She started The Buzz to keep residents informed about COVID-19 spread at their independent living facility when management failed to do so. Read more here
— Read on www.nextavenue.org/the-buzz-covid-19/amp/
Love #grassroots
As a concept, social exclusion has considerable potential to explain and respond to disadvantage in later life. However, in the context of ageing populatio
— Read on link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10433-016-0398-8
The retirement downsizing myth: No, seniors aren’t moving in droves — and that will affect the housing market | Financial Post
— Read on financialpost.com/personal-finance/retirement/the-retirement-downsizing-myth-no-seniors-arent-moving-in-droves-and-that-will-affect-the-housing-market/wcm/ce0b13fa-50ab-43b2-a019-bd18e3e9df86/amp/
On The Heritage Trail: Colombia Part 1
— Read on lisadorenfest.com/2019/11/12/on-the-heritage-trail-colombia-part-1/
Re-blog where Lisa takes us on a tour of Columbia. So far this is my 5th virtual tour this year.
Walktober 2019: Finding beauty wherever you go
https://breezesatdawn.wordpress.com/2019/11/03/walktober-2019-finding-beauty-wherever-you-go/
— Read on breezesatdawn.wordpress.com/2019/11/03/walktober-2019-finding-beauty-wherever-you-go/
This is a virtual meet up of bloggers. It is so touching to hear and see everyone’s walks. And the bloggers is a gifted writer.
When I decided to stay on Hornby for the winter I had no idea what challenges were ahead of me.
I was having lunch with another blogger a few weeks ago telling her my Hornby story. She said “ you should write a book, you have such an interesting story and you tell it so well. I wish I had such an interesting life” and I said to her.. “ I wish I had you stable life. I don’t want all this moving around”. She told me about a mommy blogger who wrote a book. I am not aspiring to write a book so in the meantime I will update my retirement blog. Mommy bloggers are a bird of another feather.
It’s been a rough winter with about five 24 hour power failures since November due to wind storms and f trees falling on power lines. BC Hydro has been pretty diligent in sending over crews on the first ferry in the morning and fixing things by the evening. I had two nights in the dark, one with a friend who kept me company and one on the sofa in front of the wood stove. Fortunately by the time the first power failure had occurred I had mastered the wood stove and was able to keep a fire going and make cowboy coffee in the morning. That is thanks to Hornby friends who gave me several demos on how to build a fire and instructions on cowboy coffee… “boil water on the wood stove and add some coffee”. It was pretty good. Morning without coffee is not a pleasant experience. Shortly after my landlady left for Mexico for 2 months, the basement flooded, and despite the attempts of her son to adjust the sump pump ( what ever that is) it remained flooded for most of the next two months. My landlady had promised someone would come by to put some Plexiglas over the sky lights but that did not happen until she came back 2 months later when she had someone install the Plexiglass, fix the sump pumb, reinstall the propane tank I had incorrectly connected and fix the leak in the dryer hose. Turns out the propane stove was not working and still isn’t fixed as of Feb 28 and one of my space heaters was loaned to a neighbour while I was away. And over all this time the Satellite TV was down because the wind storms changed the positioning of the satellite. I had already developed a bad cold and decided to rent a condo of a friend in Courteny while he was travelling around the world. Then I discovered I had pneumonia but the clinic on Hornby had given me antibiotics so all I had to do was lie low in Courtenay and fight the side effects of the antibiotics. While I was lying low on a massage table in Courtney my massage therapist had a similar story about her new house outside of Qualicum Beach. The week before when the snow had hit she could not get her 100 ft driveway plowed. Her neighbour came to her aid. And she was without power for 5 days!!! This was her first year on Vancouver Island and she said she has had a pretty steep learning curve.
Two of my Toronto families on Hornby were hit but the snowmageddon without snow tires or four wheel drive and also had to rely on the kindness of friends. It’s been a rough winter all the way around on Vancouver Island. Next year I think it will be Mexico for me. 
I had another pioneer experience while teaching my 7 year old student online in Shanghai. The lesson was on Wild Horses in the US and I followed that up with a lesson about Annie Oakley. I felt the material was quite foreign to her but it made me think about my pioneer experience on Hornby Island. I was pretty naïve about what to expect but my friends have come to my aid as needed. I will go back next week and hope the snow and the power failures are over for this year. This wasn’t my retirement plan but my friends keep telling me they are enjoying hearing about my adventures even if I am not enjoying experiencing them. Apparently while I was away there was a septic tank blockage due to toilet paper and now I have to my bag toilet paper and take it to the dump. I guess this is material for my next comedy routine.
My new favourite place is the The Second Page used book store in Courtenay. This is a rare Main Coon Cat who seems interested in Quincy Jones. He reminds me of a Cheshire Cat from Alice and Wonderland. 
My other Courtenay Favourites
Acreview Dental- thorough, courteous
FYIdoctors -opticians- thorough, courteous
Walmart Medical Clinic- max about 30 mn wait and very knowledgeable doctors
The new hospital-
Fabricland.
