Life Off the Grid 32 - July 15, 2012

Life Off the Grid 32 – July 15, 2012

8:00 AM

I have been awake since about 5, but it was chilly and I hated to get up so I stayed snuggled in bed reading Game of Thrones. The TV series is amazingly true to the book. You might wonder why I would bother to read the book, having seen the first season. I wanted to see how it was and if there was more depth to the story and the characters in the book, and there is.

I got another glut of texts and emails overnight. It seems my husband and son are at each other's throats. And both feel the need to tell me about it. I wish I could help smooth things for them. They are so alike in some ways and so very different in others. At times it seems they don't even speak the same language.

I am intrigued by how and why these messages are drifting in. I checked back and they come in definite chunks. The first time the veil lifted was on Friday between 7:53 PM and 7:59 PM. Six minutes. Then there were several bursts over night last night. Saturday between 10:48 PM and 10:50 PM and Sunday at 12:35 AM and again between 3:03 AM and 3:05 AM. Two minutes. I still suspect it is a vehicle passing on the road that has a signal booster. It could be a boat on the lake, perhaps, or even an airplane. That would mean the one on Friday either had a stronger signal booster and affected my access for longer, or that vehicle was moving quite a bit slower than the others.

What other explanations can there be? Freak meteorological conditions that allow signal to carry further for a few brief moments? Someone in the area with a tower that only activates it for very short periods? I think the vehicle notion makes the most sense. But a car or truck on the road at 3 AM? Maybe. Not impossible. We have come in at night before, although never quite that late. Someone rushing off to Kenora in an emergency? Or coming back from Kenora after last call? Also possible.

I have been pondering all morning how best to handle the work that needs to be done. I have to be at the entrance to the parking area, on the road, and I do not like to have the dogs out there. Guinness once, in his puppy days, took off down the road and it was very frightening trying to get him back. He wouldn't do that now, I think, but Seamus is always trying to head back up the trail towards the road when I am doing things in the parking area.

I need to go out in the truck to see if I can send some texts from down near Wilson's. See if I can make some kind of peace between my husband and our son. See if Jeff has ordered a cell booster. So I think we will go up and I will get the dogs into the truck and go and do that. When we get back I will leave them in the truck with the A/C on to keep them comfortable and go and do the end of the trail. Then I can let them out and we will work our way down the trek to the cabin, pruning and marking the path with balloons. I wish there were no biting bugs. This process is going to be made miserable with the bugs. I will spray with the ghastly bug spray, but I am not hopeful. I will also wear long pants, tucked into my socks, and boots, and a hoodie, even though that will be uncomfortably warm. I need some sort of total biohazard suit to fend off the nasties.

The forecast has changed. Now they are saying a high of 26C for today, with showers starting in the afternoon. Rain will continue overnight and there may be a thunderstorm in the morning tomorrow, clearing for a high of 31C. However, the weather forecasters have been known to be wrong before. It's certainly cooler this morning than I had expected. About 17C outside and a bit cooler in the cabin. Ah, well. Enough stalling. Time to get the show on the road I suppose.

Blah. My boot lace broke. They were too long and had to be double knotted, but now the left one is not long enough to go up to the last set of hooks. They're leather laces too. I would have thought they would have lasted longer.

12:15 PM

Finally back. Went out to the road by Wilson's so I could get cell signal, enough for texting, anyway. Spent a couple of hours in an agonizing four-way texting session with three people who are in the same house and yet cannot communicate with each other. For once Katherine is a bystander and seems mostly oblivious of the strife. Usually she's a major player in whatever upset is going on. For the most part Jeff and Garnet get along, or at least are cordially non-interactive. But once in awhile they butt heads and the fall-out can be ugly indeed. Much more so than Katherine's little rage-fits at her Dad. Perhaps because they are so uncommon they seem worse. It is, of course, normal for kids and parents to disagree. Even more so when the kids in question are adults and still living with the parents. Sigh.

After I became concerned about having enough gas to get to town next time I need to go, I told them all to sort it out and be kind to each other. And that I loved them. Then, reluctantly back to the parking place.

