After several really tough days dealing with a tough chimney and a flooded crawl space and other issues, today was a day off. I got home at about 9 p.m. to discover that my house, and more specifically, my bedding was very high off the ground. The threshold of the front door is about 7 ft off the ground right now.
I really didn't want to do a night in the car, because it's a cold one and the car is stuffed with tools and scrap metal. I could do it in a pinch, because there's lots of extra clothing, including a couple coats, but I always like to dress lightly and cover with lots of blankets. I had my 1500 lumen Milwaukee light in the car, so I decided to scan the site for available resources. I really didn't want to have to stack 20 of the moving blocks to build my way to the door. Amongst the
trees I found an old aluminum step ladder. I am currently roasting under a thick layer of blankets, inside the house. It's getting cold enough, that I'm going to fill a garbage bag with extra blankets that will be kept in the back seat of the car. There are lots of things that could prevent me from accessing one of the houses. Sometimes the house is pressed hard against a
fence or wall, at the spot where the door is. Sometimes the door can be wedged very tightly because the house has twisted a bit. So there must always be a contingency plan. Only once, the schedule was changed and I wasn't notified. They shipped my bed to Saltspring Island. Once the house is in this condition, it's just a really nice tent. All services have been cut. But I have another house to start on Monday and this house will sit here beyond that date. So I'm Stylin, for free as usual. If things had gone differently, I might be wearing three pairs of pants, four shirts and two winter coats and covered up by the one sheet that is in the back of my car. I would have done this very close to the all-night Tim Hortons.
I'll bet if I checked the bushes in a dozen neighbouring houses, I wouldn't find an old step ladder. That was an incredibly lucky find. For a couple of of minutes there, I really thought I was going to have to rearrange the car and hunker down for the night.
I like to count myself among the homeless, but it's certainly not the same thing, since I have a car, houses to sleep in, and money. Take away any of those components and being caught out this time of year, can be a really shity
experience. I'm going to have to kick off a blanket, because I'm getting too hot. Good night.