Thetis in the News

For anyone who missed it, CBC British Columbia had a nice story this weekend about how Thetis residents manage power outages.

The story includes photos and quotes from a number of Thetis people, and is still on the CBC website at:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/these-islanders-know-the-secrets-to-with-long-power-outages-1.7397321

There's also a podcast:

https://www.cbc.ca/listen/cbc-podcasts/1417-this-is-vancouver-island/episode/16111605-secrets-of-living-with-long-power-outages

Video: https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/video/9.6578930

Jonathan T.

Looking for a Washing Machine

Hoping someone on the island might have a high capacity washing machine for sale. Something that can handle a five-person household.

Unfortunately, ours just decided to quit so we need to find something soon if possible.

Kind regards, 

Jessica Dufort

Jessicadufort014@gmail.com
250 210 0097

Looking for “Full length” Mirror

Height should be from about 4 to 6 feet. Am flexible on width, style, and so forth. 

Happy to find common ground on price, trade for tasty homemade bread/baked goods/Ecuadorian jewelry/earrings, and/or donation to Food Bank or your favorite charity.

Thank you, 

Virginia V. (vjv.bkis@gmail.com)

Thetis Island Backyard Honey

I have ten 250ml jars of my Thetis Island backyard raw honey for sale.

The jars are $20.00 each and they come with a homemade beeswax candle.

Food is scarce for the bees on the island, so they are not prolific honey producers.

Sandy, 604 615 8285

Post Office Opening 1 day/week

Given there seems to be some on-the-island mailing, we will be opening the PO for 1 day (Wednesdays) per week.

This will start next Wednesday, Dec 11.
This will be in effect until the strike ends.

Hours will be the regular ones: OPEN 10:00am to 5:00pm / Closed noon to 12:30 for lunch.

If you want to get your holiday cards in the queue, bring them in and we will put them in the outgoing mail.

Fred

Jollity Farm Seasonal Hours & Availability

Our Saturday farm market will be closed this year from December 15 to January 3. The dates coincide with some holiday hours at Cowichan Milk.

We will be prepared to pick up extra dairy next week for pick up Saturday,
Dec. 14, and will do a True Grain Bakery and bagel run, if you want to stock up for the rest of the month.

A reminder will be sent out again next Sunday, but we hope this helps to plan ahead.

Our Chemainus farm shop will continue to be stocked up with veggies and lots of goodies through the month, so we welcome you to stop by en route to and from Thetis.

The farm shop and cafe will be closed Dec. 24, 25 & 26 and probably Jan 1 (stay tuned!).

With thanks for all your support through the year!

Jollity Farmers

Purolator Courier

There’s a Purolator Courier depot in the Chemainus Public Market (across from the Public Library.)

For information, 

contact Warren Goulding (250-246-6782)

Soup’s On: Wednesday, December 4

11:30am until 1:00pm

Gather at Forbes Hall for a very Thetis Island lunch...

Spinach, Lentil, Freekeh and Bulgur soup, Vegetarian
Red Lentil, Coconut, Curry Soup, Vegetarian and Gluten free
Condiments for the Soups
Buns
Cookies
Teas and Coffee

Suggested donation of $7 for soup, bread, treats & teas & coffee.

For those who find large groups challenging, enjoy your lunch in our designated quiet room.

Everyone is welcome to join us, seniors, seniors who don’t think they’re seniors, workers, families, and everyone who just wants a mid-day meal!

Menu remainders for take-out when available. Soup’s On also supports the Thetis Island Food Pantry.

Coupon Booklets of 10 for your convenience, $70.00

The Soup’s On Team

Winter Concert: Saturday, December 14

3 pm at the Community Centre. All are welcome.

The concert will showcase our school students singing a variety of songs and present a few individual acts.

Several other community members will entertain us with musical interludes on the piano, fiddle, and kalimba. We'll watch some belly dance, listen to a soprano solo, and some poetry.

