There is nothing subtle about Chilcotin weather. After a mostly cool and often dull March, we suddenly had a 3-day summer. Temperatures were supposed to reach 24C, but in fact I never saw them higher than 16C, in the shade. But in the sun, it was HOT.
After the frost had finished, of course.
On the first hot day, I could already hear the creek below the house.
In the shade, it made icicles.
The ice on the ponds rapidly disintegrated.
Banks of ice still clung to the river.
Beside the river, the red alders were blooming.
Because most of the snow had gone, I could walk everywhere in hiking boots. What freedom to be free of heavy winter footwear. (I also took my longjohns off – and instantly felt 5 lbs lighter!)
The dogs love to sit on top of banks to sample the scents travelling up on the air drafts.
Badger quickly overheats – he was glad to find a patch of snow to lie on.
The lake across the road is still frozen, but it is now a solid grey.
From the top of that bluff there is a great view of wetlands.
Near the top on the right of the above photo is a patch of tawny sedge. In it were a couple of moose.
And one day, beside the road, I saw a very pale fox. If Harry had not been neutered, I might think he had been straying away from home.
There is a flush of green along the roadsides.
And tiny weeds popping up on the drying mud of the driveway.
Pussy Willows are abundant.
Spring gallops on. The first amazingly early cut-leafed fleabane came out.
Not to be outdone, the aspens made a halo of silvery catkins.
The ice on the ponds disappeared very quickly.
On the third summer day, a front started to move in over the mountains.
The following morning, we had a gory sunrise.
I wanted to clear some firewood trees from my driveway and burn the branches. I had left it almost too late to burn safely. Fortunately this sunrise presaged a dull, fairly windless day with promise of rain although we got only a few spits. Anyway, down came the trees,
And up went the flames.
And I got the first pickup load of wood of the season.