November in Nimpo Lake.

This is about a remote area in west central British Columbia, Canada called the West Chilcotin. Surrounded by numerous glacial mountain ranges, alpine lakes teeming with wild Rainbow Trout, and full of wildlife. Living here goes from no running water or electricity to spacious log homes with all the conveniences and without the smog!
If you would like to see pictures of wildlife, mountains, lakes, exciting snowmobiling, events and more, and read stories like 'Lake Monsters' about the Lakesounds just go into Archives on the lower left side of this page.
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28/11/2008 8:28 PM

The End of November

Today, you certainly would not have guessed it! While it wasn't particularly warm yesterday, today at one point when I looked at the thermometer, it was 8.8C or 48 degrees Fahrenheit. That's warm for this time of year! Especially when you consider that toward the end of November for the past two years it's been down to -30C or -22F and colder. Quite a change.
Since we had appointments down in Kelowna both years, it made things extremely difficult, both because it was too cold for the dogs to stay in the back of the truck while we were down there, and I don't particularly care to leave the house alone when temperatures are like that. As a result, we changed the appointments this year to the end of September so that we didn't have to worry about it. Of course, wouldn't you know it, no cold temps right now, it was too hot for the dogs while we were down in the Okanagan, and we missed one of the nicest weeks for weather up here of the entire summer. That's Mother Nature for you. She'll get you every single time!
Because it's melting out and there's been a stiff breeze, the air has been damp and a little raw, but still, it was cool being able to go for a walk when it's that warm. I went with the neighbour again today and still no fresh bear tracks. That's a good sign. Maybe, just maybe, they've moved on or denned up. I looked for the bears when I drove to Anahim today to take the garbage to the dump since we're not keeping any around here at all, and saw no sign of them. I did see a big coyote in a meadow doing some hunting around the muskrat houses, but that was about it.
It was trying to rain when I headed home so our road is going to be even icier than it has been. The ice is looking pretty black on the lake too so I would be surprised if it would hold much weight, which is why River is still in jail.
The bald eagles have been hanging around the edge of the ice a lot lately. One spent quite a while perched on a tree overhanging the water at the edge of the ice out at the island Friday, and yesterday one was sitting right on the edge of the ice for the longest time. I'm not sure what it is they're after. I don't think they can go after fish from anything but the air, but you never know.
It seems strange that it's the end of November already. I guess because it's been warmer than usual, the month has just kind of snuck up on us and passed us by. Except for the shorter days, of course. Driving home after 3:00 this afternoon, the sun was already low in the sky and it was getting darker. But hey, only 21 more days to go and the days start getting longer!
A bunch of locals went snowmobiling yesterday and today. They trailered over to the other side of Nimpo Lake and went from there. There was just enough snow down low to machine and lots up higher according to Leah when she called me last night. There was great powder other than through Goat's Pass which often doesn't have enough snow on it this time of year. It always looks like you're passing over plate sized pieces of shale and rock in the winter but if you saw it in summer, you'd see that you're actually driving over rocks the size of a truck or a house. I haven't heard from them tonight about how conditions were today, but I expect they were all right. It will have been way too warm for the machines down at this elevation but I expect it would have been cool enough for them higher up. Visibility will have been lousy though, I think. The mountains were socked in for a good part of the day.

