The Bear Facts

The fact of the matter is when we know there is a bear roaming about in close proximity we are a bit more cautious. Walking about throughout the day I'll stamp my feet or sing a song, the latter is sure to send anyone or anything within hearing distance running. The fact that Mike goes out to the genny shed late every night is more worrisome and times like these I'll lend an extra voice to distill the quiet and make our presence known.

I look out the windows a hundred times a day and imagine my surprise when instead of seeing Al, Sam or One Horn, I saw a bear sleeping by the lone flower bed.

Just one  more......

We always enjoy seeing the wildlife up close and sometimes encourage their boldness but not with the bears. Earlier that day I had tossed out some rotten apples and carrots for the deer but before they came around this beast wandered by and gobbled everything up.

Till next time,
Heather & Mike

What's Been Happening at the Outpost?

The advantage of not writing for such a long time is that I now have something to tell.... starting with I am a couple of pounds lighter. No it's not due to my reduced intake of all things sweet but the removal of that darn cast. My anticipation of that moment was right up there with Christmas morning as a child.

I'm assuming we all know what a 'dremel' is and when the nurse produced a super-sized one and assured me that it would only slice through the fiberglass cast leaving my tender skin beneath totally unscathed I had only her experience to assure me.

“How does it do that?” was on the tip of my tongue as soon as she finished grinding through one side. She admitted to being as amazed as I that the whirring blade sounding like a giant dentist's drill cut the cast like butter but did harm my flesh as it pushed through.

I was also a bit leery when a stainless device with handles about a foot long called a ' cast spreader' was produced. After several tries of trying to wedge the reversed tong-like apparatus into the tiny grove and a fair amount of pressure the two sides separated and my arm was freed. The sensation of blood returning to my swollen fingers left me all a tingle. I still smile when I think of that moment and how good it felt.

We're not done yet. A short wait and Dr. Smith arrived to remove the pins but first we had a nice chat about his hunting trip, which was successful. Got himself a nice moose. I don't consider myself a baby about getting needles but I will not watch the procedure. Two relatively painless injections to freeze the wrist took no time at all. A swift glance at the tray beside me, holding an array of scalpels and what looked like a regular pair of pliers had me swiftly turning my head to concentrate on the scene outside while all the time holding a conversation with the doc. He really had a good time hunting. It was only when he said announced that it was all done and everything looked good that I felt I could now face him. Trying to avert my eyes from the blood running down my wrist from the 2 small cuts I saw the pins sitting on the tray and was surprised to see that they looked more like welding rods than the thin wire that I had pictured in my mind.

Never having a broken bone before or being able to talk to anyone about such an experience I was so unprepared for how useless my arm would be. Here I was planning to do all the chores that are still undone back at the OP as soon as I got back, ha.

Just lifting my arm was a feat and as for moving my fingers let alone my wrist was impossible. An extensive session in rehab taking me through all the exercises I must do to regain full mobility of my wrist was the last step.

Well it's been almost a month now since the cast came off and I think I'm doing OK.

Fingers are still stiff and the wrist is still painful as I am constantly tying to move it in positions it just doesn't want to go. Using my left hand has become a habit and sometimes I have to remind myself to try and use my right. I can turn a door handle (slowly) hold a pen and write (slowly) type (pretty fast) and hold a fork ......but I cannot manoeuvre it to my mouth. Yet. Enough about me.

Even though we are only 2 ½ months into our stay the weather has been different. September delivered rains that were more associated with January and October graced us with days that we normally only see in May.

What a welcome sight this was.

Thursday November 7^th 8am the appearance of the barge had us breathing a sigh of relief. This if really late in the season to be making the trip down the coast.

Fuel, propane, water, an assortment of groceries, a bottle or 2 of rum and the TV!

This year for the unloading and loading of the barge, Robert and Terry from Masset flew in to lend a hand. They arrived on Tuesday giving them a chance to carry down a lot of the heavy equipment that was going out. The addition of man power had the job accomplished within several hours.

The crew apparently had a rough ride down the coast and took advantage of our calm bay to enjoy lunch before heading back out to the open sea.

Why are they sitting at such a strange angle? The work boat wouldn't stay running so instead of taking a line to shore they dropped their anchor to hold them and while they were eating the barge drifted a little.

As usual each year I spend a few minutes catching up with the crew and signing, as best I could, all the paperwork before they head off. At most I was gone for less than half an hour and upon my return this is what I found. Appears I'm not the only one looking forward to watching some movies on the new big screen.

With an extra day to put in before the scheduled plane will arrive to fly our company back home, there is always wood to chop.

