Mr. Cat

All dressed in his winter coat, Smoke does not let the weather interfere with his daily routine. Our proud Norwegian Forest Cat is right at home in the snow. He has an insulated, waterproof double coat that is designed to withstand the Scandinavian winters. Such a cool little viking!

Winter Wonderland

Snow has been continuing overnight all over Bowen, and I imagine the west coast. It's beautiful. As I write, it looks like we are up to about 6 inches for sure. Our first real snowfall this winter. Yipee, I am so glad it came on the weekend! Our satellite dish is packed with snow so we have no signal, which means no TV. This is not a biggie for either of us, except it meant we missed watching the Canada/Sweden hockey game early this morning which was being played for the Olympic gold medal. Canada won, so that's the most important. Jake and I were up and about early this morning playing in the snow, and walking in the forests. They trees are dense, and the paths somewhat protected from the snowfall, yet they look so pretty with a dusting of white.

Jake loves to pose at all the right photo-op moments, like this one, when we were walking through the trail.

As for the roads, they are not too bad. The snow plow has been up a couple times so it is drivable with good tires and caution. We have one very steep hill to get up between our house and the main road, so Chris has just taken the Rav to check it out.

I love today!

Littel Birds Need Attention

Feeding the birds in the midst of chilly winter weather like we are having this weekend is a very rewarding hobby. I have four seed feeders going and the backyard birds are happy as can be. This Varied Thrush is a bit of a hog.

He is bigger than the other visitors, which are typically the juncos, towhees,nut hatches and finches. They all line up on the fence and take their turns. Mr. Thrush hangs out in the shrubs and bushes and gets the spillage as well.

Of course the Annas hummingbirds need attention too, and we have two feeders going for them.

I feel lucky that the snow decided to come on a weekend when I am at home and can tend to the feeders and enjoy the show they put on for us all day.

TREE DOWN !

Timber!! Tuesday saw some high winds which resulted in a tree on our neighbour's property coming down onto ours.

It came down just alongside Chris's motorcycle shed; between it and our hydro pole. Imagine if it had hit the shed and ruined his bike!

Luck was on our side as it only broke one section of fence, and seemed to miss any important plants in the garden. It did take out a nice bird feeder hanging on the side of the motorbike shed but Chris has since fixed it. The fence seemed to break the fall somewhat,as it was the top end of the tree that ended up in our place. The neighbour's came the next day and bucked it up and removed it.

Blooming "Winter Sun"

This plant truly lives up to its name with bright yellow flowers blooming during the darkest gloomiest days of winter; like today. We were gifted with sunshine late this morning, just enough to draw attention to the glimmering yellow near the corner of the house. Known by its botanical name, "MEHONIA" is one of my favorite evergreen shrubs, and a perfect antidote to dreary days like today. The deer don't eat it because it's prickly and contains berberin which is bitter, it requires little to no maintenance, and it also bears edible little fruit in spring. This one is about 6 feet and in full bloom.

Sunny Winter Day

Wow, what a day it was today. This past week has seen record sub-zero temperatures dipping to almost -15c on Thursday, the coldest day. This morning the arctic air was moving on, and we had a beautiful sunny day, about 2c. It was energizing. Jake and I went for an early walk, and hiked up a steep vertical deer path I spotted off the trail we were on, and from there we went for an amble along the shore line.

Once home I had a chance to get out in the garden for the first time this week, in daylight, and found that many of the spring bulbs we planted last fall are already popping up. Spring is definitely coming!

The sunshine inspired both Chris and I to get out and do some tidying up around the property and Chris lit a bonfire. I love bonfires!

We raked up leaf litter and cut back dead grasses and much of last year's garden detritus and burned it all afternoon; about 10 wheel barrows full. I didn't want it to end.

The pond is frozen. I tried to break some of the ice up, but it seems to be frozen down at least 4 or 5 inches so it was too tough to crack. It will have to thaw on its own. The fish are still visible, but definitely slow moving with this cold snap.