A reader asked that I address the question of society’s slipping morals. More to the point; how can we improve the overall moral climate in the modern world today?

That’s a daunting task and one that even Jesus did not fully succeed at…so much so, they are requesting an encore from HIM, a second coming, if you will. Given my deep and enduring inherent flaws, I should not even make an attempt. I am likely just to get into trouble. Still, it is an interesting question and one of my foremost flaws is hubris. Forgive me.

One first has to accept that the moral environment is bad and needs fixing. And I think every one currently sees a changing moral climate and definitely SOME of that is bad. But, does changing morals always mean bad? Does the moral climate change for both – good and evil – each time it changes? I think it does.

Secondly, the question assumes that we can change ’em. Given the history of morality (and it is considerable) changing morals comes about from changing circumstances and events, experience and culture. It is rarely a one-person task with again, Jesus and maybe a few others being partial exceptions. I mean, did Ghandi really change morals or just remind us of already established ones? Morals change (like laws and rules) but can we change ’em?

Ya hafta go back……way, way back….to the basic concept of good and evil….and then further back than that to basic human values……and then further back again…..to basic human nature….at the primal level. We are animals first…and that counts. Start at the beginning……

I have nothing to base this on but I’ll say it anyway: I am of the opinion that every animal and especially humans (because we raise our young for around 20 years) are born with some basic, inherent values and then they morph into morals. Call step one instincts if you must.

Of course, we want to survive first so survival is a basic value building block. And, if raised properly, we know that we are pack animals, social in nature, and so survival of the pack is another initial value (from which laws and morals are derived). In fact, we learn that survival of the pack helps the individual to survive so self-interest and empathy result from that. We LEARN empathy but we probably started with survival.

And therein may lie the first insight. Most of our values (from which more latter-constructed morals, rules, laws arise) are inherent, basic and founded first on self interest and survival. Almost any question of morals stems from either an acceptance of that premise or the perceived threat to it.

In today’s terms, for example, take the changed social attitude towards Homosexulaity. Homosexuality has been present in human history forever but it was deemed immoral for most of that time. Why? Aside from our social and cultural programming, homosexuality ‘felt’ like a threat to the species. “Ya can’t make babies that way!” But at this stage in human history, we have enough people (maybe too many). At the very least, the existential threat to the species is reduced. We do not need to worry about that so much. And, lo and behold, we altered our values and morals to embrace all those who are here rather than criticize those NOT joining the Breeders Club. We became more tolerant as the perceived threat to existence receded.

So morals change with circumstance and experience but values are rooted in primal needs.

“And how does that pedantic little lecture translate into fixing what currently ails us?” I don’t know but it seems that focusing on the symptoms is a bit like putting the cart before the horse. Mass shooters, aggressive dictators, toxic masculinity, unfair systems, racism, sexism, all the ‘isms’ – wherever they show up…..they are the symptoms. The cause is more basic.

Our immorality, from greed to murder, from drug addiction to pedophilia, from mass shootings to bigotry, likely stems from some perceived and unconscious threat of survival to ourselves or to the pack. In fact, a lot of violent acts of misogyny stem from a group that can’t get laid. How basic is that!!?? These guys are called Incels. We tend to focus on their behaviours and words of hatred and acts of violence but, at the roots of all that is their non-participation in propagating the species. They are lonely first, crazy comes after.

So, if current morality is the ‘fashionable’ expression of basic primal values in differing circumstances, then it stands to reason that we have to first understand what those values are and then make sure more people can participate in achieving them.

Dealing with that from the ‘symptom’ level in misogyny that might ‘look like’ more equality, more acceptance and, presumably, more access to the gene pool.

But, as stated, that solution (simplistic and pathetic as it is) is quite obviously wrong because we are trying to deal with symptoms rather than cause. And we know that because, in the example above, the solution does not work. Access to sex (rubber dolls, movies, porn, prostitution, lax sexual behaviours, perversions and crimes) have all increased and there has been no net benefit to the species as a whole and, in fact, there seems to be more harm being done.

Since forced tolerance and availability has not worked on the sexual side, then maybe forced ‘equality’ and ‘acceptance’ won’t work either. Affirmative action did not work well. In fact, ‘forced’ is the key word in this analysis and, not coincidentally, we have all already learned that when you force others to do something, they just do more of the opposite except passively, underground and behind the scenes.

Damn that Free Will, eh?

Another example: if it seems that survival is paramount, survival of the pack is the means and community and teamwork is just more of the same in more detail, then ‘good’ community building is the way to go. If belonging is important than we should belong!

