An Encouraging Sprig of Green

     Every time we come down our driveway we are both dismayed and embarrassed at the sight of the willow trees by our house.  They now resemble large Saguaro cactus.   

    In February, we had a crew of arborist brutally cut back the willows because they had gotten so tall they imposed a danger to our house if they were blown over.  This was the second time that we had the willows cut back.  After that first cutback, they put out new sprouts that eventually grew in to huge branches that made the willows as tall as they were before they were cut back.

    This time I had them cut back to 10 ft (3m) so I could take care of them if they started to grow back to high again.    After the arborists crew left, the trees looked horrible, and I know the neighbors gasped in shock when they drove by and saw those high “stumps” that our willows had turned into.

    While I was sure the willows would start to grow back, I was eager for some reassurance.  Yesterday, I got that reassurance, when I spotted a spring of green sprouting out of the brutalized trunk.  A quick inspection of the other trees showed similar green sprigs sprouting on them.   Willows are fighters, and they don’t give up easily.

    We will be happy once they get more foliage on their tops, so they look more like palm trees, before returning to what looks like a normal willow tree that will provide a lot of shade.  I don’t much like the “Saguaro” cactus look they now have.

You can see my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca

The Greening of the Valley

     After our long BC winters, and once the temperatures start to warm, the trees don’t waste any time putting out their leaves.  It seems like the explosion of new leaves happened in just one day.   This period of spring with its newly erupting foliage is on of my favorites.  The light green color of those new leaves add a brilliant accent to the blues of mountain  slopes, with their pristine white snowcapped peaks.

    This morning when I first went outside to do some laps around the pond, I caught the scent of the sweet perfume of the Cottonwood trees; it was wonderful.  When I got back to the house, I saw a Rufus Hummingbird busily slurping up the nectar I had put in the hummingbird feeder.

    Last night I was awaken by a lone mosquito in my bedroom, but this first variety of mosquitoes are easily swatted, so that too was good.

    I recently watched a PBS program on Henry David Thoreau and was struck by him writing that he would often spend the whole day doing nothing, just sitting outside watching.  What a wonderful thought, but sadly for me, this time of year is filled with too many things that have to be done.   Hopefully today I can get my rototiller started so I can till the garden for planting.  I will just have to enjoy the glorious day, in swatches, in between things.

Take a look at my paintings:  davidmarchant2.ca

Where, Where, Where? Panic Sets In

    Yesterday I wrote about how it is nearing time for me to plant the garden.  Before I do, I will have to rototill it, but the time for planting, is getting close.  I as it approaches, I have begun to panic.

    Last year, as a bit of an experiment, for the first time I planted red beans and black beans.  Both crops surprised me; they grew well.   As I took the beans I had harvested out of their pods, I set some aside for eating and some to save for seeds that I could use for planting this year.   I also put some more of the beans in envelopes to return to our library’s seed bank, where I had gotten the beans last year.

    Now, why the panic?  Well I did eat the ones saved for that purpose, but when I checked the container where I keep my garden seeds, I was distress to find no black beans or red beans.  What happened to them?  I haven’t a clue.  I have searched every possibility I could think of, but came up empty handed.   I can’t imagine that they were thrown out, so they must be around here somewhere.

    A couple of days ago, I had an idea.  Maybe the beans I gave back to the library’s seed bank are still there, and I could just use those to plant in my garden, but alas, when I went to the library and checked the seed bank, the beans I had contributed, were gone.  I guess they will be growing in someone else’s  garden.  That leaves me sitting here wondering,  “Where could the beans I saved be?”

    I suspect once I have finished planting and filled up the garden with other vegetables, I will find my  missing beans.  That seems to be the way things always work. 

    It is all so discouraging after all the work I did drying, de-podding, sorting, and saving some of those beans for seed in this year’s garden.   For a year I held on to one of those common  gardener’s dreams about harvesting a bigger crop this year.

    Oh well, it is what it is.

View my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca

Aspen Leaves/Mouse Ears, Time to Plant?

     One never knows what kind of Spring weather to expect up here in the Robson Valley of BC.  It can be very warm one day, then it can suddenly dip below freezing the next.  The fact that you can never be sure of what to expect can be problematic for gardeners, who are trying to figure out when it is safe to start planting their gardens.   Our growing season is not as long as in places more southern, so we have to gamble trying to eke out as many warm days as we can.

    One of the factors that help me decide when to plant, is an old folk saying that says, “You should plant your garden when the leaves of the Aspen tree are the same size as a mouse’s ear.   While that is malarky, and has no scientific basis, it is something I always take into consideration.

    Yesterday, the Aspen leaves did meet the criteria, but I am going to hold off on planting a lot of the more temperature-sensitive crops.  I have already planted some of the tougher veggies that like cooler weather.   My peas are in the ground, and I have also sown some lettuce seeds.     

View my paintings:  davidmarchant2.ca

The Creative Fire Hydrants of McBride

     The Village of McBride has some unique fire hydrants.  Because we see them all of the time, we forget how unusual they are.  They were given this interesting look back in 2007 when the Whistlestop Gallery commissioned a creative young woman, Bryony Griffiths to do what she could to liven them up.  As you can see, she did an amazing job.

