Wednesday

Knock, Knock, Knockin'...

There's a pileated woodpecker down by the back fence who's going to give himself a serious headache. He's been drumming nearly nonstop all morning.

Heading out to the east end to do some more burning.

The Moose are Loose...

Just home from grocery shopping...and saw two huge moose on the railroad tracks just past the old water tower in Lone Butte. I had the camera in the car, but by the time I got it turned on etc, they'd disappeared into the forest.

We haven't seen the little calf recently. I hope he's okay.

The air has been full of birdsong for the last two mornings. The robins are here.

The Birds are on the Wing...but that's absurd...I Always Thought the Wings Were on the Bird

The birds are coming back! Today I saw a blackbird by Horse Lake, and yesterday I saw dozens of robins at the 108 Ranch, and a swallow by Lac ha Hache. Not much at Lone Butte yet, but we're higher and colder than other areas...but it won't be long. I saw mute swans overhead here yesterday. Dori said the hummingbirds will arrive about the time the ice comes off the lakes...around mid to late April.

I've been entertaining myself this afternoon deepening the small ditch we've made across the driveway to deal with the melting snow. Mike cut up a lot of windfalls this morning - I was going to do some burning this afternoon, but the wind has come up in a big way. Maybe tomorrow.

Sitting in a Snowstorm

Ahem. Could someone mention to whomever is responsible for the weather that Spring starts late tonight? It's snowing heavily heavily here, and has been for the last hour or two. That's enough, thanks.

Things have been mild and melty here, for the most part. Yesterday I spent the morning burning logs and stumps, and had planned to continue today, but that's not going to happen.

Here's a pic I took at Lac des Roches last Thursday. It's about a 40 minute drive east from our place.

Very little else to report. We're just waiting for spring now.

The Little Moose

He (she?) was standing motionless in the woods across the street. I took these just a few minutes ago. Not the best photos, but you can't be too fussy, photographing a moose hidden in the forest at dusk.

Of all the moments I've wished I had the camera handy, last night was near the top of the list. Mike left for work around 6:30 and I did gate duty, opening and closing it for him. I was wandering back to the house, stomping on ice at the edge of the driveway, when I heard a vehicle and looked up. It was Mike, backing along the road, frantically waving for me to get in the truck. I did, and just down the road on the north side was a beautiful, leggy juvenile moose, hanging out at the neighbours. We watched him for a few minutes, and as Mike had to get to work, I came home. It was a lovely sight.

I think it may be one of the orphaned twins who hung around last summer. He was at another neighbour's last week...being fed celery through a window!

It's a grey windy Monday, but after what the lower mainland endured for weather over the weekend, I'm not complaining. Mike's run to the coast has been cancelled today, due to mudslides in the Fraser Canyon, so he's going to be hauling down to Cache Creek, then back to Chasm to reload twice, finishing in Cache Creek.

The melt is most definitely on here, and it's exposing things that I can burn! I'm a slight pyromaniac at heart, and there's nothing I like doing around the property better than burning old branches, stumps and windfalls. Maybe tomorrow I'll get a fire going. And I'll need to get a permit for an industrial burn to get rid of a big slash pile at the east end.

On Saturday we went for an impromptu drive to check out the sights at Bridge Lake...we drove for miles along backroads and eventually circled back to Hwy 24. There are tons of guest ranches tucked in behind Bridge Lake. Most of the roads are active logging roads...there were trucks working on the weekend trying to get the logs out before break up.

It's a beautiful clear morning here. There's a strong wind blowing, which is good, as it will help take away moisture from the snow melt. Around the house we are in much better shape this year. I was looking back on my March 06 archives and though we have much more snow this year, it's melting faster. The edges of two of my raised garden beds emerged from the snow yesterday! I get ridiculously pleased when things start to reappear. All is well here. The critters have all had their breakfasts, Mike came in around 6 a.m. from work and is sound asleep, and my tea is ready to pour.

Oh, Mike saw a cougar at the roadside near Boston Bar last night!

The Boys Ham it Up for the Camera!

I had the tractor in the pasture today, and when I was done, Rupert snuck through the open gate behind the tractor. His freedom lasted about 30 seconds until he was presented with a handful of apple flavoured horse treats. Food over freedom for this donkey!

State of Emergency Declared

I have declared a state of emergency in Rupert's pen. The rapidly melting snow has left his house with standing water in it...so, Rupert the refugee has been moved back in with Buck, and he is happily vacuuming up scraps of hay that Buck left behind at breakfast time. We're going to move his house in the summer, and will add a raised wooden floor and matting.

We need to do some tractor work...the driveway needs scraping, but I need Mike to put the blade on the tractor. Everywhere is wet and slushy, and I have abandoned my snow boots for wellies. The untouched snow is still knee deep though.

The VHF airwaves are abuzz with truckers predicting an early break up this spring, due to the warm weather, and I noticed this morning that there are load restriction signs on the main roads already, although they're all at 100%. As the ground thaws, heavily loaded trucks do huge damage to the roads. Log hauling shuts down every spring, and you can't get a full load of gravel until June.

I saw two Canada geese flying by this morning...the first we've seen since September.

A Walk and Cougar Talk

To celebrate the emergence of our road from under the snow (the snow piles along the roadside left by the plow are chest-high still) we went for a walk up to the old Inman Farm this morning. On our way home, our neighbour Susan drove by and stopped to chat. She told us that another neighbour had seen a cougar up the road yesterday. Hmmm...no walking alone for a while!

The surface of Inman Road emerged from under the snow yesterday, in all its pot-holed glory. Winter is on the way out!

Speaking of pot holes, Hwy 24 has suddenly developed thousands of them, as it does every year. Won't be long till a pick up truck and a couple of guys with shovels show up to start filling them.

Winter is starting to feel a little long. I had a nice brief reprieve from it on Tuesday...did a quick trip to Langley to drive Jen home. The grass was green, daffodils were coming up, pussywillows were along the roadsides, and catkins on the alders. An hour in Costco reminded me of why we moved to the country, and I was happy to head back up the Fraser Canyon toward home.

It's well below zero today. The sun has come out and now that I've looked after poop scooping Rupert's pen, brushing Buck, and feeding the chickadees I'm going to take a nap before going to work.

Today is the fortieth anniversary of my family's arrival in Canada from England. Time flies.