Valentines day walk and a warm days adventure

This post will be a quick one just to share some photos and show we are still alive.

I would like to start by saying that I have got a job now so my house wifing days are over. I now work at the local dive shop, as the store manager.
So that's something a bit more exciting than house wifing!

This blog is over two weekends so we will start with the Valentines day weekend. 

We decided that seeing it was such a nice day that we would go for a walk and take some photos of the snow melting and some of the local waterways. 

The first thing that I came across on our walk was this wood pecker. It was a highly photogenic wood pecker thus we took many photos of it. 
I was actually really excited to see this bird because in the whole time that I have been in Canada I have not seen anything other than some crows alive (I'm speaking in terms of fauna) So please do enjoy this wood pecker that signifies the first signs of life after the cold winter here in Canada.  
 

OK well that is enough of the wood pecker...

The following are some photos of the flora and other landscape features. As the snow is melting, streams and rivers are flooding and apparently the lakes that they flow into (Shuswap) are lakes where the water level rises and falls like a tide - however this is due to the snow melt and the flow of water into the lake.

Why did the earth worm cross the road? we don't know but it was certainly trying!

That is the end of the photos from the Valentines day weekend, the following photos are from the weekend just passed. You should be able to see how the snow melt is progressing. 

We had planned to go diving on this weekend how ever we were advised against it by a fellow commercial diver who had been out previously that week and said that the water was still really cold (even in a dry suit). The group that we were going with did end up going out anyway and they reported that the water was about 4 degrees Celsius. 

This is a photo of a giant dead fish that has thawed out on the side of the lake (Kyran is there for scale).

You might remember that in a previous blog that we did a walk out on to this pier before and you might also remember that it was completely snowed on and the water completely frozen. 
Well this is four weeks (at most) later:

As you can see there is a little ice left on the top of the lake but it is disappearing quite quickly.

Oh and here's one of yours truly :P

It's Kyran's turn now! 

This is a nice picture of us on our stroll, taking pictures of that wood pecker and other various scenery. Building up a great collection of photos for Mercedes to put on Shutterstock.com!

Merc got me a desk-plant, which is a Crocus flower. These are grown from bulbs and from the heat in my office and the lights being on, they have been tricked into growing up and sprouting all their fancy flowers for me!

On the right is Merc and our neighbour/landlady's cat Toby having a cuddle on the couch!

On the way back from the pier, Merc and I were JUST too late before the huge cargo train got to the crossing, and we had to wait for it. It turns out there was 140 cars, and a total of 3 engines. It took almost 5 minutes of non-stop train before it finally passed! Below is some information about the train-related history of Salmon Arm. I think you can click on the image to make it larger?

 

Back to Merc:
Well that is all for another two weeks. I am sorry that the last two blogs have been two weeks at a time and two weeks apart. I would really like to keep up the weekly blogs as I know that some of you have made it a weekly habit of tuning into our blog.

For now that is all from us, all our love and well wishes go out to all our friends and families out there where ever in the world you might be.  

"The coming and going of the seasons give us more than the springtimes, summers, autumns, and winters of our lives. It reflects the coming and going of the circumstances of our lives like the glassy surface of a pond that shows our faces radiant with joy or contorted with pain."

Gary Zukav