Still Life

As you can see, spring is not quite ready to show itself in the South Cariboo yet. Here's the birdbath, and the dwarf Korean lilac, both recently emerged from under the snow. There's still about 18" covering the garden. We've lost about 6" of snow in the last week.

The Pupster...

Here he is...he's tiny and adorable, very friendly and into absolutely everything. Every once in a while he passes out for a while, but he's a going concern. He's made himself very much at home and has no fear of anything. No official name yet; Mike will be home tomorrow, and we'll decide then. Welcome home, little guy!

He's Here!

A small tyrant arrived at 3:30 a.m., and has completely taken over the household. The camera is charging, and I'll post photos this afternoon. He's cuter than cute. And I'm tired.

Any time Now...

We're still waiting for the pup to arrive...should be soon.

Eclipsed

I spent a wonderful hour outside last evening watching the earth's shadow slowly obscure the moon. The sky was clear, and the stars and planets were spectacular. The night sky in the country reveals many, many times the number of stars that can be seen in the city glare.

Willis/Amos/Cody is arriving next Monday...he will get his official name after we meet him. There's strong support for "Amos", but the "Cody" fans are phoning and emailing their preferences more than posting them here. Who knows, he may end up with another name entirely.

Mike will be home for the weekend! He has a load from Calgary that delivers in Coquitlam/Richmond on Monday, so he'll be detouring north from Cache Creek tomorrow afternoon.

The warming trend continues, and the ground is beginning to emerge in areas that have been plowed. There's no shortage of snow yet; in some areas it's still two feet deep. The willow branches are beginning to redden, another small sign that winter will be ending soon.

Circle of Life...

Yvette from Turtle Gardens got in touch, and thought that this little dumpling might help fill part of the hole in our hearts caused by Tucker's loss. And so, we're preparing to welcome Willis to our family. He's about 15 weeks old, less than seven pounds, and is a reputed snugglebug. He should arrive in a day or two, and he's getting a new name, coz Willis sounds too much like Gillis. Amos or Cody...which do you like better?

Winter Night, Spring Day

Woke to minus 17 this morning, but it warmed up nicely and there was lots of drippage from the roofline this afternoon. Things are supposed to be even warmer tomorrow afternoon according to the local weather guy.

Buck has started to shed a little, so that's a sign that winter is in the beginning stages of winding down. The most reliable sign that spring is on its way is that the Inferior Roads guys have been out with their pickup truck full of asphalt-type stuff filling up potholes on Highway 97!

I took a quick trip to Williams Lake this afternoon to do some "big city" chores. There are some very pregnant looking cows in the fields alongside the highway.

Up at Night

I don't sleep as well as I used to. Once in a while I'm awake at 1 a.m. and don't go back to sleep for the rest of the night, but that doesn't happen very often. And sometimes I toss and turn for a couple of hours before I get to sleep (and that often has to do with a cup of coffee too late in the day). For the most part though, I'd say I sleep quite well. Except for the damn dogs.

I love all our dogs dearly, I do. They get to lounge around the house, and sleep on the bed, sleep on the couch, and generally they have a pretty good time. They'd rather be in than out in the winter, and that's fine with me. But they need to go out from time to time, and when they do, they not only do their doggy business, they eat snow. And lots of it. And they chew up ice. And they then they need to pee. And so they go back out. And eat more snow. And need to pee in the middle of the night. And so on, and so on. I was up at midnight and up at five a.m. letting desparate, squirming cross-legged dogs out to pee.

One solution would be to take them out on a leash, supervised one at a time, but by the time they sniff around and decide which snowbank they should pee against, I could be outside standing around for a very long time. Only another seven or eight weeks of snow, and I could be sleeping through the night again.

Miniature Donkey Stranded by Monster Avalanche

(Lone Butte - exclusive to the Inman Road Chronicles) A miniature donkey was left stranded in the big pasture early last evening when a monster avalanche swept all the snow off the roof of his house, obstructing the opening in the fence that serves as an entry to his exclusive lodgings. Rupert, 10, was uninjured when the slide occurred, as he was 50 ft away in the pasture, scarfing down hay put out for his companion horse, Buck. Rupert had to seek overnight refuge in the big loafing shed, as failing daylight hindered snow removal efforts.

A snow removal crew of one finally arrived at 1 pm this afternoon after attending to other matters at the local hospital. Within 30 minutes, access to Rupert's pen was restored, and he was back in his house. Officials will monitor the avalanche risk and consider preventative snow clearing.

Rupert has declined comment, but is clearly unhappy at having endured such an ordeal.

Sunday Again

The weekend is winding down again...it's been a quiet, pleasant one. Yesterday afternoon and this morning I spent some time snow plowing; we're clear all around the house, have free access to the woodshed, can get to the pasture and to Rupert's place, and the driveway is more or less at its orignal width.


Rupert's not a big fan of the snow, though he does venture outside for hay. I did some snow shovelling in his pen to make him some walking room. He also has free access to the pasture, and doesn't mind the area where Buck tromps down the snow.


The greenhouse has survived it's first winter; its steep roof pitch does a great job of shedding snow.


Buck is hanging on to his winter coat. By this time last year, he was beginning to shed.

Mike is somewhere in Colorado; the weather is good and the roads are bare.

Sad News

For some reason, yesterday morning I was thinking about Maura, a good friend from a previous workplace. She moved to Revelstoke years ago with her family, and we've stayed sporadically in touch. I was watching the morning news this morning, and as soon as I heard that a helicopter pilot had been killed in Golden, I knew it was her husband Andy, even before they said his name. And it was. How very sad. All the heliskiing passengers survived and walked away from the emergency landing. Andy leaves behind Maura, and their son 12, and daughter 10.

It snowed, and snowed, and snowed.

And then it snowed some more. I woke to about four inches of new snow to brush off the car today, and it kept snowing until early afternoon, depositing another couple of inches. And all because I spent the afternoon yesterday with the tractor clearing away the previous snowfall. If anyone's looking for me tomorrow morning, I shall be aboard the trusty Kubota, plowing and scraping. Very ladylike indeed. Photos tomorrow.

Earth Shattering News

The temperature got to just above freezing for the second consecutive day. This is a good thing.

On the other hand, though, it's snowing tonight.

February Already!

And here we are, three days into February! The days slip by quickly and quietly here in the South Cariboo. The extreme cold I reported last Monday only stayed two days, and it has been considerably warmer, or at least less chilly since. Yesterday the official Canadian groundhog failed to see his shadow, predicting an early end to winter...and I'm predicting that here, it just ain't going to be so. If we'd had a local groundhog (actually we have marmots!), Lone Butte Larry (as I would cleverly dub him) would have certainly seen his shadow and scurried back inside for six more weeks. Last February 5th, I wrote that Buck was beginning to shed the longest hairs of his winter coat. So far this year, there isn't a loose hair in sight on him.

Our front door view this afternoon. (That's the bird bath in the foreground)


Gillis checking out the piles of snow resulting from our plowing efforts


Hoar frost on an aspen.