A Word on the Weather

It's interesting, watching Spring trying to creep into the Cariboo. The only ongoing hint that it's coming is a reddening of the willow branches. The weather, on the other hand, is a tease. Yesterday morning was warm - well, warm for here - just above zero when we woke, and very windy. By 11 a.m. it was about 10 degrees, and the melt was on. Roads in 100 Mile became rivers, roofs dripped, and road crews in town were busy trying to clear storm drains. It stayed clear and warm through the day, and about 3:30 I donned my boots and took the dogs on a tour de fenceline. The wind got cold, clouds gathered quickly, and within 10 minutes it was snowing hard. Dogs and I hurried inside to cozy warmth. Five inches of new snow in two hours ensued.

Snowed Again!

We got about 4" of snow overnight. The trees are all covered, and everything looks fresh and postcardlike.

My period of blissful unemployment may be coming to a close...I had a job interview this morning, and Interior Health called with some "prescreening questions" this afternoon. Ah well.

In other news, yesterday I visited a Welsh Pony Farm in 70 Mile...I spent the afternoon patting ponies and chatting with Ken - it was quite lovely.

Mike is now driving from 100 Mile to Langley, rather than 100 Mile to Prince George. He's home late evenings and doesn't have to be up all night. Much better. 

Making Tracks

It's a glorious day. Cold - very cold, actually, azure blue sky, and diamond crusted snow. After lunch I bundled up in my warm stuff, strapped on the snowshoes, and went for a bit of a walkabout with the pups. Besides my snowshoe paths and a multitude of meandering dog trails, there are lots of tracks from tiny critters. Squirrel tracks, mostly, but there are some that are larger, probably belonging to a marten or some other kind of weasely creature. If I could find my camera, I'd photograph the tracks to try to i.d. them.

Cool Things I saw today...

I wish I knew where I've stashed my camera. I can't find it, although I saw it last week, so it's only misplaced and not lost.

Cool things:
I saw two beautiful does at the roadside
A beautiful big coyote crossed the highway in front of me
I saw and patted dozens of alpacas.
I saw white peacocks
I patted a donkey named Mojo
I saw day old Shi Tzu puppies (and didn't even buy one)
I saw an Andalusian stallion
All that before noon

I saw the most beautiful moonrise tonight. The moonlight is interfering with my constellation identifying.

Lone Wolf

Gillis, it seems, has heard the call of the wild, and much prefers to be out skulking through the woods to lounging indoors. For our first few days here, when we called the dogs in for their breakfast Gillis would cast a glance our way over his shoulder while he trotted off into the forest, deliberately ignoring our calls. He'd wander back midmorning and have breaky. After three mornings of snubbing us and eating when he felt like it, the midmorning brunch offerings were withdrawn, and he either had to come in for breakfast or go without. By day five, coming in for breakfast seemed like a good idea to him. Lucy and Jasper generally stay close, but Gillis often disappears for an hour or two at a time, stalking imaginary prey and enjoying his new-found freedom. 

Moved In, and back Online!

One week ago yesterday, I pulled into our driveway at 7:30 pm, with a carfull of dogs, cats (one who wailed every six seconds for the entire trip), houseplants, and various and sundry odds and ends, and was officially "HOME". It seems like forever ago already...

Last Thursday morning, the movers arrived at 8:30 a.m. and loaded our belongings into two containers, one for the house, one for storage. They were done and on their way by 1:30 p.m., with a promise to arrive on Saturday morning with a pup trailer that could easily fit into our driveway.

They pulled up at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday with a 53' trailer that the driver said he had no hope of backing in - so they lugged everything in from the road for the next three hours. And then off to our storage container, which has great truck access, and again the driver wouldn't go through the gate, so they humped all that stuff in from the road too. I sat in my nice warm car and read the paper!

Mike and Cliff spent the day on Saturday tending to a broken septic line. By the time the movers were gone, and the guys were finished with their repairs, it was dark and we were starving, so we went into town and picked up a pizza. Mike asked the pizza guy if they delivered into Lone Butte, and indeed they do - he'd just gotten back from delivering on our street!

By Sunday half the boxes were unpacked. Dori, bless her heart, came over and help unpack and organize, and Mike went to fill 100 Mile's recycling bin to the brim with carboard boxes.

The house is getting shipshape, and apart from the spare room, which is a rather frightening place to be at the moment, we're fairly organized. We'll hang pictures on the weekend. Starchoice got installed on Monday, and internet service today.

More later.