When people stock up on supplies the tendency is to plan to cover a specific period of time only and then not to re-stock until then.  In other words, there is a tendency towards a bit of brinksmanship.  We all like to think of that as efficient.

But you shouldn’t do that if you live remote.

When living, planning and stocking to live off-the-grid, you have to plan for ‘some extra’.  The hard part is figuring out how that ‘extra’ need or requirement might show up.

I buy 100 gallons of gasoline for about four months of running boats and small engines and so, as I work through the inventory to month three, I book the barge delivery for the next month.  The assumption, of course, is that the barge will be there for me.  Reasonable enough, wouldn’t you say?

I tend towards having the barge come three times a year when, in fact, I have the storage capacity for leaving it to two times.  But, for that kind of just-in-time management to happen, everything has to run out at the same time and so I tend to overlap a little.  Reasonable-but-leaning-towards-the-cautious side, wouldn’t you say?

Not enough, it seems.

The barge will not be there for me this month.  This time the barge is in drydock.  Like I said – I can stretch propane and diesel til they come back but, this time my gasoline supplies are too low.  And I found out about that when I phoned today.  We will be out of gasoline too soon!  Damn!

I am not really complaining. The barge will be back next month and we can cope till then.  I only have to ‘bridge’ that 30 day gap and I can do that with a few portable Jerry cans.  No big deal.  We did that for years.  Some people still do (full containers really stink up a car when you are traveling over bumpy roads.  It is something to be avoided if at all possible).

But, honestly, this is just another small example of being just a smidge behind the learning curve out here.  I really should have enough of all fuels on hand for five months and plan on calling the barge as month three is ending.  I really should have had that extra month in reserve.

Lesson learned.  Another storage container will be purchased.

As I plan and stockpile into my eighth year out here, I still wonder if I have the right assessment on things.  It is only natural.  I am still learning and not fully confident in my off-the-gridding competence.  I kinda know I’ll screw up a bit now and then but the comfort comes from knowing that I won’t likely make the same mistake twice.  The discomfort comes from knowing that there are always new ways to screw up.  And I will find them.  This time it was fuel.  And, like most screw-ups, the situation is made a bit more dire by it being winter.   Travel plans are always more ‘iffy’ in the winter.  There is a bit more urgency to it now………….

Is this worthy of a blog post?  Perhaps not.  We all run out of things now and then.  That’s life.  In fact, it is the very definition of life – we run out of it!  But running out of fuel when you live remote is a bit more vulnerable-making, a bit more ‘dicey’, don’t you think?  Well, I do.  I will address this issue a bit sooner rather than later.

It is the prudent thing to do.

People continue to wonder how it is that Sal and I can live remote, isolated and seemingly without all the comforts of the city.  The answer is amazingly simple:  we don’t feel in the least remote nor isolated and we want for no comforts whatsoever.  Admittedly, we lack for a few conveniences but, with a bit of planning and a smidge extra work, we can stay comfortable enough to meet our own standards quite nicely, thank you. So can anyone.

We don’t have 500 channels of TV.  The mail is not delivered every day to our door and frequent shopping is impossible. I definitely do more of my own maintenance work and we don’t get the restaurant experience much any more. 

Boo hoo.

Constantly ‘encountering’ people I know is also greatly reduced.  But I can live with that and I think some of the people involved are relieved anyway, so it’s win-win socially-speaking.

In exchange for those minor alterations in lifestyle I live in a virtual paradise of flora and fauna.  Think: living in Stanley Park overlooking Siwash Rock – it is better than that!  I am also healthier if for no other reason than the air is pure and the work is more physical.  And Sal’s food is better than any restaurant.  The seafood is definitely fresher!

There are no rules.  There are no sirens.  There is no traffic and I have no stress.  We need less.  We want less.  And, thank God! there is less!  Less bills, too.  And, in this sense, truly, less is more.  More satisfying, more relaxing, more healthy, more affordable and more normally livable.  It really does not get much better.

So, if that is the answer (and it is not rocket science)…………….what are they really asking…?

