…..a new chainsaw. My old Jonsared (the company is no longer in operation, it seems) was a smaller powered 45cc with a 16″ bar. Model 2145. It was pretty good. I liked it. To be fair, it was a smidge underpowered and I kinda wanted 50cc or even 55cc but, well, I didn’t have it so I just ‘worked’ the smaller unit a smidge harder. Still, it lasted 17 years. The upside of a 2145 is that it is relatively light (about 12 pounds) and it is amazing how heavy even that begins to feel after an hour or so of continuously risking blood loss on a remote beach somewhere.

The other day, I had been working it down at the lagoon and stopped it to move around a log I was working on and, when I went to pull-start it up (usually instantly), I heard a clunk and nothing would move after that. It felt like the piston came off the wrist pin and seized. Of course, no one can tell that simply by pulling on a cord but that was what came to mind – ‘Engine went, I think it is the wristpin’.

Sal said, “Yeah, sounded like that to me, too!”

Chainsawing logs strewn higgledy-piggledy over treacherous slimy-boulders-on-the-beach is not my idea of fun at the best of times and so the engine seizing was OK with me. Good excuse to quit doing that. Expensive, to be sure, but so is a leg or arm replacement. I took it as a sign to start taking care of myself and went in for tea and a cookie.

Since then I have been ‘shopping online’ for a new chainsaw. I am thinking of a Stihl 50cc or a Stihl 55cc. There’s a MS271 called a Ranch Boss or something silly that has good reviews and, as I get older, 50cc feels powerful enough…but..but….well, I think I want the MS 291 at 55cc and a man wants what a man wants, ya know?

Is this a big deal? No. Buying a chainsaw should NOT be a big deal but you would probably NOT be surprised to learn that one is judged a bit by their chainsaw choices out here. Like one’s outboard choices, ya know (I am happy to be in the Yamaha cohort now).

To be fair, you are more likely to be judged by the size and shape of the sawdust your chainsaw spews (that is how guys know what kind of a chainsaw sharpener you are and that is a skill with a huge status metric and not one to be ignored) but the saw itself is a close second. Big engines and long bars are signs of manliness. So are big scars and so there is an off-setting influence there, too. Fear and ego. Fear has always influenced me. Ego is beginning to wane.

There is a grim deliberation at play here…..just how long and rosy is my chainsawing future, anyway? Do I have to buy for the 15 year rule? Will I be chainsawing at 88? Maybe buying a good chainsaw is not the best investment……long term….ya know? In fact, maybe getting a good, newer, sharper, more powerful chainsaw is the very reason I never get to the grand old age of 88?

I wonder if Hasbro makes a nice light, cheap and safe chainsaw?

….that this blog is a form of media. You know, social media?

It is, of course, but the implication of such a claim suggests that people read it and the blog has some kind of ‘influence’. Wrong. People do not read it very much (trust me. I see the stats) and, regarding those that do read it, I do not think for a minute that what they read is influential to them…..at least not politically, culturally, spiritually or intellectually. The blog is, basically, entertainment and is, perhaps, a bit revealing now and then of a personal slice of a micro-culture (life OTG).

Very small frog, very small pond, making no real noise about nothing much at all. I get that. It’s OK.

But, in a way, it is important to realize that even a small distraction like my blog eats up a piece of the reader’s attention….even if the content is so light that it is forgotten immediately. ‘Ya can’t read Dave’s blog and do brain surgery at the same time.‘ The ten seconds it took to read this far is ten seconds you will never have again!

I am part of the problem.

“What problem?”

The problem is the resurrection of the BIG LIE.

But I have to back up a bit……..back in the last years of the 20th century I was on email a lot. Part of my work. And, because of that, I would be sent all the crap that was being widely distributed as well including cat videos, conspiracy theories, allegations, gossip and all sorts of misinformation and drivel. If I got 100 emails in a day, at least five were pure nonsense. I confess, I often read (watched) the email and attachment because well, out of curiosity and naivety, I guess. I saw some cats. I admit it.

But there was an emerging trend even back then. There were messages of discord and hate, lots of nasty memes about Muslims and institutions, Catholics and black people. There was a strong element of ugly being sent around as ‘truth’ and ‘fact’ and ‘news’.

They were, of course, lies. But, until that time, lies were generally hidden, subtle, or disguised in polite society. They were there in the public square but they were kinda whispered and selectively shared with perceived or potential sympathizers. BIG LIES did not have a lot of purchase back then. There was a campaign of disinformation then that was noticed but not really reacted to.

If you got some email promoting bigotry or hate and you just deleted it. No biggy.

I worked with a guy who had a friend and he had shared with her my email address. She was a bigoted, ignorant, fearful, old woman who passed on every lie making the rounds. I would sometimes Snope the content of her poison and (because she included her whole mailing list) would send out a semi-verified disclaimer to her crap. I only did it because ‘For evil to be done, good men only need do nothing’. A quick rebuttal to her audience and I was back focusing where I should. Ugly Betty was good for at least one bitter, hate-meme a week, sometimes two. Took five minutes to research and debunk and I was free until the next time.

