A Chaotic Fire Camp in 1994

         (The photo above has nothing to do with this story, but it does show a helicopter and a hotshot fire fighter.)

    Smoke from forest fires burning across BC had been filling the Robson Valley air and obscuring the mountains, and that next day after biking home from the Forestry Office,  I took another swim in the new pond and ate supper.   I then got a call from Dale Cinnamon, who looked after Fire Fighting in our district.   He wanted me to drive to Camp Creek south of Valemount to monitor all the helicopter traffic  working a nearby fire.

    I ended up spending my nights in a nearby Bed and Breakfast.  Every day I had to get up at 5:00 to drive to the nearby fire camp.  There were 50-60 fire fighters that were helicoptered to the fire from the camp every morning, and returned to the camp in the evening. During the day I had to monitor several radio channels to keep track of all of the helicopters that were taking off and landing.  I oversaw all of the requested equipment and supplies for the crews fighting the fire, making sure they were sent off to the right place, and I had to coordinate the helicopters when they flew in to fuel up .  It was quite chaotic at first, but eventually I got the hang of it.  

    That first day there, the Camp Creek Fire which was being fought was pretty much damped down, but then the Swift Creek Fire which was on the other side of Valemount blew up, and two of the three helicopters we had, got reassigned to ferry crews from our camp to fight that fire.

    That evening, very strong gusts of winds came up which blew down the fire fighters tents.  The exhausted fire fighters had to then scramble to put their tents back up in the furious winds.  The winds gave way to lightning strikes and rain.  After a long and stressful day I finally got back to the Bed and Breakfast, it 8:00, but I then had to spend time making up, and updating the lists of fire fighters on each fire for the next day.

    Even though I was half asleep at 5:00 AM the next morning, I got out of bed quickly, and climbed into my clothes, to begin my usual morning routine.  I went to brush my teeth and as soon as I got the toothbrush in my mouth I realized something was wrong.  It didn’t take me long to realize I had mistakenly put the white cream from a Ben Gay tube (my back pain lotion) on my tooth brush instead of toothpaste, not a pleasant experience, but an effective wake-up call.  

Take a look at my paintings:  davidmarchant2.ca

Hanging On The Edge

     The Fraser River keeps flowing and as it does, it eats away the soil on its bank.  This is the view of a well house now sitting in a precarious position on the Fraser’s eroding bank.  It can be seen from the Highway 16 Fraser River Bridge just east of McBride.  

    There used to be a grove of birch trees neighboring the well house, but after being undercut by the Fraser, the last of them fell into the river a month ago, leaving the doomed well house alone to ponder its dubious fate.

View my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca

Our Two Big Dead Cedars

     We have two big dead cedars in our yard.  The biggest of the two was already dead in 1977 when we bought the property.  We could see its dead naked top from the road and it helped us locate our driveway at the very beginning, before we became more familiar with our neighborhood.  I was so happy that the smaller of the two cedars was still alive and I built a fence around it to prevent it from being damaged when I had goats.

    We live in a temperate rain forest which is characterized by huge cedar trees.  I love those dark cedar forests with the ancient cedars, and I was proud to have the big living cedar growing in our yard.  Unfortunately about four years ago it died, and I was heart broken.  I have left the two giants standing.

    A few days ago I walked out from the carport and looked over toward the dead cedars and noticed that from that angle, you can’t really tell that they are dead.  When you walk through an ancient cedar forest all that you can see of the trees are their big gray trunks, and that is all you can see from our house, so from that angle, the two dead trees still give the impression that they are alive.  Of course I would love it if they were alive, but at least their dead trunks still give me a bit of that cedar forest feeling.

    Below is a photo.  The foliage that you see is from a nearby willow tree.

View my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca

The Last Days Of Night by Graham Moore

      I have always been intrigued by that time period when electricity was being developed for us and those inventors like Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla, so I thought this historical fiction would be interesting, but it was way above my expectations, and I didn’t expect it to be such a page turner.