28/11/2008 8:28 PM

Surrounded by Snow

Everywhere around seems to be getting snow, except us. Williams Lake was getting dumped on with over six inches of snow by this afternoon, and apparently Anahim Lake was getting snow as well. About all we got was 10 or 12 really pathetic looking little snowflakes, and that's about it. That's a huge disappointment to everyone that wants to go sledding tomorrow. We're not going because Andy figures it will be too hard on the machines with hard crusted snow and higher temperatures and he's probably right. Still, if we had gotten even four inches of snow we could have run the back trails over to the meeting place on the Hooch. So I guess I'll just keep on working on the computer. I've got too much work to do to take a day off anyway, really.
The last couple of days the ice on Nimpo Lake was unbelievably clear and looked just like a mirror. It was hard to look at when the sun was shining because the reflection would just about blind you. When we were down at the dock yesterday you could see right to the bottom, the ice was so clear, and everything looked frozen in time. The ice was covered with a layer of frost this morning though, and by this afternoon it was looking pretty black. It went below freezing by about three degrees yesterday evening and then proceeded to warm up to above freezing through the night. Strange weather.
A little cold front is what was supposed to bring us snow, and certainly it's doing that elsewhere. Behind it we should see a warm front take the temperatures right up. It will probably also take our snow right down.
I'm even more angry about what's happening in our Federal politics now than I was last night. The opposition parties actually seem determined to push through a coalition government. You know what? If people didn't want the government they have now, another party would have gotten in. I cannot believe how the Liberals are acting like a bunch of spoiled brats. They didn't get in with the election so they're going to force themselves on the Canadian people. Didn't we already decide what we wanted? What right does any other party or parties have to change the results of the election to suit themselves?
For too long the Liberals have made it as hard as possible on Harper's government to govern, hence the early election. I do not ever remember the Conservative opposition party blocking every single thing put through the House when the Liberals were in, as the Liberals have in recent years. And now this? Over what? Taxpayer's money being cut off to all parties is enough to overthrow a government??? What the hell kind of laws do we have anyway? I can see having something in place to overthrow a government that's turned tyrannical or gone wild. But to be able to overthrow a government that just put a cap on MP's spending and their wages for the next couple of years, because they don't do anything to earn the outrageous wages, pensions and benefits they get anyway....how small is that? Suck it up you bunch of useless bastards! Help govern the country. Don't act like a bunch of school bullies just because you can. Oh, and the excuse that there's no stimulus package just will not wash.
This is pathetic. I can't believe the Canadian people are going to allow the opposition parties to get away with this!
This is looking more and more like the Opposition parties have been doing a little back room planning and have just been waiting for a reason or opportunity to overthrow the government. The worst part about it is they're saying because the elections were only six weeks ago, another election probably will not be called. Instead, Harper's government will have to back down as they've had to on everything else because of those bunch of jacked off school boys representing us, or a coalition government will be formed. Bullshit! Don't force your coalition on me or any other Canadian. I didn't vote for a coalition, nor did any other Canadians. So call an election. And let the Canadian people bury that bunch of yahoos in Ottawa once and for all!!!