My rebuttal had no effect on her, naturally, but maybe it influenced some on her email list. I do not know. That is not the point. The point is that her kind of dis/misinformation is what has emerged as a major force in our culture today. She was a harbinger. Today’s public square is filled with large, loud lies and misinformation and the increasing growth of general evil is the result.

Mayhem? Chaos? Armed insurrections? Hmmmm….even the spread of a disease?

Q-Anon, OAN, FOX News, Glen Beck, ex-Rush Limbaugh and the list goes on and on and on. The Liars Club. And it is growing. Nowadays we do not have lies being secreted and whispered in the dark corners of the public square but being broadcast and given some weird kind of credence. The gullible and ignorant cult believes it all! Trump says a blatant, bald-faced lie in front of millions and, it has been revealed, most of the time his followers KNOW that he is speaking at least a debated point but many know much of what he says is just total fabrication. Pure lies. But the guy still gets air-time! He gets followers. He is an influencer. He is the Prince of Lies.

Within one generation (20 years) the LIE has emerged as a powerful force in our society. Lies now seem to have credence, power and influence. How did that happen?

Partly it was because of the information explosion as a result of computers, Google and the like. So much was coming at the viewer/reader/consumer, they simply did not have the time nor the inclination to fact check everything. To be fair to them, they never previously had doubts about the veracity of the ‘message’ they were getting from their news sources either. Their lie detector was not in good tune due to lack of use. They believed the local paper, the CBC, NPR or other MSM mostly because the sources were limited and large and had history. We all relied on the news industry for the TRUTH.

But ever since Marshall McLuhan, those sources became a smidge suspect, too.

Then along came SOCIAL MEDIA and the so-called news was more quickly and easily dispersed by way of Facebook, Twitter and the ‘unverified’ content providers on every topic under the sun. Anyone could claim a piece of the stage! And they did!

It is NOT a coincidence that Fox News launched just over 20 years ago (1996). By the year 2000 it was force to be reckoned with. Fox was launched at the beginning of the age of the LIE. Fox is a parent of the BIG LIE. It is no coincidence that Donald Trump launched himself as a potential candidate for president at the same time (official date: 2000).

I noticed the lies back then. But not their power. Not their influence. I dismissed the phenomena as merely a small number of crazies like Ugly Betty. Rupert Murdoch (Fox) and Donald Trump knew in their black souls that a new highway to the hearts and minds of America had just been opened. They saw the opportunity and they went for it. We are now living in the Information and Disinformation Age and, it seems, we are bereft of the wisdom to know the difference.

Presciently timed (1998) was a book written by Scott Peck titled: People of the Lie. “People who are evil attack others instead of facing their own failures.” That book changed my life, too. It gave a glimpse into what constituted evil and how it happens. Hint: unconsciousness and ignorance are major ingredients. I highly recommend it (it is a bit odd, though–Peck is deeply religious) especially in this time of increasing lies.

In June, we can celebrate 17 years of living OTG. That is a fascinating number to me…..I have never lived anywhere as long or longer than this. Our cul-de-sac existence was the previous record holder and was only 14 years in duration. When we lived on our various boats, that was only for a total of 11 years (three different boats, several marinas, trips abroad separating each liveaboard session) over a span of about 15 years (short term apartments interspersed).

Seventeen years in one place (albeit with a lot of travel thrown in) is astonishing to me but not for the length of time, per se. The reason it is worth writing about is because it still feels new! Seriously, each day feels new and fresh and still requiring learning, adjustments, ‘doing’ and ‘being’ in the moment. Living OTG for 17 years feels like maybe 5 years and living cul de sac felt like a lifetime. Go figure.

I guess I shouldn’t be so surprised. Each day is still an adventure. How could it not be (boats on the water, forests and wildlife, projects and life-supporting duties)? But it is a surprise because 17 years snuck up on me and, even more shocking to me, time is seemingly accelerating! I got old slow but I am getting older much faster. If I live another 13 years or so (we built here using the thirty-year rule and I started when I was 56 so 86 is kind of a goal…kinda…). That would also mean I am more than half-way there.

Some goal!

Still, no complaints. None. This is good. Very good. Can we keep living out here? Of course we can keep going, we are sure of that. But we will go slower while time speeds up. So, that is kinda weird. Still, ‘keeping going’ is the goal and we will carry on with Sal doing it in fine British tradition and me doing it with frequent naps. Easy peasy.

