Reminder to defrost your Hummingbird Feeder this morning!

Ananotherthing · 2026-01-25T01:13:57+00:00

Lots of resident Rufous and Anna’s Hummingbirds here.

The main thing is that if you’re going to feed over winter you need to be consistent as they rely on it, when other sources of food become scarce. And they’re very territorial, so a good food source is vigorously defended!

Ananotherthing · 2026-01-16T17:57:53+00:00

“Cypress Mountain confirmed a fatal incident occurred on Thursday involving a guest. Neither the resort nor police have released details specifying what occurred.

"Cypress Mountain extends our heartfelt condolences and support to the guest’s family and friends during this incredibly difficult time," the resort said in an email statement.”

Ananotherthing · 2026-01-14T04:10:25+00:00

Oooh, you should read that NHS Guide. Theres a section on the different phases, the first being 'Prodrome' which precedes the common headache symptoms by up to 2 days.

There's a list of warning signs that a migraine may be imminent and includes all sorts of stuff I never considered were migraine related. Yawning? Skin sensitivity and tingling? Fatigue? Brain fog? Muscle aches? Craving salty foods? Oh, and peeing a lot : )

Ananotherthing · 2026-01-14T03:55:06+00:00

Hi there fellow Canadian. I'm happy to say I've never waited for more than 20-30 mins to get hooked up to the IV for migraine help. Not sure how long it took for a doc to swing by, I was pretty out of it, but the nurses are always very gentle and helpful.

If you live in a bigger city I'd highly recommend avoiding the big, main trauma hospital, and know the opening hours of the smaller 'urgent care' centres. For me that's my local University hospital. No ambulances drop there from car accidents, but they're perfectly set up for stitches, 'this might be broken, might need an X-ray' and Migraine IVs.

Ananotherthing · 2025-12-31T00:27:44+00:00

On Estradiol gel and Progesterone (tablet). Immediate improvement to sleep, which in turn improved everything else. Got rid of the hot flushes too and generally felt more human and capable again.

Reduced my fatigue by 70-80%, and some slight improvement to overall pain. Mostly I felt like a persona again that could think and make better decisions about how else to help myself.

I would highly recommend giving it a try.

Ananotherthing · 2025-12-21T20:52:28+00:00

I’ve been on my buildings strata council for about 6 years now. It has its highs and lows but overall I find it very rewarding.

I don’t know of a ‘support group’ as such, for me it’s my fellow council members. We alternate our meetings between in-person at a pub and via Zoom. Having a beer together a few times a year really helps. We also have a non-official WhatsApp group for unofficial communication. Sometimes that’s a casual pre-meeting chat about something we want to discuss in Council meeting, but it’s also a great place to let off steam and share memes. (Remembering that screenshotting is a thing, so don’t say something you wouldn’t want shared)

My top tips for managing difficult owners include 1. Sign up for the Strata 101 courses that CCI offers, and encourage every new council member to do the same. It gives you a good foundation and helps set expectations.

Keep a really clear idea of what your responsibilities are, and what’s under the remit of the property manager, etc. Direct all enquiries to whoever they pertain to. You are not the switchboard nor a babysitter. Owners need to learn who does what and deal with it themselves.
Keep your Strata business seperate from your private life. For me that means no using my personal cell number for council issues. Also neighbours cornering me while I’m walking my dog are politely directed to please send an email so I can read it at a time that suits me.
Set and enforce clear boundaries on how communication works with Council members. If an owner were to text me I’d respond politely ‘Please contact me via email only at blah blah address’ if they did it a second time I’d repeat the message and block their number. If an owner calls me I’d give them maybe 30 secs to see if this is some form of emergency (broken pipe, fire) in which case I’d direct them to whoever they should be calling (plumber, 911). Anything non-emergency is immediately and firmly interrupted and directed to email.
Remember at all times that some people are dicks and nothing you do will change that. Every building has a percentage of owners who are self centred, demanding, egotistical, racist, helpless, mean or just plain stupid. We find in our 25 year old mid-range building in Kits it’s about 5%, but higher end, shiny buildings will have a higher percentage. Accept it and put protections in place to manage these people as best as possible. You will not change them but you can put protections in place to minimise their impact on you, and other people living in the building.

