Thursday, E built a box which will now sit outside on the deck to house eight Surette batteries. Each one weighs 120 pounds. The construction, without his usual supplies, and the logistics and the lifting and the moving was tiring exhausting. He was beat at the end of the day. It was basically a one person job, so, although lots of people offered their assistance, he wanted to do it on his own, as is his normal want, but the next morning, and don’t tell him I said this, he looked like shit.

Friday, we were scheduled to go to town to pick up our new instant metal shed (135 pounds on to the truck, off the truck, into the boat, off of the boat, into the truck, out of the truck) which will temporarily house the new generator. I took one look at him as he left to walk the dogs at 8 am, and picked up the phone to call one of our sons who has been, in the past, able to work from here. He was on the 10:40 ferry. He should have worn a cape cause as soon as he arrived, both E and I visibly relaxed. Just the strong back, extra pair of hands and calm practical influence we needed.

The shed, once built, will temporarily house the generator, safely at the top of the driveway, until we build a permanent home for it. One day it can maybe be used to store stuff. We don’t have any stuff at the moment but I imagine one day down the road we will need somewhere to store, maybe a bocce game or croquet set.

They started first thing this morning and were at it most of the day. By dark the generator is safely in it’s new temporary home. It was basically lego for big kids.

The sea lions serenaded them while they worked.

So, one son is here for the week and our other son and his family are coming for Christmas. Our daughter and her partner are working but will come in the new year when we need them. We have great kids.

We so appreciate all of the offers of help from our neighbours. We thank them all and hope they trust us to ask for help when we need it, cause we will, but in this particular case we

just needed family