It is unlike me to give my loyal following (all 13 of you, many of whom I know only check in to the blog monthly or so) a reprieve from the relentless reporting on our navels-in-the-woods. But this week conspired against my ‘creative side’ and I was forced to deal with a few other things. Most notably; exhaustion. I am sorry. I have been keeping things from you.

Seems I have sleep apnea, a condition whereby the afflicted suffers from their breathing tubes collapsing when they sleep. So then they suffocate themselves until their brain shoots an adrenaline-laced message of urgency to the heart which then ‘kickstarts’ the sufferer back to life. Makes for a less-than-restful sleep and it seems it is somewhat ‘hard‘ on your internal systems.

I’ve had this condition for years but it has been getting worse and has only been diagnosed in the last few months and, of course, the treatment is a bear to come to grips with. Well, actually, it is more like a monkey.

Treatment involves employing a small breathing machine (the price of a good used car) that increases the air pressure so that one’s pipes remain open. The air pressure is applied by way of a long tube and a small mask designed by the Darth Vader company complete with similar sound effects. It clings to the face like a small primate seeking to pick nits or otherwise irritate the hell out of you. And, with that, you are to bid a goodnight to all and sleep like a baby. I have been having some difficulty adjusting, I am afraid.

Seems I leak. Air, that is. The mask does not stay sealed as I flail about fighting the cloying, clinging primates of my semi-conscious dreams throughout the night. I’ve been having a lot of set-in-the-jungle-type dreams lately, complete with vines, monkeys and spiders webs that are sticking to my face and require immediate removal. The mask seal suffers in the process.

To be fair, I have also had a few strange-woman-kisses-me-in-a-greenhouse-type dreams, too. Those aren’t so bad.

Which brings us to Sal.

Poor ol’ Sal suffers along with me. When we learned of this condition, we also learned that the choke/breathe rhythm I was employing 36 times an hour was considered severe. So Sal put herself on unconscious ‘monitor Dave’ mode and so now, if I hiccup, she wakens. I currently go through the night wakening only a dozen times or so now but she is ‘freaked’ at least twice that number of times. So Sal is tired too. Who knew? Sleep apnea is contagious!

We also received two Woofer’s for a week. They were to come during wood-getting-in time but, wouldn’t you know? The logging winch, so crucial to the task, gave up the ghost. Can’t get the logs up the hill. So we are feeding two nice young Dutch men copious amounts of food and wine and NOT getting the major task of the season handled. I am not pleased.

However, we have had the benefit of their efforts in the community. As you know, we have embarked on a renovation/addition to the bunkhouse and, of course, there is the ongoing saga of the Q-hut restoration and so I have ‘donated’ the energy of two 26 year-olds to that task. They are a great help and things are moving along nicely.

Wood gathering is another matter.

To solve the wood-getting dilemma, I have several alternative routes to consider: I could fix the winch which requires the services of an expert as it is not fixable by handyman alone. I could rebuild and install an old salvaged boat winch made of wood and cobbled together bits and pieces but which has never run in my lifetime. Nor does it inspire confidence. I could splurge on a new winch which is prohibitively expensive or I could procrastinate until God intervenes. So far, I have been employing the latter strategy. We’ll see.

Part of the winch problem for me is that the design parameters I desire are not, it seems, universally available. I want a 3-4-5000 pound winch capability that runs off of 120AC current (1.0-1.5 hp will give that with the right gear ratios) and a spool that will wind up 150 feet of 5/16 cable at a rate satisfactory to my level of patience – say 25 feet per minute or more. The closest ‘off-the-shelf’ model is the Warn AC3000 that is slower and has capacity for 100 feet (that I could likely squeeze an extra 25 feet on). $1200 if you can find one. I haven’t looked yet.

The real answer is an old one from a garage sale. Some old Beebe or Marpole or Tulsa winch that has a 1.0hp AC motor attached and I can install my own cable. These are not too hard to find in garage-type sales but we are lacking garages out here. I almost have to come to Vancouver to scrounge around for a suitable ‘rural’ winch. Weird, eh?

Well, that is not a complete update of the last few days but it is the bulk of it. Got some good prawn hauls (not great, but good). Visitors, of course. Satellite went ‘down‘ for a day. Projects being conceived…………….

More later.