Silly season has begun already.  Tourists.  Fishers.  Kayakers.  The first of the ‘seasonals’ are upon us.  Bit early, this year.  Usually it gets going sometime in May (long weekend-ish) but with such a mild spring, they are out and buzzing around already.

Over-wintering sun-birds have returned.  Summer neighbours are in touch – making plans. That’s all good.

But things have changed in one short half-year.

The star-fish or sea-stars on our coast have been devastated by some kind of wasting-away disease and they are the main consumers of small urchins.  So, absent the stars, urchins are in full bloom.  So now, many more sea-birds are on the beach having uni (sushi term) for lunch.

DFO mismanaged the prawn fishery in the usually ignorant and catastrophic way they have with all the fisherys (despite being given information that would have saved it) and so our prawn season is already a bust. Just before the commercial pillage begins, the prawning is usually good.  It is a two week window before the pros 600-odd trap lines go down  and we can usually get ten or so pounds for our year before they hoover up their allotted tons.  But neither of us are likely to get lucky this year.  The prawns just ain’t there. It may be the oddness of climate change.  It may be over-fishing.  It may be any number of things but we have more too-small-to-eat urchins, less juicy fat prawns this year.

Fid warded off the advances of an otter wanting to squat on our little point for a few days in a row.  That is good.  Otters tend to stink up a place.  I love seeing them but, preferably, down the coast a mile or so is just fine.  Haven’t seen too many seals.

Come to think of it, Fid chased off a mink that was trying to set up a homestead under the house a week or so ago, too.  He’s been good this spring although the squirrel definitely has Fid’s number.   The squirrel is simply too much for Fid.  Too hard to see, too small to catch and simply not afraid of silly old Fid.  Fid only has bluster, hardly any bark and no bite (unless you are a human male over 16 in which case your butt is up for bites!)

Ravens are gone again.  Eagles are in.  Spotted a nesting pair of Canada Geese.  Fewer seagulls than ever before.  Fewer herons, too.  Way fewer hummingbirds but it is not quite the season for them – not yet.

I saw a big black fin-less leathery tube-like creature the other day.  I just caught a glimpse of a rolling black body that was whale-like but without any fins or markings or even any splashing.  Not a clue what it was but it was the size of a sea lion with the surface appearance of a whale.  Could have been a Minke but even they make more noise and splashing plus they have small fins. No idea.

But it all adds up to the season beginning.  More life showing up for the summer.  It’s simply the way it is.  I like it.  And I like it when they all leave, too.  The dead of winter can be peaceful.  We don’t usually opt to stay for the deadest part but we have been here year ’round a few times and know well the dark days, the short days, the days seemingly without sun.  They can be bleak but they can also be private, peaceful and primitive in a hunker-down and hibernate kind of way.

Variety is the spice, eh?

“The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men gang aft agley,”

“Murphy rules: what can go wrong, will go wrong.”

The Law of unintended consequences.

No good deed goes unpunished.

Whatever plans you have, whatever numbers you have budgeted, whatever you think you will need, the one thing you can be sure of is that that scenario is wrong.  It will be something else.

The act of observation changes that which is being observed.  (Heisenberg postulated this for the sake of quantum physics.  It was called the ‘Observer Effect’.  And it has been proven.  Which is ironic in itself.)  

All of the above is known to be largely true but we plan anyway – eternal optimists that we are.  But not so much George Soros, the originally-Hungarian, now-American billionaire philanthropist.  He believes that nothing can be truly known and that science is more than fallible, it has fallibility built in. Error is part of every equation.  Every plan is inherently flawed if, for no other reason, because we are planning.  And observing.  Planning and observing are active and real influences that affect the plan!  It is circular in the extreme.

Of course, I KNOW that.  I can’t think of a single plan that has ever worked out 100% as anticipated.  And, truth be known, every thing wonderful in my life that did work out is largely the result of divine and sublime luck, chance and fluke.  Ask me to tell you the story of meeting Sally some day – one of the most unlikely occurrences with the most unexpected but fantastic outcome known to man!

