Powerful Needs

As winter looms large we are driven in the annual race to get all done we can before it's arrival and that seemingly all ending first fall of snow.
The move is all but complete, we are living in our camper at the 12 with all we really need. Our household is secure in a box van, we have a small cabin being readied for winter occupancy and we are managing.
The worst part is not being able to find whatever it is we need. We know roughly where is was put so we are on a constant treasure hunt and finding all the other stuff we were looking for last week.
Living here in winter is not a wise move yet we continue to defy logic and consume wads of energies to maintain the frigid empire.
We have a small arsenal of generators, a 1500 watt Homelite, a 3000W Honda inverter generator, a 8000 Watt Lister light tower and a 14Kw Hatz trailer generator.The first two are too small and the last two are noisy.
Enter a Whisperwatt 7000 from one of my workplaces. Powerful, quiet and compact. Whats not  to love?
A little two cylinder Kubota diesel running at 2500 rpm worries me. A good little unit though it may be, it seems like a ticking time bomb but I think we'll take a chance on it with 5000 hrs and see what fails first. The engine or the generator end.
We don't need a lot of power, except when we do. The solar set up is good but a few days without sun and we're dead in the water.
The house can run comfortably on the Honda but when you need to run a couple of block heaters to get a vehicle started, you need some muscle.
There is no doubt it will cost some coin to run this lot through the winter but the balance is that summer compensates our power needs, there is no finer place to live than in Alberta through the summer.
Winter is hell.

Needs and wants.

Looking back to see the date of the last post rendered a bit of a shock. We are about half way moved now and the deadline of Aug 15th looms larger but we are not panicing yet. Most of the heavy equipment is now there, that only leaves the household, the misc. yard items, the livestock and the 35 cars in the "collection". We found an auction special skid cabin that will be our home for the winter as we work on the house and once the move is compleated, we'll focus on prepping for the freeze-up. We are spending more time at the 12 now as we usually stay overnight after moving our loaded trucks in the evening due to the strong presence of Transportation officers on the highways through the daytime. The theory being that they too enjoy a barbeque at the end of the day.

It is at times like a move that we realize how much stuff we have accumulated. It is also somewhat comforting that I can now look at most hardware flyers and see nothing there to be desired as I already have all I need. The collection of cars is a bit of a dilema as most were saved from the crusher and hidden away for restoration. The years pass by and there is now some limited interst but still not sufficient for me to part with them. So we haul and drive them in a kind of nomadic migration from time to time as the need arises. After a lifetime of not having enough to do what I needed, it comes as a blessing as well as a curse to have all the stuff I do. When the day comes that I cannot use it, the stuff will go. Till then I'm not ready for minimilist living.

Feelgood Security.

With the gates secure and a few nights in the camper behind us we have now turned our attentions to catching those in search of five fingered discounts at our home. Stealth cameras as used by hunters have been most useful in the past at identifying who has been visiting us in our absence. We now have two hidden cameras set up at the 12, one able to register vehicle occupants faces on their arival and their licence plates on their departure. The other is aimed at our abode. Our past experiences with robbers have always yeilded the same request from the Police. "Did you get any pictures?" We hope to now be able to answer to the affirmative. If the camera's are not stolen. We have returned to the rental house for a couple of days due to work commitments but will be back at the week-end for another assault. Next on the list is to install a steel barrier across the gates that we can raise as needed that will render it pointless for the villans to try pulling the gates off their hinges. It will add some feel-good security. We miss the frogs,ducks and geese that usually greet our awakening each morning. Rain is also scheduled so we may be getting closer to the afore mentioned creatures than we expected. And that's O.K.

Arrival...again...

With an early arrival of spring this year we thought it was time to grab a few gears and start moving to the 12, again, for the third time.
Having given notice to our landlord that we WILL be moving by mid summer, it only seemed appropriate to actually do something about it.
Our past attempts have been thwarted by bad timing with the weather, disheartening damages by bandits and robbers but most of all a simple lack of preparedness. It is a huge operation, even though it's the shortest move we've ever made.
Being but an hour from our current rental refuge, we have tended to commute to the 12 to do our work there, which is a bad idea.
With the camper and the bus now set up as our summer camp at the 12, we "moved". Our arrival enthusiasm was quickly tempered by the sight of our front gates swinging in the breeze.
Robbers again, removing the hinges and dragging the gates open to grab what they could. As far as we can see it was batteries and fuel this time. Damage was minimal, so we are blessed and grateful. Obviously they needed that stuff more than we did.
Perhaps it was meant to be, as we now have a heightened need to be here. Just to keep the villans out of our property.
We have rehung the gates, leveled them with precision and chained them closed again.
Listening to the ducks and frogs as we drifted off to sleep, we realized this arrival has more meaning than ever.

