Sal worked at the post office the other day. As she was coming home, she saw a sea lion heading towards her accompanied by a flock of gulls trying to snatch bits of lion-lunch. She stopped the boat and the HUGE sea lion swam slowly right alongside her. She could have touched it. But, the best part? Just as she was enjoying the moment, two huge humpbacks surfaced on the other side of her 11′ Whaler (only about fifty feet away) and made their presence known with a blast of fish-breath and mist. “Cool!”
The creek water that won’t flow downhill has presented again for the umpteenth time. It’s crazy-making. This time, the big guns are being brought to the equation. I am going up with the chainsaw. This past couple of months saw some short-lived flash flooding type stream behaviour and lots of debris is moved around when that happens. Sal has tried to clear the small stuff away from the pick-up but the water pressure just isn’t getting up there. So, hiking and climbing up and down the length of the jumble-in-the-ravine is the next most logical tactic. “Free the pipe”. It may be squished somewhere and maybe needs freeing. Fingers crossed.
Follow-up: we spent three hours yesterday doing all that. Nothing. NO water. Both of us exhausted and sweating from wrestling through the underbrush and me doing the odd bit of chainsawing. Very discouraging. My friend, water system sharer and designing partner and neighbour stayed warm and comfortable in his cabin waiting and hoping for our success but thinking all the while that he knew better. “I think it is just bleeding the system, really. Gotta bleed it right.”
Yeah. Whatever.
We dutifully reported in that we had been – yet again – unsuccessful in getting water to flow downhill. Plus we bled everything all over the place. Blood and water.
After we got home chagrined, soaked and humbled by the sophistry of gravity, we had a shower and settled back into the sloth of a late afternoon and a roaring fire. Sal made a great curry for dinner.
“Hey, Dave! J and I went over to the water system after you went home and really bled it. Like, for an hour. Nothing. So, I cracked a little tap open a bit and left it overnight. That did the trick! Water is a-gushing!”
I love my neighbour.
This month has been travel hell. Seems people and things need more than the usual amount of attention and none of that could be done several demands at a time. Each event needs a separate day and trip. We will ‘go in’ to the other island at least ten times this month. Maybe more. Some of them at night. That’s 3 hours of travel each time and at least 30 hours of driving this month (mid Oct to mid Nov). Does that make any sense? Seriously? Feral seniors living on a remote island COMMUTING at least thirty hours!! I just refilled my gas tank and some boat-totes ($160) and have not gotten off the neighbouring island! Does that sound sane to you?
It sounds insane to me.
Speaking of insane……Trump. Sanders. Conway. All of them on point with the bald-faced lie of Acosta ‘putting his hands on that young intern.’ Man, oh man. A president who is a pathological, serial liar and his friends deny what was captured live on camera and then, submit a doctored version of the same film to persuade for the lie. This is Orwell over-the-top. This is 5-year-old type behaviour.
In that sense, TRUMP is right. It’s all fake news. Nothing is real.
Speaking of hopeless…..Keystone XL is hung up. Trans Mountain is hung up, (the latter maybe hung up to dry). AND the price of crude is dropping! I met Rachel Notley years ago and took an instant dislike. She too, like Trump and Ford, is rude, arrogant and a self-centred bully. Nasty piece of work. I have no time for her. But, but, but….can you imagine being the NDP premier of the Oil, Cows and Guns province at a time like this? She’s got the worst job in the world.
Well, Teresa May doesn’t have it easy either and Angela has had enough. And Trudeau really should hide out more. Mr. Selfie has gone more low-profile. The genius of John Horgan? Mostly invisible. It is a tough time to be a politician right now. I suspect that even Trump is unraveling even faster from whatever made up universe he lives in. I think I see the signs….but then again, he has been mad as a MAGA hatter from day one so it could also just be more of the same. Hard to tell when they are THAT evil-crazy.
Anyway…….
Now to something ‘interactive’……a question…..waddya think? Winter is coming on. We hate February here. It’s bleak, wet and dismal. Sometimes even cold. It is NOT unendurable but it is the least best part of being here (altho the extra quiet is nice). We usually go away, tho. One month. Maybe two. Six weeks is good. And we have a place to go to. Arizona.
But, I dunno……? Arizona? Yes, it is sunny. Yes, it is cheap. And it is likely safe because 90% of Arizonians can’t even spell ‘politics’. And I am white. I doubt anyone there reads. They follow professional sports instead. The Kardashians. But it feels wrong. It just feels wrong to even go NEAR the US/Mexico border surrounded by Republicans at a time like this. Does anyone know what I am talking about? I mean….NASCAR-fan, Bubba flipping burgers may be as stupid as the hat he is wearing but he’s no real threat to me. The sun is shining. We have a roof over our heads. Avocados are cheap. Food is very cheap. Wine is also very inexpensive….what is NOT to like? But, still…….it feels wrong…
Know what I mean..? Please way in….
Winnipeg Free Press Editorial cartoon for Nov. 9, 2018
Our Off the Grid Home 
No shame in vacationing in Arizona.
Its what us snow birds DO!
Cabin Fever, snow bound madness and all that.
Tell ya what.
If I win the lotto next week I’ll have you picked up by helicopter, flown to YVR and take you and Sal to Australia for a month ……before the Great Barrier Reef is gone…….
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THAT sounds very fair to me. Especially the helicopter part. Hmmmmm…..and if I win the Lotto sometime (I never buy a ticket so the odds are slim), I will buy YOU ten acres out here.
