Part 10. So....What do you do anyway?

So...What do you do anyway?
We seem to get asked this question alot. It must be something to do with where we live and peoples lack of understanding about life in a remote spot.
We of course, have the usual daily chores, plus a few others, that we must do in order to continue living the way we do. Firewood is an everyday job. Our cooking, heating and hot water all rely on the wood stove!
General maintenance of the household has to be carried out but you must remember that we can't ring the local plumber or electrician. We are all pretty handy at finding and fixing problems. There is no one else to do it!

I must opologise for not updating the blog recently. This posting explains the reasons why.

One of our jobs takes place from sept to june, caretaking the floating fishing lodges that get towed into our bay. We also work for the Dept Of Fisheries during the summer and monitor the prawn fishery in the spring. Inbetween there are always jobs that turn up out of the blue!

Sunshine Bay. As you can see it is a small town during the winter but about 80% of it gets moved out for the summer.


I was asked to help cook at a local logging camp. My training is in cooking so have helped out at some of the fish camps too from time to time. It was to be a short term (a few days) job. That lasted 4 days then a day off, then one more day.
Home for a few days then off to Bella Coola where I was to do the training for the 2011 census. That took another 4 days. Home for one day then off to Vancouver Island for a visit with Charlotte, shopping, I haven't been out for 7 months, and to pick up some UK relatives in Vancouver.
This trip was 10 days in length and covered 1500 kms of driving plus 160km of plane rides. 
Back home and start the census collection. As I write I am waiting to hear about travelling to points north for about a week. There are alot of remots areas to cover for the census and have to be done by plane.

Cathedral Point. Burke Channel enroute to Bella Coola

Bella Coola Estuary.

Of course there are always things to do be it chores or hobbies, work or leisure activities. Living away from the main stream does not mean we sit around all day. Actually it would be nice to sit on the front deck and enjoy the sunshine...think i'll go and do that right now!

In the Bella Coola Valley.

Returning from Bella Coola via the mountain route!

Most of our work is centred around the winter season We do work most of the year at various jobs, long and short term and we always remember that a short term job is better than none at all. We are flexible and willing to do almost anything so find people come looking for us. It's really quite nice!

Till next time.

part 9 Retail therapy!!

Well I'm not sure how much therapy you get from doing 6 months of shopping in one go, but it has to be good for something! The credit card companies certainly love us!!
We usually do two big shops a year. One in the fall around Oct and another around April time. This consists of an 8 page grocery list which just covers the food items! On top of that there are all the 'sundry' items that have made it to the 'must get' list.
A few years ago I composed a list on the computer. Starting with baking goods it covers canned goods, dry goods, meat, veg and fruit, misc, bread, dairy and cleaning items. Overall it works quite well and can be added to if there is a new fad or fancy.

These mammoth shops don't take as long as one would imagine but they do take concentration! Once started it is best to see it to the end even if you are heartliy sick of pushing that trolley with the wonky wheel and trying to fit it all into the mini van rented for the occasion

All the 'groceries' can usually be done on an afternoon. There are always distractions along the way and impulse buys are a problem, but some strong will ( well not very strong really) and determination gets the job done.

My list writing starts as soon as we return from the last trip. There are usually items forgotten but those are becoming less and less over time. The thing about living where there are no shops is that if you don't have it you do with out! A great lesson for most and can take a bit of getting used to. We do have the option of having things sent to us, arriving by freight boat but of course that costs money, so a little forward thinking and you can live very well.
This trip was quite a mommoth affair. Canned goods come by the case and flour by the 10kg bag. Dog food is in 50lb bags and as we have a new, growing dog, must buy enough to see her through the summer. There are all those little items as well. Spices and herbs, sauces and spreads.
I make most things from scratch so my baking list is quite extensive.

