Life Off the Grid 30 - July 13, 2012

Life Off the Grid 30 – July 13, 2012

7:15 AM

Can't believe I slept so long.

It rained a lot last night. Everything is wet. The sky is hazy grey and there is fog on the lake. It's about 18C but humid. The forecast is for sunshine and a high of 29C with a chance of a shower this evening. So hot.

It's my brother's birthday and I am pondering driving out to Wilson's to give him a call. Maybe see what the store there carries. Talk to them about cell service and whether they have internet somehow. And on the way back bring another load down from the truck. Slowly but surely I am getting everything down here.

But first, dose the dog and have breakfast. I don't imagine the store is open yet.

I keep hearing rave reviews on the radio for “With Beasts of the Southern Wild”. Must try to see it sometime, after I'm back in civilization.

Three horses killed in the chuckwagon races at the Calgary Stampede. Why are they even allowed to run chuckwagon races? An average of two horses are killed every year. They said 53 horses over 26 years. They go into it knowing horses will die. They should just discontinue that event. It is the most dangerous event for horses in the whole stampede.

8:15 AM

Kettle's on. Going to have couscous for breakfast. Dog has been medicated. His sore still looks bad.

I'm going to have to sweep the webs out of the windowsills in the cabin again. Those spiders are so busy. There was one day a few years ago, Jeff was sitting on the dock reading. I guess he was really into his book and didn't move for a long time. Or perhaps he fell asleep. When I went down to call him for supper, we found a spider had spun a web between his pant leg and the chair leg.

The plan for today is to eat breakfast, and do a bunch of cleaning in the cabin and start my prawns marinading. Then it's up to the truck and a trip down the road to Wilson's to check out the store (if it's open), see if I can get cell signal and check messages, and call my brother to wish him a happy birthday. Then back to the parking place and bring a load down from the truck. Then I will finish sweeping the outside cabin walls. And maybe find the stiff brush for taking loose paint off and do some of that. I don't think I can start painting today. Everything is wet right now and if it's going to rain again later...

Then this afternoon, it's unit 2 in the Spanish course and some writing. After that, we'll see.

8:30 AM

Oh my. I just opened up one of the three toolboxes I bought at Princess Auto when I went into Winnipeg from the Folk Festival. There's another, smaller toolbox inside. And another, even smaller toolbox inside that one. I am so surprised. I had no idea. I thought I was buying 3 toolboxes and instead I have 9! I can feel my OCD twitching. We are going to have extreme tool organization.

Or maybe... Maybe I will use some of the really small ones to organize all the random arts and crafts supplies that are stuffed into shelves. Getting excited...

On The Current they are speaking with Nazanine Afsheen Jam (sp?) , an Iranian-born human rights activist who happens to be married to Peter McKay, Minister of Defence. She is upset about an event held recently at Carlton University honouring the late Ayatollah Khomeini. She is calling for the closure of the Iranian Embassy to send a message to the government of Iran that we do not endorse or tolerate their human rights abuses. She accuses the embassy of trying to recruit Iranian Canadians to monitor critics of the regime in Canada and suggests that such critics in other countries have been assassinated. She went on to say that she opposes military intervention. I wonder if the PMO is right now telling Peter McKay to put his wife on a leash. Not so much because she has said anything terribly counter to the government policy, but because she is demonstrating her ability to speak out about issues that concern her. And in the future, her opinions may run counter to the government's will. Even her assertion that military intervention in Iran was not the way to go.... It is clear that our government is toying with the idea already. Harper has been laying the groundwork with dire warnings about what a threat Iran poses. Rumblings of a nuclear weapons program... Public opinion gets shifted gradually. Then when it is announced that we're going in, the general population already accepts that there is good reason.

