The smoke has returned. We have had several wind storms that have caused the local fires to flare up. The Horsethief Fire has caused Panorama Resort and surrounding homes to be put back on evacuation alert. Still we are better off than many parts of BC and the Yukon where cities have, started, or been evacuated.
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Last week during the Perseid Meteor Shower the skies were free of smoke. Shortly after smoke rolled back in. Lisa is finding it hard to breath.
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The valley bottom, including the town of Invermere, historically was grasslands. Due to fire suppression and development it is now mostly trees, shrubs and buildings. Drought has become commonplace. The trees and underbrush is dryer by the year. It will burn again as it previously has done even without the added effects of climate change. We won’t be able to prevent it.
The last old Moon above the ridge.
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Meanwhile the tourists continue to travel here and can be found at every back country lake, on every gravel road and on every smoke filled patio. Recreating, hard, like everything is fine. I don’t understand. Maybe they are trying, like Jim Morrison said, ‘To get their kicks in before the whole shithouse goes up in flames’. It doesn’t encourage me to hold out hope for where we are heading.
A Perseid just misses Jupiter. Pleiades rises first, soon to be following are the winter stars. Orion comes up in dawn, before long it will rule the early dark skies. They will bring calm and quiet that seems sorely missing right now.
A Perseid streaks above the trees to the left of the falls.
After an evening nap Willow and I headed for the bush. We got out walked here and there, getting our bearings. It’s been awhile since we have been out at night looking skyward.
We were lucky to see several Perseid Meteors. Lucky as well to get a few pics.
Perseus, The Andromeda Galaxy and Cassiopea. The meteors didn’t cooperate for this photo. If I had’ve slipped into that creek Willow would have ran through bush and thicket down the mountain, following me to the Columbia River.
It was clear and the moon, waning into a thin crescent, stayed down until mid morning.
Hounds Tooth, The Milky Way and a bright Perseid.
We saw deer, an owl, porcupine and rabbits. Luckily Willow didn’t see the porcupines.
The second picture of the night captured a long Perseid Meteor.
I can’t see in the dark like I used to. If I was younger I’d give tonight another go. I don’t think last night was the peak.
We were out of the mountains and at work on time at 5:30 am. Willow slept in the truck.
Hoping for clear skies. I will be heading into the bush shortly to spend the night looking for Perseids, with plans to go straight to work in the morning. It should be a short day. I’ll be bushed and Willow will have to hang out at work for awhile.
The moon is close to new so won’t come up until about 4am so won’t be a problem. As long as the clouds and smoke can hold off it could be good viewing.
Judging the peak can be a crap shoot, I’ve been lucky and not so on occasion. The trick is being out where you have the best chance of seeing them. I compare it to fishing. You never catch anything if you don’t put a hook in the water. The truth is, catching them is only a part of the fun.
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Pulled some of the garlic today. It is Russian Red hardneck and looks good. Big bulbs that take up almost my entire palm.
The grasshoppers wanted no part of them. They were planted last October and had to be dislodged with a pitch fork and thoroughly shook to dislodge the soil.
Now I have to figure out what will be seed and what we can eat. Good gardeners say to save the biggest heads for seed.
It was a good year for garlic, despite the challenges the garden endured.
In the end, like most things, it comes down to luck. All you have to do is show up and put a line in the water.
I’ve made a terrible mistake. In the spring when the grasshoppers were eating the garden I started planting things that they didn’t seem interested in. They ate every carrot so I didn’t replant them figuring it was pointless. The grasshoppers left the small zucchini plants alone. So I planted more of them. Now I am overrun with yellow, green and patty pan zucchinis.
It has become impossible to manage. I can’t give them away. A small one today is a wooper tomorrow. I’ve made a terrible mistake!
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The skies cleared last night. It’s the first time in weeks the mountains have made an appearance. It lifted everyones mood.
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It is busy at the resort. Everyone is frazzled. Moral is good. It is an amazing bunch of workers. Most are young adults from throughout the country. They are expected to work hard and without exception they all put in a full shift.
I have worked in places, including the government, that that wasn’t the case, and the people there were getting paid twice what these kids make.
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A coworker showed me a photo they took of four woodpeckers in the same tree. Two woodpeckers in the same tree means a cold winter.
Wasps, this year, have been building nests under ground, that means a cold winter.
My good friend Scotty from the Secwe̓pemc First Nation used to say, it will be a cold winter because the white man has a big woodpile. Damn, we used to laugh.
Shit! My woodpile is over flowing.
It could be a cold winter.
Scotty, if you are listening, kick me in the nuts and take the duck!
Willow has been a pain in the arse lately, catching scents through the open windows at night. She does a low bark, woof, woof, not at her usual full volume.
She seems to do it as I am just falling asleep after getting up to pee. Her woof reminds me that she has our back and I also need a drink of water. While up I put her out. She sits on the step. Not getting down to pee or shit. She just watches.
I bring her in, and go back to bed. Before long it’s woof, woof, low, just enough to get my attention.
It could be ghosts she is nudging me about, spirits I can’t see, or a skunk outside the window. She has never been able to tell the difference between a mouse or cougar and treats them the same.
Still, I’m blind to both and appreciate assistance, regardless of annoyance.
The valley bottom is thick with smoke. Plenty of fires burning. So far nothing threatening. Just a lot of smoke making it hard to breath for people with lung issues. Plenty of people walking around with masks.
