Single, large humpback rolled through yesterday.  Very cool to see.  He/she was just a hundred or so feet off the beach just a’humping along.  NO whale-watching boats either! The interesting thing (for us) was not only the whale, but Sally.  She seems to have an ear for them.  She was up in the greenhouse, I was closer to the beach on the deck fixing some wheels (which I will get to) when she came shrieking around the corner, “WHALES!!!” (we assume more than one as a rule).  And then the lone whale hove into view.  I hadn’t heard a thing.

So…from whales to wheels…. as readers know, we have had a lower funicular for the last year.  GAWD!  I love that thing.  But the last time we used it I was not feeling the love at all.  It just squealed and got ‘caught up’ on the tracks and simply did NOT behave as it was supposed to. Squealing reluctance was a hint (which I have heard from various sources over my lifetime).  The wheels were just not turning.

Of course, this is to be expected when you occasionally dip wheels into the salt chuck but I had taken what precautions I could by buying nylon bushing, hard plastic wheels.  I knew the ‘frame’ of the wheel would rust but it would take years and they were bought as replaceable and they were not overly expensive.  But they seized up anyway. I was gonna have to take ’em off again to free ’em up.  So, we did that.  Now it works like a charm.

Maintenance, eh?

Even though they were billed as nylon bushings, the bushings were metal clad nylon (kinda defeating the purpose) and, of course, the shaft was mild steel.  So the two metals managed to cling lustily and rustily to each other despite the nylon between them.  I took ’em apart, cleaned them, lubed the hell out of them and replaced one with a s/s steel shaft to see what difference that will make.

What the wheels REALLY need are silicon bronze bolts/shafts.  Try to find 6 silicon bronze bolts 4 inches long 1/2 inch diameter in Canada.  The USA, simple.  But, of course, none of the USA suppliers will ship to Canada as it is a foreign country.  WAY too alien for them to accept.  Way to hard to ship……

I recently needed another kind of product from the USA, too.  Seattle.  Bought it before. Several times.  NOT this time.  “Sorry, we cannot ship outside the contiguous 48 states.” Never mind NAFTA.  Never mind my having an account with them.  Never mind ‘doing business’.  And never mind that you can almost throw the package this far, they ‘CAN’T’ do it now.  Now?  NOW?  Why NOW!!????

These are not isolated examples.  The Canadian border is like some kind of invisible restriction to  the ‘Merican thought process for some businesses.  They cannot seem to get their head around it.

So, why is the USofA having so much trouble mailing five ounces of crap over the border? Drug cartels don’t seem to have that problem.  Neither does GM, Proctor and Gamble and Coca Cola.  Hell, even Whole Foods and Walmart can do it.  But, Bubba?  An extra stamp on the package?  A different kind of Postal Code?  TOO HARD.  Fuggedabout it.

Is THIS how they intend to Make America Great Again?