The Winter Tree 2022 edition
I didn’t deliberately set out to take such a long break from blogging, but as events unfolded, it seemed, hmm, well, necessary … so I did.
-oOo-
First this happened …
(this video’s being a pain to embed into this post. If you could let me know if it’s working, that’d be great, otherwise you can watch it on YouTube itself)
It was only a short pootle from the BeeLazee campground, through town, along the highway, and on to a quiet street, where …
… oops, getting ahead of myself a bit.
We knew we needed to move on before the campground closed at the end of September or we’d be, almost quite literally, orphans in the snow.
Rentals in town were ridiculously astronomical, and apparently nothing was to be had elsewhere. But, just as Mrs Widds went on Craigslist and found our cottage on Widder Island, so too did she find us a house, on a quiet street, with an acre of lawn, (which I’m going to turn into a huge garden next year), and surrounded by mature trees.
This is the view from our front door, and the back – Tree heaven!
The trees, the trees, they stole my heart.
-oOo-
Even though we hauled in whatever we needed from the trailer, the house was so large (three times bigger – at least – than our little cottage on Widder Lake) we felt like two little lost socks in the Washing Machine of Life. Very disconcerting it was, after living so small for so long, (ten years in the cottage) and then smaller still in the RV.
Being on unstable ground for so long, (people with bad knees should not live in a small RV for any length of time – I’d far surpassed by ‘use-by’ date) I could hardly walk by the time we signed the lease and officially moved in, if you could call my hobbling along a ‘walk’. There are steps up to the front porch and off of the balcony at the back. There’s also another set right in the middle of the living room, (don’t ask me why they had to be in that particular spot – it’s a mystery) that lead to the downstairs craft/workshop, the storage room, and Mrs Widds study.
Hobbling up and down all those stairs was hard, painful, time consuming, and exhausting … however, we had our Winter home.
We set up camp in the living room and began to figure out, 1 – how we could afford twice the rent we were used to paying, (which is slowly sorting itself out) and 2 – how we were going to bring up all the rest of our worldly possessions from our storage unit 700 kilometers to the south.
U-Haul, it turned out, was U-seless … their business model only works if there are as many people needing trucks going one way as there are going the other. Unfortunately, all the U-haul trucks of the size we required were in Alberta, (the next province east of us) and weren’t likely to come back any time soon.
After literally weeks of not knowing if we would be able to even do the move this year, let alone before winter set in, a friend of the family, I shall call ‘Sir L’, stepped up to the plate with his 7-ton moving truck.
The catch was, (of course there was a catch, there’s always a catch!) we needed to be at the storage unit to help with the loading … 700 kilometers away.
Widdershins Worlds 
You’ve been missed!
Don’t bother with your possessions, cover the floors with sand and decorative stones and pretend that you’re living in a Zen garden. Rake it each day with a new pathway between bathroom, bed, and kitchen!
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Now, there’s a thought! 😀 … bloody brilliant, good sir. 😀
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Oh my goodness, Widders both, what a lot of change and change about. Fingers crossed that goods, premises and contented occupants all come together in one spot. And with those trees of course.
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We’re thinking of labeling 2022 ‘The Year Of Big Change’, and then burying it in the biggest hole we can find. 😀
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🙂 🙂 🙂
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Forgot to say – the vids are working just fine.
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😀
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I may comment more later – it’s the middle of the night here – but the first video started up without a hitch ( 🙂 ).
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Thanks for that. 🙂
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Looking forward to the rest of the story – because I can feel it coming. Glad to hear from you, glad you have a friend to help with the moving, but I have the feeling it wasn’t easy.
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Your feeling is so very correct. 😀
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No rush – you two have more important things to do than blog.
But it’s nice to know you’re making bits of progress.
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Good to catch up with your story. Good luck with sorting out the logistics of it all. It sounds like you are set to have a good life in your home even if the new rent is so high. Having so much indoor space and land around you sounds wonderful. (I watched the first video – wow what a big rig you are towing and you call it small! I was expecting you’d be in a little campervan).
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It’s not as big as it looks in the video, only 25′ from hitch to bumper, but it does take some maneuvering to get it where we want it. 🙂
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I can imagine it would be quite difficult at times.
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Congratulations graon the new place, it’s looks amazing!
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Trees and lots of space. I’m happy. 😀
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THAT WAS SO COOL! I loved the drive! It looks like a lovely spot to stay for awhile.
