Where Can We Walk?

    Joan, Skye, and I try to go for a walk or two every day.  Yesterday was mild and sunny, and we felt the need to get out, but we didn’t really know where we could walk.  This probably seems like an surprising problem to have, living in such a rural setting.  

    The deep snow, though shrinking, is still too deep for walking, so one is pretty much limited to areas that have been plowed.  I hadn’t snowshoed the entire length of our trail, (which I do to prepare the trail for walking) so that couldn’t be walked.  I did snowshoe around the pond and walked around it several times, but the surface of the trail is now very uneven and difficult for Joan, with her hip problem, to walk, so we were in a quandary.

    We thought about going into McBride to walk around the streets, but that probably would cause us to encounter dogs, and Skye is pretty frightened of other dogs, so that was out of the question.  The airfield where we often walk is not plowed during the winter, so that was a no go.  Mountainview Rd, our road, is busy with logging trucks and Albertan pickups towing snowmobiles on trailers.  It has curves, hills, poor visibility. and no shoulders, so that didn’t seem like a very good choice, so finally we decided to try Jervis Road.  

    Jervis Road is a country road east of McBride.  Because it just runs between two fields, is flat, probably had no dogs or traffic, and was plowed, it became our choice.  We drove out there and except for the wind, it was a perfect place for us to walk.  It gave us a wonderful vista of the mountains that jut up on both sides of the Robson Valley.

You can see my paintings at:  www.davidmarchant.ca

Cattails

    When we had our big snowstorm, the cattails that grew at the end of the pond, were pushed by the wind then buried in the deep snow.  Now warmer temperatures have caused the fluffy snow to shrink, leaving the cattails all leaning at an angle.  As Bob Dylan said in Subterranean Homesick Blues, “You don’t need a weather man to know which way the wind blows.”

Take a look at my paintings:  www.davidmarchant.ca

Deer Dining Spots

    Winter is always hard on deer both because of the increased energy it requires for body heat and mobility, but also because the sources of food becomes very limited.  Our sudden 30 inch (76 cm) dump of snow, late in November, has aggravated the situation.  Our local deer have dug through the deep snow for the fragments of vegetable matter in our compost pile (above) and have also uncovered the snow to get to the small pile of hay I had saved for use in my greenhouse next year (below). 

    The deer have also pushed paths to the bird feeders where they snack on leftover sunflower seeds and peanut butter.

    While I get very frustrated at the damage the deer do to my garden during the summer, I do feel a lot of sympathy for their plight during the winter.  I do not purposely feed them in the winter, but I don’t prevent them from eating what they can find out there.

You can view my paintings at:  www.davidmarchant.ca

Slim Creek

    Whenever we have to make the drive up to Prince George, we always make a stop at the Slim Creek Rest Area, to take a stretch, use the facilities, and walk the dog.  Here is a photo of what Slim Creek looked like on Tuesday.

You can view my paintings at:   www.davidmarchant.ca

Lonely Highway

    On Monday I had to make the 217 km (135 mile) trip up to Prince George to pick up Joan who was there for a medical appointment.  Driving from McBride to PG always seems like a long haul, mostly I think because it can seem so monotonous.  You don’t travel through any towns, or even communities.  For the most part, all you see are trees, and cutblocks, where trees had been logged.   In a couple of locations you briefly get glimpses of some mountains, but mostly what you see are trees.

    I experienced very little traffic, except for the odd pickup truck and a handful of transport trucks, which were either riding your tail, impatient to get around you, or slowly crawling up the slopes, bogged down by their heavy loads.  Animals can often be seen along the road, and sometimes on the road, but I didn’t see any.

    Last year,  two local people I knew were killed on Hwy. 16 in individual accidents because of deep  snow on the road and poor highway maintenance.  The government said it was going to increase plowing, and although the road was covered with hard packed snow, at least I found that it was in pretty good shape.

    Still I dislike making the drive up to Prince George during the winter, but doing it seems to be something we end up having to do about once a month.

You can see my paintings at:  www.davidmarchant.ca

Life in a Small Village--Good and Bad

    Monday, I dedicated the day to taking out my old hot water tank and installing my new one.  As I worked through those activities, I was confronted with both the bad points and good points of living in a very small village.      

    After I got my old tank out, I wanted to put some drywall on the cobwebby naked studs which lined the closet-like space where the water heater sat.  That meant I had to drive into McBride to the hardware store to buy two sheets of drywall.   Since I was going to town, I thought I may as well load my old hot water tank and some old insulation into the back of the truck, and take it to the dump at the same time.

    To carry sheets of drywall in the small bed of my truck, I put in two wooden beams so that the drywall can rest on the beams, rather than the wheel wells that stick up on each side of the truck bed.  Oh, I didn’t mention that the electricity at my house had gone off during the morning as I was removing my old hot water tank.  The electricity has been going off a lot after our big snowfall, but I was hoping that McBride still had power.

    I loaded Skye into the truck cab  (she always likes to have a ride) and we headed off to drop off the old water heater and then get some drywall.

     When I got to the dump, I asked the attendant where I should drop off the old hot water heater.  He told me to put it in the big bin for metal, but then added that I couldn’t do it now because the guy that was plowing the snow had left, leaving the area in front of the metal bin unplowed.   It seems that he also worked for the power company and had to go there when the electricity went off.

    This is one of the disadvantages of living in a small village.  Because there aren’t a whole lot of people who live here, many people do several different jobs.  The guy that was plowing snow also did work for BC Hydro, the corporation that supplies our electricity.  When the power went off, he had to go and help with restoring it.

    So there I was with the hot water heater taking up a big chunk of my truck bed.  How was I going to carry the sheets of drywall back home?  I wasn’t sure, but I headed over to Home Hardware just the same.  When I got there I saw Rico, one of the owners, outside moving things around.  He informed me that the store was closed because they didn’t have any power.

    I sighed, shoulders slumped, as I turned back to my truck, unhappy about my wasted trip to town, but then Rico, came up to my window and asked if it was an emergency.  I told him I was in the middle of installing my hot water heater and so he said he would let me into the store to get what I needed.

    He handed me a flashlight, and I gathered up the plumbing supplies, which were then just written down on a piece of paper.  Rico helped me load up the two sheets of drywall onto the top of my old water tank, rather precariously, but it seemed like it would be alright, so at least I got the supplies I needed to continue my work.

    This was an example of one of the good things about living in a small town--you know, and have personal relationships with most of the other residents--including the store owners, and because of that, they go out of their way to help you out.  Rico didn’t have to open the store for me, but he did.

    I am happy to announce that I was able to get my new hot water tank installed, but the old water heater is still sitting in the back of my truck. 

You can see my paintings at:  www.davidmarchant.ca

Snowscapes

    I am happy to report that our cold snap has moderated.  Yesterday morning it was -37C (-34 F), but this morning it had risen to a balmy -12C (+10 F).  I am finally getting around to installing my new hot water heater today, so I am not going to write much because I have to get to it.  Here are some photos I took over the last few days.

My paintings are at:  www.davidmarchant.ca