The Radio Girl

Another Lake Day

We're making up for lost lake time. 

Sunday after work we made another trip out to our fave fishing lake.  And My Fella finally caught a fish.  Actually it was more of a sardine and he threw it back in the water right away to rejoin its little friends.

While he was busy hooking 'the big one' I was exploring with my camera, and caught site of this awesome scene:  a mama duck and her five babies sunning themselves on a log.

We also saw a mama and baby deer in a farmers field on the drive home.  I got out of the car to take this pic but the mama stomped her foot a couple times to warn me not to get any closer.  Deer look harmless, but she could probably whack me silly with those hooves. 

Like a woman wearing wooden clogs. 

And here's a few shots of the smoke from the West Kelowna fires.  You can't smell it in the air as much as you could yesterday but the fire has spread a lot further, covering 350 hectares.

This looks like a regular storm cloud, but it's actually all smoke. 

You can see it better over this cornfield...

And here's the same cloud of smoke hovering over the lake in our small Okanagan beach town. 

Hopefully the wind dies down today so the firefighters have a shot at containing these fires.

*By the way... I know My Fella did catch a fish today, but it was so teeny I'm convinced the little guy jumped on the hook on purpose just to mock him. 

Score:  Fish - 2,   Us - 0.

The Fish Win Again

According to my calendar, I've worked 13 out of 18 days so far in July.

Did I mention it's just a part-time radio gig? :)  It's fun though and the money is great, so I'm definitely not complaining.  Just explaining my lack of posts this month.

Last night My Fella and I finally got out to the lake for a couple hours of fishing.  On the drive there we caught a nice surprise in this sprayer watering a farmers field.  Can you see it?

The picture doesn't do the rainbow justice.  It was a lot brighter than this. 

The second happy surprise was finding our favorite spot at Echo Lake totally open.  It's a teeny little rickety homemade dock, nailed onto a couple logs that fell into the lake.  You have to slowly navigate down a steep, slippery bank to get down to it, but the location is very private.

Here's My Fella smiling happily for the camera.  Actually that's his "ENOUGH-with-the-pictures-already-Come-Down-Here-And-Help-Me!" look. 

We relaxed for a few hours, fishing and talking.  I had a couple lite beers and My Fella smoked a Mexican cigar.

And we didn't catch a thing.

Score:  Fish - 1,  Us - 0.

The Difference Between Girls and Boys

No work for me today.

Sunday afternoon is the only regular shift I have at my part-time radio gig, but I switched shifts and worked yesterday instead.  The regular Saturday guy wanted to take his son to the BC Lions game this weekend, so he's on-air for me today.

And while lying in a pile of fresh towels from the dryer folding laundry this morning, I realized something amazing.  I was standing near the wide open office window and a couple of little neighbourhood girls were outside playing in the sun.  And it just hit me:  there's a HUGE difference between little boys and little girls.  Massive actually.  The fact that it's just occuring to me now is probably why we never had kids :)

But here it is... Little girls have a volume switch.

Last year, the neighbours to our east were renters with two little boys.  The entire family drove us crazy.  They were disrespectful, constantly partying and totally obnoxious. 

And the little boys were so freakin loud.  Bouncing balls against my office wall, skateboarding in the parking lot, yelling and running in and out of the creek behind our patio, hitting each other with sticks (actually I enjoyed watching them do that) and in general REALLY LOUD.  The volume control was always at 10.

They finally moved out last November.  My Fella and I were so happy, we had a celebration dinner.  I should mention we have nothing against renters or little boys.  But these kids were just monsters.  

A couple 20 year old guys moved in this spring - we rarely see them and NEVER hear them.  It's beautiful.

There are a few other families in our condo by-the-creek, but all with little girls.  We hear the odd girly giggle or shout once in awhile.  Other than that, we usually forget they live here.  Girls have a built-in volume control.  In a close living space like a condo, that is a wonderful thing.

Anyway, slow day around here.  

I had a nectarine and corn on the cob with generic diet cola for breakfast and researched a new Canadian mining company I'm interested in.  I'll probably walk up to the Chinese grocer this afternoon and I still need to pack a picnic for tonight.  After My Fella gets off work, we're driving out to the lake for a weenie roast and some fishing.

This pic is from last summer.  I know it looks a little suspect, but My Fella is just trying to squeeze into his fishing waders.  True story. 

Stocks and Camping

To Do List for the rest of the week:

1- Buy groceries.  We don't need much, just some fresh veggies and more apples.  As the old cliche says, I eat an apple a day.  But I always carry around an extra apple for snacking.  My back-up apple.

2- Repaint two walls in the hallway by the front door.  They are dark brown, but have a little white powdery dust on them from when My Fella cut the baseboards and the ceramic tile.  I tried washing the walls down, but the powder is so fine all I did was smear it.  That stuff is harder to wash off than drywall dust.

3- Pack up some stuff for a day at the lake.  Last summer, My Fella and I went day camping almost every weekend.  We haven't been able to hit any Okanagan lakes yet so hopefully Saturday will be the first day-camping experience of the year.  Complete with weenies and a campfire.