But so many in modern society are alone, isolated, unsupported and made into ‘others’ they belong to the deplorables! Especially ‘Merican society. And there are so many of those who feel and are rejected that the UK sees that marginalized group so large as to constitute an epidemic! The outlaw gangs, persecuted minorities and even otherwise lonely types who identify with other lonely types (Incels) naturally flock together and, as a result, some alienated communities are built at the expense of others. And the MAGA movement saw those even more numerous rejects, those deplorables, those lonely and isolated and gave them a larger tent in which to find community (of the ugly sort). They even got matching hats! Hell, Trump held rallies for ’em. Hitler held rallies for the then-downtrodden, poor, vilified, post WW1 Germans.

Find a bunch of lonely rejects and ya got yourself a group, gang, church? in the making.

The title ‘Manufacturing Morality’ then, may be an oxymoron. Morality is inherent in our DNA and cannot be manufactured at will. We may be able to influence, sway and change behaviours over time but we cannot manufacture them. In other words, people with natural values will interpret their situations and act accordingly – usually, generally and healthily in much the same way. Manufactured morals (laws, rules, procedures) won’t do much and, in so many cases, achieve the opposite. To get real change, we must always address survivability and the general climate of existence in good, inclusive communities.

Churches used to do that but, the times changed and, with world connectivity, religion came to be seen as a divider rather than a community. And NOW we enter the age of social media…………(more on that next time).

Most thinking people want gun control because well, no one wants to be gunned down at the school, grocery store or place of employment. In fact, no one wants to be gunned down anywhere. We may have a special concern about schools but that is essentially the same thing just writ larger because we have a basic and primal instinct for keeping our children safe first, all children.

So, on the surface, no one wants guns, nitroglycerin, hand grenades and/or lethal poisons all within easy reach of imbeciles and whack-jobs. In other words, we basically just don’t want to die because of a random encounter. We basically just do NOT want to die. So gun control sounds – on the surface – reasonable.

And I agree with the ideal. Mostly. We regulate (control) those poisons and explosives, we control and regulate and even regularly test the greatest killing device in history (the automobile) and we have ‘safety’ rules and procedures to the extent that we even warn about nuts being present in peanut butter. And we have all accepted that the state has a role in promoting safety and safe behavior.

A rebuttal might be: “Well, there are enough maniacs out there that I do not want to be a victim without at least having a chance at defending myself and, if a gun-totin’ fool aims at me, I wanna be able to shoot back!” And I understand that feeling even if it means trying to survive an AR-15 attack with a pea-shooter. You will likely lose but you didn’t die easily. I get that.

But….is that the issue? Is it really? Because, if ‘keeping us all safer’ is the goal, gun control by itself won’t do it. In fact, it just might make matters worse. Here’s why: firstly, there are now 400 million firearms just in the USA, a country with way too many ill-educated, greedy, alienated, toxically masculine, armed-forces-trained, stupid, angry men out there. Even if the US ‘bought back’ guns as New Zealand is proposing, as much as 75% would not be surrendered. And those surrendered would come from the folks least likely to ever use guns (the law-abiding). Nut cases are not going to give up their arsenals. Neither will criminals. Or gangs. The balance of power (such as it is) will shift even MORE right and crazy.

Secondly, most killings are limited to family and coworkers. A real nut can do the average ‘mass’ homicide (which is questionably stated as four) with a knife or something else used as a lethal weapon. There is no doubt fewer would die from bullets, and likely fewer would die overall, but the data (according to experts) suggests the difference would be negligible.

There are some controls that would work: a buyer of a gun must do some ‘basic training’ and that training should have instructors who have the right and obligation to assess a newbie’s attitude and psychological state. That is not a panacea, of course, but it would help. Additionally, no one under 25 (ideally 40) could ever buy or own or use a gun.

Why not? We wait until we can drive, we wait until we can drink alcohol and we have to train to use large machinery. And, maybe we even go so far as to categorize any gun owner with more than six (or whatever) guns as an armourer and that person needs additional vetting and training. Those things might catch a few nut-jobs and may even reduce some accidents but they still will not do the job.

“Why?” Because people who kill others (especially children and strangers) are INSANE (temporary rage-insanity and/or deep-in-the-bones insanity). Insane people do not obey the rules. And, if you watch any YOU-TUBES on stupid ‘Mericans, you’d be astonished and appalled at how stupid so many of them are. It is staggering. So, ya got yer stupid ones and your crazy ones and ya got a toxic culture that glorifies Rambo and MMA and deadly retribution. AND, you market increasingly realistic ‘games’ for kids that make killing ‘the bad guy’ entertainment. The ‘gun’ mentality is complex and riddled throughout society in all sorts of ways.