I think their questions are more of a normal exploration of possibility.  These are tiny, baby steps for people getting to the same place, perhaps, in their lives –  the place where they quit and change from what they have been doing – as we went through.  I think people ask the ‘usual’ questions wanting to hear the answer they already know they are going to hear: It is not hardship to leave the city.  In fact, it is a better lifestyle.  And they want to hear that from the horse’s mouth.  You know, the horse that actually bolted from the barn?

And, when I say ‘people’, I mean ‘retirees’ or soon-to-be’s.  Baby-boomers.  People my age.  People winding down, thinking of the cottage, thinking of checking out on their own terms instead of being escorted from the building by security.  People who have, perhaps, had enough of the rat race……just thinkin’ about the right timing……..is it now………..or later?

Mind you, I could be ‘projecting’.  I do tend to think that every one basically thinks like I do.

Anyway, the point is this: if you are thinking about it, you should do it.  Now!  I say.  And here are a few reasons why: 1. You are not getting any younger and up-rooting and moving is a task in itself.  If you simply moved from your cul-de-sac to your cottage with no chop-saws or hammering in between, it is still a big effort.  If you are going, go sooner rather than later.  Much easier.  2. The ratio of relative values is good.  Rural land is cheap, urban real estate still expensive.  The ratio is always in your favour but right now is a particularly good time financially.  3. Living in the city is expensive.  And that expense is what sets your perspective on what you need to live.  In other words, most people think they need more money than they do.  So, they continue to eat into their last remaining real capital…………..which after 60, is TIME.  Too many people plan on maximizing their pensions at a cost of eating into their remaining lifetime.  A smidge delusional, from my point of view.  4. There is no such thing as security.  Things happen.  Life happens.  You may as well be proactive and do something rather than be so cautious that you don’t.  Something is going to happen either way.

Just sayin’…………

“Geez, Dave, why you sayin’ all that?  I have no intention of leaving the cul-de-sac.  I love it here!  You are wrong.  Not everyone wants out of the modern city.  It is a marvel of civility and society and I like it!”

Right!  Sorry.  I do tend to project.  Sorry about that.  Just being encouraging.  You know……for those who are still weighing the pros and cons……?

Dinner party last night.  Just down the way.  Good food, lots of fun.  Home-made blackberry wine, garden vegetables.  Organic just about everything.  Fabulous.  Think Norman Rockwell does hippies.  We all had rosy cheeks and full bellies!

The talk was politics.  Well, politics, the apple crop, the new grandaughter, salmon and a lot of island stories but Obama/Romney was sprinkled throughout.  As was the new puppy that was brought along by one of the guests.  Part of the reason for that is that several of the guests were ‘Mericans.  Been here since the 70’s.  All Canadianized now.  Mostly.  Kinda.

Mind you, as you can likely guess with a bunch o’ off-the-grid, organic, hippy-types (within which cohort I proudly count myself) they were unanimously in favour of Obama.  Romney scares the hell out of them.  They still follow their politics.  Still care.  And more than a few with dual citizenship made sure to cast their ballots in the advance polls.  That is pretty responsible.  I respect that.

Canadians generally have a 60% turnout and that is when the polling station is at the end of the block!

I was reminded of that kind of political apathy recently when discussing politics the other day with another neighbour who works up north.  He reported that all the ‘guys’ up there are in favour of the pipeline and oil exports.  “Cause it’s jobs, eh?  Average guy up there makes better than $10K a month, eh?  New cars, man.  Whole town is doin’ good.”

No point in bringing up climate change, polluting the coast, selling out our sovereignty to China, totalitarian-esque behaviour by our Prime Minister and other assorted lies and crimes of the Federal and Provincial governments.  I had nothing to compete with “….jobs, eh?” coming from someone who had just made a big effort to get a much-needed one.

I am not sure it is fair to say this, but it seems to me that Canadians seem to vote even more with their wallets in mind than do ‘Mericans.  Americans are more divided on issues (fer sure) and such but, at least it is as much – if not more – about issues as it is about the economy.  I dunno………I could be wrong…………but I don’t like the comparison……we don’t look so good as conscientious citizens doing the moral thing…….or is it just me?