    The novel’s characters were real people and the author did a lot of research to get their personalities right.  The events that happen in the novel are also accurate, however the author did have to use his imagination to fill out some of them to fit the plot.  He did do some playing with the timeline to help the storyline.

    The novel follows the life of Paul Cravath, a newly graduated lawyer , who was hired by the Westinghouse Company, who was being sued by Thomas Edison over their lightbulbs, who Edison claimed was an infringement of his patent.  This was a huge lawsuit, whose outcome would determine the future of electrification in the US.  Edison was extremely wealthy, powerful, and domineering, and no one believed that Westinghouse had a chance of winning.  Edison is shown as he really was, not the kindly inventor most people imagine, but a conniving and devious narcissist, who would stop at nothing to win.  

    One of the most interesting characters in the story was Nikola Tesla, the bizarre, yet genius, electrical prodigy. Tesla had a strange, abrasive, and obstinate personality, and bizarre habits (he seemed to live on saltine crackers.)  He developed alternating electrical current, which jeopardized the future monopoly of Edison’s company, who used direct electrical current.  Westinghouse saw the advantages of alternating current which, unlike direct current, could travel great distances down the wires. Westinghouse’s young lawyer, Paul Cravath, had to fight to stay above water in all of the chaos Edison created to stay the dominant company.

    Besides the struggle with the electrical giants, Paul also struggles with his love interest, a famous singer of the time, and also a real person, who Paul later married.

While I generally enjoy most of the historical fiction I read, The Last Days of Night was a standout, both in describing what was going on in the 1890’s, but also in putting it all together into  a really interesting read.

You can look at my  paintings:  davidmarchant2.ca

"Volunteers" In The Garden

     Our garden always looks rather chaotic.  I generally plant things in rows, but plants and seeds left over from the previous year always come up, not in the rows, making things look pretty haphazard.  In the photo above, there is a row of potatoes on the right side and a row of lettuce on the left side.  In between the rows are a couple of “volunteer” potato plants that came up unexpectedly.  Obviously, last fall when I dug my potatoes, I missed some and they remained in the ground all winter and then when the weather warmed, up they came.  

    When I see volunteers, I usually just leave them to grow, thus the chaos.  Actually that row of lettuce was all volunteers that came up in another section of the garden.   I spotted them when they were still small and transplanted them into a row.

    The poppies in the garden always spread a lot of seeds, so poppy plants come up all over the garden.  I usually don’t weed them out, because I like the color their blooms add to the garden.  The photo just below shows a couple of very healthy poppy plants that came up in the middle of my potato row. 

    The photo at the very bottom is my prized volunteer.  It is a foxglove.  A decade ago we had lots of foxgloves in our garden, and then we had a very wet summer that wiped them out and we hadn’t had any foxgloves since.  Last fall when I was putting the garden to sleep, I noticed that a couple of small foxglove volunteers had come up, so I transplanted them where they wouldn’t be wiped by tilling.  This year, one of them is flowering.  The pale yellow flower is not as spectacularly beautiful as some of the ones we used to have, but I was happy just to see any foxglove flowers at all.  

    While volunteer plants do cause some chaos in the garden, to me they always seem like free gifts, so I generally let them grow.

You can see my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca

Amphibians in the Pond

     In 1994 on that first year of my pond, I was anxious to see wildlife establish itself in that new environment.  It was exciting for me to discover the new creatures that were suddenly making an appearance on and around the pond.  I was constantly walking around it trying to spot new critters.

    One day and then the days following it, I began to see what looked like small minnow-sized fish in the water.  They would quickly dart away when they noticed me.  This left me very confused, because I hadn’t put any fish in the pond, and there was no way they could get there naturally.  

    One hot day after biking home from work and ready for a swim in the cold water, I decided to take my mask and snorkel with me to see what I could see underwater, and I happened to come upon one of those “fish” that had left me so confused.  I quickly saw that it wasn’t fish I was seeing, but salamanders.  I saw two salamanders who were fully developed.  They had long lizard-like bodies with small legs and light patterns on their backs.  I had seen salamanders around our property before, and I was happy they had discovered the pond.