This trip also saw the purchase of a large amount of wine!! We use a 'U Brew' shop in Campbell River who do it all for you. You just have to turn up with bottes! Three types, red, white and rose, makes up 8 cases and it is all now safely stored away.
The boat was VERY full not only with groceries and wine but also all the sundry items we need. A log splitter, a flat screen tv, a washing machine (second hand), a bale of shavings used as bedding for the guinea pigs, a sun lounger and various marine parts.

Some of you may be asking about the sell by/expiration dates on many items. It is now that I tell you most of what is printed is a ploy to get you to buy more and just a marketing tool. We freeze a huge amount of produce, meat and dairy such as milk. Cheese, yogurts and cream last for months in an ordinary fridge and veg last equally as long if kept in a cool dry climate. Canned goods have a life of years if the cans are not damaged in any way.
We estimate that we have enough food to last us, along with supplements of fresh fish, crabs and prawns, over 2 years!!   I always look on the shelves and sigh ' what can I make for dinner?". Look again and there is plenty to choose from.

How satifying to have full shelves! I'm sorry I can't show you all the storage space we have, but there are many nooks and cranies stocked to bursting now!

I have not mentioned my 'personal list' which is items such as birthdays, anniversaries etc. As most of my family are in the UK I have to try to think ahead. They may not get presents on the day but they arrive eventually. Also on this list are toiletries and other sundries. I do keep various cards on hand to send so am always stocking up all the time.
All this buying means that sometimes  we have a glut of something and have to remember not to buy more. A few years ago we were renovating a bathroom and I discovered that we have a large amount of soap! Everyday handwashing soap. Some I had purchsed but lots had been given for presents in little gift baskets etc. It was all put together and we did not buy soap for 2 years!!  Perhaps you could try this at home? Just a small lesson in waste-not-want-not!!

To add further to all this retail therapy there are things like clothes, personal wants, nuts and bolts, electronics, usually for the boats, outboard parts, house hold goods....need I go on?
Thank good ness for list.as long as you remember to fill them in!!

Happy Shopping

Part 8 Rope!

Being in a watery/boaty kind of environment we use alot of rope!
This comes in various sizes and mostly black in colour. There is a a reason we like black...it does not get as sunburnt as many other colours, therfore last longer. There is nothing more annoying and painful than a tiny sliver of rope embedded under the skin which you can neither see nor get out!

Rope is in everyday usage. Of course all the boats have various ropes for tie-up, there is a 400 foot long, 3 inch rope for towing the house, along with shorter 'dog lines' for towing logs. The house is tied to its mooring with ropes and that in turn is tied to the shore.
Rope is all made in the same way, just the scale varies and the material.
We purchase most of the rope we use but we do make our own from old gill net.   Gill net is made of a nylon fibre and when its usefull fishcatching life is over can be turned into many things including handy rope.

To start we lay out 3 strands of 200 feet each. These are attached at one end to swivels mounted on a triangular board.

The other ends are all attached to the same shackle.

Along the length of the strands there are two further triangles which help to keep the strands apart during the winding proccess.

Now for the manual part of the operation!!!
Start winding!
As you turn the strands twist. These get tighter the more you wind so lots of 'shaking' of the strands keeps the tension regular.

The winding end stays static but the single end needs to be moved a little closer as the strands get shorter the more you wind.
Hope your still winding!!!

Eventually the single end starts to wind the three strands into one. We can now wind that end slowly in the opposite direction to help with the twisting. The triangle closest to this end is moved down. As the rope starts to form we pull this triangle back and the rope 'makes its self'.

A very simple but effective proccess which takes about 30 mins in all.
Starting with 200 feet of strands we end up with about 170 feet of rope. It is soft and flexible and very strong. It also has quite a bit of 'give' so stretches well. This comes in handy if we need to tie things and allow movement.
They are not the prettiest of ropes but are very useful in those emergency situations!

Part 7 Spring has sprung!!