27/11/2008 6:21 PM

The Opposition

Okay, I'm PO'd and geared up for a rant so if you're not into it, you may wish to skip to the end for weather, etc.
We just learned on the news tonight that all three opposition parties to the present government in Canada are poised to bring the government down by either forcing a new election, (we just had one in October) or forming a coalition that the Governor General would have to approve as a new government. Good luck with the latter. Those three parties can't agree on anything except on their hate for whomever is in power if it isn't them. The cause of all this furor? Oh....wait 'til you hear!
Rather than wait until the formal budget is brought out in February or March, the newly formed government has decided that because of the global economic crisis, things are changing too quickly for only a single annual budget to be brought out. So they've created what they call the Budget Update, which I'm assuming are smaller budget changes that will be instituted throughout the year as the need for it arises, whether that's tax cuts, tax raises, stimulus packages, corporate bailouts or whatever. Regardless of what party thought of the idea, it's a heck of a good one. As Canadians, we're all in this together so why not let us know what's happening along the way instead of waiting on a single annual budget that consists of sweeping changes, as well as small, and is a virtual tome when presented that it takes days and weeks to be absorbed.
Today, the Conservative government put forth their budget update which included:
A reduction of 25% in the amount that pensioners had to remove from their RIFF accounts annually. This means they can leave more of their money in until markets recover over the next few years.
A cap on civil servant wages increases of 1.5% That included the very wages of the Minister of Finance that gave the budget update. He didn't seem to have a problem with that.
A cut back on spending for government officials. (What, gee, no more first class air, dinners, massages, etc.? Whatever will they do???)
And then the biggy, the one that the opposition parties had most complaint with. Cut the 30 million in subsidies that all political parties receive, (that includes the one in power) funded by the Canadian taxpayer. I'm all for that one! If I believe in a political party, I will give it money, or give it my vote (which also garners the party I voted for money). But why should I fund three political parties with my tax dollars that I don't believe in?
In the words of the Minister of Finance, "This is the last stop on the route; there will be no free ride for anyone else in government, either," Flaherty said. "Canadians pay their own bills, and for some Canadians, that is getting harder to do. Political parties should pay their own bills, too, and not with excessive tax dollars." Amen!!!
Anyone have a problem with that? Because I certainly don't! However, the three opposition parties reacted with fury, swearing to bring down the government, either by forcing an election or forming a coalition.
The NDP leader called it an attack on democracy. Excuse me? How so? Because his party would have to actually get out there and win some voters and raise some money instead of ride the taxpayer gravy train? Maybe these opposition parties wouldn't be so quick to force one election after another if they had to pay all the expenses every time they do instead of we, the taxpayer! You talk about a bunch of spoiled little children throwing a temper tantrum, there is just no other way to describe today's threats on Parliament.
Right now, MP's supposedly representing their people at home should be a lot more concerned about those constituents in danger of losing their jobs, than they are about their own pay hikes or all the extra little benefits they get.
Some of them must have realized what a selfish bunch of money grabbing little bastards they seemed, especially in face of the factory shut downs in Ontario, and the number of Canadians put out of work every day, because one or two back tracked. They then tried to claim that there was no promised stimulus package in the budget and this budget wasn't designed to help people or the economy at all.
That's because the government has already activated their stimulus plan. It's been in place for some time and actually not only contains twice the stimulus of many other countries including the US, but is also the reason why Canada is listed as the most financially stable country in the world right now. That doesn't mean we're sitting pretty because we most certainly are not. We rely too much on the US market to take our exports. But it does mean that the sitting government would appear, so far, to have done everything right. And a bunch of useless twits with a serious case of sour grapes want to take the present government down.