Bottom line: the AR-15 is, perhaps, amongst the most appealing of the weapons for the crazies and the testosterone-challenged but pistols and single-shot rifles kill more people (just usually one at a time) statistically. And I reiterate: there will be at least 300 million guns in houses and cars around the US even after any attempt at gun control. They will never get that genie back in the bottle again (and it never was in the USA).

They won’t gt the drug problem back in, either. Nor homelessness, mental illness or general crime. Add guns to all that and it’s like trying to stuff a wildcat into a small bag of snakes – and the bag is on fire!

One more point: Sal has a shotgun and a 30.06 rifle. She had one of them for over 40 years. She has never shot them. NOT ONCE. But we live remote. There are bears, cougars, wolves and the odd nut bar around that might, in some way, give us concern. If the police are called, they would take a day to get here and often, when they make the effort, they get lost. Police generally operate on roads. They have not mastered boats, charts, night-time navigation and they really do not like hiking through the forest. We do not have a donut shop or a cop-car on the island either. They do not want to come. Put bluntly, we do not have the time in an emergency for that kind of nonsense.

“So, what is the answer?” The first answer is that there is no answer that will be effective anytime soon. The second answer is that ‘Merican culture overall has to change in a whole lot of ways. The third answer is typical regulatory stuff but none of step three will work until step two has made a seismic shift-change and, even then, people with guns will still kill people in shopping malls…..which brings us back to answer #1.

My daughter left her pooch with us as she went to a wedding overseas. We have Juno for two weeks. Juno is a good young dog (18months), smart, pretty obedient (directions given are not always obeyed) and full of fun and beans.

That Juno, eh! She’s a shepherd-cross, also 60-something pounds and fast as blazes. Gus, on the other hand is 65 or more pounds, 6 months old, totally laid back and lumbers around like a water buffalo. Daisy is the little miss-in-between. Compared to Gus, she is a dynamo. Compared to Juno, she’s a slug. Three dogs, 3 different energy levels.

Then there is us. A whole new energy level again (if, that is, you can find any energy at all in us to measure these days). The last week has been like living in Tornado Alley in an old double-wide as a line of storms are hitting you. We live in a maelstrom. I seem to spend half my day preparing the dogs’ next meals. Sal sits down on the outside couch and within seconds there is well over 180 pounds of dog licking her face. She pulls her hoody down and goes into the fetal position. That is 300 pounds of writhing, shrieking, barking madness with tongues all over the place for at least five solid minutes.

And, so far, this is every day!

Basically, they are pretty good, though. But Juno, being older and new-to-here, is pushing every envelope. She is a bit of a handful. But we’re okay with it. Gus, on the other hand is getting a bit fed up. Seems Juno thinks he’s attractive enough to couple with and so she attempts the procedure not realizing that it just doesn’t work that way. In the meantime, Gus is being mounted as he walks around rolling his eyes and looking baleful. Coitus interruptus is usually considered unpleasant for the participants but that statement assumes consenting adults. These are non-consenting puppies. Well, Gus is non-consenting, anyway. I think he is also a bit confused.

Daisy is just miffed by the whole thing and walks away with, amusingly, her tail down (taking no chances) and her nose in the air. She is disgusted by such behaviour. Juno is a bad influence on our dog’s sense of proper guest behaviour and is making them review the whole moral fabric in other dogs.

Our take is simple enough: ‘one more week………….we can do this!‘

The boat is coming along but, I am sad to report, rather slowly. A bit of woodwork here, an installation there, planning, measuring, trying to figure out the wiring….the usual things. It has only had one run other than the maiden voyage and that one was short. Boats just eat up time and, in the past, great gobs of money. This boat will not cost as much simply because the ‘yachtie’ standards are not applicable out here and, once everything is operational, that will be the end of it for awhile. Well, maybe I’ll do some painting and such in a few years.

If there is any real news, it is this: the community is mildly depressed. Usually, by the end of May, all sorts of life, activity, visitors and events are underway. Not so, this year. This is still a Covid year, the weather has been very un-Spring like with cold and wind and rain and lately, inflation is also being felt hard (especially fuel). It sorta feels like summer in Britain. Miserable.

Things are still happening, of course. But there is just no sunshine involved and that is needed after a harsh winter. We are really due for some nice weather. I am, anyway.

One less dog, a little more sunshine, extra time for the boat and, of course, a bountiful garden…that’s what we are aiming for. Failing that, we have scotch. It’s all good.

Happiness (dogs), accomplishments (boat) or, maybe…… chaos, murder, war, inflation, climate change, disease, corruption, lies and the increasing erosion of humanity, society, culture and civilization? What to write about, eh? What to even THINK about? Who knows?