After dinner, we left.  It was 9:00-ish.  It was black as pitch.  Slight drizzle.  Couldn’t see a thing except for the little strobe light on my neighbour’s dock off in the distance.  We headed out in Sal’s tiny 11 foot boat.  I lay horizontal over the bow and held the flashlight out in front so that Sal could maneuver through all the wood that was floating due to the high tides.  It was a real obstacle course.  But it was kinda magical all at the same time.

My mind rested as we ploughed through the sparkling phosphorescence.  I let politics go for a few minutes.

It is not easy.  I admit that I am somewhat of a political animal.  And I am still trying to subdue that beast. Boating at night helps.  It is one of those things that affects me a great deal and that I can effect only infinitesimally.  The cost benefit ratio is just not in my favour.  But, of course, that is what the political bastards count on.  They know that apathy and impotence go together and the more impotent the populace, the greater power they can exercise.  “Wadda they gonna do?  Protest?!  Hahahahah.  By next month the whole bunch o’ them will have forgotten about it!  Hahahahah”.

And they are right.  Remember all the lies, crimes, deceits and fiasco’s of the provincial Liberals over the last ten years?  No?  Even I have trouble remembering them all and I keep a list!  Remember all the fascist-style parliamentary moves of Harper?  No, not even I can do that.  Remember all the Federal Liberal Party crimes when they were in power?  Ancient history, right?  It is easier to remember the Paul Henderson goal in the 1972 hockey series with Russia than last year’s political rap sheet.

We seem to prefer hockey and new trucks to politics.  What the hell is wrong with us?  Should we be more like the ‘Mericans?

As I have said many times, living off the grid is a huge learning curve.  And I am just barely graduating from kindergarten.  So much to know…………..

My friend, D, has a portable sawmill.  But, of course, there is nothing portable about it.  It is about thirty feet long with a twenty foot bed and sports a pretty big engine turning a six-foot or longer horizontal band-saw.  It weighs what a two ton truck might weigh.  He bought it.  Shipped it.  Carried each piece and assembled the whole damn thing in the middle of the forest.  Then he cut all the wood he needed for his homestead and for that of his cousin.  That is a lot of lumber.  And that is a lot of work.

Just the milling is a lot of work.

Even tho D has some standing trees on his property he occasionally purchases logs from the local logging outfit.  It’s easier and no one gets injured.  He had about a dozen twenty-foot lengths at his work-site and none were less than 20″ in diameter.  Each was only a quarter or a fifth of a tree but they were still very big and heavy.

D had agreed to mill some siding and some beams for the community project and only requested a bit of assistance.  Like a fool, I squeaked when I should have kept quiet.  Yesterday we headed out in his beat-up pick-up in the rain to make macho in the woods.  Like lumber-guys.  But he remembered to wear his red-plaid heavy flannel logging shirt and a filthy cap.  I was dressed in a clean hoody.  I have so much to learn!

The second thing I learned is that it is pretty bloody hard to move those logs around a muddy field.  So, real men use real trucks and real ropes and they drag them into approximate place.  Some of those real men stand around and watch.  Those ones pull up their hoody instead.  Then the real men use peaveys to roll the log onto the bed of the mill.

And we begin to mill.

It is truly a fascinating concept, actually.  We, as a species, have decided to carve out square sticks from big round ones.  Or, more accurately put: we make rectilinear boards from round trees.  Waste is prodigious and inevitable.

“Hey, D, now that I see how this is done, wouldn’t it be more efficient to make octagonal beams from round trees?”

I heard him say, “(The other guys warned me about this)…………Just push the log and you can work out the philosophy of it all later, OK?  And when you do, ask yourself how do you fasten octagonal ends?”

So that shut me up for a while.