I would love to see an election forced by the opposition parties because I would love to see the Canadian people hand the sitting government a majority. It's next to impossible now with the Bloc Party (Which I do not believe should be allowed to be an opposition party because it represents only one province, Quebec.) but I would still love to see it happen. For that matter, just give them a couple more seats and it would be impossible for all three parties to have the numbers they need to form a coalition.
Harper was fed up with opposition constantly blocking his ability to govern. And when he called an early election to allow the Canadian people to decide what should happen, I think that Canadians spoke pretty clearly about what they wanted by handing Harper's government more seats than in the last election. With the exception of British Columbians of course. They lost a valuable opportunity to get some attention in the west for a change. The province had the power to determine whether Harper would get a majority or not and I don't think he would have forgotten that little favor one bit. But no, people in BC have to vote for the Liberals or their beloved NDP because they wouldn't know what a Conservative was if it hit them in the forehead. It doesn't help that BC has a conservative government that goes under the name of Liberal so it confuses even more, those easily confused.
Canadians, like most people in the rest of the world, are going to be hanging onto their wallets for dear life and riding out this political storm for the next few years. I would hope that another forced election, after the one last month already cost $300 million dollars, would cause such a backlash that Canadians hand every leader of an opposition party his own head on a platter! They would well deserve it!
As the newscasters on TV suggested, they only hope that cooler heads will prevail and these idiots will do some serious thinking over the weekend before they vote against the budget update. Because they may just be surprised at how Canadians will turn against them if they force an election. Nor is it an assurance that a coalition will be formed and forced on Canadians because it's doubtful that the three parties could get along long enough to walk through a door together, much less form an effective government for a time of crisis like this. Or I certainly hope the Governor General sees it that way.
Okay....the rant ends here for those of you that wanted to skip the above.
The reason there was no article last night was because we had an honorary poker game for a friend and fellow player. We don't normally play in the middle of the week, but we had a special occasion to celebrate. Glen played in a big tournament in Vancouver last week and took first place with over a $100,000 in winnings. He was good enough to bring his 'giant' cheque on choroplast for everyone to have their picture taken with him and I admit, that's the best the man has looked for a long, long time. He owns a beautiful ranch at Kleena Kleene but neither ranching nor cattle are big money makers these past few years. They are, however, great bill generators, so that's a nice cash injection into the business and will go a long way towards helping in the tough economic times we have in our future.
We woke up yesterday morning to clear, solid ice right out to the island. It had been beat back by waves and wind to our shoreline over a period of days so ice had to start growing all over again, and it did it in one night! We had temperatures down to -12.5C or 9.5F the night before last and the air was dead still. The water had been chilled down substantially by the ice breaking up in it all week, so I guess it should be no surprise. Still, it was unexpected. We hadn't tied our dog up as we usually do when new ice is building so when he disappeared yesterday morning, we were really worried and looking for holes in the ice. I had to go to a lunch meeting and in inquiring around Nimpo I heard he had been seen down at The Dean where he used to go visit his (Golden Retriever) buddy Einstein. He was here when I arrived back at home in the afternoon so he's now in jail indefinitely. Or at least until the ice freezes up solid and is safe.
We went walking again today, although not all the way to the gun range, but there was no fresh bear sign on the back trail. Perhaps these last couple of cold nights have finally driven the grizzlies to den up. Last night the temperature really started to drop when I went to play poker, but there must have been a little cloud moving through overnight because it actually warmed up for a while. Still, it got down to -10C this morning and never made it much above 3C or 37F today. It is supposed to warm up and bring snow though, so I guess we'll just keep checking for tracks.
I have to correct a mistake made on the blog below. I had stated that the meeting for the Nimpo Lake Community Association would be on the 6th. It's actually slated for December, 8 at 7 p.m. and is a general meeting. All members of the community are welcome to come. New tables and chairs for the Hall is the main, but not only, topic up for discussion. I think a revised emergency phone fan list might also be on the agenda because the old one is three years old and out of date.

