Back to Likely!

On the second day of their visit we took Syb and Dave out to Likely and Quesnel Forks.

After lunch at the Likely Hotel we drove down the gravel road to the Forks.  Halfway down the hill we heard a hissing sound.  We'd blown a tire!

We pulled into a Placer mining operation to change the tire.  Leo pulled out the jack and tried to lower down the spare tire from under the truck.  This was the first flat we'd had since we bought the truck.  There was no way the jack extension would fit into the mechanism to lower the tire.  We pulled out the manual and we were doing everything right.  It still wouldn't work.  It was clear that the thingy would not connect to the other thingy no matter what we did!  Leo was not relishing walking the 13 km back to Likely to get to a payphone (no cell reception out here!).

Finally he rummaged around under the back seat and discovered a small chrome piece in a plastic bag.  It fit into the tube so that it connected to the thingy and Leo was able to lower the tire!  No mention of the connecter anywhere in the manual!

Then after the nuts were loosened on the flat tire, the wheel was stuck fast.  No amount of kicking it would knock it off.

Leo tries to knock wheel off with piece of wood. That didn't work either.

Fortunately, the placer miner had left his tools lying around, including a mallet and an expensive axe.  Leo didn't want to bend his rim, but half measures were not working.  Eventually he whacked the axe with all his might and the wheel finally came off.  Phew, disaster averted!

With the tire changed we pulled forward a few metres and entered the townsite.

Sybille checks out the Tong House

First time I've noticed this old truck

Inspecting the Forks of Cariboo and Quesnel Rivers

Lovely Afternoon in the Chilcotin

Sybille and Dave showed up in the early afternoon last week so we headed out to the Chilcotin to hike up to the dunes at Farwell Canyon.

It was a fabulous fall day as you can see.  We stopped at the side of the road to see a number of rough-legged hawks (4 or 5) hovering in the sky in their migration south.

Hiking toward the dunes.  With all the rain this summer the grass was lush and thick.

We met a couple of people on the hike but then had the dunes and the view to ourselves.

Fabulous view:

Afterwards we made the obligatory short sidetrip to the nearby pictograph site.

And on the way out we came across a herd of California Bighorn sheep.

The bigger of 2 rams had impressive horns:

What Else is New?

The end of an era.

Ever since Leo retired we have been meeting our friend Mark for coffee once a week at the Starbucks at our local Safeway.

Next week they are closing Safeway to turn it into a discount grocery.  There will no longer be a bakery, and the Starbucks closed for good on Friday, so I commemorated the occasion Thursday morning.

There's a new freestanding Starbucks down the street that took away most of the business but it's noisy and slow, and we appreciated the reduced lines at our local.  Now where will we go?

Then on Friday, Leo phoned me from downtown to tell me that our other hangout, the New World Cafe was on fire.

On a more cheerful note, we took advantage of a beautiful sunny day on Saturday for another trip down the Horsefly River.  I forgot to bring my camera so no pictures.  But we had a lovely afternoon despite the lack of documentation.

Usually we see scores of spawning sockeye at this time of year, but a blockage on the Fraser River has disrupted the spawning run.  Also, because of all the rain, the river was running as high as it was in late June so it would have been difficult to see them in the deep water.  We did see one live and several dead salmon on the banks.  Later we talked to people fishing and they said they'd seen quite a few go by.  So hopefully the run will recover.

It was really quite busy on the river.  There was a group of 12 taking a river rescue course at the put in and 2 couples camped and fishing at the takeout as well as as more fishermen on the river at the bridge in the town.

We stopped for dinner at the Soul Food Truck in downtown Horsefly and had falafel and a buffalo burger.  Excellent!

What's Blooming Late September

I bought this autumn flowering sedum at the farmers' market this spring.

This echinacea was newly planted this year as well and has only 2 blooms.

Note photo bomb by the Gartenzwerg Leo won at the final Kispiox Turkey Trot a few years ago.

The holly hock continues to bloom.

This dark red blanket flower continues to produce blossoms.

And this gisnt aster I planted last year is over 4-1/2 feet tall:

The volunteer sunflowers and poppies did well in my vegetable garden this year.

That bare spot in the middle is where my peas and beans should have been, but they were eaten up between the deer and the slugs!

This giant squash plant has pretty much taken over the back half of my vegetable garden.

