Well, the new haul-out is underway. That’s good. Got the first two ‘tracks’ on and secure. Two more to add. Then a work-deck to be built beside it comes next. Progress is slow. Sporadic. NOT steady. So much to do. So many things to attend to. Busy, busy, busy.
Mind you, I am reminded of my dad many years ago saying, “Well, I would like to play golf next week but on Monday, I pick up my dry cleaning and on Wednesday, I get a haircut. Thursday is shopping day and well, I am pretty beat by Friday when the cleaning lady comes so that’s out. So, I guess Tuesday is my only free day . Does that work?”
Of course, I said (to myself – at the time) that I pick up dry-cleaning, have four meetings, go to the bank, see a friend and then stop for a late 15 minute lunch before doing twice as much in the afternoon and getting back in time to clean the pool, mow the lawn and help with dinner. How could a whole day be set aside for a haircut? But I didn’t say it. I just assumed that older people slowed down.
Now I know.
They do. I am barely at glacial-speed now with global warming being what it is…..
I have been ‘good’ for only a four hour work-day for awhile now. I am busy for eight but physically ‘working’ is limited to four hours. I don’t count writing or anything that doesn’t require lifting as physical labour but even with that kind of non-physical activity, I am only good for an eight hour day and that may be dropping to seven because wine-drinking is part of the last hour.
Hard to say…rarely does a day go by without some heavy lifting or mountain climbing or hammer-drilling or something crazy. But definitely shorter times. On a horribly rainy day, I don’t work physically at all but I do sometimes nap. So, clearly my GDP is dropping. Moody’s has down-graded me to Z.
Well, according to Sal, my gross part is still strong but the domestic production is dropping, for sure.
Last night was pathetic. We had earlier put a large work bench on Sal’s boat to float into the lagoon at high tide. That’s where the haul-out is being constructed. At 6:00 pm Sal said, “Wanna go drop the bench? Or are you too tired?”
“Aaaaaah, I am too tired. Tomorrow.”
“Nah. I want it out of my boat. I’ll do it. You do the dishes.”
“You can’t lift the bench!”
“Not gonna. It’s high tide. I’ll go in, nudge up to the rocks, push the workbench out and then tie it up to a tree. Then I’ll come home to inspect a pile of clean dishes. Tomorrow we can go get it and place it where we want to on OUR WAY up the hill to fix the water system.”
I felt more tired just listening. “OK. Be careful. The rocks are slippery. Don’t worry about it being as high on the beach as possible. It’ll float. We’ll get it up the beach tomorrow.”
And so I did the dishes while Sal moved the workbench into the lagoon.
Worse, she inspected my dishes when she got back!
What is the world coming to?
Our Off the Grid Home 
Perspective alters everything.
LikeLike
True. That’s what Einstein said, too.
LikeLike
Sal scares me……….
LikeLike
Me, too.
LikeLike
I know what you mean by slowing down. I went up to dig my compost pit into the potato patch and then plant my saved seed potatoes. It took longer and I had to lean on the shovel more than once. Fortunately Wayne came up to see what was happening and helped out. And cutting the old deck boards into fire wood and getting it stacked was another chore. But doing things together helps. – Margy
LikeLike
Yeah. Together works better. We found a crimp in the water line today and, when we cut the crimp out, Sal got water all over her. She was shrieking. Made the whole job way more fun.
For me, anyway.
I like working with Sal. She says it’s not mutual. But she does it anyway and she does it with a good attitude. For that, I am truly grateful. We also moved a huge boulder that needed the two us. Some jobs are just two person jobs. All of our jobs are getting that way.
LikeLike
Having the right partner is key. In book two that partnership is on display and makes for a great read.
LikeLike
I couldn’t agree more. – Margy
LikeLike
In the BC debate did you see the Botox paralyzed chipmunk face with the painted smile of reckless self-assurance?
LikeLike
No. No TV. But I can’t stand to look at her, anyway. Heard a bit on the radio, tho. Horgan came out swinging. Weaver sounded sane. Clark seemed to be setting herself up a few times. Mind you, anything she says is a lie so there’s a setup everytime.
LikeLike
I watched the entire “debate”…if you could call it that.
Weaver, while insisting he’s not like “THOSE” politicians did exactly what most politicians do in debates when they’re behind. Argued, interrupted, bullied, harangued and mocked….. Seemed like an old style politico to me.
He got some pretty good zingers in on the other candidates
Horgan was well trained, careful, but frustrated at Weavers constant interrupting and haranguing. He got a few zingers in on the other two.
Clark seemed deflated, almost like she missed being the center of attention while those two battled it out all night .
Oddly, her campaign rhetoric was right out of the last elections’ handbook…”Its about the KIDS!” “Its about JOBS!”
Weird.
I thought they had $15,000,000.00 to “shock and awe” the electorate…..unless they spent it on hairdressers and clothes for her entourage……
LikeLike
….and of course, $25,000.00 for BotoxParalyzedChipmunkFace with the self assured smile……..