1:45 PM

Went out to Wilson's. Didn't manage to get the pay phone to work to call Don, it couldn't read my VISA card. I did go in to check out the store and had a long chat with Edie. She is the daughter of Ed and Kay Wilson, the original owners of the lodge. Ed died last year, and Kay is 82 and deaf and living in Winnipeg. She hasn't been out to the camp for a decade or more. Edie was at the camp last in 1996, and then, this past November, when her older sister who was running the place had had enough, she came out and took over. All four Wilson children were born out in the bush, before the road ran up from Kenora and out to Grassie Narrows. That would be why they are right by the railway. That was the only way in and out.

Edie and her husband have a place in Emo and I gather he is running things there and coming out to visit now and then. So we have that in common, although Emo is a lot closer than Springbank. We talked about the difficulties in getting cell service (they have a radio phone at camp that works well except when the power goes out during storms). We talked about satellite internet (she would love to get internet. They have a Bell satellite dish but it has never worked). We talked about bears (she says this is the worst year anyone can remember for problem bears. The ice was off the lakes weeks early and the bears came out of their dens and have been turning up on people's porches, looking in the windows of cabins in the area). She told me how to bait the bears with fruit and cooking grease to lure them away from the cabin if I was having problems.

And then she told me the story of her brother's murder, 4 years ago, in Kenora. And she was so articulate and the details of the story of the murder and the police investigation and preliminary hearings were so fascinating (albeit horrific) that I am thinking there is a documentary film here. Or possibly a book. There is currently a publication ban until after the trial, which is set for January, so I can't talk about it here. But there is nothing to keep me from taking my camera over there and interviewing her about it. Then back in Alberta I can do the background research and access the court records and see what comes of it. I asked her if she would tell her story on camera for a possible future documentary film, and she said she would love to. She also invited me around anytime. “If you get bored, or lonely, or whatever, you know... Stop in for some tea and a visit.” I think I will do that. Probably fairly often.

It was raining when I left Wilson's but not here, not yet. Very cloudy though. And unspeakably humid. And Seamus has just puked again. Neither dog has really eaten anything much since we got back out here. Just too hot, I think. But Seamus is bringing up foamy bile. No food in it at all. He seems fine in all other respects. Just suddenly starts this chugging sound, and this time I was quick enough to get him off the furniture. Not so fortunate last night. Good thing the living room furniture's trashed anyway.

I am thinking about Edie's story. She is right. There seem to be a lot of details that don't jive between the eye-witness testimonies and the accused people's stories and what her own family knew about her brother. And also, there are some quite disturbing aspects in the investigation process. Her nephew, her brother's son, hasn't been out of the bush since his father was murdered. He lives at the camp. Refuses to go back to living in town. I'm unclear as to whether he was 14 at the time of the murder, or he's 14 now. I think he must have been 14 then, which makes him 17 or 18 now. What a terrible thing for a family to go through.

She said she's been waiting for someone to come through that door to her store who could tell the story, and I guess after we chatted awhile, she decided that I was the one. We had talked about solar power and I explained the system we have set up and how great it is to be able to power a laptop, because I write out here... It wasn't long after that when she asked if I knew about the murder.

The thermometer says it's only 25 or 26C, but it is sticky humid and gross.

3:45 PM

Done my Spanish lesson for today. I seem to be getting good scores. I hope I am learning something.

4:30 PM

Yay! The boys are eating. Guinness polished off a bowl of food and now Seamus is eating. I worry when they aren't interested in food. Of course, it is brutally hot. I don't have much appetite either. Well, Seamus ate half a dish. Better than nothing. It feels like it's going to rain.

Oops. Not just feels like. It is raining.

Wow, they are interviewing a heavy-weight rower going to the Olympics in London. He says he eats 9,000 calories a day. Breakfast is 5 eggs and bacon and a whole bunch of other stuff. Crazy!

Oh boy. Lots of big thunder now. Lots of rain too. I think the BBQ is off. Which is just as well, since I didn't get around to marinading my prawns. I had not taken them out of the freezer and they were too frozen to peel the skins off. I will get the out of the freezer now and into the fridge, and tomorrow morning they will be good to go.

Still leaves the question of what dinner will be. I have tempeh. I have vegetables. I have a wild rice and grains mix. Possibilities.

