We creeped through the lagoon in shallow water to the edge of Earl and Alva’s camp to pick them up for the ride over to John & MC’s.  Dinner and drinks were waiting.  All the ‘bites’ were there; John and Jorge, Roger and Anne, J&MC, Earl, Alva and Karen and, of course, our group of four.  It was good.  Group photos taken, appetizers consumed, wine disappeared and enough stories and goofiness to entertain including a group rendition of Happy Birthday to Brian.  He turns 30.

We left before dinner as we had a ‘previous engagement’.  Think about that – a social evening on the deck of a remote cabin in the middle of Discovery Sound and we were double-booked!  Of course, we could have put something off til the next night but – no lie – we were booked the next evening at Ginny’s for ‘cocktails’.  And even with that, we have to squeeze in a trip to town before that!

People think we live remote.  They ask me if I get bored or lonely.  Hah!

I have four new solar panels up.  Had ém for about a week.  Unbelievable!  Those extra 4 panels (on top of the original 4) now keep us ‘topped up’ fully in the summertime.  That is only 640 watts of power but we are getting good sun and it has kept us fully charged up.  This bodes well.  When we add the wind gen, we will be good even in the winter.  I think. 

I tend to measure rodent activity by the amount of mouse poison consumed.  I have a half dozen ‘feeding’ stations around the place and, if the food levels remain as placed, then no mice are present.  And that has been the case for the past four years (yes, I monitor and replace the stations).  We have been mouse free.  Yesterday I checked the stations and all the food was gone!  If all the food is gone, it is likely the mice are too.  That poison works.  But it also means that some have moved back in to the neighbourhood and so the killing vigil is on again.  It is gruesome, of course, but not worse than having gnawing, scratching, skittering sounds in the walls of your house.  Thankfully, we have managed to stay mouse-free our entire time here but this latest ‘feasting on the poison’ suggests that there has been a bumper crop of little critters this year and I have to stake out our territory again.  It is not a problem if you stay on top of it but many of our neighbours have been lax.  And they have lost the battle.  There are a lot of homes on the islands with healthy mouse villages entrenched in their walls.  The people have learned to just ‘live with ém’. 

We don’t feel that way.  As far as I am concerned, it is them or us.  So far, it is us and I intend to keep it that way.  Being on a peninsula helps a great deal.  We don’t get many itinerants.  A mouse has to make quite a trek to get to us including a crossing of Jake-the-great’s territory.  Jake is a ferocious mouser and not much gets past him.  He is John and Jorge’s cat and has been the rodent gatekeeper for some time but I guess a few little guys got by and so we are bringing out the big guns now.  I am confident that we can do this.  More on this latest insurgency as results indicate.