Cognitive dissonance? A variation…..?

My blog is supposed to be about living OTG. Ostensibly, anyway. But there is more to life than one’s own lifestyle regardless of how fascinating you might think you are. A few years of boating, building, community, ravens, whales, skill-development (that one was kinda short-lived) and I, personally, had had enough of writing about it all…..NOT tired of living it, mind you, but I was out of my conversion-cum-preaching state (never quite fully out) and I stopped focusing on that OTG stuff so much. If anything, I kinda got more into Sal and her adventures and, of course, the humour and beauty of having our first two dogs, Megan and Fiddich. My writing focus got more personal after the ‘building years’.

Sally is a story, a book, a rom-com series and a whole movie, if you must know. She never stops ‘doing’ and she is always growing, always participating and is always interesting. Plus we are very, very different people. This blog could easily be titled, My Life With Sally. (She’d kill me, tho. It would be a short-run of blogging followed by my obituary.) I always ‘sneak’ a bit of the Sally element into my writing anyway but there is more to life than just living with the most interesting and beautiful person in the world….even if she also has puppies.

So, what to write about? I am always inclined to politics and economics but, currently, both are in such a state of flux that just about everything from me is speculative at best, guesswork most of the time and totally without substance, really. I am not even at Davos, let alone in meetings at the Kremlin or the White House. What the hell does Dave really know, anyway?

But looking at the ‘big picture’, I would venture a few guesses…..the systems we rely on and expect are generally eroding, our institutions are failing and a lot of people are suffering and angry about it. We seem to be sliding downhill, becoming depressed-in-the-aggregate. We seem to be collectively resisting more and becoming more belligerent about everything. Harmony seems out of reach.

The climate change phenomena is slowly hitting home and, more specifically, HOMES and communities, if not nations. Half the US is in a life-ending drought, the other half is in the grip of insane people and the whole world is looking over their shoulder at war, famine, plague and (probably) pestilence. We are definitely on a slippery slope to trauma first, anarchy second and a halt in the evolution of a better civilization. Fascism and force, murder and incarceration, totalitarian regimes being cruel and corrupt looks like the agenda of the future.

I suppose the world “going to hell in a handbasket” is not news. I mean; we have spent time in hell and man-made handbaskets throughout history but it does look like we are headed that way again. Even 91 year-old George Soros is warning of World War 3 and even that pales into the ether compared to full-on climate change.

So, back to the question: what to write about?

Maybe the question should be answered thusly: Why bother writing at all? I mean; what will be, will be. It will become what it becomes. May as well play with the dogs. None of us can do much, if anything, to change the direction of those issues. I used to recommend getting out (still do) but, honestly, there is no getting off the planet and we are now talking global issues. I am better prepared for some things but not immune in the least to climate change, WW3, plague or even famine. There is nothing anyone can do or write to resolve those issues.

News today (one day after writing this blog) – it seems this mood, this attitude, this resignation coupled with anger and resistance is a veritable epidemic in China, no less! Social climbing, get rich, work-hard China! It seems that youth in China are giving up, losing ambition, becoming ‘slackers’. According to the Guardian, President Xi has even addressed this rather new (to him) phenomena of youth quitting the social ladder climbing (because it is too hard and it doesn’t work!) by urging loyalty to their motherland. Youth, themselves, refer to their bad attitude as ‘Bai Lan’ or sometimes, ‘Tang Ping’. Bai Lan refers to the sentiment, ‘Let it rot’ and Tan Ping suggests ‘Lying flat’. Both mean (in Chinese context) ‘giving up’.

Maybe it is the war in Ukraine, maybe it was the latest black guy gunned down by the police, maybe it is Monkeypox and avian flu…. or maybe it is the just the haplessness and hopelessness of our (so-called) leaders….definitely I’m reeling from the killing of 19 elementary-age school kids by a gun-toting, 18 year old in Texas. But whatever it is, there is a bit less hope in the air right now.

The only thing I can suggest is maybe consider getting a puppy or two…..

” I christen thee, the Motor Vessel John R.”

And, with that and the smashing of a bottle of alcohol-free beer (John’s drink) over the bow, we gently put the Ninigret 22 into the water at the boat ramp on the neighbouring island Thursday. Sal did the smashing (she has a natural talent in that way) and I climbed aboard just as the trailer wheels went under water. Our good friend, SD, was there doing and worrying some of the procedural details – which is good. Without him, we may have screwed up (we’re naturals at that, too). The John R floated precisely at the water line it was designed for. Mike did good.