Jimmy says he has to smoke a cigarette just to get some fresh air.
Morning in the valley bottom.
The Resort is busy, as is the valley, on the long weekend. I am on my fourteenth straight day and it will keep up for awhile.
We have been furnishing a house to be made into a BNB. Our job is to put together furniture made in China. It is amazing stuff. You start off with flat box with panels and a freezer bag of assorted hardware. When you open it up and take everything out all you can think is, FUCKKK! But somehow it all goes together. None of it is high quality. The wood is manufactured from sawdust and glue. The veneer has been printed on an inkjet printer and the vinyl fixed to the ‘wood’. It all fits in a flat box that can be stacked miles high in a shipping container. That’s some crafty engineering.
The garden is out in full force. The smoky air acts as a flat filter giving the same light to the bottom of the leaves as the top. It is like the plants are in a green house.
Sundown by Lisa.
The youngsters at work, from the UK and Ontario, have their belongings in their vehicles just in case they have to make a run for it. They haven’t seen anything like this. I tell them, it is good to be prepared but not to panic. I don’t say it, but it can get a lot worse.
The moon through smoke.
The Albertan tourists and second home owners keep flocking in like nothing is wrong. They bitch that the pool isn’t crystal clear, like they haven’t noticed burnt ash has been falling on it nightly.
The Columbia below the benches.
It will keep up for awhile like it always does. August has become a bitch.
Woke up about 3:30. The bedroom smelled like smoke so bad I got up and went outside to make sure nothing was on fire. The moon was orange in the west. Everything was okay. Thats the way it is. A few fires burning close by. Nothing threatening.
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Fire fighters are up from the United States to help fight the fires. They drive army style trucks with the name of their squad on the side. Forest fire fighters are called Hot Shots in the US. They must be contracted by the BC or Federal government to help out and we could use all the help we can get. I am sure every local citizen is grateful for their service.
I looked up two of the firefighter crews, they were from Idaho and California. Hopefully those areas won’t be short if fires break out there.
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Invermere’s Mayor dusted off his Covid Speech, tooling it to the wildfires, welcoming ‘Our Alberta Friends’ to the community, regardless of impending threats.
Agreed, things are not as bad as they can get, so why let a little thing like smoke, flames and breathing clean air deter tourists from spending money in the valley grocery, galleries, cafes and hardware stores.
A reminder our politicians are clowns, concerned about they and their friends monetary interests instead of doing the right thing for people and the environment.
Not surprising. We should be used to it by now.
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The kids came over today and helped in the garden, picking veggies and filling their baskets with peas, giving the old wrinkled ones to Willow or Grandpa.
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Plenty of wasp nests this year to be dealt with at the resort and home. Tomorrow morning when it is chilly and they are docile I will try to move them. Almost impossible when they are protecting combs and laying eggs. Most will end up dead. Unfortunate, if it was up to me, we would mind them, knowing we will get stung occasionally as the price of sharing. We have become intolerant of the natural word, considering even ants and some plants a nuisance.
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The next five or six weeks will be busy. I have started working 7 days a week. Saturday and Sunday should be shorter days. The overtime will come in handy in a tourist hotspot where prices continue to increase. Not that we are complaining it is the same everywhere.
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The winds are up. The trees are swaying one way and the clouds are going another. Never good when the bush is on fire.
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I wrote the above last night but didn’t publish it. I thought I may have been too judgmental of the Mayor of Invermere and wanted to think about it overnight. I did soften it a little, even taking out the word ‘shill’.
When I arrived at work this morning the staff parking area was filled with two large trucks pulling wake boats. They were from Alberta. The word staff used to describe them was entitled.
The outside pool and hot tubs had a skim of ash and burnt needles floating on the surface. Things can get worse, no matter how hard we look on the bright side.
Lisa and I headed out early to avoid the ruck. The town put on Valley Appreciation Day. It used to be called Visitor Appreciation Day. Before that it was called Alberta Appreciation Days. Alberta tourists/2nd home owners, making up the majority of visitors to the Columbia Valley. Regardless of the name it is a good day to get the fuck out of the valley bottom.
The huckleberries are under there somewhere.
We took to the mountains in search of huckleberries. We had success. The huckleberries were out and small. We stumbled onto a few good patches to fill our buckets.
Willow rustled rodents. Her tongue swollen and panting. She is a good dog. Lisa says I have to mind her better as she is getting old. I don’t have the heart to shut down her fun even if it’s for her own good.
Getting a swim in the creek. Perfect to cool off.
Lisa kept picking after I reached my limit. We creeped down the mountain in the afternoon, knowing town would be clear, cautious never the less.
We call it smoke but it’s smog and we better get used to it.
Turning.
Up early. Tough week. I let my temper get the better of me a couple times. Luckily I am only caustic with my tongue, not like before.
It would be easy to say they got what they deserved. Tourists, rich, entitled, put in their place. But it makes me sad. So it can’t be good. I used to love putting a bully in his place. Punching up has hurt my family immeasurably. I am a fool not to go along. Look how good the people who punch down do.
The garden is up. Plenty of smoke on the horizon and on the water, early morning. The spuds could be ready, who knows for sure, the grasshoppers have eaten the blossoms.
Palliser Pass 