I have to fix a hole in Sal’s boat.  To do that, I have to get it up on the deck.  And lifting a 300 pound boat 12 feet straight up is not easy.  Especially from an irregular and rocky beach with treacherous footing.  And it is only twelve feet up at high tide so even then, there is just a brief window in which to get it done.  (I really must get that funicular finished this year).

Over the last few days we have been preparing for this task by finding and snaring errant pecker poles.  Pecker poles are skinny floating logs.  And we have found four or five twenty-five foot long poles about eight inches in diameter at the butt and tapering to about four or so at the pointy end.  The idea is to lean these poles against the edge of the deck and then, using them like a ramp, drag the boat up to the deck.  I have a little electric winch that will do the heavy lifting. I hope.

It is a good plan.  But, as we have come to know all too well, plans never go smoothly.  So we have to be careful not to hurt ourselves or, more likely, the boat. We were gonna start yesterday but Sal had some computer work and I felt like napping and so nothing got done on it.  We are less than ‘keen’ to undertake this task.  Call me lazy.  Tsk, tsk.

We’ll try to get on it today, tho.  I’ll let you know how it goes.  But I am already feeling a bit sleepy as I write this………….

There is no question that spring is upon us.  People are starting to plan (at least) and sometimes they are actually doing things as well (not too much of that, but some).  The place is awakening.  We’ve had two community building days and there may have been another when we went to town.  So, momentum is building.

While in town, I visited the Campbell River boatyard and, surprisingly, a lot of boats were being readied for the season and the chandlery was busy.  I bought some boat repair crap, myself.  So, I guess I am committed.

It is just a matter of days, I think, before all the gardening shops will be pushing their wares.  Spring is definitely in the air.

We notice this kind of thing now much more than ever before.  You know, the seasons and all?  It has been getting lighter, too, for the last few weeks.  Not dark til 6:00 pm.  And the temperature has lost it’s ‘chill’.  It is not yet the middle of March but we are on the threshold of another spring.  I can feel it.

Well, I can ‘feel’ it when I am not snuggled down for a nap…………(yawn)..

……………I’ll get back to you………….