For Sale

One (Not so) Careful Owner

Mon March 20th


It is a popular spot for locals wanting to sell a vehicle though one owner might rue the day they parked up along the highway with a For Sale notice.  The wreck has been there a week and some wag has now added a new For Sale sign "Fire Sale - $15,000 - No low bids".  A tad optimistic I feel.

Fred continues to make strides in her recovery, up to 2km of them a day, and was even spotted in the garden last week.  

She can't drive until Monday 27th so I remain head chauffeur until then, much to her frustration and mine!

The local birdlife thinks it's Spring as drab winter plumage has given way to brighter colours in support of mating rituals.  We have been visited in the garden by Steller's Jays, Pileated Woodpeckers, Northern Flickers (also a member of the woodpecker family) and the Hummingbirds are back. 

The Bald Eagles are doing some housekeeping on their nest high up on a Douglas Fir along the beach road.  Bird song is starting to sound like a dawn chorus.

School kids are on Spring Break, a two week holiday in place of the UK's half terms and Easter holidays. They go back to school on March 27th and aside from Good Friday, the schools will remain open until the Summer Break starting June 29th.

Sunday, the last day of the winter sailing series, was a beautiful Spring day.  Today, the first day of Spring, has reverted to winter.  The Sunday race fleet was the largest so far this year with eleven boats taking part.  We came 4th on corrected time, 4th overall in the winter series and 2nd in class, that was despite missing two races and attracting maximum points as a result. Not too shabby.  Light winds at the start picked up to a decent 14 knots after rounding the farthest mark, which made for a great sail.

On my recent dog walks up around Camp Byng I have heard an owl, but over several weeks I've not seen it, until Saturday.  It was the day I decided not to take my camera as we were heading out for the evening and I needed to get back.  Sniffing through the undergrowth Jack put up a large brown bird which settled on the tree above us.  A Barred Owl.  Blurry, zoomed iPhone pictures did not do it justice.  Sunday I took my camera and again Jack disturbed the owl, but this time I had my camera and zoom lens.  It happily sat there watching Jack, while I snapped away and Jack continued his exploration of the forest floor.  




They are beautiful birds.


In addition to the owl, Steller's Jays have been clearing the bird feeder in the garden and we have even had Pileated Woodpeckers stop by.  Unusual as they are usually found on trees.  The woodpeckers have been noisy with their raucous calls, in addition to their hammering away on trees and the local metal chimney cowls, a favourite Northern Flicker pastime.

Northern Flicker - primary culprit for hammering on chimney cowls to attract a mate

Steller's Jay - one of four that flocked in

Pileated Woodpecker - one of a pair


 
Local Bald Eagle is nest repair mode



Fred at just under five weeks

Is it me, or is there an increasing number of spelling mistakes and typos on the BBC website?  It feels as though it has replaced The Guardian for errors.  It took me back to my early days in Bush House, when all news was written by English speakers before being translated by the language services for their own output.  Copy tasters and sub-editors checked everything and ensured syntax and spelling was correct.  Mind you that predated electronic technology.  The English output was duplicated on Banda machines before being hand delivered or put into Lamson tubes for distribution around Bush House. The first big technology upgrade was to replace Banda machines and their flammable methylated  spirit technology with Gestetners.  If you know what these are you are probably as old as me.  They have all gone the way of the copy tasters and sub editors and the arrival of spell checkers.

While on the subject of news, a low key row ensued over beers after one of our sailing races a few weeks back.  One of the skippers was advocating that Russia was right that Ukraine was full of Nazis and fascists and anything else was a fabrication of western media.  I gave up trying to extol the impartial and objective news output of the likes of the BBC and Sky as he was neither listening or hearing anybody else's points.   A few days later an article written by one of my former bosses, Richard Sambrook, appeared in The Conversation, suggesting fake news has been around for longer than we might think and as far back as the 1930's.  The article is here.

I had to pop over to Vancouver a couple of times last week and on one return sailing I was at the front of the deck.  It's rare to get this spot and be able to enjoy the crossing in the comfort, peace and quiet of your own car.

Front row seat!

Local grass trimmers

A pastel sunrise of the Salish Sea at Bonniebrook















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