I look at real estate, for sale or rent, as a form of entertainment. The bonus is that the more I look, the happier I am to be snug and housed in Mist Cottage. At our price point for purchase, and income for carrying costs, alternatives are almost entirely undesirable. So a change is theoretically possible, but would mean a substantially lower quality of life than we now enjoy.
So, when I listened to a radio interview on CBC about radon causing lung cancer, I thought about all the units for sale and rent that I have viewed. NOT ONE mentions radon testing or remediation, not a single one. This is particularly evident in the low rent market, where a significant proportion of what is available to rent, at a price an ordinary working family with two minimum wage jobs could barely afford, are basement apartments. Living in a basement, it seems, really can give you cancer, unless the testing and mitigation steps are undertaken. It seems they are not.
Surely it would be cheaper for the governments to coordinate, across boundaries and levels, testing and mitigation for all basement apartments, than to treat the proliferation of lung cancer patients. And the human cost of all that suffering is beyond measure, in my opinion.
Luckily this is not an issue we have here at Mist Cottage. When we decided to move here I ordered a radon test kit, did the test, sent it in for results, and we are well below the line of concern. In addition, we do not spend a lot of time in the basement.
But I did not always know about radon and its dangers. My girls as teenagers had bedrooms in the basement. Attila grew up having a bedroom in the basement. Many, many people have bedrooms, and offices, and playrooms, and family rooms etc., in the basement. If I had only known!!! For us that is history, so all we can do now is hope that those basement rooms in our lives were not subject to high radon counts.
Ignorance is not bliss.
The radio interview I listened to was:
Cross Country Checkup with Ian Hanomansing
Ask Me Anything: Radon in Canadian homes
The discussed website in the interview, for information in Canada, is evictradon.org.
Today was another peaceful day. It has been sunny all day, bitterly cold this morning, warming now to -5C, and beginning to fall again to -11C tonight.
Our morning walk was taken at Walmart, we haven’t been there for a very long time. There are not many big box stores near where we live, the grocery stores, Walmart, Home Hardware, and Canadian Tire are relatively close by, all viable options for taking a stroll when the weather gets spiteful. This morning I just did not want to deal with the extreme cold and the significant wind chill. This afternoon we walked our mile out of doors, and it was wonderful, sunshine, and secure footing on bare pavement and bare sidewalks.
I have a list of things I need to do in the kitchen, I get one of those items on the list done, and another one pops up on the bottom of the list almost instantly! I still need to bake hamburger buns, and to make another batch of Cream of Tomato Soup Base. I am really enjoying the soup for my lunches.
Every day I consume three different fermented foods. Two with live bacteria and yeasts, and one without, due to my soup being heated. I have Greek yogurt for breakfast, kombucha as a treat during the day, and a teaspoon of miso in my Cream of Tomato Soup. I have started to use white Miso as a butter substitute on sandwiches, which suits my taste buds nicely. Of course I might prefer butter if it weren’t for my inherited lipid issues, but miso is working well for me. On sandwiches all the bacteria and yeast are alive and kicking, a bonus.
Slowly, oh so slowly, I am finding foods that delight me, within my dietary restrictions, cost restrictions, and nutritional requirements.
Worldly
Weather
-20°C
Date: 7:00 AM EST Monday 2 March 2026
Condition: Mainly Sunny
Pressure: 103.9 kPa
Tendency: Rising
Temperature: -19.8°C
Dew point: -23.8°C
Humidity: 70%
Wind: N 6 km/h
Wind Chill: -25
Visibility: 24 km
Quote
“Always hold your head up, but be careful to keep your nose at a friendly level.”
Max L. Forman
1919 – 1981