I am starting to get into my writing. Made a bit of a start today. It's tough to pick up after letting a work of fiction lie for awhile. Hard to get the feeling back, get into the groove. Feel the characters again. It's like those awkward few moments when you first see a friend you haven't seen for a long time and you struggle to recapture what made you such great friends before.

5:00 PM

And... I can't find my wild rice mix. How can this be? Can we have eaten them all while Jeff was out? That totally goes on my shopping list for next week. And I guess my choice is down to regular white rice, mung beans or lentils (red or green). Mung beans are fabulously good for you: only 15 mg of sodium, 16 grams of fibre, 24 grams of protein... But. They have to be soaked for 6 hours or overnight. Maybe soak some for tomorrow. But, in the meanwhile... Lentils are also good: 20 mg of sodium, 9 grams of fibre and 15 grams of protein. That's it then. Red lentil dahl. And veggies and a bit of tempeh.

Must go out and get water. The buckets are empty. I hate going out on the dock when there's lightening over the lake.

5:30 PM

Water retrieved without incident. Threw some squeaky things and balls for the dogs. Mung beans are soaking for tomorrow. Lentils are rinsed and in water, waiting to come to a boil. They will simmer for half an hour. Added some curry paste so they will have a nice Tandoori flavour.

Meanwhile, I shall figure out which veggies I feel like having tonight. I am really hungry. I guess I didn't have lunch. My body has long ago forgotten the couscous from this morning.

On the radio just now I heard the team driver of that chuckwagon team that fell and three horses were killed at the Calgary Stampede. He was all teary. He'd had one of the horses for 13 years. He was a member of the family. He was his kids' horse. So what the bloody hell was he thinking hooking up such a beloved animal to a chuckwagon and entering him into the most dangerous horse sport in the stampede? Honestly. I'm sorry, but I think anyone who values horses and still goes ahead and enters them in a chuckwagon race has shit for brains. The event should be banned. It's Russian Roulette for horses.

I am so glad I got the hell out of Dodge before the Stampede started. I really couldn't stand it up close. I got a text from Jeff while I was in at Wilson's (there's some sort of occasional cell signal near there). He has been wearing his cowboy boots to work all week (and no doubt the rest of his cowboy gear) and his feet hurt. I'm like, you guys are accountants, for god's sake! Why do you all have to dress like Buffalo Bill for the Stampede? Calgary, I think, must be the only city on the planet where full-grown straight men who do not own a horse or even like riding them, walk around dressed like cowboys, and they think it's normal. It's just bizarre. We're not talking about teenagers who are forced to wear Halloween costumes for the last two weeks of October for their shifts at the dollar store. No. These are bankers, lawyers, CEOs of major corporations, accountants... All of them with their shiny fringy shirts, and humungous belt buckles. And the hats. OMG. It's bad enough outside of Stampede month, I can hardly imagine what it's like in July. Calgary gives the expression “all hat and no horse” new life.

The women aren't any better. They either dress as cowgirls or barn-dancers. Layers of crinoline under some big gingham skirt... I just can't get into it. Which, I guess is a bit contrary. I like dressing up. I love Halloween and getting to wear a costume. But western wear would really not be my first or second or third or fifteenth choice. And if everyone is dressing the same... what's the fun in that? It's some mass psychosis that hits southern Alberta in July.

6:20 PM

I have cut up veggies.

The lentils have been off the heat for a while now. 

I cut up enough veggies that I could set aside half of them to marinade for a BBQ tomorrow. 

With the tempeh it will be some awesome eats shortly.

If you are unfamiliar with tempeh, it is a soybean thing. It usually comes in a flat, square cake, and is often seasoned. The brand I am using is Green Cuisine, and I have Indonesian flavour, which is nice and spicy. It is sometimes available in the refrigerated health food section of the grocery store, but is more readily found in health food stores. It has lots of protein (14 grams, in this case) and a bit of fibre (3 grams). It also has a lot of sodium (50 mg), so I just use a little bit, to add some extra flavour and texture to the stir-fried veggies. I just cut some thin slices off the cake and then slice them in half.

