Back in the big city again. Damn! Two weeks, maybe? Family issues. Tough times. Life can be harsh at times. It is right now. But, I won’t dwell on it…all of us get some of that and/or are part of that….that’s just the way it goes…..nobody gets out of here alive.

So, instead, I’ll write about OTG. Why not?

Spring has sprung and the flowers and critters are coming out of their winter dens. So are we. It is glorious. All of a sudden things are happening, getting underway and/or are in the planning stage. Biggest goal this year for us is to paint the interior of the house. We’ll see how that goes….

We even brought up the first four logs the other day. Pulled ’em up from the lagoon. Winter wood-getting is just-now beginning. And we also just started a young feller on rebuilding the long front stairs (they were first done 20 years ago and made from untreated-but-locally milled wood. It is truly amazing that they lasted as long as they did). The stairs were rotting. I recently cracked a few treads. The stringers made noises, too. The timing was right. The price of the treated lumber wasn’t (holy cow!) but it never is…….

The log-getting threw my winter back-of-blubber out of whack and getting into stair construction mode proved more than just a smidge painful but local-guy, M, needed the moolah and I had already ordered the lumber…..which I could NOT lift when they (the barge) dropped it all on the beach. So, M came to the rescue….that was good. Really good.

I like watching young people work. Made my back feel better just standing there yelling destructions at ‘im.

It is just another year out here and I am just another year older….

….and it is all still good.

But ‘out here’ does not a whole-wide-world make. We, like the little spoiled brats we are, are remote and mostly isolated from the big ugly. We live in a beautiful bubble. Pollyanna, Gus and Daisy, is our name. But real-life still stumbles, trips and lurches along on the outside like a drunken imbecile. And so does a lot of insanity, evil and death. Ugly still occupies a significant place on our planet. Enlightenment eludes us but we get snippets of happiness and contentment. Like I said, it is basically all good.

OTG is for the fortunate.

I would happily continue to bury my head and contentedly plan projects, catch prawns and drink scotch if I could but, well, into every life a little rain must fall. And it is raining right now. We are right now in the BIG ugly and we are getting more than just a little bit wet.

I’ll let you know how it goes.