And the Trumpeter Swans of Courtenay
In the fall of 2017 the property management company for my condo passed a bylaw to ban rentals of less than one year. The property management company seemed to think there has been complaints about disruption of residents’ peace and quiet due to short term rentals. The ban includes rentals, home exchanges and rentals to home stay students. Most owners in the building are in their 40’s and I am one of the few seniors in the building. The controversy around housing in Vancouver and Airbnb has been ongoing for several years and the clamp down on Airbnb rentals is collateral damage.
Municipal policy and regulations
“City of Vancouver Short-Term Residential Rental Policy 2018 implemented new regulations concerning the operation of short-term rentals through services such as Airbnb and VRBO, with the objective of protecting Vancouver’s long-term rental supply, encouraging neighbourhood fit, enabling supplemental income for operators, supporting the tourism industry, ensuring health and safety, promoting tax and regulatory equity, and encouraging regulatory compliance”.
The city wants more short term rentals and has made an arrangement with Airbnb to monitor the licensing, supply and safety of accommodation. The City of Vancouver has specifically set up the licensing program to support short term rentals in Vancouver. This involves buying a business license for $100 which is required when creating a listing on Airbnb. You are not eligible to buy a business license if your strata council does not permit short term rentals. Thus the bylaw passed by the strata council is contrary to the direction in the City of Vancouver.
The city has a list of requirements for the business license. Before you apply for a license:
Strata properties Make sure your building’s strata bylaws allow for short-term rentals.
Building and fire safety Confirm your home is a legal dwelling unit. Provide 24-7 contact information. Post a fire plan at all entrances and exits. Have interconnected smoke alarms on every floor and in every bedroom. Have a working and accessible fire extinguisher on every floor. Have carbon monoxide detectors on every floor if there are gas appliances. Have a fire alarm in the building if it has more than three dwelling units or 10 occupants. By January 1, 2023, have an automated sprinkler system or fire separation between units with at least a 45 minute fire-resistance rating, unless a higher resistance rating is required for the building type by the Building Bylaw or Fire Bylaw, if your short-term rental accommodation is attached to another dwelling unit. Inspect, test annually, and keep related records for smoke alarms, fire extinguishers, and carbon monoxide detectors. Review your insurance policies and cover any costs or damages that come from operating your short-term rental business.
How widespread is this problem of strata councils banning short term rentals? Where did it all start? What is the perceived vs actual risk.
Here is what I have done to try to get around the problem and resolve the issue.
I have submitted a letter to my strata council to exempt me from the regulations.
In accordance with the requirements of the Strata Property Act, please accept this letter as my application for an exemption from our rental restriction bylaw # 2.12 on the grounds of financial hardship and I believe I am exempt from the rental bylaws as I purchased my unit prior to Oct 31 2005. I also believe that a 5 week rental will have minimal impact on anyone and that a short term rental is keeping with the policy adopted by the City of Vancouver re: short term rentals. Furthermore the Strata Council Act grants a one year exemption to a bylaw that prohibits or limits rentals. As per the Strata Property Act, I am requesting a hearing with the strata council to discuss this matter should you feel the grounds for exemption are not adequate. I understand that an exemption granted by the strata corporation may be for a limited time and that the strata corporation may not unreasonably refuse to grant an exemption
So what processes are in place to fix this problem?
Have you had any success keeping your condo open to short term rentals? What have you done?
“It turns out that living in the midst of conflict is really bad for our health.”
— Read on www.cnbc.com/2018/03/20/this-harvard-study-reveals-how-you-can-be-happier-and-more-successful.html
The abundance of information on the internet can feel overwhelming at times. There is a tendency to spend a lot of time surfing the net and/or downloading files, editing files etc. once you are on-line As a result people can shut down from going online or else feel that it is too complex to use, especially if they have not gotten used to it over the years. This may be true for some older people but many older people are very computer savvy. I have one friend who is 68 and is a guru with Garage Band, a program that generates music scores on a computer screen and generates print outs of scores in different keys for different instruments.
I just love my Ipad. I have the Ipad mini which severed me well in my trip to Mexico. There are now Ipads that are cellular enabled so you don’t need to take an Iphone with you. However that is just wishfully thinking as the phone is easier to carry around. The new Ipad pro comes with a stylus for drawing programs which in on my wish list.
I can only speak about my iphones which I have been using since the Iphone4. I will list the useful apps I have on my phone and I pad and what they do. I especially like the transit apps for Translink in Vancouver and Google Maps.
