WE FIND SOME BIG CEDAR TREES

Don't forget to click on an image to enlarge it

John found his geocache near this old cedar which has survived a fire

Mitzy and I at another old Western Red Cedar

We found some starfish on the beach

This Belted Kingfisher let me approach closer than usual

For those who remember my previous posts which highlighted the bunch berry flowers, here are the (bunch)berries which follow the flowers

We saw this doe and fawn on a river bar

These large Western Red Cedar trees were at the parking lot for the Cape Scott trail

The trunk of a fallen cedar

In the back is a standing multi topped cedar whose butt was as large as the one behind me

Our son Richard on the left with his friend David just as they completed their five day North Coast Trail hike.  The recently completed trail is quite difficult with lots of mud and many areas where you have to pull yourself up banks or over tree trunks with ropes.  The last 15-17 kms, which they completed on their last day to the parking lot terminus, is by far the easiest section but if you look closely, you will see they are muddy nearly to their knees

I had dropped them off in Port Hardy last Friday morning to catch the shuttle boat to the start of the trail and agreed to pick them up at the other end yesterday.  My brother in law John and I geocached our way over there (we did twelve caches!) arriving at 1:46.  Richard and David arrived at 2:08, I thought that was pretty good timing!

GEORGIA AND GEOCACHING

The title pretty much sums up our last few days.  Our granddaughter, Georgia came to visit last Thursday along with her Dad.  The next morning I took Richard and his friend David to Port Hardy to catch the boat to get to the North Coast trailhead where they are currently hiking.  They are supposed to finish their hike tomorrow with my picking them up at the Holberg end.

Ours days have been pretty full having Georgia with us.  John and I made it out geocaching a couple times.  We finally took the ATVs out this morning for the first time in a while as John’s back was pretty sore for a few days.  I took Mitzy with me in a box on the front of my ATV this morning.   She really enjoyed the outing.  We found a trail down to a remote beach near the end of a logging road and Mitzy has great fun running through the puddles on the beach.  She and I managed to get quite close to a Kingfisher on the beach.  I haven’t downloaded the pictures yet so I’ll include a shot next post.

Georgia’s cousin’s Nikki and Travyn hosted a surprise belated birthday party for Georgia the second day she was here.  It was quite funny as Georgia kept saying you can’t have a party since it is not my birthday.   However, she did get into the spirit of the party later, especially when the cake and presents appeared.

Last Wednesday, the night before Georgia came, Aileen suggested going for a drive after supper so the four of us piled in the car and went first to Telegraph Cove.  We drove around both campsites.  We’d stopped and checked out Alder Bay on the way down.  Then we drove up West Main to Ida Lake.  Now there is a rough road.  We decided we would definitely not take the motor home up there.  When we got to Ida Lake, darned if there weren’t two motor homes camping there.  One had snuck up Kokish Main before it was closed and the newer 36 footer had come over the same road as us.  He came rushing out and asked if there was another way out.  We told him about going around the top of Bonanza which is what we were doing.  It was 31 kms from Ida to the highway at the Zeballos turnoff but much smoother.  However, it was still a long way.  It was just past 10:30 when we got home.  

Another Cluxewe sunset

A log train at Beaver Cove

April, Travyn, Georgia and Aileen

This geocache had us fooled for some time.  Finally after being defeated several times, we found it in that stick in the center of the picture

How's that for tricky?  The person who set the cache drilled out the end of the branch and slid the little canister inside 

The yellow fungus that is fairly common in this area.  It only lasts a day or two then turns mushy

This one had a bunch of little flies stuck on it

John getting some elevation to see if the GPS would work better.  The cache has to be around here somewhere.  We still haven't found it though

HAYING TIME, NO ATVING

I went down to Errington last Tuesday to help brother Charlie get his hay in.  I stopped in Campbell River to have fish and chips out on the pier and the cod was excellent!  The plan was to bale on Wednesday but it wasn’t dry enough until Thursday after lunch.  There was just Sheila and I to throw bales to start with.  We did enlist the renter’s thirteen year old daughter to drive tractor for us.  She had never driven anything before but she picked it up quickly.   I rode with her for the first little bit then she did fine on her own.  Part way through Sheila managed to get a teen aged boy to come and work and he was a real help.  I managed to visit two of my siblings, Wendy and Janet, while I was in the area.

I came home on Friday for a rest.  We had to go into town for groceries after supper so Aileen took the opportunity to have a tub bath while I watered Anne’s flowers.  Saturday was a quiet day of rest until after supper when Aileen thought we should run out to Klaklakama Lake to see John and Anne and the kids.  We grabbed old John, a full time resident in Cluxewe and he enjoyed the outing.  We took a drive Sunday afternoon and took my good camera out to a waterfall I had seen while ATVing and I was able to improve on my photos from the other day.

We should be having our granddaughter Georgia staying with us starting this Thursday for most of a week.  Aileen is really looking forward to spending time with Georgia.