So, what is the point of the blog this time?  Well, it could go on and on but I was reminded of all that when I heard of Harper’s ‘plan’ to send a message to Russia by sending 200 ‘advisors’ to Ukraine.  ‘Advisors’ being a euphemism for soldiers.  A phone call, it seems, is not good enough for our boy, he sends messages by platoon.

The planned-for consequence of this so-called message?  To tell Putin that he can’t push Ukraine around.  Bluster, bluster, rattle sword.  Exit stage right.

What MIGHT be the unintended consequences of that act?  I shudder to think.  In fact, I am not going to think about it because, by definition, this is one of the grandaddies of all made-by-mice plans and it is most likely to gang aft agley.  But it does remind me of another axiom: Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.  

We know which one Harper is.  Where is this fool taking us?

The irony to Soros’ theory (reflexivity) is that, knowing that everything and everyone will ‘go wrong’ gave him the perspective to profit from their errors.  In effect, he planned on their errors to get it right.  Getting it right for him, anyway.  He got right while those around him went agley. So, his theory is proven wrong by his employment of it to get things right. Irony.  Circularity.  Murphy.

Still, he is $40 billion to the good so he may have something….?

I mean, really?

More and more people are moving into the city.  The rural areas are emptying.  Why is this?  Some people think it is a conspiracy.  They think there is a plan afoot to get everyone into little boxes like rats in a big central laboratory.  The Matrix Reloaded. THAT makes no sense to me but I must admit that there seems to be some supporting evidence.

Consider the BC ferry system.  The costs to use the ferry have more than doubled at a time when other costs have dropped.  Admittedly, fuel is a big factor in transportation but the conspiracy theorists point out that imported goods have dropped in price despite the fuel used to deliver them.  As have air fares (relatively).  Notable exception: flying to Haida Gwaii – costs twice what it costs to fly to Toronto.  And there is no doubt that higher ferry prices have damaged island life on the BC coast.

But here’s the latest example.  We have barge service out here.  We pay for it when we need it. We pay a lot.  But, having said that, they deliver a lot and they are an excellent service.  In fact, they are, along with the post office, the ONLY service remote islanders enjoy.  I pay $1.50 or more a liter for gasoline and almost twice the going rate for propane but the option is to burn a lot of gasoline to go get a small amount (the amount I can carry) of almost-as-high-cost fuel from the neighbouring island to put in my boat so that I can go get more.  It makes financial and environmental sense to pay for the little I need if I don’t have to go get it.  Seriously, I would burn as much as I use in a month just going by boat to the next island to get it.

The barge service is great.  It has been operating safely for over thirty years.

Recently our government mandated all such barges be double-hulled.  As if our government was concerned for the environment or something.  Which they most assuredly are NOT.  Anyway, our barge guys went and spent millions doubling up their hull as per instructions.  Now they are awaiting approval.  It has not been forthcoming.  It has been 14 months.  They are now officially ‘overdue’ for their ‘inspection’ by several months.  They can be closed down.  Even though they have contacted the ministry countless times to indicate compliance, they have not been certified.  They are worried. BIG government cannot be trusted.

So, they get closed down.  So another little guy gets squished by government once again. So what? Injustice happens.  Get over it.  Do what the rest of the sheep do – move to town.  Stop doing that ‘remote thing’ and comply.  Resistance is futile.  You will be assimilated.

Well, that is the conspiracy theory summarized, anyway.  Little by little, step by encroaching step, they are making living rural and remote harder and harder.

I don’t subscribe to that theory.  Too Machiavellian to be plausible, I think.  But there is one point made that makes sense….the fewer people living remote, the less oversight and witness there is to increasing natural resource exploitation.  Now THAT is simply just true. It’s a fact.  No people = no witnesses.

Consider the recent oil spill in English Bay (now reported to maybe being larger than first thought)…..that spill was in the heart of town, so to speak. Took 12 hours to respond. How many oil spills or bilge pumping pollution happens OUT OF SIGHT?  How many clear-cuts are NOT seen?  How many Mount Pollys go unreported simply because there is no one to see?  Who is served by such lack of oversight?

