Weeks 2,3 - The Fun Begins

I'm still playing catch up so this will be weeks 2 & 3.

Not being early morning types we headed back to bed after waving our final good-byes to the summer crew - it was after all only 7am. Waking refreshed, our first day back at the OP is always the same, we explore. I must say the most interesting areas to go through are the kitchen and freezers in the basement. My shopping list for the year has mainly stayed the same, buying items that I know I will use for certain dishes or special occasions so it's almost like Christmas morning when I walk into the cooler and begin to read labels on jars and bottles, while unmarked containers are scrutinized by smell. The assortment of oils, cheeses, spices and smoked meats (boar I think Jordan said) has me thinking I'll have to go online to find recipes to use them in. I hit the mother lode in the freezer upstairs as this is where all the fabulous desserts and baking by Natasha have been kept. Bags of cookie dough portioned and ready to bake, croissants ( homemade), half a doz different flavours of gelato, mini cheesecakes (yum), chocolate mousse concoctions (yum yum ) and several sheet cakes waiting to be iced. Do you get the impression that I (we) have a sweet tooth?

Three out of the 6 freezers operating downstairs contain cases of beef, steaks, turkeys, cornish hens, whole chickens, chicken wings, ribs strawberries, rhubarb, green beans, squash etc everything I asked for on our 9 month food order – the other 3 hold an assortment of meat ( some I'm not sure of what it is) lots of dairy, jugs of OJ, breads, buns and bait.

The only area left are the shelves and totes. Here I find all the basics -

20kg bags of white flour, wholewheat, buckwheat and rye, 100oz cans of tomato sauce/paste/whole, 16L containers of sunflower oil, boxes of pasta, bags of rice and grains. Cereals come in jumbo size, rolled oats by the pound, cases of apple, grapefruit, tomato and clamatoe juice sit beside flats of coke, ginger ale and water.

My curiosity satisfied the realization that ALL of this now has to be unpacked, organized, recorded in a master list of food that I keep.... will wait for another day.

 It's been 21 days, the time has finally arrived, my reprieve is over and tonight it's back into the kitchen. What a wonderful 3 weeks it was not having to go grocery shopping, plan what to eat, cook and do dishes. With the makings of a grocery store right at my fingertips I went shopping. What was our first dinner? Fish and chips.

A 60lb halibut caught by Andrew on the crew's fishing trip was graciously given to us to enjoy. Hey Dewy, we think of you everytime we have hali for dinner.

With only the occasional grey day we have enjoyed fabulous weather.

We've been getting reacquainted with the locals.

Making the Outpost our home means moving some furniture around, nothing drastic just a chair or two, add some end tables, change some of the pictures, place a couple of mirrors, maybe abit greenery and moving the game table to sit front of the window so we can enjoy the ever changing view.

What's this – the barge? So early? September 13^th around 7am under grey skies and a steady drizzle “Northarm” barge glided into our bay. You may recall the slight predicament we were in last season due to nasty weather so the powers that be made sure that we were going to get our fuel early this year.

There is always an assortment of fishing gear, plastic bags stuffed with the foul weather jackets and pants to be cleaned, boxes, totes, empty beer kegs, a couple of full ones and a paddle board to load into the container on-board but before we can do this we have to empty it first. All the dry goods that were on my food order are here along with some boxes from our own shopping trip plus a rack of water.....all very heavy. The old legs are put to the test as Mike and I grab something from the dock, carry it up the somewhat slippery ( damn drizzle) ramp and than pick up an item from the container to do the reverse trip. I must say we did pretty good and had everything swapped out and loaded before the guys had our 4 diesel tanks, 1 gas tank and propane tanks filled.

It was no later than 11am that the lines tied to the buoy and tree, helping to hold the barge in place were untied. Off they went under dull skies and a misty rain as silently as they arrived.

Now we only have to get it all up the dock, up the ramp, along the boardwalk, up the stairs and into the kitchen. I think there will be 2 tired people at the OP tonight!

So things are looking good for the upcoming season....plenty of fuel, the furnace is running like a charm, some spare furnace parts just in case, all our food, wine and liquor :) accounted for and we've witnessed some spectacular sunsets.

Let the fun begin.

Till next week,

Heather & Mike