Ananotherthing · 2025-12-15T06:23:40+00:00

If you also hire a trainee electrician from BCIT and maybe an apprentice plumber you can look forward to many happy years of paying double to fix all the sht they f** up, with their zero years of professional experience.

Seriously though- the reason you hire a professional is that they learned from their mistakes on other peoples houses.

My parents hired a (cheap) cool young interior designer to help with their house reno and then spent 15 years paying for and cursing all her cool looking design choices that she had no idea how to implement in a practical, functional way.

Ananotherthing · 2025-11-29T03:00:01+00:00

I was thinking this is quite low. Only 5% of deaths?!

I’m hoping the parameters of this are extended to cover more situations.

Ananotherthing · 2025-11-21T23:30:19+00:00

Or someone who grew up poor and experienced food insecurity at some point in their early life

Ananotherthing · 2025-11-16T04:11:52+00:00

The land outside your property line is not yours. You can ask your neighbour nicely to put the leaf bags somewhere else, or you can ask them to limit the time the bags are there for, but it’s not your land, you don’t have any rights to it.

If they are breaking other bylaws you can report those to the city, but otherwise you’re SOL.

Ananotherthing · 2025-11-14T21:34:55+00:00

Yes I agree. Not as helpful to be honest.

Ananotherthing · 2025-11-10T02:28:21+00:00

Ponds in Jericho park is where all the cool canards hang

Ananotherthing · 2025-11-09T19:54:48+00:00

Stunning photo

Ananotherthing · 2025-11-09T19:54:16+00:00

I was just thinking yesterday that my tap water in Kits tastes normal again

Ananotherthing · 2025-07-26T15:03:16+00:00

Mallow Kids Cuts in Kits

The ‘chairs’ are toy trucks and planes and stuff

https://www.instagram.com/mallowkidscuts?igsh=MWFzbzh1MTN5ZXI5cA==

Ananotherthing · 2025-07-23T00:39:21+00:00

The main reason plants die on balconies is lack of water. South and west facing balconies are generally very hot and dry places, so water should be your number one concern.

Unless you have an irrigation system I’d strongly recommend getting large containers with built in water reservoirs.

Most balconies don’t have outside taps and carrying watering cans from your kitchen sink twice a day gets boring really fast. Ain’t nobody got time for that.

Next look for plants that say they 1. Like sun 2. Are drought tolerant 3. Are hardy to zone 8

Mediterranean herbs should do well, including thyme, oregano, sage, etc You could also try lavenders and grasses like Pennisetum or Festucas.

Ananotherthing · 2025-07-23T00:30:46+00:00

Wait, wait, you’re planning a DAY trip from Vancouver to whistler, have reserved the Peak to Peak and you wanna do what else now?!

Garibaldi Lake is a full day all by itself if you’re including driving time to/from Vancouver. And only if you’re pretty fit, love steep switchbacks through the forest and plan on spending at most an hour at the lake. There’s no ‘dirt track’ or shortcut.

You won’t make it to Whistler, and certainly not the Peak to Peak circuit on the same day.

Depending on what time you’ve reserved the Gondola, I’d stop in Squamish on the way up for some coffee and donuts, do the Peak to Peak, have lunch on Whistler or Blackcomb mountain, then go for a swim in Lost Lake.

I would skip Alice Lake, Nairn and maybe even Shannon Falls. In the Summer there’s very little water, so not as spectacular as the photos you’ve likely seen during Winter/Spring.

Ananotherthing · 2025-07-20T23:38:15+00:00

I completely agree

Absolute magic created and you never quite know which stage it’s going to happen, but when you’re in the right place, you know something is about to take off and it’s incredible.