Since my last posting there have been some very interesting and disturbing happenings in the world. We all are affected in some way by world events and although we are along way from anywhere, we are no exception.
The massive earthquake in Japan could have affected us the most with the resulting Tsunami. As it turned out we only saw some strange water movement and no damage to report.
Just to show how fast news travels, we were awoken at 2.00am by a freind who had seen it on the midnight news. She has travelled to us by sailboat so immediatly phoned everyone she knew on the coast to warn them. Further phone calls were received from 6.30am onwards, by which time we were listening to the news and had the marine radio tuned to the emergency channel.
Tsunami are a fickle thing and you never quite know what is the best cause of action. For us we secure boats, make sure everything is safe and have added protection from the many islands the wave has so negotiate before entering our bay.
As I said, we did not see anything here but there was different movement of water in channels where it usually is quite calm. Hard to explain and doesn't picture well but swirling and bubbling like boiling water in a pot but without breaking the surface! The water level did rise and fall in a very short time which was the only sign there was any problem.
 It is hard to imagine that the Tsunami wave was travelling at over 400 miles per hour! and that the earthquake was so large the whole island if Japan is now 8 feet closer to North America!!
We still keep abreast of the problems in Japan and can't imagine the hardships they are enduring.

So that bring us to a more happy thought......Spring!

Yes the first day of spring was sunny and warm. The garden opened an eye so see if it really was time to wake up and everyone enjoyed the warmth and the extra shot of Vitamin D.

A great day to go to the beach. This beach is just outside our bay, about a 3 minute boat trip. Not large but sandy, rocky and a nice place for both humans and dogs to swim. Have to admit at this point that the humans only swim in the summer but the dog loves it anytime!!

This time of year means the water is clear. There is a huge amount of sea life visible just from the side of a boat, or from our front deck!
We have a large amount of star fish of various sizes, shapes and colours. Some are in the rock pools on the shore and others live in the crevices of the rocks where they get good water circulation bringing in food.

Hope spring has sprung wherever you may be.  As the old timers used to say..... "I think we have the under cut in her"      This is a reference to hand falling trees. The undercut is the first cut!

Happy Spring!

Part 6 Weather update.

At the moment we are experiencing some quite unusual weather for the coast. Yes we do get some snow during the winter. Enough to make life interesting for  a few days but nothing to exciting......Well we now have 18 inches of snow and more in the forecast!!

It all start around mid Feb when we had a fall of about 5 inches. Most of that started to disapear until this last week. It got very cold and there was a wicked wind that brought the wind chill temperature down to around -15 or so.

Saturday it started again and sunday it snowed all day. By monday morning we had another 10 inches so the snow shovel was deployed!

Now snow is very beautiful but a bit of a problem on the floats.
Any floats that are already low floating seem to go down even more.
Snow is very heavy. There must be some sort of scientific explanation for the weight such as......
Size of flake x falling velocity x atmospheric pressure  =  a heck of a lot of white stuff!

One not very happy boat!!

This picture gives you some sort of idea of the amount of snow, and consequently weight, on the roof of the house!

The forecast for the rest of the week is snow in varying amounts all week.
Tonight we have a hurricane wind warning and the sea state between here and Port Hardy is to get to around 11 metres!!

Just a short post this time.....if there are no more it is because we have either sunk, blown away or left for Hawaii!!

Part 5. Boats!

Define Boat.    According to the Oxford Dictionary.....
Boat  (n&v) 1. a small vessel propelled on water by an engine, oar or sail.
                    2. (in general use) a ship of any size.
                    3. an elongated boat-shaped jug used for holding sauce etc.

A boat owners definition is...A hole in the water in which to pour money!!

Well at the last count we had 10 such holes!! That does not include the various 'boats' out of the water which, in my opinion, are not salvageable!!

We have boats propelled by oar and sail and engine so I guess we have it covered!

Our vessels vary in size. The smallest being an 8' kayak and the largest, the Tasu is 29'.
Of course there are reasons for having so many vessels. We do not have cars or other forms of transport. Boats are it! They get us from place to place and are part of our livelihood.
There are three people in this family so we have at least three boats each to choose from. Of course we all want the same boat at the same time!!

