Needed to pop into the hospital for some tests….hate that……go in healthy, come out sick….is the way I see it. Or, worse, you don’t come out at all! Hospitals are the shopping malls for bespoke diseases in my opinion. But, anyway….storm warnings all day long. Everybody stay hunkered down! Meetings cancelled, visitors stay home. The ferry runs 1/3 full.
But we have stuff to do! First thing is that I may have sold my ‘parts’ bike, the 1976 Honda XL. Secondly, the guy wanted to have a look at that damn clutch that isn’t working on the other bike….so, I reassembled them both and wheeled them across the deck to the upper funicular. Carefully putting a 300 pound bike in a stepped, two-level cart perched high on a hill doesn’t always go well. This time it did. I should have waited for Sal but she was at quilting. Got it down to the lower deck but simply could not get it off on my own. So, then I waited.
Sal came back early and helped. We half-lifted it down a ramp-from-the-cart and rolled it to the second lower cart. I got the bike on to the cart, Sal went to get her boat. I lowered the cart into the water and when Sal was alongside, wheeled it onto her little 11 foot skateboard. The bike is almost 8 feet long. Top heavy on that boat.
We propped it standing and off she went – looking between the rear spokes to see where she was going. Seas flat, dead calm until some Trumpy went screaming right by her to get a look. The boat rocked, the bike moved, the props fell out and so she used her strong left arm to keep it standing til the waves passed and then she replaced the prop.
I went ahead in my boat, got the truck, went to the beach, placed the back luggage carrier into the tow-hitch and got ready for her arrival. She came in too fast, hit a rock, the boat rocked hard, the prop fell out, the bike began to fall. Sal threw herself between the bike and the edge of the boat and was pinned – half in, half-out. Inches from the water. One leg soaked. One leg pinned. Bike was good.
We eventually got her sorted and the bike off the boat and onto the beach. Then we pushed it up to the car and mounted it onto the carrier. That was hard. Then we drove it up the hill with the car and off-loaded it and into the trailer we have at the top.
Then we went back for bike #2. Repeat.
By the time we were done, it had taken hours and we were tired so we went home and, the next day, left for the city (Campbell River). First we attached the trailer to the Pathfinder. Then we drove down the logging road. Damn logging trucks needed passing. Sometimes that can get dicey. But we got there, found the guy and unloaded the bikes. Then we went about doing our other chores. Another town day so soon on the heels of the last one usually makes it a light trip but we got the truck loaded somehow. Stayed at a B&B that night.
Next day. Tests. Everyone in the hospital talking about the BIG storm coming. So, we decided to cut this trip short and make a bee-line home. Maybe beat the worst of it. “Oh, I forgot to tell you, sweetie, I bought an old treadle sewing machine. We gotta pick it up on our way home.”
And, so we did that.
Now we are packed. Plywood on the roof, machine on the carrier and the interior stuffed full of crap.
Got back to the boat. Sky was like lead. Air was even heavy. Waters calm, tho. Felt like impending doom. Got home. Unloaded everything in five minutes onto the BRILLIANT lower funicular and went to tie the boat up. Then we did our re-stocking of the home with the new crap jammed onto the old crap and we now have enough crap to keep busy til the end of time.
“So, what exactly do you DO all day all alone out there, anyway?”
“Nothing much. At our age, things can get a little dangerous. Gardening mostly. You know… and Netflix, reading, turning the compost…..couple glasses of wine. That kind of thing.”
“Sounds nice, but I would be bored. I need the city. It’s the excitement, ya know? Starbucks and all?”
Our Off the Grid Home 
“Drowned by motorcycle” would definitely make an interesting news story Headline………
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I’ve heard of the need for a strong right arm but it seems the left can do some deadweight lifting. It’s good to have pipes!
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Sorry Folks. I couldnt resist.
Totally off the subject at hand!
People you dont have to worry about your retirement finances any longer.
No matter where you live…….you can go to a job interview!
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-12/the-rise-of-the-truly-awful-webcam-job-interview
My personal thought is…..if you’re on EI and have to report your job interviews to the govt. ……….what better way!
