November 2020: All is quiet on the Western Front

 

To say there is little to report for November is to make a complete understatement.

Like in other parts of the country, Covid-19 has had a very dampening effect on activity.  Masks have been de rigueur for some time now, but with increasing cases Dr. Bonnie Henry (our heroine) declared social activity to be minimized to a household basis only. Despite our comfort that we live in a very unpopulated area, there have been 5 cases of Covid-19 in Osoyoos recently (town of 5000) (all brought in by outsiders visiting) so we have become even more cautious in our outings.  Fortunately, colder temperatures are here so we can run our fireplaces and send smoke signals to the neighbours.

Speaking of weather, we hit a record high on November 5, and temperatures have continued to be within a narrow bandwidth of +3 to -3 for most days.  We have about 6 inches of snow on the ground up on the mountain, but Osoyoos still has no snow on the ground.

The waterfront looks like this:

 

Osoyoos has always been a popular winter destination for some Canadian snowbirds, especially those from the northern Prairies, and this year is no exception.  The town is pretty booked solid, especially since many Canadians who normally go south the US are looking for more Canadian locations.

The local businesses continue to innovate, and we have been most interested in the actions taken by a new coffeehouse established on the main road this year.  (It’s called Junction 3 since it is located on Hwy 3.) The coffeehouse is a nondescript little building with a large parking lot, which has been outfitted with chairs, tables and lovely flowerpots in the summer to let people enjoy the outdoors.  When cooler temperatures prevailed, they brought out several little plastic bubbles for people to continue enjoying the outdoors while avoiding the elements. Each little dome has its own Christmas tree to improve the patron’s’ spirits.

 

Regrettably, Brian’s mother passed away on November 9 after a short illness.  She had passed her 100^th year, and her decline was swift but merciful.  When Covid restrictions finally ease, the four siblings will plan a get-together in Ontario where they can share memories.

 To make this even remotely interesting, I tried to save the best story for the last.  I finally put out my bird feeders after bear activity was mostly done for the season.  It didn’t take the feathered pigs long to rediscover the Malloy buffet.  I offered black oil sunflowers seeds, peanuts in the shell and frozen mealworms on a platform feeder, black oil sunflower seeds in a fly-through mesh feeder, and a gourmet mix of nuts in a conical feeder (somewhat distorted by the application of bear jaws in the past).  (This gourmet mix consists of peanuts, walnuts, cashews, almonds, hazelnuts and even Macadamia nuts, better than anything I would buy for ourselves.  Brian gets fed Kraft dinner.  What can I say?)  On the ground I throw some cracked for the grouse and other ground feeders.

Attendance is great and diverse.  Amongst the larger birds, we get Clarke’s Nutcrackers, Stellar Jays and Magpies on a regular basis as well as tons of the little guys.

On November 30, I looked out at the feeders, and to my surprise there was a five-point mule deer buck snorfing down the cracked corn on the ground.  No matter how I tried to distract him or go from door to door to get the best shot, he was far too interested in eating to afford me any other view than that of his rump.

Finally, I caught a moment!  Good looking animal!  Notice how close he is to the bird feeders…..

 

He stayed there for about half an hour, licking the corn from the snow, much to the annoyance of the big birds who were reluctant to light on the feeders while he was so close.  Brian happened to look out just as the issue was finally resolved.  A magpie landed on the rump of the deer!  He decided this was too much, and ambled off to the satisfaction of the birds.  Wish I could have captured a picture of that!

Brian’s barber taught him that there are only 3 possible haircuts for men:

               Unparted

               Parted

               Departed

 

Thank you for visiting.  We continue to wish you well and hope for your comfort and health in the upcoming month.

October 2020

 

Like most Canadians, it only seems fair to start out with a weather report.  October started out with temperatures in the 20’s, hurtling down to -4.5 on October 26, before returning to a more seasonal +8 at the end of the month.

October 23 featured a record snowfall in the Okanagan, giving us 8 ½ inches snow.  Our first clue in the morning was being unable to see beyond 10 feet outside. (It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas……)  To Brian’s chagrin, he ended up blowing the driveway twice just to get rid of the stuff.  The geraniums didn’t seem impressed at all, but there sure were pristine surroundings to enjoy.