The bible exhorts people to ‘bear witness’ as a means to thwart evil.  Maybe the conspiracy theorists are right.  Maybe they are trying to get rid of us.  Maybe they don’t want us as lab rats so much as simply not being out here to see the crimes being committed.

Camping fees in parks have gone way, way up.  Canada Post keeps trying to close the post office.  Conservation officers and in-the environment jobs have been cut (NOT the office jobs in Ottawa, tho).  The Dept. of Fisheries and Oceans have no boats.  They are closing down some more Coast Guard stations.  Lighthouse keepers have been axed. Rural people are more vulnerable to fuel price hikes.

Doesn’t matter if there is a conspiracy or not, the bottom line is that there are fewer and fewer witnesses out here.

And there seems to be more and more evil……………..

Some ship accidentally pumped 700 gallons of bunker oil into the pristine waters off Vancouver’s jewel of an urban park.  Stanley Park is rightly valued and prized.  It is the exception in what is the usual urban blight of big cities.  Outrage is warranted.

‘Course no one in that ‘world class’ city noticed or responded for something like 12 hours! The timing is being debated but it was at least 7 hours.  They got a leaky boom out after a great deal had already hit the beaches.  And this is the ‘world class’ response to a world class city’s most beloved area.  This is like the centre of our province imagery-wise, and we were asleep at the helm.  And the ducks died.

Imagine a spill anywhere else on the coast.  You have to imagine it because no one is there to see it or report it or respond to it.  Our coast is more exposed to pollution and slime than a porn star.

A spill on the coast would be horrendous.  It will die.

And so will a number of other creatures in the Stanley Park spill according to the aquarium staff.  Only 700 gallons (average amount that an SUV uses in a year) and there is a world class finger-pointing, responsibility-ducking hysteria in full-blown blaming-of-others.   It is a minor disaster in a world of disasters but it still qualifies – especially as a disaster in management and governance.

As an aside, Enbridge didn’t show up to volunteer their help (there is an unsubstantiated report that Enbridge owns the spill response company that eventually did show up – and will bill for their time, I am sure.  It was substantiated.  They DO own it along with KinderMorgan Pipeline – the two potential creators of disaster have a for-profit company to send out when they screw up and so they can bill us! )  They of the lying-variety ads that professed that ‘they lived in our communities and loved nature’.  The province did ‘squat’ but, to be fair, they have not invested in any kind of relevant response to anything environmental for decades including the latest debacle – Mt. Polley.

The Feds did…kinda….by way of the nearly eviscerated Coast Guard who did what they could given that they are no longer situated where they needed to be – the local station having been closed by the Feds two years ago.  The boat they would have used was in mothballs.  And, of course, the city that is selling out just pointed fingers.

World class?  If that’s world class, it sure ain’t good enough.  Responsibility, accountability, real work? Missing in the inaction.   Politics and blaming?  Everywhere.  It’s embarrassing.

But here is the real reason for the blog (yes, some of it is for venting, I admit that freely). People showed up at the beach offering to help.  People volunteered instantly.  The citizens responded without waiting for the blame to be placed or even for the proper equipment to be in place.  They came with towels and bags, I guess.

The PEOPLE SHOWED UP!

And THE AUTHORITIES PROHIBITED them from getting near the scene of the slime!

Does that make any sense?  Isn’t that ‘instruction’ to stay away almost in the same category as screaming ‘Get on the ground!  Get on the ground now!’ from police exercising some type of misplaced control response founded in nothing logical whatsoever?  Why not let the people help?  So what if they get gooey?  They are over 19 (presumably) and know what cleaning up an oil spill means.  Why do the people listen to those idiots?  Why didn’t the people save the duck anyway and just say, “Well, after I have saved this little tyke, you can take me to jail.”

The disaster is NOT just in the oil spill.   Like our politics, like our society, like our collective dysfunction, the disaster is in us.  (For the record, there were reports of people doing just that – disobeying the authorities-  and helping anyway.  Great people in my book!).  I swear that had I been there – and I am just as afraid of being shot and tasered as the next guy – I would have disobeyed the authorities and saved a duck!  Call me a crazy criminal if you want to, but I would do that (as did a few Vancouverite free thinkers).