But maybe not so much on the steering installation. As mentioned previously, the steering operates opposite to intention; steer to port and you go to starboard. Counter intuitive steering is quite mentally challenging to a 74 year-old naturally inclined to screwing up – and this was the maiden voyage, no less! So, I just went slowly and carefully to get from the launch ramp to the nearest dock. And that was good, too…..except for actually getting near the dock (which usually requires some helmsmanship) and yesterday it was blowing briskly from the west – OFF the dock. I could get no closer than about six feet…….but a couple of dock lines and SD pulled me in. Whew!!

Sal came back down to the dock from rinsing the car free of salt water and passed SD and I a bag with sandwiches and beers and he and I headed up coast at a reduced rpm because the motor needs ‘break-in’ time. Ten hours at fixed speeds. Sal went back to the ‘yard’ and dropped the trailer. The plan was for her to then travel up that same neighbouring island logging road to our other boat and then she would get in that boat (the MV ‘Pumpkin’) and come down to meet/rescue/find us depending on how things went.

The seas were good – a light chop that occasionally gave us a little spray over the bow. Not enough to make the sandwiches wet, tho. We had a 45 minute run. It was good.

The boat rode well, very stable. We slipped along at 9.0 knots at 2900 rpms so, when the engine is ready to go full-on (5500 plus rpms), I should get 17 knots or more. We were going into a headwind so that slowed us a bit but we had an ebbing tide going in our direction and that helped us…….so, I think I will be able to cruise at 15 knots easily enough and maybe push ‘er to 20 if I use full throttle. That is just fine. Pumpkin does 20+ knots but this new boat can do 15 in a heavy chop. Pumpkin, being a planing hull, has to go slow when the weather is up. It is all good. But not yet done. I still have to get that steering swapped over (already on it today) and that is currently a mystery and will remain so until we put it back together and test it. We still have some required deck fittings to mount and, of course, there are the other bits, pieces and construction finishings to do. This is still a work-in-progress. I will keep you apprised.

Late breaking news! Steering swapped over this afternoon thanks to daughter getting right in there and just goin’ at it. WOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

Btw….you may be wondering: “What did you do with the dogs?” Answer: my daughter is visiting and she has a dog. SD came to help bring the boat home and he also has a dog. Four dogs at a boat launching is an invitation for Murphy to have his way and they are an additional irritant-waiting-to-happen. We left my daughter with all the dogs. And they had a great time together and I did not miss them in the least.

Different kind of blog this time. I am truly perplexed. I am honestly asking a question about our collective mindset. Here goes:

Is anyone really, truly all left? Or all right? All good? Or all bad? I do not think so (OK, Trump is all bad but he is an exception). I think that even those who identify with the left to the total exclusion of all that is right-ist philosophy (and vice versa) will exercise some right-ist philosophies and/or actions in many situations. Even a major pinko-lefty wants the police to catch the bad guys, wants to balance their budgets and keep government intervention in their lives low. Even some of those rotten-righty-Maggots stop to help someone in distress, share their hospitality and make donations to charity.

I mean, some of the kindest, most generous people I know are righty-racist-sexist-anti-PC in their ‘personal presentation’ but they are major contributors to society, their friends and institutions. They are good in many ways. They are some of the greater builders of the community. And some of the most obnoxious, elitist, exclusionary folks I know identify with the left (like me). They are spoiled entitled brats like Justin Trudeau and lately, the Greens. None of us are all always on one side of the political spectrum at all times on all subjects.

Case in point: My father used to mumble all the time about ‘Chinks’ taking over. But one of his best friends was J. Wong. He golfed weekly with Gil C. (Chinese from the Philippines) and, when the Korean couple running the corner grocery was robbed, my dad would quietly volunteer to go and sit behind their counter if one or the other was all alone…sometimes for hours. He didn’t speak Korean. He didn’t talk. He’d just sit there protecting them. He did that for weeks at a time when Mr. Korean was in hospital for an operation. My father was not a racist, he was just blunt, rude, insensitive and a product of his times using the popular vernacular of his times.

And, just as ironically, my father identified strongly with the left. He was a pinko bleeding heart, generous to a fault. Shirt-off-his-back-kinda-thing. But I cannot count the number of guys he punched in the face. He was no peace-loving, hippy, pacifist doing yoga and smoking dope. He had a mercurial temper and a strong sense of right and wrong. But he never protested, demonstrated or even wrote letters to the editor. He drank beer at the legion, complained and punched people if they bugged him. And he projected a heavy personna like a Marvel character. He was no Bernie Sanders.

