February 2021

 

 

Winter

This year’s February winter has been impressive.  We had 8 ½” snow during the month after experiencing some big rain on February 1.  After that day, our driveway became famous for becoming a luge track, with ice over 2” thick in areas.  A neighbour came by and deposited 2 cubic yards of sand on the surface, but every time the sun came out, the sand warmed up and then ate into the ice, losing its impact.

 We went out for a walk today and could still schuss down the driveway with the slush and ice.  We still have 17” of snow on the ground, and it seems the animals range less, other than Winston the Weasel who is all over the back yard.  Apparently weasels eat about 40% of their body weight every day, so this is an animal on a mission.

We are finding out that Lake Osoyoos freezes mid-February and this year is no exception.  It is still frozen at the moment.

Some years, spring is showing up at this time with things like big poplar and currant buds, but that hasn’t happened so far.  Nonetheless, we are getting hints…

On February 22, we saw our first Red-winged Blackbird at our feeders.  Oddly enough, on February 22 the previous year, we had a flock of about 30 RWB’s at the feeder.  Obviously, that is the official time.

February 2 marked a favourite day of mine:  Groundhog Day!!  Our marmots here are far too sensible to even venture outdoors in February, but my Christmas Cactus decided to come into full bloom then.  So now it has been renamed my Groundhog Cactus.  Now that I think about it, it has never bloomed at Christmas for me, so that is clearly a misnomer.

Dealing with Covid

A concept that has been floating about lately is that of “Mindfulness”: it is defined as the quality or state of being conscious or aware of something.  With the lack of busyness provoked by Covid-19, it is somewhat easier to be mindful of the things around us on a day-to-day basis.

We have been observing more fascinating weather phenomena, including some rare Kelvin-Helmholtz clouds.  We were so mindful that we didn’t think about taking a picture of it, so you will have to look it up yourselves.  They are beautiful “sea waves” in the sky, caused by two directions of wind.

On the other hand, we still have some nice sunrise/sunset pictures.

 

The image that takes the cake is that of our neighbours, the Edneys, who apparently have special connections to the Starship Enterprise and had the beam extended for transport recently.

 

Getting Outside

It is obviously safer to go outside for activities, and we both have taken advantage of it.

Brian went cycling in the Okanagan Valley, in pursuit of his goal to cycle every month of the year.

I have been going snowshoeing/walking with friend(s) with the benefit of lots of exercise while seeing some different scenery.

We went out for a walk on a cultivated trail near the Osoyoos Airport (yes, we are truly a mainstream community!  Not…) and wandered through classic Antelope Steppe-Brush territory.  This is a very endangered ecosystem, and there are plans for a national park reserve to hold it in place.  Vintners, orchards and ranchers are generally against it because it limits their activities to the land.

It is stark at this time of year, but I will send pictures of when the Antelope Brush is in bloom; it is always of a miracle of nature against the desert conditions.

Snowshoeing has been excellent with the amount of snow we have had this month.  Many of the locals use a number of trails in the area, with some stalwart souls who break trail.  Most of them have the new tub-type snowshoes as opposed to us old farts who still have gut strings on ours.  The most amusing part is watching the trails where someone has brought a dog who has gone hither and yon on every side diversion from the path possible.  That probably was a very tired canine who went home that night!

The scenery and quiet are always refreshing.

Thank you for visiting.  Things will improve this month with warmer weather, promises an of spring, and perhaps a little easing of Covid restrictions.  We hope you are keeping well and perhaps moderately sane.  We don't know what the vaccination schedule will be yet in BC, but age apparently is on our side.  Damn!!

January 2021

The Weather, Of Course

January started off on a fine foot with a walk along the canal in Oliver, about 45 minutes north of us.  Winter to that point had been benign with warmer than average temperatures, and little snow in the valley.  Notice the nice green grass!  Unlike last year, the lake has not frozen over, and there is merely a little ice forming around the edges of the water.

January 13 brought high winds throughout the night; our weather station measured a gust of 101 km/hour.  This created some roof mayhem, with us awoken to the sounds of a very large crash in the wee hours of the morning.  Merely a spring avalanche coming early…..

We got snow on 10 out of 31 days, accumulating almost 14 inches during the month.  In a deviation from the norm, the snow was heavy, wet “snowball” snow rather than the light powdery western snow, so Brian ended up cleaning the driveway 7 times.  Amusingly, Brian is the only one in the whole development that seems to use a snowblower; every other landowner uses a tractor or a quad with a plow blade.  They are inevitably astonished to find out this septuagenarian does such hard work.

 

Critter Update

We were amused mid-January to find that John Deer and a slightly lesser buck were vying for corn underneath the bird feeders.  I saw them both racing to the area, but Senior got there first and used his antlers to poke Junior in the bum with a clear message to buck off.  I had claimed that Senior was an 8-pointer, but learned that was the American way; Canadians count the most prongs on just one antler.  So both of these guys were 4-pointers, but Junior just had 3 prongs on his second antler.

 

We found the game camera worked much better after we put fresh batteries in it (duh) but only have deer pictures to show.  John Deer obviously hung around at night and I did get a poor picture of 3 does in one place.  They are now stepping more gingerly into the deeper, heavy snow.

 

Covid Lack of Life

As usual, there is not much happening socially because of Covid, although we are reaping the positive benefits of social distancing.  One thing I have been able to do is to go walking with someone (Debbie) on Wednesdays and we quite successful in getting some good exercise, solving the problems of the world, and making up for the exercise by indulging in treats after the walk.  We managed to book one of the geodesic plastic domes at our new coffee place, and discovered that the heaters they provide work wonderfully to create a comfortable environment.  It is a class joint—there were fresh flowers on every table, indoor and out.

 

Family Losses

Regrettably, both of our families suffered some losses in January.

On January 23, Brian learned that his favourite uncle, Jack Malloy, had passed away from cancer.  Jack lived in Nova Scotia and was a warm Maritimer his whole life.  He took Brian out camping in Brian’s formative days and the love of the outdoors has endured with Brian to today.   He will be missed.

 On January 29,  I lost my brother, Gord, suddenly at the age of 58 due to a heart attack.  Gord had had a very difficult life, having been diagnosed as bipolar in his 20’s.  Alcohol abuse led to worsening conditions over the years.  In earlier times, I remember his immense capacity for empathy, his love of little kids, his love of motorcycles, and a desire to tell a superior and surprising joke to make you laugh.  I hope he is in a better place now.

To add insult to injury, on January 31 we learned that Brian’s aunt is in palliative care and will pass within a couple of days.  Hopefully this meets the conditions for “threes” and I will have more cheerful news next month.

 

Thanks for visiting, and keep safe.