The heat continues.

More or less with the exception of today (which is rainy) the heat wave here has been continuing in British Columbia. Wild fires are burning across over 150 locations around BC. Although its dry down here in the Fraser Valley theres no bush fires although there is a complete camp fire ban.

The continued warm weather has had us making trips to the local rivers to walk the dogs and cool down. We've only been camping once recently. We stayed overnight on a sandy island on the Fraser River while fishing. Camping meant the fishing could go on till as late as allowable and from as early as sun up. Its the first time we slept with the dogs in the same tent. For me it was not such a bad experience as the dogs seem to believe Jaime is much more comfortable to sleep on and spent most of the evening settling themselves on her legs, back and head and then moving around again. Come the morning for some reason Jaime's mood was not conducive to me convincing her to come for an early morning dog walk.

Some big Salmon are being landed at the minute. Jaime landed this cracking 17+lb fish but apparently 20+ and much larger are not uncommon.

A lot of people are now starting to reach the limit their freezer can physically handle. But the leftovers from filleting are not going to waste. Jaime has been taking the fish heads and backs to work for the bears who seem to love them. Charlie and Chester the black bears, make short work of any Salmon thrown their way.

Jaime is loving her job, in particular spending time with the wolves is a personal favourite. It took Jaime a couple of weeks for the wolves to feel comfortable with her, but now she is in with them on a daily basis, feeding and grooming them. Jaime has a very unique job and is really pleased to be in a position where she can take care of the animals.

On the subject of animals we had a little drama last week when Flash the ferret made a break for it. Her cage door was not quick clicked closed fully and she managed to contort her way out and make for freedom. By the time we realised she had gone AWOL its possible she had been out for 5 hours. Our neighbourhood has a large number of cats but these were not the greatest concern, more worrying was the number of roads. Within an hour of realising she was gone we had search parties out, posters up around the neighbourhood, local vets and food stores followed by calls to all of the local animal shelters. As dusk started to come in, we called it a day and could only hope she would return over night. We left a cat basket with some food and blankets out to encourage her. Jaime had a very sleepless night with worry. The following morning I went out to check the garden at 6am while the dogs were eating breakfast and hearing some scrabbling from our shed watched very closely to see a small white ferret face pop out and dart back. After shouting for Jaime to get up we managed to grab her and put back in the cage for what seemed to be a very welcome feed.

There are big similarities between life here in British Columbia and life in the UK, but its the odd little difference which poke you between the eyes and often make them tear up with laughter. Simple things like the statement - "My neighbour is Randy" here simply refers to the name of the guy who actually lives next door and nothing to do with his 70s'esk porn facial hair. I'm forming a list of these differences in my head for a blog post at a later date. We did have a brief encounter on Friday which I suspect is highly unlikely in Britain.

While heading to one of our usual dog walks we spotted a tipi as we walked through a wooded area. As we passed further towards the field where Loki and Duffy would usually run around we discovered more tipi and campers. As we continued to walk we could just about make out a chalk powder white line marking a circle around the whole field. Just as we were about to cross over the line a middle aged woman shouted dramatically after us asking us not to cross the line or walk the path we had many times before. They were holding a "Healing Ceremony" and apparently we had just walked right through and over their spirit path, we were warned we should watch our dogs closely over night as they may have been affected by evil spirits. Now in this day and age of cultural sensitivity and health and safety, surely such a thing should clearly marked, A sign such as "Do Not Enter Spirit Guides Only" would be useful. In the interest of a quiet life and avoiding a supernatural misadventure we gave them a wide berth, the only evil spirits which manifested themselves over night we believe were actually related to something one of the dogs ate while under a bush.

Lost Lake

July has been a hot month. We have seen little rain and temperatures averaging around the high twenties and on some days over 30c. Its a proper summer with sprinkler bans and everything. For those in the UK who have not been to North America one of the big pleasures on such days is a Slushy. If your as old as me you'll remember Slush Puppies. Its the same principle, a crushed ice drink, the big difference being your not limited to flavours of Blue and Red. Here Coke, Sprite, Mountain Dew and various other soft drinks all come this way and like a lot of things in north America they come BIG!