25/11/2008 6:54 PM

The Hard To Resist Day

It was one of those days that started out being really pretty and it was hard to resist not sneaking outside for a while. You know, one of those days where the sun is shining, the air is fairly still and it's above freezing so it feels positively balmy outside.
Unfortunately, I was stuck inside for most of the day. I lost most of yesterday and I have some design work that absolutely has to get done. I've had the material for months but just haven't been able to set aside the time needed to really sit down and get at it and now I have one week to complete it. Normally that would be fine because I often work very well under pressure, but not when I've got the equivalent of writer's block!
Normally, if I'm having a hard time coming up with ideas for a design, I go for a walk. It's great walking in the woods because only half a mind is on where I'm going, and the other half is rolling ideas around in my head. I imagine it as being like a bunch of marbles rolling around up there bouncing off each other until after a couple of days, an idea begins to formulate. Not so this time around.
First of all, when you know there's a couple of grizzlies around you tend to pay a lot more attention to where you're going and at what's around you. Second of all, I've only walked alone once since we first saw the bear sign over a week ago, so when you have company, you tend to talk. Which is really nice, actually, and a marvelous change, but I don't get much opportunity to have the old light bulb go on as a result.
Today both Andy and I went out and walked clear down to the gun range. Andy wanted to test out a new pair of skidoo boots and I wanted to see if there was any fresh sign of the bears. Zero on the latter but we did see moose tracks made sometime today, so they're moving down from higher elevations now. We should have gone walking this morning instead of waiting until after lunch because the wind started up and it was pretty raw, but it was nice in the woods as usual.
It got up a little over 4C or 40F today but it's definitely dropping tonight and is already three degrees below freezing. Tomorrow looks like it might be a wonderful day with full sunshine for everybody so that'll be cool. I don't know what it's bringing later in the week but it doesn't really matter because I'm stuck working inside. It might be nice to get a dump of fresh snow toward the end of the week though because we want to go snowmobiling Saturday. I think it would be a good idea to get up the trail early this year before there's too much snow in case we have trees across the trails from that big windstorm. The last couple of days we've lost a lot of snow to warm wind and above freezing temperatures so getting to where there's snow will probably require taking a trailer Still, we know for sure that there's probably nearly a foot of snow on the Hooch and probably up to two feet on Charlotte Main, so all we have to do is get there.
It looks like there's going to be a general meeting called for December 8, by the Nimpo Lake Community Association. We're doing some pricing on some new tables and chairs for the hall and it needs to be discussed with community members. We keep having functions to raise money for improvements, but we never spend any. In the meanwhile, most of the tables in the hall are pieces of plywood on metal stands that have become so rough and splintered, the women don't dare go near them with stockings on or anything else with threads that can be caught on the wood.
The chairs are those old, old laminated (probably birch) plywood ones that are attached to a metal frame and can be stacked. The backs are straight but the seats are bent up in a shape to fit under your legs. They have to be one of the most tortuous inventions ever and you're guaranteed to have a numb butt if you sit in them for long or a back that feels like it's been broken. Most of the chair backs and bottoms have at least one corner busted off of them, virtually guaranteeing runs in stockings, slacks skirts, and that your hair will get caught in the chair backs. Aside from the fact that the furniture is older than Moses and falling apart, the folks coming to events aren't as young as they used to be so comfortable chairs are a must. Anyway, if you're a local and reading this, you're welcome to come to the meeting at 7p.m.

