Expedition Canada

Earthquake Hits SW BC Friday Feb 21st earthquake - Cronk Towers the red dot The house shook and rattled after the initial thunderous roar, while birds scattered in all directions from the feeders and trees.  It took me a few seconds to clock that it wasn't a plane crash or other manmade disaster, but an earthquake.   A first, and quite frightening experience.  Jack was equally unimpressed and didn't know where to put himself.  The centre was 25k North of us (close!) on the northern edge of the Tetrahedron Provincial Park and registered 5.1 (later revised down to 4.8).  Tetrahedron is a popular hiking area and on a clear day can be seen from the Sea to Sky Highway that takes you up to Whistler.  It was also felt in Whistler, Metro and North Vancouver and Vancouver Island. BC's Emergency Notice When we first moved in to Bonniebrook Fred packed a 'grab bag', which is recommended for parts of the country that could be affected by forest fires, earthquakes...

Happy New Year Ok, OK, I know I do a lot of sunsets (and sunrises) - but they are so beautiful Sunset over Vancouver Island (iPhone) Well, as feared in the last blog, it turns out that coming from a new joint email address our festive messages ended up in a lot of folks junk folders. W e sent e-Christmas cards as Canada Post were on strike for several months before Christmas.   So if you were thinking "we didn't get a card from the Cronks this year", check your junk email.  If it isn't there, then our email list was clearly in error (or you have changed your email address)!   It seems e-Xmas messages are starting to replace snail-mail (not surprising if you go on strike before Christmas) and probably arrive nanoseconds after they were sent. We had several.  Our first batch of the more tactile traditional cards arrived from the UK Fri Jan 10th, apart from a couple that must have been posted last summer, or maybe even Christmas 2023! Winter seems to have bypa...

Wolf on the Loose Tue July 30 Pet not predator Just back from a week in Whistler where we took advantage of not having Jack with us and were able to spend a lot of time up the mountains and in bars, where dogs are banned. Promoted as 'dog friendly', compared to the UK it is anything but.  More of Whistler later. Morning walks along Bonniebrook beach almost came to a halt a few weeks ago, before we headed North, after I came face to face with a large wolf gambolling along the road heading for Jack.  What do you do when a wolf heads towards you?  I had no idea.  It had, what I assumed was a tracking collar, but turned out to be a domestic dog collar.  His name I discover is Rudiger and he has a reputation for escaping from the compound his owner created for him with 12' high fences with an overhang. He wanted to play with, rather than consume Jack, but it was still an initially unnerving experience.  Rudiger has been the source of much social media commentary...