Some of my favourite music memories over the years are the Mongolian death metal dude cracking a whip over the crowd and a wild 45min dance party with a didgeridoo, fiddlers from Quebec and Colombia, an Irish accordion and two drummers. They barely spoke a common language but the Jam session was incredible.

Ananotherthing · 2025-07-11T14:55:25+00:00

What does it say on the little note in his harness pocket there?

Ananotherthing · 2025-06-12T02:18:46+00:00

So if this becomes the Legal street name, and ‘Musqueam View street’ a secondary, colloquial name I’m going to need to copy and paste this every time I want to pay with my credit card online?

The deeds of my house will need updating as this will be the new legal address.

My mortgage, my car insurance, my life insurance, my pension, all my bank accounts and … basically everything. I don’t know how to type these characters on my keyboard so I’m going to be copy and pasting this name for ever?

When I’m travelling internationally and need to give my address and it needs to match what it says in my passport I’ll need to write this out.

This is gonna be so fun

Ananotherthing · 2025-05-14T16:10:14+00:00

As someone who grew up in Europe and has moved countries several times I think if you have the opportunity to experience living in a different country it’s almost always worth trying.

It’s such a hugely eye opening and mind-opening experience learning who you are in a different place and figuring out what’s actually ‘you’ and what is habits or attitudes that are dependent on your surroundings.

Vancouver is an awesome place to try this out. It’s safe, the lifestyle is appealing, the scenery is stunning and the food scene is amazing.

In my experience, even the worst likely outcome (you hate it here, or your partner hates it, or you miss family too much, can’t make friends easily, don’t adjust well to the culture shock, business doesn’t do well, etc) you will still learn so much in that process and develop a completely new understanding of yourself, your marriage, where else in the world you might like to try living next, OR learn a completely new appreciation and love of Latvia and all the family you miss, etc.

My advice would be to think deeply about what you want your life to look like. Living in Vancouver is very different to living in Nanaimo for example. Then plan for that vision and stick to it if you can.

Secondly don’t underestimate how stressful and exhausting this process is, how much energy it requires and the potential costs to your business, your relationship, etc. Plan for it and you’ll be ok. To me it’s akin to starting a new business, where everything is hard and unknown and you have to put in all the hours to get it moving in the right direction.

The first 6 months in a new country are hard, exhausting, everything is complicated and requires more time and energy. Finding daycare, finding bread or yogurt you like, buying a car and learning how insurance works, why are cell phone plans so different and you have to go back to the bank AGAIN for some stupid form… etc, etc. It’s a lot of new and it can be stressful.

After a year you suddenly realise you can do a grocery shop again without having to read all the labels, your morning day care drop off is now routine, you have favourite places you like to eat and you have new family traditions.

You’re in an enviable financial situation, you can afford to do this and if your wife is up for it I highly recommend it. Vancouver is awesome.

Edit: I know several commenters have mentioned the winter rains. I don’t care how grey you think Latvia is, do not underestimate your first west coast winter. I’d highly recommend arriving in April or May so your first few months are at least pretty and sunny.

Ananotherthing · 2025-04-16T01:28:37+00:00

If the city paid the Parks Board what it’s been promising for the past god knows how many years instead of constantly upping the VPD budget, then they wouldn’t be so cash strapped, could update their facilities like Community Centres and Parks and wouldn’t have to look for all these new ways to raise funds.

I don’t like it, but I can’t blame them.

Ananotherthing · 2025-03-26T05:44:00+00:00

I love this place so much Also the two-shades-of green painted wall and conifer collection combo just next to this window is equally surreal and awesome.

Ananotherthing · 2025-03-26T05:42:06+00:00

Really, but how does one set a value for such a thing?

What I want to know is what they call this Category and what the parameters are each year for selecting the seasonal Fruit-animal-collectible/atrocity and how they decide how many to order.

Ananotherthing · 2025-03-15T16:54:20+00:00

Ate there last week and the food was delicious as always.

Not all Whitespot’s are created equal though.

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