The older we get, the more lessons we learn.
A couple of signs in town have proclaimed:
Beer is cheaper than gas….drink, don’t drive. Gas is about $2.199 a liter here.
Going for a short walk in our neighbourhood, we met a pastor
and his wife who had just moved to the area and were hoping to find a rental
property. Like any first acquaintances,
we were chit-chatting, asking about each other.
The pastor asked how long we had been married, to which we replied “36
years”. He promptly said that that was like
5 minutes…………………………underwater.
We wonder what his marriage counselling must be like.
Nelson, BC
On
May 31, we left for a quick trip to Nelson, BC, about 4 hours east of us.
Nelson, BC is a fascinating study
of BC history. A silver rush in 1897 led
to the incorporation of the city, followed by some notable achievements in
infrastructure.
Before incorporation of the city, Nelson had the province’s first Hydroelectric dam in 1896.
The electricity provided allowed for an
electric tram to be established in 1899 along Kootenay Lake. It still runs today, staffed by volunteers
and accepting fees by donation.
The tram runs along a city park
by the eastern lakefront, filled with beautiful plants interspersed with unique
sculptures and visitor-friendly venues.
The town itself has made an
effort to keep some local interest by allowing fast food franchises only on the
outskirts, while more local restaurants populate the city interior. Our quick favourite became the Library
Restaurant, with fascinating interior décor (and really good food!)
Further efforts to enhance the town
involved mural contests for each year since 2017. Noted graffiti artists were invited to
decorate city buildings, mostly in the back venues. This meant that walking alleys was clean,
safe and interesting. Modes of art
differed considerably, but all of it contributed to a much more interesting and
lively landscape.
Two railways went through Nelson
to service the mining industry, and one had been converted to a beautiful rail
trail with trestle bridges, lush scenery and waterfalls. The climate is temperate rainforest, which
made for more deciduous trees and wonderful smells that you don’t get in the
desert.
For a three-day stay, it was a
wonderful get-away-from-dodge experience.
Weather
This June has been one we have
never experienced before. Just to start,
we had 46.2 m of rain during the month over 10 days.
Temperatures were cool to the
extent that June 26 was the first day warm enough this year to wear shorts in
the morning.
Having said that, the landscape
has never looked greener, and everything is growing lushly. Unfortunately, that includes the weeds that
are now approximately shrub-size in no time.
The dampness has allowed me to pull these suckers out by the roots, but
the battle is relentless. On the other
hand, as you might expect, the wildfire risk is low so far, and that is a
welcome change.
We have a hiking trail nearby which has exploded with alpine wildflowers at the moment.
Oh, by the way, I have been
showing you picture after picture of wildflowers with beautiful sounding names,
and have to provide a bit of a reality check with this guy.
You are looking at “Meadow Death
Camas” which is poisonous to livestock.
We have it all over our property, and are now fearful when those US cows
escape their bounds, which they have done again this year.
Construction and land values
There is an astonishing amount of
construction activity on the mountain this year. Last year featured a big surge of
Vancouverites cashing out on prices there and coming to establish more
luxurious places here. Last year featured
supply chain delays, and shortage of builders/tradespeople, but that has only
escalated to where owners are now hiring crews from as far away as Calgary. Land prices have gone up form
$175,000-$200,000 for a 3-acre lot up to $500,000 plus.
In the meantime, land assessments
have gone astronomical and we have gone from $700,000 to $1.4 million this
year. Heaven knows what that is going to
do for municipal taxes!!
I think the peak has passed here,
and properties that flipped for $400,000 in a few months last year now are
getting no interest.
We have construction going on on
three sides of us, and every morning is punctuated at 7-7:30 am with the sounds
of heavy equipment backing up. The
nature of the mountain is changing as more city people move out to this rural
area without any idea of what rural living entails.
Criminal activities
I can only end this with a confession. I went down to the US last week to get cheap
gas and buy a grocery or two. Dairy
products, poultry and some meats are much cheaper down there, and the cheese
especially is tasty and good value. I
had three missions: buy gas, buy peanuts
in the shell for my feathered freeloaders, and get some cheese and a chicken
for guests arriving imminently.
I was totally successful on all
three counts! Of course I keep receipts
and declare everything to the cent so there is no problem. The lineup took a while, and the guy ahead of
me obviously had some issues since after 8 minutes discussion with the border
guard, he was sent aside to secondary search.
When you are white-haired and friendly (me, of course), I just breezed
up and declared what I had bought, saying the birds got the best deal ($75US vs
$55 gas vs $21 groceries….) Laugh, laugh.
He asked what I bought for
groceries. Then he wanted to see
receipts. Then he asked whether I had
bought a chicken, and whether it was cooked or not. Then I got sent aside to secondary. What?
Unbeknownst to me, there was a
virtual embargo on raw poultry coming into Canada because of avian flu. The bird was confiscated, I was given a receipt
and assured that since I had declared it voluntarily, there would be no adverse
repercussions for me on future trips. There is no photo evidence of this transgression.
Slinking back into Canada, I
started thinking. People 10 km away from
me could eat this without adverse effects?
Avian flu is transmitted in faeces.
The bird I had bought had been eviscerated—it couldn’t poop if it wanted
to. In fact, it was dead.
Still determined to serve a
chicken, I bought one in Canada for $20 Cdn instead of the $12 US. Most expensive chicken dinner I have ever
served!
Summer might be coming yet! Hope you have a good First of July!