I am reflecting on this, of course, as all older people do, contemplating the end of a life rather than the beginning of one….and that, too, is OK. But it does NOT feel like the end nor does it even feel like the beginning of the end. And the reason for that is simple – each day is still a challenge, still interesting, there is so much to do and learn about. And that is true just for merely maintaining our existence! If we wanna get really out there, we can still travel or seriously try fishing or something even hardier (like catching one!).

But not this year. This year is a year-of-more-projects and maybe some travel if Covid and my attitude permits. I am still loathe to fly and the USA is still a no-go zone. We’ll see how that works out.

Seventeen years. I think we may be locals by now…I dunno….

When you suddenly see the world a bit differently, noticeably differently, then one might describe that new view as an epiphany. But when one is immersed in that different world, and you only notice ‘differently’ when you get back to the original one, is that return feeling a reverse-epiphany? It is definitely confusion, bewilderment and/or feeling ‘out-of-whack’. Regardless of what it is called, it is also anxiety provoking. For us, anyway….

We used to dread ‘Town Day’. There was the get-up and hurry-up to get in various lines (Ferry, Costco, liquor store and the very worst line-ups at parts suppliers). There was also the clock running out while the chore list remained undone, the hemorrhaging of cash in large chunks, the sheer weight of crap jammed in the car and the logistics of all that which usually also included a doctor visit, a government office visit, accidental encounters, physical limitations, logistics and, of course, Murphy. Sometimes a Town Day felt like undertaking the invasion of the Beach at Normandy.

During our busiest of times, I regularly hit 21 to 22 stops while Sal shopped at two near-to-each-other stores. I would literally drive like a fiend getting in half my ‘calls’, then pick up Sal (laden with groceries and wine) and then we would strategically plan out the remainder of stops with her doing a slow, drive-by tuck-and-a-roll at some stores while I continued down the street to another. If you added bathroom-breaks, a grab-a-lunch, gassing up the car and petting a cute dog, we would approach 30 different stops on a busy summer day between 11:15 (when the ferry got in) until 5:30 (when the ferry took us back out to the other island). And, even then, we were not going to be done and drinking wine until around 8:00 or 9:00pm. Town days were hell.

We have largely improved a lot of that. With the house and large projects complete we have less to do, of course, and so there are less ‘parts’ stops (altho still way too many). We have delegated grocery shopping to ‘online’ and then delivered by water-taxi every two weeks. Same for pharmacy. With other members of the community all coordinating their shopping, the added delivery cost ($20.00 – sometimes less) it is actually cheaper than going into town ourselves!

Yesterday, February 23rd however, we had to do another Town day – first of 2021. We were last in town December 23rd, 2020. That’s two months! And I have achieved at least once a cheater’s version of three months (Sal went in on the second month) but I remained free for three whole months!

We figured we did 9 stops yesterday.

Bear in mind, too, that we have been Covid-isolating as well for a year. I am estimating that Sal and I ‘town-dayed’ (various versions including Victoria trips) maybe 6-7 times over the past year, yesterday maybe being the 8th. That is us engaging with the madding crowd only eight times a year and, honestly, we could get that down to four if we tried real hard (well, Sal’s hair-cut habit and fabric store attraction would keep her numbers up but I could do 4 easily). ICBC is offering us a low-mileage discount!

The point? All this isolation has altered my psyche and not much at all for the worse. I am happier with less town, more time here.

But here’s the weird part: when we left the city and then went back there within a week or so, there was no ‘difference’. It was nothing more than a ‘trip’ or, if done in the summer, a minor ‘break’ or ‘vacation’. Same-same. But, when we moved here and went back to the city say three months later, it ‘felt different’. By the time we were going back only once a year, it was like visiting a different city, it was all changing so fast, Vancouver was no longer home. It was ‘different’. By the time our visits dropped to every two or three years, going to the city was anathema to us and caused mild anxiety. Imagine that, eh? Returning to one’s home of almost fifty years was strange and caused anxiety.

I was literally amazed at how much time was wasted standing or driving in line, looking for parking, looking for addresses, waiting on meetings…..I hadn’t seen that as clearly before but, after a few years away, it seemed like the city just sucked the life out of you while you sat in traffic.

A few years after that, I noticed that my anxiety level started to increase as I approached Nanaimo! It was simply the car traffic and street signs and milling crowds but there was enough of that in Nanaimo that it felt like the BIG city! And, of course, Victoria was the same. Small cities had the same ‘Vampire effect’ as did the Big one – life draining and for no reason.

And a few years after that, Campbell River inherited the mantle of ‘big life-sucking city’ and there were enough chores, line-ups, people and confusion to also start to cause a similar anxiety level (parking is never a problem, tho).

It is truly amazing what these not-so-noticeable-at-first feelings do to you. You feel and act differently. You even think differently. I think I really am different. Now the whole world looks a giant town day and I don’t want much to do with it unless I have to.

This entry is written entirely for the purpose of sharing perspective. It was prompted by the debate between two readers stemming from the last blog post. No expertise is claimed by anyone but the right to have an opinion – they are entitled to have them. So am I. This is ‘just a thought’.

