I'll remove this 2007 blog soon, leaving only the 2008 blog at http://www.sticksite.com/blog/index.html.

WELCOME from me, Ken Laninga

Some have told me that they enjoy this blog, so this is my second year of keeping it going. So far, these people have told me that they read it: David L, Dr. Ken B, Don P, Ken N, Ruben M, Jim P, Anton L, Yuki Y, Rollie L, Roger R, Alan, Peggy S, and.......?

In the notes below for Trip #2, I complained about my Toshiba laptop. A month after I bought it at Staples, the monitor went south. Then, 3 years after I got it, it started turning itself OFF at the most inconvenient times. The "guy" at Toshiba was no help. But "Brenda" was. She suggested putting bottle caps; the plastic ones from 2-litre soft-drink bottles, under the laptop to provide more ventilation. I did and that worked. THANK YOU, Brenda. If Toshiba had been a little more "on the ball" then maybe I would have bought another one. Instead, I got an Acer. ;-( UPDATE: a month later the problem came back so I got a special Allan Wrench to open the back of the laptop and a can of compressed air and cleaned it best I could. So far, so good.

2007 Trips to the Cabin

Trip #17:

Tuesday, Dec. 11: It was so cold in the cabin that the liquid detergent and the bleach were frozen and the BBQ Lighter would not light the paper in the stove. The road had been snow-plowed to 50 feet beyond my driveway. Late in the day we could count, from the cabin window, 21 deer (including 3 bucks; one the big one we'd seen many times before) and 3 moose. The new cordless, battery-less fan on the stove seems to be doing a good job of circulating the air. It's electric motor is powered by the heat from the stove. When we arrived the temp was -4C. I shoveled the paths to the outhouse and firewood. This way it is easier for Marie to use the outhouse. I sure treat her well, don't I? You never heard of a queen getting THAT kind of treatment. This trip, I'm doing this on the Toshiba laptop; the Acer Aspire 5100 with Vista, is in Ontario for repair. I also brought up the generator I had just bought for $133 but it is "Made in China" and I don't expect much. This will be a short visit; Marie has company coming on Saturday.

Wednesday: Light snow overnite. A cow moose was breakfasting 100 yards south of the cabin. The temp was up to -2C. I improved the cardboard "door" we use to keep the little bedroom as cold as possible. After lunch I took a hike north but the going was very difficult. I did find two small fungi and made a note as to where to find them again in summer. I brought in the firewood piled up by the outhouse so that is all gone now. The road grader came down the road today but turned around at my granaries; no idea why he did not come all the way to my driveway. Probably my van was too close to the road and he might have figured he'd have a problem turning around. It did not need it anyway. icycles are hanging from the roof and dripping.

Looks like this might be the last trip of 2007; I'll delete this blog from the WWW and start a new one for 2008.

Thursday: I split some firewood; shoveled some snow and took a hike but the snow was too deep and it was too tough. There is 15 - 16 inches on the ground now. This morning work started on the chalet "next door." Work on the Chalet, across the road is starting; there is little doubt but that the road will be kept snow-plowed from now on and we should never have the problems getting in and out of here in winter as he had last winter. I started the new generator for the first time and it worked fine. Diana came to tell Marie that her renter had a water leak in the basement so we packed up in a hurry and left. It was only -3C and we had a good trip home; the leak was "nothing serious."

Trip #16:

I took a lot of pictures this trip; most, unfortunately, were under very low light, early morning or late in the day. And, to make this page load faster, I've reduced the file-size (and quality) considerably.

Monday, Nov. 19: The road was excellent and we made good time; I had just put on the van 4 new rims with new, studded snow tires so I took it extra easy. A buck was resting in the park behind the cabin; 4x4 Whitetail. Two other good-sized Whitetail bucks greeted each other in the field but did not spar as I'd hoped they would. One doe came into the park and met the buck there; he was not terribly interested. Maybe he is gay. And that doe was cute too!

Tuesday: Four deer (one a nice buck) and 3 moose in the field plus 6 deer stuck behind the fence. A coyote set off the Driveway Alarm during the night. John came by with 8 front legs off buffalo. We dumped them at the end of the driveway. A moment after John left, he came back to point out to me the fresh wolf tracks in the snow at the end of my driveway. Over the next 8 days, Marie and I boned out the legs on the kitchen table.

Calvin Hessler came by as I was moving the bison meat to the shed and to the cabin. He was looking for wolves and had just shot a black one, weighing 175 pounds. I hiked 2 1/2 hours on my own land but with 12 inches of snow on the ground, it was tough going. I had not taken any protection; seems to me the bears will be snoozing now and wolves are not likely to bother me. Cougars and Grizzlies are VERY rare. I took my walkie-talkie so Marie and I kept in touch all during my walk.

Wednesday: Lots of fog overnight. One moose came out of the park, barely 50 yards away; a huge cow.

None of the critters this morning wore any kind of antlers. Twelve moose breaks my all-time record. The temp this morning was about -14C. Finished skinning the dry Diamond Willow sticks so now I know that the final count for the 2007 stick harvest is 187. And Marie is melting a lot of snow (*not* yellow snow) for washing purposes.

Thursday: A very nice 4x4 Whitetail buck came from the south on the track of the doe. He was sniffing her tracks like his life depended on it.

I note that a few magpies (a.k.a. "Black & White Pheasants") are enjoying the meat scraps but the ravens fly over to investigate, but don't dare land so close to the cabin. The little bedroom is doing a good job of playing "Cool Room" so we don't need the fridge.

