Yesterday was just another normal OTG day out here….I welded up a work cart for the old, resurrected, miracle genset, Sal went to the community dock to distribute the delivery-food orders and we putzed about doing other minor chores. It was all good.

But it started out on a harsh note: We have birds. Ravens, eagles, robins, the whole panoply of avian buddies. And we generally like ’em all (how can one NOT like a bird?). But, to be fair, the Seagulls are not our favourites. I don’t know why….maybe just because…..

Anyway, it DOES seem like the Seagulls are the low-bird on the totem pole with other birds, too. The ravens don’t like ’em, that’s for sure. And, God knows, the eagles don’t like ’em either because the gulls always chase and harass the eagles after the eagle has caught a fish or something. Yesterday morning two eagles had clearly had enough…..they swooped down and killed a seagull. Bam! Then they ate the seagull al fresco on the beach. It was kind of dramatic in a feathers-everywhere kinda way. The interesting thing is that seagulls generally flock together. But after the eagles ate Johnathon, there was not a gull in sight. None today, either. The Eagles sent a message. The gulls heard it.

The day before we re-decked the ramp with the assistance of two younger people who have moved up onto a neighbouring island. My neighbour had brought in the supplies and we went over to assist the ‘young people’ (likely in their late 30’s) and the task only took us all about four hours. It was a good job, we all worked together well and the result is very satisfying.

The day before Sal and I still had a few logs to haul up the cliff but they were too heavy for Sal to raise with the block and tackle. So I went down and did the pulling. One log got jammed and so I pulled harder…..spel-l-l-ung! The highline is a fixed overhead cable that I had installed about 13 years ago (maybe 12) and I knew that it was getting a bit rusty around the lower end. I planned on replacing but, well, you know how it is….I hadn’t done it. The cable had snapped. Down it all came. 3/8″ galvanized cable broke like a shoe-lace. And so the logs remain in situ.

The problem is that, in the winter months, the tides are high in the daylight hours. And I need access to the anchor rock/boulder/out cropping into which I drill so as to fasten the cable. I cannot get access to it without immersing myself up to my neck. Hard to do any rock drilling that way, too. So, I either go and drill at 3:00 in the morning (not bloody likely) or I wait until the early spring to re-establish the high-line. I have chosen the latter.

Anyway, I loaned my son my rock drill and don’t have it back yet.

Plan B for the logs is to ‘man-handle’ them half up the beach on a high tide and then, when the water recedes, cut off a length and move that chunk further up the beach so as to start the drying process. Repeat as required until the larger heavy logs are in smaller pieces. We’ll see how that goes.

Interesting? Not really. Eagles eat others, cables break, welding sucks….but the larder is full, the ramp is great and we now have a new, weird work-cart. Basically, it is all just an ‘ordinary’ day in a ‘different kind of way’. Same but different.