Economics is, essentially, the study of human behaviour as exhibited through spending, buying, selling and savings. Basically, money is a form of expression or language that everyone speaks (and NEEDS to) and yet, like our own speaking languages, the body of knowledge keeps expanding and changing and we do not, as a rule, keep up. The result: we do not know what we are talking about. We do not know where we are headed.

“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” Luke 23:34.

(Money is also a ‘storage of energy’ – but that is a topic for another day.)

Our spoken languages have categories, specialties and/or dialects. English, especially, has science-talk, techie-talk, street slang, normal conversational English (as does Greek, Mandarin, etc but English is the primary techie language) and there is all sorts of different job-related lingo. There are approximately 170,000 words currently in use in English, 45,000 words in the dictionary NOT used much anymore (methinks, eh?) and the average educated person only uses between 20 and 30,000 words. Throw in ever-evolving techie-talk, street slang and plain-old grammar and ‘speaking English properly’ today is a daunting task mastered by very few. Speaking fluent economics is impossible.

Economics is, in many ways, a language substitute as well as a sub-language (in this blog topic, for sure) and, thankfully, the language is not as complicated or as full in vocabulary as English. It is, however, somewhat harder to understand and the concepts related to economics are just as complicated (it is a subset of human behaviour after all). Ninety-nine percent of the folks don’t speak even a smattering of Economics. And, surprise! like slang, it is also evolving so some so-called economists are also no longer fluent. Bottom line: few people understand economics and fewer still can communicate their understanding in common language.

The ‘substitute language of Economics is the counting of money or ‘accounting’ and data metrics and statistics, all are often used as a ‘common form’ of communicating the concepts instead of us having to learn all the concepts and special words. Numbers are the economist’s shortcuts. Side bar: when I taught business planning, my students were asked to write their business plan as well as they could and then attach their projected numbers. The exercise was to see if the ‘numbers’ read as a precise translation of their sales pitch. In effect, I taught them to wrote two plans: one in English, one in numbers.

Because we know words, we are, therefore, all supposed to know what an ‘estimated drop in durable goods’ is supposed to mean. We are supposed to be ‘happy’ when the price of oil goes up when, indeed, most of us are unhappy when it does. The rationale for the money-talkers explanation is that, “When oil prices go up, that is an indicator of work being done and the economy must be growing, i.e. the numbers are going up. Ergo, we are happy to see the economy grow.”

People (even economists) still think that way. To be fair, rising oil prices is an indicator of more work being done but it is NOT an indicator of all the more damage to the climate, more investment in wrong places (like wars, throw-away plastics and wasteful consumerism) nor is it an indicator of who-gets-what or the long term cost to the planet. Oil prices rising indicates only profitability and business in the short term for a percentage of people. It is a narrow point of view.

The point: the language of economics is ‘workplace jargon’ and is both inadequate and misleading. And I, personally, suspect that is on purpose. Why? Because most of it is stupid but it always serves the wealthy.

Side bar: if your house burns down and you rebuild it, economists add that cost to the GDP. Yippeeee, the economy is growing! That is just plain stupid to my way of thinking. Replacement is not growth. AND, if all the salmon in your area die from disease or something, that is NOT deducted from the economy. And that is even stupider.

Eco-minded economists lament that the cost-to-the-environment is never factored into the price paid at Walmart for a plastic kids pool (for instance). And we consumers don’t seem to ever really ‘get that’ lament. We don’t want to. But we know it is true and we do ‘get that’ in some stupidly obvious and too-late concluded examples such as oil spills and thousands of abandoned oil wells sprinkled hither and yon (although the clean-up costs are added to the GDP) and maybe the loss of over 40% of the world’s wildlife is noted but, generally speaking our ability to see beyond cheap gratification is impossible. We are like Lemmings grabbing a quick bite as we head for the cliffs.

But let us segue back to “What does that mean for me and mine in our situation? We have to pay the mortgage! We gotta eat! You are talkin’ like I am gonna have to pay more taxes!!!”

Well….the carbon tax is supposed to be a baby step in factoring in the cost of our living on the planet. Of course, it will not work. It can’t. It’s stupid, too-little and too late. And, anyway, Nature has already provided the REAL answer and some people can already see it. They call it SUSTAINABILITY. Best quick-read of REAL and possible sustainability is Lovins and Hawken’s book: NATURAL CAPITALISM, published by the Rocky Mountain Institute in 1999, and a life changer for me.

Sustainability is survival. Non-sustainability is extinction.

Occasionally, a species will dominate it’s environment too much and go extinct. That can and has happened. But most species found a balance somewhere along the line. Too many wildebeests for the savannah and the lions start reproducing. Too many lions eating lots and lots of Wildebeest tends to balance out both of them over time….I am guessing it only takes a few generations (for lions and wildebeest). We are clearly too much for our environment – at least the modern consumer is. We are not sustainable.