Friday: I took another long hike. It was very tough going in 12" of snow. And there are always high-flying jets coming from and going to Alaska; here is one, probably at about 35,000 feet, headed south-east:

At suppertime, the usual "Deer Counting" routine and we could see 24 to 28 on my field with 4 stuck behind fence, making 28 or more, and three or 4 more came out right by the cabin in the light of the moon. The moose came out late. In the evening, we did not turn on the light. With a full moon and the bright snow, the animals showed up very well. It was fun watching the bucks chasing the does. Presence of moose was completely ignored:

One Whitetail buck kept after one doe until they finally disappeared behind a high spot in my field and did not reappear. We assumed that some X-rated activity was taking place there. Even though there were several Muledeer bucks, none were fighting. Two or three of them were very nice big bucks. Long after dark we could see 5 moose at this end of the field. One doe was 20 feet from the front step of the cabin.

Saturday: We watched deer in the field all day.

When I got up this morning at 2 AM, there was a deer 12 feet away from the window, feeding on birdseed spilled by the messy Blue Jays. They have terrible table manners. Later I took a short hike up north. This afternoon I burned the brush pile and videotaped it with 35 old aerosol cans on it. There were a few neat explosions. I took close to an hour of video on my camcorder which has a 30Gb hard disk. Now comes the job of editing it for YouTube.

Sunday: When I got up to answer the call of Mom Nature at 6:30 the Driveway Alarm went off; we had forgotten to turn it off last night. It was a moose coming in the driveway. After lunch I took another long hike even though the snow made it very tough going. I had to take a picture of this tree:

Three times I ran into one or more deer. The third time a deer ran a short bit and stopped. As I was trying to see whether or not it had antlers, I noticed another deer between it and myself; it was a big buck. If I had been hunting, I would have been a very happy hunter.

Monday: When the smoke/CO detector went off for a couple of minutes at 6:00 AM I thought I had dreamed it but it was COLD and not likely to get much warmer without some interference so I got up. It was barely 50C in the cabin and -17C on the outside. Better that way than the other way around. The stove had burned out. It was still snowing (On the OUTside!) and blowing as well. When I went out later I found that with the wind-chill factored it, the temp was probably closer to -35C. Probably the van won't start so we probably are stuck here. The snow plow did the road past the driveway today though. Marie figures we are "good" for food for several more days. I don't know why that smoke detector went off this morning; it went off again after I got up. Maybe it also tells you if the cabin is about to start suffering from hypothermia.

Tuesday: In my field much of the day one Muledeer buck was chasing one doe after another but not getting what he was after. From the cabin we could see, at suppertime, about 4 moose and a dozen deer. Here you can see one of the 4 trapped fawns laying down behind the fence, with its mother nearby.

Wednesday: Up at 20 to 8; temp -22C but +80F inside. No wind, clear sky, windows freezing over due to us heating water on the (wood) stove and melting snow. Went outside to "See a man about a dog" and came back inside with Penile Frostbite. At 5:15 PM I can see 28 deer/moose in my field.

Thursday: Up at 6:30 AM and temp was -19C. Three bucks visible; also Sundogs.

There was a young muledeer at the bird feeder.

Took a hike north in the bush and saw lots of deer including bucks up close. Met Kevin Bertram on the road; he had an elk. He tells me that work on their log chalet of 5,000 square feet starts next week. We were very pleased to see a bird we had not seen before at our feeder; the White-Winged Crossbill; males only.

They fed only from the Canola which I had put into the birdbath; no water of course.

Friday: -16C at 8 AM today; 12" of snow; I think maybe summer is gone. I had been wondering if bucks trashed bushes only when removing the velvet from their antlers, or also later, in the rut. First thing this morning a buck answered that question for me as he came by the cabin following the south end of a north-bound doe.

He trashed a willow just out from the window. Took a long hike north for 1 1/2 hours; temp was -10C. Saw one cow moose 200 yards NW of the cabin as I walked on the road; when I came back she was still there, resting, and ignored me. Here she is the first time I saw her:

I took her pic when I first saw her. As this day closes, so does the hunting season except for Muledeer does and elk which runs to Dec. 20.

Saturday: When I got up at 5:30, it was +50F in the cabin and -24C outside. Sunup was about 5 to 9. Two moose soon went by stopping to view my shadow on the window, from the (almost) red-hot stove. Orion is shining brightly over the driveway and in the eastern sky is a large bright star which Marie says was not there when she was young(er). Hmmmmmm, How About That!? if I was a Wise Man, I'd drive east to check that out. Cold but still some game in the field at 8:45, 3 moose and about 5 deer. Time to go back to the city. John and Kelly Kent came by to deliver my deer antlers, from the last buck I shot Nov. 22, 2004. The skull was shattered and Kelly fixed it up very nicely. I let him shoot "my" moose that year (I have its antlers too).

LATER: The trip home was excellent; we ground up the 160 - 200 pounds of bison meat at home.

Trip #15:

Monday, Nov. 5: Marie and I left around 3 PM. Some snow falling on the way up and the temp was just below the freezing point. Got to the cabin around 5:30 and got a fire going immediately; it was cold!

Here is that fire:

I brought up my Toshiba laptop this time; the newer Acer Aspire 5100 has problems; maybe the machine, maybe the Vista Home Premium OS is to blame, I don't know, but all 3 USB ports quit working and I cannot get support from Acer. Been busy all week transferring my data to CDs and DVDs and also wirelessly to the Toshiba which, with only a 30Gb hd, is quickly filling up.

Tuesday: We kept the stove going all night and this morning it wasn't long until I had the temp up to 80F. Long before the sun was up, I saw a cow moose 50 yards from the cabin and one doe far off in the field.