24/11/2008 5:55 PM

Monday

I didn't get my walk in today. I actually spent most of the day in conversation with the Anahim Lake RCMP Detachment CO. He called me this morning asking if I could come in to the office some time for a coffee and BS. We killed about an hour on the phone before I went in to Anahim, and one of his concerns was about a blog I posted a few weeks back regarding an RCMP Officer that had stopped a local driver one evening.
The man had been at a birthday party at his parents, and had his kids with him when he was stopped. After stating he had two drinks over a period of several hours, he was asked to use a roadside breathalyzer. He, of course, did not even register on the device as having had anything to drink. The RCMP officer shook his hand, thanked him for not drinking and left. At the time I learned of this, (not having heard about the shaking of hands part, however) I sympathized with the gentleman's anger at being embarrassed in front of his kids and with any traffic that may have passed. Putting myself in his shoes, I felt I too would have been very angry under the circumstances and wrote a blistering article about it.
Although I don't always agree with the method of policing in our community, my attack on that Member's personal demeanor and physical attributes was not called for, was way over the top, and definitely not conducive to building good relations between community and our police force. I apologized to him in person today and I apologize here. Not because I was asked to, but for the following reasons instead.
I was mightily impressed with our new Detachment Commander, both with the long phone conversation and even longer conversation in his office. There is no question that he comes from a long background of small town living and policing, totally different from 'city' policing, and especially the kind of common sense background we need for our somewhat isolated area. I've always felt that you cannot apply a 'one size fits all' mentality to policing an area that went for so many years without formal policing, that is isolated, and that has a lot of 'bushed rednecks' (me included) that have relied on themselves to look after themselves for a lot of years, with little or no help from the government.
This CO gets it.
He's the 'old fashioned' kind of cop (even if he is younger than me) that I've always admired, with ideas that also flow with the times. He's got a strong stand on what he believes in, but he also comes with seasoned common sense and a well honed ability to work with the public. More importantly, he's willing to take on the job of changing the perception that this community has of the RCMP. That was a perception developed over the last two years prior to this Sergeant's arrival by the two previous commanders, whom I honestly don't think had a clue how to police a small community. Nor could we communicate with them, even though we had Town Hall meetings to air our grievances and concerns. The members of the community erected a wall against members of the RCMP, who had already erected a wall of their own.
Hence, my own willingness to apologize publicly in this forum. Even though this blog was mainly developed for the search engines, I've ended up with readers that are not search bots. I guess whether I like it or not, that makes me 'media' (God forbid!) and as such, I have a responsibility to write the facts to the best of my ability without expressing a personal attack on someone. Because that may in turn effect someone else's opinion negatively, and if we've got a man in charge of the local police force willing to work with us to turn things around, then I would like to show my willingness as a member of this community to do the same.
While referring to the incident that I wrote about, I actually learned a lot today about the law that I did not know. Actually, I learned a couple of life lessons as well. So I'll cover one of those first.
I mentioned before that I put myself in that driver's shoes and could completely understand his anger at being stopped with his kids in the vehicle, and being made to submit to a roadside test when he had already declared how little he had to drink. But as the CO pointed out, why be angry? This is an opportunity to teach a life lesson to your children. Why not say, "See kid's? That police officer was doing his job and it shows why you shouldn't drive while impaired." Okay, I admit....I missed the boat on that one. That's something our parents would have been quick to say. You know? The 'Leave it to Beaver' kinds of Moms and Dads that would have known to use the incident as a teaching tool rather than getting mad at law enforcement and letting their kids see that anger.
It doesn't help that there's been a slow, burning resentment on the part of many community members against the RCMP so it doesn't take much to get fired up. But maybe we all need to take a deep breath and back it off a little.
The second thing I didn't know was that the RCMP do not need a reason to stop your vehicle. I don't consider myself to be a particularly ignorant person with regards to the law, but like many Canadians, I assumed that the police had to have a reason to pull you over. They don't.
I also didn't understand the RCMP's eagerness to use the roadside breathalyzer device. Now I do. As the CO explained, there are a lot of alcoholics out there that over a period of time, have become so habituated to alcohol that they show little or no sign of impairment. If the police stop a driver and don't know them on a personal level, they may have someone behind the wheel of a vehicle that is extremely impaired, but it's impossible to tell. If they do not test someone that they think may have been drinking, they risk letting an impaired driver continue on his way. Having listened to MADD's propaganda for decades, we know where that can and does lead. There are habitual drunks out there that have killed people and I have always said, and will say again, I'm all for taking drunks off the road. I felt that some of the roadside stops qualified as harassment, but in view of that information, I certainly see the point.
I learned a few other points of law that I didn't know today, which was cool. I'm always into cutting down my ignorance quotient where possible, but I don't have space here to dedicate another two hours of dialogue.
I particularly liked the open line of communication with the CO. I'm always impressed with honest, open minded, down to earth people that can express their opinion but look at both sides of the story. With that in mind, the CO asked the following which I want to make clear here.
If anyone has a concern or complaint, whether informal or formal, go talk to him. He has made himself very approachable because he feels that that's what makes small town policing work. And unlike our last CO, I did not once get the impression that what I had to say was going in one ear and out the other or that he had already made up his mind on how things were going to be. He is willing to listen to concerns and I think he would really like us all to get past the past, and work on the future. Good communications are key anywhere, but they're especially important in this instance. So if you've got something to say, use the tools we've been given, people! Communicate!
Geez, I've run out of space and time but here's a quick run down on the weather, etc. It stayed above freezing all night and a few degrees above today. I know a lot of snow melted in the past 24 hours and the ice is looking pretty black in the back bay. I never expected that to go out before next spring, but it just might if this keeps up.
The grizzly bears appear to being taking in a little larger territory than I initially thought. I picked up a Native old-timer on the highway that used to be a guide and on the way to his turnoff, asked him if he had seen the grizzlies. Yah, he'd seen the tracks and told me where they were. He put them up on the trails on the east side of the highway, which is about right because the store owner told me today that she had seen tracks while walking back behind Nimpo. She was also told they had been seen on the south side of the lake across from us, so the bears are definitely making their rounds. I'm determined to get out on the back trail tomorrow and see what's up. If we get some flurries tonight as predicted, that will make tracking easier.

