Sitka Log Homes - star of the show for the second time!

Here is our log home being crafted in 100 Mile House!

When it came to choosing the company to build the log part of our new home there was no contest!! Sitka Log Homes built 'Clearwater Springs Ranch' for us 5 years ago and we asked them to build 'The Lake House' with no qualms at all!  Once again they gave us a really fair price, with no hidden extras and quality of materials and craftsmanship which can't be beaten!  John Johnson of Sitka is a fountain of knowledge and we constantly ask his advice about all aspects of the build and get quick and informative answers!
As you can tell, we can't recommend Sitka highly enough and we can't wait to be the proud owners of another of their wonderful log homes!!!

Paddleboarding on the Lake!

For our 30th Anniversary Neil has bought me pearls.... no nothing like that!  He has bought me a paddleboard!  Wonderful chap that he is!!!

At first it seemed very difficult and I was too scared to stand up ...



but then I got the hang of it and started really enjoying it!!



Even started showing off!!!
It is such a great way to get around!  Quite fast too actually! I didn't even get wet!!!
We are going to buy another and guests can use them next year! :)

Humming birds and Otters!

This happy chappy was playing joyfully just to the left of our pontoon. At first I thought he might be a beaver - but then he could be an otter, maybe.  I didn't know!  By all accounts they are completely different animals. Beavers are rodents, and are the ones which build dams. They are herbivorous, feeding on the leaves and bark of trees. Otters are mustelids - members of the weasel family, which also includes badgers, stoats, wolverines, mink, etc. They are carnivores, eating mainly fish, but also crustaceans and even small mammals and waterbirds, depending on their species (there are several species of otter, including the river otter, sea otter, giant otter, Asian short-clawed otter, etc.).

So my guess is that it is an otter.

 

Now the Hummingbirds!

 

 

This is the male Rufus Hummingbird.  They can be tough little guys!  He is sitting on guard watching the feeders and ready to attack other Humming birds who are coming to feed!!  I even wonder if the expression 'Red neck' (used here in Canada for a sort of rough, tough cowboy type of guy) came from this little fellow!?

 

The tiny hummingbird weighs just 3 gr.  They have a lifespan of up to 5 years and the most amazing thing is that they migrate all the way to Mexico for the winter!  They cover the 800kms (500 miles) across the Gulf of Mexico non stop in 18 hours!!! They increase their weight by 50% before they leave British Columbia in the autumn for their great journey. Then they enjoy the sun and tequila in Mexico like many Canadians!

 They can feed on the wing and their wings beat at 70 times accelerating to 200 times per second during courtship.

Hard to see the colours in these pictures but the females are the most amazing iridescent green and purple in the sun shine. So beautiful!

The big swimming pool at the bottom of the Garden!

We have had to move the caravan (travel trailer if you are Canadian or American!) back to the ranch as we are working full time there again.  Just before we left we were doing lots of land clear up and it was SO hot! 
I jumped in the lake and swam across, heading for the Island in the middle.  Neil saw me and shouted at me to come back (I later discovered it was because he thought I might have a heart attack or cramp!!!  Really!!!!!)
It was so cool and wonderful - but rather murky after the storm so I didn't swim with my head submerged this time!

Hmmm I am the dot in the middle of the white patch just above the bow of the boat.

Later we sat at the BBQ and I saw a heron and three ducks and by the time I got the camera they all fitted into the same picture!

Aha - now I have learnt how to make the picture bigger!  As you can see in the picture (x - large it says) the ducks splodged through the lily pads with their big webbed feet but the poor heron seems to have sunk right in!!  Spot the ducks!!!  They are in front of the heron!

Thunder, lightening and hail the size of quarters!!!

We had the most amazing hail storm yesterday! 
People were canoeing, swimming and generally enjoying Sunday on the lake - we were sitting in our favourite spot at the end of the pontoon and we heard thunder!  Coming from the park direction we saw big black clouds forming!
As they got bigger and closer the lightening cracked through them and the thunder boomed! Meanwhile the sun still shone down on us but people started leaving the lake!  Next a wind whipped up sending leaves and debris flying around and we retired to the safety of the caravan! 
The rain started.  Then the hail!  First the size of peas and then so ferocious that I wondered if they would break through the skylights on the caravan roof!  The cedar tree in front of us started swaying towards us and I was not sure if I was excited or scared or both!!
I didn't take any pictures of the hail - but this was the aftermath!



The Gas station at the top of the town!
Apparently the river road is washed away too 9km up from town.

Suddenly it was all over - the sun came out and we sat in the evening on the lake side at the BBQ and the sky was just amazing!

The fading light was so beautiful over the lake

 

and then the sky lit up with so many colours

 

 

 

Early this morning I heard Kai yelping with delight and leaping about under two cedar trees! He is always fascinated by the squirrels and at first I thought they were throwing the kernels at him!  I went over to have a look and the kernels were coming down so fast and from so many different places on the trees that I realised that couldn't be what was happening.  I need to look into this but I have a theory that after the heavy rain and with the first sun of the morning (it wasn't yet 7am) maybe the tree knows that this is a good time to shed it's kernels onto the wet ground?  Well that's my theory! :)

 

A bit later a beautiful red canoe drifted across the lake.  It went back and forth and I realised that there was no one in it!.  I rang the Painted Turtle Restaurant across the lake as their Dutch lake Resort has canoes but it wasn't theirs. I was just posting it on the Clearwater Info Facebook page when someone came to retrieve it. 

 

Such a pretty sight!

Fire Ban starting today

The weather has been glorious!  Too glorious!
Now we have a fire ban in place from today.  Of course this is essential and we all know that we must absolutely adhere to it - I'll miss our evening fire though of course!

 

 and this is the fire close up.  A lovely metal work surround of deer, moose etc  and surrounded by river stones.  We sit around it making 'smors' - which we had never come across before we came here!  They are marshmallow, chocolate and biscuit.  Hot and melted and very naughty so only on special occasions!

 

We can still BBQ and we can always jump into the lake (as we did last night) and have a swim.  It was so hot we almost sizzled! 

Time to deliver supplies to the Ranch and meet the new guests!