Tuesday, February 25, 2014

900 years to Grow old; 800 years to Go for North Shore trees

on the way UP to Brother Creek (UPDATED 2019-06-10)
900 year old trees were cut down, North Shore of Burrard Inlet, shipped off to foreign ports 100 years ago.   Doesn't look like the "newbies" will make it to 150 years.

PDF  BIG Tree Registry
UPDATE 2019-06-10 BC LEG Library   Big Tree 

   
UPDATE 2019-06-10 UBC Website
UPDATE 2019-06-10 Gallery

There's our Post on Vancouver Landscape Resources 41 Trees (2011)

Vancouver Landscape Resources 41 Trees SOURCE 2019-06-10

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Scotty on Denman:

Vancouver Island Big Trees with  Champion Tree Society

Maybe the trees in the article aren't actually the biggest of their kind. One story I heard was that when representatives of the Champion Tree Society went to verify the size of a candidate for biggest Sitka spruce (somewhere in Washington, I think), there was initial disappointment that the specimen was somewhat smaller than the biggest spruce known. Then they just happened to find a vine maple nearby: four feet in diameter! Lucky or what?
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Are you longing to go back to Metro Vancouver's ROOTS, the Burke Mountain Naturalists (BMN) have Walk Events like this recently one:

 First Spring Walking Tour of Riverview's Trees (UPDATED 2019-06-10)
Join the Riverview Horticultural Centre Society for their first tree tour of 2014. This is an ideal season to view the architectural structure of the deciduous trees before they come out in full leaf. Walks are led by a volunteer arborist, and last about two hours, depending on weather and walkers’ preference. Free. Dress for the weather, and wear comfy…
Just in time to catch this one on the fly:

 Birds in Focus – Photography Workshop (UPDATED 2019-06-10)
This workshop explores basic to advanced photography skills, techniques, digital aspects, equipment, places to go and more. Bring camera for practice in the park – captive raptors may be present.
Cammidge House, BOUNDARY BAY REGIONAL PARK
Sunday, March 30 | 9 am – 1 pm
Ages 15+
$20/person
Min 6 – Max 20
Registration required, phone 604-432-6359.



Friday, February 21, 2014

BC Government Kills Ferry Routes: Fresh Produce is Not Available. Coastal residents rescued by the Veterinarian Health Minister: Grow your own.


The BC Liberals: cut Ferry service to save money, and all because the Duke to Delta route, is a BUST.

Then the Veterinarian Health Minister gives the okay to have a book written that shows the Coastal Residents growing their own fresh food.


Government of British Columbia,
Heart Stroke Foundation,
and
Transport Minister Todd Stone: 

  The Story of the Produce Availability Initiative 

Imagine you are in the grocery store and in the fresh produce section you find only one onion and a withered head of garlic.

There are no apples, no carrots; not a single head of lettuce.

For many of British Columbia’s remote communities, this is a daily reality.   Tucked in isolated northern corners of the province and along rugged coastlines, people have to travel hundreds of kilometres down rough roads just to buy a bag of oranges or a bunch of carrots.  And when the only road in and out of the community is closed due to floods or fires, or when ferries are cancelled during the storm season, finding fresh vegetables and fruits becomes impossible.
If ferries are cancelled for a Storm, a three day Storm at that, what happens when the "Storm" is in a political teapot that lasts all year long?  Vet to the Rescue!
Harvesting change in B.C.'s remote Coastal Communities


 
Fresh vegetables all summer; but for the other three seasons, starve















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 From our Haida Gwaii Galvania Post:

Daylight to Night, Summer to Fall and back to Summer,at the Equator (Galapagos), is an almost even split of 12 hours on, 12 hours off

Daylight to Night, at Haida Gwaii, in the Winter .... :


Being as far north as we are (above 54 deg N), the Winter daylight is very short with the Sun (if we see it at all) after 8:30AM local, and Setting shortly after 3:00 PM. The sun doesn't Rise more than about 20 degrees above the horizon.   Six and half Hours!
..... the middle of summer, the Sun rises before 5:00am with Sunset not until after 10:00pm.  Seventeen Hours!  DX-er.ca     DX is ham radio shorthand for "distance"

Haida Gwaii  Temperature range   32°-64.4°F  /  0°-18°C
 Haida Gwaii has .... Four Seasons

Temperature





Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Piss Off!!! ...... "On the Run" Esso decorator ..... Early morning awakening while Camping..... Ahhhhh!

