Since Nuk Tessli, I have been busy busy busy, so this post is a collection of bits and pieces at Ginty Creek.  The weather has been the same – a bit of cloud, a bit of heat, mostly changeable.

First I went to visit the Precipice (see the cattle drive posts.)  Nothing stood out on this visit, except the semi-tame fox we encountered on the road.

It trotted along ahead of us, then picked something up.  It looked long-dead.  It also had a long, naked tail, which lead my to believe it might once have been a packrat.

Back home, I picked my first peas.  When I visited Bella Coola 3 weeks ago, the peas down there had already finished.  We’ve had the sun – but there were also four frosts in July.

The cooler weather has knocked back the caterpillar invasion.  Some of the newer leaves have hardly any holes in them.  Here is a black oil sunflower, planted by the birds.  I have half a dozen popping up in the garden.  I will have to plant more next year.

A week ago I went to Williams Lake.  The days are suddenly noticeably shorter: when I wake up at around 4.00:am it is still dark.  I sometimes need a light to read by at night as well.

An hour into the journey I hit the sunrise/moonset – the second full moon for the month of July.

It is just about to disappear. (Right in the middle of the horizon.)

Just as I was leaving town, I stopped for 2 hitchhikers.  As soon as the first opened his mouth, I recognized the accent.  “You Israeli?” I asked.  “Yes he replied.  “You going to Nuk Tessli?” I asked.  He could not believe that I knew Doron and some of his friends at Nuk Tessli!

It so turned out that they were not due to fly in to Nuk Tessli for a couple of days.  So I kidnapped them and put them to work!  We hauled the generator over to run the power drill so they could start putting the deck boards onto the yurt site.

By the end of the day almost half the deck was done.  They were a great help.  I wish they could have stayed longer.

The following day I took them to the float plane base.  Their flight was delayed several hours due to low cloud and a dribble of rain.The next day I had a few hours to myself.  I walked down to the pond below the cabin to see if there was any water in it.  In the deepest part there remained a sludgy puddle.  Along the edge scuttled a couple of sandpipers.  They were TINY – hardly bigger than the song sparrows on the left of the picture.

I am familiar with the spotted and solitary sandpipers – they are common here and are much bigger.  But these tiny birds were something new.  Because of their yellowish legs I have come to the conclusion they are the least sandpiper.  Like so many birds, they are starting to migrate south.

The following morning the sunrise looked very fall-like!

I did not have much alone time as another visitor – a friend -arrived.  He is a carpenter, so I put him to work on the deck as well!  We actually had a fairly decent rain – the second of the summer – but he is a coast rat so used to the wet.

But the sun came out before the end of the day.  Doug almost finished the deck, and would have done so, but I ran out of boards.  (I knew I didn’t have enough – my vehicles can carry only so many.)

On Doug’s last evening, we had a dramatic sunset.

The following sunrise was foggy.And now we have a dribble of rain again.