It wasn't all work. Late Friday afternoon playing a game of backgammon at the table right beside the patio doors proved to be rather exciting.

 

There was evidence in the past week that a bear was among us, just never expected him to show up at the front door. Even as we watched his every move and Terry made what I can only assume were bear calls, he never altered his slow ambling pace nor paid much attention to us at all.

Saturday dawned with the promise of a beautiful clear sky. Great flying weather.

The quiet isolated life that we lead at the OP isn't for everyone. After 4 days Terry and Robert were already looking forward to re-connecting with family, friends and cell service.

The day ended on a rosy note as Mike and I once again settled in on our own.

Till next time,
Heather & Mike

Not Yet on Two Counts

This post is long overdue and was originally written Oct. 7th.

Only 1 more day till the cast comes off.....Hurray!....or so I thought.

When an email pops up with a heading of “appointment change” you know you really don't want to read it - due to the doctor being away please note and confirm new date of

Oct.16th 8am. This seems an eternity from the original date of Oct 8^th. I want my arm back. I want to cut my own food, have a shower without being “bagged ”, roll up my own sleeve, type for more than 5 minutes before it pains me and open the cooler door without having to put whatever I have in my good hand down on the floor first. It's just the little things that drive you crazy.

So what's going on at the OP besides me whining, a couple of things actually.

Birds for one. What's with all the seagulls? These scavengers are always here in abundance when we first arrive. I chalk it up to the fact that there is always lots of fish scraps around for them to make it worth their while to hang out here. Once this stops they leave but not so this year. Quite a social bird if the volume of their constant squawking is any indication and the continuous reforming of groups fight to take over the prime spots on the rocks or docks by the 'dive bombing' method. I've never been a fan of the gull but I'll admit they had been rather entertaining last week.

Don't know if it was a change in the weather or the alpha gull got bored with the location but one day they just flew off and we haven't seen then since.

Rain...to be more precise the rains we have had in September. The skies opened up on September 17^th, just happened to be Mike's birthday, and for a week we were inundated with torrential rains which were more reminiscent of January and February.

Along with the overabundant amount of rain, we also had our first storm which would have past with no more than a notation on my calendar except for the fact that it happened at the exact time that the barge was scheduled to make the trip down the coast to the Outpost.

Our anticipation for the appearance of the barge was fueled not only by the diesel it would pump into the tanks but also by what was stored in the container onboard.

Several days of shopping in Vancouver we managed to amass the bulk of all the canned goods and non-perishables that we use throughout the season. Several boxes of wine and a case of spirits plus maybe a bottle or 2 of a favorite liqueur were also carefully stowed. There is one box in particular I was looking forward to getting my hands on. Just by chance I had walked into a 'Dollar Store' looking for cheesecloth when my eyes lit up, my heart rate quickened and all thoughts of what I had entered the store for were replaced by an array of skulls, bats and warty nose witches with flowing black capes suspended from the ceiling. Shelves and baskets piled high with cobwebs, dismembered body parts, mice, spiders and cockroaches, I was in heaven!

Back to the contents of the container......the Halloween mother-lode has me excited but the icing on this year's cake is the new 50'' TV!!! What a treat that will be.

Remember I just mentioned that we had our first storm, at the same time the barge was scheduled......well fate did not shine on us that day. No barge. OK well these things happen but to twist the knife just a little bit more the next attempt will be around the first week of November. So much for my treasure trove of ghoulish delights.

We do have some canned goods and as always freezers full of meats, veggies and fruit so we certainly will not go without and we do have a TV ( but it's not 50'', whine whine)

and we do have several bottles of wine and enough rum for the occasional parched throat. What we don't have in very much quantity is fuel. Diesel runs our generators.... which run our lights, fridges, freezers, water, heat, internet and TV.

From the moment we realized that the trip was a bust we went into ration mode. Here I can truly say “been there done that” ...... deja vu season #2.

There's not much to the ration plan....use less fuel. This means we turn off our genny for a few hours through the day, it always goes down for the night, that is a must. The furnace only gets fired up twice a week not for the heating of the lodge, for we are doing OK right now with a couple of electric heaters but for the purpose of bathing. Being the only 2 here we figure we can get by with only two showers a week, really saves on fuel.

Hot water for dishes gets heated on the propane stove.

Now we wait and hope that the weather will co-operate and grace us with clear skies and calm seas the first week of November. (good luck with that)

It hasn't been all doom and gloom here. We have had some spectacular days, the week right after the barge couldn't make it.

Till next time,
Heather & Mike