Sal and I are good. A bit tired, tho. It’s been a busy summer. Really busy. Things were added to the empire. Other things got repaired. Maintenance and chores. We got a lot done. Tons of guests, of course. Dinners. Happy hours. Social events. Community stuff. And, of course, a lot of quilting got quilted. All good.
But tiring. The sad part is that the fatigue (for me) is more than just physical. I am a bit tired mentally. Creative juices are down. Desire to travel extinct. Motivation lacking. ‘Dave is no fun!’ General optimism remains on the plus side but that’s due to our location and lifestyle (and living with Sal, the source of all sunshine) which is very uplifting and therapeutic. But psychologically and emotionally, we (mostly me) are running on empty.
The largest part of it is me. I am racking up the years. I caught up with my aging process this year and it was a shock to experience. When I was 70, I did not feel much different than when I was 60, maybe felt even younger. But, when I hit 71, I felt all of those years. It was aging accelerated. In one year I got old. You know the feelings….more aches, less energy, more naps…….
….but it is not just the age thing. Getting old is definitely part of the ‘feeling’ but it’s more than that. It’s also a slight feeling of creeping/looming despair. Like mould. Please do not read that last statement as black-dogs depression or real, solid, bleak despair. It’s not that. It’s more like a hint of despair, with a helpless sense of a larger destiny looming, a lot of confusion and a growing lack of control or influence to change the course of what seems like inevitable and horrific events. It feels a smidge like doom. DOOM!
“Really, Dave? You are THAT bummed out?”
No! As I said, “Please do not read that last statement as black-dog depression or real, solid, bleak despair.” It may eventually BECOME big-doom but it still just feels a little like small doom. Tiny doom. A small apocalypse, maybe. I am having a hard time seeing our way out of the what-seems-like global madness showing up in so many ways in so many places so much of the time. And I have absolutely no faith in or respect for any of ‘our leaders’.
Maybe Greta Thunberg……
….and I am disproportionately buoyed up by the electric car/bike/boat revolution. So, add Elon Musk to that short list.
Anyway…that is why I have not been writing. I try to write when I have something to say, but when you are confused and going primarily on ‘gut feelings’, you have little to say except, ‘Watch out for the doom!’
On a more prosaic note: we got all our wood in plus some. The second bathroom is up and operating. The wrongly installed doors were re-installed properly, the access bridges were rebuilt (in what turned out to be ‘just before’ they fell down!). New composter. Another renovated shed. A couple of engines re-done. Fabulous sea-food! Great friends! Whales. Life OTG has been a bit intense this year but we feel we progressed and we enjoyed it……that is a good feeling.
And I am pretty sure there will be a next year. Maybe NOT a next century but I am looking forward to each year as it comes. It would be nice to see fewer Trumps, Fords, Trudeaus and the usual assortment of slime trying to ‘take over the world’ and/or line their pockets while threatening nuclear war and ignoring the climate but let’s not get mired in that right now. I have a gut-feeling about all that……it will be a small apocalyptic ‘episode’…probably just showing up as a number of mass shootings at a theatre, shopping mall or MacDonalds near you……
…oh yeah…happy Thanksgiving :))
Our Off the Grid Home 
Good to hear from you again Dave. Regardless of your state of mind it’s always entertaining and enlightening to read your posts. Sometimes a hiatus is essential and we understand; but still miss you.
LikeLike
Thanks, Art.
LikeLike
Hi Dave,
Good to hear from you. Have been meaning to write to you, but not much to say except for ‘Watch out for the doom!’. Oh yes, also police state. Oh yes, also ginger pig is probably on his way to Svalbard to collect seeds from the seedbank which is thawing out nicely. Seeds to be planted in Antartica where he now has a base. Probably. Not that I know. I really don’t but that lot are not stupid. Meanwhile, as for the rest, a pox on all our cities. No water in inland Australia so nowhere to run, nowhere to hide (sounds like a song doesn’t it?). I can’t write this on my own blog, so I hope you don’t mind the gratuitous vent.
Apart from all that, we’re good too.
All the best to you and Sal.
LikeLike
All the best to you, too. Man, oh man…..things going squiggly in the land of Oz, too? Police state…..nutty government…..how did we get here….?
Glad you wrote.
LikeLike
Yep, that’s where we are. God’s will, I think.
LikeLike
I figured you were busy AND a little burned out with the blog.
Understandable.
Trying to come up with “conversation” is tough at the best of times.
I’m the same as you,
Busy busy busy and the “News” local, regional or international is about and annoying as it gets.
