June, 2017

Things are starting to take shape!  We are looking a bit like a lumber yard.

It still surprises me how big the porcupines are here.  This guy was on the side of the road on the way home.  Still no caribou!  Tons of little bunnies and lots of deer.  There is a cow and calf hanging around Wells as well as a bull moose but we aren’t sure if they are a family because they aren’t seen together.  They are right by Stromville which is just as you are leaving Wells towards Barkerville.  
Stay tuned… 

One of the moose I saw yesterday was a baby, extremely cute!  He was all by himself on the highway, he trotted a long for a little while then suddenly panicked and with legs flailing he almost ran right into my car!  He was adorable.   Hope he stays safe, not sure why Mom wasn’t with him.  

Barry got his jeep going today so took it for a ride around a few logging roads near home and check out what he found…

It’s 3 feet and has this weird back snake looking piece that allows it to stand up.  He is going back tomorrow to see if he can find the other one.  If he does it will be worth a lot of money for the matched set.  This one by itself might be worth a few bucks because it stands.  Very exciting!  

The critters are very curious!  

Saw a moose last night on my way home.  I came around a corner and he was standing right in my lane, I stoped and gave him lots of room.  He looked at me for the longest time then decided to walk along in front of me in my lane for a few kilometres.  Of course I had forgotten my iPad at work … first time ever!!  So I wasn’t able to get a photo, typical!  But he was pretty funny, just decided to go for a cruise along the highway.  
Stay tuned…

The moose I saw tonight was between Wells and Barkerville.  He had the beginning of a nice looking rack!   The bear was at the bottom of Devils Canyon.  

After work tonight Barry and I delivered hie blacksmith painting to the St. George Hotel in Barkerville.   Very exciting!  It is hanging in the stair well so everyone will see it every time they go down the stairs.  We are hoping some rich person takes a liking to it.  

One bear today making it 10 bear, 4 moose and zero caribou.  I see lots of deer daily which is unusual for this area.  

Stay tuned… 

I whipped up 100+ Frog Snots before work today.  They are selling very fast!  Cheryl figures it’s my retirement.  And Barry compares it to the pet rock.  Hahah.  They do get a lot of attention and almost everyone buys one, or 2 or more!  Love it when you hit a good one!  

These 2 stay out all night now and are loving it!  They stay close to the house, chasing all the night creatures.  All day long they are either sleeping or begging for food.  What a life! 

Last night around 10 Barry noticed there was a wet spot on the kitchen floor.  Uh oh!  Sure enough, the pipe to the hot water heater is dripping.  We had a problem with it in the winter, Barry had patched it up and made sure he bought the parts we need to fix it but hadn’t gotten around to installing them.  The major problem with this situation is the main shut off valve doesn’t work!  So we had to fix it with the water running.  We got soaked!  We got it patched last night then installed the new hardware this morning when we had time to think about it.  We put a fan on and it was mostly dry in the morning, we managed to not spill too much this morning… it went pretty smooth.  So the next step is to replace that main shut off!  It’s in the crawl space so not a fun job… it will get very wet!  Luckily I have never had to go down there!!  
Our baby hot water tank.  

Stay tuned…

The highway mower parks his mower on our property every year when he is working in this area.  He parked there last week one day and hadn’t moved.  We were wondering what happened to him then today he was down there working on it.  It had broken down.  It is still there, not sure if he fixed it or not.  Mini and Lily got in big trouble when they decided to go down the driveway by themselves to see what was going on.    Little brats!  

I’m feeling better, I couldn’t spend another day doing nothing.  I have picked up a bunch more design work so I spent the day in my office.   

This poor guy hit our window today.  He eventually flew off but we think he lost an eye.  Poor guy.  

This is Hugo the Humming bird.  He has been around for a few weeks now.  He always sits on this branch, every day unless it’s raining.  He seems to have the run of the feeder which is close by.  He fearlessly guards it, fights each battle hard and then rests here for a while until he is called back into duty.  I can see him perched here from my chair in the living room, every morning when I have my tea, there he is, a little more than just a dot, but I can see he is there.  If you step outside, you can hear his wings and when there is a battle going on, it’s really loud.  