Generally the dogs are not so great in the heat, although both Loki and Duffy love to bask in the sun at any opportunity they can only walk very short distances before they start panting very seriously, but we're timing our walks to suite cooler times of the day and things are working out.

Last weekend we made a trip with the dogs to Chadsey Lake (known locally as Lost Lake) on Sumas Mountain. Our little Subaru handled the heavy gravel off road fairly well - Take note boy racers this is what the Impreza is really designed for. The only down side to the little off road trip was I gave the car a complete wash before we decided we'd make the trip and by the time we reached the end of the gravel road its fairly safe to say our car had taken on a sandy dirt tone over the paint work.

View Larger Map

After the drive we had around a 20 to 30 minute hike through forest to the lake itself. The the trail was extremely clearly marked and for the most part a well worn path, with only the odd encounter of brambles and my personal favorite Devils Club, which as the name suggests its not to be tangled with if at all possible because it will most certainly leave more than just a mark if you brush against it.

Ah the lovely Devils Club - Note: Not Toilet Paper substitute.

The hike down to the lake let the dogs enjoy one of their passions, SQUIRREL!! and there were lots about. Much to the dogs frustration squirrels know they are safe up the tree and just about exactly how high the dogs can jump. They will sit just out of reach eyeing the dogs and chattering at them while the dogs whistle and whine in frustration back. Duffy is not above futilely throwing (and I choose the word carefully) himself up a tree only to fall about 3 feet short of the tree hugging rodent.

The selection of wild berries here in British Columbia is a big change for me. They have plain old Blackberries growing wild but they also have Thimble-berry, Huckleberry, Raspberry, Strawberry, Salmonberry to name but a few, not being the largest berry fan in my opinion they often taste a lot like dirt. That said with a bit (a lot) of guidance from Jaime, picked at the right time they do taste a lot better.

Salmonberry

Jaime picking some Salmonberries

A handful of Salmonberries, they look a lot like Raspberry.

Once we arrived at the lake it was time for lunch followed by some basking in the sun, a spot of failed survivalist fishing, you'd think if you spend the time whittling a hook the least the fish could do is bite. We then had a wander around the lake, the water was amazingly clear and no wind meant it was flat and actually warm, well the first few inches were warm anything deeper we shall classify as not bitterly cold. With the day being so warm it was nice to have a swim, Jaime I and the dogs were all in.

Chadsey lake

No that is not the Canadian Manatee it is in fact the Ultra White Brit - Do not adust your set the glow is real.

No that is not the Great White Starfish either, its is still me.

July has also been a special month, Jaime's sister Lisa has had second daughter, Marin just two days ago. Baby and mum are both very health and we were able to go visit a few hours after she was born.

The camping trip - ITS AN ADVENTURE

So we made is back from Eutsuk Lake safe and sound and it was a memorable trip. We had one or two mishaps, but no one was hurt and spirits were high the whole time.

We left at 1am Sunday morning and drove through the night, 19 hours later we landed on the beach camp site. The last stretch of the road journey was around an hour on logging roads, driving towards the lake we could see off in the distance a huge plume of smoke from a forest fire (we now know covered 60 square KM) fortunately for us it was not where we were headed.

From Eutsuk 2010

The logging roads to access the lakes are basically heavy gravel designed for big rig trucks, hauling lumber, which presented our first little mishap and took a toll on the jet boat, putting out the drivers window. This was going to present a problem trying to drive the jet boat across the lakes to get to our final destination. Thanks to a downed sign and some duct-tape we managed to improvise something to provide some shelter and were able to launch on the lake.