Wouldn’t you? 

Fiddich, the dog, barks a certain way when he sees something in the channel and thinks we should know about it.  Generally speaking, he just barks for boats that are headed towards our shore and whales.  Sometimes a sea lion.  Rarely a seal. Eagles, ravens, and osprey go unheralded mostly because he never looks up.  He occasionally sees a mink, otter or some other mammal but this was not a ‘land’ alert.   This was a warning of something interesting on the water.  This was an ‘all hands on deck!’ bark.  You can just tell.

We went out.

A transient pod of orcas was moving up the channel and we saw them.  So had Fid. But they were way across the channel and so it really wasn’t relevant news.  A few dorsal fins and pffts was all there was, really.  We turned to go in.   We thought Fid had over-reacted.  He tends to do that now and again.

Then we saw it.

Just off our beach is a large rock.  It is half-submerged or half-exposed, depending on the tide.  It is the size of a Volkswagen Beetle.  Right then, it was half exposed.  And tucked in right behind it was a seal.  And it was busy keeping the rock between it and the orcas.

Taking Cover

Even though the orcas were almost half a mile away, the seal barely made a ripple on the surface.  It moved imperceptibly so as to stay in place but there were no large seal-a-swimming type movements.  He was making like a Lilly pad.  This guy was hiding.  Laying low.  Making himself small.

And that is how we knew the pod was transient.  Transient orcas eat mammals such as dolphins and seals.  Resident orcas eat fish.  And resident orcas are mammals so even they hide from the transients.  The seal was definitely hiding.

It was not a David Attenborough moment.  It was just a bit of nature that you rarely see. Hide and seek for real.  Seal and orca.  It was pretty neat watching that seal taking care of itself and not getting caught out.  He/she was a long way off from the threat but still went into stealth mode and stayed put.  It was as invisible as it could be for as long as it took for the transients to be far enough away so that the seal could slip out from behind the rock and head in the opposite direction.

That distance was about a mile before the seal felt safe.  Once the transients were that far north, the seal headed south.

And we went back in the house.  And you thought Downton Abbey has drama!

Rob Wood is a friend and neighbour on the island next to mine, a retired world-class mountain climber and hippy philosopher who is just as boring as I am when it comes to sharing his thoughts on life.  Maybe more so.  He (and I) just doesn’t seem to get that most people couldn’t care less what he/we are thinking.  But, upon learning that I have discovered a few innocent victims (you) who might listen now and then to such rants in this blog, he allowed me to partially reprint an email he shared with me:

I am impressed with Naomi Klein’s claim (the book: This Changes Everything) that for our species to survive the threat of catastrophic climate change we must abandon obsolete belief systems (myths) that are driving the fossil fueled juggernaut of modern society.

These dangerously deluded myths are: first, that humans are superior to the rest of the world and therefore have the right and capability to dominate and control it; second, that we are separate from nature and can therefore use and abuse her bounty without any cost to our selves; third that survival of the fittest justifies and even glorifies unmitigated self interest, competition, violence and greed; fourth that wealth is the necessary precursor to happiness. Underlying them all is the almost psychopathic delusion of righteous moral certainty.

To make matters worse, wealth and power are being centralized in the hands of those with the strongest vested interest in perpetuating the myths and suppressing meaningful alternatives. The fox is running the hen house with increasing authority to convince the hens it is in their own best interest to comply. This Orwellian nightmare is orchestrated through incessant brainwashing and propaganda which thrives on the fact that most of our thinking is not actually conscious but rather the automatic replaying of subconscious cultural conditioning; tunnel vision.

Even in our personal lives most of us are very busy pulling blinkers over the eyes of ourselves and our children. Ironically, conscious brain power, the very attribute that is supposed to make us superior and separate, is exactly what we rarely practice.

Whereas it may be true that civilizations have always been controlled by powerful elites with vested interests in perpetuating their view of the world, it is also true that many civilizations collapsed because they collectively failed to adjust to the changes in the environment brought on by the consequences of their myths.