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It is! 😀 … glad you liked the video. It’s my first one where I managed to join a few individual clips up into a coherent run.
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Tree heaven indeed! Plus I enjoyed the virtual ride into PG. I saw a temp of -14 up there yesterday. Good thing you have a house! Be careful on those stairs!
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I’m getting the hang of the stairs. One at a time, and very slowly. 🙂 … the forecast is for it to get down to the minus 20’s at night by Tuesday. That’s going to be… erm … interesting. 🙂
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Stoke up the stove (if you have one). 😃
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Good to see you back. I’m sure they’ll be a pair of novelty maracas in that storage you can use as substitute knees. Looking forward to part 2.
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Hah, 😀 That’s what they sound like sometimes! 😀
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Wow, your new place looks amazing! But if you want to garden int he spring, you have to hunker down for more than just the winter. 🙂
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That seems to be how it’s working out. This whole year has been so monumentally hard that neither of us are looking to do anything like this again for quite a while. 😀
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That makes a huge amount of sense to me!
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Great to hear from you again. You’ve had us a bit worried. Btw, both videos work just fine. Remind me to ask you what video editing software you use.
As for the house and garden…wow. What a beautiful spot, and it sounds as if you’re planning on staying for more than just one winter?
Hurry up and write the next bit. 🙂
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I use the free version of Shotcut. It looks complicated, but I first watched this guy’s video on YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYW3De9Rq1s&t=183s&ab_channel=Teacher%27sTech – it really is as easy as he makes it look.
I haven’t done anything too techie-y yet though … baby steps.
Writing the next bit as we speak. 😀
(if the video link doesn’t work, just find ‘Teacher’s Tech’ channel and look for this video – ‘How to use Shotcut – Free Video Editor with no Watermark’)
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Thanks, Widds. I’m going to check it out. I do have a video editor but not terribly happy with it. Cheers!
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I really can’t imagine doing all that. I just can’t. Remember back when moving was SO easy, no problem? Can’t believe we’ve reached the age, hubby and I, where the thought moving, and all it entails, is like a nightmare thought, lol. I think you guys have definitely got more adventure inside you along with gumption. Good luck with the storage unit and loading!
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Oh gawd, yeah, I remember those kinds of moves. A mattress, a few cooking pots-n-pans and boxes of books, that was it. 😀
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Exactly! Moved about 15 times in 12 years. Now…we’ve been in the same place for 20 years!
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Hey, great to see you pop up in my feed again! Sounds like you have had adventures enough for a while, and need to settle in.
“two little lost socks in the Washing Machine of Life” – :-), very good.
We’ve missed you, but you have a life beyond us strangers on the internet, and that one needs to be lived so you can build stories for the future.
Hope all goes well – I’ll keep watching for news.
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What an adventure, and it seems you’re “weathering” it, the good and the not so good. You did find a lovely spot to spend the winter. Stay cozy and warm.
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To the rescue Sir L!
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Hooray!! Your new home looks and sounds wonderful. Yeah, those trees would’ve stolen my heart, too. Sorry to hear you’re knees are at wobble stage but so very glad to know that you and the Missus are safe and sound. Big hugs! ❤️
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Another adventure: I love the vicarious excitement of moving, I have no intention of moving at present, but there is always someone in my family moving. I hope you are well settled in for the winter by next episode.
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[…] 1 HERE … In which we have arrived at our new ‘sticks-and-bricks’, home after living in our RV […]
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[…] 1 HERE … In which we have arrived at our new ‘sticks-and-bricks’, home after living in our RV […]
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We are so happy for the two of you, and love your new home!
Even though those temperatures are jaw droppingly low…
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A little ‘extreme weather event’ to welcome us to the neighbourhood! 😀
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With all those trees around you, I think you will be well protected, Widds…
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Heh, 🙂 yep, it’s a question of degrees. 🙂
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Welcome back. So far so good. The videos worked well – although no sound in the second?
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No, apparently I had music on in the background and Youtube called it a copyright violation so I deleted the soundtrack. I haven’t figured out how to add a separate soundtrack to my video’s yet – it’s a work in progress. 🙂
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Your new home and surrounding yard look amazing. The joy of BC and the big trees. So lucky!
I know what you mean about not meaning to take a long break from blogging. Life has a way of getting … interesting! I too took an unintended long blog break, and now I find I’m really in the hole. Need to get busy!
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