#32 Spring begins

Hello,

On Sunday, I used my day off, sat with David at our hotspot, and hoped to see wildlife. Unfortunately, we saw nothing but Nutcrackers. And since I was very tired that day, something happened for the first time ... I fell asleep in my tent 😅 David told me that he heard me snoring, but in my defense: David also fell asleep 😁

After hours of staring, I thought to myself: Okay, just take some photos of the Nutcrackers, it's good practice. So I took some photos. About half an hour later, I heard David's camera, and I thought: Oh shit, he sees something on the right side and I can't see it because he probably isn't photographing the birds. Ironically, David had the exact same thought when he heard my camera, that I had something on the left side and he couldn't see it in his tent. In the end, David also ended up photographing the birds just to do something. So we returned without any special wildlife sightings.

On Monday, work on the construction site continued as usual. We are making good progress and Jenny is even finishing the roof. Well, not the open roof, that might finally be closed next week, but she is now laying the final metal sheets so that snow or rain can no longer drip all the way down through the wood.

On Tuesday, David had to drive to Williams Lake to see a doctor. And then he texted Jenny that he saw two dead deer on the side of the road, and there was simply a mountain lion eating one of the deer. David saw a mountain lion! Incredible. On Wednesday, I had to take the truck to the workshop in Williams Lake, and of course, I was also hoping to see the mountain lion. Since the only available appointment was at nine o'clock in the morning, I had to leave here shortly after six o'clock. It was my first time driving completely alone, and there was a little fresh snow. Fortunately, no wildlife came too close to the truck, but I saw a rabbit, a coyote, and several bald eagles, but no mountain lion. When I arrived in town, I dropped off the truck and had to occupy myself for two hours. This town mainly depends on logging, so there's not much to see, but I managed to pass the time, and when I picked up the truck, got in and started it, I thought I was sitting in the wrong truck. It was unbelievably quiet. I didn't know that was the normal noise level. There was a part in the exhaust that was broken, which is why the truck made such an incredible noise. Unfortunately, the electrical problem was not solved, so I still get the message all the time that my tank is empty, which is a bit annoying, but I now know that I can reach my destination with a full tank. Then I went shopping, and since we live quite far from civilization, Jenny always buys a lot. When the man with the shopping cart came, there was only toilet paper in it, and I thought that was a very modest order from Jenny....and then I saw the 20 crates in the background, and that was still a very small order. But loading takes some time, of course.

Then I headed back, and most of the time, you're alone on the highway. On the way back, there was only one car on my lane 😅 And as I drove along this road, I realized something again. I am in Canada right now. Sometimes, I really forget that, and then I have to remind myself how absurd that still sounds to me. I know I write this often, that I have to remind myself, but it's somehow true. I had to pat myself on the back again and thank my old self for taking this step. I am so incredibly grateful that I get to experience and enjoy this nature here. I also thought about my students and the younger generation in general. Not that I want to exclude the older ones (whatever "old" means to you) now. I thought about encouraging you to embark on such a journey if you have the means. The world is open to us, and we can travel almost anywhere and experience (unique) adventures there. You experience so much!

I am sometimes so incredibly proud of myself and infinitely grateful that I have the chance to experience this adventure. ❤️

And now enough with the self-praise :D

Unlike in Germany, we already had our time change here in B.C. last weekend. The time change here in Canada is also crazy. I mentioned it during the last time change, that certain areas (also in B.C.) don't have a time change. It's amazing how long it stays light in the evenings now. So I can sit on my couch after work and just enjoy the sun. Last week, I uploaded pictures of the Red-winged Blackbird, which is considered a harbinger of spring here, and I just thought: Okay, it's just a bird, so spring is coming very slowly. But now we have over 20 of these birds here. The strong birdsong and the increased hours of sunshine really give me the feeling that spring is coming. However, we still start the day here at -10 °C to -20 °C, but then we almost always reach double-digit temperatures. I can tell you, that also changes my work attitude. I am a real weather person, and with all these hours of sunshine, the birdsong, and this scent, I can handle Jenny's 98349239 tasks much better 😅 It's amazing how the weather can affect the mood so much. However, it's a very early start to spring. Usually, spring doesn't start here until April, and sometimes even not until May. After the mild winter and the early start of spring, Jenny and David are now naturally worried about the summer, which will probably be extremely hot and dry and therefore extremely prone to forest fires. On the way back from Williams Lake, I also made a short stop for human needs, and there I could see the area that was destroyed by the devastating forest fire in 2017. As far as the eye can see, there are only dead trees. It's really heartbreaking.

