ENEL 11

     Getting ready to head up the right-of-way to prepare the poles for wire.

          The guy on the ground supplies the guy on the pole; and in the distance, other crew members head north to other poles and another crew member already at work on a pole.

     The pole behind the house gets outfitted.

ENEL 10

     I heard that a missing bolt kept this baby in a garage in El Bluff, which is about eight miles south of us as the fishes swim. But one morning it showed up in our front yard full of men and equipment - after traveling up the beach, or in the water, or both, depending...farting all the while
Captain Jimmy’s boat had been pulling up every morning for weeks and weeks, loaded with men and supplies, and sometimes hauling even more supplies behind. The boat always came from Kukra Hill to the north, winding its way through rivers and lagoons and up the creek to our dock.  This thing carried men sitting or standing in the bed as well as reclining on the cab roof.
I have a hard time describing the truck so the picture will have to do that for me.

When you are accustomed to ‘remote’ and ‘pristine’ having a combustion engine like this one showing up in your front yard is a bit of a shocker.

And its spoor remained even after it went back to El Bluff.

To plant or not to plant

     I keep telling myself I've planted enough coconut trees. We've put in between 400 and 500. But how can I not give these babies places to put down roots?

IT'S A MIRACLE

I read.  

I garden and walk the dog and cut grass and shop and cook and paint trim and do all the other stuff a day might throw at any one of us. But I haven’t watched television in about twenty years unless I happen to be in a waiting room somewhere.

Instead, I read...for pleasure and to learn new stuff and to escape. I read for most of the same reasons people watch TV, and though I have a growing collection of paperbacks at False Bluff, there aren’t enough books there to last a visit. Besides, I've read them all, some more than once.
My Kindle is one of the most important survival tools I have and I am appalled when I remember how, several years ago, I fought hard against owning one.
So near panic set in when my Kindle died last night, with only a week until a trip to False Bluff. 

A new Kindle was ordered about midnight.  

I took it from the delivery man’s hands at 930 the next morning.

If that ain't a miracle, nothing is.

Another 'bird of paradise'

     Most bird of paradise - both plant and flower - are large and showy. My favorite is this tiny variety which over time establishes large clumps. 
   The clumps at False Bluff so far are still small but when I consider the progress we've made planting stuff - of all sorts - where no stuff had been before, the clumps are increasing pretty quickly and are a joy to see.