The journey on the lake is usually around 4 hours however the wind had whipped up the lake a little and the decision was made to try and wait out some of the rough water in a sheltered bay, where we all pretty much managed an nap. As time was ticking on and the weather seemed to have eased we hit the water again, not long after the waves started whipping up again, making the shallow bottom of the jet boat bounce off the waves fairly violently. It was at this point the females among us, made a mental note to add a sports bra to their future packing lists. I understand a fair amount of discomfort was encountered. Aside from some shaken kidneys, my only discomfort came when Jaime opened the canopy on the boat while we were going flat out and I got crowned right between the eyes with a press-stud, leaving an interestingly central bruise, a stinging sensation and a bad head for a couple of hours.

From Eutsuk 2010

Bumps and bruises aside we arrived on the beach with a little day light to spare. All hands were put to setting up camp at speed. In doing so we managed to flick a tent pole up and catch Jaime in the face chipping one of her front teeth, despite my protests it was generally consider I had done this as revenge... I honestly testify now I didn't... no really I did not!

Camp being set up, next on the agenda was to have a nice warm drink and some dinner before settling in for the evening. Out came the gas bottle and the stove, but on trying to connect the two together we discovered the wrong hose had been brought. This left us with two options get very Ray Mears for every meal or speak to our neighbors. Unlike previous years when the nearest person is about 6 hours away, on this trip Jaime's Dad (Pete) was initially quite disappointed that someone else was camping near by us, fortunatly they were shipping out the following day and we were able to take their stove hose... Sorry Mr Mears all that we have learned from your shows will need to wait a little longer.

Now the fishing really began, trolling the lake with lines on down riggers, sometimes an hour or so would go between bites, and on other occasions 3 or 4 in quick succession and sometimes only minutes after setting out. We brought 21 Rainbow Trout home, but caught over 27, some were let go and some were eaten for dinner. The largest trought we caught on this trip was 7.2lbs but 10 and 11lb fish have been caught in Eutusk Lake.

From Eutsuk 2010

From Eutsuk 2010

The first few days of fishing on the lake are mainly for sport and fish to eat there and then, the fishing to take home begins by about day three, once we have made an hours trip up the lake to collect ice from a snow slide. The slide which comes right down the mountain to the lake is impressive. Its a reasonably simple matter of shovelling packed snow in to a cooler where the fish will then be placed once cleaned. It was fortunately in these first few days we really encountered our remaining mishaps. The worst of these being water in the fuel.

From Eutsuk 2010

The jet boat runs on 5+ litre V8 petrol engine and just like any petrol engine, it doesn't run well full of water. We were fortunately heading towards shore when the engine started to splutter, on making it back the engine then stopped and would not start again... just to put this in context... WERE IN THE MIDDLE OF NO-WHERE!! Thoughts of survival skills start to creep in to mind and the more meatie of the party wonder who the thinner members will prey on first. OK that's a complete exaggeration. There was some concern but we had confidence in Pete and he managed to strip down the relevant parts, remove the water from them and also pump the remaining good fuel out of the contaminated tank. Crisis averted.

We were motoring again and the fishing was good, we caught our 7.2lb fish and by we I mean, Jaime was reeling it in and the rod snapped, her brother David, grabbed the end and held it so Jaime could real and Rachel, David's wife hand over hand pulled the fish to the boat where I netted it. A true team effort for the largest fish of the trip. After that busy day of fishing we cleaned the fish on a near by beach ready for the cooler of ice and pulled in to shore ready to spend the rest of the evening by the fire. Just as I was taking my first sip if ice chilled beer I look down at the shore to see what looks like Pete's jet boat floating its own way home, yep in all our high spirits and humour as we landed non of us tied up the boat and it was now more than swimming distance away in the frigid water. In the 20 years Pete has been making this caping trip he has seen extremely few other campers at near by. Fortunately for us two groups this year. Our new neighbours happened to be heading our to place some drop lines for the evening and were able to recover the boat.

Its fair to say the rest of the trip was more or less incident free, the bumps, bruises, broken tooth, broken rod, broken window, broken engine and lost boat were all fortunate incidents depending on your point of view. It would be unfair of me not to mention some of the highlights of the trip but I have already rambled for so long, but we did have close up sightings of a Bald Eagle fishing, Cow Moose and Calf and even bear, and not forgetting the scenery which is amazing.