The field is still green. Gilles was not able to plow it due to wet weather. And I'm glad.

John came and visited quite awhile. He told us that a Greyhound bus had rolled off the icy highway near Bezanson. He has been thinning out his buffalo herd; last Sunday he had some people over who wanted 10 and with 11 bullets, he dropped 10 of them. All these people wanted was the hind quarters and the backs; front quarters were left for the coyotes. While he was here, we noted a beautiful coyote trotting through the park. This is a good year for Ruffed Grouse; I saw about 10. We tried to rig up the new 10' x 16' tarp to catch rain water; have to do a little more engineering on that project. It is dark very early now.

Wednesday: It is 8:20 AM as I type this. Everything is white. SNOW! No game visible in the field at all. At least the cabin is snug and warm. Correction: as I glance over my left shoulder right now, I see two female muledeer about 150 yards SE. Freezing rain and sleet makes for a cool day. After lunch I took a 3-hour walk in the bush North-East; put ribbons mostly on Scout Sticks. At one point I had 2 moose only 50 yards away looking at me going by. It was cloudy so I could not use the sun for direction; did consult the wrist compass a few times.

As the snow slides off the roof it makes for some nice icycles:

and these:

Another deer is stuck on the south side of Orrin's fence; it runs back and forth trying to get out. Late in the day we saw a lot of wildlife; a coyote was hunting mice 100 yards east, a the far end of my field were a cow moose and 19 Muledeer including at least one nice buck, and at this end of my field were two female moose, 6 Whitetail deer and two more came out of the park.

Saturday: Freezing rain. Does not look like the van can drive out now and even if it did the highway would be suicide with this freezing rain. Took a hike even though it was wet. Lost my saw but blazed a lot of trees so hopefully can find it later.

Monday: Six deer including a buck behind the fence now and 3 on this side. Rain and sleet. Hiked north and found 3 "Buckskin Scout Sticks." These are sticks (partially) skinned by bucks. At supper time the driveway alarm told us that two deer were coming in the driveway. Three moose in the field; no bulls.

Tuesday: Another 6" of snow overnight. Now there is 11 inches on the ground. I shoveled a path to the van to make it easier to carry out our gear to the van.

Went back to town early afternoon. Even got stuck at the end of John's driveway; John was in a hurry so we waited for a passerby to help push us out.

The Ultimate Solution to the FLY problem

I laid out the three versions of fly "swatters" that we have been using; the old, "swatter" kind which leaves a mess, the one that looks like a mini tennis raquet, which is cute but does not work well and you can't "swat" with it, and the the ultimate solution; the bug vacuum:

THIS is one of our most important assets at the cabin. We have an abundant supply of houseflies; flies of all kinds. And moths too. You name it, we got it up there. LOOOOOOONG ago we used fly swatters; you know, those dirty things you use to smash the flies all over the windows, walls and the fridge door!? And heck, you couldn't even use the fly swatter afterwards to strain you tea. Well, you COULD, I suppose, we just never thought it a good idea. THEN came the "swatter" that looked like an electric mini tennis racquet. (did I spell that right?) It worked but had many disadvantages and did not always kill the flies. THEN............ the ULTIMATE FINAL SOLUTION. The "Mini Bug Vaccuum." It is so terrific that I immediately bought two more for friends. THIS IS FUN TOO!! NO MORE MESS. Mine runs on one 9-volt battery. All you do is hold in the "start" button and push the open end of the clear plastic tube toward the fly which is on the window. It sucks up the fly and you put the cap on the end. Next fly, same thing; just keep going until the thing is half-full! Then, what I do is set it, cap off, end down, into a "fly catching bottle" and let the flies find their way down that to drown. I got two rechargeable batteries so we can use it several days at the cabin.

Trip #14:

Wed. Oct. 17: Left town near noon. Beautiful day but chilly. Most crops appear to have been harvested. At the cabin we found 3 deer in the field and one buffalo. Did a few chores around the yard and by the time it got too dark to see there were at least 18 deer in my field. A few hunters driving by. I went through another bookcase and pulled out all the books which I had read and marked as being a "Good Read" and will be adding them to my "Books" page at http://www.sticksite.com/books/. The beavers have been hard at work 100 yards from the cabin, logging like there was no tomorrow.

Thursday: One cow moose with calf and a half dozen muledeer in the field this morning. Up at 5:29 AM. Sorted books and then chopped firewood. Set up a five-gallon pail for a mousetrap.

Note the bait on a wire and note the plastic stapled onto the stick to make the end very slick, giving mice no 'foothold.' Note also the nail UNDER the stick (which is hinged), to stop it from falling completely straight up and down in which case it would not come back up for the next mouse. The leaves in the pail prevent a mouse from jumping out; water would freeze and oil is too messy. I had a bear tip it once, with oil in it. Then I used the Argo to haul in more wood cut earlier, by the beaverdam.

Friday: I took a small bucket of wood preserver and a stick with a rag tied on the end and went to where the beavers have been chewing down all the trees along the road. I slopped this foul-smelling liquid on the still-standing trees to discourage the beavers.

After supper we hiked a mile up the road. The only interesting thing we saw was one ermine racing across the road near the cabin. Completely white but for the black tip on his tail. Another beautiful day. Every day we set out the yard lights in a rack I made for that, and at night bring them in to serve as "night-lights."

There are still an awful lot of flies but the fly/bug vaccuum works 100%.

