Happy 10th Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary, Jon and Magan!

Sorry you're sick today. Get well soon and celebrate.

Magic Mal

Mal likes playing with fire when we camp. Here he is stoically setting his arm aflame.

After some practice he was able to put his hand in the flame with a smile. I suppose the next step is fire-breathing!

I settle for more common forms of entertainment like hiking!

The highlight of this camping trip was seeing the Pileated woodpecker and beaver below.

Woody Woodpecker

We were walking on a road in the campsite when three huge Pileated Woodpeckers swooped over our heads in a flash of red, white and black and landed in the trees right ahead of us. They stayed around long enough for me to take some pictures and then took off again.

According to my Bird Book it was the Pileated Woodpecker that inspired the old cartoon Woody Woodpecker. You can see him at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeldv48RGv8 . It has a maniacal call that can stop a hiker in its tracks. (We never heard it.) It is up to 48 cm long while other woodpeckers are more the size of a robin - 18-24 cm.
Apparently they aren't seen very often because they require extensive areas in which to forage. They need about 40 ha of mature forest to settle. I feel blessed that we saw them so close up.

After they flew off we continued on our walk and came to the river. Suddenly a bird flew high overhead and then 2 more. Far in the distance across the river I saw one bird on a treetop. I took a picture so I could zoom in and see what kind of bird it was. After zooming in I saw 2 more. Sure enough, it was our 3 woodpeckers. Can you see all three?
This picture was taken with 18x zoom and then cropped to make it closer still. They were a long ways away.

The tale of the beaver tail

We were on a hike when we met some people who'd just seen a beaver on the path. He had chopped down a tree and was dragging it along. They said he was as big as a bear cub, so we hurried down the path to see if we could find him, but he was gone.

We tried several paths to the river and finally got a glimpse of him, but he was too close to the bank to get a good shot, so after waiting awhile Mal finally threw branches in the water to encourage him to move away from the bank.

He swam further into the river, and then with a loud slap of his tail was gone.

Marsh Walk

A hawk wasn't very happy about being disturbed. He kept his eye on me and then began screeching at me for a long time.

You can see his mouth open as he screeches. This picture isn't the best quality, but I loved the pose!

I saw a Solitary Sandpiper for the first time. (Solitary is the name of the variety- there may have been more than one.)

I disturbed two foxes from their den in the field. I had only seen one at a distance before. Now I'd like to find their den!

A collage of hail damage. Click to enlarge. The trees are really showing their damage now. The trunk of our Schubert chokecherry is very badly scarred, and the top right is our little Maple Tree. It had 3 branches torn right off. Bottom right shows that the climatis on the right was protected and is blooming, but on the left it took a blow and is struggling. Our Blue Spruce had almost all of its tips ripped off and it is beginning to turn brown. We hope it survives.

Bottom left is my grand flower bed. This really feels like the summer that wasn't.

However, our rhubarb is coming back after being totally sheered off, and I may yet get some sunflower blooms if the frost holds off!

Tim and Kalli's Wedding

The weather was perfect for the outside wedding, everyone looked great, the bride's dress was stunning, and the ceremony went off well.

The musician.

The tent was decorated beautifully for the reception. Everything looked classy, and the food was incredible. All in all, a great wedding!

Cypress HIlls Camping

We went on several beautiful hikes.
Mal enjoying being a grandpa.

On top of Bald Butte - the highest elevation between Banff and the Laurentian Mountains.

Hold everyting! It's snack time.

Jess using Jon's monster maul.

Nature pics below.

Nature Pics

Red-naped sapsucker

Eastern Kingbird

This beetle came flying out of the pine trees after dark with a horrible whirring sound and had us all (well, almost all) screaming in terror. It was described by Darrell as being capable of taking large chunks out of your leg and leaving you writhing in pain.

The next morning Tim got revenge by chopping its head off. This one will never whir again!

Hailstorm

We returned from vacation to find massive hail damage. The storm began at 2 a.m. The neighbors tell us the lightening was so continual it was like strobe lights. There was a big roaring sound and many went to the basement fearing a tornado. The hail was the size of golf balls. Mal was glad we missed the storm. I kind of feel like I missed out...!

We have damage on the north and west sides. One of our front windows will need to be replaced, several window screens are wrecked, and our eavestroughs and drain pipes have big pock marks. Most of the town is in the same situation. There is still stuff that looks like snow lying on the ground in places.

This is the house behind us.

The plants really got hit hard. This is one of Mal's tomato plants. The rhubarb was unrecognizable. The beans totally flattened.

One of my sunflowers. Many of the leaves were stripped right off the shrubs, the marigold blooms cut off. However, on the east side where it was protected our climatis were blooming beautifully, and they weren't when we left.

I will blog vacation pictures later.