Outpost ~ Ever Changing

The weather we can experience morning to dusk can be as different as night and day.

Waking up to see the towering trees swaying against a sky that could be the colour of granite or a hue of robin's egg blue, tells me it must be windy. Depending on the arc of sway I can tell you if there are whitecaps or swells out by Solide Island or just swirls and ripples in our bay.

Quite often a windy morning will turn into something else. If we're lucky it will blow away the clouds and allow us a bit of sunshine. No longer do the rays reach the back deck, the sun being lower than the 300' hill and 100' trees so it's down to the heli pad I go. I read that 15 minutes of basking in the sun provides the daily dose of Vitamin D and for me a much preferred method, besides you never know what you will see just sitting down there.

Not being so lucky, the winds will bring rain. I've never given much thought to “rain” other than it's wet and I don't really care for it....yes I know I live in BC and for the time being have chosen to be in an area classified as a “rain forest” but those are the facts.

Precipitation in Haida Gwaii averages 168cm or 66 inches on the west coast ( that's me ) and that is certainly alot of wet days. I've taken to embracing the rain, from inside ofcourse, and found that there are countless ways to describe exactly how much it is raining. A spattering of raindrops can quickly turn into a cloudburst which will unleash a deluge. Sheets of rain marching across the bay one ofter another making me think this must be what a monsoon looks like. Running out of steam before I can capture it's force, the torrent has turned into a drizzle leaving behind a mist that drifts lazily through the conifers making the whole scene appear serene with not a hint that a storm has just passed by.

Some nights dusk can make up for a day that has offered nothing but grey.

Fall is in the air and that can only mean one thing...Fruitcake! It's been about a week now that the fruit has been soaking in a generous amount of rum...... plumping up.

Our woodpile is growing piece by piece, wagonload by wagonload. We've been fortunate that the trees we have been working on have been relatively close by but that is coming to an end. On our walks through the woods Mike is looking up for dead trees while I have something else on my mind......a Christmas tree. Considering what happened last year I've decided to start looking now for the perfect one.

Look what's coming out of the oven these days. We are still waiting for the barge to bring the part for the furnace so we are having a lot of fires using the wood we have just cut, which is wet and green. A new chore after dinner each night now is to load up the oven. With just the heat from the pilot light it drys out enough to burn.

And the bear came back. Searching for that honey pot, which for him was a pail of used oil, he found himself out of luck. After his first visit we made quick work of removing the temptation. Nice to see a bear up close in the wild but we'd rather not have him making a habit of showing up at the kitchen door.

Today is October 20^th and that means we've been here for 2 months. I'm still puttering around putting things the way I want. Guess I better get a move on or before I know it, it will be time to put everything back.

Till next week,

Heather & Mike