I put up balloons on either side of the drive for the roofing estimator. Then began the arduous, bug-ridden ordeal of clipping back the bushes and putting up balloons at visible intervals all the way down. While I am so glad someone is maybe going to come and do the roof for us, I am of very mixed feelings about advertising where we are to the world. The estimator can come down, but I do not want uninvited visitors, lured in by a line of bright party balloons. I hope he comes out tomorrow so I can go up and take the offending markers down.

Now I have given Guinness his meds. They seem to be giving him very bad gas, and possibly an upset stomach. The vet did warn they might upset his digestion a bit. Also it is hot and humid and mostly he just wants to lie in the cabin and pant. And fart.

And here it is past noon and I have not eaten yet. I was ravenous when I woke up, but don't feel particularly hungry just now. Just hot and itchy from sweat and bug-bites. If only mosquitoes would suck fat instead of blood...

2:30 PM

Thunder is starting up again. We've had a lot of thunder-storms recently. I guess that goes with the extreme heat. Mostly it's distant rumbling that just goes on fretfully all day or evening. Once in awhile it's scary close. Lightening with thunder almost immediately after, almost simultaneous and wall-shakingly loud. The dogs make themselves as small as possible. It's sort of funny/sad seeing Guinness trying to crawl under the couch. He's terrified and I feel bad for him and try to be comforting, but here's this huge dog trying to press himself into a fairly tiny space. Seamus doesn't like the thunder either, but he's less freaked out than Guinness. Perhaps the benefit of not being quite as intellectually active. He sits under the table and pants hard, but doesn't react quite as frantically. Which suggests Guinness has a far deeper grasp of the potential danger than Seamus does. It's funny, because Seamus is the one to fly off the handle at just about anything. Guinness is fairly un-ruffleable. Seamus can go mad, barking at the wind in the trees, or his own reflection, or a squirrel. If Guinness starts barking at something outside, I pay attention. If he's doing the barking, or growling, there's something there. Something possibly seriously bad, if he's growling. His deep, menacing growl as he stares through the screen door at something I can't see, or just smelling something neither of us can see, sets the hair on the back of my neck on end. We shut up the cabin, all the doors and any windows low enough for something to climb in and we don't go out for a good long while.

That's maybe over-reacting, but especially after what Edie said about the bears, it seems smart. Anyway, it doesn't happen too often. Don't want any interaction with bears. Don't ever want to have to decide whether to defend the dogs or save myself. It's a no-brainer anyway. In spite of Jeff's exhortations not to ever risk my life for the dogs, I would do everything I could to save them. I think it would be automatic. Just as they would never stop to think before trying to defend me.

3:40 PM

Went to the boathouse with a few of the tool boxes and began to sort things there. Played with the dogs on the way back. Also had another go at the fallen tree on the path. It is so slow. The blade is stuck most of the time, because the tree wobbles and moves, and I have not weight enough or long enough limbs to hold it still and saw at the same time. Very tough going. I may go back with a big chisel and hammer. Now that I have made a sizeable slit to put a wedge into, that may be as effective as anything.

4:00 PM

Sounds like it is starting to rain. Indeed, it is raining. Big, slow drops.

There is a woman hosting cross-country check-up on the radio, filling in for Rex Murphy. She has a dreamy Irish accent and a fabulous manner for speaking to all the children who are calling in – the topic is favourite children's books. She does not speak down to them at all and yet her manner is encouraging, drawing out their comments even if they are a bit shy. What a fabulous interviewer! If you can get young children to talk, well, that really is something. Her name is Susan McReynolds. Guessing at the spelling...

4:35 PM

Heating up leftovers. Finally starting to be hungry again. Leftovers are glorious.

It appears we are desperately out of dog food. The last half cup or so is in the bowl. I have a 30 lb (13.5 kg) bag in the truck. I shall have to bring it down.

5:00 PM

That was tasty. I think I will have to digest for a few minutes before trudging up the hill to get the dog food. The rain has stopped for now, so I can't wait too long.