When we had finished milling we stacked all our fresh-cut lumber on the truck kitty-corner across the bed.  Had to.  The wood was all longer than the bed of the truck.  We ‘stuck out’ six feet on either side.  That is not so much a problem when you are going down a two lane paved road.  Scrambling a mile or so over a heavily rutted dirt road with strong saplings growing right into the road way was like negotiating some kind of weird forest-guy slalom.  And to keep the wood relatively in place and because the passenger side door would now not open, I sat atop the load.

Next time I will scootch across the driver’s side and sit inside.  I kept seeing saplings just miss the load as we whizzed by.  Catch a sapling and I would be sent airborne.  Been there.  Don’t need to learn that lesson again.

But, just as the skies really opened, we arrived at the project and unloaded.

“Geez, man!”, I said, lying through my teeth, “That was great.  What a great day!  Great experience!  Yeah!  Just great.  Have to do that again some time……….but, well, I think I’ll go home now.  We done?”   All the time I was saying that, I was also vowing to pay whatever the price was for milled wood without ever even thinking of complaining about the cost again.

And I have shelved my plans for getting my own mill.

I learned my lesson.

As most of my readers know, I like the Chinese culture in many ways.  More than that, I like a lot of people who also happen to be Chinese.

Mind you, there are plenty to choose from……

But that inclination to be a Sinophile-cum-fan doesn’t make me stupid.  I can see things about China and even Chinese culture about which I am not a big fan.

I like the emphasis on civil harmony but that comes with a lack-of-freedom-of-speech price.  I like how they all pull together but that also fosters group-think and makes the individual somewhat expendable.

There is a lot of yin and yang to the Chinese culture as there is to ours.  It ain’t black and white.  It is not all bad.  It is not all good.

One of the cultural biases I hold close is the rule of law and the Judeo-Christian ethic.  Call them institutionalized value systems, if you like.  I freely admit that I ‘like’ them because I was raised in them.  Those values are my values.  I have added a bit from the US Constitution, Star Trek and a few cheap B movies but, basically, I am a law-abiding, Judeo-Christian kind of guy.

The Chinese culture is not.  Not even close.  They are more Confucian, more concerned with the hive than the bee…….that kind of thing.

They may even be right.  We may be right.  Who am I to know from my limited already-brainwashed perspective?  I won’t judge too much.  Especially since we are hardly disciplined practitioners of our own values ourselves.

But one thing is clear.  One thing is true regardless of which value system you choose:  You can’t have them both.  That cultural dissonance is the root of the saying, “The east is the east and the west is the west and never the twain shall meet”.

Canada is ignoring that.

Canada is close to ratifying a deal with China that will subjugate Canada.  It will make us a colony of China – at least as far as the deal extends.  China is 50 times larger than Canada and, even in a Judeo-Christian based business world, the bigger the dog, the bigger the share.  We are not even a flea on this dog.  And they’ll eat us like they are snapping at fleas.

Harper is sending naked kids to hand-feed hungry lions.  It isn’t a scenario that can possibly work out for the kids.

And, because of their value system, that kind of exploitation, that kind of opportunism, that kind of unfairness will pose no ethical, moral or legal problem for them.  It was just good luck.  Good joss.  They aren’t being bad, they are just having good luck.

For Chinese Business (which is the government), it is first the emperor (now the Politburo), then the middle kingdom and – way down the Confucian/PRC list – is the Chinese individual.  Even further down the list is the environment.

The point?  Canada and Canadians are not even on the list!  And we never will be.  It ain’t personal.  It’s just business (like the business between an Owl and a mouse). 

You want proof?  Ironically, you can ask any Sinophile, even a Chinese.  They know the two systems don’t mesh.  They know they operate one way here and another in China.  The two systems can’t work as one.  Neither will an international contract that involves them.

This Canada China trade deal is a terrible, terrible thing for our country.

Yes, I know.  Not off-the-grid.  Not funny.  Worse, a political rant.  What can I say?

Sally and I are laughing…………….

We had an earthquake a few days ago.  No one was hurt (or even got wet) but a few bureaucrats are getting heat for not responding fast enough to what amounted to as ‘nothing’.

And the media are all over this……..asking ‘experts’ to weigh in on “What should we do if there is a Tsunami coming?”   The PhD-wielding expert head of Emergency Services says, “Get to higher ground!”

