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.
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