What is different this time is that the consequences of our myths have the potential of annihilating our species along with many others.

It seems the choice we now face, both as individuals and collectively, is between continued allegiance to institutionalized dogma –the myths – or becoming more conscious of the fundamental survival messages in our social and natural surroundings.

Recent extreme weather events are finally inducing people to wake up and pay attention to what the Earth might be telling us. The possibility of the environment telling us how to live represents a radical shift in the prevailing cosmology; one that is struggling for popular acceptance because it challenges the vested interests of the status quo. 

One way to read Rob’s message is that all the systems, they are broken.  I stated that in a small way (last blog: Duffy is a symptom) and Rob is saying it again on the more important, larger scale; the whole system is broken – a term I refer to now and then as the BIG LIE.

But here is the bonus prize-in-the-box of boredom that is our preaching:  Rob points out that seeing this now so clearly is a direct result of living in the midst of natural beauty.  It is so much easier to see what is truly important when your mind is free of the junk and clutter of running with the rats, working for the man and driving in traffic.  As H.D. Thoreau pointed out, walking in the forest tends to clear away the cobwebs.  Rob thinks nature is to modern man what prescription eye wear is to the short-sighted. Everything important becomes more clearly seen out here.

In other words, folks, we are the lucky ones who get to live in the forest.  And – just for the irony and serendipity of it, I will share this weird little fact with you;  Sally’s eyesight is 30% better since we moved out here.  That’s right, her ACTUAL vision also improved with age.

So, there you have it – improve your vision both literally and metaphorically by living off the grid.   

Definition: Corruption does not require consciousness.  It can occur unconsciously and, in fact, much of what is described further herein is that kind of corruption.  Corrupt and evil are, however, synonymous – they go together. “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

Let us put aside for a minute the incredible expense of trying Duffy for illegal behaviour regarding his expenses while sitting in the senate.  The ‘investigation, the prosecution, the RCMP, the trial itself.  Let us put that aside but NOT forget it, because that is as much a crime – if not more than – the ones (thirty plus charges) Duffy is accused of and that is the point of this blog. We are focusing on the wrong thing!

But, of course, that is the intent of this prosecution, isn’t it?  It is misdirection by design.  It is by political design and by the design of those who play the game to cooperate in this fiasco so as to divert our attention to the picayune, the sordid (and especially the salacious) whenever possible.  That sleight of political hand is aided and abetted by the media and the legal system (consciously or unconsciously).  They are all co-conspirators in a morally corrupt system.

We all know the media lies, exaggerates and carries bias.  Plus it focuses on what it deems entertaining rather than revealing truth.  But THAT is not news.  And we have a legal system that is not only slow and stupid but unfair and expensive as hell. The ‘legal’ system is a giant racket!  It is NOT about truth.  It is NOT about justice.  It is NOT about fairness.  It IS about a privileged and powerful group making bundles off of the tax payer while protecting the system they all enjoy.  It is the heart of corruption.  The politicians are the brains.  The media is the hands and mouth.

But little of that is news and, once again, I digress.  So, back to Duffy….

Basically, he is accused of doing to excess what all the politicians (except a notable few) do.  He is also accused of doing all that gorging and wallowing where he shouldn’t have – while politicking for the Conservative party and pretending to represent PEI.  Duffy is a spoiled brat and we are gonna spank him for it.  He cost the tax-payer in champagne and caviar say, $10X dollars where the ‘rules’ state that he should only have charged $2X dollars.  And it will cost us $100X to prove it.  That public servants should NOT be indulging in champagne and caviar is never even questioned.  The system design is working.

But was Duffy conscious of his corruption?  Was Wallin? Was Marie Antoinette?  Or were they (more likely) products of the system?

Another example: Deputy Prime Minister John Duncan’s limo driver made more in overtime than does the average Canadian earn in a regular salary.  Why?  Because he sat in the car awaiting a beckon while Duncan had fancy meals in restaurants doing God-knows-what.   Duncan is not accused of anything.  Duncan is not on trial.  And we know Duncan is not alone in his habits.   He, too, is a believer in the system.

