The Cailleach: Another Blogging Ginger: Life Off the Grid 37

Life Off the Grid 37 – July 20, 2012

6:30 AM

Wow, what a rough night. First, I had a bad dream. I dreamed Guinness had got lost. Because he doesn't have his collar on (because of the hot spot) there was no way for anyone to bring him back to me. Never mind that a dog would have to go an awfully long way through very rough country before anyone found him. It was a dream and the ID tags on the collar were central. I woke up all upset. Calmed myself down. I could hear him snoring. He was safe. So was Seamus. I decided that tomorrow I would put their collars back on and just take them off for swimming. Comforted, I went back to sleep.

About ten to two, Guinness woke me up. He was very anxious to go out and pee. I stumbled to the door and let him out. I waited on the porch with my headlight. He peed a long time. The bugs were biting my bare legs so I ducked back in to get some pants. I was inside just a few seconds, but when I came out he was gone.

It was very dark. I soon figured out that was because there was a heavy cloud cover. Lightening was flashing in the distance. I called and whistled, and whistled and called for what seemed like a very long time. Every awful scenario ran through my sleep-addled mind. He had gone for a swim and couldn't tell where the shore was in the dark. He had followed a small night creature into the woods. He had scented a bear and gone after it. He had got confused and went the wrong way to come in. He had seen me go in and thought I was abandoning him... Intellectually, I know he is a smart dog. He can find his way to the cabana. He wants to be with us and would be quite insistent about coming in if he wanted to be in. It's hard to be rational in such a situation, though. The more I whistled and called, the more disconsolate Seamus, stuck in the cabana, became. His whimpers and howls wafted to me through the open windows and it sounded like he was calling Guinness too. He sounded afraid and terribly sad. Which did nothing for my psychological state.

It was probably less than ten minutes before Guinness came padding out of the bush, wagging his tail. I was so happy to see him. We went in, I handed out doggy cookies and made a big fuss over them both. We went back to bed. I was WIDE AWAKE. Mosquitoes had come in with us and they entertained me for awhile.

I don't know when I finally fell asleep, but it was a sadly short night. I read for quite a long time before I actually felt sleepy, and texts came through from Jeff and the kids. It was probably 11 or later when I fell asleep the first time. Don't know where Guinness got to while I was panicking on the cabana porch. No doubt off doing dog stuff. He likes the dark.

It's partly cloudy this morning. And already 22C. It's going to be a hot, hot day. My legs are itchy from bug bites.

7:50 AM

I am staring tired. I think I tranced out sitting here. How did it get so late? Must get to work. Can't even think what I need to do to make that happen. The dogs have gone back to sleep here in the cabin.

8:25 AM

Breakfast was good – leftover pasta and veggies from yesterday. I am feeling more awake. I should be able to start painting soon. I know once I get going things will go fine. It's just getting started that's hard.

10:00 AM

Painting, painting, painting. Up a rickety ladder with things falling on my head that, if I were to think too hard about it or let my resolve weaken, would have me running screeching. A live spider hit me in the face as I brushed off a section of fascia and I very nearly went not only off the ladder but also over the edge of the deck. That would have been a drop of about 12 feet, which would have been unpleasant. Possibly even more unpleasant than having a spider narrowly miss my eye. I kept it together. More or less. If someone had been taking a video it might have made America's Funniest Home Videos. Just as I was typing that, another spider climbed out of the breast pocket of Jeff's old shirt that I am using as a paint smock. There was a brief break in my typing just now while I squealed and jumped around and whisked at the shirt front. Don't know where the spider went. Feeling all creepy now. I really don't like spiders. Really. A lot. Eeeeeeeeew! So not liking this job!

Taking a much needed break. Lots more to do. Again, I say, “Eeeeeeeeew!” I think I shall sit here and tremble for a bit before getting back at it.

It's 32C and humid. Debating whether that is too hot to do any more now.

All creepy crawly feeling. My own sweat running down my body is freaking me out.

11:50 AM

I can do now more now. I am so hot, so harassed by black flies and mosquitoes and deer flies. So not good with spiders. Or ladders. I don't mind heights. I'm not even afraid of falling. It's the sudden stop at the bottom that bothers me.

If the ladder was stable and on level ground, and if there was a crash mat underneath me, I would be totally cool with doing the high parts. Or if I was somehow harnessed to the roof (with some way to get down should the ladder fall away), that would be ok too. But this is real life. And I intend to stay alive. So no super high wobbly ladders for me until other people are out here that can go for help if things go sideways (and down). This may seem quite cowardly, but you haven't seen the ground the ladder would stand on (all uneven and rocky). I probably haven't mentioned that at it's highest the roof is over 18' high. And I may not have mentioned that I am basically pretty clumsy. I spaz out and bump into things. Trip over my feet. Lose my balance. Not a great combination for safety.