Saturday: I checked the beaver works and did not find one tree which I had painted and which they had chewed on. John came over and he figures the stuff I slapped on the trees might kill them so after he left I sprayed ammonia on a few more trees. Then I hiked north about 2 1/2 miles and hung ribbons on some fantastic rails. The fridge quit. Seems the propane is not getting from the tank into the hose. I removed the fitting from the end of the hose to take it back to town.

Sunday, Oct. 21, 2007: It is now 7:24 AM MST as I type this. This past night was supposed to be a good night to watch for the Orionids Meteor Shower. From dark last evening until now, I've been scanning the skies, both from outside and in. I saw only 4. BUT.............. and I am making these notes now, while "it" still fresh in my mind..... at about 6:59 AM I was leaning against the kitchen window sill watching the sky toward the south. The stars were bright. Then, to the SSE, I saw what appeared to be a star, moving at slightly faster than I would expect a high-flying jet to move (and a LOT of them come over here; going to and coming from Alaska) and it was moving without any flashing lights, in a southernly direction. I watched it for about 4 seconds wondering if it was a satellite and if so, why it seemed brighter than any other satellites I've seen. Then it made a U-Turn, very tightly, and moved back in the direction (north) from which it came. Only a very short bit into that and it disappeared from sight. At the risk of waking Marie, I went and told her, asking her what she thought it might be. About 15 seconds later I was back at the window, and slightly east of where I had seen this UFO, a meteor went flashing by, going SSE as well. I'll wonder for a very long time what it was I saw. A little later, before sunup, I was watching a deer make her way off the field back into the bush (with binocs) and when I put the binocs down, realized that there was a moose only about 40 yards away feeding. I watched her for a half hour or more and she came to inspect the "new improved strawberry patch" going as far as taking into her mouth one of the CDs hanging there to scare away moose and deer.

So much for that idea! In the afternoon I drove to the very end of the road, two miles away, and hiked from there down a cutline, looking for good sticks and rails and putting up a few ribbons to mark good ones. I brought back a few too. I decided to start saving sticks which deer have partially debarked. John and Diana came over. I told them about the UFO sighting this morning and Diana told us of a far more weird such ocurrance that happened to her and Lisa years ago. Truly awsome. Shortly after John and Diana left, I looked out to see the deer and noted a cow moose and a bull 250 yards from the cabin, feeding in the field, not far from some deer. The moose gradually came to within 50 yards of the cabin.

There are about 8 deer in the field; you can see 4 here; the little "building" is a "deer-blind."

Monday: time to go home; cloudy all night so no meteorites to see. The beavers had not touched the painted trees. On the way home there was more roadkill than usual: one coyote, one moose, one elk and at least one deer.

Trip #13:

Sunday, Oct. 7: Left town shortly after 9 AM; forgot to close my garage door, forgot my tools and forgot to get a few groceries. Old age. Rain off and on most of the way. Did not see any wildlife until I was 200 yards from the cabin. The trapline yielded one mouse and one more packrat. I set up my windmill and saw 7 deer in the field. Nothing to take pictures of, this trip.

Monday: Got up last night at 11:37 and the sky was clear; the stars were at their most beautiful. Back in bed I felt something crawling on my face. Instantly I knew it had to be a big, black, ugly, hairy spider so I wiped it away. Moments later it was crawling on my wrist, well under the covers. I did my best to mash it and tried to get back to sleep. That did not work so I got up. Out of curiosity I turned on the flashlight to see if there was a big spider in the bed. Instead I found a moth, still crawling around. Those darn things come out every night, usually on the windows. By now it was 5:35 so I got the fire going; it was 57F inside and 37F outside. Put on the kettle for my morning tea. Stars and a slice of moon shining brightly as is the occasional well-lit jet flying over, coming from or or going to Alaska. Had a snooze after lunch but robins feeding on my driveway set of the alarm 3 times. Went through a lot more of my books and took out the ones which I had marked as being a "Good Read" so I can list them on my book page. Here is one of my bookshelves:

Took a long hike on my trails; saw no game until I got back to the field where there was one deer. In the evening, at least 11 deer in the field; five of them near the cabin; two of those were Whitetail bucks. One fawn came within 20 feet of the cabin. I noticed that the flame on the back of the fridge is out so that's another 20-pound bottle of propane gone. In spite of my poor hearing, I'm pretty sure I heard a coyote howling. If you want to hear how that sounds, here is a conversation between two coyotes; one was in my field, hidden in the grain, and the other was in the bush; I was walking along the bush and happened to be between them. I never saw either but I'm sure they knew exactly where I was.

click to hear the coyotes: (the audio is a very large file; may take a minute to load)

Thanks to Don Pratt http://www.afn.org/~don/ for helping me get the audio to work; it works fine for me in Firefox now (not in IE). Don pointed me to this website and it is a very good resource: http://www.allwebco-templates.com/support/S_script_music.htm.

Tuesday: Got up at 1:30AM and the temp was 60F. Put another chunk of birch on the fire. This is the time (Oct.8 and 9) for the Draconics Meteor shower so I watched for a short while; saw two of them. I get that info at http://www.theskyscrapers.org/meteors/. Took a long hike in my bush and put up ribbons on a lot of very nice Rails. I loaded up 40 Scout sticks which were harvested this summer. http://www.sticksite.com/scoutstx.htm.

After supper (the last 1/3 of the can of beans) I saw at least 12 Muledeer at the far (east) end of my field, one of them a very respectable buck, and 3 Whitetails at this end of the field. There are still a great number of house-flies inside. Thank goodness for the ultimate tool for that problem; the "fly vaccuum." No mess, no misses no gooey squashed flies on windows and tables anymore. Runs on one 9-volt battery. Fantastic tool.

