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

Old Photos of Warren

This is a repeat of a blog I did in 2017:

        Back in the early 1980’s I took a photography workshop.  One of the activities included in the workshop was to go out and take some photos to then be developed.  The doors of the classroom were flung open and we all rushed out, cameras in hand, and spread out across little McBride eagerly looking for something to photograph.

        I luckily, stumbled across Warren in his pickup truck.  Warren is one of our local characters that always adds interest to our lives.  When I think of the word “Cowboy,” it’s Warren that always comes to mind.  Anyway, I explained to Warren about our photo assignment, and he consented to be the subject of my camera.  He did ask me to give him copies of some of the photos, and I said I would, but in the hustle and bustle of life, the photos got buried among all the other stuff I saved.

    Well, thirty-some years have passed, and every I see Warren in town, I cringe with guilt because I never gave him copies of the photos.  My intentions were honorable, but in my defense I have two excuses:

    1. The photos were black and white slides, and back when I took them, I didn’t really have any means of getting prints made.

    2.   I lost track of where they were.

        Recently, I did come across them when we were moving things around to get some drywalling done, and now with all this computerization, I have the means to print the slides for Warren.  I did that yesterday and took them down to the post office so that he gets them.  It’s a big and very old weight finally off of my shoulders.

        Here are a couple of those photos I took of Warren so long ago.

You can view my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca

Horsetails (Equisetum)

     I have a long history with the Horsetail plant.  It started back in my youth when I was very interested in fossils and found some amazingly big chunks of a a stem-like fossil on the side of a railroad cutout, not far from my Indiana home.   After a bit of research, I discovered what I found, it was a Calamite, a tall tree-like plant (up to 100 ft, 30m tall) that lived in the Paleozoic forests 100 million years ago.  I also learned that the Calamite was a relative of the Horsetail plant that still lives today.  I had never heard of a Horsetail plant, but the name stuck in my mind.

    When we first came to BC, and were driving through a beautiful deep forest, I kept noticing what I thought were hundreds of young conifer trees growing along the side of the road.  I soon learned that what I was seeing was not small evergreen trees, but Horsetails.  When we bought our land in the Robson Valley, Horsetails became a very common site. 

    I always loved Horsetails, and was surprised when Brian Minter, a garden expert who answers gardening questions on a on CBC radio call-in show, mentioned that Horsetails were next to impossible to get rid of, because they have roots that can go down 20 feet, and you can never get them all out.  I have Horsetails in my garden and greenhouse, but I have never found them problematic.

    Horsetails are very interesting plants, with the way their leaves radiate out from uniform sections along the central stem.  Those stems are coated with abrasive silicates, making them useful for scouring metal items such as pans and things made of tin.    Boiled and dried Horsetail stems where used in Japan for the final polishing process in wood to produce a smooth finish.

    Horsetails send out an unusually shaped strange cone-like structure for dispersing their spores.  A few times I have seen this spore stem, poke itself through paving on the edge of a road.  I was amazed that this fragile plant could force its way through the hard surface. (photo below)  I could certainly not poke my finger through it.  

    

Take a look at my paintings:  davidmarchant2.ca

A Favorite Robson Valley View

     One of the reasons we chose to live in the Robson Valley, was its beautiful mountain scenery.   I also liked the fact that it was an agricultural area.    Just a short drive east of McBride is one of my favorite views of the Valley.  I like the fact that it stunningly and beautifully combines both the Cariboo Mountains and the agriculture.

    The mountains in the middle of the photo are part of the Premier Range, an undeveloped area that can be seen jutting up in the Raush Valley.   This time of year the mountains are covered with a coat of pristine snow and the fields are still tan with the dead winter grass.  The trees have not yet begun to leaf out.  When they do, the view will add a colorful accent of early light green foliage.

 You can see my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca

Kona Still Has An Eagle Eye

     Even though Kona is now all crippled up and can no longer walk, she still possesses a very keen eye.   I am constantly amazed when she suddenly erupts into loud barking, and I look around trying to find out why, then finally I see some animal obscured in the woods across the road, or some dog way in the distance when we are in town,

    A couple of weeks ago, when I had set Kona outside in the front yard, she suddenly began barking.  I looked around to see what she had noticed, and it was a deer on the wooded slope way across the road.  The sight of the deer kicked in Kona’s instincts, and although she can no longer walk, she began scooting like a seal across the yard, all the time barking like a demented fool.

    Kona loves to ride in the car.  Whenever the car is moving, she lies down in the back seat, but when we stop, she sits up and looks around.  

