Moving Up & Slowing Down

I was awoken, startled by a noise.  It was definitely early, the air seemed a little chilly as fall was just starting to set in, but the sun was already up.  The noise definitely came from inside the shed, maybe someone from the house was grabbing their bike.  "Who's there?" I called out.  No response.  "Hello?" - still nothing.  I ripped open the tent flap and there it stood.  A chippy little squirrel, eyes blazing at me in response.  "Well good morning to you to..." I told him as he ran out between the crack in the shed doors.



My humble abode.



    

Which way to the bathroom?



It wasn't a usual occurrence, but it also wasn't unexpected.  As I went to sleep at night I propped a car ice scraper into the handles on the inside of the shed so that the doors didn't fly open in the middle of the night and spook me like they had the first night I spent in the shed.  There was still a decent sized crack in between the doors, not on purpose, but it allowed for some good ventilation, a little morning sunlight, and the chance of some visitors whether they were welcome or not.  The set-up was, well, nice.  Two blankets, two sleeping bags, and two pillows inside of a tent on a box-spring and mattress on a dirty carpet on top of a dirt floor in a shed.  Out of the month that I was stationed in the shed I probably spent half of the nights actually sleeping there, finding refuge the other nights at my friend's place.

The shed was pretty solid but it made me really appreciate the convenience of a kitchen.  I can deal with taking off the blanket and having to face the morning temps, sprinting on my bike to make it to the bathroom in the morning, showering naked with a bunch of other dudes in the gym showers (I don't know what everyone moans about, no one seemed to even notice when I dropped the soap!), but the worst part about living in the shed is not having a sink for a steady stream of water to cook and wash dishes, a fridge to store perishables, and an easy-to-use stove and oven.

I am very curious to know how I would handle the shed as winter rolls in but fortunately I don't have to experience that.  For the past few weeks I have been staying at a house that is about ten to fifteen minutes away from the UofM by way of bike.  I was invited by a friend who is house-sitting and although it's not exactly on campus it's definitely a lot closer than my parent's house is; as a plus it also does not come with parents obviously, but it does come with free rent, free utilities, and all those great amenities that a house provides.

So for now the adventurist lifestyle is taking a hiatus, which doesn't imply that I'm now focusing on homework, just that I should be, and I'll probably spend the three weeks in between the end of my house-sitting stint and the end of the semester at my parents' place for the sake of convenience as I search for balance in life and school.

Commuting from home to shed via light rail.

On a side note, as the snow falls outside, I really wish my tricycle was functional.  For those of you who don't know, tricycles handle very well in slippery conditions due to their extremely good balance and they also make for a great transportation option when needing to carry a heavy load (grocery shopping, moving, etc.).  After a few days of joyriding, my tricycle decided to start getting fussy and my trike mechanics and  I have had great amounts of trouble getting the two chains to work together so it's just sitting in a garage for now.