I am pleased to announce the formal appointment of Ms S.J. Davies to the DOG firm (Dispatches Off Grid). She will head the photography department as well as continue in her unofficial capacity as editor-at-large and general critic-of-everything as well as the-boss-of-me. Ms Davies brings a wealth of experience and talent to the position not to mention cuteness in the extreme. Her title will be Grand Poobah or Pooh for short.

The old affectionate term ‘Pudding’ is likely to still be in use as well. Here at the office, anyway.

Sally joins our team at an auspicious time. We need pictures. And she has ’em. Negotiations for her services began two years ago but, alas, the discussions were interrupted by her other outside demands which included the aforementioned editor, critic and boss duties as well as book-club, kayaking, community-organization board member, yoga and running-with-dogs which occupied her talents full-time. Oh yeah……there were dinner parties and Chinese students, logging operations, oyster-gathering and traveling abroad to add to her duties.

Fortunately, her husband is wonderfully supportive and needs very little attention.

Of course she has her unofficial duties as well. Cooking, reading, more dog-playing, gardening and extended chit-chatting-with-everyone but today, we are pleased to state that her energies have focused and her DOG editorial duties are now uppermost on her agenda. I think I can say with confidence that we will see a picture now and then. Maybe. Who knows?

Let’s hope so.

There is no denying that business has dropped off these past few months. We need a little ‘fresh blood’. Readership seems maxed out and our resources are strained. Cash flow has been maintained, however, but zero is still zero no matter how you dress it up. Indeed the long term prospects for the firm are not clear. It is management’s hope that colourful visuals will draw a bigger crowd. A lot rests on Ms Davies’ shoulders.

Actually, despite the dismal numbers, I am considering taking the operation public. A new domain name has been researched and purchased and the DOG firm may soon move to a new location. You know what they say, “Go BIG or go home!”

We are going to do both – get bigger and stay home!

The new blog (once the consulting team of Ben & Ryan Extremely Limited) is finished, I may be adding some advertising to the pages. An income stream, as it were. I am limiting the merchandising to only those products I have personal knowledge and experience with but heresay and gossip will be considered.

My readership will have to expand or else the 22 of you will have to start investing heavily in diesel gensets and solar panels if this project is gonna pay off.

Don’t worry, there is new line of very quiet diesel gensets designed especially for balcony placement in high rise apartment towers and solar panels that affix to wrought-iron balcony railings. From UrbanOffTheGrid.com. Of course, you can start small with a chainsaw or inflatable boat, both of which store conveniently and are at-the-ready in your condo-unit storage unit. And we’ll have a complete line of water filters, eco-friendly washers and dryers and a catalogue of heritage seeds on offer.

Look to a bigger and better Off-the-grid site supplying all your eccentric needs soon.