    Yesterday, I drove into town and parked in front of the library.  When I was just getting out of the car, Kona, who was sitting up in the back seat, suddenly went into one of her loud barking fits.  I tried to calm her down, but she wasn’t having any of it.  I looked around, wondering what had caused her sudden agitation.  I couldn’t see anything obvious.

    Then looking closer at the surroundings, saw four deer silhouetted in the shade of the house across Main Street.  They were all standing still, and I would never have spotted them, but Kona sure did.  

    Even though I have lived around here for just about 50 years, I am always surprised when I see deer wandering around in downtown McBride.  

View my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca

Our Old Picket Fence

     It is quite common to hear in old movies that people dream about eventually living in a cute little house with a white picket fence around it.  Well, I guess I can say that I achieved part of that dream, because our house did have a picket fence around it, actually most of our property was surrounded by a picket fence, but it wasn’t white, it was an unpainted cedar picket fence.

    The fence was built by the retired guy that built our house back in the early 1960’s, and it is impressive how much work he must he must have put into splitting all the cedar pickets and constructing the fence.  From the length of the fence I estimate that about 1,800 pickets were used.  The guy probably went out into the bush, found the cedar logs, cut them to about 4 ft. (1.2m) lengths, then using a froe, split the logs into pickets about 3 to 5 inches (7 to 12 cm) in width.  He also had to split all of the cedar fence posts, dig the holes and set them into the ground before he could nail all those pickets onto the rails.  It seems like it must have been a tremendous project, all the while he was building the original house.

    What is now left of the fence is now about 60 years old.  With its aging, it has taken on a very rustic patina.  It is now covered with lichen and moss as you can see in the photos.  I do love the natural look of those old lichen-covered pickets, posts, and rails.

    I have had to tear down huge sections of the fence as it deteriorated, because the fence was no longer needed since we no longer have any goats (I used to have a herd of Angora goats).  Another reason I have taken parts of the fence down was because of the danger it presented with in increased number of forest fires these days.   If a fire did start on a section of cedar pickets and rails, it could easily spread, burning its way down the fence to our out buildings and house. 

You can view my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca

Oh No; Is That A Forest Fire?

     Like most people who live in forested areas, these last few years have made us very paranoid about forest fires.  A few years ago, we were forced to evacuate our home after a forest fire, started by someone doing spring burning, escaped and began ripping across the mountain slope above our house.  

    It was a very blustery day yesterday when we drove into McBride.  When we got to the top of Mennonite Hill, and overlooked the Valley, I was suddenly filled with fear, when I saw a white plumb rising, and spreading across the tree tops. 

    “Oh no,” I thought, “Don’t tell me someone is trying to do burning when it is so windy.”  I feared a fire  had already escaped and was burning through the trees.

    When we got at the bottom of the hill and alongside of the Fraser River, I was much relieved to discover that what I had seen was not smoke, but dust, blowing off of the large sandy beach beside the Fraser.  It was pretty amazing just how much fine dust was being picked up and blown by the gusts of wind.  It created a very thick cloud of the stuff.

You can view my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca

Earth Day

     I participated in that first Earth Day back in 1970.  Our small conservative university had a short  ceremony out in the lawn with some speakers from the Biology Department.  It was not well attended. Like I said, it was a conservative university, and concerns over our planetary home were not high on most of the student body’s agenda.   Of course, like in most groups, there was a small fringe of people who cared passionately about the Earth, and sought to stop the existential degradation that was threatening it.

    Those were days of hope and had restrictions only been put in place back then, our planet’s climate would not be in such a dire and threatening state today.

    For me, hope for the Earth is pretty much gone.  Big oil money controls the White House, and now all those corporations that used to give lip service to the environment, no longer have to “Green Wash” themselves, in fact, with Trump and the sycophant Republicans in power, it is dangerous for them do so.

    All I can do is urge everyone to do what you can to protect the natural environment we still have, and try to limit your use of fossil fuels as much as you can.

    

You can view my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca

Timex, One Crappy Clock Radio

     In December, I blogged about getting a new clock radio, something I really depend on, but was having trouble finding in a store.  I was overjoyed when at last I found a Timex clock radio in a store in Prince George, after striking out multiple times.  It didn’t take me long to discover that my happiness at getting the new clock radio was ill deserved, the Timex turned out to be a piece of junk.

    See all of the titles by the buttons on the top?  Well, it turned out most of them were just suggestions, not something that would actually happen, if you pressed them.

