#10 The king is watching

First: There is a lot to read.

Second: A short thank you. Since last week, I can check the statistics of my blog and with over 1300 clicks on my posts, this blog is ranked 29th among the most read posts in Germany. Thank you for that and I am happy that I can entertain so many people with my written experiences. With 220 readers, my third block (New-New-New-Stop) is the most read post. Yeah, typical - humanity enjoys the suffering of others - you rascal! But I have been feeling a lot better since then.

So thank you to all loyal readers and now to the actual blog:

While I am writing this post, I am already on the bus (which is already 45 minutes late), the fog is slowly moving through the trees and is being driven away by the slowly emerging sun behind the clouds. My time at the "Little Piece of Paradise" farm is coming to an end and my adventure continues. There is a lot to tell, especially little things that I have forgotten again and again.

But first of all, let's talk about my last week here. The tasks were once again very different. The farmer and I wanted to build a fence and this time it wasn't me who could be heard cursing, but the farmer. The problem was that the ground consisted of beautiful fine sand and every time the drill bit was removed from the hole, the sand would slide back in, so it was really a Sisyphean task. After three pillars, it was then decided to cover the rest with a simple electric fence for the time being. Thus, the slope in front of the animals is protected. At the bottom with the sheep, the farmer also stored manure, which had to be transported up to the private garden. For this, the truck was loaded and I was allowed to drive this vehicle back. I must say, it's a nice car and it feels like everyone here has at least such a truck. After we had unloaded the cargo, the farmer said that I could drive the second load alone, as he still had other tasks to do. I thought to myself: How cool, driving this car all by myself. This thought was cool for a while, until I realized while turning that one of the rear wheels has no grip and well, it was already too late and the wheel got stuck in the sand. It happened so quickly and I couldn't have been in a dumber position. The truck is still standing exactly like that and I hope the farmer will find a solution to free the car. However, I turned around and there I saw something for a tiny moment that slightly brightened my mood. A bald eagle, my favorite animal.

Otherwise, I had a very nature-focused weekend. On Saturday, I was in a small nature park nearby. Oh, it was beautiful once again. The trees were so huge that at first I thought they were mammoth trees. I have never seen one, but that's how I would have imagined them. And it is always fascinating how quiet it can be. You stand there in the middle of this park and hear nothing but the music of nature. Fabulous and super calming. On Sunday, the farmer dropped me off at Slocan Lake (which is still a very small lake with its 40 km) with the bike and then I could ride back for two hours. After sitting at the lake for at least an hour, enjoying this amazingly beautiful landscape, I started and it couldn't have started more modest. I rode along the bike path and after about five minutes of leaving the city, I heard a deep panting and growling directly to my left on the roadside in a bush. I thought for a second whether I should turn around and see what it was. But after that one second, I consciously and distinctly rode faster along the bike path because it sounded damn much like a bear and this encounter would not have ended in my favor. Speaking of bears, I probably won't see them anymore this year. Winter will break in here in a few weeks and the bears will slowly retreat to higher areas and start hibernating. Otherwise, the bike tour was a dream, of course. That river with its wonderful blue water and those mountains. A dream. The day before yesterday, I removed dead plants from a field and suddenly the farmer called me and pointed upwards and there they sat. A male and female bald eagle. So the king of the skies sat up there (fascinating how such a huge bird finds support on such a small branch) and watched me. He looks so powerful and majestic - an incredibly beautiful animal. Unfortunately, I didn't see him take off because he glides through the air so silently. That also looked beautiful. This river valley, the mountains in the background, and right in the middle the eagle gliding through the air. A true king of the skies.

Yes, here are a few things I just want to mention briefly so it doesn't get out of hand:

- about two weeks ago or so, there was a black widow spider next to my headboard. Fortunately, it was still very small and was quickly removed

- Unfortunately, I couldn't pet Summer, but she had her nose on my knee. Absolute highlight :D

- we're passing by the US border very closely, crazy how close you always are to the USA

- in one picture, you can see light areas in the forest. These are clear-cut areas that are systematically carried out here. Usually, the back side of the mountain is taken and then a certain area is cleared, replanted, and in 60 - 70 years, the forest is regenerated.

- by the way, this area has one of the worst air qualities in Canada (especially due to all the forest fires), so you never really see the mountains clearly. I hope the visibility will improve in winter

Oh shoot, now it's getting out of hand. Well, but I'm almost done writing. The time on the farm went by really quickly in the end. At the beginning, I had a hard time with the loneliness and the amount of free time I had. Fortunately, I was able to use this time to enjoy this wonderful nature, which I will definitely miss. Here you learn a lot of different things, not only about herbs, but also about everyday things that you will probably need later. The great thing about knowing about herbs is: everyone, even in a very small apartment, can grow herbs and use the medicinal properties of different plants. It's crazy what nature provides and all you have to do is harvest it.

And thus I say thank you for all the knowledge and experiences.

I am now enjoying my 8-hour bus ride (short trip in Canada - in the end it was about 11 hours).

Where I'm actually going?

You will read about that in the next blog.

Cooling greetings

Samuel

Short addition from my bus ride. We are currently driving through a very large forest area and as I look out the window, observe the white mountain peaks, and watch the first snowflakes pass by the bus, I saw four smoke columns. I didn't think much of it, as the farmer had already told me that many people are burning their things now. But suddenly, 200 meters to the left of the road, a tree is in flames and it became clear to me that this is a forest fire. So I experienced my first forest fire. About 200 meters away from me, at what felt like 0 degrees Celsius, at the end of October, while a few hundred meters further up the first snow is already lying... so surreal.