Like, duh!  I wonder if we pay that college genius enough?

But the experts are not done there……..No, they have additional advice: “In the event of a major catastrophe you should have a go-to bag already put together for survival purposes.  It should have water and a flashlight and space blankets and high-energy bars.  The go-to bag should be on wheels so that you can trundle it down to the local community centre where the emergency services will gather.  And a hand-crank radio would be good.”

So, I am wondering…………the catastrophe is so bad that your house is unlivable and your car undriveable and you have a suitcase on wheels with chocolate bars in it heading for the community centre?  Does that make any sense?

“Did the guy recommend packing a .45 with a few extra clips to shoot your way into and then out of the community centre filled with people wanting your chocolate bars and space blankets?”

“No, sweetie.  The catastrophe is not that bad.  It is just one of those ‘inconvenient’ catastrophes.  Like, you know, nothing truly horrendous.  Like, where people all come together for a night and await word from the authorities as to what to do next?”

“Like a hurricane or tornado but not as bad as nuclear war?”

“Yeah.  Like that.  You know……..just bad enough to need those chocolate bars and bottled water, that’s all.  Maybe, like a tsunami?”

“Well, a tsunami may be a factor on the west coast, especially if you live up an inlet.  But Vancouver Island will act as a Tsunami buffer and the only thing that might happen in the Gulf of Georgia is a gradual rise in the sea level.  Worst outcome from a huge offshore tsunami is a ten foot increase in the tide.  Not one of those overwhelming Hollywood waves.  We’re talkin’ high tide’ is all.  ‘Course, watching that with a nice chocolate bar would be better, I guess.”

“Hmmm…….so what kind of disaster are they planning for?”

“Well, frankly…..to me anyway, it is not a disaster if it was planned for now was it?  And the truly devastating disasters are, well, devastating.  You know, like beyond planning for?  And anyway, whatever kind of disaster they are thinking of, I can’t imagine a suitcase full of chocolate bars being your go-to response.  Most people will get in their car and head for the hills.  I guess they can eat chocolate while they wait in the traffic jam…?   But the car radio will work without hand-cranking”. 

“No, sweetie.  The hand-crank radio is for the long term.  You know, when you survive for like, over a year or something?  Like when the space blankets are all in shreds and the chocolate is all gone?”

“So, where is Commander Survival with his PhD at this point?  Have they eaten him or something by then?”

“No.  I am guessing his Emergency preparedness program was for, like the first three days, ya know?  Otherwise eating all that chocolate longer term would cause skin problems.  No, this is a short-term plan.  After that, geez, I dunno.  I guess you hand-crank your radio and listen for further advice.”

We’re laughin’……..Sal has so much chocolate that we can survive just about anything.  Plus we have some real food.  We gotta get some space blankets, of course, but, until then, we’ll just have to make do with the ones we use all the time – the nice warm ones that are soft and comfy.  I guess we’ll have to panic on our own ’cause I am not leaving this entirely self-sufficient house with a years worth of firewood and all my tools to go to the community centre to await word from the authorities who will, in all likelihood, be shot in their car for their chocolate bars by starving disaster victims clad in space blankets.

But I must admit that I am looking forward to hearing the next batch of experts from the Royal Disaster Commission that will be struck to look into the matter when it is all said and done.

I don’t do much on ‘how-to’ because, well, I don’t know ‘how-to’ very well.  As anyone who has read me so far, I just overbuild what I have to do on the assumption that if two-by-fours are required for code, then 2×8’s are probably better….?  Of course, I am not quite that bad anymore.  But I was.

And I still use that method when in doubt. My logic: more material is cheaper than an engineer.

My house has 12 load-bearing points under which the pillars should have been placed.  And I did that.  Looked good.  Stood firm.  But I looked around and I had a lot of extra logs at that time and well, I stopped counting after putting in 31 more.  I am guessing that, with the food shed and the deck I have over sixty five log-pillars made of 6 inch logs (or bigger) under my house.  When my house falls down, it will fall onto a haystack of logs.  That’s my kind of engineering.

