July 2022

 

Social Events

You can tell Covid restrictions are lifting here—we have a social life again!

On Canada Day, we hosted our neighbours for burgers on the BBQ for a special Thank God It’s Friday evening.  We could stand outside for a change and not freeze or be rained upon.

We also ate out several times at restaurants, not even counting McDonalds.

Our local Fire Hall hosts a BBQ fundraiser each July, in recognition of a 2003 wildfire in the area.  The entire community is invited to share in a potluck dinner, with beef donated by a local rancher.  Rain was threatened in the day, so seating was made available in and out of the Fire Hall.  Line ups for food indicated how little people on Anarchist Mountain are fed.

Osoyoos returned their Music in the Park feature on Friday nights, and we went to see Taylor-Rae and her backup band, the Back Seat Drivers.  There is always a good turnout for this, although the hair colour seems to be trend towards gray and white.

Weather

For the first 10 days of July, daytime temperatures hovered between the teens (14.2 on July 4) and low 20’s.  (On July 4, the high of the day was only 14.2 and we had the fire going in the evening to take off the chill!)   In the remaining time that month, we had 7 days in the 30’s, topping at 34.7 near the end of the month.

Several phenomena were a direct result of this year’s vagaries.  At the middle of the month, the plants started responding to the heat, and literally exploded in size while blooming like crazy.

The Opuntia Cacti had hundreds of buds.

 

Wildflowers like Lupines proliferated, and near the end of the month Mariposa Lilies came into bloom.  These flowers are about the size of a medium lemon, and are on fragile stems.  In previous years, I saw one or two blooms; these year we had several dozen in bloom over the property.  This one is standing daintily with Yarrow (the white stuff) and Rosy Pussytoes (the pink stuff), both of which are everywhere.

 

Unfortunately, the weeds have proliferated, and have grown to an extremely large size compared to other years.  Weed World War 5 is ongoing.  With the heat, I have started getting up at 7 AM to get an hour or so of weeding done before the temperatures ramp up.  Clearly this is a sign of mental illness.

By evening, I retire to sleep in the basement for any potential coolness, and feel like a troll as I climb the stairs in the morning…..

 There are far fewer birds at the feeders, despite installing a bird bath nearby.  However, we have had a new family of California Quail, featuring about 20 birds, who occasionally scuttle across the front yard from one safe location to the next.  One of our neighbours had better luck:  a Hummingbird built a nest one their wind chimes at the front door.  The young had been born and they could see a little beak poking out for food when an adult came by.

By the end of the month, the heat and dryness have led to an increase in wildfires, although the two big ones in our area are over an hour’s drive away from here.

The Nohomin Creek Wildfire, near the much-beleagured village of Lytton, was discovered on July 14 and has since grown to over 3,000 hectares.  We started seeing signs of smoke in the valley a few days ago, depending on the wind direction.

The Keremeos Creek Wildfire was discovered on July 29 and has reached almost 2800 hectares, much of it in steep and inaccessible terrain.  We immediately saw signs of it because of a huge plume of smoke created by the fire.

A local news outlet has some pictures of it to give you an idea.

https://www.castanet.net/news/Penticton/378144/Penticton-photographer-captures-dramatic-nighttime-photos-of-Keremeos-Creek-wildfire#378144

Wildlife Rescues

Of course I try to save the best stories for the last….

On July 19, a neighbour called to see if I could help rescue a bat tangled up in their electric screening on the deck.  When I went over, this Little Brown Bat had a leg or legs tangled between the screen and its frame and was in considerable pain.  The leather gloves I was wearing were just too clumsy for trying to disengage its tiny little legs, so I tried to release it with bare fingers, only to be bitten by the bat with enough force to draw blood.  (Expletive deleted…..)  The bat finally flew free only to fall on the deck, and I ended bringing it home to let it calm down, get some water, and treat the wounds.

In the meantime….although I had had pre-exposure rabies vaccinations, I knew that a subsequent bite from a potentially infected animal led to a need for booster shots.  From there, the drama descended into a farce.  After Googling for information, I called a health unit only to find it was not in our jurisdiction; they did some looking and called back with another number to call about half an hour later.  In the meantime, I called our closest emergency room (45 minutes away) and found there was a doctor who would be willing to consult with me but would not have vaccines to administer.  They suggested I call our 811 Telehealth line to speak with a nurse, who subsequently suggested calling a Public Health line (different system).  This was near 4:30 pm Wednesday afternoon, so I felt a little urgency.  When I called the Public Health line, their automated answering system suggested I leave my email address which would give the best response within a business day. (!!)

To my surprise, I got a call about 15 minutes later, and spoke to a Public Health Inspector who went through the details, agreed that I would need a booster shot, and would give approval to release the vaccine the next day.  The next day, I received a call from a Public Health Nurse who was eager to arrange an appointment in Osoyoos that day, and I subsequently got a shot late in the afternoon.  Then I learned I would have to come back for a second shot Saturday morning (yikes).  In the meantime, I got home to find the poor little bat had succumbed to its injuries, much to my unhappiness.

I had occasion to talk to our Nurse-Practitioner Monday morning who wanted to go over some blood test results, and I asked her to do a rabies-titre test which would check for my new level of protection.  She was silent for a bit, and then said, “I have never been asked for that before, and I will have to find a way to request that.)  I assured her that the previous NP merely wrote it on the standard requestion form as a custom request.  When I got to the lab, the technician looked at the requisition and started muttering, “There is no code for that—I can’t find a code…)  She finally asked me to sit down and called Penticton to consult with a co-worker, who supplied the answer.  Then she asks, “Why are you getting this test?  I'm not trying to be snoopy...”  I had to explain I had been bitten by a bat.

It is a really good thing I knew what I was doing, because most of the contacts I dealt with had never experienced this before.  I asked the Public Health Nurse if there would be follow-up, but she didn’t know, which is why I ended up requesting the blood test myself.  Results in the past have taken as long as 4 weeks to come back.  In the meantime, Brian is checking me daily for signs of drooling and erratic behaviour and although he sees it regularly it is the same level as ever.

Within a few days, another neighbour called me to rescue a mouse she found in her soaker tub.  This became a much cleaner operation with successful results.  I merely trapped the little critter in a towel and released it outside, much to the great happiness of the mouse, the neighbour and myself.

Who knows what I will be called to rescue next?  It is wonderful to feel needed in a community!

 

Thanks for visiting, and have a great August!