    I also had toads on our property, but I was still amazed in the spring to see so many of them gather in the pond, make their chirping sounds to call a mate.  I had never had any frogs on my property, but was able to catch a few in other lake in the Valley, and establish them in my pond.

    I was happy yesterday to see my first frog of the year.  There never seem to be very many of them, but I occasionally while walking around the pond, I hear a splash as a frog escapes into the water.  Below is a photo I was able to take with my iPhone of the frog I saw.  I was surprised it let me get so close to take the picture.

You can view my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca

Waiting For Something To Happen

     Here is a bored Kona with her head resting on the seat of the couch, waiting for us to do something.  Kona is an extremely high-maintenance dog, and is totally dependent upon us for her entertainment.  If we put her outside, she is only out there for about three minutes, then she comes back in.  If we are outside with her she will pick up one of her sticks and chew it and be satisfied, but that only lasts as long as we are outside with her.  We get tired of constantly being her social directors.

    Kona is sure an unusual dog.  Most dogs like to be outside and can entertain themselves for hours, or just take a snooze in the sun, but not Kona.  She requires one of us to be out there with her, if she is to stay.

    I’m not sure why Kona always likes the position you see her in; sitting up with her head resting on something, but she does it a lot.  I would have thought that just lying down would be more comfortable.

    Kona, Kona, Kona, why can’t you be more normal?

View my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca

Unplanned Hoarding

     We had dental appointments yesterday up in Prince George.  Because we live in a small isolated village, every time we go up to the “Big City” we always make a point of stocking up on the things we need.  Unfortunately, we often don’t remember what it is we need, and what it is we don’t need.  

    After we got home from our trip last night and started to unload all of those supplies out of the car, I discovered we were really mistaken about what things we needed, and as a result we now have to deal with the problem of where to store it all.

    As you can see in the photo above, it will now be a while before we run out of toilet paper.  I was surprised while at Costco, when my wife said we needed toilet paper, because I thought we still had a lot, but toilet paper is something we don’t want to run out of, so I bought a big package.

    We also doubled the number of jars of peanut butter we had on hand.  That was my fault, but I thought we were down to the last jar.  We bought a whole chicken, when we already had several frozen ones in the freezer.   The same can be said for a pack of chicken breasts.  

    Like my wife says, “We’ll eventually use it all.” but given our track record, I imagine by that time we will have already purchased more of that item, which we will have to store.

View my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca

Breathing Smoke

     Well, it’s that time of year again, when Canada burns.  This year the huge forest fires began in May and continue.  They started in Manitoba, then more began in Saskatchewan.  Alberta lit up, and now we have them in BC.  Fortunately at present, we have none close to the Robson Valley, but we have no guarantees for the rest of the summer.  However we are experiencing remnants of their existence.

    Forest fire smoke from far away fires moved into the Robson Valley yesterday and settled in.  We can still make out the mountains, but just barely.  It is 8:00 in the morning as I write this, but my eyes are already feeling the smoke.  They feel very tired.  Although I can’t feel my lungs, I know I am breathing in fine smoke particles with every breath I take.  

    Breathing in smoke has now become an annual summer occurrence and I expect it will continue to be the case in the future.  Fortunately what we are presently experiencing is not as bad as some of those previous infestations of smoke.  Some of the past “smokes” reduced the Sun to a dim orange dot in the ominous grey or dirty orange sky. 

    It is sad to witness the deterioration of the climate we depend upon.

View my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca

Biking Home From Work And Going For A Swim

     That summer of 1994 was an idyllic one for us.  The pond I had dug the previous fall had filled with turquoise colored water over the winter and I was kept fascinated watching the wildlife that it was slowly being attracted to our property.  

    Throughout my youth, swimming had always been my favorite summertime activity, so it didn’t take me long to take the plunge into the big beautifully-colored body of water just below our house.  The swim was bracing in the cold water, but it was invigorating and wonderful.  My wife who loved the swim as much as I did, was hesitant at first to try the pond, but once she had given in to my pleadings, she was quickly converted to swimming in the pond.