A good thing about the warmer temperatures now is the ban on logging trucks. These are the trucks that transport those huge logs. Since we live in a very good logging area, we had these trucks every day from Monday to Friday. Sometimes, I saw over ten of them on the highway in the morning. The problem is that they stir up all the snow, and you can't see anything, really nothing. I even missed the exit to a spot once, simply because I couldn't see anything. And even though the highway is almost free of snow now, there's still another problem: the constant fear of a log falling down 😅 And yes, it happens, because I have already seen a few logs on the side of the road. So I'm always a bit nervous when a truck passes me on the opposite lane or when I have to drive behind one. Then I try to overtake it as quickly as possible, but on Wednesday, on the way to Williams Lake, that truck driver didn't seem to want that. In Canada, you are allowed to drive a maximum of 100 km/h on the highway.....and I had to overtake that truck at 140 km/h – oops 😁

So why are these trucks actually banned now? Due to the thawing snow and the resulting amount of water, the highways and the underlying soil are no longer firm enough, so accidents and road damage due to the heavy mass are very likely. Therefore, it is now forbidden for these trucks to drive on the highway. And what is also no longer allowed to drive are the trucks that bring us our wood deliveries, so on Wednesday, we received our last big wood delivery for a while! Yeah!

On Friday, after a long time, I reached my limit. After laying the final floor in "my" workshop space and Jenny being happy again with the perfectly lined up screws, I was supposed to shovel snow in the front area so that another project (yes, how much more?!) could be finished. When I stood in front of my cabin on Thursday and looked at the area, I thought....okay, that might take an hour. But what I didn't see from my cabin was that the snow was almost 70 cm high in some places, and it wasn't real snow, but rather a mixture of snow (20%), snow-ice (60%), and ice (20%), and it was so exhausting and painful because when I tried to shovel full force into the snow and then hit the ice ....ouch, my elbow and shoulder hurt. By the way, I took a bit longer than I thought....I took about five hours, and then I stopped because I just couldn't do it anymore, and the ice on the wood was driving me crazy 😁 That's why I'm posting this today because I was too exhausted yesterday.

Today, I used my day off again to sit on the bird plateau for the first time and continue working on my photography skills. Photography has a (unfortunately) tight grip on me now 😅 I walk through nature with completely different eyes now because every time, I think...wow, that would make a beautiful motif, and if I could photograph the bird in flight with its wings spread, it would surely look good too" 😅 However, I waited in vain for my first attempt and went back to my cabin, where I could at least photograph the small birds. However, my goal was to capture the Red-winged Blackbird in flight because I find its wings so beautiful. After ages, it finally appeared, and by pure luck, I managed to take a pretty good photo. In the evening, I sat on the plateau again, where I could observe a woodpecker as well. It was incredibly warm today, so I could sit outside in a t-shirt. 

Today, I also cooked here for the first time. I thought it was about time, and today, when I tried to quietly observe the birds, I heard Jenny cursing from the roof in the background: "Fucking Bitch!" and it was clear to me that she didn't have a good day 😁 So it was nice for her and David to be cooked for once. How was the food? I quote David: Fuck man, I would gladly eat the whole pot! So it was pretty good 😁 However, we couldn't fully enjoy the meal because the dogs were gone for a very long time today, but fortunately, they came back after dinner and over ten hours. I went to the main house again to check on the dogs, and I was just petting Trooper when I looked down his body and saw a fucking cactus sticking in his ass 😂 We don't know where they were, but that plant doesn't grow nearby, and there's still a lot of snow. With the help of peanut butter, we calmed Trooper down, so Jenny could remove the other cacti from his butt and foot. He definitely didn't have as nice a day as I did.

That's it from me.

Have a nice Sunday.

Spring greetings

Samuel