June–Almost half gone already!

I sure don’t know how you  ‘daily’ bloggers manage it – when you are at home!  I know I sure can’t often seem to find the time – or more likely the incentive, to keep the blog up to date amid the distractions of not being on the road!

As usual, Hailey has been busy hunting mice and exploring the trees, while watching out for the fox and the coyotes.  Actually, I have been the one doing most of the watching, after seeing the fox with a mouthful of what might have been a stray cat, or hopefully, a fox kit being moved to a new den?

Meanwhile, the fifth wheel has been on ‘vacation’ while the truck camper gets the nod for a few short trips.  I also went crazy with the pressure washer a while ago, and cleaned the entire outside of both campers, and the roof of the fifth.  I think Al of the Bayfield Bunch did the same thing at about the same time?  While the pressure washer was out, almost everything in sight got sprayed, and even a few things best not in sight.  The pump in the septic tank had been misbehaving, so it got hoisted out and cleaned off for the adjustments to the float switch.

I also got keen one day, and went shopping for some trees to enhance the appearance of the yard.  It would have been quite the sight to see me cruising down the road with my heavy equipment, searching for some good trees.  Fortunately, there is bush all around, and oil and gas wells that will not miss a few trees.  I also used my heavy equipment to spread some gravel on my driveway from the convenient pile a neighbour left me a few years ago.

A mini road trip took me back to another retirement party near Invermere BC.  While there, I had a lake view camp spot at a friends place, where we also suffered through some tough times in the boat, and on their deck solving a few of the world’s problems.  This retirement life is tough, let me tell you.

While the red squirrels dominated the bird feeders during the day, at night the flying squirrels took over and were not at all shy about posing for some photos!

On the way back, I found a nice spot to boondock along the river, then stopped back in Lake Louise to visit my favourite former saddle horse Caroline.  She is close to retirement as well, but for now is still on the government payroll, err feedbag!

Back at home, it was time to send off my passport renewal so I can go south again when the winter snows return in a few short months.  Hailey is keeping a close eye to make sure the printing is done properly.

I had a another college buddy stop by for a visit for a couple days, so I took him out for a drive to visit the Ya Ha Tinda ranch – where Caroline (the horse) spends her winters.  A quick hike to Bighorn Falls was in order, and Hailey kept a sharp eye out for Bighorn sheep along the way.  Incidentally, there was no sign of John & Brenda with their shiny new horse/house  trailer out there at the campsite.

45 Years, 6 months!

No, that’s not my age.  That’s how long Mastercard tells me it will take to pay off my present balance – if I made only minimum payments!  I guess if the world would have ended as ‘scheduled’ yesterday, it would not have been a concern?

 

Relax.  I pay it off in full every month!

Time to get on my soapbox for a while.

Here’s a couple links I like.

First one is right on the money, and calls for the firing of the head of Parks Canada.  Excellent article. Read it!

http://www.counterpunch.org/horejsi05042011.html

The other is a humorous video protesting the proposed Brewster ‘skywalk’ in Jasper National Park, typical of the new commercialisation that threatens our parks under present (mis)management.

The first night after arriving home almost a month ago, we were welcomed by a little overnight snowfall!

Since then, I have been finding home life quite enjoyable.  I find that being here is quite similar to many of my camp spots along the road.  True, the view is not the Gulf of Mexico, or the Pacific, or the Arizona desert, but it is exceptionally quiet and I can hear the water in the river.  The geese are nesting on the banks and a small herd of deer call the place home.  The trees are finally leafing out, and the swallows are swirling. There are no lights at night nor any traffic, so it might as well be a National forest campground somewhere – with no maximum stay limits.  In addition, I get to have long showers, a gas fireplace, a cozy recliner, and unlimited electricity!  But the fifth wheel is still in use.  I have my internet system set up just as when I am on the road, and get all my internet and phone service from it wirelessly, in the house.

Hailey and I did leave it behind for a few days when we loaded up the truck camper for a short trip over to British Columbia, Lake Louise, and even a day of skiing at Sunshine.  There is still lots of snow in the Rockies as these photos approaching from the east show.

Kootenay National Parks was still very white.

While visiting in Invermere, BC, I had to tell Hailey to pick on her own size. Sit boy, sit!

On the way back from Invermere to Lake Louise, we chose the slightly longer route through Golden, BC.

Near Lake Louise, a few crocuses are starting to appear where the snow has melted.

Hailey has turned into an efficient mouser, while still keeping a sharp eye out for the local coyotes.  She has now tested all the climbable trees in the yard, and figured out how to get on the roof of the house and garage!

She is now checking out the deer …

I am continuously amazed with who reads the blog, where they are from and how they find it.  Even though I have not posted for close to a month, I can check online and see that many visitors have passed by even in the last few minutes, hours or days when the blog has hardly passed my mind.

I can see that some find the blog by searching for roadtrip – which is a common phrase.  Lots of folks seem to search for photos and reports about Lake Mead and related camping areas.  But it is interesting to find visitors from Mumbai India, Belgium, Portugal – every corner of the world!

It seems that I have just so many things to catch up on here, that the blog slides off the back burner!  In addition, the photos always seem to be on a different computer than the Livewriter, or some other real or perceived obstacle to getting anything sent out.

When blogger was down for a few days, I was not even aware.  Then, with the world about to end on May 21, I thought ‘why bother’!  But, now that it seems we are going to be Ok till the next doomsday, I’ll have to try to fire off posts with slightly more regularity!  Till the next one …