Yes.  They are cross-braced.  Some of them, anyway.  I may add some more braces………I dunno…….don’t want to look insecure, ya know?

So, the point?  I am not the best source for how-to advice.  Having said that, I have to opine that now seems like a real good time to buy some solar panels.  I mean, if you are considering getting some at all…….?

When I bought my panels over six years ago the price was over $5 a watt.  An 80 watt panel cost $400 plus PST, GST and God-knows-what-else-they-add to make it up over $500.00 a panel.  I  initially only bought four.  After a couple of years, I bought four more.  They came in a bit less but still pretty expensive.

Today the US consumer pays $1.00 a watt and the Canadian consumer $1.50.  Which is fair, don’t you think?  Their panels have to work harder since they actually have sunshine!  Some US states also subsidize alternative energy purchases but we don’t do that up here and the GST even still applies but over-paying for everything is the Canadian way, eh?

Harper just ain’t green.  He subsidizes Oil companies, China and the Tar Sands instead.  What a guy!

Panels today are also generally larger.  My old 80 watt panels were about 16 inches by 36 and wired for making 12 volts.  I needed four just to get them working cooperatively with my 48 volt system.  Now they come in 24 volts as well as 12 and the wattage is up as high as 240 watts.  Even though the working surface area is much the same overall, you can get bigger panels and thus make installation a bit easier.

Some products are better than others but the general feeling is that the panels are all pretty much the same and they are all made in China anyway.  There may be someone making them better in Norway or somewhere else but the cheap and still-good panels are Chinese.  Bottom line, it has never been cheaper to get a large array of panels.

But – for those of you easily fooled – don’t be!  Getting a good, large-ish off-the-grid array may be cheaper right now but the panels are not even the largest expenditure in the system and the rest of the required equipment is much the same price.  A good inverter and batteries and the required racks for the panels will be where the larger costs will accrue and, if you plant those puppies too far from your batteries, you can start to tally up some pretty large expenses in wiring as well.  While solar panels have dropped in price, copper wire has rocketed.  In other words: to take advantage of cheap solar panels, you have to put them close to the whole system.

Well, you really just have to plan the whole sysytem well.  In this case engineers are cheaper than materials.

OK.  I’ll stop.  I am not the best how-to guy.  Nor am I even much of a consultant (Those who can, do.  Those who can’t, consult!).  And, even if I was any good at any one time, the playing field is changing all the time.  Technology is fleet afoot.  Better batteries are coming (or so they say).  Thin-film solar is coming.  Inverters are changing.  More is being learned all the time.  This is an evolving field of endeavour.  All I know is that solar panels are cheaper than what they were.

And I thought I had better mention it.

The place has changed.  It is grey.  Where it was bright and vibrant with Fall’s colours, it is now foggy-grey in the morning with a washed out respite of weak sunshine in the afternoon but darkening-with-fog early in the afternoon.  Feels like the End of Days.  Feels like winter.  Feels like………….

………….I have to do something about it.

I am not so sure how that might turn out this year.  Or even if I will make much of an attempt.  Chances are we will just adjust and ‘hunker’ through the winter this time around.  It just seems that we are facing winter’s beakness a bit early, is all.  ‘Course the earthquake didn’t help.  Earthquakes: Nature’s wake-up call.

Yesterday the region around Prince Rupert/Haida Gwaii experienced a 7.7 on the Richter scale.  Not huge by world standards but more than enough to get everyone’s attention.  Well, maybe Harper and Enbridge ignored it.  Two of our friends (a couple) held hands in the kitchen and said their goodbyes.  But, thank God, things settled down, so did they and they then sat down to write us about it.  So, it’s all OK………….for now.

They (the universal ‘they’) maintain that some percentage of what seems like an increase in incidents described as natural disasters are a result of climate change.  You know: “Well, the permafrost helps hold things together and so the geotechnic plates move more easily when it melts.”

