July, 2017

I had not see any caribou all year which is very unusual then yesterday I saw this little guy all by himself. He has the beginning of a rack and looked like he was molting. It was very nice to see him. They are easy to get photos of as you can see, they don't spook unless you get out of your car.

Then on my way home I saw what I though was a baby bear on the side of the road but as I got closer, I realized the fur was not a bear then he turned around and it was a beaver! He was huge! It was the first one I had seen out of the water.

No moose or bear but really happy to see these 2.

Stay tuned…

Another cow with a baby, so cute!

Came home last night to rafters, this morning he is working on the front gable.

It was a very Moosey day! Saw 4 on the way to work, a bull near our place then a cow with the cutest fuzziest twin babies! They were soooooooo cute! Mommas always move the babies into the tree line when you come along so never time for a photo. Then on my way home I saw 2 cows with a baby each. Yup, it was an 8 moose day! Pretty cool!

Stay tuned…

Scott who owns the rentals and ski school at Troll has a paving business for his summer gig. Today he came over with his equipment and dug out the foundation for the house extension!! We had it roughly dug out by Jim when he removed the trees that were there when we moved in but it needed a lot more work and it was not a good spot for our big loader and too much for Barry to shovel so this was step 1 and needed to be done! This is huge! We are going to try and get the foundation done this year so it's ready in the spring. We also decided we only need one floor so it will be ready a lot quicker! We will also rebuild the miner cabin, make it a bit longer so we don't need a second floor. The new office has a nice big window facing the house so we don't want to block the view. We will have a ton of space! Today was extremely exciting!

Now I get a really good sense of how much space we will have… it's a pretty big room! We've started discussing how the inside will work best we will just have to take it one thing at a time. We need to do so much… first wire it then insulate, drywall, paint then start installing one thing at a time. Laundry, wood stove, wrap around desk… there is a lot more work to do before I'll be moving in, each step closer is so exciting!

So exciting!

Nice surprise today when Len showed up to help Barry stand 2 walls. I didn't see them, he had it all tarped up… this is extremely exciting!! Wall #3 today :). Stay tuned…

Bear #15 was in the parking lot yesterday morning and Mini chased it away. We wouldn't have even noticed him if Mini hadn't seen him! She was feeling pretty bossy for the rest of the day and made sure the floor construction was up to code.

The floor is done!! I helped string and insulate it. Barry got all the boards cut and installed, now I have to go around and nail each board on each joist. We have a much welcomed rain delay today but next will be walls and a roof. Once it is a shell, we can putter away till I'm ready to move in! So exciting!!

Stay tuned…

It’s been over a week now since the province lit on fire.  Ashcroft, Clinton, Williams Lake being the most effected in central BC.  Tourist season was just ramping up when they broke out closing the main highway thru BC and everything came to a screeching halt!  This weekend was supposed to make things worse with a cold front moving down and creating high winds.  Williams lake was evacuated last night.  I worked until 9 last night, Barry called around dinner time and said the smoke was so thick at our place that it was scary and unnerving.  It was socked in pretty good in Wells then we felt the cold front move in, it got chilly real fast and the smoke seemed to lift.  I got home around 9:30, Barry was antsy, worried, upset.  I was tired, I went to bed a short while later, Barry was in and out giving me updates on what was going on outside, he finally came in and said it was raining!!  Phew!!  Thank you Mother Nature for the rain!  I was able to fall asleep and slept great thru the night.  Woke up early, looked outside and everything was soaked!  YES!  It had really rained!  Then it started to downpour!  Dance a little jig!!  Listening to the radio we are beginning to think we are the only ones that got the rain… feeling very lucky!  We are thinking about taking a run up to Costco in Prince George tomorrow but we feel weird leaving the house and animals with all this going on.  It will be nice once things have settled down and people are safe again.  Pretty scary up here these days.  

Stay tuned…

Hadn’t seen anything for over a week then today, 3 moose!  It’s pretty hot and I think most critters are hanging out in the shade or up high.  I don’t expect to see many bear until they are feeding before hibernation, they have already moved up the mountain but will come back down during berry season to fatten up.  This morning  just down the highway at the beaver hut I saw a momma and baby, so cute!  Then tonight on my way home there was a big buck in the same spot… wonder if they are a family.  I have to learn more about that. 
Stay tuned… 

Today I helped Barry plane all the floor boards for my office… things are moving along!  

One nice thing about working in Wells is I meet a lot of people and everyone has a story.  Last week I met a relative of Paddy Doody’s who was .Jason’s best friend in grade school.  In the photo, they are the 2 little guys in the front row holding hands… so cute!!  She was really interesting, she has a number of relatives in the Barkerville cemetery but the fact that she is related to Paddy Doody was really something.  Paddy died at a young age of appendicitis.  Jason is so cute in his jumper.  At the time of the photo Jason was actually Barry, he didn’t start using Jason until his second marriage, we were surprised he is listed as Jason.  There are five Curtis brothers in the photo, Barry only met his Uncle Allan and he is the only brother still alive.  A lot of other famous names in this photo.  I might have posted this years ago but it means more to me today now that I’ve married into the family and I know the other names better.  Louie Hong was at the skihill recently so Barry met him and his wife drops off Bill Hongs book off to us at the store.  Meeting Paddy Doodys relative was exciting for me.  I think she was a great niece.