Life Off the Grid 34 - July 17, 2012

Life Off the Grid 34 – July 17, 2012

8:00 AM

Much nicer today. It's only 16C but in the sky there is blue here and there. And it doesn't feel as oppressive. I was out with the dogs for a bit. I left an empty 500ml yoghurt container on the table by the fire pit. There's close to 2” of water in it. That's a fair bit of rain. The mosquitoes are relentless. One thing I do miss about civilization is being able to use the bathroom without being bombarded by little biting things. It really is unpleasant.

I need to go up to the truck and check my marker balloons and see if there's anything else I can do to make it easier for the roof guy to get in and out of the parking space. Ugh. The bugs are always worse up there. I need to psyche myself up for this, and get over the horrors of the outhouse and its 10,000 mosquitoes.

9:40 AM

Back from the parking spot. Moved the truck a bit to make some room for another vehicle. Added a few balloons on the path down. Managed to get the empty propane tank up and the full one the rest of the way down. I wish I had some way to put them on my back. I can carry a lot more weight on my back than in my arms. And they aren't just heavy. Hey, they aren't even really all that heavy. But they are so awkward to carry. Especially when your arms are short. Like mine are. My torso is long relative to my arms and legs. Not freak-show disproportionate, not that you would even notice just looking at me. But if my legs were proportionate to my torso, I would be a few inches taller. My daughter, Katherine's, torso is approximately the same length as mine. Seated, side by side on a bench, we are the same height. Standing, she is 5'6”. I am 5'2”. So, anyway, my arms are short too. Which makes certain tasks, like carrying propane tanks, especially arduous. My son, 6'3” Viking that he is, can easily carry down 2 tanks at once. So, every time I get a full propane tank down that hill without breaking anything or having an explosion, I feel very proud. And profoundly relieved.

11:15 AM

I have been out painting. The cabin, that is. Heard some noises I found odd. Inside for a few minutes now. The dogs didn't raise any alarm, so it's probably nothing. Still...The bugs are bad too. The black flies are out as well as the mosquitoes.

No texts. No roof estimator. I hope I gave the guy good enough directions.

12:45 PM

I have been painting. It is slow, boring and icky. Doing window and door frames and edges the roller won't get into. Weirdly, ants seem to be getting very interested in the fresh paint on one side of the cabin.

1:40 PM

Just been playing with the new GPS toy. Apparently, if I am using it right, there is an increase in elevation of close to 40 feet from the cabin to the outhouse. That's a fair way uphill. And it feels like it too.

2:10 PM

Hungry. Don't know what to eat. Don't feel like anything I have here. Don't know what I feel like eating. Don't you hate that? Really hungry. Too hungry to decide. Too hungry to wait for anything to cook. It sucks.

4:15 PM

Still no roof guy. I hate waiting.

It's hot out. Tomorrow morning early I will go to ask to use the phone at the fishing lodge. I will call the roofing guy and make sure I gave him good enough directions to get here. At the same time I can get texts from my family and maybe send some.

Still haven't eaten. Which is dumb, I suppose. The hunger comes and goes. There's ears of corn in the fridge, but I have to go get more water before I can boil one of them. I used to do corn on the barbecue, wrapped in it's own leaves. But there's always too much charring for my taste, using that method. Even if you soak the corn ear for a good long time before. Boiling for a short time brings out consistently good results.

I could roast a potato at the same time, on the barbecue. And maybe something else to go with it all. I had thought to eat a salad in a bag that I knew was in the fridge, but when I went to look I found it was frozen. Salad greens do not freeze well. They tend to thaw out a bit soupy.

5:15 PM

I have been out playing with the dogs. It's funny. It's all good for awhile. Then, suddenly, the mosquitoes find you and it's like they are texting all their friends, because you are almost immediately swarmed.

Anyway, the dogs are both hot and panting hard. So, time to come in.

I should pull myself together and eat something or I will feel absolutely wretched when I wake up tomorrow.

6:30 PM

Mmmmm. Soy noodles and leftover stir-fry and curried lentils. My salvation. Too long between texts. I want to know how my family is.

7:00 PM

For some reason I am feeling vastly alone this evening. Perhaps it is the tease of texts coming through once in awhile. But they have not since last night, and I am greedy for contact.

I am contemplating having a bonfire. Wondering if it is worth the effort and how to best to keep flying beasties at bay. Also thinking of sleeping in the cabana. It is nice to hear the waves as you drift off to sleep...

Seamus hasn't puked today, which is good.

I must be PMSing. I burst into tears at the stupidest things.

Guinness' hot spot seems much better. There are still scabs from where he scratched, but the big swollen lump is gone. He has another few days of meds to go. And then we can play in the water again. I just have to make sure he gets good and dry after.

8:00 PM

Having gone up to the outhouse I doubt very much I can withstand the bugs long enough for a fire to burn down. Pity. This would be an absolute paradise in the summer if it were not for the evil bugs. It's pretty close, but, well... the bugs are BAD. Worse, I think, than last year and maybe the year before. They talk on the radio about how they are having the most fabulous mosquito-free summer ever in Winnipeg. I think I know why. They are all here. The past two years the deer flies and black flies and horseflies and so on have been bad, but the mosquitoes didn't seem as bad. This year they hugely outnumber the other kinds of flying horrors. As I have said before, I wish they sucked fat instead of blood. I might not kill quite so many of them. At least they aren't scorpions. I'm pretty sure I would go mad out in the bush somewhere where scorpions were the main pest. And as plentiful as mosquitoes are here this summer. That would be some kind of crazy bad. Sorry, I'm sort of tough about some things, but I think I would be outa there in maybe a day, perhaps two.... Probably would depend on when the first one climbed on my bed. I envision screeching and smacking at it with whatever came to hand. Shaking clothes out carefully. Getting dressed. Fleeing. I don't know if there is any animal that kills and eats them without being harmed, but if there is, I would need a dozen or so with me before I would try it again.

And if that kind of animal is some kind of spider... Forget it.

Sorry. All traumatized from scraping spider egg bundles off the cabin to prepare for painting.