Sunday August 27 Update

Warning:  Boredom Ahead

There is absolutely nothing to report about this week.  We have now gone through about 180 real estate listings, with none to our taste.  Places have too many horses, are too old, are ill-kept, have at least two outbuildings (especially large shops), or are 600 miles from the nearest services.  We are starting to get concerned because time is running on.  We are hoping more listings come on the market after the September long weekend, but in the meantime are pretty frustrated.

So, just to keep some spark of interest in this otherwise boring blog, I have chosen to show you a little geology and a little wildlife.

In regards to geology, we had occasion to hike the Enderby Cliffs trail, a rather gruesome ascent of 2000 ft in about 7 km, which meant it was perpetually going up.  I was looking at the rocks, and was perplexed to find what I thought was lava.  Well, apparently I was right.  These cliff formations came from lava-built mountains that were subsequently ground down by glaciation to the rounded hills they are today.

Here’s an example of the big lava boulders as well as small rocks showing signs of the gas pockets you find in explosive lava.  These were all interlarded with rounded glaciated boulders of Canadian shield granite, brought down from the north.

I will show you pictures from the lookout point at 2.3 km compared to the lookout point at 7 km.        

                                                                

If you look carefully at this picture of the Enderby Cliffs, and see the shrub on the right, at the topmost of the red leaves there is a small yellow band where we stood getting the second lookout picture.  Needless to say, I did not stand close to the edge.

The forest varied as we climbed, including damper cedar areas as well as dryer ones.  (All the grass is dormant because of the heat and dryness.)  One of the prevailing species is Ponderosa Pine, which grows to huge heights and diameters.

For the brief wildlife bonus, welcome to our front door chipmunks, which are Western Striped Chipmunks.  They are only a third to a half the size of the eastern ones, and are more stripey.  Also, they don’t seem to understand the use of cheek pouches—most of the time they eat the peanuts offered or carry them away one at a time for stashing.  We have two juveniles sharing the same area because they are siblings.

The red squirrels here are a more greyed brown version of the eastern ones, but are equally bodacious (no picture yet). 

And finally, I have to show you an unique sign that I have never seen before, just to the east outside of Vernon.

If anything becomes more interesting, I will post!  In the meantime, back to snoozing…………..