I’m still not feeling well but I am in my chair today.  Barry is back on his feet so I asked him if he could get me a photo of Hugo so I can introduce him to everyone… an hour later I see he has his telescope set up with his big camera attached… serious business!!  But that is why I asked him to take it, I could never get this shot!!  This was the best he got, between the wind and Hugo constantly taking off and landing, the branch doesn’t stand still, at all.  I do like this shot, looks like it is night but it is bright and sunny, the forest across the highway is in the background.  

I get shot glass flowers all the time when the wild flowers are out.   So pretty.  

A few days ago Barry came home and said Len wasn’t feeling well, something with his stomach.  Then last night when I got home from work, Barry had a fever… ugh!  By the time I came to bed it had broken.  I woke up this morning feeling a little off but with my tummy, I have those days so didn’t think much of it.  As I was about the walk out the door, it hide me like a ton of bricks… double ugh!  It became clear very quickly that I wasn’t gonna make it.  

Stay tuned… 

I saw a huge moose this morning on my way to work which makes it 4 and no bear so I stand at 9.  

It was busy at work today.  Billy Barkers 200th birthday party in Barkerville and there were 100 old cars in town.  Also a wedding with 160 people.  Dave and Cheryl’s, new to them, 1934 Packard Limo fit right in.   What a beautiful car!  

The power was back on at noon today.  Barkerville called BC Hydro to say they were going to buy a $50,000 generator if they weren’t able to gaurantee it would be on today because they have a 160 member wedding taking place tomorrow.  (We get inside scoop now).  BC Hydro guaranteed it would be back in 90 min, about 30 minutes later a line up trucks went by our place.  Sure enough it was back within the 90 minutes.  They had so many outages, it was just a matter of getting to us.  Now we know who has the pull.  It was out for about 20 hours.  

Today I saw nothing in my way in to work but one moose (makes it 3) and one bear (makes it 9).  Stay tuned… 

I wrote a big long post yesterday and today it is gone… sigh.  So this is a rewrite…

The power went out while I was at work today, it was about 3:30.  A major storm rolled in shortly after, the wind was crazy!  When Barkerville people started to show up and tell us that BC Hydro might have it diagnosed in 3 hours, we decided it was going to be a while so I packed up and headed home.  

Saw the same moose in the exact same place (posted a photo couple of days ago) so hoping I get to watch him grow his rack over the summer.  

Day 2…

9am and still no power.  The store won’t open until it is restored so I have a day off until it comes back.  The BC Hydro site is not telling us much which we always think is code for “it’s going to be long enough that we don’t want to be inundated with calls”… ugh!  We have the generator going to keep the fridge cold.  We lost our milk but luckily I always have a few containers frozen.  Hopefully it restores soon.  I will keep you posted so stay tuned… 

I’ll just go sleep in the other room….

We have millions of dandelions this year… it’s crazy how fast they appear!  Our weed wacker died on Barry the other day, he borrowed one from the ski hill so tomorrow they will all be gone!  

Back to some warm days and sunshine… same temperature in and out.  

Today I saw a bear on the way home, that’s makes 8 so far. Lots of bunnies lining the highway.  Still no caribou and only the one moose.  I’m off for 2 days now so unless something wanders into the yard, the count will continue Thursday.  Stay tuned….

This is the first moose I’ve seen in a long time!!  All I had was my iPad with me so it’s a terrible photo but he was beauty!  I also saw 2 bear and a lot of deer on the way home tonight.  

She melts my heart!  She is so sweet and adorable.  Her fur is by far softer then any of the other kids.  She smells so yummy when she’s been sleeping.  Twice she has gone MIA for 12 hours!  She loves to explore.  Afterwards she spends about 4 days lazing around the house she is so tired from her travels.  We are very worried she might get lost or worse, wish she didn’t, but she does, just gotta keep our fingers crossed she says safe.  Love her sooooooo much!