From Eutsuk 2010

From Eutsuk 2010

From Eutsuk 2010

From Eutsuk 2010

From Eutsuk 2010

From Eutsuk 2010

Gone Fishing!

Just a quick blog post, we're off for a weeks camping and fishing.

We're going here:

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Yep thats right, the middle of no where, full report when we get back.

Moved in and starting the new life.

Quite a lot has gone on since my last post. We moved into our new place in Mission on Monday, we had a lot more boxes and things stored than we realised. Our biggest problem being we have lots of things and not enough shelves, draws and cupboards to put them in. A trip to Ikea next week will put that to rights I'm sure. Quick shopping trips last week got us sofa's, a desk and more than enough for the place to start to feel like a home. We've cooked our first few meals (discovering which kitchen utensils we are missing) so I'd say the place was now officially lived in.

Last week was a bit of a blur, and we're still sorting our schedules out a little. Jaime is currently working three days a week and I'm working Monday to Friday.

The dogs are so far loving life here, since we moved down off the mountain they have not had any bears to chase and rabbits are few and far between, however don't worry they have found a replacement, squirrels (of which there are many in Mission) have become this seasons rabbit, the dogs only frustration being that rather than just run around and dive down a hole, a squirrel will run up a tree just out of reach and sit there and mock them and despite their best efforts (including Duffy trying to throw himself up the tree) they can't reach them. We're still exploring the area and finding offlead dog walks has been a bit of a challange due to the leash laws here, but we're persistant and not afraid to walk a long way so its working out. Yesterday we took the dogs for a good long 2 hour walk down by the Fraser river and found a nice little trail we'll be taking again, I think we could spend months if not years discovering trails in the Fraser Valley and probably will.

On a more personal perspective, I'm still having trouble wrapping my head around the size of things in North America since we moved back. Everything from Sandwiches to Vehicles are MASSIVE. Picture this.... a simple pre-packaged Ham Sandwich from Sainsbury's or some other store in the UK... two slices of bread, a couple of slices of wafer thin ham and if you have gone for the ham salad option, a couple of lettuce leaves and tomato maybe with a faint waft of mustard, the whole thing cut diagonally placed side by side in a convenient triangular plastic container. Now try and imagine a 15" French stick, filled with a some lettuce leaves, a little tomato, around 20+ slices of not thin ham, cooked sausage, honey mustard dressing, sliced in half, placed side by side on a plastic tray wrapped in cling-film and sold for... £3. Its more than Jaime and I can eat for lunch combined.

Jaime and the boys on Saturday Afternoon

Most of a Swallow Tail Butterfly

Not sure who this is... he followed us around all day taking pictures.

Duffy!

A little cairn

Some of the views on our little walk.

Duffy's new discovery of Ikea Stool / Dog bed.

The dogs love the fenced in yard

We call her Tree Beard

Loki!

The Pond on the Drive way to Jaime's Parents.

Calm before the move

We are able to move in to our new place on Monday and we'll be glad to move on to the next stage of getting setup. The last week has been full, Jaime is working her new job three days a week and is really enjoying it.

We're staying with Jaime's parents at the minute, staying on Sumas Mountain, which the dogs are loving. We have already had our first large animals sightings. We saw a bear when driving to the main road. It was around 15 yards away from the car and Duffy did not like it one bit, he growled, barked and bayed where as Loki was... looking the other way. The same day while driving up the mountain we spotted a deer by the road and Loki watched it intently and Duffy.... well he thought it warranted the same treatment as the bear.

Our daily walks are being kept up while we're here, their a lot more cross country and hilly. Great for the dogs and apparently good for the health (my legs are not convinced). The boys had their first chase of a bear yesterday, along with Jaime's dad's dogs they took to the bush at high speed much to their excitement, when Loki came back his hackles were up from the crown of his head to the tip of his tail.

More mundane things such as a Social Insurance Number, a mobile phone and licensing for the dogs etc. are all done, but there are always more things which seem to need to be done.