Expedition Canada

'Abbey Rd' Bears Tue July 11 Off to the diner You don't need to go down to the woods today to be sure of a big surprise.   It's not my picture, I wish it were,  but taken by  Mark Mendonca a resident of Pemberton, just north of Whistler.  You can read the full article from Pique, the Whistler/Pemberton news magazine here .  We have not seen our resident local bear yet this year, though neighbours have.  The Black Tailed Deer are also wandering around with their fawns who are not unlike UK Fallow Deer. We continue to deter them from the garden and have now erected a $300 fence around our blueberries for the $30 worth of fruit we will probably eventually harvest.  As we can now buy 5lbs of Canadian blueberries for $25, I have serious doubts about the economics of our fence.   At least we can use the fencing again next year if I haven't erected fencing and watchtowers around the whole house! Friends opposite us have been hosting a mother an...

Canada Day Sat July 1st 2023 Returning to the Coast from Vancouver last Tuesday Canada Day falls on July 1st which means Monday will be a public holiday, giving Canadians a long weekend to the start off school holidays.  Ferry services are full and the summer population of the Coast is set to double.  BC Ferries is taking some stick at the moment because of the high level of cancellations.  Staffing is the biggest issue, a common problem in global shipping at the moment, according to the newly appointed CEO.  Ferries to and from the Sunshine Coast are heavily booked through July and into August meaning many travellers are having to turn up on spec.  Delays are frequent.  Apart from the first ferry of the day they have problems 'loading and unloading' ferries ... they do however, have to unload them first before they can load them and operational errors compound the problem.  Last week, a ferry was being moved at our local Langdale terminal, from the ri...

And Clouds Wed Jul 7th Clouds have been something of a rarity over the last few weeks and it remains relatively cool.  A short lull in Sunshine Coast proceedings as it's back to blue skies again come the weekend.   It was another early start to drop the van back in Sechelt, which needed to be returned with a full tank.  I managed to choose a pump that delivered fuel at an amazingly slow rate.  Twelve minutes to fill 40L of fuel.  Worse, the fuel cut-out didn't work spraying me and the forecourt with fuel.  'Yes," said the attendant in the shop, "we're waiting for the engineer to come and fix it'.  Perhaps you should take it out of service in the meantime I politely suggested!  Grrrrr While Fred went to buy the last of the house items  from Gibsons   (to be able to set up a second bedroom for when Nick and Lizzie or family or friends come to visit)  and herbs for the garden, I put the new old bed together, re...