You dont even have to leave the house( or have a shower for that matter) to be “interviewed” for a job.
Just wear a scary clown mask so ya dont get hired and ….voila!
Another few weeks of EI !
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Sorry everyone.
Just want to reply to Aldo re His Twitter comments
Yes. Its currently worth $13 billion….it was valued at $31 billion in 2013.
Can you say “Nortel” ? Blackberry?
As for the “awesome” links etc….Nonsubscribers cant “see” the stuff you’re describing and …if they have zero intention of subscribing( I’ve got enough ridiculous passwords thanks) all those links are moot.
A recent poll of users revealed that 40% of tweets were “garbage”
Uh oh time to sell yer stock.
And the facebook “comparison” is valid if you are sick and tired of seeing, hearing, looking at everyone’s elses inane “reality tv” lifestyles of where they ate, what they ate, who they ate with, what clothes they were wearing, how the food tasted, what the waiter was like…..and on…… and on……. and on…….
I……..dont……..care.
And , it seems . More and more of the public…..dont care either.
We wont even talk about the software in your phone that tracks your whereabouts, what shops you walked past or what photos you took.
It used to be call invasion of privacy. Now its called “awesome”, “amazing” and “the next best thing”.
Ugh.
I pray for a civilization awakening solar flare that will rendered “texters” into “talkers”
That way, perhaps the Darwin Of the Year award contenders wont wear “ear buds” whilst jay walking on active train tracks and be removed from the gene pool.
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Well….. THAT is my bias but I’ll look into it further. Laila lives on Twitter. And she is smart. I dunno…….Twitter….twits….seems similar….
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I’d like to say that we would never do anything like that, strong left arm or not … but someone out their would probably label me a liar. I think you have to be at least a bit insane to live way out here.
We’re still waiting for the BIG storm’s little brother to get through with us … might make it to town tomorrow, might wait until next week. The weather gods have been a bit capricious of late, or is it global warming that makes bad weather forecasting into “let’s just roll the dice and see if today might be an OK day”?
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Our real life experience is that all forecasts are hyperbolized except one or two that are way worse. Small craft warning means nothing. Gale warning means clear skies and good sailing. Storm warning means smaller-than-30 feet should stay home. And bad weather in Campbell River may mean sunny and warm here. Did I mention that we live in paradise. Except once or twice a year…..
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Yup, sounds about right. Storm never did hit us. Winds got up to maybe 10 or 15 knots, mostly SE, but sometimes NW … go figure. That’s nothing. Our “summer” westerlies run at 25 to 30 knots easily and sometimes up to 40 knots. That can be challenging, with the crazy currents we have to cross to get into Kelsey Bay – you can get unexpected 10 foot standing waves that can really push you around. But otherwise, I agree … we live in paradise, and I’m glad I’m not in Vancouver (or Prince Rupert).
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Our worst: heavy rain. My rating compared to other storms maybe 4 out of ten?
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Aaaaaand on another note.
Have the solar panels and antenae blown away?
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Well, as heroic as I like to describe and picture us, we have nothing…nada…zip. It’s maybe 15 kmh. Wet. Grey. Miserable but well within ‘normal’ weather patterns so far. I hope it stays that way. Oddly, the storms usually come from the S.E but our wind is actually from the west come north. Almost as if it was being sucked south by the storm everyone else is feeling.
So far, we’re good.
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wow The power in Burnaby is on and off. Lotsa wind, rain, plugged drains, bad drivers…..basically armageddon.
Or a precursor to a minor earthquake and its aftermath..
Count your lucky stars you’re OTG
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I do. Every day! Ya know… if you think about it, the weather is bad but it is the systems (drains, traffic and drainage) that are failing…..like maybe the weather is only HALF the problem? Never mind….not harping, not gloating…just glad to be here and NOT there. We could suffer hardship, too. Weather happens to all of us…..
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Your town days are much more exciting than ours for sure. But maybe that’s not such a good thing all the time. – Margy
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