Well, ya have lotsa firewood, hopefully lotsa booze, and yer both healthy ( physically not mentally in YOUR case).
So….enjoy.
Snuggle under the quilts with the Quiltmaker
Plant some fricken tulips ya…. grumpy bastard.
It’ll cheer you up in the Spring
And the deers will love you for it!
LikeLike
Being the same as me is NOT a good thing, non con. There is no cure…seek help….professional….think: pain killers….
……hmmmmmmmm..? Tulips, you say?
LikeLike
yep.
Tulips, daffodils, crocus’s
Nothing like planting deer food
And the one’s that make it til Spring…..
Bonus color.
Lemme know what colors you and Sal like and I’ll mail some to the Godforsaken OTG postal code you call home……..with bone meal….because even you OTG serial killers can ALWAYS use more bone meal……. 🙂
LikeLike
Oh and I saw this “water powered” funicular and thought of your lift….
LikeLike
Wow! Ingenious. Brilliant. Bloody marvelous…..
LikeLike
Good to hear from you. You were missed but I know you realized that. I know what you mean about getting to age seventy-one. You and Sally have accomplished a great deal this year so far. What are your winter plans? Are you two hunkering down or will you two be drawn to the bright lights? Alberta is experiencing winter snows and it’s not winter according to the calendar. Hope to see you folks.
LikeLike
Thank you. I really needed a dose of David and Sal. And I get the age thing. I’m 72 and I have some of the same feelings you are expressing. You may find it hard to understand that your day-to-day activities are fascinating to me, and probably fascinating to many of your other fans. Even the winches and ravens are interesting. I know the higher level stuff is what really turns your crank – and I like that, too – but anything you write is great.
Ted.
LikeLike
Thanks Ted…but you can count all my ‘fans’ using only your fingers and toes…..I likely have a dozen, maybe two dozen, regular readers (definitely a few ‘irregulars’, too)…..
I write. Some read. A few write back.
And, I confess, I have a strong sense of connection to those who comment. We really ARE friends. I look for them….a blog without NonCon, Sid, Margy and the rest of the untidy minds is not worth writing. Hell, I even liked hearing from Alberta John and he is a Trumpeter!
Readers MAKE the blog for me. And readers who comment make it fun.
I’ll try to make it more OTG….like….today……wind a’howling, seas high. Sal in small boat coming back from a quilting gaggle. Boat filled with heavy stuff…..lower funicular cart lowered into the sea….she unloads….boat pitching….waves pushing….engine stalling….approximately 400 pounds of ‘dancing’ materials in a boat doing gymnastics……and she ain’t a spring chicken, that gal! She does it. I load it up, get it up the hill……all normal for us but, really? Sal is doing great stuff….
……pretty neat.
LikeLike
Please tell us you do not respect that young alarmist, manipulated enviro-nut Thunberg.
LikeLike
Sorry, but I do. I thought it a silly effort to sail her boat…..I thought 16 and cute somewhat manipulative…..I thought ‘getting SUCH a reception’ very, very unusual…….but, in the end, she was sincerely angry when she spoke. And she was literally speaking truth to power. Credit where it’s due.
LikeLike
I thought she was brilliant.
Pulled no punches calling the “leaders” of the free world the money grubbing pigs that they are.
“We are watching….” is a harbinger of the elections to come over the next few decades as the weather gets more extreme, the overpopulation of the planet vacuums the oceans empty, the forest fires worsen…
Yep
I dont think too many people will WANT to be a politician in the “torches and pitchforks” future facing them……….
LikeLike
Cognitive dissonance is a weird feeling…..having a semi-apocalyptic view of the world and yet being disappointed when the TSHT fan…..just as expected….
I mean…we all know politicians are NOT leaders but rather the manifestation of pure sychophancy and group-think. LEADERS, they are NOT..but…..geez…we still expect them to lead us to safety and well being. How stupid is that.? THAT has never happened and never will.
Ya WANT well being? Do it yourself.
And such mental conflict must be driving Trumpeters mad……”He was gonna drain the swamp, purify the races and make America great again …..but, like….the swamp is still full, the world hates us and he is making America nothing but impoverished, divided and angry…..geeezzzz…..who am I gonna vote for now?”.
Answer: ain’t nobody worthy. Vote……but do NOT vote mainstream….instead, vote ‘fringe’. Vote anti-establishment. Vote Green.
LikeLike
Welcome back! Happy Thanksgiving!
I read, I replied, but WordPress lost my password and refuses to allow me a new one!
I will try this time via f and if it works will attempt my ‘witty response’ later on.
Namaste.
LikeLike