So, standard stir-fry process. Heat some oil (I use olive oil because it is healthier than the traditional peanut oil, although avacado oil would be good too) in a frying pan and add some minced garlic, ginger and chili peppers.

Then start with the longest cooking (hardest usually) vegetable. Carrots, in this case.

Then the onions.

Then mushrooms.

Then celery.

Then kale. I added a bit of water after the kale to keep stuff from sticking.

Then asparagus.

Then Broccoli. Because although broccoli seems hard, it is actually quite delicate and is much better crisp. I added a bit more water with the broccoli.

Then tempeh, because it just needs to be heated through.

Oooh! Interesting! Tony Clemente (gazebo guy) has just opened a visitor's centre in his riding honouring Dr. Norman Bethune (i.e. Inventor of mobile blood transfusions and a bunch of other medical stuff). Seems sleepy guy Rob Anders (Conservative MP in Calgary West) has woken up and spoken out about his objection to this. Bethune, you see, was very active in Mao Tse Tung's China. Mostly doing doctorish stuff. But Anders feels we should not be spending taxpayer dollars to commemorate communist sympathizers. He was asked by the interviewer, and affirmed that he had heard from the PMO about his opinion. He declined to elaborate on the nature of these communications. Harper really has his hands full lately dealing with all these pesky MPs speaking out of turn and not toeing the party line.

7:30 PM

Voila! A fabulous dinner. With an added dollop of organic yoghurt to cool off the spices a wee bit.

7:36 PM

Mmmmm! That was tasty!

And again, it took 6 minutes to eat what took and hour and a half to make. But...there are leftovers enough for another meal. Leftovers are good. Breakfast tomorrow will be amazing.

Ok. I have mixed up a marinade of Bragg (a sort of low-sodium soy sauce), olive oil, and minced garlic, ginger and chili peppers. I poured it over the veggies – the same veggies that were in dinner. I will let it marinade overnight in the fridge and tomorrow night I will make a foil package and put it on the BBQ. It will be very good indeed.

This is Bragg, in case you are not familiar with it. Usually can't find it in grocery stores. Organic stores and health food stores may carry it. Unlike regular soy sauce, Bragg soy has only 160 mg of sodium per 2.5 ml. Basically, it has the taste of soy without all the salt. And along with being better for you, it tastes better to most people because there is far less salt. And it doesn't give you that super-thirst a lot of people get after eating Chinese food with regular soy sauce. Some of that thirst is because most Chinese restaurants put MSG in their food (very bad -avoid!) but even in a no-MSG restaurant the soy is loaded with sodium. Which is salt. Which makes you thirsty. It's also gluten free, gluten being an issue for some people. It's also now available in a pump spray bottle, so you can spritz a salad or noodles or rice with flavour without getting a puddle of soy sauce on your plate.

Sorry, I guess I've inadvertently done 2 product placements in this blog. I am not being paid by either the makers of Bragg or the folks who make Tempeh. But when you find something that is good, and healthier, it's nice to share.

8:00 PM

The rain has stopped but it's still cloudy. Last night I was unnerved by the thunder storm. When I went up to bed I found a t-shirt Jeff had worn when he was out here and forgot to take back. It smelled like him. I put it on as a nightshirt and I felt so comforted and safe, being able to inhale his scent. I guess I'm not as much of a badass as I like to project. Anyway, it's calmer tonight, so I probably don't need au de Jeffsweat to sleep. It was comfy though... We'll see how things are when I go to bed.

Have to dose the dog.

8:45 PM

Feeling sleepy. Guinness has had his pills. The dogs have food and water. I think I am going to go to bed.

9:15 PM

I was just about to head up to bed and a text from Jeff came through! And I responded and it went through! I sent a few more texts that went through but then the connection was lost. My theory is that a vehicle with a signal booster came into range and then passed by. Gotta get a signal booster!