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You wrote the book! But probably worth it just for a bit of warm weather. Just don’t watch any news. Oh wait, that was in the book…
If I had room here, Dave, I would offer to put you up But I live in a shoebox. February is damn hot here. Bushfire risk in the quieter areas. Cyclone risk in the north. Expensive too. Probably could lend you a car and a tent. Or I could ask my friends if they need a housesitter.
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Very kind. Very generous. Especially since I present so much better in a blog than I really am. But the offer is reciprocated. You are welcome anytime. But no. No thanks. The input I am looking for is NOT invitations although that surprising response is starting to appeal (a lotto win and Australia and a helicopter…..) The response I was originally looking for was about the ‘feeling’, the intangible tingle in my Spidey sense…..I feel ‘different’ about Arizona now. I feel DIFFERENT about the STATES now. I have read of several Canucks who have said ‘I am not going to the States ever again unless they get rid of that idiot and all the idiot followers!’
I am trying to ‘get’ what it is that I am feeling? Fear? I don’t think so (I look like an ex cop or marine who has gone to seed….says Sally). Revulsion? I don’t think so. Millions of great people there. Pending doom? Kinda. Kind of feels like a tinderbox…kinda…I dunno….
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I know a quiet little town in Mexico on the west coast where you can put your feet up, read your book by the pool. watch the pelicanos cavorting overhead, drink REALLY good tequila, tell each other stories and go for a nice long walk on the beach every morning! Food is great, people are very friendly and helpful and it is quiet and peaceful. Best of all, I have yet to meet a Trump supporter there!
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Sayulita?
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I actually have a friend who is going to Whistler to snowboard. She needs a house/dogsitter. I’ll find out how long she is going for and when. She normally goes for about five weeks over Jan/Feb. I can make enquiries? Trust your gut. I follow another blogger (Streaming Through/Thru? America) who said that there has been 305 shootings over the last year. The rate has increased dramatically. Not quite lawless, but maybe the Mexican stats aren’t so bad compared to the new America.
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PS. I checked. Not everyone trusts a blogger they’ve never met. 🙂
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I feel the same way as you do. Even the thought of crossing the border is discouraging enough ( Oh those mighty CBPs ) . I have delayed my plan of going south during the winter ever since Trump got elected.
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You feel it. I feel it. What is it that we feel? Just as I would not taunt a Grizzly in a cage, just as I would not tease a Pit Bull on a chain……is it that? Or is it a form of dread? A sense of destiny/doom in the air? What is it that we feel?
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I think a lot of it has to do with being crusty and obstinate of what you believe, lol. I love the US south west, the scenery at least. But I will stay away until the Donald is gone.
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So you think this is just morality? Subjective values? Being political rather than real? Me just bejng me rather than Spidey sense?
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timing heh,,this afternoon on a hike I was listening to a Ted Talk, I enjoyed a talk about stillness by Pico Lyer.
Now I see this travel itch is at you again.
LOL, “The teacher shows up when the student is ready”
Is it really worth the trouble, closing down the house and systems, for the wonderful air travel world, of hurry up and wait, and missed connections.
To say nothing of what your gut feels could happen.
My other and I did the NYC to Quebec C cruise in September, that is about as easy as it gets, and value wise, it is hard to beat.
There were lots retirees doing back to back cruises, and folks who think their 30 cruise history is just heaven on earth. One couple in Charlottetown asked me, on the city streets, “what do I think PEI stands for?”
Guy with Mexican Village, do you mind sharing,? thnx
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America is not a destination of choice.Trump grows increasingly irrational. Who knows where he will lash out?
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In our book, ACCIDENTAL FUGITIVES, we imagined where Trump MIGHT go and it all turned to be true. So NOW my imagination has been given license to imagine even further, speculate, fantasize…..why not? The last fantasy played out as true. And my next iteration of Trump’s America is even worse…..is that it? Am I afraid of my own imagjnation?
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You can wear a side arm in Arizona. Including in some bars. FYI.
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I know. Thanks. But little comfort.. I am feisty, that’s fer sure….even somewhat formidable against pensioners and invalids. But I am hardly a force to be reckoned with even IF armed. Gimme two 45’s, a shotgun and a couple of action-hero grenades and I’ll tip over. Hurt myself. Hell, I bled like a stuck pig hiking through the forest behind my wife! A permit to carry is the same as a toe-tag for me. DOA.
But thanks for the thought.
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‘’Discretion is the greatest part of valour!” Be prudent.
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Definitely political.
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Hey John,
We’re making final preparations today before departing Arizona-bound tomorrow. Last year we found the closer we got to the US/Mexico border, the safer we felt. Something about guys with guns in green trucks all over the place. We boondock all winter so knowing there are authorities around regularly is somewhat reassuring. We’re also planning to roll further south and go down Baja for month and a half as well.
All that to say, real life isn’t well portrayed by the media. Go. Have fun. And if you do , let’s meet for a meal somewhere.
Michael
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Thanks, MH. That would be great. But we are likely to be there in February if we go. And I agree with you…..we were in Belize back when Belize and Guatemala were at war…..jet fighters, shooting, the whole thing….but they stopped for lunch every day and the tourists travelled quickly through the borders while the soldiers took a break. It was more amusing than scary.
But then again, there was El Salvadore…….scarier than hell just because of the vibes. Everyone was terrified all the time.
Still – good point.
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How exciting for Sal! You can’t plan those moments, yet whale moments are why we are here…personally the idea of spending a month in Arizona makes my skin crawl..I agree February can be dreary and cold but hibernation has its rewards….
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