    There are two buttons for setting the alarm, so you can set two different times to wake up.   Supposedly, you can press the buttons and set the time you want to wake up.  After trying to set the first alarm time, I finally just gave up.  While trying to set the alarm time, at one point, just stopped moving the clock.  It stopped at 2:30 in the afternoon, something I didn’t want, but I couldn’t change.  I couldn’t even turn the alarm time off, so every day at 2:30 in the afternoon, the radio came on. 

    I then tried to set 7:00 AM, the time I wanted to wake up, on the other alarm.  I was able to successfully set it correctly, but I was unable to get the clock to unset the alarm for those days I didn’t want to wake up at 7:00, so the alarm went off whether I wanted it or not.  

    I always liked to  use the “Sleep” function on clock radios.  Often, if I wake up in the middle of the night and can’t go back to sleep, I turn on Sleep mode, then set how many minutes I want it to play, before it turns itself off.  Unfortunately, sometimes when I hit the Sleep button, instead of showing the time to stay on, it changes the radio station, giving me static.  That is not something I want to have to deal with in the darkness of the middle of the night.

    Sometimes when I wake up in the middle of the night and turn on the Sleep button, I hear a program I don’t really want to listen to, so I slide my finger over to the radio ON-Off button to turn it off, and for some reason, instead of turning off the radio, it increases the volume, something else I don’t want to hear in the middle of the night.  The electronic wiring for the function buttons seem to be all random, intertwined, and messed up.  The forty dollars I spent on the Timex clock radio, was money wasted.

    Yesterday, we did another shopping day in Prince George.  I remembered that the store where I got the Timex clock radio, also had Sony clock radios, and so I forked out $50, for one of them.  I sure hope I have better luck with that one, than I had with the Timex.

You can see my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca

The Bumble Bees Are Out

     While it seems that Spring is taking its time getting here (last week we had several mornings when we woke up to a dusting of snow on the ground), Spring’s tardiness has not stopped Nature from getting out.  I was surprised yesterday, to see some Bumble Bees checking the few small blooms that have sprouted in the yard.

    There are no big flowers in bloom yet, but there are a few very small flowering plants that are in bloom.  The bees don’t seem to mind how small the blooms are, as long as they provide them with some nectar, and I guess the flowers are accommodating, because the bees are spending a lot of time crawling around the flowers.

Take a look at my paintings:  davidmarchant2.ca

An Aurora

     Settling in to go to sleep was a bit chaotic last night.  I was in my bed and almost to slumberland, when my wife told me that Kona wanted to go outside, so I went downstairs, slipped on my gum boots, and carried Kona out into the cold darkness.  Kona did what she had to do and so I carried her back inside the house, climbed the stairs, and tried to retrace the road to sleep.

    Again I was just about there when I heard crickets from my iPhone.  I had chosen the cricket sound as my alert that I was getting a text message.  I figured that since it was just after 11:00, it must have been a scam text, so I decided to just ignore it.  Then thinking about it, I realized that instead of the usual must one cricket alert, I got three in quick succession, which was unusual.  

    Still thinking about it, two thoughts came to me:   I had read there had been a prediction of auroras on Friday night, and it was Friday night.  The second thought was of Ingrid, who lives just up the road.  We had often talked about auroras, and she had seen a spectacular one that I had missed, so I wondered if she was texting me about watching one.  

    I reached over and looked at my phone.  Sure enough, Ingrid had sent me two photos of an aurora she was seeing at her house.  I grabbed my phone and went out into the dark, bracing, night air to see if I could see and aurora.  There was a slight greenish hue in the sky, but when I set my phone’s camera  to “Night Mode” I could see the bright green of the aurora quite clearly.  I walked around the property and took a slew of photos.  

    Here are three of them.

You can view my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca

Our Poor Designer "Doodle Dog" Can't Even Sit Properly

     For years now, dog breeders have been raking in the cash, breeding “Doodle Dogs” (all kinds other breeds to poodles).   They breed Labradoodles (Labrador Retriever-Poodle mix), Goldendoodles (Golden  Retriever-Poodle), Bernedoodles (Bernese Mountain Dog-Poodle mix) etc, etc.  You get the idea.  Everyone wanted a mixed poodle bred dog.  Sadly, it seems more attention was paid to selling puppies, than to the genetics of these designer dogs, and as a result, many dogs have been created and sold with horrible genetic problems.

