Merry Christmas

why little dogs should wear boots

snow

a quiet Saturday

I just went to resume knitting and Bailey is curled up around the yarn, looking like she just got tired of it and decided to take a rest.
A quiet day here, but out this evening and 2 events tomorrow,

parade of lights

I've been waiting for better pictures, but everyone used time exposure which resulted in great streaks of colour but not much else.
Anyway this is our boat-a bit scary out there at night

our Japanese Maple

is in bloom again-this time with raindrops
(you will have to click on the picture to enlarge it to see the drops)

November in Powell River

Winds 45 knots (about 83 km)
Ferries cancelled.
a good day to read (Ken) and knit (me).
A day to hunker down

Thanksgiving in Fernie-Lesley just sent these.

Sunday morning

Lots of wind and rain yesterday and leaves are down

What were we thinking?

A visit to the Salmon Spawning channel at Lang Bay this morning resulted in us returning home with 3 10 lb chum salmon, freshly caught and milked of about 3500 eggs each.

Very fascinating place.
Thankfully, Marv and Kathy wandered by just at the right time: Marv instructed me in the filleting process, Kathy assisted with bagging, and we managed to persuade them to take one home.
We have enough salmon (steaks, roasts, fillets, stock) for the winter methinks....

a walk in the woods

these little guys are about the size of a dime

Suicide Trail near Duck Lake-a beautious place despite the name-we trekked with Bensons and 2 dogs for about 2 1/2 hours(with a lunch break of course).
Millions of types of fungus, mushrooms etc and the streams were rushing after the recent rain. Spanish moss on all the trees.
Every vista was a photo-op

Thanksgiving in Fernie

For some reason we didn't have the camera out in Cochrane, but here are the Balls on a walk around a lake in Fernie. It was beautiful there-cool as you can see, by the outerwear. Lots of coloured leaves, a close encounter with 2 moose, friends for the kids.
Isn't this cute of Devon?

Our bed up in the loft in the morning.

the salmon run

Chinook and chum-look to be about 20"-30"

The monsoon season is here and the creeks are running fast. This is good because now the salmon can spawn. We went today to the Lang Bay Fish Hatchery, where the salmon are rerouted to a spawning channel, some of them are milked for their eggs and then released into the river. The Chinook and chum seem content to spawn right there and then die. The coho get back into the river and go way up about 6 miles or more to spawn.

We learned all this from one of the workers. There were a few fish up on the bank, dead. He said there is at least 1 bear there who is enjoying a captive meal.
Looks like a good run.
He said the usual chinook run here is about 1000, and there are more than 1100 and it's just started.
I guess all those fisherpeople at the mouth of the creek didn't do too much damage.

spinnakers and sea lions

down the hill, into the water and home again.

a few pictures of what we did today.

Can't say enough good things about Gerry and her crew at Jack's Boat Yard.
We are a bit poorer, a LOT safer,and a LOT smarter.
Thanks as always to Richard who cruised back with Ken while I coached them on via cell phone.

The Big Outhaul

Friday was the day to get our boat hauled out, cleaned and repainted.
Not a simple job with a sailboat!!!
So we had to take it to Jack's Boat Yard in Lund, a 2-3 hour trip,
and watch as a gigantic crane affair lifted the poor little dirty thing up in the air.
All of this done by 2 girls

Lots of mussels getting a free ride on the bottom of our keel-No wonder another boat beat us in the Catalina race!

Cindy power washing away the sludge.
Because of new environmental laws, all the water has to be collected(in a big rubber dam under the dock) and processed before it can go back in the ocean.

The crane then carries the boat up into the yard
-and I mean UP. A hill that makes us puff a little bit to walk.
When we came back yesterday to wax the hull, the boat was up on blocks, and Cindy will paint the blue part tomorrow.
We also need to replace a few plumbing valves.
Our friends say they just "pop in" but we're going to get a plumber to do the popping.

New gov't regulations say that all boats need a sewage holding tank and that they have to be pumped out at pump out stations.
Of course they have neglected to build pump out facilities anywhere. And installing a holding tank would cost about $2,000.00
As a result we just don't use our biffy unless it's a dire emergency. We're thinking about taking it out and putting in a porta-potti.

Helicopters are the way to go....

We finally got our helicopter ride!!!
One of the girls couldn't come so Ken hopped in at the last minute.
WOW.
This is the city and harbour in Powell River

Lund

North into Desolation Sound

Prideaux Haven-The large yacht is at least 180 feet and probably has a helicopter on it's stern

We want to win this prize again too!!!

Last night

These pictures are for the heron lady in Dorion.
Not as many herons as last year. Apparently due to a rise in the bald eagle population. They also seem to be getting less timid.

Bailey charmed us all by rolling in heron poop and thus smelling like dead fish.

Ice cream cones and walking the docks at sunset after another great weather day.
We had a great visit.

Tug in a Jug

We are enjoying having David here. He's been a good sailor, and has learned we don't get anywhere in a hurry on a sailboat.
We are off this morning to do the Terry Fox walk/run at the complex.

He got us motivated to finally get our ship in a bottle project done.
Bensons found this great bottle at a garage sale, and we've been looking for a ship ever since. Ken found this tug in Anacortes, Washington last spring, but it was a smidgen too big. David used every tool in the house and carefully got it to fit.
That's some of our accumulated sea glass that it's sitting on.
David also brought Dad a model of the Bluenose(on the left) and we have another model which came from Yorkshire on the right. I think it was a wedding present 43 years ago.

Remember the Pollinator Bees?

Fall is the time to open the bee boxes and clean the coccoons.
This is necessary because of mites which have decimated the honey bee population. The yellow stuff I think is pollen which the good mother puts in each tube to feed the eggs/larva/adults as they develop.

The cocoons are quite sturdy.
After taking them out of the boxes, I washed them in a weak bleach solution, rinsed them and let them dry. The trays had to get the same treatment, and they spent the day in the sun.
Now the cocoons will go in a dark dry place until next May when they go outside to hatch. I had about 450.
Cool.

Kayaking today

Today our Donate the Weight team claimed one of our prizes and went on a 4 hour kayaking lesson/tour out of Lund up into the Copelands. We paddled for 3+ hours without a break. Couldn't have asked for nicer weather, better company or a more accommodating guide-

We came back wet, hungry, tired and filled with the calm that comes after hours on the water. Thanks Terracentric

Today's fishing story

Our first experience out with the downrigger today and this is what we caught-a seal pup!
We had seen the mother following us, and when I checked the line, this guy was hooked on the back of the neck.
We felt terrible, but thank goodness for barbless hooks, Ken was able to get the hook out and I really don't think he felt a thing.
Anyway he decided we were nice people-or maybe his mother, because he hung around the boat for about 10 minutes while our blood pressures returned to normal.

I didn't take this picture-we were too busy recovering from the trauma, but he had the biggest most trusting eyes you ever saw, and I have no idea how anyone could kill them.