THAT is the problem.

But we are the apex predator. And more than NOT having to fear the lions and the alligators, we will eat just about anything. Lions eat meat. Wildebeest eat grass. We’ll eat both of them and then go for chocolate ice cream. And there are many, many more of us. More than that, we ‘eat the earth’ (mining and such) and there is no natural balancing force…….

……..well, there is, actually. We do have a few natural enemies and they can reduce our numbers enough to create some kind of balance. Diseases are the most common contrary or balancing force from heart disease to ebola, from diabetes to Covid. We don’t see the really microscopic little guy until that enemy has landed in our blood stream. But we have a Goliath enemy, too. The earth also fights back. It, too, likes balance and when the balance is out of whack, the earth resists and tries to restore the status quo. Climate change is what some are calling that.

“What is the point, Dave?”

We are all out of balance – especially problematic at this modern, globalized scale, too. Trudeau is NOT responsible. Harper was NOT responsible. Even that bastard Trump is not nor will ever be responsible for the predicament we all face. I am a politician watcher and commenter but, really? They are NOT the problem – just part of the problem because we all rely on the head lemming.

It is not about a small group of self-branded liberal conservative fools meeting in hotels. Not even well positioned and rich fools meeting in Davos are to blame. Our problem is the system we have all embraced. Until we can build in balancing factors to Capitalism (as described in Natural Capitalism), we are headed for the cliff. It is really that simple.

“Dave! I can’t practice Natural Capitalism on my own!” It is hard. I know that. But Ray Anderson did it. So have others. Look up the history of Interface Corporation – they make carpet. The guy was a genius.

Yeah, you read that right, ‘minus’ 101. Read: Confusion. Implied meaning: we are not progressing in our understanding of economics, we are regressing. We might just be getting stupider…hard to say……especially if you are one of those getting stupider (like me).

Quick synopsis: The world economic engine has kinda shut down…that should be a negative influence on all the economies…and it is. Planes don’t fly, hotels don’t book, tourists don’t go on cruises and locals don’t dine out or socialize. They say retail stores are dead. The world has added 24 trillion dollars in debt to the books in one year. That is a pretty big negative, too – less cashflow, more debt payments and way more bankruptcies. Then there was the cumulative effects of the Trump years-of-international-alienation marked so dramatically by the Capitol Building riot and the demolition of the Trump Plaza in Atlantic city. That did NOT Make America Great Again. And it hurt everyone else as well. We could not even make face masks and yet Canadian unemployment is in the double digits. Oil is cheap (and, for Alberta, virtually land-locked). Then you gots your polar vortex and overdose deaths adding to the C-19 death toll (500,000 and growing in the US) and, of course, the significant increase in the homeless population all over North America. And the list goes on and on and on.

Don’t forget, the economy is basically a reflection of the collective MOOD of the people.

And yet…….every real estate market in Canada is up by a huge margin (except Regina). The average price of a home in Canada is $650,000. In Vancouver, it is $1,000,000!!! Toronto is pretty close behind in the high $900’s. And, get this: amongst the fastest growing markets in Canada is ‘Cottage Country’. I read where some modest 2 bedroom cottage on a distant Ontarian lake (think mosquito hatchery) sold for double the asking price! They wanted $400K and got $800K??????

Is the basic MOOD one of escape, retreat, run away?

When I spoke to my Bosch tankless repair guy in Vancouver, he said, “Oh, God! You live OTG? That’s my dream. I gotta get out of this madness. I’m 55 and, if I had the money, I’d leave in a heartbeat.” (I told him that he already had enough money but he didn’t believe me).

Seems the urban dream has been indelibly tarnished and the exodus has finally begun. Maybe. I guess we’ll see. But, let’s be real here: as much of an OTG booster as I am, I know that the urban centres are the economic engines of a country — even ones that rely so much on resource extraction such as Canada. People do NOT get money-rich in the country. Maybe some oil companies or logging companies do but the people working there do not. Living up or down country is NOT Wall Street, Bay Street or even Main Street….it is usually just a logging road.

Put another way; we have more and more homeless. But rents are dropping and, in Toronto, they are dropping as much as 30%. The poorest still can’t afford the rent. In St. John, New Brunswick, the average home can be purchased for $200,000. $500 a month will buy an average home in an urban centre! Pick a small village outside of that and the places are even cheaper!

So, the question students is how does that all work out? Record unemployment and homelessness but increasing real estate prices everywhere? And yet, more and more rental vacancies! More and more debt but the government does not care unless the debt is owed to them. More and more people living online. More and more people exiting real life for the ethereal. More and more people exiting the urban for the wilderness. More and more people incapacitated by climate change, C-19, drug addiction and unemployment. And the Boomers are getting older as I write.