Wednesday; No more food; only a couple of home-made cookies, a few carrots and two slices of rock-hard, stale bread. All of those will be "lunch." Time to go home.

Trip #12:

Wed.Sept. 26. We arrived shortly after noon, my sis Connie following in her van. Once unloaded I showed Connie around the place including the "trapline" which yielded 1 mouse, 2 squirrels and one packrat. I went through about 200 of my books and picked out 2 that I had earlier marked "A good read" so I can list them on my new "Books" website at http://www.sticksite.com/books/. Then we three took a long hike of about 2 miles on my own trails. Fresh bear scat showed that bears were not far away. Later a cow moose came out into the field as well some deer.

Weather was super. There was a full moon and I took a few pictures of it. At midnight when it was almost straight overhead I got up and took a few more with the Teleconverter lens on the Canon S5 IS.

The new big, 25x100 binoculars work fine in the new window but they sure are heavy.

Thursday: a cold, cloudy, windy day. Finally I accomplished the final lawn-cutting tour for this year. Connie came over and we took a long hike. Later we sat at the kitchen table for a couple of hours, each of us with a pair of binoculars, to watch the game in my field. We saw at least 15 deer and one moose.

Friday: A beautiful, clear, calm but cold morning. We took an Argo ride up northeast thru my bush. At one water hole there were a lot of bear tracks.

We came upon a cow moose 50 yards ahead of us on the A3 trail.

There were flights of Canada Geese also and what appeared to be Sandhill Cranes but they were too far away to be sure. A beautiful day.

Saturday: Time to go back to the city; Connie has to go to Edmonton to visit friends. There is a lot of road construction along the way. Just north of town we each got a speeding ticket of close to $250.

Trip #11:

This was a short trip; we went up there Sunday and came back to the city Thursday; mainly I wanted to mow the yard and work on the Argo trailer and skin some dry sticks.

We've not been to the cabin much lately; I was visiting my daughter in Calgary and she took me Whitewater Rafting: (I'm the one second-from-the-left)

At the cabin we saw a LOT of Canada geese come over every morning and evening and saw plenty of precipitation, including snow. We did see some deer but no bucks. The cabin looks much nicer now that it is painted.

Trip #10:

Sunday, July 29: Clearly, all over the country, there was evidence of great flooding recently. The further north we got, the wetter it got. I could not continue in "D" on the transmission. At the cabin we laid down a large tarp to park the van on to catch all the mud that would be dripping off it. Then a very black, ominous cloud came from the west and brought more rain. There are more grasshoppers than in prior years. Seems every year there are more here. When I first bought this land in 1978, I never saw a grasshopper. I guess that is one of the problems of Global Warming. One neat thing about being up here is the wide-open space for watching clouds.

Monday, July 30: A beautiful, breezy morning. The Scout Stick harvest now totals 341. Marie suggested making a shelter for the little trailer for hauling the Argo around so we went 100 yards NW to the beaver / firewood workings and cut about 13 logs. It seems that while manhandling one of them up the bank, I must have dropped on onto a wasp nest because suddenly they were all around me. I ran and avoided getting stung. There are still wasps coming out from under the boards on the cabin even though I sprayed it a few days ago. So, I set up the large, screen fly trap with the funnel facing the cabin and on a block of firewood, put a bit of hamburger in water in the lid off a jar.

By bed-time there were at least 18 wasps in it. I photographed 3 birds which I believe are Downy Woodpeckers, on the firewood bin. Maybe it is a juvenile Yellow Bellied Sapsucker.

I loaded up the last 60 sticks of the 2006 harvest.

Tuesday: It was breezy so I took a 1 1/2-hour walk on my private trails with camera, hoping to be able to approach some wildlife. Saw nothing but cut 5 or 6 Scout sticks which I left along the A3 trail. After lunch I took another hike. This time I brought back 9 Scout Sticks; only 2 or 3 of them skinned well. The spruce trees are producing cones this year, in great numbers. I saw a place along Tanner Creek Road where squirrels are filling their tunnels like sardines in cans. This might be a good year to go cone-picking; many years ago we made good money with that.

Wednesday, August 1: First off, we used a battery and cables to start the Argo, put it onto the trailer and went to John's place.

I set the large fly trap up to catch wasps at the edge of the lawn; there are millions of them. I made a very tiny trap with some scraps of fly screen and very shortly after noted at least a dozen in it as well. A very hot day today; not much wind. There was a chipmunk under one of my firewood bins; the second I've seen here since 1978. Marie came down with what she is sure is a bladder infection. Diana told her to make tea with birch leaves and so we did that. After 3 or 4 cups of that she improved 99%.

Friday: Much thunder and lightning overnite. I stood in the open doorway clad in only underwear and shirt, camera on tripod, trying to catch the lightning. I took about 73 pictures and used the little black "cup" to cover the lens after a good bolt, until the 15 seconds were up and the shutter closed.

There was rain also. Time to go back home. At least on this trip we got the Argo running again if nothing else. We saw NO big game this trip; possibly a first. Back to Grande Prairie.

Trip #9:

Tuesday, July 17: A very hot day. At the Burnt River we stopped to see if there were any swallows. This time there were many hundreds of birds and nest again but the swallows don't perch so it is almost impossible to photograph them.

At the cabin we saw one Rose Breasted Grosbeak but I did not get a chance for a pic. We unloaded the van and checked the strawberry patches. There were LOTS of berries! We were thrilled. The beavers had not fixed the dam and the water is lower than we've ever seen it so maybe they have finally moved out. The field has been worked since we were here so maybe Gilles has seeded Alfalfa. Hope so; could mean a lot of wildlife feeding in it next fall.