    Because the pond was dug in clay soil (which gave it its color) getting into the pond was always a bit messy, as we had to walk and then wade through the slimy clay before we could get out into the deeper water to swim.  Getting into the water was really the only drawback to swimming in the pond.  I tried to solve the problem by buying a big dump truck load of sand which I had dumped at the end of the pond.  I then spread it along the shore in that area, and also, into the water.  (You can see our small “beach” on the shore just below our house in the photo).

    Having the pond made the summer of 1994 idyllic.  I would be all hot and tired after biking home from work, and it was so nice to be able to get rejuvenated by going for a swim in the cold clear water of the pond.  While I had built the pond to create wildlife habitat, being able to take a swim on those hot summer days were certainly an added bonus.  

    After our swim and drying off we would often grill some food using our barbecue on our “shade” deck, and then leisurely enjoy the meal outside:  Life was good.

You can view my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca

Early Morning Lupine

     The other morning as Kona and did our early walk around the pond, the lupine were at their prime.  Here is a look.

Take a look at my paintings:  davidmarchant2.ca

Sticks, Sticks, Pick up Sticks

     The other day when I was at Pioneer Days I ran into Nadine.  She asked me why I haven’t had any stories or photos of Kona on the blog recently.  I hadn’t been aware of the deficit, but luckily, this morning I saw something that had to do with Kona, so here we go.

    Every time I mow the yard these days, my lawn mower runs into sticks, and it is all Kona’s fault.  Whenever Kona and I walk around the pond, which is a lot, we have to pass a brush pile.  Kona stubbornly sits down by the pile, insisting that I break off a stick from the branches on the pile, and give it to her.  It is a real pain to find a suitable branch and break it off, but obstinate Kona remains sitting until I do.

    Once she has a stick in her mouth, she proudly carries it back to the yard.  There she spends a bit of time gnawing on the stick then leaves it in the yard and comes into the house.   This results in sticks strewn all over the yard, which I have to then deal with each time I mow. 

     Yesterday I went around and picked up some of Kona’s scattered sticks in the front yard and put them in a pile beside the sidewalk, so I would see them and get rid of them.  Unfortunately, this morning when I went outside with Kona, she discovered the pile of sticks, settled down beside them, picked out a tasty one, and began gnawing on it.

    I will just have to wait until she is in the house sometimes, before I will be able to get rid of the sticks without her objections.

You can view my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca

Pioneer Days, 2025

     Yesterday was the big day for McBride’s Pioneer Days celebration.  I took the photo above of the parade down Main Street which always is the big start of the activities that took place on Saturday.  As I watched these two “cowgirls” parade their cow through the throngs of people that lined Main Street, I wondered what the poor cow was thinking, first having a saddle on its back and then all the noise and chaos of the parade.

    Several bystanders told me that the province had passed a law banning the throwing of candy during parades, which everyone would agree could cause a tragic accident with the kids running out upon the streets to pick up the sweet treats, however since our village is so remote and isolated, that law didn’t seem to be adhered to (photo below).

    In fact even the RCMP parading in their police cars with their sirens and flashing lights, were throwing candy to the kids. 

    I wasn’t able to watch the whole parade because I had to set up our equipment in the park pavilion for our jam, which began playing immediately after the parade finished.  

    As soon as we got done playing our music, I had to rush across the park to join the square dancing demonstration.  There were enough square dancers (sixteen) for two squares.  After several songs, some of the onlookers, after a quick lesson, were given a chance to square dance on a song with simple maneuvers.

    Then three of us did a few environmentally-themed songs at the Seniors for Climate table.  After that I hung around to watch a high school rock band, that was quite good.  I really liked the fact that most of their repertoire were the same songs popular during the era when I was young.

    At 4:00 I walked across the park over to the Whistle Stop Gallery which had a opening celebration for its 25th Anniversary and the new Main Street banners.