So the sky is falling (Hurricane Sandy) and the floor is shifting.  And the seas are rising.  And the economy is falling along with the sky.  Pretty soon, they say, “The wheels will fall off!”  Mayans predict December 21 at 11 minutes past 11 in the morning.  Sheesh, all that, the end of Daylight Saving Time and an extra large Visa bill this month and it is enough to depress a guy.

But I am not in the least depressed.  First off, I have access to anti-depressants – the ultimate coping mechanism.  My doctor says: “Don’t call me, just take a few extra Prozac and start singin’ in the morning. That’s what I do!”

Secondly, I don’t think they can find me and they can’t get blood from a stone even if they do.  And that is all we have out here – stones!  “So, come already!  Repossess some granite.  Go ahead!”

Thirdly, we’ll get a few sunny days again sometime and everything will be better.  So yeah, that’s my plan: Hunker down, hide out.  Wait long enough for the sun to come out again.

You got a better idea?

I generally don’t write about politics anymore.  Everything turns into a rant.  I can’t help myself.  But today, I can make an exception.  Today is about our very own off-the-grid local politics.  The community association is having their annual general meeting and, I have to say, I doubt that I could find a rant to express about it if my life depended on it.  Our local politicians know how to do things.  There is precious little to rant about.

Well, for me, anyway.  Some people can rant over a bake sale and we have a few rebellious dissenters in the community who oppose what is going on now and then……..whatever it might be.  But you can’t count them, the official Contrarian Party Opposed to Everything.  They’d oppose a free lunch on the basis that it was a government-backed conspiracy and a rip-off (which it might be……..)!

Our community has about 250 people in it.  It is defined by the islands encompassed by the Regional District’s somewhat casual reference to the outer islands.  I am not sure we know exactly which islands are included because we have outer islands, ‘special islands’ and really way-out-there islands plus a few who live on the mainland.  I think.  Whatever.

It doesn’t really matter because never in the history of the area have all 250 people gathered in one spot.  Or spoken as one.  Or even spoken to one another.  Not all of us – that is for sure.  Plus the people are always changing.  We haven’t a clue who belongs in the larger community. 

General rule of thumb: if they are wearing gumboots and Thrift Store clothing, haven’t shaved in a week and can drop a few names we know into the conversation, they are in.

The actual, official Association is, of course, better defined.  It even has a name and a newsletter.  Those who have paid up membership are members of the Association.  Except for those who can’t afford the membership (or balk at the concept of having to buy official membership in the community) in which case they are also allowed in under the hardship or official dissenter allowance.

But some people attend meetings anyway, membership or not.  The reasons for that are myriad but free food is a major enticement.  And no membership check is ever made.  Those who ‘crash’ meetings are local, quite familiar and recognized as neighbourhood eccentrics.  Some could just really use the meal.

And, basically, no one cares.

It didn’t use to be that way.  In the past the Association had been, at times, a political hotbed.  Arguments, divisions, factions hiving off, bad feeling……we had it all………..A lot of things said, feelings hurt, mental and spiritual scarring.  It was ugly.  The strong feelings over the rights of free range cattle almost started a civil war!  (And there was only one cow and one horse at the centre of the controversy which was mostly resolved when the cow died. May she rest in peace)

But that era finally ran it’s course and, eventually, the current group took over and wisely confined their work to caring only for the community buildings.  They are very responsible building stewards.  But they resist expressing any other kind of opinion.  If it isn’t work bees, operating hours or ‘get-togethers’, these guys are devoid of position and opinion.  They are the embodiment of neutrality.  Officially.

‘Course, they are also people.  Individuals with local experience and biases, feelings and allegiances.  The individual members have a history even if their role on the Association board forbids expressing it.  It’s a struggle for some.

There is usually a personal mini-drama in the background on any subject but our guys are good; it rarely surfaces.

And that is the point.  These folks are successful politicians.  And they will likely all get voted in again.  They just take care of community business and leave the rest of the initiatives, those hot potatoes that spring up now and again, to those who get involved in such things.  Our guys try to remain at arms length from most things and just make sure the buildings don’t burn down.

It might be a political model long overdue.

There are so many…..what to choose first………?

