange '79 Bay Westy came over and picked up two Westy rear foams I had kicking around. I didn't realize the Bay Bus had such thin foam for a bed! These should help her I hope.

I've used CL to unload a nice Weber propane BBQ, (worked fine, was uber dirty. You CAN'T believe now many answered THAT ad), Vanagon parts. Golf clubs/bag/cart, (well, I did keep a few clubs ;) dishes, excess knife/fork/spoons, plates, books, etc. went to Sally Ann. I'm sure there's more I've forgotten about. And, there's more to go yet.

So far, I miss none of these things. NONE.

What prompts the need to downsize? Demise of ones parents? Being single? Turning 50? Dunno. I DO know that I've had this "itch" for some time.

Life is short enough as it is. Why go around overloaded with crap? Every time I go on a trip in my Westy, I'm reminded of how little I (and really, the "royal we"), need.

If I were to quit the music business, I'd be down to tools, vans, parts, clothes, computer, some CD's and a smattering of kitchen stuff. Seriously!

I'm still tempted to try FT in my Westy. OTOH, that fargin thing busted its' exhaust again. Sheeeeit. Welding time! I'll get that figured out. Thing is, I really like having the space to do that shit. I would REALLY miss that.

As far as I'm concerned, it was a "win-win" no matter what!

No, I didn't win the audition. But. Of 18 that showed up to play, I was 1 of 5 to make it to the second round of auditions. Basically I looked at all this as a camping trip with an audition in the middle. This took pressure off, made the whole event quite enjoyable and in part, possibly helped my performance as a result.

1st camp: Klipchuck. Water was off so no fees charged! Nice clean typical FS pit toilets and quiet save for road traffic to nearby trail head though that was minimal. Deer roamed free and near, my good friend the Big Dipper was visible through the tree canopy, a great fire was had and I saw a fellow Westy en route!

2nd night: Pitch And Bowler, Nine Mile Rec area. Nice but popular so not a lot of privacy or room between sites. But it has showers, is 4 miles or so from Spokane so this fit my needs. Unfortunately some spots showed tags for the weekend but the campers didn't show up. My spot was "ok" but I could have had a slightly better one.

Up before 7 AM alarm, broke camp and went to work.

Last night: Spring Canyon camp ground near the Coulee dam. Another excellent night!

No regrets. Had a great time. Weather was awesome, beers and fires were had, mileage great (at 60 MPH or less) van ran great save for some fierce cross winds near Hope BC. But that isn't really the van's fault!



Token mountain shots.

So for anyone who needs to know,  here's the route I'm taking to Spokane

Will be home late Tuesday or early Wed. for work.

Well I'm happy to say that my '81 Westy made it Ft Flagler and back without any issues.

Likes:

• new 3 window canvas
• new truckfridge TF49
• just driving the darn thing!

The group 41 battery under the driver seat saw little use and the group 27 under the rear seat was not worked excessively but they both held up fine. Speaking of which......

IMO, the only real caveat to owning a Truckfridge is the eventuality of a solar panel(s) install. A deep cycle only has so many charge cycles, needs to be charged properly once in a while and IMO, maintenance charged when not in use. (vehicle sitting idle). But. The TF is super nice as would be any similar fridge so it's all worth it. In hindsight, I should have pulled and modified the cabinet for a TF65. There's enough room, more or less, but by the time I add all my beer, it gets kinda cramped.

When I start doing some serious hotter weather camping I'll have a solar setup. Til then, I'm pretty sure I'll get 3 days out of the battery before it needs a charge. Pony up a few more bucks for a utility camp site and I'm good to go.

Am leaving tomorrow for my Monday Spokane audition. Even if I don't win, it's been a worthwhile goal. My playing has improved, I get to do a 3 or 4 night camping trip, and I return to over 2 months work; it's all a win-win no matter what.

Ft. Flagler Wet Westie campout