LikeLike
“It’s about the kids!” makes me nauseous. She has done NOTHING for kids. And this crap about jobs…..what the hell….? If you wholesale all your resources out to Petronas and China and the US by way of logs, how does that expand the workforce? More loggers maybe. But we should have value-added industries and we do not. We should have local serve-your-neighbour industries but we do not. I am SSSSOOOOOOO fed up with politicians, I would vote for one who said, “I am gonna do nothing new. Nothing. I see my job as keeping an eye out for misspending and keeping the schools and hospitals operating well. Honestly, I am just a bean counter and I am gonna be really good at it. Better yet: I am gonna keep it to that!”
LikeLike
Munkface trending on social media for snubbing a special education assistant(SEA) who wanted to tell our premier why she would not vote for her. Premier cut her off. Premier, “I will listen to all British Colombians!”
LikeLike
For the first time in the USA, more 18 to 34 year olds live with their parents than the group of 18 to 34 year olds living away from their parents.
LikeLike
That is sad for everyone. Doesn’t bode well for a sane, capable functioning mature populace.
LikeLike
They should rename Millenials….
“I dub thee Millstones” (around my financial neck)…….
I have a friend who’s 28 year old son lost his job and has moved back home, and sits in the basement, day in, day out, week in week out….. The friend and his wife are actually thinking about selling their house to get rid of the kid…
And they’re not the first couple I’ve known to do that.
Is it the parents fault for not prepping these kids for the real world?
Or is it society’s fault for molly coddling these kids their entire fricken lives……School sports events….Everyone’s a WINNER! Everyone gets a medal. Hooray! Good job! Good job! ( I used to say that to dogs when they’d bring a stick back to me…) .
By avoiding reality we’ve set an entire generation up for failure…….and its literally coming home to roost.
LikeLike
The millenials are not to blame. They are and will be responsible but the blame can be spread over a larger contingent. Parents, schools, peers, capitalism, drugs..the list is long. But parents arent solely to blame. They don’t know how to parent. Each new parent starts from scratch. They try their best. They listen to ‘the experts’ and the professionals. They try to be modern, hip and progressive. They usually aren’t bad people. Just ignorant. And who is smarter? Spock? Certainly not the educators. They teach curriculum NOT life. Who teaches life? Not the parents both working, maybe two jobs. Who has time to teach life? We no longer rely on religion. Our neighborhoods are disconnected. Uncles are fewer and farther between and also working two jobs. Movies teach nonsense. Sports is now too organized. The runts don’t even get picked last anymore. Where is the village? WE have collectively dropped the ball on raising children and looking to government to fix it is even stupider. Kids need to skin their knees when they are six and lose their bike when they are ten because the left it unattended. Modern parents replace it. Now kids of 28 sit in basements playing video games. Is there an answer? Yes. Kick ’em out. Give ’em first and last month’s rent, fill the fridge and say ‘goodbye’. But parents of 28 year old kids-in-basements are reluctant to do it. And I know why. They don’t think their kid will survive if the umbilical is cut this late in the game. And they may be right. You have to start cutting the cord way back when…when the kids was six. No one teaches that lesson.
LikeLike
The theory of ‘tough love’ is show it and the kidz will step up. Some do…! On a daily basis certain myths circulate through social media and go viral and sometimes these myths are taken as factual. Some of these myths are destructive. Especially the ones that undermine the value of an education. To be clear self taught people are educated. Self taught people are often more motivated than many who only seek novelty and consequently lack direction.
LikeLike
I do not advocate tough love. Realistic and basic might be my adjectives but I never punished my children. But neither did I ameliorate the results of their mistakes. I’d put on a bandage or say, “Well, you can work to buy your next bike so, no problem!”. Tough love? I don’t think so. Just ‘real’. As for education, I am more contrary than you. I think we mis educate the minute we put kids in classrooms. So, I am a rebel in that regard. If I had a school, the kids would spend no more than two hours on academics. The rest would be hands-on, real life experiential learning. Call me crazy.
LikeLike
BC Provincial Government balances budget. The BC Provincial debt is currently close to 67 billion dollars and growing. Guess it all depends on one’s definition of balanced! Oh that reckless smile.
LikeLike
That doesnt include the “off the books” contract committments (aprox 40 billion over 50 years) that BC Hydro has with “run of river” projects. Where Hydro is FORCED to buy their power whether Hydro needs it or not at THREE TIMES the market price…..gotta buy that “green”(money?) power…..
Hydro is bankrupt.
LikeLike
Now, now……it is not green power at fault. It is corrupt insiders and government selling out our resources. Don’t blame green. Blame corruption and the Liberal party. Green good. Liberal party bad.
LikeLike
nah, I’m thinking of companies that wrap themselves in the “green” agenda and wave the green flag at every opportunity….for profit , not for the environment…
As for Professor Weaver.
Lots of loud criticisms and vague promises, not much different than the average politician.
All while proclaiming he’s different and not your average politician.
LikeLike
Sadly, I am inclined to agree but it was the over-the-top grin in the debate photo op that upset me most. What the hell is he so happy about? CC grins all day, every day. Horgan, at least, looks ticked much of the time and rarely happy. I want my politicians to emote the full spectrum of facial expressions. It shows they are human and more likely to be sincere. Me? I am a smorgasbord , a cauldron, a chaos of emotions. And that is what I relate to.
LikeLike
”Green Washing.” DDT and eagles. Ozone layer and skin cancer. Phosphates and clean water. Perhaps some worthy values sought.
LikeLike