If this is the apocalypse, shouldn’t Facebook tell us?

PS: As of Valentines Day Canada has vaccinated one million people with at least one third having received both doses. We are, in partial effect, 3% done. The dysfunctional, C-19-denying USA has vaccinated 60M people with both shots complete. Their math claims about 13 – 14%. But my math (328M / 60M is 18%). They are 18% complete their population. We are not keeping up with the Bubbas! All I can say is I am unimpressed with our institutions, as you know. I am also disturbed that they have not said out loud what I just did. The good news is that the politicians ARE saying: LET’S OPEN THE ECONOMY UP!!!

Life off the grid….not entirely unlike life ON the grid recently.

My water system froze and broke during the cold snap. Given the expertise and skill I implicitly claim by writing an OTG blog, I am embarrassed. Woe is me. I did NOT prepare properly. Perhaps I have some Texan DNA in me?

Nevertheless, plans are afoot for repairing and upgrading the house water system. A new tankless, on-demand water heater is in transit and I am no longer going to rely exclusively on heat tapes and insulation-wrap to save my system. I am gonna build a small, outdoor, insulated closet/half-room in which to install all the vulnerable parts and it will be easily heated by a small propane gas heater or, more likely something even smaller. Oh yeah….upscale!

To be fair to my inner doofus, the heat tape around the old Bosch demand heater failed. Shorted out. As Sal and I were attempting to sleuth out the problem when it occurred, Sal got a shock from touching the tape. If it shorts out, it doesn’t heat up. If it doesn’t heat up, the vulnerable parts in the unit freeze up and then crack. That is not good.

In theory, I should be able to take out the old unit, diagnose and repair it and then reinstall it. That’s the theory, anyway. But, well……the unit is 12 years old. It is currently positioned outdoors exposed to the cold (nice roof over it, tho). It could really use a good checking over, I know of some parts in need of replacement and it never really had the juice to make the water really hot except in the summer. It was only 117,000 btus. The new one coming is 150,000 btus and it includes a built-in ‘freeze’ protection heater. And, since the whole system will all be kept warmer in the ‘little insulated room’, the water should be just that much hotter at the tap as well.

The repair theory also requires that I know what I am doing when disassembling the old unit and I do not. The principle is simple enough…..pressure cold water comes in and ‘charges’ the unit. When the pressure is released by the tap turning on, the gas is also let in, the pilot light creates a controlled but larger burn and the water passes all around the fire in coiled copper tubes. That heated water leaves and heads for the tap. Simple. But the miniature parts and wires and valves all included in the inner workings have specifications, tolerances and very strange shapes and parts. My inner Bosch is a complicated metal kidney, bladder, pipe and control valve all in one. With gas!

We are all personally familiar with similar but organic versions of that system and, when we encounter problems with water flow, well, the pressure is really on to get it all fixed rather quickly. I really do not have the time to sit around scratching my head on this. I have to get the replacement unit in and working as quickly as possible. Learning about brass kidneys will have to wait.

It is February 17th. If the mail hurries, I might get the new unit by maybe the 25th. You can see where this going…..right……? We are likely to still be using the pitcher-and-basin method for personal hygiene well into March. The good news: the heat tape that failed was on the water heater. Our cold water supply is good. We’ll be fine…..

….so we’ll try to get the logs up in the meantime…..

It’s cold. It’s winter. There is snow. In Canada, no less!! THAT part we should know by now….but…well, it’s really cold, it includes all of Canada, even balmy Victoria and it is a smidge more winter-y than we (or anyone) expected mid February. Hell, we started seedlings in the latter part of February in other years but clearly, this is not going to be one of those years. This global warming-thing is something, ain’t it?

Oh, I know. It’s really climate CHANGE and the massive ‘dip’ of the polar vortex right down into the US midwest and further south means that we are all in the same weather conditions, give or take a few snow-inches, a few degrees and, of course, the wind chill. We islanders likely have it best. Still, I am now sucking water (siphon through a hose) out of the cisterns and carrying water totes into the house. It’s OK but I prefer the tap. I am getting a bit spoiled.

I am kinda following the impeachment trial but not as much as you might think I would. Why? Well, Trump is despicable and Trump is corrupt and Trump is blah, blah, blah and it really should NOT take even two sane people (let alone 100+ politicians) to know that. This is yet-another made-for-TV reality show. Of course, it is a real impeachment proceeding being exercised over a real high crime, misdemeanor and treasonable act aided and abetted by real liars, crooks, scum and camo-wearing idiots. The crime was and still is real. But the trial is a sham. It’s embarrassing for the US to claim any semblance of a justice system and it is totally condemning of not only the GOP members in the senate but it also makes the whole of Congress look really, really stupid.

