6am walks - From Arta

Bonnie and I are trying to get an hour of exercise in every morning before she goes to work.  We walk up toboggan run and back.  Then we walk up to the Transcanada, and then down our own road, to what used to be a beach, and is now the new high water line. 

Glen has mowed all the way down past the original camp, so there is a beautiful path along the railroad.  Bonnie asked me if i could walk a little faster.  She said that i have two speeds.  on inclines, she can't keep up with me; on downhill, i go far too slow.  That is because, on the declines, i find myself busy looking at the flora and fauna. 

So, the little patches of wintergreen are now in flower in the woods, occasionally we have to step over last winter's deadfall.  Along side the road there are clumps of daisies, the chicory is in full bloom (Bonnie calls it chicory, i call it douglas aster, and we both are right).  She is the one who spotted the wild strawberries. 

Also, she had the eye for the baby loons that were out on the raft.  We tried to count them, and I thought my dad Doral was by my side:  as soon as one would put a head up, another would pop its head down.  It was a bit like one of those shooting duck games, or maybe 'whack a mole'.  In the end, we counted 13 ducks.  One of them has a severe limp.  We think he will become some hawks lunch before the week is out. 

Bonnie made a stop to pick the wild strawberries, thinking this was the only patch we would see.  Then, we discovered that they cover both sides of the path along pillings road. 

Knut was out trying to stop the damage (from the water) in the development to the west of us.  They have brought in three loads of rocks (in the past one load might have previously done).  Everyone is worried about their land sliding.

We saw a new stream ourselves alongside lots 21, 1, and 2.  My guess is that there must be an undereground spring there.  Bonnie says it is spillover from "Moose-pees-in-stream".  I didn't understand what she was saying and asked her to repeat it.  She said, "Ah, I forget, you are a 'seasonal'.  In the fall, David and I stopped our car and watched a moose in that stream for 1/2 an hour.  We even saw it pee there".  Teague will know the spot we are talking about, as it is where he used to practice his trombone as a teenager.

Bonnie and i take different routes every day, trying to figure out the perfect one hour walk. When we walked down through Swanee's development, we walk past the new house that people say cost 1 million dollars to build.  It too is having to have water pumped out of its basement.  I remember one other year when the water was this high.  There was flooding two blocks into Sicamous that year.  I hope this is it for another 20 years.  The good news is that the water is starting to receed.  

Arta (dictated over the phone to Rebecca, her conscripted scribe)