June 2022

 

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!