A Cold Warm

Rain in the valley bottom. I was sure the lake was going to go back out. It hung in there but the ice is thin.

Lisa and I headed into the mountains yesterday. when we started heading up the rain turned to snow and covered the trees and turned it into a winter wonderland. Willow chased snowballs and looked a little like a snowball herself.

Today I went back up and the snow had turned back to rain. The snow covered trees had shed their layer of white. It was foggy as temperatures adjusted. It has been a very mild winter so far.

We headed for the lake and ran into a flock of waxwings looking happy. Somewhere along the way Willow decided to roll in what I believe was goose shit. The warm weather has revealed smells for her to discover.

Back when I was a kid if our dog rolled in something they weren’t allowed in the house. They had to stay outside day and night until they were deemed fit to come back inside. I mentioned this to Lisa but she didn’t think this would be fair to Willow. Instead she said I should give her a bath and told me Willow’s shampoo is in the left drawer of the bathroom cabinet.

The bathroom cabinet is under the sink. It has 2 drawers and 3 cupboards. I realized then, as it had never occurred to me, Willow and I share one small drawer in the bathroom. Shampoo, tick repellant, cider vinegar for skunk smell and a couple razors. The rest of the cabinet is for Lisa’s stuff. I mentioned this to her and she said, you two are low maintenance.

It’s bound to get cold sometime. I wish it would hurry up. This mild wet weather always makes a body feel cold. A warm cold.

CME

Clouds catching last nights auroras make for an unsettling sky.

The sun has been very active with many coronal holes or sunspots stretched across its equator.

Several of these coronal mass ejections hit earths magnetosphere last night, causing aurora that could be seen into the southern United States.

Here it was cloudy but it is always worth a look. Willow and I took off for the creek and followed it around to the backside of the mountain. We walked to the bottom of Lisa’s trees.

It had rained, and was muddy and slippery hoovering around freezing. The cloud covered sky was odd looking, bruised in places, glowing here and there. I could tell something was going on above the clouds. We walked around, Willow seemed equally taken back not making a peep. We waited around peering above the trees until I was sufficiently damp and cold.

Today, the truck is covered in mud, especially where Willow sits. She is close to the ground and acts like a shaggy mop head in such weather. Reports say it was a fantastic display of Aurora, seen as far south as Florida. Tonight could be the same. It is still cloudy without promise of letting up. Willow and I will probably stay in close to the fireplace.

Late July

Each day has had a little rain. Plenty of blue sky between. Cool at nights. Almost a perfect summer compared to what we have had the past few years.

The berries are raging on into August. Lisa and I could get used to this time off wondering the mountains with the grandkids. Picking our fill to take home. They are proud and, of course, turned it into a competition with Scarlett and me picking against Copper and Grandma. Luckily it is evenly matched.

It is good to be up there sharing the sky and tree tops, watching for wild flowers and hummingbirds, pointing out the big berries, showing them how to plink, plink at tins, wishing time could stand still or at least slow down.

Wet

Willow, low to the ground, soaks up the rain enthusiastically running the bush.

Lisa makes me keep my boots outside. She says they stink. Sometimes she makes me put a blanket over my socked feet when I am sitting inside for the same reason. If I let her have her way the socks have to live outside as well.

We have been getting some rain lately. On the weekend I failed to move my good boots into a sheltered area outside and they got rained on soaking them thoroughly during the night.

I had to wear on old pair of boots that had holes in them. My feet got soaked on my weekend hikes with Willow. Lisa didn’t seem to be sympathetic to the problem. Meanwhile my good boots still aren’t dry 3 days later and my feet keep getting wet in my old boots.

I realize these aren’t much for problems in this day and age. I’m just happy Lisa thinks it is the socks and boots that stink. If she ever figures out who the real stinker is I’ll be locked outside in the rain.

An old pair of my boots Lisa has repurposed.

Foraging

A good way to kick a few days off. We went to the Palliser River. There were a few camps of people picking mushrooms, in the area that burned last year.