Let’s start with building.  When a person is in the building stage (which can last for years), they cannot go through anybody else’s door, entry or room without noting how the work was done.  They can’t pass a wall without checking it for being plumb, flat and square.  All joinery is examined closely.  Plumbing is examined by climbing under the house with a flashlight. Counter tops are not admired so much as post analyzed for ease of transport, installation and local content.  People in the building stage become ad hoc, de facto building inspectors, they really do.  And they can’t help themselves.

To some extent the ‘inspector‘ stage diminishes once the person has worked through their own building period but the longer that time took, the longer the amateur inspector stage lingers.  We have guys who have spent their whole lives building and now, tho mostly retired from the work, can still be seen eyeing a wall or a roofline with a critical gaze.  And that applies to chicken coops, docks, lean-tos and whatever else they can relate to in a ‘can I build it?’ sense.

Urban people tend to take the basic construction for granted.  Who examines the concrete in a highrise or the installation of an escalator?  Urbanites look at ‘finishes’,  decor, style and the latest technology.  “Ooh, you have an ultra-thin flat screen TV?  And I love the Subzero fridge.” They don’t wonder about how it is constructed or how it was installed.   They like how it looks, how it functions and what kind of statement it makes.

The off-the-gridder (OTG) would look at them both and ask, “What kind of power does it draw?  Are they both on their own circuits?  How big is your panel?”  It’s a fundamental difference in looking at the same things.

The first and easiest place to notice this behaviour is in how we react to seeing a building.  The second easiest one is in our preoccupation with power sources and consumption.

The third observation is often how the toilet works but we’ll do that some other time.

The fourth OTG observation is, “How did you get that here!?”   Why?  Because logistics and materials handling are big deals when you are doing most of it with small vehicles and even smaller boats.  Over rough ground.  Up steep hills.

One of our point-earners with our neighbours is that we have one of those big, old, heavy, wide gas stoves from the 40’s and an almost equally heavy ‘sideboard’ as a piece of furniture.  When we first moved in almost every one commented on both those items – not for their looks or functionality but for their weight and cumbersome nature.  They envisioned Sally and I carrying it all up the hill.  Trust me – anything over 300 pounds gets a second look from everyone up here and anything over 500 is marvelled at.

Another universal OTG quirk of social behaviour is local people ‘bringing‘ something when they visit.  And it is rarely wine or flowers.  Eggs from their chickens, tomatoes from their garden, a fresh-baked loaf of bread, a fish……….?  The hostess gift out here is a crap-shoot.  Could be anything.  DVDs, log dogs, a tool they know you need………  The only thing you can count on is that everyone will have a packsack and in a few of them there will be something for the larder or the tool shed.  Our first winter, one of our neighbours brought a sling of (much needed) dry firewood.

Another brought a sack of deer off-cuttings and bones for the dogs (very well received!).

I suppose it is not quirky so much as practical and real.  We are really just a big outdoor school out here and everyone is learning how to do what they have to do as well as they can.  We learn from each other and what better way to do that than to actually see and feel what was done?  And, since building is the first stage, it only makes sense that it would also show up as amateur construction analysis 101.

If there is a real quirk to the whole thing it is this: everyone is in different stages of skill-developing and knowledge-gathering.  So no ‘reviews‘ from your neighbours are going to sit well as a rule.  And, if their comments do warm the cockles of your heart, you can be assured that many criticisms were omitted.  So the comments on work done are usually pleasant, polite, encouraging and largely disingenuous.  “Used green screws on your decking, I see.  Good job.  Looks good.  Heard that brown ones were better but, really…..a screw is a screw, eh?”

Translation:  “I’d take those screws out if I were you and replace them with the right ones.  Brown ones.  You might want to go up a size so the screw gets a good grip when you go into the old hole.  I don’t think that deck will last the winter, you poor sap!”

The only response:  “Geez, it’s good to see you guys.  Thanks for the bucket of compost (Sally: Yes, that truly was a gift brought by a guest) and the zucchinis.  Can I get you a beer or would you like a glass of wine?”