What a thing that is in Barrie! Over 50 explosive devices on the property as booby traps. That would be the Feldhoff place. Bunker in the yard. Serious survivalists, it sounds like. Sorry if that seems random. The news came on...

There is a squirrel outside chirping in a tree. Seamus is deeply displeased and barking his head off.

5:30 PM

Well, I suppose I can probably make the trek now without being ill. The question is whether to throw it over my shoulder and try to bring it down that way, or to test run the wheel barrow on the path. Which means getting it back up the path. But maybe better to try it with something lighter and less explosive than a propane tank... Ah... but how to get it over the fallen tree? Hmmmm. On the shoulder it is then, I suppose. Or maybe in the big backpack. I wonder if it is foolish to try to bring the propane tank down at the same time. Probably. But maybe I can get it part way down today and the rest of the way tomorrow.

5:50 PM

Ok, back down from the truck. Cajoling Guinness along the way. He does not want to have to sit in the truck again so soon. He would, if I asked him. He would do anything, if I asked him earnestly enough. But he wants me to know he does not want to be sitting in the truck again today. And once I had assured him we were just getting stuff, he seemed to understand me and be comforted, and follow more willingly. I managed to stuff the huge bag of dog food into the largest backpack, and got it on my back. And picked up the propane tank and got as far as the top of the steep bit with it before I had to put it down. It was clearly one or the other, and dog food is more needed tonight.

That is it for productive behaviour from me today. I am tired and sweaty. Tomorrow I will get up filled with energy and motivation and get more good things done. But for today I am done. The evening is for reading and writing and pondering things. This probably seems early for most people. But it is hot. Everything is difficult. I am very bug-bitten and itchy. The light outside is starting to fade, a bit early because of the dense cloud-cover. My arms and legs and back are tired from climbing and carrying and clipping branches. The path is pretty clear for the estimator. It is marked by festive, funny-looking children's party balloons. My dogs have food and water. It is good. Good enough, anyway. And there goes the thunder again...

And here comes the rain...

6:45 PM

C'est la Vie on CBC is doing a feature on depanneurs. Makes me nostalgic for the neighbourhood in Montreal where I used to live. Where the old Greek guy who ran the depanneur would extend credit to students he knew came in often. My friends and I always, always paid him back. He was a good guy. The girl who worked for him at the till, his daughter maybe, was named Fuchsia, which I though was a wonderfully exotic name. She was beautiful. Tall with dark olive skin, high cheekbones, long dark hair, and eyes that were almost black. And there is nothing like having a guy on a bicycle delivering a 2-4 of beer to your door in the snow. Vive le depanneur!

7:25 PM

For the first time since before Jeff came out to visit, it is actually quite chilly in the cabin. I have lit the stove. And when I say chilly, it's actually about 20C. But for some reason it feels cold. Maybe because it has been so hot, and because it is so damp. Anyway, the fire feels good.

8:15 PM

Texts came through. Some weird, some unhappy. But all a wonderful connection with the world. Again, a 2 minute window of access.

9:00 PM

Guinness' meds have been ingested. And suddenly I find that Seamus want peanut butter too. He always recoiled in horror whenever it was offered to him. Perhaps he is jealous of Guinness getting what Guinness obviously regards as a special treat twice a day and he has decided to choke it down just so things would be even. But this time he genuinely seemed to like it.

Sounds like a boat on the lake. What fool would be out in this weather? I know of only two that went out on this lake in this sort of stormy weather. Both were fished out by OPP recovery divers. There's a memorial to one of them now on the other side of the lake. His family had a cabin here, the other was a guest at his family place. Surely everyone on the lake knows it is treacherous when it's stormy? But no. That is definitely a boat. The motor sound has gone on too long to be a plane. It's close, but not in the bay. And it sounds like a big motor, a low, loud drone. Maybe one of the pontoon boats? Fingers crossed there aren't OPP dive boats on the lake tomorrow.

9:30 PM

I guess I will go to bed now. Read for a bit.