June 2020

Weather and Plants

June was cooler and wetter than normal, but not record breaking.  Nonetheless, we had a fire going two nights in June.  We have only sat outside a couple of times because it has still been too cool to be comfortable. 

The extra moisture has done wonders for the wildflowers.   I keep finding new ones, often with improbable sounding names.

Witness Graceful Cinquefoil, Parsnip-flowered Buckwheat as well as Pussytoes.

Lupines are in bloom everywhere.

The cacti have thrived and are throwing out many new lobes.  

Unfortunately, it also did wonders for the weeds.  They are no longer herbs; they are freaking shrubs.  BC put a fire ban early in place this year because of fears of a normal wildfire season as well as fears of having wildfire fighter camps being too constrained because of Covid-19.  That restriction was lifted a few days ago, which now permits me to use a blow torch as well as a chainsaw to go after these horrible plants.

In addition, the huge amounts of pollen scattered by these abundant plants has given hay fever sufferers one of the worst seasons in years.

Brian and his Camera

Brian continues to play with his new toy and getting some impressive shots of our local sky phenomena.

We Can’t Get No Signal!

Our TV signal was lost and we had to call in a technician.  He didn’t show up that day (much to our annoyance, but we did discover a possible reason for signal failure).  While we were waiting for the technician at the last minute, Brian exclaimed, “Look at what was coming down the driveway!”  It was the healthiest mom bear we had ever seen along with two boisterous cubs.  

I had taken in the bird feeders just that morning, because there had been a fair amount of bear activity on the mountain (including at my feeder), and the bears will come back to known sites of food for weeks. 

This mom certainly did—she immediately climbed the tree holding the feeder wires, gnawed at the wires to no avail, and then settled down to mutz on the ground to see what leftovers were available. 

 In the meantime, the cubs were hilarious.  After following Mom up a tree, they then decided to attack a couple of trees nearby, racing to them and then climbing on opposite sides.

A rock provided a good balancing place while Mom was busy.  Mom checked out a couple of bird nesting boxes nearby.

Then we discovered the solution to our TV signal problem.  The dish was on a tree nearby the bird box.  Mom climbed the tree and investigated the dish; it was clearly not stable enough to withstand her exploration.

The bear cubs are not the only babies around.  One morning I noticed a couple of smaller than usual chipmunks.  While I watched them for a few minutes, they spent considerable time racing after one another while exploring the yard.  Then the final clue was given:  they stopped mid-race to have the best 3-minute wrestling match available for youngsters who needed entertainment.  After the wrestling, they continued racing around the yard.

The wrens fledged at the end of the month, and for a day there was multiple flights made as the parents took them out to find bugs.  I hear other nestlings, but unfortunately one set makes a terrible squawking sound, only interrupted when a parent feeds it, leading a horrible gurgle in its place.  It shouldn’t be long before we start to see fawns.

My favourite statue in the area, that of a Peregrine Falcon bearing in on a marmot, is still a favourite marmot basking place.  I drove by, only to stop quickly, seeing a marmot on the Peregrine as well as one on the prey below.  Regrettably, the one moved below, but at the same time I discovered three of them had been basking there. 

The Dish

The water dish has continued to give us good sightings of chipmunks, mice and the wren, but it also has turned out to be a descriptive weather dish.  We even had hail in one of our recent bouts of rain.

The town is opening up.

We were able to go back to our gym at the beginning of the month, with enhanced cleaning protocols that have improved the gym cleanliness considerably.  Going to town has become a BIG excitement.

With the advent of the July 1 holidays, many more tourists have been coming to town.  Although it is a blessing for the tourist driven businesses and vineyards out here, it is a still a little concerning given so many strangers coming in.  This is such a different world these days.  I hope we are not being too isolationist, since we also rely heavily on fruit pickers (especially Mexican and Jamaican) which are far scarcer this year.

Projects

Like with most other people, June was a month of renovations and other improvements.  I had a small exercise place in the basement, but had equipment strewn around.  The first project was to clean up the area and build shelving to hold my stuff.

With pleasing progress in that area, I then tackled the kitchen closet which had been configured as a clothes closet since it was beside a door leading to the outside.  With less kitchen space than I had in the last place, I really needed a pantry.  No classic woodworking was involved here—it was a quick and dirty plywood job, but I am happy with a lot more storage space.

Projects will probably continue next month while we gently reenter a more normal world.  We hope you are all keeping safe and sound, albeit bored.  Thanks for visiting!