….or eclectic, anyway. I generally write about whatever I am currently thinking about and, to be honest, I have not been thinking about much of anything these past few months. Nothing is really ‘grabbing’ me these days (I thought). But therein lies the lie….
There are a few things that are on my mind but they are not so much front and centre and I guess I have just kinda been ‘putting ’em out of my head’ for awhile. Busy, I guess. I think I am not thinking but, in fact, I am thinking but just not finishing any of the thoughts.
Fascinating, eh?
The biggest one, of course, is the increasing effects of aging on my and my neighbour’s health. I mean, all that growing disability is a new thing for us and we’re are all getting somewhat preoccupied with it. This has been a year of unfortunate revelation. Still, old people complaining about aches and pains is boring for everyone else so that thought rarely goes anywhere. But, for the record, Sal and I are doing basically fine except for a few new aches and pains.
However, not all my contemporaries are doing as well. Once one hits 70, things begin to wear out and, like all things working in concert with other things, one of those components inevitably goes wonky first. And, it seems, we are all wonking out a bit more these days. Hearing is a common failure. Prostates, of course. Balance. But the one that seems to be showing up for me is diminishing muscle mass. I am still very strong but I know that I am not 2/3s as strong as I was just a few years ago.
Still, none of that is news for readers. Except, perhaps, in the way it all affects those who live Off the Grid. You know…as in the title of this very blog? So here’s an example: yesterday I had to go to the neighbouring island. When I arrived at my car, the battery was dead. Because of the ‘rough’ parking area, Sal had parked the car with the front end hanging over a cliff. The front wheels were inches from going over the edge. Access to the engine bay was nearly impossible. I popped the hood from the side using a stick on the mid-point release. I removed the battery with straight extended arms (not easy) and then I went back to the boat (200 feet away at a 30 degree angle) and removed one of my boat batteries and carried it back up the hill. 60 pounds. Then, using the straight extended arm method, replaced the battery.
Difficult? Yes. Do able? Still yes. Doable in five years? Probably not.
And so that brings me to whatever little point I am trying to establish here…..not only are we getting older but I am now planning and building to accommodate that inevitable ongoing reality of diminishing ability. Part of our most used walking path is quite irregular. I built a wooden bridge over that last week to make it safer and flatter. Part of our storage space is under the various outbuildings but I only had one set of stairs to get there. Now I have three sets. The last one was finished the week before. The cable on the lower funicular is old and rusted. That chore is very hard and so it is better to replace it now (while I can) than in a few years when doing so may be too challenging. Same for the electric winch.
And all that applied to the big set of front stairs already written about.
An older friend is having similar problems and so Sal and I are building him a small highline to get groceries and such up his steep incline.
The point? Well, as we personally age and deteriorate, so do our household systems. And surprisingly, we have to actually STEP UP our pace on those systems BECAUSE our own physical systems won’t be working so well in the near future. You’d think that, as you age, you’d just do less. NOT SO! Not when living OTG. As we age, we seemingly have to do more!!
Sheesh. No wonder I am not thinking about it very much. Too much to do.
Our Off the Grid Home 
It’s a scary thought! A month ago, during a medical intervention requiring a hospital incarceration I decided, “What the hell! All good things come to an end.” But then what? Where would I go? After my release I appreciated that what I had could NOT be improved upon and I’d better resign myself that although I wasn’t destined to live forever, I’d best make reparations to tough it out, in situ, with the help of more youthful friends and a few hired professionals. And do what I could NOW, instead of waiting a few years to get on with it!
You’ve got the right idea and a capable mate. You’ll be okay.
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Jeez, man, don’t leave me now! And, anyway, I am pretty sure I know where you’ll go when you check out. All the heat and then some. The bad part? No cauliflower. The good part? Any number of naughty housekeepers.
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You read me like a book! I can always rely on preserved cauliflower, (there is a thing such as canned cauliflower I hope.). Naughty housekeepers? Only in my imagination. Wonder if I’d have to learn Spanish? Wouldn’t hurt, I suppose.
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A pity that we did not take the step to move to Read Island, I would for sure have helped you out in the years to come! But good that you plan ahead and take the necessary steps to make things easier in the years to come. One of the biggest challenges will be the wood, no? And not a lot of alternatives I guess?
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The wood is a chore, no question. But it is straightforward, I have tools and one can always salvage smaller logs. The wood is not the biggest challenge – the biggest challenge is dealing with the unknown at the worst time and without materials, tools or help. Sorta almost like the dead battery (I had a wrench in the car). As a young man, you can jury rig and/or do without. As an older man, all you can really do is stock up on scotch and put the ‘undoable’ off for another day.
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Yes, “happily ever after” is so “once upon a time”
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True! 100%.
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I have had that exact experience in the lower lot. Nose in, dead battery. Hauled the boat battery up but I had jumpers. Now always park nose out. Possibly getting smarter is part of the old age thing. Still all my morning and other time pains are so much better than the inevitable no option finish that seems to be rapidly closing upon all of us.
Remember to enjoy the journey!
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The longer you can live independently, the better. Sometimes those decisions are not yours to make so making those adjustments now can buy you more time.
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That’s the plan but, as they say, “the best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men gang aft agley”. I assume the last three words of that proved the point. Regardless of the eventual outcome, I feel compelled to try and prevent too oft gang an’ goin’ agley if I can.
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Someone call 999.
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I’m on the East coast of Canada for the last week.
Heavvy rain one day and hot and sunny for three days.
Then rain for a day.
It looks like BC is frying AND Europe.
Crazy hot summer.
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Indeed, almost 10 weeks now without any rain of significance. Harvests will be a disaster, food prices going up again, shortages in the warehouses . And our government is calling a witchhunt on farmers because they destroy nature.