Good system design.  For corruption!

But here’s where the system really shines: it is in the political interests of the politicians to find, isolate and prosecute the odd miscreant now and then so that the focus of so-called justice is on the details of the the naughty one and not on the system itself.  Put bluntly, it is like attacking one germ in an abscess, one criminal in a prison, one chicken in a rotting, stinking chicken factory. Prosecuting Duffy, who played prominently in the system, and not looking at the system that put him there, is a waste of time and resources.

Duffy(Wallin, Harper, Brazeau, Clark, Campbell et al) didn’t get to where (they) he is by walking in off the street and making a job application!  They didn’t get to where they are by working hard and doing the right thing!  They didn’t get there by serving the public! They got there because they were picked by a corrupt system that saw them as keen and willing servants of the system itself.

Bottom line: If the system is not also on trial, we are wasting our time.

……I have two more winches.  Christmas winches.

I know.

How ridiculous is that?

I think it is a man thing.

To be fair, it is not my fault, I swear.  They were free.  I had no choice.  I had to take ’em. Honest.  Winches are seductive.  Leadeth me NOT into temptation.

What would Jesus have done?  HE would have taken them!  This I know.  In my heart.  I know that HE would have taken them and maybe shared them with the multitudes.  Along with some fish sandwiches.  He was that kinda guy. And I will share my winches.  I really will.  I swear.

But, in the meantime, I have to gather thee rosebuds while ye may, right?  Rosebuds, winches, whatever.

I am just glad I spell winches with an ‘i’ rather and an ‘e’.  Can you imagine the trouble that would be…?

So, I am doing this for others.  Selflessness.  That is my story.  I am sticking to it.

Do you have any idea how many winches I now have?  I am honestly not sure myself but, if I just count the really heavy ones, I have 8.  Maybe more.  It’s weird. The really weird part is that I do not have that much to lift anymore!  I may have a bit more to lift than the average urban guy but I currently have more winches than the local logging show.  They could borrow lifting from ME!

But, OMG, the two newest ones are beauties, they really are.  I won’t bore you with details but I have to tell you that one was built and designed for a funicular.  That’s right!  I should have found this puppy ten years ago.  What a wonder it is!  Spring-loaded shock absorber, tons of cable, single phase….and, get this….new!  Well, ‘new’ twenty-odd years ago but never used.  It was packed away in a box all greased and beautiful and was about to be chucked for scrap when I heard it screaming for help.

I am a hero, really.  I saved it.

I would guess that this little beauty would cost $3,000 all-in to make.  It would be the heart of a $20-40K or more funicular system.  And that is NOT installed – just the parts!  The actual winch might sell for more but it would cost at least $2-3K to put together as it sits, grease and all.  It is all custom made.  This is NOT off-the-shelf.  Scrap value?  $50.00.

I have so many winches, I am dreaming of running high-lines all over the property and cross cabling like an aerial etch-a-sketch and then I would not have to lift even a loaf of bread!

Well, the thought crossed my mind.  But I am NOT that sick.  Not really.  Not yet, anyway…

But it could work.

Numbers way off.  Down by 50%.  From 6 to 3.  Well, to be more honest, from 400 to 200.

That’s odd, don’t you think?  I mean, what makes a regular reader NOT read?

One idea might be worth thinking about…

We aren’t the real thing?

A recent book review from a stranger was not all complimentary (several of the book reviews on Amazon are from friends and they are notorious for that – being friends and saying nice things).  The less-than-glowing review was still OK.  They admitted to laughing (which was the main point of the book) but they felt that we were not hardy enough.  Not enough how-to-be-sustainable content.  Not enough grubbing about for grubs and that kind of thing.

This reviewer pointed out that we were not really off-the-grid.  NOT really.  It seems we are just pretenders.  We are just not self sufficient enough.  We rely too much on Save-On by way of the ferry service and other assorted cushy behaviours.  All of which is true, actually. We are still dependently connected by way of ‘forms’ of-the-grid even if you just count the ferry and the internet.  And, despite increasing our foraging and farming, we still need to buy most of our food from the store.