We picked enough morels for soup and headed through the burn further up the river. Lisa was glad to leave it behind saddened by the burnt areas and clear cut logging. Fires, although devastating, are turning into a huge business for British Columbia. I try to remember the landscape as it was and what it will look like when it heals.

We got beyond it into the Royal Group, cut some firewood and watched the creeks and clouds.

A very fine day!

The Miracle

Sometimes when you feel bad the best you can do is put one foot in front of the other and count it as a victory and let that small little victory lead to a little bigger one. The world often doesn’t see you the way you see the world. The world won’t see you hurt if you keep putting up small victories. Even if that’s only one foot in front of the other.
Sometimes you may climb out of bed and think I don’t think I can do it. But you laugh knowing you’ve felt that way before. And you put one foot in front. And you look for those little miracles along the way. That squirrel on the line catching Pedley’s eye. The way her fur rises on her shoulders as she turns to attention.
The commute, earbuds with Above and Beyond, that’s something, that drop after meandering through an electronic corridor, then a slow rise, getting faster with one door opening after another into brighter colours.
Into work, like so many, but it’s not just a job, it’s to help others with the same hollowness that was nagging you earlier. It’s the realization we are so alike and different. Things are both terrifying and beautiful. And you put another foot forward and you count another victory and you hold a hand out and pull another like you up. And you put another foot forward. Soon the slow days, the hard days and the good days all become miracles.

Rain & Shine

Lisa carefully navigating the log across Windermere Creek.

The temperatures spiked above freezing and with that came rain. The snow has been melting. The lake has a couple inches of water on top of a couple feet of ice.

We found some time to head out on behind Swansea. Once off the pavement the backroads turned to solid ice. We stopped for a short walk to a small pond. Lisa took three and sunk up to her crotch in the soft wet snow. It was imperative to pick your route.

Willow enjoying a brief blast of sun on her soaking coat.

Willow fetched sticks in the water. Barking at them, chewing and then bringing them to us for another swim. Her wire hair is about as long and curly as it gets. When she is wet she smells every bit a dog.

Blue Skies

The clouds lifted for part of the day and we had some blue skies. The Sun felt good.

Lisa and I went looking for birds and spotted a couple Bald Eagles that let me take their picture. We searched for an American Dipper but had no luck. We saw chickadees, hawks, ravens and flickers. They seemed as happy for the sun as we were.

Willow following the creek looking for dippers.

Willow’s Christmas sweater Lisa made for her. The idea was to keep the snowballs off of her, but there is no way she will wear it.

Early January

Very strange winter. We have had plenty of snow, but temperatures have been unusual. We haven’t had any double digit minus temperatures. The lake doesn’t have enough ice to drive on yet. Many days throughout December have been above freezing.

2024 is in the books. It was a good year. Lisa and I will have to find a better work/life balance as we both worked plenty of hours with not many breaks. It is funny to think, turning 60 this year, and not having pensions, we only have another 10 years of work left to put a little away to ease us to the grave. I say this in jest as I wouldn’t want it any other way. In the past I had a taste of working for the government with the big bloated pensions they offer and it wasn’t for me.

Did a few hikes, but not as many as I would have liked. A few injuries caught up with me. Not surprising considering.

2024 had some incredible northern light displays as the sun reached a a solar maximum in it’s 11 year cycle. Lisa and I were lucky to spend several nights in the mountains under the spiking auroras. The auroras were so strong on one occasion that I was able to detect them when it was still light.

It would be nice to get some cold weather and blue skies, we are half way through winter for Christ’s sakes. Freeze some pipes, bring out the stars so bright you can hear them while all the ancient ghosts take your breath. Freeze the gas line, kill the battery, make the old truck crank and moan. Rosy the cheeks, remind us of all the bits we froze as they only hurt now in the cold. Telling us we can always light it all on fire if we really need to get warm.

Palliser Pass

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