But it's only managed to produce 2 very attractive squash.

The rest were devoured by the slugs!  Continuing on that theme, guess what caused these scars on this cucumber in our garden?

Slugs, of course!

I wish I could say these giant carrots came from my garden,

Foot included for size comparison.  Note the octopus-shaped carrot on the left.

But they were given to us by a Tim Hortons regular. Thanks Ken! He says he doesn't use any fertilizer!

Seniors' Games, Kelowna

55 to 69 year olds at the start of the 5000 meter race.

Another successful Seniors' Games, this year in Kelowna.

We camped at Bear Creek Provincial Park, one of our favourites, along with a pile of other Games participants.

Leo's friend and Rogaine partner, Bryan, camped with us.

There was a little excitement at the park one night.  Leo and I slept through it, but Bryan (in a tent) was woken by police and ambulance lights.  He was worried that someone had drowned as there were tugbouts in the log boom right next to the park in the morning.  A police officer came by to ask if we'd witnessed anything.  Another friend heard the cops yell "put down your gun" several times and then a shot.  Apparently they thought he had a weapon, shot him in the arm and he ran out onto the logboom before they rescued him and took him to the hospital. The officer who talked to us was likely an investigate that they call in anytime the police shoot someone.

Commuting  across the bridge from West Kelowna to the track on the other side of the lake proved to be quite a chore.  Even outside of rush hour the traffic on the bridge would often come to a standstill due to traffic lights further along on Harvey.  We'd come home from a hard day of competing (Leo) and spectating (Connie) for a shower and dinner and then decide it wasn't worth it to drive back into town for the games' evening entertainment.

On the other hand the weather was great, warm enough for comfortable camping and overcast enough during the day for competition.

Coming into the finish line for the 5000 m race.

There was more competition this year in the shorter races, so Leo didn't clean up as much this year as last but he still won gold in his specialties, the 5000 meters and the 10 km,

Coming into the 10 km finish line 

 despite a fellow from the Lower Mainland showing up just for the 10 km and making a race for it.

Gold and Silver in the 10 km

Final results:  2 golds, 2 silvers and 1 bronze.

Next year's games:  Richmond.

Fall migration

Immature cedar waxwing in honeysuckle 

We've had a crazy amount of birds passing through our yard these last few days, mostly feeding on our saskatoon, honeysuckle and cotoneaster bushes.

Waxwing in cotoneaster bush

Two days ago we had flocks of robins, cedar waxwings, and pine siskins passing through.  Along with them came yellow-rumped and orange-crowned warblers and ruby-crowned kinglets.  Northern flickers, a red-nap ed sapsucker and a hairy woodpecker  showed up.  Chipping sparrows and a few white-crowned sparrows. A creeper. Western tanager. The usual juncos , chickadees and a single house finch.  Some unwelcome rock pigeons. . Finally a single American goldfinch.

Caught in the act

Bird of the Day was this Anna's hummingbird, a first for our yard, which showed up after the rufous and calliope hummingbirds have left to go south.

Immature Anna's hummingbird at the feeder

Yesterday we had many of the same birds, as well as a drab female or immature lazuli bunting and a white-throated sparrow.

Return to Barkerville

It's ten years since Leo's brother Arthur passed away.  We used to go to Barkerville every year with him and our niece Monica and her family.  It's been 5 years since we last visited.

Monica invited us along for the Labour day weekend.  She made reservations in the campsite for us and we thought, What?  Who needs reservations to camp at Barkerville?

But things have changed in the last 5 years.  They now have electrical, and the campsite was packed!  They also built fancy cabins located at the park entrance.  These were filled by ATVers.  And the bed and breakfasts right in Barkerville all had no vacancies due to a wedding on site.

There's also some new exhibits in Barkerville.  Chinatown has been beefed up with more exhibits, including Chinese school (I think for Chinese tourists?).  We attended an excellent talk on the history of women's undergarments.

Also, Barkerville has WIFI

Some things haven't changed though.  Mrs. Wilson, who Arthur used to dance with at the end of the day, is still doing tours.

The Cornish wheel reenactment is the same as ever, complete with gription and leverite.

We still ate too much sourdough bread. We went for Chinese food at
Long Duck Tong.

We'll see what's new in 5 years time.