Wednesday: I hung up two more bird houses even though it is too late in the year for them to be used this summer. I'll probably drill some tiny holes in the bottom yet, for drainage.

Today the relative humpty diddly must have been 100%+ and with the heat is was pretty awful. In the evening I remarked to Marie, "I'm amazed at how much wildlife we have not seen. Ten minutes later a Whitetail ran past, 50 yards from the cabin, at high speed.

Thursday: Marie used the old picnic table a great deal while painting. So, I made a "Table Mover" to make it so that one person could easily move it:

Friday: Very windy overnight and the tent collapsed completely but suffered no damage. We painted and I cut the twin pines in front of the cabin and turned them into a table.

Gilles came for a visit; he has not yet seeded the Alfalfa. I hope he does and that it brings in huge numbers of deer, moose, elk etc. While painting below the bedroom window, Marie, standing on the old picnic table, got stung by what she thought was a black hornet even though she was working on the wall which had, at the bottom and under the boards, a yellow-jacket nest, not visible, in the left eyelid.

Saturday: we painted all day. In evening I took a hike and found fresh bear sign and moose sign near the cabin. We also drove to the end of the road and cut a few sticks. Two small Whitetail bucks were feeding 150 yards east of the cabin. Nice hot day today.

Sunday: We found that the fridge was not working. The flame was out but the propane tank was not empty. I put the new tank in but the fridge will not work. We loaded about half of the 2006 crop of Diamond Willow stick into the van.

Monday: No fridge so we have to go home. Stopped in at Beno's place and picked up a pile of moose and deer antlers; sometimes my stick customers ask for them.

Trip #8:

Thursday, June 28: Marie and I arrived early afternoon. We took a short run with the Argo and got a very few sticks. On our way back in the Argo, going down the hill to bridge #2 on Crazy Trail, we had to stop for a family of Ruffed Grouse. The female was extraordinarily red in color and had 5+ little ones which were able to fly. A couple of them sat in branches so low that I drove the Argo under them and could have touched them if I could have taken my hands off the controls, but that was tough to do on that extremely steep, curving trail.

Friday: Rain much of the night. As soon as it dried enough, we took the Argo north and I figured I should check my bear spray as it is several years old now. I stepped out of the Argo and Marie stepped out on the other side. I held the can up, removed the home-made safety (tape and wood plug) and gave a quick shot into the trees. It had some recoil and a big blast of orange-colored spray came out very nicely. There was no breeze at all but in seconds, both Marie and I were running away, sneezing, coughing, choking and rubbing sore eyes. Terrible stuff. I hope I'll never have to use it; not sure which would be worse; a physical confrontation with a bear or a shot of that stuff in the face. This time I had not brought any firearm along and I felt rather naked out in the bush. I kept thinking of the huge bear Beno saw last week. It was two feet taller than the 5-foot buffalo fence.

Saturday: A cool, windy, wet day. We spent pretty well all day indoors.

Sunday: Rain most of the morning but around noon it cleared so we took the Argo north again and got a small load of sticks. On the way in we jumped a moose. When in there, Marie saw a mouse IN the Argo. When we got back we opened it all up and found there was a nest of mice in the Argo. We eliminated them. We went "mouse hunting" which is similar to "moose hunting" except camouflage is optional. When I tried to start the Argo, it would not start. No power. I got a battery and cables and it did start. VERY fortunate that this did not happen a half hour earlier, far north in the bush!

Monday: John's ladder is still here so this was also a good time to do the chimney thing. I have never, since I bought the place in 1978, cleaned out the chimney. Ken Anderson impressed upon me the need to do so. So, I made a cleaning brush, a block of firewood with some plastic strapping stapled on it, and a hook screwed into the end with a rope tied to it. It worked very well, was a very quick and easy job and all the ash we got out of it and the other pipes, was less than two cups full. The road is still washed out so there has been no traffic at all. No sign of any other human life other than the jets (USAF??) flying to and from Alaska.

Tuesday: Back to GP. NO PICTURES at all this trip; sure, there were deer on the lawn but that is "old hat" now.

Trip #7:

We spent 10 days up there this time; nothing terribly exciting happened but it was most enjoyable except for the rain and skeeters. Ken and Roma Anderson were going to help us paint the cabin but we got started before they arrived and there was not much left so they did not need to do that. Ken and I took a hike or two and saw deer, elk, bear. I harvested some sticks but they are getting hard to find and my 66 years (nearly) are slowing me down. PLUS, there have been numerous bears sighted so I now carry my 30-30 Winchester which slows me down a lot. I did see a wren and got pictures for my birds page at http://www.sticksite.com/birds/.

I did find one large Diamond Willow which is the most unusual one I've ever seen; I'll add a picture of it here later.

On the way up, I was pulling a tiny trailer I had salvaged from an old tent trailer. A rock from my van's rear window bounced off that trailer and took out the rear window of the van. Another C$450. shot.

Trip #6:

Wed. May 30: After getting groceries here in town, we went straight north thru the center of downtown Blueberry Mountain to see if we could still travel the "old road" but we found that said road had been put to bed years ago. Fortunately, going back south to the center of Blueberry Mountain did not slow us down much with heavy traffic and traffic lights. At the SW corner was a mobile home etc and on the SE corner was the Hall, on the NE corner was the remains of a collapsed log barn and on the NW corner there was bush. No persons nor moving vehicles seen at all. Also took a shot of an old barn.