 

Cloud-watching at this time of year can be a full-time spectator sport.  One day the skies were just boiling with weather currents.  I should have tried a video instead of believing I could capture this in a still picture.

 

While it was still beautiful out, Brian’s cycling group to Su Casa swelled to a mighty 10-strong team, determined to climb the hill to gorge on Denis’s famous cinnamon buns.  Here are some of the die-hards enjoying the open tent Denis erected to allow social distancing outside.

 

Denis is a very quirky character.  He built “picnic tables” for the chipmunks, complete with seeds on top.  I couldn’t catch one in the act, but you can see how well their furniture coordinates with the décor.

 

Things are quiet socially because of the second wave of Covid 19, but we still manage to interact with a few neighbours now and then.  The big clue about isolation is the status of my car’s gas tank—I barely fill it once a month since I am not going anywhere.  We’ll have saved a lot of money to spend for when we are let loose again.

 Two and a half cords of wood were delivered on October 28 to help prepare for winter.  The pile loomed in a threatening fashion by the woodshed, but within 3 days, Brian had all of the wood stacked in place in preparation for winter.  The woodshed could not accommodate the batch, so there are nice piles for the mice and weasels to play in.

 

Speaking of critters, I did see a long-tailed weasel this month, as well as seeing his tracks in the snow near our coffee deck.  Except for a couple of snowy days, the chipmunks have been in and out all month.  Naturally, there are deer around.  With the presence of bears all summer, I have had the bird feeders in, but felt free to put them out a couple of days ago.  Both of us missed all the activity.

Oh, yes—a skill testing question:  how to tell if deer have been in your garden?

o   There is not a single blossom in sign despite prolific blooms the day before.

o   “Deer-resistant” plants like marigolds have been pulled up by the roots, but then are dropped because they really don’t taste good.  Marigold carcasses lie everywhere.

o   There are hoofprints in the soil.

 

On Halloween morning, we woke up to find someone had soaped our kitchen window.  At least, it looked like that.  Since this is predominantly a retirement community, the presence of teenagers was extremely unlikely, and there was only one window treated that way.  So, what was going on?  We went outside to check, and there were scrapings on the sill and the stucco had been scraped somewhat.  Well!  I don’t have pictures to prove it, but we believe John Deer had used our house to remove a little velvet from his antlers.  Sure enough, we saw him and Jane Doe later in the day and since they are going into rut things are a little more active.

Garden raids and window soaping: neigbourhood vandals sure are different here.

Thanks for visiting!  We hope you are keeping well during these times.

September 2020

 

OK, we have done 2/3 of the year.  The second third has involved staying isolated and avoiding contact.  When you live rurally, as we do, that has not been as difficult as it might seem.  We avoided the town of Osoyoos all summer because of the tourists, and only did restrictive trips to town to buy groceries and other fundamentals.  (Amazon has become our best friend in order to get interesting things in the mail.....)  Our neighbours have been careful, and we have actually had the pleasure of a few modest social gatherings with them.  The weather has been extremely cooperative, with temperatures in the high 20’s for the first week of September.  With little rain for three months now (less than 15 mm in total), everything is going brown.

 

Brian started a men’s cycling group that meets Thursday morning to cycle uphill to a marvellous Mexican restaurant, Su Casa.  Su Casa is in the middle of nowhere on Highway 3 (Crowsnest Pass).  Denis, a French Canadian, and his wife Flor, a Mexican, started their restaurant about the time we moved here.  Flor’s Mexican food is to die for, and can’t be more authentic.  Denis, a true character, bakes cinnamon buns.  This is the sole purpose of the Thursday morning cycling group:  go to Su Casa, have coffee and a cinnamon bun, and come home and have a nice afternoon nap.  It doesn’t get any better than this.  (Denis did tiling beforehand, and our tile floors were a result of his work.  Nothing like being versatile.)

 

Highlights for us this month have been a couple of good hikes.

Near the beginning of the month, we drove up a rugged road to Mt. Kobau, a major mountain west of Osoyoos. (The road was an adventure in itself…)  There was a decent trail around the summit, and a good opportunity to see over to the US.