We’re pathetic, really.  It’s embarrassing.

So, in that sense, they are right.  We are not so much off-the-grid as on-the-cusp.  It is just that a book titled ON THE CUSP kind of lacks conviction, don’t you think?  Like, we are hesitating or reluctant or something.

Which, of course, we are.  We don’t really wanna rough it any more than we do.  It’s hard enough as it is out here on the cusp for two spoiled city brats. Neither Sal nor I are big fans of grubs as protein rather than rib-eye.  So the critic is right again.

Maybe I am losing readers because we just don’t represent the true off-the-grid lifestyle as defined by those who really know their stuff?  Because, let us be clear: we do not really know our stuff.  We are still learning stuff and we will likely be learning stuff even decades into the future even while we are still shopping at Save On.  Rustic-to-the-bone, we are not.  Hell, we might be still learning even then about how to shop at Save-ON better.  Who knows where the learning will take you?

So, for the record: we live off the grid but just by a few miles by sea.  We are remote but by city standards, not so much by rural ones.  We are hardy by city standards, not so much by rural ones. There are no roads we can use near our home but there is a logging road not too far away and we use it now and again.  Our own electrical and water systems are pretty independent, though, even by the critic’s standards.

We likely generate 10% of our own foodstuffs but that increases to 15% in the summer. Everything is cooked from scratch – no processed, packaged, frozen or restaurant meals for us!  Aaaarrgh!  There are no stores of any kind for ten miles and no stores that are full-service for 30 and it takes two hours to cover that distance.  We have no fire or police protection although the Coast Guard is pretty damn good when you need them.  As are the few neighbours around.

So, I should change the title?  Our Life On the Cusp?  Living Near Convenience?

Living Off Cold Camembert and Stale Crackers?

A Pizza Too far?

I have to fix something so that I can replace it.  Doesn’t that seem odd to you?

My boat steering seized up and I can’t turn.  Or, better put; I can’t straighten the trajectory in which the boat is currently aimed.  I can just go in circles.  Which is strangely familiar in a psychological kind of way……

And, wouldn’t you know it…..I am fixed in a tendency to go center-left.  Round and round. Big, large, slow circles.  Like my politics.

So, anyway, The cable had to be taken off and all that.  Steering wheel detached.  Engine detached.  Cable withdrawn from nooks and crannies.  Everything lubed and goobed til it was all slick and slidy.  And then Sal and I put it all back together again.  And, even tho we are not quite done, we have bench tested it some and it is likely to work.  In theory, anyway.  Only two days into it.  Third day, today.  If it stops pouring.  We’ll see how it goes.  Just a few more hours of squiggling into narrow places (Sal) and tightening various things (me) and so we are partially optimistic that the job is done.  But it will not be 100%.

Despite all our work, the gear slips in the housing-thingy.  There is a gear that turns inside a toothed ring and that ring turns the cable that, in turn, turns the engine when, well, the steering wheel is turned.  Or so it is designed.  But, if the toothed gear is worn, it slips. And mine is worn (old) and it slips.  It is clear:: no matter how slippery the cable, I will need a new steering housing-thingy.

That’s OK.  I can do that.  We can do that, I mean.  We can get a thingy and replace the old one.  The catch, tho, is that one has to travel to get thingys and, right now, our travel is limited to the circular.  We can’t get there from here.  It’s a sea-pickle.

Of course, that is why you have TWO boats – so that you can always go get thingys for the other boat.  But, of course, you don’t want to run to town for every little thingy.  You want to get the lot of them all at once (they tend to accumulate as a list on the fridge) for when you are next planning on going to town. Mind you, the ‘other’ boat is not big enough to get all the list of thingys and the list of food and stuff and so, once again, you are in a bit of a pickle.

For the want of a nail, the kingdom was lost.

We wouldn’t want that.

So, the goal is to get the steering good enough to go to town so as to get the parts to replace it.

Is it just me?  Or does that (all that work over three days just to chuck it) not seem just a bit odd to you, too?