Stopped at John's to advise that we were "here" and John tells me that Beno had a bear in his shop. We cut up some beaver-felled poplar logs and hauled them out with the Argo; two loads. The mosquitos are very thick now.

Thursday: The beaverdam had been fixed so we opened it again.

Friday: During the night Marie was awakened by some animal making "whoof" sounds very near to the cabin. Wonder what that was. We set up all the Rails and took photos of them; 3 photos for the 91 dry Rails. I threw out all the Rails which still had bark and also those shorter than 40 inches. I'll give those away to customers. We went up Crazy Trail to the second bridge and made some repairs;

Every day we put the 10 solar yard lights outside and at night put them inside; it lights up the cabin all night long. The solar shower bag was so hot we had to let it cool and we hadn't even put it into the glass-covered box I made for it.

Saturday I skinned some Rails.

The beaverdam had been fixed again, so again we unfixed it. My field got cultivated on Sunday.

I found out an interesting thing. When we take in the black plastic shower bag, in the evening, Marie generally wants me to take the first shower. Now I know why. I learned her secret. I told her, "I know why you want me to go first: I pee in the shower and so when you take your shower, the water you stand in is not so cold." For some reason, she now allows me to take my shower after she has hers.

The road is still washed out just beyond my driveway but we can drive the Argo around that OK.

Trip #5:

After getting some gas (C$1.22.9 per litre less 7.5 cents coupon) and groceries we left. On the highway, in heavy rain, I noted a small animal. There was a soaking wet, injured kitten. Marie ran out and got it. It's tail was completely skinned and it seemed stunned and Marie said a back leg was broken. We stopped at several farms to see if they owned it; at one of the places, a big St. Bernard dog met us, complete with two porcupine quills in his snout.

The bear hunting guide came to deliver a load of bait to his hunting spot north of us. He uses oats, some kind of syrup and meat scraps. They have 4 hunters and 8 baits. I cut a birch tree to salvage two 9-foot poles. Also set out the 10 solar-powered yard lights. Then we went to repair the first bridge on CrazyTrail. One day we had very heavy snow.

By 2 PM though, there was no sign of snow left. 200 yards east of the cabin a deer came out and moments later, a coyote. The deer put the run on the little deer-eater.

Beavers have been making such a mess and now we have access to a lot of firewood. Beno came for supper and we checked two of his cameras hanging on trees at a bear-bait which a friend has put out. Then Beno and I went east a long way and from there another half hour or so by quad. Rough ride; me on the back. Bad mud-holes. Beno has eyes like an eagle and promptly picked up a set of moose sheds; small and mostly white. We finally got to the canyon where he had seen wolves, apparently at their den. He finally found the spot and we DID see the wolves, in particular, a big white one. We had wildlife all around us; we saw the wolves, coyote, bear, elk, Whitetail Deer, Muldedeer and moose.

The view of the canyons was fantastic.

I took a long walk north; saw a bull elk. LOTS of skeeters now. I took a leak and happened to look down; STANDING ROOM ONLY on "His Honor."

One day we found that a small bird like a sparrow had stumbled onto the "sticky" type mouse trap and we worked quite a long time to free it and clean it's feet with gasoline.

On the way home we went via Jack Bird's Pond and photographed a few birds; their pictures are on my BIRDS website at http://www.sticksite.com/birds/

Trip #4:

Tuesday, May 8, 2007: Marie and I got to the cabin around noon. To our great surprise, the only snow left on the yard was a bit where it had slid off the roof on the west. The sap was not running so it was too early to hunt sticks. So, these few days, (we went back to town on Sunday) we watched birds, looked for the white fungus on Diamond Willow (I had just sold all I had, to a gent who suffers from Asthma), dug a hug hole in the beaver dam and did a lot of hiking. More about the fungi at http://www.sticksite.com/burl/. We also arranged for the generator to sit near the cabin and set up the rain barrels again. We also reduced the mouse population by 9. It was VERY wet; water EVERYwhere. On Wednesday it rained much of the night and by 8 AM it turned to wet snow and it came down very heavily. Soon all was as white as mid-winter. IF the farmers get onto the land at all this year, it will be late and they'll have to seed rice.

We set the solar shower out today and the water was perfect for two showers. One problem was that six times birds flew into the window. All survived.

note the difference between these two............... red throat patch? The weird thing here is that both of them sat at the exact same spot on the same tree!!

We saw a few deer, moose and coyotes. We went up Crazy Trail (on foot) and re-assembed the two bridges best we could without having a chainsaw handy. There is still not a hint of green in the trees.

We've been paying attention to birds and so far have seen 17 kinds: Robin, Purple Finch, Ruffed Grouse, Raven, Junco, Mallard, Blue Jay, Black-capped Chickadee, Starlings, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Downy Woodpecker, Killdeer, Gray Jay, Flicker, Canada Geese, White-crowned Sparrow and Northern Harrier (hawk).

Sunday, May 13: Ice on the bird-bath again. Time to get back to GrPr; we had not planned this to be a long visit so are running low on food.

I'd been wanting to print out pictures of the birds, and hang them on the wall but instead will make a website so that other people might be able to help identify them. That site will, hopefully, be at http://www.sticksite.com/birds/ soon.

Trip #3:

This was the shortest trip in years; a lot of snow yet and we could not drive in to the cabin. We took pictures of the new erosion-control ditch made in 2006, and came back to town same day.