 There were also obviously burned out areas, and you could see fireweed and other plants starting to fill in at the ground level.  Not commonly known, but standing burnt trees are extremely unstable and are prone to snapping off with little provocation afterwards.  Walking through a burnt out area should be done with caution.

 

On our way back, we moved a few broken trees off the road.

We could still see smoke from hot spots from the Palmer fire in Washington. 

 

The bird’s eye view from the top was marvelous.  One enterprising couple was there with wine glasses in hand and a vintage to celebrate.  On one side we could see the valley leading to Osoyoos, while on the other side we could see the Similkameen Valley leading to Keremeos.

 

We didn’t see much in the way of critters other than a couple of monster grasshoppers, each  about 2“ long.

 

Mid-September featured about 12 days in a row of heavy smoke from US fires, leaving us in a grey zone where we didn’t go outdoors and kept the windows closed.  It wasn’t fun, but thinking about what the people were experiencing in the states made our situation much more tolerable.  We have had a very benign year this year regarding wildfires in BC.  The smoke still made for some good pictures.

On September 20, we went for a walk around Conkle Lake.  This provincial park is near to us (kind of, in that we can reach the turnoff on Highway e in 30 minutes.  The road to the lake is a lumber road, graveled.  The 25 km takes about an hour to travel.

 Conkle Lake is named after a local settler, and is a fascinating view into some unique terrain.

We started at a parking lot and followed the sign called “Trail Start”.  We’re not dumb!  There was a beautiful sandy beach here which obviously was ideal for dabbling.

The forest we travelled though was dense and shady.  Trees were festooned with Horsehair Lichen and occasional bright patches of Sulfur Lichen.

A major fire came through the area in 1931, destroying many of the old-growth larches.  Nonetheless, some remain as really large trees.  Mature trees here (both larch and pine) will survive a fire, because of thick enough bark at that at point to withstand the heat and continue to grow. 

On the west side of the lake, we travelled through forest that included cedars and other wet-loving plants.  There were little fall colours, although fireweed and other lower plants showed some colour.

 

On the other side of the lake, things changed completely.  The dampness was gone, to be replaced by grasses.  We could see across to the other side, where rock falls from unstable cliffs had pulled trees down.  On the east side, colour was starting to show from the Aspen Poplar and the Larches.

We had been told this route was 11 km, and we were ¾ around at this point.  It surely was going to be easy to finish.  Additionally, we could see the sandy beach from the shoreline.

NOT.

We started climbing, which clearly wasn’t taking us back to the sandy beach.  And we climbed and we climbed.  About 2/3 of the way up, we saw a sign saying “Exit”.  What?  We climbed some more (for a total of 400 feet) and eventually crossed a wooden bridge.

Park information had suggested a trail to a waterfall about 2 km from where we started.

Lo!  We were at the waterfall.  Although it was attractive, it was at low ebb.  We were sure spring would be an exciting time to be there.  Some rock slabs along the creed were indeed impressive.

There are lots of fallen trees here, but the dynamics seem to be different.  We speculate on rock falls from unstable cliffs and snow loads on younger trees.  Or maybe Mother Nature is creating natural teepee frames.

Another 2 km of relatively steep descent took us back to the parking lot where we could see the sun setting. 

Good day.  There is no photographic proof, but we saw a bald eagle, a garter snake, and a small frog.  Frankly we were a bit too tired to take pictures at that point.  Recuperation must follow.

 

Thanks for visiting.  Remember, Relish today, Ketchup tomorrow…..

 

                                                

August Blog

 

The Weather has been fine

               Despite a seemingly cold July, Summer came back with a vengeance.  We had a number of days in the low 30’s.  On August 17, Osoyoos recorded a record high of 38.3 degrees, but since it is generally about 5 degrees cooler on the mountain our high was 33.4.  We get used to this heat very quickly, and  are now finding it chilly when it is merely 18 degrees.

               As usual, summer is very dry.  We have received 5.4 mm of rain in July and 4.0 mm of rain in August, so much of the vegetation is now brown and dormant.  I don’t know how these plants make it year after year.

                One nice thing about August is the spectacular sunsets.

Fire Season:  The Palmer Fire

After a very quiet year for wildfires, things broke loose in mid-August.  The Mount Christie fire near Penticton garnered a lot of national attention, but that was well away from here.