    My wife who had gone home early from Pioneer Days texted me saying that I should pick up a burger “with all of the fixings” and bring it home for her supper.  So before I left for home, I stopped in at the Elk’s Hall where they were selling burgers and picked up two of their top-of-the-line “Pioneer Burgers” without really knowing what they were.  We were surprised when we got home and started eating them to discover they were basically cheese burgers with a sliced hot dog among the other “fixings”.  While unusual, they were tasty.

Take a look at my paintings:  davidmarchant2.ca

McBride Banners

     On Tuesday I blogged about my McBride Horse Rescue painting that had been made into a banner and hung on a lamp post on Main Street.  At the time I was unable to show you the other banners that had been created by local artists.  Above, you can see all five of them.

    The banners where created to show off some of our local attractions and notable events.  The image on the left is a reference to our valley’s hummingbirds, that spend their winters in the US South and Southwest, then in the Spring, migrate to the Robson Valley to mate and give birth to their young.  

    The second banner from the left, is a tribute to our alpine back country, which is popular not only to hikers, but also horse trekkers.  The middle banner show a waterfalls in the Goat River drainage.  I have already blogged about the McBride Horse Rescue painting that I made.  Lastly, on the right is an image of one of the Valley’s old cedars, relating to the Ancient Forest Provincial Park, located an hour west of McBride.

    Today is Pioneer Days in McBride which will be celebrated with a parade, food, music (our jam plays at 11:30), and outdoor events and demonstrations (square dancing at 12:45).  At 4:00 at the train station the original works of art from which the banners were made will be on display as part of the 25th Anniversary of the Whistle Stop Gallery.  

    It is going to be a busy day for me because I will be playing with the Jam, square dancing in that demonstration, and then later being at the Whistle Stop with my painting.   Poor Kona will not be having a very eventful day, being house bound for a good part of the day

Take a look at why paintings:  davidmarchant2.ca

Robins: Not Very Visually Acute

     We have a robin around here that is building a nest, (well, it is trying to).  It has chosen to build the nest on the beam that is supporting the roof joists on my carport.  The robin has been busy gathering grasses and other suitable nest building materials which it carries back to the carport to construct the nest.  Unfortunately, when it returns, it gets mixed up as to exactly where it started building the nest.  The beam and the roof joists all look alike to it and so the poor robin has started several nests, not realizing that it is in the wrong place from the original location.  As a result, it is doing a lot more nest building than it needs to.

    Robin’s have never impressed me with their intelligence, but I guess they have enough to survive, because they haven’t gone extinct.

    In years past, I have had a male robin persistently pecking on our windows.  The robin sees its reflection in the window and thinks it is another male robin and is pecking in an attempt to make the other bird go away.  I tried several times to shoo the robin away from the window, but it kept coming back.  Eventually, getting tired of the constant noise caused by the robin pecking on the glass, I covered the outside of the window with paper so it could no longer see its reflection.

    I remember once when I was visiting down in Indiana, there was a robin that kept pecking on the side view mirror of the car.  Here a a blog about it that I wrote in 2013:

        Remember that crazy robin I told you about, that was pecking at its reflection on the basement window? The other day when I went out on my mother's porch, I saw the robin sitting on the side view mirror of my mom's car. I thought it was a bit of a strange place for it to perch on, but I was happy to see it somewhere besides in front of the basement window.

        Later in the day, I had to use the car to make a run to the grocery for some supplies. I noticed there was a splatter of bird poop on the floor beneath the mirror. Then when I got in the car and glanced over at the side view mirror, I noticed that there was a multitude of smudge marks on it's mirror surface where the robin had been leaning over the top of the mirror, pecking at his reflection.

        I hope you can make out the smudge marks in the mirror. 

    View my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca

Settling In Before Sleeping

     Last night as I was lying in bed reading (part of my pre-sleep routine), I could hear the faint sound of mosquitoes, buzzing around in the distance, before trying to get their blood feast.  I would read a half a page, before I started to hear buzzing getting closer.  Then I would pick up my mosquito zapper racket which I had laid beside me, and when I finally spotted the attacker I would electrocute it.  Once the mosquito had been transformed into smoke and ash by the zapper, I would pick up my book and continue reading.  