Here is the highest rated phone on Amazon.
| function | name of app | ipad | iphone | purpose | frequency of use |
| 3 = daily, 2 = weekly, 1 < weekly | |||||
| entertainment | scrabble | x | x | play on line | 3 |
| entertainment | CBC radio | x | listen on line | 1 | |
| entertainment | x | x | read on line | 3 | |
| entertainment | Facetime | x | x | talk on line | 1 |
| entertainment | skype | x | x | talk on line | 1 |
| entertainment | Vancouver Public Library | x | read on line | 1 | |
| entertainment | overdrive | x | download from library, read on line | 3 | |
| entertainment | brainHQ | x | play on line | 2 | |
| entertainment | clarient tuner | x | x | play on line | 1 |
| entertainment | Itunes | x | download | 1 | |
| entertainment | optik TV | x | TV guide telus | 3 | |
| entertainment | x | x | read on line | 3 | |
| finances | Inverstorline BMO | x | x | read on line | 1 |
| finances | Vectorvest stock advisory (paid) | x | x | read on line | 1 |
| health | pacer | x | track steps | 3 | |
| health | my ehealth | x | x | view lab tests on line | 1 |
| travel | pay by phone | x | pay on line | 2 | |
| travel | BMO account access | x | x | read on line | 2 |
| travel | Hangtag | x | read on line | 1 | |
| travel | transit360 | x | way finding | 2 | |
| travel | findmycar | x | way finding | 1 | |
| travel | airline apps | x | x | pay on line | 1 |
| travel | google maps | x | x | way finding | 2 |
| utilities | roboform | x | x | keeps passwords | 2 |
| utilities | weathernetwork | x | x | weather | 3 |
| utilities | x | x | read on line | 3 | |
| utilities | drop box | x | x | save files | 1 |
| utilities | daily notes | x | x | keeps notes | 1 |
| utilities | flashlight | x | view things in the dark | 1 | |
| utilities | magnifier 30x | x | enlarge print | 1 | |
| utilities | google drive | x | x | safe files | 1 |
| utilities | wordpress | x | x | post to blog | 1 |
| seldom used | |||||
| youtube | |||||
| linked in | |||||
| kindle |
The chief value of the ipod that I can listen to music, the radio or pod casts and the battery doesn’t run down as fast as the battery in the iphone so you can listed for a couple of hours.
| Site | functions | value |
|---|---|---|
| Set up your account. personal site created by you, open to viewing by your friends by adding them. You can upload pictures or links to other sites. | 5/5 Good way to stay connected with friends and family or special interest groups. Easy to use. | |
| Set up your account.
Brief news feeds from selected organizations or individuals. |
3/5. Kind of a time waster but fascinating none-the-less. Nothing required of you unless you want to retweet a feed to your followers. Easy to use. | |
| Download to Iphone to post pictures. Need to set up an account | 1/5 It seems popular with younger people. It could work as a photo album. You can share with selected people. | |
| Skype | Download the program to computer, tables or phone. You can talk over the internet with a webcam and it is free to chat with people everywhere for free or minimal cost. | 4/5 Very useful for staying in touch with friends and family. |
| Facetime | Like Skype but for MACs and IPads and Ipods | 5/5 Easier to use than Skype. |
| A web site with a lot of eye candy, especially food, fashion and pets. You can post and view others posts. | 1/5 Popular with a certain demographic but not very useful. The recipe pictures are several clicks away from the recipes. Very annoying | |
| YouTube | view short videos about many things, including music, how to videos including many videos about computer instructions. You can save videos if you set up and account. | 3/5 Entertainment, some self help. I don’t use this more than once a week. |
If you want to have music or the spoken word while you walk or run, you will want to download files from your computer and/or from Itunes and upload it to your phone or ipod. You need your Apple ID and password to download. You can also download audio books and podcasts. The Itunes app will need to be installed on your computer and Iphone and and is free to use. However downloading music from Itunes costs about $ 1.00 per tune downloaded. You have to set up an Itunes account if you want to buy files to download. Itunes used to be easy to use but over the past couple of years it seems to be less user friendly. Apple is moving to a paid music subscription service call Spotify which is $10.00 a month so you can download as much music as you want. Once you download files to your computer into the Itunes program, the music will synch with your iphone and ipod by plugging the iphone or ipod into the computer USB port. You can also synch files on your computer via wifi or download files to your iphone directly from the Itunes app on your iphone.
There are many packages for uploading photos and some are more complex than others. The easiest way is to install Icloud on your PC and IPhone. This takes about 5 minutes. You need your Apple ID and password to download the software from the Apple Store. Once it is set up on your PC you can choose what kind of files you want synched across your devices. Having you email and bookmarks synched on all your devices is a must have. I give Icloud a 4/5 but sometimes it stops working and you have to sign out and sign in again or restart or computer.
My favourite software for saving passwords is RoboForm. I have used it for over 5 years and it is free. It saves all your passwords on your PC, your IPhone and Ipad and synchs them all. It is quick and easy to install. When you log into a site it presents you with the option to automatically save the password if it has not been previously saved. And if the password has been saved you click on the name of the password and it will automatically fill in the password. The whole system can be password protected. This software gets a 5/5 from me.