All those lawyers and not a drop of morality or even legality! Yes, I know…impeachment is a political act and not a criminal one but why have laws and rules of evidence so sophisticated that there is a Supreme Court as the third branch of government? I mean, if laws, procedures, judges and lawyers are regarded as the highest form of justice, why is that all thrown out for Potus and the Privileged?

Trump is a criminal and his actions have wreaked horror and trauma on the country for four years. People have died as a result of his actions and almost 500K have died as a result of his inactions. But the REAL crime is the ‘rich white boy’ privilege he is enjoying so blatantly and contemptuously in front of the world. Trump has single-handedly destroyed the American Democratic myth. They have no credibility anymore. There is and never has been ‘justice-for-all’ in the US and this manifests that beyond any doubt.

How can any ‘leader’ representing the US chide, cajole, lean-on, persuade or just ‘educate’ any other country on their abuses of power now that this farcical clown has completely had his way with not-only-pussies-for-hire but politicians-for-hire, Bubbas-for-sacrificing and children in cages? One maniac single-handedly destroyed the American image.

The USA is a country that shoots and kills unarmed black people including women and children and yet call themselves ‘home of the brave’? This is a country that allows (if not encourages) crazed individuals to own automatic weapons some of whom now and then wipe out a school or a McDonalds? This is a country where half or more of the people can’t spell the name of their own state, have no idea where Canada is and have never traveled further than to a football stadium. How are they living in the land of the free? It is hard to make free choices when you know nothing!

This blog has rant-like aspects, I know that (I get worked up), but this is not a rant. That Trump is guilty is fact. That liars and cheats and sycophants are aiding and abetting him is fact. That the image of the US is in the gutter internationally is a fact. That their justice system is not anywhere close to fair and equal to all is fact. That their real God is money may not be a fact but it is definitely very, very high on their very, very short list of values.

If they convict him, they will be given a ‘break’, given a reprieve, given a ‘chance’ by the rest of the world to get their act together. But the wounds are deep, the faith is gone, trust has left the building and their leaders look like the fools they are. They have a deep hole from which to extricate themselves and, with their constant worship of money, they may be way too far gone to even see a better way.

BREAKING NEWS! Just as I sent this draft up to Sal for her to proof, the news was relayed in: Trump was acquitted. They could not find enough votes to tell the truth. Their inner turmoil just got worse.

Winter hit like a falling icicle the last two nights. It was cold. I am guessing about ten degrees F below freezing or about 20-25 F/-7C. The Monday forecast suggested -2 but that was without a cold outflow from Bute and we had that. I kept the stove burning all night and the house was 60F/I5C when we woke up which is pretty good but, damn it, we were surprised to find some water system parts underneath the house had frozen.

I have a couple of cisterns about 125 feet from the house. The line from them is one-inch pvc wrapped in heat tape and insulated with thick foam wrap and weatherproof tape. The water-line also sits under an inch or two of ground debris and it all sits in a shallow gully. It isn’t warm and toasty in there but it is out of the wind and, with the heat tape, should withstand the cold we normally get. Last night was colder. It was not likely the line but still, something froze. Our water system wasn’t workin’….

I made a small tent today from a plastic sheet and covered up the pumps (all wrapped in insulation and tape, too) valves, pressure tank and such. And then I will plug’n play an electric heater in it. My little plastic room with heater should raise the temperature at that point in the system (the expensive section) and that might help the tapes thaw the line during the day time. I am glad it is sunny – that helps – but it is still cold. The tent idea may not be enough magic. We’ll see.

It worked! Just came in and took my morning shower at 1:00 pm. So, that’s good but, but, but…Thursday is the deepest temperature drop and I have to figure out a way to get us through that night. I may put the little space heater on a timer so it kicks on now and then….

…..and now, the very next (Tuesday night) day, it does not work! The temperature dropped a few more degrees and we are, once again, frozen up….and the little heater is going full tilt. We’ll see. Oooooh, the adventure!

Speaking of cold, I have a weird theory about the GOPs and their ‘plan’ regarding Trump. It is positively Machiavellian. Stone-cold. Now I admit from the get-go that this theory is somewhat along the lines of Kev’s conspiracy theories but, since I made this one up, I am promoting it, you know…like D-Anon (Dave anon). Here it is: The senior scum in the GOP know they have to jettison Trump – the question is how? If they kick him out, they lose millions of tatted up, camo-wearing Bubbas so that is an unattractive option…..their challenge? How to get rid of Trump while looking like they are supporting him?

Lindsay Graham says, “I have a plan. We have a pair of idiot-lawyers whose egos are so huge and brains so small that they will screw up very, very badly. We can get them on Trump’s defense team right now especially since the saner ones walked off the job yesterday. The fools will only have a week to prepare. These guys are the Laurel and Hardy of Southern law. Totally incompetent. So we go in apparently supporting Trump but, before our very eyes the House prosecutors make such a compelling case and the Trump goofs can’t do a thing. We have to vote for impeachment. The defense just kept dropping the ball. Then, voila, Trump is barred from running! We get to blame the defense team because the trial plays out in front of the world! They’ll be so bad even Bubba would vote to impeach!”

