De-Icing

I was in Williams Lake yesterday, for work...and the first thing I noticed was it was the only body of water I'd seen since moving that wasn't frozen. Driving home...the ice had come off of Lac La Hache during the day - frozen in the morning, no sign of ice by the afternoon. Strange.

A Friend for Buck

We've found a friend for Buck...but you'll have to wait till Friday for details and pictures!

Happy Birthday to Me!

To celebrate my 45th(!) birthday yesterday, Mike and I packed a lunch, loaded the dogs into the truck, and headed down Hwy 97 to Big Bar Lake Road - destination: The Gang Ranch. The Bilbo's Bog sign was outside someone's home on BBL Road, the cows were the welcoming committee at the Gang Ranch. We found ourselves surrounded by numerous very large black angus bulls, and decided perhaps we'd seen enough of them. The pic of Mike was taken at Big Bar Lake, the ice will be off the lake in a couple of weeks. Lucy and I had our picture taken at a forestry service campsite - Jasper and Gillis had also been on the table seconds earlier, but wouldn't pose! We spent the day driving along some backroads through and around some fantastic ranches, heading north after the Gang Ranch towards Williams Lake. We saw bighorn sheep on a mountainside, quail, deer, all kinds of birds, and drove by Buck's birthplace, Alkalai Lake. It was a beautiful day in both weather and content, and definitely one of my best birthdays ever. We finished the day with dinner at the Hoof and Harness.

Sightings

Being a relatively early riser, I took Gillis for a walk up the road this morning while Mike slept. Up by the old Inman farm I saw a female mountain bluebird flitting between fenceposts, and two as yet unidentified shorebirds who seem to have no business living at 3500+ feet with no body of water in sight.

When we got well past the second cattle guard, Gillis suddenly stopped, became very alert, and let out a very soft "woof". About 50 metres away, I caught a glimpse of a mama moose and her last year's calf. We all turned around and went our separate ways.

Wild strawberry plants are beginning to emerge in the woods. Where the ground gets full exposure, the snow is now gone, where it gets very little, it is still knee high in places.

The Roadhouse

Here's our favourite breakfast place. The pic was taken two weeks ago - there's less snow now. Cheryl's a great cook; I highly recommend the omelettes! The restaurant is just around the corner on Hwy 24.

Buck

Buck is our newest family member. He's coming to live with us as soon as the snow goes enough to do more fencing and build a barn. He will be well loved. 

Yay, Cliff

Cliff came over and unloaded everything for us - made the job quick and easy!