23/11/2008 10:36 AM

Strange Antics

This morning when I got up we noticed at least three bald eagles
screeching over the lake. The ice grew out quite a ways from shore overnight and the eagles seemed to be patrolling the edges. They were caterwauling, wheeling around each other, and diving toward the ice and then up again. We couldn't see for sure but it didn't look like there was anything trapped in the ice so I don't know what the flap was about. All the noise drew some ravens in and we had two immature Trumpeter Swans watching all the ruckus from farther out on the water. We marveled at some wicked, wicked clouds that roiled around the top of one of the mountains, just thankful we weren't up there on a snowmobile. And we watched the thin layer of ice out in front of the house ripple with the water running beneath it, some of it bubbling up through holes in the ice closer to shore. You wouldn't think that ice could be so flexible that it could undulate with every ripple, yet stay in one piece. It's like watching a living, breathing entity.
It was a good start to a Sunday morning.
Friday night just after I posted that blog, it started snowing great big fat, fuzzy flakes and I thought for sure we were going to get a nice little dump of snow. But, it stopped after only 15 or so minutes leaving us with only an inch of the white stuff. Because we finally had fresh snow, I was eager to get out walking Saturday morning to see if anything had been around.
Andy decided to come with me and we had just exited our driveway when we noticed our neighbours do the same up the road. We caught up with them and it was a nice change to be able to walk through the woods with complete confidence and not have to worry about bears, because there were four of us as well as the three dogs.
There was no fresh sign of anything but a fox wandering through the woods, but there were certainly a lot of bear tracks all over the trail under the new snow. They had wandered all through the back trails on all the routes I normally walk, zig zagged back and forth looking for berries, and even bedded down along the trail behind our place in a couple of places in the past week. It was so nice to be out again that I talked Andy into going with me again today, even if it was a shorter walk. Still no sign so they're either at the other end of their circuit, or they've finally denned up. I guess I'll know tomorrow because they should be back through by then and I plan on walking alone, or not.
I kept track of the mileage on Friday when I went into Anahim Lake and it's less than five miles by road from what seems to be the bears' westernmost range to our place, which would appear to be their easternmost boundary. Since they cut through the woods the distance is even less so it's actually quite a small range. However, I think that the tremendous berry crop that I commented on all fall is what is keeping them in our area.
The weather has been okay the last two days. It was really nice yesterday with the sun making an appearance just as we went on the walk. Last night it dropped quickly though, hitting -10C or 14F in no time, but it had already started warming up again in the middle of the night. It didn't get much above 4C or 39F today, with a blustery wind and damp air from the lake.
The wind has really picked up speed tonight and the temperature is climbing a little, even at this time of night. The ice that built well out from shore last night and this morning has long since been beat back by the wind and waves on Nimpo Lake, crushed into a pile against the shore. Heaven knows what's coming in now. The weather forecasters have gotten it wrong for the last few days now so other than a nasty low coming in on the satellite picture, there's no way of guessing what, if anything, will hit us. This is the third day in a row that there have been wind warnings up for the north and central coast and northern Vancouver Island. The north coast clocked winds up to 160km or 100 miles an hour yesterday. So we're still ahead of the game. We haven't gotten really bad winds and we're not shoveling three feet of snow like they are back east yet!
It's that time again. I've started a new week so you'll find the past week's articles, including those about our local grizzly bears, at November Week Three.

The purpose of this web site is to draw attention to a remote area of west central British Columbia. It is a beautiful area that relies heavily on tourism. The search engines don't know much about the West Chilcotin, Anahim Lake, Nimpo Lake or any of the other small communities in the region and I hope to change that! Even as large as this site will eventually be, there just isn't enough room or time in the day to fully describe this incredible country but I am going to try scraping away at the tip of the iceberg, so join me!

Follow the links, and see what the West Chilcotin is really like!

Rough water and crushed ice on the shoreline.