Over Christmas we visited with a lot of friends who told me they read this blog. They mentioned I sometimes make them laugh but have occasionally made them cry. Goodness, let’s hope this year there aren’t too many days when sad things happen. I fear today is one where I am more likely to bore you to death with housekeeping matters.

It is still dark so I can’t be sure what is happening outside my window but although we live fifteen feet above the water it sounds like the waves are hitting the rocks right next to me. We are expecting a King Tide today, which is a higher than normal tide that occurs during a full moon when the gravitational pull of the sun and the moon are in alignment.

In a half hour it will be a tide of 12.46 feet at the cut. In addition, we have had gusts as high 40 kph over night. The weather channels say it is coming from the southeast, but it is supposed to turn during the day and come right at us.

The combination of a King Tide along with high winds makes for a nasty mess on the water. All of the logs which you would normally see resting on our local beaches are lifted off the ground to float out on to the nearby waters. They can wreak havoc on our propellers and can make for a stressful trip to town.

The temperatures were predicted to drop way below zero but we haven’t seen that yet. When I got up this morning it was still five degrees outside. Typically, we are four degrees warmer than the temperatures measured at the harbour across from us.

We have had a lot of rain this week which has prompted us to be proactive up at the water tanks. We are doing a lot of opening and closing of tanks managing the reserves. We remain suspicious that there may be a leak in the pipes somewhere. So the thinking is, that by closing individual tanks once they accumulate a few hundred gallons, we won’t lose it all if there is a leak somewhere. Once they all have say, five hundred gallons and are closed and safe we will open them one at a time again til they are all full. I know it sounds like it should be easier but that is what we seem to have to do to make sure we don’t miss out on these rains. If we don’t catch these January, February rains, will we have another chance?’

E has been laying the flooring in the bunkie. The bathroom, two bedrooms and fussy bits around the doors are done. Just the common room left to do. Then, comes the installation of the propane heater.

If we have some sunny days next week, I am hoping to get the fruit trees pruned. We often have a few brisk but sunny days during January and I will be ready with the pruners if it happens. Last year we pruned on January 15th and had a tremendous harvest. It could have been a combination of weather, pollination, and pruning but it seems prudent to repeat what I can of last year’s schedule.

This seems like a pretty boring blog post talking about weather and such. But look on the bright side, I didn’t

make you cry