Moscow Mitch says, “Da! Is goudt plan, no, Ivan? Get Vlad on the phone, comrade. Make it so, number one!”

We have some Dr. T. Tam and Dr. B. Henry fans on this blog. I do not wish to offend them. But I am not one of their fans, myself. Not on this pandemic, anyway. I kinda liked Fauci a bit (a very short but very good basketball player) but I totally disliked Birx from the get-go. That doctor was the definition of a spineless do-nothing. I do not think any of them did a very good job, tho. But that is just a tiny part of the topic today.

To be fair, hindsight is easy and, with the exception of New Zealand and some Asian countries, no nation has done very well…well, Australia, too, has done better than us, I think. Because of our being right next door to the Covid Cowboys, some of whom still refute the seriousness of the disease (even as they die), Canada was simply destined for more trouble. Mind you, the Maritimes did rather well. But Quebec and Ontario have multiple, frequent and many undisciplined interactions with the US every day, the eastern snowbirds-to-Florida being amongst them. And Alberta is well, Alberta. That we are not the best nation is no surprise.

But, really? We are not even close! And, despite what they are telling you, it is NOT getting much better. The way I see it, Covid culled the weak and the elderly, the poor and the tight-groupings, the religious and the poor first – low hanging fruit for the virus. But it is NOW going to work at mutating. Of course, anybody past puberty knows that viruses mutate but that seemed to have been a bit of a surprise for our leaders, too.

Put succinctly, we have all been more reactive than pre-active and any pre-activity was weak and, I think, just gave the virus more time. We enabled this pandemic! Trump actually aided and abetted it!

Anyway, I am still not yet on topic. The topic is ‘When Does This Thing Go Away?’ Answer: quite possibly never. This is a virus that may, at best, just linger around the weak and the poor all over the world while it mutates up more virulent and/or lethal strains than it has already. Reason: we took too long to get to a controlled stage and, in fact, we are not there yet. We are now officially in the race but the opposition is so much faster and now has more mutant players on the team. The pace at which we are responding to this pandemic is just enough for some stats to improve but the basic one – the infection rate – is still climbing and, with the exponential expansion of the mutations, we won’t catch up unless….

…….unless the vaccines can still cover ALL the different strains that I fear have had too much time to evolve.

Had we had vaccines within the first few months, even 50% effective, we might have nipped it in the bud. If we have efficacious vaccines for ALL the strains discovered so far, we may still have a chance. I think the window on that opportunity is closing and, while it is still partially open, too many people are still ignoring the threat. Logic suggests that we are lacking in logic, pace and behaviour. Covid is winning.

It has been a whole year of victory for the virus. Canada is hurting. The USA is culling themselves at an even greater rate. Our dear leaders are lying to us. “Everyone vaccinated by September” ain’t gonna happen at the rate we are going. And, as some writer put it: ‘Trudeau and the Liberals are proving daily their gross incompetence’.

I would not be so harsh on just-Justin even tho I kind of agree with the accusation. There is little less frustrating than listening to the so-called experts parroting the party line virtually every day. And, amazingly, Alberta, Ontario and a few other places are suggesting NOW might be a good time to open the economy. Schools are open. We chose those imbeciles. We pay them gobs of money. They have degrees up the wazoo. And their pathetic efforts might have, at best, mitigated the effects of the virus – but I say that only because half the ‘Mericans actively denied and resisted their CDC mitigation efforts and their results speak for themselves. We are dumb but they are dumber.

The point of this ‘thought’ being shared is this: if C-19, C-20, C-21 through to C-30 continues, how will you cope? How will you live? Will you just chase the latest vaccine? Will you hunker down and become a recluse? Will you try to relocate to New Zealand?

I am 73 and was considered in the high risk group at the beginning. Now? Well, now I am about four or five tiers down the list. High risk has been redefined. Indigenous people, healthcare workers, politicians-of-course, police, the very elderly, the weak and infirm, CEOs-of-course and so on. How did I drop so low on the priority list? Well, I’d like to think it was common sense (seems Indigenous peoples are more susceptible to catching and spreading the virus) but the real reason is that there is so little vaccine actually out there and being applied, they had to re-prioritize.

I should care. But I do not – not for me. I am a bit hesitant to take the shot anyway. Something about having to keep some of the vaccines at below zero-zero the whole time…I dunno…I just do not have as much faith in this accelerated-and-botched effort as I really need to confidently let them stick me in the arm. Not yet.

So, that is the thought…….if this goes on (and I think it will) and the disease evolves (and it already is) and our response is as pathetic as it has been (and I do not see any indication otherwise), how y’all gonna change what you do, how you do it and who you do it with?

Jus’ sayin’………………