White Christmas 2008

We're home again after spending a week with Kevin's family in the South Surrey area. Here we found more snow than we've seen in many years. Their street and driveway is at a fairly steep incline and at first we were unable to get into the driveway. Luckily, I had a pair of light chains and after getting them on our van we were able to make it into the driveway. That's where the van stayed for the rest of week as the snow kept piling up. This past Sunday it started to thaw and all the immediate neighbours started working their shovels to make the street more or less passable. On Monday morning we were able leave and negotiate the driveway and street without getting stuck. The busier thoroughfares were good and we caught the ferry from Tsawwassen to Duke Point (Nanaimo) without a problem. However, just as we were about to dock there was an announcement to be prepared for heavy snow falling in the Nanaimo area! Our drive later in the day "up island" to Courtenay/Comox was challenging to say the least. Even though it had quit snowing the highways became extremely treacherous with lots of black ice stretches and we passed many "invincilbe 4-wheel drives" in the ditches. We got home on the evening ferry and were met with green grass and bare pavement! Then, last night we had very high winds! One thing after the other, so to speak! While we had a great time with the kids, it's good to be home!
Kevin's house and drive way.

 

Fraser and Max take it cool!

 

The Christmas tree.

 

Dinner's ready!

 

Snow and More Snow!

 

It's been snowing off and on here for the past 4 or 5 days and they say more is on the way. At least the temps are only -5 to -10 C. Not near as bad as the Prairies. Max can be seen checking out the tree outside our door to see if he might be able to reach it to do what dogs do best on trees!!

After the Rain

At about 7:00 yesterday morning we had a "Prince Rupert" downpour of rain that lasted an hour or so. A rain like that is called a "Prince Rupert Rain" because the drops hit the pavement so hard they bounce at least 5 feet in the air! At least there was no wind. After the rain Max took us for a walk the 3 of us all enjoyed.
Click on the pictures for enlargements that, if I must say so myself, makes them pretty impressive.

 

 

 

Deck the House...halls, etc

When we lived in Alberta it seemed like we always picked the coldest, windiest day of the whole winter to hang Christmas lights around the house. Now that we live on the coast, this is an average winter day! Love is hanging the lights together!

 

 

Family Fun

The title for this post is a bit of a misnomer as the previous week had a lot of sadness. Helen's 90 year old mother passed away at Red Deer, AB and her funeral was Wednesday, November 12th. We left for home on Saturday, November 15th, but not before having a Pizza Night at Brian & Elizabeth's Friday. They have a projection tv system with a large screen that is also tied in with their computer system. We soon discovered that if you want to get everybody laughing and smiling all together, view YouTube comedy videos! It seems to really work.

Ev & Laurie's September Visit

Ev & Laurie returned home to Kelowna today after spending the last 3 days with us in the spectacular weather we've been having. They rode their Harley-Davidson motorcycle. While they were here we toured to Lund for lunch, spent yesterday afternoon on Texada Island and had fish & chips at Skeeter Jacks. We also had a great visit catching up on the news of each other's families.

 

Fire & Diamonds On the Ocean

Here are 4 pictures of tonight's sunset after 30 degrees C today and with smoke from Washington State fires in the air. These are taken from our driveway overlooking Malaspina and Georgia Straits.
 
 
 
 

Trees are gone!

The landscape changed dramatically behind our house while we were in Alberta during the past month. The developer of the adjacent property has cut the timber and will start to build new homes soon. This is progress...?! However, the huge 200 footers were very worrisome during our strong winter winds. The first thing we noticed is that the songbirds that woke us in the morning are gone!

Summer Flowers - July 2008

This is a sample of our flower pots this year. We did all our own pots and they have turned out pretty nice even though it has been a cool wet Spring. We have had great weather the past couple of weeks and the pots have come along really well. We added some latice to our front wall over the rose bed and to the back cottage. We are really pleased with the result. When the climbing roses expand it will be really nice on the front.

O Canada - Happy Canada Day!

On Saturday evening, the last evening of their visit, Karley sang and Kelsey signed O Canada for us.

Holland America Cruise

The MS Ryndam passed by in front of our house on its way to Vancouver from Alaska at about 9:30 this evening. The pic was taken as darkness was falling using the telephoto lens. It's therefore somewhat grainy, but you can get the idea. The ship was probably about a mile away and looks pretty small in the picture, but keep in mind she carries 1258 passengers with almost 600 crew. For more information about the ship copy and paste the following link to your browser... http://www.hollandamerica.com/cruise-vacation-onboard/Ryndam
 

Summer Things

 
  We spent the day of Sunday, May 18th doing the Powell River Garden Tour. While there were some gorgeous ones, this one piqued my interest. Yes! That is a model railroad meandering around the shrubs and ponds in the back yard.
 



We've been doing some serious cleaning up around the place this week. Including power washing the driveway. Once this is done sealer will be rolled on to try to stop the erosion of the cement. It was getting very dry and the rain has just arrived this evening. The forecast is for rain over the next few days. That will help keep the driveway clean once I finish power washing tomorrow.

Sad News 2

As you may have noticed I neglected to post a final update on Cheep and Chirp. The sad news is that a couple of hours after putting the surviving chick back in the nest, we found that it, too, had passed away. The CoD remains unknown. All the folks living close by were very saddened by this outcome!

Death Valley

We left Rancho Casa Blanca Resort on the morning of March 30th and took a "short-cut" to Death Valley National Park. We stayed the night at the motel at Stovepipe Wells, about half way through the park and the next morning drove into Mosaic Canyon in time to see the sun light up the rock formations in and around the canyon. We had breakfast at Panamint Springs where we met a beautiful couple from Lake Tahoe who offered their home to us for that night! We accepted their very, very kind and gracious offer! Then it was on the road and we arrived at home Friday evening, April 4th, after 3 more sleeps; Yreka, CA, Snoqualmie, WA and Kevin and Shannon's in South Surrey. Here's a slideshow of pics taken in Death Valley. To slow and enlarge, a click on one of the pics will take you to the web album and then you click on "slideshow" button located on the right side of the picture. Enjoy!

Sad News

We visited Cheep & Chirp this morning and all appeared to be well. Both chicks were very active. Chirping loudly and poised with mouths open waiting for Mom or Dad to come by. An hour or so later we went back over with the neighbors and only one bird was in the nest and it was no longer alive. The other was soon located on the cement pad below the nest flopping around trying to fly. Ron from next door picked it up and put it back in the nest and at the same time removed the body of the other bird. We have no idea what happened other than there were crows squawking loudly earlier and one of them may have gotten to the chicks. This picture was taken only an hour or so earlier. We all have our fingers crossed for the survivor!
 

15 Days Old

I went over to check on Cheep & Chirp this morning and found them both alive and well. They're growing like crazy and their feathers are growing in. They've almost outgrown the nest and there is definitely no room left for the parent birds. Everyone in the neighborhood was worried the chicks had been abandoned in the 35C degree heat during the day. But, while I was taking pictures of Cheep & Chirp I heard a humming sound and there was one of the parents hovering around my head. As soon as I got off the ladder she took her place on the side of the nest and began the feeding process. You can see her long bill down into the bill of one of the chicks! Click on each picture for enlargements.