The Palmer Fire was another story since it was right across the valley from us in Washington.  On August 18, we saw a huge plume of smoke in the afternoon, seemingly out of nowhere.  (On the left end of Lake Osoyoos below, you can see the American town of Oroville.) 

Unfortunately, winds picked up.

By nighttime, you could see the flames.

Within a day, the fire had grown to 6,000 acres; within 5 days, the fire had covered 18,000 acres.  The biggest concern was that it might reach the Canadian border, but as of the end of August 31 the fire was 96% contained.

In the first two days we found considerable amounts of ash on the balcony, with the first day showing blackened fir needles.

Even after the fire had moved through an area, you could see hot spots of smouldering as the fire continued within large stumps or roots.  This is as close as we ever want to get.

Adventures

Despite Covid-19 keeping us away from town as much as possible, we still have had a number of small but very enjoyable outings.

A Conservation Land trail is withing walking distance of our house; there is water running quietly through the valley.  It is like walking into a different country.  Everything is green and lush and you get to see lots of bird and beast activity.

We then drove west of here to cycle in the Similkameen Valley along with a pair of friends.  Our route was a quiet side road that wound through orchards and vineyards, and that is where we made a wonderful discovery.  The temperatures were in the low thirties when we discovered a self-serve fruit stand at a corner.  Some of the produce was free for the taking while other products were offered on an honour system.  This is a fabulous time of the year, with peaches at their peak and all kinds of vegetables available.  Apples will be next.  It really is tough living here.

The scenery in the area included some local hoodooos, which are not uncommon around here.

The Game Camera and Critters

We have only small things to report since it appears the house construction next door is keeping the deer away.  One of our first discoveries was that of a Western Terrestrial Gartersnake, also known as a wandering gartersnake.  We found Wandering Willie on our coffee deck one morning, to be followed by an appearance on our patio a few days later.  He’s just a little guy, about a foot long, but he is cute.

Some Ruffed Grouse showed up, but the only one who stuck around decided to become a guard grouse and stood on a rock in a dedication fashion to protect us.

In hopes of getting a few more shots of Wandering Willie, I put the game camera looking at our sidewalk, but only managed to get about 200 pictures of mice!

One, then two, then three…

 

A joyful reunion: on August 28 R2V2 was back! 

We had a family tragedy late July, when R2V2 developed robotic vacuum dementia.  First, he would go round and round in circles until finally beeping for help.  Then, he would get stuck in corners, again beeping desperately for help. With a phone call to tech support, it was determined he was eligible for warranty work, and he travelled to San Jose, California, for a spiritual rebirth.  A replacement arrived 5 days ago, and it is clear this is a younger and more capable model.  He doesn’t get stuck under the love seat, and he moves more quickly.  This clearly was a new entity, so he has been named BART for Born-again R Two.  We still call him R2 for short, of course.  He has been well-used since his return, especially for picking up wildfire ash.

August 31 Major weeding done

I promised I wouldn’t whine again about weeding, and I won’t.  After one final push yesterday, I have enough for a final trailer-load to go for disposal.  I developed a new tool for hauling weeds that sped up the process. 

Earlier this month, Brian took a picture of me in the grasses to show how tall everything grew this year.

One benefit of grubbing for weeds is that you find beautiful wildflowers like the Mariposa Lily.

There is one big invasive problem that can’t be dealt with by pulling, and that is that of Cheatgrass.  Cheatgrass was introduced in the 1800’s and is particularly a problem in dry regions. It’s everywhere. It goes dormant sooner that the native plants, and is at higher risk of burning in wildfires.  More immediately, it has the nastiest seeds.  Looking innocent at first, they have an oval end which tapers to a sharp point with a bristle.  The oval end penetrates smoothly into anything woven, but from that point it is very difficult to dislodge.  And like a porcupine quill, the bristle end hurts!  See my knee pads?  And that was after shaking the extras loose!  The only way to remove them is to pull them out backwards, which is way too time consuming.  And, I have to launder the affected garments separately; otherwise the seeds get embedded in everything and provoke pain in the most unlikely places.

Ah, well, there has to be a price for living in Paradise.

 

Thanks for visiting.  Stay safe and well.