    I assume that there is no law governing the color of fire hydrants that apply to McBride.   It is such a small village, I am sure our volunteer fire department knows exactly where all of the hydrants are.   I find our characterized fire hydrants very clever.   Bryony sure was sure creative  in painting them.

    The one of Snoopy the Red Baron is located at the airfield.

Take a look at my paintings:  davidmarchant2.ca

Never Lean Over In A Canoe

 I don’t have any interesting current news, but here is an event from a 2017 blog:  

The title tells the lesson that I learned yesterday.  Let me set it up.

        A couple of weeks ago the FHA (Fraser Headwaters Alliance), our local environmental group, received a request saying that some film makers were going to make a movie about major Canadian Rivers to celebrate Canada’s 150th Anniversary.  They were looking for some people to be in canoes on the upper part of the Fraser River singing “Oh, Canada.”

        FHA looked around, but it seemed that singing canoeist were not in great supply in the Robson Valley.  Yesterday was the date set for filming, and luckily we finally found 14 or so willing participants (and a dog) to paddle and sing.  Knowing the need, I volunteered even though I don’t have a great deal of canoeing experience.  

            I assumed I would be in the front of a canoe, with an experienced canoeist in the rear who would be doing the main work of steering.  Unfortunately things didn’t really work out that way.  As it turned out, I was put in the responsible rear position with Bruce, the film sound guy in front.

        The flotilla set off near the old Tete Jaune bridge, and canoed a short distance downstream, where Ian, the cameraman decided to stop and do the filming.  I maneuvered Bruce onto the shore so he could do his sound collecting from there.  I sat alone in the partially banked canoe and watched.

       A fancy big camera tripod was sitting upright in the middle of our canoe.   Earlier on, there had been some talk about laying it down and tying it so it wouldn’t get wet, it had been transferred back and forth between several canoes and somehow ended up in the standing position as I sat in the canoe.

        After sitting there in the canoe for a while, I decided I should maybe back the canoe out into the river and paddle a bit closer to where Bruce stood.  I pushed off the bank then started to turn the canoe with the paddle.   As I did so, the canoe leaned to one side, and the upright tripod started to tilt and fall toward the water.  I panicked, not wanting to see it get wet, and lurched sideways over the canoe in an attempt to catch it.

        My quick thinking action was a mistake.  When I leaned over the side of the canoe to try to get the tripod, the canoe leaned over also, and over we went.  I was dunked and found myself sideways in the cold waters of the Fraser.  I was still near the shore, the water was shallow and very clear, so I was able to see and grab the submerged tripod and put it back into the now uprighted and partially water-filled canoe.

        I was wet and embarrassed, but fine, and the tripod didn’t really come to any harm by the dunking, but there was a major victim in this whole affair--my camcorder, the camera I use every day for this blog.  It had been in its holster on my hip and it had been submerged along with me.  It is now deader than a doornail.

        When I got back home, I put the camcorder in a bag of rice.  I heard that is one way to dry out iPhones that get wet.  Time will tell.  

        The film people seemed quite amazed at our local scenery   They filmed several takes of the canoeist paddling toward the camera singing the first two lines of “Oh, Canada.”  It will be the opening scene of their film and they were happy with the shots they got of the singing canoeist on the Fraser.  Now they will be traveling eastward to other major Canadian Rivers to film other people singing the rest of “Oh, Canada”.  

        I did have my old iPhone along with me and fortunately it was in a water-proof bag.  I used it to the photo above.

        My camcorder never did recover from its swim in the Fraser.  A blur developed on the inside of the lens, so I ended up having to buy a new one.

View my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca

My Giant Pile of Wood--Not the Boon I Thought

     In February when I got my big willows cut back, I told the arborists that I would keep the big pieces of wood to use for firewood.  After they had finished and I saw the big pile of wood they had saved, I was gratified, thinking of all the work I had saved myself, by having the crew buck-up the wood for me, so all that I would have to do was to split and stack it.

    A few weeks ago, when I began to split some of the pieces, I had realized that the big pile of wood I had, was not the boon I had imagined.   A good many of the pieces are sections of the trunks where the tree had forked, and those sections are next to impossible to split, even with a hydraulic electric spitter.  It was unable to force its blade through the tough pieces of wood.  Most of those pieces are also very heavy to lift.  (Photo below)

    Another problem I discovered was that many of the pieces of straight, splittable wood, are so big and heavy, that they would not fit on the splitter, so before I can use the splitter on them, I have to split the chunks by hand using a splitting maul and wedge.  This is a whole lot more work than I bargained for.

    I now realized that I will get a lot less useable firewood out of the pile than I thought.   I will end up having to lug all of those pieces I can’t split, to the dump.  It will take several trips with my truck to do that.

    All in all, the job I set out for myself turned out to be a lot bigger, more difficult, and take a lot longer than I had expected.  

    Such is life.

    take a look at my paintings:  davidmarchant2.ca