My recently deceased friend, John, was similar. He strongly identified with Capitalism, the Liberals/Socreds and he worked hard as a small-business-owner-mechanic all his life. And yet, he was a HUGE contributor to his community and not just in a small way with First Nations, addicts, widows and orphans. Few people ever demonstrate REAL life-long social work like John did.

So, what’s my point? Well, as I said: it is not a point this time, it is a genuine question. How the hell did we get polarized to the extent that people rigidly vote RIGHT or LEFT without hesitation when, in fact, they themselves are BOTH right and left in their own personal philosophy? Worse, they will actively dislike and do ‘dirty tricks’ against the other side.

Oh, I know, I know, we all vote using a mental shortcut so that we do not have to listen to the political gibberish spewed from the mouths of lying politicians. Of course we do. We have to. We have no real idea of our candidates. So, we generally vote party! Some people, I am sure, even judge just by appearance (and party)!

We are shallow in our political involvement but deep into our political identity! How did that happen?

The candidates all sing from the same hymn-sheet as their party told them to and so the candidate reveals little to nothing of their own views, abilities, influence. Our reps are unknown to us. To a typical voter, they just line up behind the ‘leader’ like cub scouts trying to earn a badge.

Even the general populace answers the ubiquitous exit poll questions with, “I voted for Trudeau (or whomever).” Which is simply NOT true. Unless they live in Quebec, they did NOT vote for Trudeau, they voted for some local ‘shill’ representing the Liberal party who, then, stands behind Trudeau and keeps quiet. We ally/identify/project ourselves based on that?!

So, if we have reduced our thinking to the cult of party, personality or simply physical appearance, if we take the democratic shortcut of primarily voting from party-name-recognition-habit, how did that devolve into such a polarized political climate?

I have no idea about my rep. She collects a salary and votes as Trudeau tells her to vote. How can I feel strongly about her? How can anyone defend her or Trudeau to the point that they must ‘HATE’ the other guys? What is happening to create this climate?

I have a dumb theory (arrived at without much thought) and this is it: we are all frustrated with our so-called modern lives (see the reluctance of people to go back to the office after Covid) or our personal situation or the planet or the economy or some major (in our own eyes) issue. Even our institutions seem to be letting us down. We want to lash out. We are frustrated! We are angry!

But there are only a few places in which we can now hurl our anger, our invectives, our negativity safely. It seems to be OK to hate white men, especially the older generations. It’s OK to hate Russians and especially the Oligarchs and Putin. For me it is OK to hate Trump and the Maggots (should be the name of a rock band). It seems to be increasingly OK to hate the police and, of course, it is always OK to hate addicts, welfare recipients, pedophiles and cartels.

I am starting to think that directed/projected/exaggerated hate is just a scapegoat for our own frustrations and unhappiness? Can anyone else explain this oddly polarized, ugly political climate in which we find ourselves?

I am a bit overdue for a blog but do not really have much in the way of ‘something new’. So, let’s do ‘tapas’, a blog made of appetizers, so to speak.

The dogs are great. Of course. But ‘great’ now also means BIGGER. Yep! Gus is 60+ and still in the uncoordinated puppy stage. That’s a picture. A rolling, stumbling, tripping, goof-ball that can take you out at the knees! But he’s getting better. Daisy is more athletic and has more ‘control’ over her body but Gus is getting there. They both get on and off the boat now with aplomb and, even tho it is often ungainly, they do not fall in. That’s good. When Daisy fell in at the grocery day-at-the-dock last week, it took Sal and another woman to haul her out. She was too heavy just for Sal. And Gus is at least 10 more pounds. Gus would need three women a-hauling.

They are still somewhat reticent to get in the car. They are not throwing up much anymore, tho. That’s good. But they still hate the trip.

The boat is almost ready to launch. It’s painted. Three cleats on. Two more to go. Plus I need to put on a keel shoe. My friend, SD, did some much needed wiring. Got the engine and bilge pumps running. Changed out the fuel filter. Here’s a weird thing….the builder put the steering in backwards. When you turn the wheel to go to port, the engine turns you to starboard. I am glad we discovered that while it was on land! I can live with that for one trip to get it home (SD read up on the system and is confident we can get it right – but it will need some time and our tools). I will just have to turn the helm against my natural instincts while at sea in a new vessel. Should be easy.

The season has finally arrived. People are booking ‘visits’ and we even have a W’fer scheduled in. We will definitely need some help getting in the firewood this year because we have virtually exhausted everything we had. The wood shed is empty but for the last row (#13) and so we gotta get the pile in so it can season properly.

Sal and I recently rebuilt the woodstove (kinda) by fixing a few things and putting in a new baffle. Man, that really made a difference. It is burning beautifully again.