    Before long another bloodsucker began buzzing around hoping to catch me unaware, but it too suffered an electrifying demise.  This series of events happened two more times.  I figured I had eliminated all of the irritating pests in the room, so with some relief I put the mosquito racket down and got back to my reading.

    I was enjoying the storyline, when once again I heard the irritating buzz of yet another mosquito.  I put the book down, grabbed the zapper, lay very still, and carefully watched the space in front of me, waiting for the intruder to show itself.  When I did finally see it, it flying too high for me to swat.  That left me somewhat frustrated, because I wanted to zap it without having to get out of bed.  Then something miraculous happened.

    As I watched mosquito flying closer to the ceiling, suddenly it seemed to stop, suspended.  It began twisting and squirming in place, and then I realized what had happened.  It had gotten all tangled up in a spider web that was hanging from the ceiling.  I know I should be more conscientious about cleaning away the spider webs on the ceiling, but in this instance, I was happy I had not.  I felt indebted to the spider that saved me the trouble of killing that last mosquito in the bedroom.

Take a look at my paintings:  davidmarchant2.ca

Dandelion Fluff Balls

     I realize that dandelions are among the most hated plants around, but I don’t mind them all that much.  I am not a big fan of sterile looking mono-cultured lawns and enjoy the variety and changes of a mixed lawn.   I know dandelions can make a lawn look shabby, but area around McBride sometimes looks like it could be the Dandelion Capital of the World, and they are such a persistent and vibrant plant, I think we might as well accept their presence and recognize their benefits.

    A lot of living things depend on dandelions.  I have seen bears sitting in a field of them chowing down on them, and when I had a herd of Angora goats, when the dandelion flowers were in bloom, their muzzle around their mouths were often caked with dandelion pollen.  I have even seen our dog Kona, chewing on dandelion stems.  Of course the obvious benefactor of the plant are bees and other pollinators.  

    The sea of yellow dandelion blooms that covered our lawn and fields have now changed into balls of fluff.  I couldn’t help but notice them this morning on my walk and took these photos.   I confess that I do find the fluff balls attractive.  Once their fluffy seeds have taken flight in the wind, I don’t find those  empty stems that stick up all over attractive, so I will enjoy the dandelions during this brief period when they still have the fluff.  Once that is gone, I do mow the plant down.

View my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca

My Banner Is Up

     Last winter I spent months painting a picture of McBride’s Horse Rescue that was one of several paintings that were to be made into banners that would adorn the light posts along Main Street.  I was informed the other day that the banners were now hung and I was anxious to see how mine looked.  I was going to take photos of all of the banners, but when I went to take the photo of mine that the powerful rain squall took place so I quickly took a photo of mine and scrambled back to our car.

    Painting this picture was a memorable experience.  Here is what I wrote about the ordeal:

When asked to do a street banner on the subject of the McBride Horse Rescue , I was full of apprehension.  Although I had been painting almost daily since 2005, my realistic paintings were always based on my own photos, and I didn’t have any photos of the horse rescue. 

I was concerned with the vertical shape of the banner.  Composition is very important and having to come up with a painting showing the horse rescue on a two foot by four feet canvas seemed problematic.  In photos of the rescue, the brightness of the snow, made the rescuers and horses very dark and difficult to distinguish, so I used Photoshop to brighten the colors of clothes, and to highlight part of the horses by dabbling some sunshine on their backs, so from a distance they would look more distinct.   I also added that last rescuer from another photo.

When I paint I divide the canvas into two inch squares; painting one square at a time.  I paint with the canvas on my lap, looking at the square I am painting; enlarged on my computer monitor.  I couldn't paint a vertical four foot high canvas on my lap, so I painted the whole thing sideways on my lap, looking at the square on the computer that I had also flipped sideways.

My two foot by four foot canvas contained 288 two inch squares.  The picture took me 188 hours to paint.   I am not used to painting people's faces and found painting those squares terrifying, and I got really tired of painting all of those manys squares of snow.

You can view my other paintings by going to:  davidmarchant2.ca