Brother in law John’s back is still bothering him so there hasn’t been any ATVing.  In fact, last Monday I took my ATV to town and gave it a good wash then brought it back and covered it up.  It has been very dry here lately which is surprising given the wet weather the interior of BC has been getting.  It is usually the other way around.  While the interior of the province is suffering deadly and expensive mudslides, we are covered in dust.  Not complaining, mind you.  We’re even having sun all day without the normal morning fog.  The temperature is into the high teens Celsius, which is approaching 70F here at the beach and is much warmer the further from the water you go.

We had it very windy for a few days here at Cluxewe Campground

This pretty waterfall is nearly hidden from the road.  I just glimpsed the top little bit while driving by

CROW HARASSING AN EAGLE

We’ve actually had a couple days of decent weather with some sunshine and temperatures getting up to 18C.  However, as our brother in law John says, on the third day the fog moves in.  Today is the third day and yes, it is foggy.  It will probably clear by noon and be sunny later.

We’ve been on our own this weekend.  John has been having hip problems so was staying close to home, I think.  Anne went to visit son Dennis and family who took their trailer out to a lake for the week.  There had been some discussion about all of us going, but Aileen and I decided we’d stay here. 

I’ve been riding my bike around the campground and also venturing out onto the highway a bit.  I went for a strenuous ride up a logging road one day and my knees and hips were complaining loudly the next couple of days.  It seems the older you get the faster you get out of shape and the longer it takes to regain your fitness.  That’s probably nothing new for my older readers, now is it?

We get to see eagles and herons most of the day either from the motor home or out walking.  My images with this post were taken one morning when I had Mitzy with me on the beach.  There are sometimes deer and the other day Aileen and Anne were sitting at the campfire when a black bear climbed up on the bank about 40 feet from them.  When it saw them, it dived into the bushes and shortly thereafter, a deer came bounding out racing to get away.

I got a letter the other day from the Arizona Motor Vehicle office with an insurance suspension on my Arizona ATV, via a court order.  I went into John and Anne’s house Monday morning to use their phone to call the Arizona motor vehicle office.  It took over an hour to get a call through on the 800 system.  I kept getting a message saying all circuits were busy.  When I finally did get through, I was on hold for over forty minutes before getting through to a level 2 clerk who could help me.  The lady I spoke with was great and very helpful.  She listened and understood without my having to repeat anything.  She finally came up with the name of who had been stopped on September 22, 2010 and that he was cited for no insurance.  The name wasn’t Richard M who I bought it from on November 4, 2010 either. We wondered if perhaps it was his stepson. She was surprised that the suspension was applied to my ATV when I hadn’t bought it until six weeks after the violation.  She finally called the mandatory insurance office people and had the fact removed from my record and my insurance reinstated.  I sure hope that is the end of that!

Friday was Aileen’s birthday so we splurged and had steak for supper.  In lieu of a birthday cake, Aileen made a gluten free cake which we had with strawberries and whip cream.  Today is our granddaughter’s tenth birthday.  We tried to call her but their phone number claimed to be disconnected although Richard said they’d have the same number after their move last Friday.  There was no answer on their cell phone either so we were out of luck.

The eagle speaks

The crow's rebuttal

Sneak attack

Leave me alone

Dive bombing the eagle

The Marble River near where we had a picnic yesterday

FLOWERS, CRITTERS AND WATERFALLS

These yellow violets were blooming where the snow had just melted off.  The bugs and a bee found them popular

This could possibly be the last operating logging railroad in North America

I found this surprised looking Willow Grouse in an area that had been burned over recently.  That's a burned stump and a new sprig of Fireweed behind the grouse

This is the motion of water in a little wide spot in a creek, the water had been falling over rocks creating the foam bubbles

I took this picture of Old Grumpy from my ATV

This was a long shot of another bear way up the hillside from us

Up at the back end of Stewart Main logging road, the mountains rise up steeply on both side and there were many pretty waterfalls 

This was the end of the road for us.  The snow must be at least twelve feet deep where the road curves in under it.

Indian Paintbrush

A little deer in our campsite

I took my better camera and lens out yesterday to get a better image of this beautiful waterfall on Center Main near O'Connor Lake.  Aileen and I ate our lunch at the rec site on O'Connor Lake but we didn't stay long as the bugs were hungry too

We've been keeping very busy as usual here.  John and I have been out several days on the ATVs.  John, I and the ladies have gone for firewood twice in the past week, filling the eight foot truck box both times.  We have a campfire burning for much of the day and use a lot of wood.  We had my aunt and uncle and two cousins from Port Hardy and Port McNeill visit Friday evening.
We had some idiots in the campground setting off fireworks til one am this morning.  With Mitzy hyperventilating beside me and Aileen and I unable to stay asleep, it wasn't a good night.  About three am it started to rain hard and hasn't let up yet.  Too bad it hadn't started about three hours earlier.