There will be opportunity for the audience to sing along to seasonal favourites.

Light refreshments will be served after the hour-long concert. Please join us to celebrate the season, our community, and friends.

P.S. A plate of finger foods to be shared during refreshments would be very much appreciated, thank you.

Simone Luckham

Forbes Hall Nurse Practitioner Clinic – Holiday Schedule

Thursday, Dec 5 (phone, virtual or in-office appointments @ Ladysmith Family Practice Clinic)

Tuesday, Dec 10 (in-office appointments @ Forbes Hall)

Thursday, Dec 12 (phone, virtual or in-office appointments @ Ladysmith Family Practice Clinic)

Tuesday, Dec 24 (in-office appointments @ Forbes Hall)

Erin will be away the weeks of Dec 16th and Dec 30th so there will be no NP clinic at Forbes Hall on Dec 17th and Dec 31st (no locum coverage available).

Office is closed Dec 25, 26 and Jan 1st.

Erin and Kari would like to wish all the residents of Thetis Island a wonderful holiday season.

Forbes Hall Health Services Group

Cell Phone Tips in an Emergency

Does 911 work on a disconnected cell phone?
Can a disconnected cell phone call 911?

Yes! Disconnected cell phones that are charged are still able to dial 9-1-1. If you do not pay for cell phone service, but have an old phone, you can keep it with you in case you need to use it to report an emergency situation on 9-1-1.

How can you make emergency calls without signal?

Even when you have barely any signal, you may notice "SOS Only" or some similar message on your phone - At this moment you don't have enough signal strength to make a normal telephone call but if you were to call the Emergency Services, your service provider will 'drop' other calls that are taking place to enable your cell phone to connect to 9-1-1.

Any Mobile Phone Can Call 911. 

Unless a mobile phone's battery is dead or the user is completely outside every wireless carrier's service area, that phone can dial 9-1-1. No service plan is needed.

What Does SOS Mean on iPhone Status Bar

If the SOS icon appears on the status bar of your iPhone, it means that your iPhone has a poor cellular connection. There is no Internet connection on your iPhone. At this time, you can only make emergency calls. This is to ensure your safety. When your phone is not connected to the Internet, you cannot make calls or send messages, nor can you use functions that require real-time online browsing such as web browsing.

SOS is most likely to occur if you are in areas such as elevators, garages, and basements, or there is a power outage and no cellular service.

TIPS:

Keep your mobile phone battery charged and have a spare portable charger available.

Keep a dead phone charged in order to be able to use 9-1-1 if you need to. Landlines that use VOIP (voice over internet protocol) such as Telus Fibre Optik will not work if there is a power outage. No power = no internet.

The Telus trailer at the Capernwray corner has a small battery bank to keep the Fibre Optik system running. Depending upon how many people are drawing on the battery bank and for how long, the batteries will last only about 8 hours before Telus has to haul their charger trailer by pickup truck to Thetis Island to recharge. The recharge takes about 8 hours and then the WiFi system will work again for another short period. We understand that there is only one Telus charging trailer for southern Vancouver Island and Gulf Islands and they have to travel around to service the Telus Trailers in the small communities during power outages.

Thetis Island Volunteer Fire Department
& Fire Chief Jeannine Caldbeck

Seeking Islanders with Solar Expertise and/or Systems

We are interested in upgrading our solar electric system, which currently consists of a few small solar panels, an inverter and a few car batteries.

Before I go looking further afield, I imagine there is some expertise I could tap into on Thetis Island. If you have a good working solar system setup that can power a medium array of power needs, and you want to show it off to me, I'd be most grateful.

Also, if you have something solar-related that you'd like to sell, once I learn what might power our needs, I'd be interested in purchasing something too--in the way of solar panels, inverters or battery storage systems.

Thanks, Alan Cassels.
359A Lupin Lane. cassels@uvic.ca. 250 508 8996