Our government is so stupid, first they took decisions tht will cause blackouts during the winter, because they shut down all nuclear power plants, but provided no alternative. Now they are chasing farmers away, so next will be no food. Seems like we are going back to the Middle Ages. Fortunately, we will be able to ask ChatGPT : “give me 5 ways to survive doomsday”
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yes.
Our Canadian politicians spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to travel to pointless, feelgood conferences that no one ( including them) really care about.
Our politicians pose for every and any social awareness apology to prove how open minded they are.
While our national, provincial and municipal budgets bleed red ink.
Our cities run out of water.
Our forests burn.
They wrap themselves in the embrace of “equality for all ” while they set themselves up for a posh retirement and or a “job for life” with any company they have given favours to.
“Revolting” describes their actions…. and the people’s response to their actions.
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Agreed. Nero fiddled while Rome burned. Trudeau poses. Canadians get cheated in every way by just about everyone. Did you hear about our Governor General attending a conference in Iceland for a week? She spent $71,000 on limo service! Reykjavik is only 8 square kilometers in size. The entire time was spent in the city. Her hotel was across the street from the conference centre. She spent $71K!!!!???? Everyone else there walked!!!!!!
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I can only offer you one suggestion: Get out. GET OUT NOW!!
However, I cannot advocate very much for Canada these days. When we are talking global climate change (rather than just another stupid government) then only the southern Hemisphere has much of a chance. NOT Africa, tho. Think: Argentina and New Zealand. Maybe Chile. Isn’t the north any good? I am sure it is in parts. I hope my part will be liveable. But the northern hemisphere is First world. They have lost the ability to live OTG, simple, minimal. No real skills. They can’t hunt, grow or gather berries. Many can’t walk. Their systems will fail. Their societies will fail. Idiots with guns will roam. The First world will crash. The Third world will fare much better. They know how to survive. If I was a young man, I’d move to New Zealand. If I was middle aged, I’d move to Chile or Argentina (’cause I’d have some wealth). If I was an old man, I’d stay put and drink scotch.
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Nice idea, but I am not sure that first worlders can simply move to places like NZ, Chile or Argentina, no questions asked. And, if their immigration laws are now that lax, will they remain so in face of growing numbers with the same idea?
I accept that, laws or no laws, one can probably get there and live as an illegal, but even that might become more difficult if the locals see an invasion. Would Read Island welcome a few hundred or more “informal settlers” (a pc term used by government in the Philippines in place of “squatters”)? Maybe, if they bring enough wine and scotch to share.
As an aside, I never much thought of NZ as a third world country before. But then, I have not been there.
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Ironically, AFTER that blog and answer was posted, a You-tube came out about the hottest temperatures reached and where they were. Obviously there was a band of hot spots at or near the Equator. But then the YT suggested that there was such a thing as wet-heat and that was a hot temp with a very high humidity component and the ‘effect’ of that combination made the band larger and with more locations. Wet-heat was also much hotter than just normal heat. Bottom line: the TUBE (PBS, I think) suggested that only the southern and northern high latitudes would continue to be liveable as we currently live. They explicitly stated that the populations could just go further up the latitudes. For awhile, I guess. I do not consider NZ anything else but first world, either. I was just lazy in my writing. But the point was that, at our relatively high latitude, we may hang in there. If we were much younger, we might consider Haida Gwaii. Oddly, the Phils did not appear on the map graphic provided by PBS…almost as if they were exempt?
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It would be nice for the country called the most disaster-prone in the world to be granted an exemption. But I know they have not escaped.
When I was there in 2015 I visited a family farm in the Palawan island group. I went to the farm with a woman who was then about 40, who had grown up on the farm. She pointed out how most of it was now under the sea and the family had relocated to higher ground inland. On more recent trips, I have seen the effects of more recent typhoons, which are said (and I believe) are becoming more frequent and stronger.
When I was much younger, I did consider Haida Gwaii (a.k.a. the Q.C.I.). Great place. Maybe I should have bought in. Not sure what will happen around here if we end up with no rain for 6 months out of the year. Might be okay for growing corn and rice during rainy season, 2 crops that the Phils fears will be adversely affected by warmer temperatures. The QCI might be about perfect…warm and wet, but not too wet.
Yesterday I had a video chat with a friend from Las Vegas as he was driving to White Hills Arizona to buy Powerball and mega million tickets (Powerball expected to be over $900 million, which would help to bankroll relocating to a more benign climate). He said the temp was 116 F. at the time. Been around 110-115 highs for the past week.
Another friend (met in Phils last winter) called from his place in southern Texas. He said temps there were over 100 and, unlike the dry heat in Vegas, he said it was super humid and pretty brutal. The guy in Vegas fairly acknowledged that, while dry heat is better, when temps are over 110, it’s hot.
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I think when the world as we know it collapses, there will be idiots with guns everywhere (also NZ and Chili/Argentina). And it will be survival of the fittest everywhere
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Maybe. According to cheap B Hollywood disaster films, it takes nothing to turn the populace violent and, in the USA, they are already violent (gun sales this year are up 64% and a great number of those gun sales are being sold to ‘Mericans that have never had one before). But my experience with peeps around the world suggests that there will be a ‘cartel’ type ‘tough guy’ somewhere and everyone else will be living relatively normally. Will it be stable? I can’t imagine a devolving world being stable. But I can imagine it being liveable and tolerable and even pleasant in a primitive kind of way. Peasantry will become the latest fashion.
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I have been honing my skills for the last few years, so I think I will survive if climate conditions are acceptable.
But our government is doing everything it can to make sure we are NOT able to provide for our own food. Framers are being forced to close down or they have to reduce their crops. Which makes us again dependable of production in South America or China
We are shooting ourselves in the foot if you ask me well, the government is shooting in our foot)
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