    Our dog Kona is one of them.  Kona is a Bordoodle, a mix of Border Collie and Poodle.  She is a rescue dog that we got for free from her previous owners.  They told us she had joint problems, but we accepted that she might develop complications in the future.  She was still a young dog when we got her, and she was very energetic and normal.  However, now as she ages, very serious problems are starting to show.

    After our last vet visit where an X-ray of Kona was done, we were told that basically, Kona has no hip sockets, and her legs are held in place by scar tissue.  Kona can no longer walk,  she is able to stagger upright, when she needs to pee or poop, and shuffle like a seal when she needs to move a bit.  I have to carry her outside when she needs to do her business and carry her from room to room, when necessary.  

    With all of her problems, Kona remains stoic and very affectionate.  We have been giving her several pain-killers daily.  

    In the photo above, you can see that she can’t even sit properly.  At first glance of the photo, things seem normal, but look at the position of her rear legs in the shadow.   Normally a sitting dog will have one leg of her rear legs on the right side and the other on her left side.  Whenever Kona sits, she has both of her rear legs on the same side.

    It is very sad to see Kona struggling to deal with such difficulties, but like I said, she is very stoic and still full of eagerness, and spark.

    It is depressing to know that so many dog breeders are still so eager for money, that they ignore the genetics of the dogs they breed.

    Buyer, beware.

You can see my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca

The Beauty of Open Water

     After months of being buried under ice and snow, my pond has now melted.  This morning it was showing off what it can do on a very still, calm day.  It was proudly reflecting the pristine white snow of the Cariboo Mountain Range on the other side of the Valley. 

    This mirror-like presentation doesn’t happen very often, usually there is a breeze that ripples the surface.  Seeing the Cariboos all snow-white and totally unobscured, is also rare.  Now, an hour or so after taking the photo, white puffy clouds are already starting to hide the very tops of the mountains.  

    I was glad that I had my iPhone in my pocket when I went out to feed the birds early this morning.  I am still very impressed with its zoom, that allows me to compose the view with just the features I am interested in.

Take a look at my paintings:  davidmarchant2.ca

Just Below The Snow Line

     It is common knowledge that the higher you go in elevation, the colder it gets.  Yesterday there was visual proof of that across the road on the mountain slope.  We were getting a wet snowfall, which melted when it hit the ground at our place, but just a bit higher on the slope, it was a bit colder and the snow was sticking to the trees.  

    This is not an uncommon sight.    The Robson Valley bottomland across the Fraser River from us, has an elevation of 2,330 ft (710m).   The elevation of our house is 2,408 ft (734m) and those trees with the snow on them is about 2,500 ft i(750m) in elevation.  Even that small difference in elevation can create differences in temperature.

    I just got back from driving into McBride, and again I could see snow on the trees growing on the mountain slope, while there was no snow on the lower trees on the slope and in the field at its base.

You can view my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca

Back When Lucifer Was Constant Trouble

     Here is something I blogged about in 2013:  

        My wife noticed the pile of stuff in front of my computer, she thought that it was just one of my messes. (“How can you work like this, David?”)  I had to then explain to her that it was just my attempt to keep our cat Lucifer from blocking out my computer monitor by standing in front of it, as I worked.  You can see from the photo, it worked.  If Lucy does get interested in the moving cursor on the screen, she, a least, has to now watch it from the side, which allows me to still see what I am doing on the computer.

        Sadly, Lucifer and Kona our dog, (like their owners) are really starting to suffer from the effects of old age.  I have mentioned before how I now have to carry Kona everywhere, because she can no longer walk.  Lucifer, who is now just skin and bones, can no longer jump upon my desk and get in the way of my computer, those days are over for her.

    In the past, Lucifer made a cozy home of a padded folding chair covered over with a blanket, making a cave-like space for her, but now she no longer uses that as her home base, I assume because she can no longer jump into it.  Now she stays close to the ground and has adopted an old box I made for collecting my student’s work when I was teaching that was sitting on the floor of my office, as her sleeping place.

    It is hard to watch the declining activity in our pets, and realize that their lives, like ours, have an expiration date, but for now they are still doing what they can, not complaining, and showing affection to us, as we are showing to them.

   Take a look at my paintings:  davidmarchant2.ca

Tomatoes and Chili Peppers to Come

     While outside, spring seems to be taking its time in coming, inside the house, this year’s gardening plants are developing as they should.   Above you see the result of the seeds I had planted when there was still snow on the ground outside.  The coloring of the photo might seem a bit off, but that is because the plants are under some grow lights.

