Elevated Straw Action

Friday evening, we went to see Kent McAlister and the Iron Choir. Opening the show for Kent was The Gruff, a band out of Victoria. We enjoyed the music and it was great to see a better turnout than usual for a "backhall" event. Things always come to my mind when I go to these events, like it's great to able to go to a concert (or our restaurant), and take a bottle of wine. Quite civilized really, and I've yet to see it become a problem. The other thing is... Denman Island is this small cross-section of society, so small that all types of people are forced congregate at the same place at the same time.... in other words, there's no population support for "special interest groups". I'm not sure how else to say it, but the result is something to experience. Social tolerance found here is what big cities lack., (amongst other things).

As Oil Production falls, and food prices rise because of transport costs, will people be forced to move closer to the food sources? The German model of smaller cities with farming and forestry close by, makes a lot of sense. The Fraser River delta, only minutes from Vancouver and arguably the most fertile farmland in the world is now concrete. There's lack of foresight. Speaking of foresight.... this question was posed to me the other day.... Knowing what you know, would you choose to bring children into this world at this point in time? My answer, an agonizing, no. Mostly, because what the earth needs is a depopulation.... Maybe, it could be achieved without war, disease or mass starvation.

Straw Bale House Update: Monday was the big day. 430 Albertan flax straw bales were to arrive on the 7:40 A.M. ferry. Barn loft space had been secured, (gratis from a local farm.) A bale elevator had been borrowed from another local farmer and six volunteers to unload the truck were standing by. Everything was cooperating..... except the weather. Eight inches of snow covered the ground from the day before... then, overnight we were hit by the "pineapple express". The temperature went from -2c to 13c in a matter of a few hours. Torrential rains began about 3:00 A.M. Oh, and did I mention, a power failure, the second failure this season. The generator, (on the construction site) could not be reached through the mud, snow and ice, so power for the bale elevator was toast. After a sleepless night, the delivery was stopped. The next day looked better and the trucking company was anxious to have their trailers back. With my labour force now cut in half.... and a third power failure, two trailer loads of straw arrived and were lifted by generator power into the barn loft. There were some calories burned over that 2 1/2 hours, all by my post 50 crew. Not bad for old guys.

As a volunteer firefighter, I saw my first flames last week. One of several power outages last week was caused by a tree across the power lines. The tree was scorched and a small candle-like fire was dripping flaming rubber from the coated lines when we arrived. It was unknown if the power lines were dead, so no water could be used. A few well placed snowballs extinguished the flames and the rest was left up to BC Hydro. Saturday, was the Fire fighter's Christmas dinner and award night. As there were very few incidents this year, most of the awards were, shall we say, of a humorous nature. (Should of had my camera for that).

Today, the (first) Pickton trial ended. The sick amount of money that will be wasted to prosecute this animal (100 + million) is second only to the sickness of the crimes. Was the outcome ever in doubt? Another 20 some murder charges are yet to be tried.