A day or two after the snowfall, my neighbour came to plough.  It cost me $200.  But already the temperature was well above freezing, and the wind was howling.  A warm gale blew for 4 days and four nights – some of the gusts must have been storm force.  All the snow melted.

The same thing happened after I paid my neighbour $100 for ploughing the first time.  So I have literally thrown $300 down the drain.

Last Wednesday, I made a trip to Tatla – the first since Christmas Eve.   Naturally, I had to cut several more trees out of the road.  I went to the library and borrowed the washing machine at the church.  They have bought a new one and it can take really big loads.

Finally, the temperature dropped at night, and of course we got fog.  The winter full moons are beautiful on the snow, but both of them so far have been deadened by cloud.  Bare ground makes the night dark as well.

Ice was everywhere.

The weather has remained calm and stable since the gales, but it is rarely clear.  This means we have had some very pretty sunrises…

And sunsets.

The days are at last noticeably longer although with so much cloud about it was not obvious at first.  Interestingly, the mornings seemed to stay the same, only the afternoons grew longer.  Now the sun has cleared Finger Peak.  On the shortest day it sets among the bare branches to its left.

Earlier, the river spread over the gravel bars.  That water froze, and now the river is back in its bed.  It is a rare year when it freezes well enough to be safe to cross as it flows very swiftly.

In sheltered places, there is a bit of snow – in a few hollows, it is 10″ deep but those places are rare.

Wolves are common this year.  I hear them occasionally but see lots of tracks.

They have a hard time in a low snow year as their prey can run away.  Goodness knows what has happened to the mice who normally live under the snow.

I am working hard on my manuscript but one beautiful afternoon I took time to hike up onto the north bluff.

Flocks of robins are everywhere.  They are enjoying last summer’s abundant crop of kinnikinnick berries.  These berries can survive all winter under the snow.  They are not very tasty for humans to eat, but a great source for the birds.

Juniper berries are also thick on the bushes.  These are enjoyed by townsend’s solitaires, who often winter here although I rarely see them.

There were, inevitably, a lot of newly fallen trees up on the bluffs.  The surprising thing was that there were any left standing after all that wind.  These trees were beetle-killed about 7 years ago.

The bare ground is not even frozen

Storms still boil over the mountains

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