……….a full woodshed? A full larder? I dunno. I mean, I never thought I’d define happiness the way I do nowadays. Now, it’s all in the little things. At this stage in my life, I am happy and grateful for the most mundane, benign, laid-back vanilla lifestyle ever. Hell, I even like vanilla ice cream now (when living OTG any ice cream is extremely well received).
Here’s my typical day (sans the still-too-frequent tool-caused bloodletting): I get up at 7:00. Usually the dogs make a noise first but, if they do not, I have been sufficiently trained to the point that I wake and give them their breakfast at the right time. Then I shower and have a cuppa. Sal is right behind me and sometimes five or ten minutes ahead. Both of us are awake and clean and sipping coffee or tea by 7:30.
But then the frenetic pace slows right down. We each get on the ‘puter and do ‘puter stuff til 9:30. No energy needed or expended. In effect, we have only moved from the bed to the chair. But then, hoo boy! All hell breaks loose and we have breakfast (be still, my beating heart!). And we plan the day…………..
……..the day starts at noon.
The last ten or so days it has been mostly just getting in the firewood. Hunting, towing, sorting, cutting, hauling up the cliff, cutting into rounds, wheelbarrowing said rounds to the splitter and then splitting and stacking until the woodshed is filled. This year, we panicked a bit and gathered a few more logs than we need and so we have half-a-second year to drag and store on racks as well. But that is a good thing. We still have a couple more days of splitting and stacking and, of course, all the attendant prep and clean-up, chainsaw maintenance and such. But we are in fine shape…..heat-wise. Both of us ache and stoop a bit more than usual.
By four p.m, we are pretty much done for the day. I go pour wine. Sal always has something extra to do til 4:30 and so I maybe try trimming a patch of dog (one good square foot of Gus at a time), put away some tools or otherwise waste a half hour. At 4:30 we sit on the deck and drink wine. By 5:30, Sal is cooking dinner….or I am cooking dinner…or, more usually, we are cooking dinner together. By 6:30 the dishes are done and, once again, our hectic pace subsides. We can relax.
Of course, the day includes a myriad of other miscellaneous, short term diversions from the main chore but, generally speaking, we do one half-day BIG job and a dozen five minute to-do-list tasks, plus a phone call or whatever but that’s basically it. Off the grid living Dave and Sally style.
Please note the not-mentioned commute, the meetings NOT had, the appointments not made, the projects-for-others not due. No shopping, no Starbucks, no gym. Please note the predominantly selfish, private, independent nature of it all.
If it weren’t for the demands of the damn dogs, eh?
Our Off the Grid Home 
Greetings from the urban wasteland!
I was in Nanaimo working for a few days this week.
The worker shortage demands sacrifices.
The wood must be nicely dried or almost dried.
Nothing like a full woodshed on a cold winter day.
How do you deal with the curious dogs when your trying to work?
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When they first arrived in our lives they were constantly underfoot and jamming their faces into everything. Sal spoke to them. I yelled at them. After a year, they were only occasionally underfoot and the noses stayed where they should. Now that Daisy and Gus have lived with an angel AND a grouchy old man for close to two years, they seem to have it figured out. They still feel obliged to accompany us but only now and then is the odd ‘watch out!’ required. They are now good that way.
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*you are*. or *you’re*
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Gee that only took you 5 days to notice.
Were you asking a question or making a statement?
Pedantic or painful ?
English lessons on an o.t.g. blog.
John must be “ablast” at parties.
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nothing wrong with your lifestyle and day-planning if you ask me.
That seems like a sunday for us when we don’t have any “obligations” to fulfill
As for the question of noncon regarding the dogs: having 2 dogs helps a bit. If I’mworking in the orchard, they just keep themselves busy doing “dog stuff”. From time to time they check in on me and then they are off again. When they get tired, they just sleep by my side whatever I am doing
We can learn a lot from them if you ask me
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Their main lesson is ‘acceptance’. They are curious as to new things but whatever they are, the dogs accept it so long as we are calm and deliberate at the time.
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“If it weren’t for the demands of the damn dogs, eh?”
That’s why I have a cat!
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You have a point, John. Cats are minimal care and good mousers. Plus Gus eats the equivalent of a whole cat for breakfast. And cats, despite what they say, can be affectionate. The thing is, cats do not last long out here. Eagles take ’em. The only ones that seem to last awhile are the feral ones. Somehow they stay safe by staying feral. The domestics stay indoors while living remote. Weird.
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We had one cat (Luana) survive for 10 years. She learned early about eagles, cougars, wolves, etc. Was outside most of the time, but was allowed in whenever it suited her. She died on Quadra Island a couple of months ago, age 15. But many others – mostly her offspring – did not survive in those years. They would be around for 1- 3 years, then disappear. Only a few really figure out how to survive.
One of Luana’s many progeny we gave to a neighbour (a mile away counts as a neighbour) maybe 6 years ago. She’s like her mum. Outdoors most of the time, but with house privileges. She still covers that mile about once or twice a week and comes to visit.
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