Better Signs of Spring

 

The tulips are looking more lovely every day.

Here's an even better sign of spring:

I got my vaccination invitation in the mail today!  (I take immunosuppresant drugs for my rheumatoid arthritis.) I have an appointment for April 15. In the news today they reported on a study from the US that shows that people who've had a single shot have a reduced risk of infection by 80 per cent after 2 weeks.

That's a relief.  Covid rates are very low here right now (2 cases a week for the last month) after being the Covid Hotspot in January, but I imagine that will change after 2 weeks of Spring break and now Easter coming up.  People will undoubteedly bring the new variants in from the lower mainland.

Ducks continue to flock to Scout Island.

Scaups and Ring Necked Ducks

We've been hearing varied thrush singing in the neighborhood and yesterday we had our first this year come to our backyard.

Blurry picture taken out the kitchen window.

After yesterday's blizzard, today is bright and sunny and the snow is melting.

False Sign of Spring

 Leo bought more spring flowers he can later plant in the garden.

No, there's no tulips in our yard yet.  There's not even any sign of leaves popping out of the soil.

Fortunately we were finished with our Sunday morning walk before this blew in from the North:

We did have our after walk debriefing huddled on the leeside of the rec centre as the snow started to fall.  The high tomorrow is forecast to be only 0 degrees.

More Signs of Spring

 

Yesterday the Wednesday walkers drove out to Mission Road to avoid the breakup mud.  This photo makes it look deserted but there were 10 of us.  

The meadowlark were singing and Leo got some good shots of bluebirds:

Okay, the light wasn't right on this last one but I like that it's caught a worm.

And lastly, a nice closeup of this horse:

Afterwards, we celebrated the easing of pandemic restrictions by meeting for coffee in the rose garden in a group of less than 10.

Signs of Spring

 

You'd never guess it from this view from the Scout Island viewpoint, but Spring is in the air.

The Redwing blackbirds are making a racket around the nature house feeders, Canada geese are coming in flocks.  We heard our first meadowlark in the RC Cotten site across the new bridge, and

The pussywillows are coming out!

Just after I snapped this photo a woman further up the trail told us she'd seen a lynx run down to the lakeshore.  We missed it!

And now that Dr. Bonnie has sanctioned outdoor get-togethers of up to ten people our after walk coffee group is legal again.

Its too muddy to walk in the creek valley so we've been driving out to Mission Road to walk on the quiet paved road in rural bliss.  The bluebirds are coming back to their nest boxes.

Things are looking up.

Our New Home on Wheels

2011 Lance 1685

 We've been looking for a trailer to replace the one we sold last August.  We'd been checking the RV dealers for deals on last year's models, but they all had such a good season last year because of the pandemic that they have no leftover inventory.  On Thursday I saw a Facebook ad for the model we've been looking at.  We messaged right back and in 1/2 an hour we were on the road to Kamloops.  It looked good so we snapped it up.  

We were looking for a double axle trailer short enough to fit in our small parking space and they are hard to find.  Most smaller trailers are single axle to reduce weight so you can tow it with an SUV.  Our new trailer is only a foot longer than our old one, but much more spacious because it has a slideout dinette.  It also has a queen-size bed, but I'll still have to crawl over Leo to get to the bathroom in the middle of the night.

The interior with the slide in.  We don't have room in our driveway to extend the slide, but when deployed the dinette pushes out to the bedroom wall and there's a 3-foot aisle. Luxury.  Over the bed, where the clock is, the cupboard converts into a bunk for someone who is not at all claustrophobic; its a very narrow space. I can't imagine anyone actually sleeping up there.

Kitchen complete with microwave. (But you can only microwave when you're plugged into power). And look at all those cupboards!

This trailer is much darker than our old one because the decor is darker and it's missing the window on the front over the bed. I'm thinking of painting the walls a lighter  colour.

This bathroom is smaller than our old one. We had a full tub in the previous trailer.

There's tons of storage inside and out.  And it's lighter than our old trailer despite being larger.  It came with a solar panel so we won't have to buy one.  There's even air conditioning.  More important, it comes with a fantastic fan.  Unlike the A/C it operates on battery power.  Fantastic fans are legendary for their ability to suck the hot air of your rv on hot days when you don't have plug in power to operate your A/C.

Enough RV talk.  Let's go camping!

Under the Cherry Blossoms

 

The Williams Lake Community Band's virtual performance of Under the Cherry Blossoms is on Youtube.

It was not a live performance; we each recorded our tapes separately and then our band conductor, Laura, stitched them altogether.

I recorded a ton of tapes before I got one I deemed acceptable.  Of course no one can hear me individually once it's all put together.

It was a fun little project that gave me a reason to practice my trombone.

Last Hurrah

 

Sunday may have been the last significant snowfall of the year.  It's March 1 and the forecast is for above freezing for the rest of the week. Its sunny out today and melting like crazy.

Here's some rabbit prints from our walk in fresh snow on Saturday.