Trip #2:

Thursday, Feb. 15, 2007: Marie and I got to the cabin just after noon. We had stopped at John's to say we had arrived and he showed off his beautiful new fireplace and 52 inch TV. We got the place warmed up and then took all the Scout Sticks from the shed to take home. We were most pleased that there had been no further mouse damage in the cabin and the one mouse we knew was there, was deceased in one of the traps. We then took a hike up north on the road but 7" of snow made the going too difficult for Marie, even with me in front, following the trail broken by a moose. Far off in my field we could see two coyotes; it must be tough for them in the 30 inches of snow we have now. The snow plow had gone as far as my driveway only; not up the road. No wind so no drifting of the snow so as long as it does not get windy we are OK here. I am using my Toshiba laptop here and hope it manages to keep going. The doggone thing is not impressive. A month after I got it, the monitor went bad and now, just over 3 years, it turns itself off without warning, no matter if I am in the middle of something or if it is just sitting idle. I discussed it with Toshiba but their attitude seems to be "tough luck." NO MORE Toshiba for me!!

Friday: It started snowing last night and this morning it is still coming down; must be at least 2 inches since we arrived. Yesterday, Marie noted that "The days are getting longer." So it was clear. This morning though, I note that the nights similarly seem to be longer! Must be due to the snowfall. I dug a trail from a wood bin to the cabin and hauled a load of firewood back on the toboggan. Later we took a short hike up one of my trails, using snowshoes. We went up the M2 to the M1 line (well, ONE of us made it) It was tough going and Marie could not keep up, even with me breaking trail. No sign of any snowplow yet; we might already be stranded here. The road was snow-covered when we came and now there is an additional 2 inches or more.

Saturday: When I got up at 7:30 it was +15C in the cabin and -10C outside. I had been up twice during the night to "log on" again. (firewood into the stove) and it is snowing again. Looks more and more like we won't be able to get out. Doesn't matter though. Nice to get away from re-doing all my websites day after day after day. Have not heard any news; wonder if they caught Osama Bin Laden yet. (NOT likely) Maybe the radio will work and we can try to catch some news or weather. The only big game I've seen this trip was 2 Whitetail deer trying to cross the road in front of us on the way up here, near Moonshine Lake, and one moose up the road from the cabin. The Bluejays did find that I had refilled the bird feeder and shoveled a path to it. The plastic handle on the old steel snow shovel broke yesterday so all we have now for shoveling snow is two aluminum scoop shovels. Must bring up a real snowshovel next trip. The "Powerbox" provided enough light the last two evenings but no doubt is is just about dry now and I forgot the charger for it so there is no point in trying to start the generator to re-charge it. Nothing to do here today. After Marie got up we listened to the weather etc and decided that if we stayed any longer, with snow falling heavily as it was and was expected to continue, we would be snowed-in for a long time. Thus, we packed up and got out. Even getting the van off the entrance to the driveway, and backing it onto the road was a big chore. The road was almost "white-out" and we even got thoroughly stuck in the snow in John's yard.

Trip #1:

An INTERESTING and CHALLENGING TRIP: Monday, Jan. 15, 2007: FIRST trip to the cabin this year. The temp was up to about 0C whereas yesterday morning it was more like -27C so we figured we should try it. I was sure that the road going by the cabin would be snow-plowed by the oil company drilling the well north of me. When we got within almost a mile of the cabin, going down the gentle slope, the drifts across the road were getting worse and worse and I tried to ram the van through. There was no option of going back at all. So, going down the gentle slope it got worse and worse and suddenly the van stopped. I headed north about 3/4 mile, on foot, to the cabin for scoop shovels. The drift which we were stuck in was maybe 50 yards wide. Eventually, I got the van free and shoveled maybe 30 yards in front, clearing the road. Then the snowplow arrived. There was nothing he could do as he could not get past me. I then pushed the pedal to the metal and got up as much speed as 30 yards allowed, and rammed through the remaining 20 yards of snow-drift. Then Marie arrived with John on John's tractor.

The snow-plow operator figured he would plow right to the cabin door. OK........ but I wondered if he would be able to do that. He tried. And tried.

But couldn't. His snow-plow just wallowed in the deep snow and finally I suggested he fugeddaboudit and just clear enough so I could get the van off the road. He was very happy that I suggested that.

It was hopeless. Even the little that he did made matters worse instead of better. We learned later that there is a delay in moving the drilling rig from where it is now drilling so there is no need to keep the road open yet. Eventually Marie and I got all our stuff to the cabin on the toboggan through the mess left by the plow and after shoveling some of it out of the way.

Then we found that for the first time in many years, we now have a mouse problem. And what a mess they have made. I'm buying mouse traps like there was no tomorrow!!

Tuesday morning: A knocking at the door indicated John was here, on his Skidoo. He told us that a flat-bed truck heading north to haul out one of the cats had got stuck too. He had phoned John for help and John had taken him north to the cat, on the Skidoo. John told us that if we did not get out of there now, we might be stuck for some days, as my road is about the last one to get snow-plowed. The cat came by as I was shoveling my way to the shed to get some mouse traps. A moose which had been feeding there did not like the cat so she headed back into the bush, struggling in the deep snow.

The snow on the yard measured 26 inches deep. Then I shoveled my way to the other shed, to lock the door. We loaded up and headed out. Very clearly, it was drifting so badly that if we had stayed two more hours, we would have been stuck until all the roads in the area were cleared, with my van blocking the road.

The cat was just being loaded a half-mile south of the cabin. Thanks to the cat, we were able to get out.

We told John that we were out and then went back to Gr.Pr. On the way we saw a car, two pickup trucks and one 18-wheeler off the road; the latter was laying on it side by Clairmont.

On the way home we stopped and took pictures of interesting snow-drifts for my "SNOW" website.