All the boats have a specific function. The 'big boat' (Tasu) is used for trips to Port Hardy, Robins charter patrol job where it is his home for the summer and for towing if we need to move either the house or logs around.
The work skiff is the general, everyday work horse. It is full of ropes, pike poles, chain saws and general equipment.   Oh yes, and holes too. You have to keep moving or your feet get wet. Thats why it has to be pulled up on the logs when not in use.
Robin and I also have matching patrol skiffs! ( I know it's very romantic).  These we use in the summer months when we are doing fisheries work. They both have 50hp engines and are centre consols.

For everyday running around we have two 'runabouts'. They are both 15' with 40hp engines. These are a little more comfortable with comfy seats and drive much like a car.
The canoes (3) we use when walking creeks and sometimes for evening paddles around the bay. Charlotte has a small kayak and an 8' sailing/row boat.
Along with all these vessels we also have a windsurfer and an older skiff which we put an electric motor on. Mum and Dad had fun taking evening boat trips round the bay in this. It is almost silent so great for wildlife watching as they can't hear you coming.

Boating can be a fun pastime which we all enjoy. It can be dangerous and very costly. All the maintenance we do our selves unless a large job such as haul out is required, then we have to make a trip to Port Hardy for the nearest boat yard.  Robin spends much of his winter months keeping up to date on the repairs etc so that when he is away we only have oil changes etc to do.
I have, however, got quite good at diagnosing problems and quite a dab hand at changing carbs!!

Keep boating till next time.

Part 4. A quick trip!!

For those of you who have been here, will know that we can do a grocery shop in  Port Hardy when the weather lets us cross Queen Charlote Sound.
Robin and Charlotte made a trip in the new year and as I had to renew my drivers license, I went with Robin again this week.
We had been looking at the weather for about a week and things looked good enough to make the trip.
Port Hardy is approx 60 miles but the water can be very dangerous. As it takes so long.....we have a slow boat......we are carefull to keep an eye on the weather reports and lighthouse reports.

We left home on tuesday morning at 6.00am. Sea state and wind ways gave us a 3 metre swell and a little wind from the north west, which would be behind us. Quite a pleasant trip with nothing very interesting happening.
We arrived in Port Hardy at 3.oo pm.
I walked up town to the insurance place, Robin walked up to a friends house to borrow their truck and we met up again in the drug store. Next stop was the welding shop to pick-up some pieces we had ordered then a drive down to Port McNeill to pick up more parts.
Port McNeill is a 25 minute drive heading south.
Back to Port Hardy and to the grocery store before they closed at 7.00pm.
Down to the dock to unload and then to the pub for a well earned lunch/dinner.
Up to our friends to drop off the vehicle then back to the boat and into our snug little bunks.
The fuel dock does not open till 8.00am so we had time for breakfast at 7.00am then across to the bay to the fuel dock.
Departure from Port Hardy was at 9.00am ready for the 9 hours home!!
The weather now was calm and if any wind was to materialze is was to come from the south east, again behind us.

We arrived home at 6.00pm where Charlotte had dinner ready.

This is what we call a quick trip to town!!
It gives a whole new meaning to power shopping!

We travel with a skiff for emegencies and you can see two barrels which we use for some of our fuel.
It was pretty chilly that morning. You can see that the harbour was frozen over!

There are a few sea lions who live on the floats at the mouth of the harbour.

Scarlett Point Light house is just out of  Port Hardy. From here is open water till we get to the mouth of Smith Inlet.

Sorry about the quality of the picture.
The island in the far distance is Calvert Island which is level with Rivers Inlet. That is about 50 miles from this point. There are a few 'rocks' which we aim for but you can also see that the water is very calm.....not usual in february!!

Looking west...next stop Japan!

This posting is just an example of how we shop and the travel plans we have to make. Not all these trips go so smoothly but no disasters......so far!!