The countdown...

The power shut off starts soon - it is supposed to be off from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm while the power company replaces some equipment on our island.  We were up early to get showered, have breakfast, and be ready for... "the shutdown."

It isn't just a matter of the power being out.  On our island, there are lift stations to move our sewage off the island... through a large pipe that runs under the Intracoastal Waterway.  Those lift stations are powered by electricity.  Which means: with no power on the island, there is also no way to move sewage off the island.  Our automatic notification system (robo-calling) let residents know: "do not flush your toilet or put anything down the drain during the power outage."

Fun.  You have to plan for this stuff.

Part of our "being ready" was the re-install of the window a/c and topping off the fuel for the generator.  Power cords run as necessary.

The other happening today is: Jim gets his dock back.  The 36' catamaran is scheduled to get moved this morning.  I let the dredge operator know, in no uncertain terms, that I will be moving that boat at 10:00 am.  If his dredge is in the way, I will climb aboard and move it.  I let the island management know the same.  No threat, this is just going to happen.

The dredge people have been notorious about getting anything done on time.  I spoke to the dredge "captain" on Sunday.  I spoke to him again yesterday... "See this face?  This is a determined guy.  I would appreciate your cooperation and you doing what you say you are going to do.  Either way, the dredge is going to be moved so this boat can get out."

He assured me that they would be ready for us to move the boat.  When I went outside this morning to get the generator and a/c set up, it was a beautiful thing...

Yes, the dredge is moved to the far side of the canal, allowing us access.  One in a row.  ;-)

Nothing to do now but wait for the power to get cut.  Since nothing gets done on schedule in this part of the world, I assume the power won't go out right at 8:00.

It is now 8:15, and we still have power.  Tick, tick, tick...

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On edit: (play dramatic music)

The headlines: the power outage continues.  Boat finally moves from dock.

The power went out around 9:25 - almost an hour and a half of "bonus power"!  I was showing Joan how to start the generator, in case I was gone dealing with the boat.  In the middle of that, the power went out.  I fired up the generator.  Joan plugged in the window air conditioner.  No, it is not going to cool the whole house, but it will make the living room liveable and give us power to fridge/freezer.

9:30, no sign of the neighbor... and the dredge seems to be more to the middle of the canal than the far side.  Still passable.

9:40, I walked down to where the dredge is tied off on this side to see what I will have to do if no one from that operation is here to move it when we're ready to move this boat.

9:45, neighbor is here, but has to get his dock prepped for the boat.  Trying to coordinate the dredge people, the village management, and the boat owner is like herding cats.  Well, not Izzy, but unruly cats.

9:53, neighbor gets on his boat and says, "I hope this engine will start."  Still no sign of anyone from the dredge.  Joan offers to take a kayak down and untie the dredge so we can just slip through.

9:57, a guy in a black pick-up stops in front of our house and tells me he is "the new boss of the dredge operation."  Then tells me, "I thought you were going to move this boat at 8:30 this morning."

9:58, I take a deep breath and explain to him nicely that "8:30 was NEVER discussed," and "In two minutes we plan to take this sailboat down this canal.  Are you going to untie the dredge or would you like me to do it?"

10:00, he assures me that he will have someone here "right away" to untie the dredge to give us passage.

Editors note: for those not familiar with the way things are done around here, "right away" means: when we get around to it.  There is also the phrase, "We'll get to it yet today," which means: we're gonna disappear and you won't see us for a couple days.  The worst is "manana" which means: not today.  Many people think it means: tomorrow.  Nope, just: not today.

10:15, no sign of the crew that is coming "right away"... Joan again offers to take a kayak down the canal to untie the dredge.  The new boss again assures us that won't be necessary.  The engine starts.  The new boss tell me they will have this canal done in "3 to 4 days."  I find a semi-polite way to say "Bullshit."

10:30, the "right away" crew finally shows up and unties the one side of the dredge so we can get through.  I untie the last line on the boat, shove off from the side, and we start making our way down the canal.  With one engine.  Asymmetrical thrust.  There is room with about a foot on either side for this catamaran to slip by the dredge.

10:50, Joan meets us at Randy's dock and hands me a line so we can haul the boat to his dock.  A few minutes to tie things off, and this project is almost done.

11:05, I get back to our dock, and Joan is putting the kayak in the canal to take the neighbor's mostly frayed lines off our dock.  She says, "I am in better shape than either of you two old guys, so I will get these lines untied and you can take them back to Randy.  The woman has a point.

11:15, I hand Randy his lines.  He said, "I was coming to get those untied."  I explained Joan's excellent logic; he agreed.  Randy and I sit for a bit and wonder how we got old so fast... just a scant 15 years ago, we chased each other all over the Laguna on our sailboats.

11:45, back to our house.  The air conditioner is adequate for keeping the temp in the living room a bit cooler than the outside air temp, which is around 92º with a "feels like temperature" of 374º.  I am kidding, of course, it is more like 483º

Proof that our dock is back to being our dock...

The kayak is still there from Joan's untying adventure.  Looking down the canal...

Yes, the dredge is back pretty much in the middle.  Of course, there is no one working with it.  No skin off my nose.  Well, maybe a little skin off my nose, due to the heat; but, I don't have a boat trapped at my dock.  IF they ever get down the canal as far as my dock, they will be able to dredge in front of it, because there is no longer a 36' catamaran there.

"3 to 4 days"... we'll see.  And by that I mean: bullshit!

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One last edit:

Power came back on around 3:30 this afternoon.  Rare that something gets done ahead of schedule here, but we'll take it!  We did fine with the generator and window a/c, but couldn't get the satellite TV to be happy on the generator.  Yeah, first world problems.

Nice to know that we can be "self-contained" again, if necessary.

Oh, we heard the dredge fire up around 2:30 this afternoon.

Other than the relatively quiet sound of our generator, it was pretty quiet around the village today, except for the armada of power company trucks.

Back to real life again.