4- The most exciting thing on my To Do list is rounding out a small new position in Oilsands Quest (ticker is BQI on the NYSE).  My realtor buddy and I trade stock ideas we like and this is one of his picks.  I rarely buy a stock on someones recommendation, but I did some research on this little guy and it's interesting. 

BQI is a small cap oil exploration company.  They have no real cash flow at this point - small cap miners rarely do.  But these guys have a huge geographic position - one million acres in oil rich Saskatchewan.  There is no dividend, but there could be huge upside growth as the price of oil continues to rise, which I believe it will.

The stock hit a high of $8 in March 2006, then started falling.  It was $3.35 in May 2007, and the company went up for sale.  The stock price went into freefall, all the way down to .73 cents in December of 2008.  

It's gained 25% since then and they are still a few years away from production so I wouldn't put lots of cash in this one. If you can hang on a few years, there is great upside in the share price. And in the meantime it's a good stock to trade.  But stash it in an RRSP or LIRA instead of a taxable account.

*As always, this is NOT a recommendation to buy BQI.  If you're interested, get off your lazy butt and do your own research!

Bear Feet

It's another sign of spring in beautiful British Columbia.

After a long snowy winter, BC bears are coming out of hibernation.  The Environment Ministry estimates there are roughly 16,000 grizzly bears and up to 160,000 black bears in BC.

Which means our local parks are dusting off their 'Bear Aware' signs for another season.

And of course the most important Bear Aware tip:  DO NOT hike through bear country with fish in your pockets*.   

Black Monday at Panorama

My fella and I rolled in late last night after an awesome weekend at Panorama in the BC Rockies.

The drive is about five hours from the Okanagan - including a few stops along the way 

for spontaneous rock-climbing, pee breaks and pictures.

We head out to Panorama every year for the annual 'Black Monday' golf tourney, and to visit our pals John and Betty. 

J an B are avid kayakers, skiers and golfers, who have lived in the Columbia Valley for over twenty years.

They own a company that rents out private vacation properties in the mountains. 

If you're heading to Panorama (or Radium, Fairmont, Invermere or Windermere) for a golf or ski getaway, check out J an B's vacation website. 

The condos and private homes are gorgeous and fully equipped with all the necessities - from BBQ's to cutlery, linens, towels, hairdryers, toasters, wineglasses and the most important vacation accessory - the corkscrew.

Because tourism is kinda slow this year, the vacation rental prices are excellent.  Much cheaper than staying in a hotel.

And the Columbia Valley is so beautiful in the fall.

Great scenery for hiking, biking ... or bear watching.

Peanut Vs. the Fishies

My fella finally caught some fish!

The fish have been winning the battle all summer long, but this weekend my fella came home with three good sized salmon.  But forget the fish for a second... How 'bout these hilarious pictures?  They make my guy look like a redneck BC hillbilly.

Meet my new laptop wallpaper. 

Cold Beer and Leeches

One more sleep until the long weekend so I changed my laptop wallpaper.

This is Echo Lake. 

The pic reminds me of the our weekend getaways - fishing, campfires, cold beer and leeches in the lake.  If you like it, feel free to save and swipe.

Baird Lake

We finally got away for some day camping on Sunday. 

Our destination was Baird Lake.  The BC logging road up the mountain was a roller coaster ride of holes, rocks and slippery gravel.  But that's good news - since the lake was so hard to get to, we were the only campers there.

Our hike around the lake was noisy - lots of stomping and whistling to warn off bears.  There have been tons of bear sightings this year and we didn't want to surprise one.

We had our pick of spots and built a campfire overlooking the lake.  My fella got out his fishing gear and then set up my fishing rod on this little contraption he made. 

The day was overcast but warm.  After a few hours of fishing, snacking and reading we started packing up. 

That's when we heard the gunshots.  There were two of them and they seemed close but sound in the valley really bounces around so it was hard to tell.  It was creepy though. 

Especially since there are 'No Hunting' signs posted everywhere.

Here are a few more shots from the drive home including a 'Goodbye' sign on a tree leaving Baird Lake and this cute scarecrow wedding in front of a small town church.

And I have to toss in the goat pictures taken at a little farm we drove past.

I like goats.

Hidden Lake

We played hookey yesterday, skipping out of work early to hit the lake. 

It was a gorgeous afternoon here in the North Okanagan - sunny and 34C.

Our destination was Hidden Lake, but first we made a quick stop at the local bait, boat and tackle shop.

My fella bought some new flies while I drooled over the pontoon boats.

Hidden Lake is tucked away in the hills, past cornfields and weathered barns.

A shallow ridge lines the lakeside so the shoreline looks dark blue and the center of the lake is mossy green.  (Click on the pic to the left to see it.)

My fella took out his belly boat for a couple hours, so I went looking for salmon berries in the bush.  Ever tried them?  They look like raspberries, but taste sweeter.

Although the only ones I found were growing along a dusty road and tasted like ten year old gummy bears lost behind the couch cushions.

My fella didn't catch any fish, but the moment he hauled his little boat out of the water we could see them jumping really close to shore. 

Taunting him.  And heckling.

I gave my fella a sympathy hug, but I was secretly laughing inside.

Sometimes the fish have to win.