The garden is nowhere. It’s a sensitive subject. ‘Nuff said.

The Philippines elected Marcos. Marcos and Duterte. Amazing. Truly mind-boggling.

Trump is visibly deteriorating more mentally (hard to fathom how much further he could go) and yet he is still news front-and-centre. Amazing. Truly mind-boggling.

Trudeau went to Ukraine. “I saw communities defending themselves.” Amazing. Truly mind-boggling.

Covid is still with us. I’d estimate at least 75%. Some not-so-close but still known (acquaintances) have died from it. Recently. The pandemic that just won’t quit.

Poor ol’ Sal…..she rose at 5:30 am today ’cause the dogs were awake (they rise with the sun). She did the dog-thing, packed up her quilting stuff and around 7:30 ish headed off to the neighbouring island to ‘do’ quilts with other women. What fun, eh? But then, when that is done, she has a pile of chores over there and will not likely get back home til 4:00 pm. And she’ll have a huge load to pack and carry when she gets to the boat.

It is noon. I have not moved off my chair after getting to it straight from rising around 7:30. I am a bit fatigued, I guess. But this ‘easy day’ will top up the tank and we’ll be ready to hit the boat-work tomorrow……well, I will be, anyway. Sal might be dragging her feet a bit.

I truly do not know if it helps anyone to know about terrible things. Some things, I suppose, need knowing but the vast majority of bad news is just something that ‘happens to others’ or is ‘something we have no control over’. Even that which is horrific and close-to-home is rather easily forgotten even if we feel the effects for a bit.

This might be different. It fits with the above but, well, it is the worst and so I am sharing….apologies.

“Is this how it ends?” Sal asked.

“What?”

“You know, TEOTWAWKI” (the end of the world as we know it)?

The reason she asked that is somewhat intuitive…as in: ‘a woman’s intuition’….

We were on our way to Victoria for a few days. But, as readers know, I rarely go anywhere with only one chore or purpose. If I was going all the way down island, I’d pick up some needed stuff. I have a boat to launch! Fortunately all the stuff I needed was as common as a galvanized bolt. And that is where the story begins….

I needed 12 galvanized carriage bolts 5/16 diameter and 6 inches long. And I went to my favourite local chandler. “We’re out of ’em. Sorry.”

“Well, I also need two through-hull fittings….?” “We are out of them, too. Sorry.”

I got back in the car and we headed south. I asked Sal to look ahead along the route to locate other chandleries. She did. “Hmmm….there are several more but they are closed.”

“How can that be? It’s May 1st. The boating season officially begins May first. It’s also a weekend, fer gawd’s sake! Every chandlery on the coast is at its busiest. ‘Tis the season!”

“The next four are closed. Nanaimo seems open and so is Sidney but everyone else is closed.”

“That’s weird but no matter…galvanized carriage bolts are common and even bloody Home Depot should have ’em.” So, we stopped at a Home Depot (the store of a thousand disappointments) and, sure enough, they did not have them.

“That’s odd but, no matter. I’ll go to a fastener warehouse. I also need some 1.5″ stainless screws with #6 Robertson heads. Not to worry.”

I was wrong again. The best ‘fastener place’ in Victoria that I know of did not have them. Neither the s/s screws nor the bolts. To me, that is like going to the grocery store and being told they don’t have bread or milk.

In the meantime, gasoline was at $2.00 a liter.

And, as an added bonus: living OTG means your car gets dirtier and dirtier which becomes an issue when you visit the city. People brushing against my car need to immediately take a shower and send their clothes to the laundry. We (and our car) are like the Charles Schulz character, Pigpen, and dirt just seems to follow us like a cloud. So, I stopped at a carwash. It was $17.00 for a basic wash!

“Dave, what is your point!?”

Pizza in Victoria was $35.00. Gas was $8.00 a gallon. You cannot find bolts and screws. EVEN LEE VALLEY DID NOT HAVE ‘EM!!! Everything was very expensive or ‘out of stock’. Worse, when I tried (out of desperation) Canadian Tire for the bolts, they had seven left (I am NOT as stupid as this blog might suggest. I looked in the bin that had 3/8″ bolts and found that some dork had put some 5/16 bolts in there.) They are likely the last seven bolts on Vancouver Island but I needed 12. Took me twenty minutes to get to the cashier. They only had two cashiers on. Five registers empty. When I left there were 25 people waiting like zombies in the line behind me. Just standing there; their lives ebbing away before my eyes.

