John and Aileen sometimes on the road

Friday, September 12, 2025

MILKWEED FANTASIES, MOONRISE AND WATER FOR THE SHEEP.

We went for a drive last night, the first one this week, and saw 23 bighorn sheep above Vaseux Lake. Then we took a drive around the McLean Creek Road loop where we saw the large group last week. There were even more this time with over fifty sheep. Again there were no rams with them. Upon leaving the sheep, I spotted a nice bed of milkweed alongside of the road so I stopped to work with them. Such beautifully delicate seed puffs.

I was headed to bed later when I thought to take a peek at the night sky. I noticed the glow coming over the ridge announcing the moon would soon be following so I got my camera and put my big lens on and then waited for the action to begin.

I've often wondered what the wild sheep did for water. This is the first time I have seen them drinking from the rancher's stock waterers. Perhaps they are left running just for the sheep?

This group of 23 had a ram with them, first ram we've seen so far this fall.

About to have a drink.

The lamb is figuring how to do it too.

Blocking traffic.

The milkweed seed pods have burst open.

Moonrise over the mountain from our porch.

Less than two minutes from the first photo to this one. It's amazing how fast the moon rises when you have a static subject to base it on.

Thursday, September 11, 2025

HAD A FEW DOWN DAYS BUT I'M RECOVERING.

We enjoyed having my sister Janet and her husband John visit us on Sunday. Later that night I developed a sinus infection or something and by morning I felt pretty lousy. My brother Charlie and wife Sheila were supposed to stop in for breakfast on their way by heading home from a vacation on the prairies but I had to contact them to stop that plan. Bummer! I've had a vacation from my computer because my eyes hurt too much to try looking at the screen so today I've been catching up on some editing. I took these photos while Neil and Carol were visiting last week. We had to cancel our motorhome trip to Salmon Arm and will try to do it next week.

Neil and Carol lucked out and the main herd of bighorn sheep had just come down from the high hills. I counted nearly fifty sheep. There were no rams among them yet.

This mule deer fawn came along and didn't know what to make of all the sheep.

My what big ears you have!

We took Neil and Carol for a drive over to Keremeos then turned up the Hedley-Nickleplate Mine Road just east of Hedley. This was taken from our lunch spot.

Part of the road up to our lunch spot.

Crop circles at our feet.

Continuing over the mountain towards Apex Ski Hill we passed this old cemetery. It is supposed to have been used by the Nickleplate Mine and while in good condition there are no markings of any kind.

The last morning before they left, we took Carol and Neil up to the Balancing Rock.

Carol and Neil ready to depart. They were great company!

Janet and John left some plums that they picked at our Aunt Diana and Jack's place in Enderby. We quickly made some jam. Yummy!

Saturday, September 6, 2025

BUSY TIMES AROUND HERE THESE DAYS.

My cousin Neil and his lovely wife Carol were here for two nights. They parked their tiny fifth wheel on our front yard and we had a visiting great time. We took them on one of our super circle tours even though it was a smoky day. We had lunch while perched on the side of the mountain with a great view down to Highway 3 and the Similkameen Valley just east of Hedley.

Yesterday was a bit of a marathon with a drive up to Salmon Arm departing at 6:53 am and returning after 7 pm. Aileen had a get together with four of her friends. I took my camera down to the waterfront and had some great success with some birds. I also lucked out and chatted with my friend Doug who was walking his dog down there.

Our daughter Bev and Kevin took us for a nice lunch at the Barley Station and we had a nice but short visit with them. Bev was home for a few days from her job in Fort Mac.

Tomorrow my sister Janet and her husband John will be visiting us. First time for them to visit us here. Next week we will be taking the motorhome up to the Shuswap for a few days. Kevin has someone who is going to try and discover what the problem is with the motorhome headlights. There is a large voltage drop to the headlights so they are dim all the time. Hopefully, he will be able to find and fix the problem.

This month's camera club photo challenge is intentional camera movement. While we were up at the balancing rock with Neil and Carol the other day, I took advantage of all the burned trees and their symmetry to try a long exposure moving the camera quickly up or down. I have included a few of my efforts. The rest of today's photos are from my visit to the waterfront in Salmon Arm.