Markers of time...

My lovely lady is preparing for the spring move from here out to the 12. That means going through our boxes of "stuff" packed away in the basement. It's both comforting to rediscover things we had forgotten but also a little un-settling to realize how fast that world is vanishing in the rear view mirror. Wristwatches for example. I'd forgotten how I used to tell the time before my cell phone permanetly attached itself. Who wears a watch these days? How I miss my Timex, now I'm reminded of it. Which also marks a change in my values. Barrometers. When did you last see a barrometer hanging on the wall? It used to be a daily ritual to check the glass to see what the weather was doing. No more, now we push a button and it's all fed right to you. Darts. More than anything I miss my darts and what they represented. As British as bacon and eggs, we were naked without a pack of darts in our back pocket on a Friday night down at The Tom Cobbly, The Ring of Bells or The New Inn. Some of us had our special darts that were lucky and threw better than others but really it didn't matter if we won or not. It was about being there, a part of it. Looking back, it's the strangest of things that stick in the brain. Pubs that are 300 years old. Walls made of Cob, 3 feet thick and flagstones on the floor. Sitting by a massive open hearth fireplace with the flames flickering off the walls. The Grandfather clock's slow measure of our lives and the barrman standing behind the glistening fairy land of light, reflecting off the glasses hanging above the bar. But most of all..... the silence. No pounding rock music, no big screen sports blaring, no waitresses interupting your thoughts. Just the fire crackling and the clock marking the quiet murmer of hushed, respectful patrons enjoying their night down at the pub. That's what I miss.

Move Along Please.....

As time passes, our most basic need of shelter continues to evolve. This sea can shelter is one of the most well thought out and logical I've seen. One of the issues I see with it though is that it sits on the ground. In a developing country that might not be an issue but in the majority of the "civilized" western world it could be. Few are the places one can drop a sea-can without Government's begrudging approvals, permissions and blessings. If however that box remains on wheels, it can be a different story. As our fools paradise sinks into murkier waters, these methods of finding shelter will mushroom, literally popping up all over the place. Every highway van trailer I see trucking down the road increasingly looks like a prime chunk of real estate. Why not convert a 48' van in a similar way, now you've got lots of sq feet and being able to fold up a fair sized house on wheels and trundle down the road makes sense to me. Living in the northern climes, each winter drives home the fact that we should not be here. The energy to heat our house would move us to warmer lands many times over and leave cash in hand. Each fall I look up at our beautiful Canada Geese flying south, calling us to come with them. We Humans continue to believe we are the superior spiecies of this plannet. I beg to differ. Even those geese, with brains the size of a postage stamp know when it's time to get out of Dodge.

Your True Worth.

Being half a step away from being downright unsociable has it's benefits. I much prefer animals for company compared to the many pathetic excuses of humanity I am forced to deal with in life. I've never felt kinship with those who do not show love, care and respect to other living things. Does that make me sound crusty? Bloody Right!. With all the B.S. we fill our lives with, we have lost contact with who we really are. It takes another spiecies to humble us down. And IF they deem us truly worthy, they will share their lives with us. That is the greatest compliment a Human can recieve.

Long May You Run.

If you own it, you'll fix it, it's just the nature of the beast. Our trusty Buick Roadmaster Stationwagon has been all that it could.... and more. It was purchased for $250 from a Kijiji ad that sounded too good to be true. Perhaps thats why few people had responded to it, thinking the car was a junker. Perhaps the 475000Km put them off too. Wimps! With that kind of mileage she's just broke in! It was a B.C. car which meant that now being an Alberta resident, it needed an Out Of Province inspection which are 3 words that chill the veins of any car owner around here. It's quite common to require the entire brake system, inculding the brake lines replaced for an O.O.P. inspection. Utter B.S; just a Government sanctioned money grab by the auto industry. Anyway, the Buick sailed through, I couldn't believe it. Knock me down with a feather. We have driven that car for 3 years now, all the way to Yuma, Az; and had a blast. People come up to us in parking lots reminising about the Woody Wagon they had years ago and wish they had kept. And she's never missed a beat. Service, tires, a heater motor and today some minor electrical repairs and on she rolls. To me, a 91 Buick is a newish car. Most others I have are from the 70's because thats where I belong. Back where I could fix them whithout the dealer on speed dial.. I've never sold any of the cars I love, so I have a few. All old and needing love. My two boys each have 70's Lincolns, so they will know what it is to own a real car. So even though our Buick is now 24 years old, she's still my newest car and what a joy it was to be out there today fixing it! Yes, a joy! Despite the -20C temperature, the blowing snow, frozen hands, feet and ears, it was wonderful. We bonded again. So here's to another year with the Buick, I'll never sell her. In the imortal words of Neil Young: Long may you run.