I got back to the car. “Yeah. I think you’re right. It is all ending with a whimper. If there is a BANG it won’t be from Putin, it will be from some old guy going off his nut and shootin’ up a Home Depot or Canadian Tire.”

Shortages are one thing. Lack of staff and service is another. Even a whole region like Vancouver Island can have those kinds of problems. I get that. But watching dozens of people lining up like zombies only to be overcharged and come away with crap or worse, NOTHING is mind blowing. This actually MIGHT BE the way it all ends. “For the want of a nail….”

“For the want of a nail the shoe was lost, For the want of a shoe the horse was lost, For the want of a horse the rider was lost, For the want of a rider …(Benjamin Franklin)

Living off the grid (OTG) also means, in many ways, thinking outside the box (OTB). It is not so much that you ALWAYS have to think OTB but, if you don’t, you will ALWAYS be waiting on something (product, materials) or someone (with greater expertise) to get your work done. And sometimes you do not have the time or the money to wait on that. To get anything done OTG, one really must ‘make do’, jerry-rig, get creative, recycle, repurpose, invent or otherwise be uber pragmatlc in the extreme – almost all the time. You cannot phone in an order, call a repairman, use Amazon or have the thing you need already in inventory.

Old-timers-up-the-coast made a lot of things out of wood, repurposed everything else and generally made Rube Goldberg look constrained. Old guys simply ‘made do’. Old guys knew how to make it happen. Oldtimers made it work without Amazon, experts, You Tube or even books!

We, of course, are not bona fide old-timers (except in age)and are not as creative or adaptable as many out here. Plus we have a bad case of MSB (modern spoiled bratism)! As Sal puts it, “We are NOT barbarians!” (i.e. Sal and I have taken to using our Waterford crystal wine glasses every day since NOT using them just means they will last longer than we do – we have gone PRIMAL, we are using the GOOD glasses!). But, still, even the most pampered and spoiled out here have to get ‘down and dirty’, get real, do what needs doing now and then. Bears poop in the woods and so do the princesses. One does what needs doing.

And that is my slightly weird introduction to the keel of our new boat. The keel, of course, is the boat’s foundation, the backbone of the ship, the spine, if you will. The keel is the primary strength of the boat. In fact, the keel-and-ribs is often ‘founded’ on a particuarly strong frame referred to as the ‘strongback’. Anyway…we have a keel. It is strong. It is made of oak. It is good. But…..

…..Oak is wood. Wood is NOT Tungsten, steel or even aluminum. Wood is simply NOT as ‘strong’ in some ways as one might want. Especially if you have an inordinate amount of granite boulders on the beach in your life.

Think of it this way: you are driving slowly (under ten knots) in a nasty storm and at night. The rain is blowing horizontal. Ya can’t see diddly–squat. But you know you are coming up to your shore….that’s good…home is near….but…but….your home shore DOES NOT HAVE a dock. It has rocks, instead. You have to ‘nudge’ your boat on to the shore line to let off your passengers (dogs and wife). In the dark. Maybe there’s even fog. There’s definitely a bit of a storm surge. Waves. Wind. You have to be careful.

If you have a steel boat, you still have to be careful….if you have an aluminum boat , you have to be a bit more careful…if you have a good, strong f’glass boat you have to be even more careful yet and, if you have a wood boat, you have to be so careful you manoeuvre as if you have a boat made of eggshells. Wood boats weighing tons bashing up and down (waves) on granite rocks (beach) will not last long. Wooden boats need care.

I now have a wooden boat.

So, how do I ‘show care’ BEFORE I need to…..how do I make my wood boat less vulnerable to pounding on granite? Why with plastic, of course!

My friend, John, was a salvage kinda guy. If something still good was being thrown out, he rescued it. When the local hockey rink pulled out strips of that yellow, plastic ‘kickboard’ you see around the rink, he got some of it. That stuff is HDPE. High density Polyethylene. They used it at the rink because not only is the stuff really tough but also because it is slippery. It is slippery enough to skate on! Tough and slilppery is what I need.

Yesterday, I cut and fashioned a strip of HDPE as a ‘shoe’ for the bottom of the keel. Just four feet of it two inches wide tapering to one inch at the stem, shaped, sanded, and drilled for holes. It looked perfect! After it was done I gave it a gentle bend to mentally ‘see’ it go around from the bow-to-the first part of the flat keel. It snapped! IT BROKE IN HALF!

HDPE, the wonder plastic that takes nothing but abuse and is very bendable by nature snapped like a toothpick.

Life, eh?

Am I deterred? No. I’ll cut another piece and do it again. I will bend it again. I may, however, use a little persuasive heat the next time. It will work. It will be fine. Ya just gotta adjust, ya know?