Well, we could title this blog post with several thoughts. We could go with… Whew, finished quarantine or isolated for months…. or maybe,  back to work, off the couch or whale is outside. Really any number of topics.

We had the most wonderful day today. I know, a day spent splitting and stacking wood is not the idea of wonderful for a great many of you. But to have a normal day with a return to our usual routine was a relief.

Last May we cut down a bunch of trees for the bunkie. We split half of the wood and stacked it under a tarp as our wood sheds were full. Then we, well,  frankly, ran out of steam. So we left maybe one hundred rounds under a tarp waiting to be split and stacked. It has been almost a year.

To celebrate our good health, we peeled back the tarp, pulled out the wood splitter and got to work. We still didn’t get it all done but we got five truck loads of wood split and stacked in our smaller wood shed. The burn pile to clean up the residual mess is going now. We are one step closer to being mess free, tarp free.

I have named the humpback whale Bobby McGee. When a whale wants to hang around four days in a row in front of our house… he warrants a name. Bobby McGee was the song playing on my play list when he first came by.  This afternoon apparently there was a large pod of Killer whales in the same channel in front of us. We were at the burn pile so missed them. This morning, there were seven seals sleeping in the shallow cut next to our house.

I expect we are going to be on the island here isolating for a very long time, months.. I really don’t see an end to it, until there is a vaccine discovered. E and I are safe but of course we worry about those whose jobs are essential. We worry about our kids.  Wildfire season is starting, so honestly, it’s a concern.

We hope you are all at home, staying safe. In the meantime, I will, whales willing,  strive to distract you from your day to day worries with a little bit of entertainment from the aquarium show on

the nature channel.