    This is the start of the rather frustrating time, when the plants are starting to get big enough and should be transplanted into pots, but it is still too cold to keep them in the greenhouse, and once they are potted, they will really take up a lot of space, which is not available under the grow lights.   What I usually do is pot them, then keep the plotted plants in the house overnight, then cart them out to the greenhouse so they can get some sun during the day. 

    The greenhouse is usually warm enough for the plants during the day, it is just the nights when it is too cold in the greenhouse.  This moving of plants usually works out okay, although it gets to be a hassle carting them them back and forth every day.

    It will probably be a month, before I can actually plant the tomatoes and chilis into the soil in the greenhouse.  

Take a look at my paintings:  davidmarchant2.ca

Pond Ice Disappearing

     I always look forward to seeing the winter ice on the pond start the melt.  The pond is so much more attractive when you can see it reflecting the sky once again.  It will be a couple more days before the ice is totally gone.  

    Yesterday when I walked around the pond, I was pleased to see that the pair of Hooded Mergansers had returned.  They have been coming for about 10 years  The female nests in a box on a tree and if everything goes as planned she will latter have a string of ducklings swimming behind her when they hatch.

View my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca

Anniversary of Dylan's First Professional Performance

     This morning on the radio, the broadcaster said that today was the 65th Anniversary of Bob Dylan’s first professional performance, which occurred at Gerde’s Folk City in New York City.  Nineteen year old Dylan was the opening act for bluesman, John Lee Hooker.

    Dylan became very important to me, before he really became known generally to the public.  When I was in high school, I became very interested in folk music.  I read a lot of the folk music magazines that were available at the time.  I was blown away when in 1963, I heard Peter, Paul, and Mary sing Blowin’ in the Wind, and was very interested to know who could write such a profound song.  I read it was some guy named Bob Dylan and I was anxious to learn more about him.  I had never heard him sing, but he was creating quite a buzz with his songwriting.

    My close friend Greg, was also very interested in Dylan, and Greg was in a record club, and one month, “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan” album, was one of the choices for the month, so Greg bought the album.  We were both curious to hear him sing.  When Greg’s record arrived, he called me to tell me it was awful, it sounded terrible.  Later he said I could have the album.

    I took it and listened, I too was initially taken aback by his singing, which at the time, was way beyond what was normal.  However, after listening to the album, I soon became accustom to his nasal-raw sounding voice, and fell in love with his songs and guitar playing.   Greg too, eventually got accustom with Dylan’s voice, and became a super fan.

    Dylan’s music has had a lifelong effect on me.  I followed Dylan’s music through his folk beginnings and protest songs, which I loved.  Then when he caused mayhem in the purist folk community by playing rock and roll, I stayed with him and loved his rock and roll.  I did kind of lose interest when he started doing country music, and totally quit following him when got religious.

    Many of Dylan’s songs are still on my radar.  Our jam plays a handful of them.  We started playing his “Chimes of Freedom” in our protest to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and vowed to keep on playing weekly until Russia quit, so after several years of playing it, we are getting pretty good at the song.

    I love remembering those early years when I was so intensely following Dylan’s songs, and trying to figure out how to play them on my guitar (this was way before you could just learn from a video on the internet).   I learned a lot from listening to Dylan’s music, both when done by him, but also by groups like The Byrds and the Band.  

    Dylan’s rise, totally changed the direction of music, and ushered in the whole genre of singer-songwriters, which led to more poetic, intelligent, and poignant lyrics in music.

  

You can view my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca

Cartoon: Tax Burden

     The term “Tax Burden” generally refers to a huge amount of money to be paid in taxes.  With me, the term refers to the difficultly I have to motivate myself to organize all of that information needed to have my taxes done.  

    I used to struggle, I mean really struggle, to do my own income tax.  I had a small business, a small farm, and of course, just the taxes from working at the full time job at the BC Forest Service.  Trying to figure out how to fill out all of the tax forms, left me totally bewildered and frustrated, but I muddled through the best I could.

    Now, I hire a local business to do my taxes, but I still find it burdensome just to organize all of the information that I need to submit to them, so they can do my taxes.  Throughout the year, I try to conscientiously save all of the needed receipts for the taxes, so it shouldn’t be that difficult for me to organize it, but I am finding it so hard just to make myself put it all together.

    I know down in the States, they have until April 15th to submit their taxes.  Fortunately, up here in Canada, I have until the end of the month, but I know I’d better get at it pretty soon.

View my paintings:  davidmarchant2.ca