our youngest son abducted by fish

I suppose that living here in the land of huge Steelhead ( called Kings in the U.S.) and Salmon, it would only be expected that one of our two sons would get the fishing bug. Our twenty year old
( and still at home ) has really been hit, including spending a good portion of his paycheque on fish gear. He was fishing yesterday ( he can walk to a preferred fishing hole ) and then reading fishing books till late at night. He will be home tonight for supper ( " as long as its' a fast supper") and then back out to the spot after supper. He is learning about tags, what to catch and release ( Steelhead ) and what the rules are for each river and time of year - The Skeena River, the Morice River, the Babine, and the Bulkley River. When I came home from work yesterday, I wondered where supper was.... he said he saw a huge salmon swimming 2 feet away from him and he received " tons!" of hits, but alas, no supper. He is yet to clean a fish ( or bonk it on the head?) so who knows - all his fish may be catch and release very gently. He tells me things like " Coho next week, Mom! " and I am supposed to know what he is talking about.
We have fisherpersons come to our town and area from all over the world to do exactly what he is doing, and they pay thousands. What a wonderful hobby for a young person. Just leave me a " out fishin' " note, buddy - when you're going to be late for supper. I wonder if his mum can sneak up to him down at the river to take his picture??

Digital water

If you spend some of your hard earned pocket money on annuals and perennials every year, you hate to lose them when the weather turns warm. We have lost a number of annuals in our backyard of the house here in the north, and managed to save the ones in the front yard from the relentless heat and lack of rain. However, we were in a dilemma as to how we were going to manage not losing the new perennials on the RV lot in the Shuswaps. There was a nifty digital timer set up we found in the RONA store in Scotch Creek just before we left in July. It can manage four hoses/spigots and for all different times. Donald was very studious at reading the instructions, and hooray, it seems to have worked while we were away. When Donald dropped off the RV last week, all the plants were doing ok, and our neighbour Hal told us the sprinkler came on just fine over the septic field grass. Phew! That is grand. Now, I just have to drench the Smithers plants before I leave this weekend and leave instructions for the 20 year old to water for the next couple of weeks. I know what you're thinking - he'll forget. Normally I don't worry - he is fairly responsible about that - however - stay tuned for tomorrow's post as a story is coming about why he may be distracted this year!

Forest Fires are closer

Well, the water bombers have been going steady since last Thursday at the birthday BBQ. The fire is in the Houston area ( about 45 minutes drive from here ). The bombers come back and forth to our airport to pick up their water/fire retardant. They fly so low its like they are going to land on our rooftops. When I took this picture, the bomber was returning to the airport and was light in weight and flying higher ( and I didn't get my camera organized very fast either ). This fire is not anywhere close that we have to have any concern for our own town. Some friends who retired from the Forest Service last year have been recalled out of retirement to be back in the offices working. We still have not had any rain, but there is more cloud cover and less heat and it seems from the news that most of the fires are contained, or the forest service feels that they will be soon. Tonight I will organize some more for the trip this weekend.

a holiday for chores - what's with that???

Today is a provincial statutory holiday, and I will celebrate with laundry, cleaning the house, maybe cutting the front lawn and making my big list for the next RV trip on Friday. The weather network noted last evening that the rest of the week temperatures are to "dip" into the 28 - 30 celsius range. Relief! We sure don't like 42.5 C of last Thursday.That translates to 108.5 F, and does not take into consideration the humidity that was also present. We are usually fairly dry with no humidity. In Retired Rod's blog, he mentioned going north to escape some heat - we are near the Alaska border and we're melting, melting!!! I will stop whining now about the heat - it's great for those thousands of RV's travelling though our area. The picture is the view from the sewer dump station at the Information Centre in Hazelton BC( on our way back from the Kispiox last weekend ).

more festival time and trying to keep cool

Long weekend here. I had to get away from town and Don is enjoying the cottage in Saskatchewan. I decided to go to Terrace BC for Riverboat Days - an annual 10 day festival of food, music, sports, you name it. Since the RV is down in the Shuswaps - I did something I have not done since I was 18 years old - I tented! Well, when it is 40 degrees celsius, and you haven't had much sleep in 15 days because of the heat in the house ( who would have an air conditioned house in Northern BC? ) sleeping in the rainforest at a Provincial Park in a tent was heaven! I had 2 nights of nice cool slumbers. Last night was a "Concert in the Park" in Terrace - a Lee Aaron concert - very rockin'. During the day we took in the excellent Farmers Market, a big parade and music. Some of the Hardwall Gang play with the Dixieland Band, so as the groupies we went to watch them in the parade and playing on the street afterwards. Play those blues and Dixie tunes guys! Now this week is more packing and off to the Shuswaps on Friday - Donald will leave on Thursday to meet me there!