Our typical drive to Kelowna from North Vancouver takes us to Abbotsford's Esso Station at BlueRidge Drive and Mr. Lehman Road AND our year round favourite supply of fresh Blueberries, just down the road.

We gas up here, to avoid Metro Vancouver's excessive gas tax collected by Translink.

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Have you ever noticed the huge sign of "On the Run" over top of the Esso Stations?  You'd think that the word "Run" would be avoided at all cost, like in "Run Aground" on Bligh Reef = Exon Valdez


Never really thought about the phrase:      
On the Run 



Constantly traveling or moving from place to place.  
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In the Esso's MEN washroom, as one stands, studying the blank wall, not painted grey or blue, there is an image, a knock off painting of a relaxing country Lane.


The Esso Decorator's painting was not of an anchored fishing vessel at rest, early evening, low tide with kelp showing on the rocky shore, nor an Orca breaching in the wild coastal waters of  British Columbia.

What then? ........

A quiet country lane with Fall colours:

Relax


Steam rising...... Ahhhhh

and then this thought came into my mind:   What if a car came along 'that' road....... or someone on horse..... motorcyclist ..... Cyclist ..... a pedestrian!

No.  It's a painting, just a painting.  Okay!?   No one is ... there ..... watching .....


Nice painting though, but why would an Esso Station decorator consider placing such an image in the Men's washroom thereby creating an ... awkward situation dating way back to one's childhood of being coached by mom or dad to go pee beside the parked car on a busy highway.

ESSO
On the Run
"goes" one better

STAND IN THE MIDDLE OF A ROAD!!!

What about the splash back effect from the asphalt paving?   Why not have a pee line of sight looking straight off into woods, standing at the side of the road, even a few paces into the bush......?

A query to the gas station attendant about the "decoration" in the Men's WC was answered with "Not enough toilet paper?????"     No problem there, but it must be a reoccurring question from customers.

Are Women's washroom similarly decorated?   The answer, reportedly, is NO!

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Ever notice when camping, any season, even Summer, the need to go pee in the early hours is commanded, by Mother Nature?

It's always been the same request, as a youth until now.  Small vehicle Camping, two person tent variety, dining fly, ten days of bliss, no blisters, no trailer, maybe a roof or bumper rack for storage.   No distractions to keep one up late, strenuous hikes day in day out requires Good night sleeps.  No late night snacks.  Cold morning just around the corner, especially if it's Kicking Horse Campground in Yoho National Park.   MEC Sleeping bag, warm and toasty in ten minutes.   Sleep.   Ahhhhhhh!

4:30am  legs and arms freezing cold.   Must be below ZERO!  Must have kicked off the sleeping bag.  More covers, a down jacket.   Still, freezing cold, legs and arms.

The answer, of course is      Piss Off!!!

Twenty-three years ago, on a school outing to Vancouver Island, for four days, at an Adventure camp on Shawnigan Lake, there was an overnight hike, up, up, up, UP... way up from the lake.... and a long way from the Camp by a school bus.  No reprieves.

The children were all asleep in their sleeping bags, nice and warm and toasty under one huge Dining Tarp.  We, three: One Leader, One Medic, One Parent, talked, about our camping trips as youths.   The topic came around to how cold it is in the morning.. to which the Medic laughed at my suggestion that is was colder in the morning than in the evening.

You see, the Medic said, the body takes care of you while sleeping, at home or camping; hiking, walking, sitting, the body keeps you healthy by pulling the warm blood from your extremities, legs and arms and HEAD, to keep your core, your organs  P and S  HOT!!!

 .... Piss Off!!!!!    Hmmmmmm, that does explain Steam Rising and the moment of Ahhhhhhh!

The Medic was right!  Get up and Go and then it's back to Bed.