There are lots of other things I can do for the rest of the day. Sadly, none of them is very pleasant either. Pretty well everything on my to-do list is fraught with the possibility of spider encounters. Or ants. Or both. Also dirty, dusty, sweaty and difficult. My nerves are shot.

3:30 PM

Well, I debated lots of jobs I could do this afternoon. But with the encouragement of my darling husband, I gave up and dedicated myself to playing in the lake with the dogs. He, unfortunately, was at his desk, working through lunch. I feel bad about that. Of course, none of his job involves spiders.

It's still 30C and I am toasted. I washed and my scalp is clean! I am convinced I have now managed to remove all the webs, pine needles, dead insects and other nasty things from my hair and body. Yay! I feel so much better. So much better. I feel like a new person. A brain-baked, sleepy and somewhat hungry new person, but clean! CLEAN. I really, really like that.

I guess I missed lunch, yet again. Breakfast seems a long time ago now. What to make?

Blah. I am going to have to go get water from the lake before I can make anything. I have pulled on one of my beautiful, full-length batik muslin hippie dresses. I shall have to knot it up at the sides so I don't trip on the way down or up...

3:55 PM

Water got. I guess I haven't really explained our water system. There are two 10 litre buckets. They are used to scoop water out of the lake and carry it up to the cabin. Onto the counter, and then a drop or two of bleach added to each bucket to kill any beaver fever or other nasties that could be in the water. Yes, beaver fever is a thing and it's not dirty in the way you might think. At the top of our creek is a beaver dam. Which means there are beavers in the other lake out property abuts. When there are beavers in the water there are microbes in the water that can make you really sick. Water spills over the dam, in spite of the fact it is taller than I am, so whatever is in that water is in our water too. So, chlorine.

Stage two: the water goes through coffee filters into water jugs to remove any suspended particles. Yes, there are suspended particles. Anything from large things, like bark bits, to very tiny things that are large enough to be caught by a coffee filter, but too small to see.

We used to balance the plastic coffee filter on two knives so it wouldn't fall into the jug. This was always a tenuous and precarious arrangement. My very clever son came up with a new solution. Very simple and very effective. Four popsicle sticks glues into a square. It works really well.

Oh, and if you don't think 20 litres of water is heavy, try going up hill with that.

4:20 PM

Ok, veggies cut up. Mushrooms, asparagus and a tomato. The things that most need eating. This is the end of the mushrooms and asparagus until I can get to town. I still have a couple of tomatoes in the fridge. Blooms only so far on my tomato plants...

Kettle on and 1/2 cup of red lentils waiting for the boiling water. It's going to be curried lentils (dahl) and sauted veggies.

4:35 PM

Water boiling. Added to lentils, along with Vindaloo curry paste. (1/2 cup lentils, 1 cup boiling water, 2 Tbsp curry paste – I use Pataks because it doesn'y have nasty preservatives in it) Return to boil and cover and reduce heat. I like my curry HOT. I like plain fat free yoghurt with it. The counterpoint between the heat and the cool I find very pleasing.

Frying pan heating with a little olive oil. Add some minced garlic, ginger and chili peppers.

Add mushrooms...

The dogs are both totally sacked out. I have been stepping over Seamus every time I go to the kitchen and he doesn't even open an eye. I tired them out! Yay! I just realize my skirt is draped over Seamus' head and he is paying no mind whatsoever.

Add asparagus. I know, it looks like I choose too small a pan. We'll see...

The lentils are at a point where I have turned off the heat but left the lid on. Let them absorb the rest of the water.

And... suddenly the dogs are up, especially Seamus who is indignant and “having the barks”.

I give in. Transferred the veggies to a bigger pan.

And, add the tomatoes.

And give it a stir. Isn't that pretty? Food should be appealing in appearance. Presentation is important.

5:10 PM

So tired. And it's early yet. Too much sun. Too much icky spider stress.

5:30 PM

Mmmmm! Yummy!

5:40 PM

That was too good. And again, the eating takes a fraction of the time it took to make it. At least there's leftovers.

5:55 PM

I don't know what's going on but the aerial traffic is terrible right now. Jets, helicopters. There have been at least half a dozen aircraft of one kind or another overhead in the past 5 minutes. It's constant. And noisy. What on earth is going on?

And it's still going on! That's 10 minutes of heavy air traffic. Bizarre.

6:10 PM

It seems to have stopped. All the bosses at the quarry heading home for the weekend? Who knows. Upset the dogs, it was that loud. Upset me. Were I in an urban setting I would have thought there was some sort of movie-style suspect pursuit in progress. Spoke too soon. There goes another helicopter.

6:50 PM

It has settled down to a chopper every so often. Much less intrusive. For awhile there it was like the storming of the beach in Apocalypse Now, minus the Wagner.

7:45 PM