The ladies of Boultbee Road gathered for tea and coffee on Nov. 10. The group always finds several reasons to turn their routine gatherings into a party.
While the ladies are always happy to share good news about their families, particularly grandchildren, over beverages and home baked treats the group celebrated both a recent marriage and a teaching contract beginning in China.
First snowfall
No one expected the first snowfall of the season on Nov. 2 to last longer than 24 hours and leave almost a foot of wet snow on everything. Many trees bent right to the ground under the weight of the snow and several trees uprooted and landed on overhead lines. These trees may account for the many power blips and the five-hour power outage in the area on Nov. 3.
Power blips continue to plague the area with many residents having given up on resetting their blinking clocks.
Wild weather
Terrific wind gusts throughout the day and into the night of Nov. 11 were the hot topic around the neighbourhood the following day.
White caps on the lake appeared to be over three feet high. Residents were amazed that there was no power outage considering how many trees blew down.
On one lot a grove of large aspen trees snapped off and resembled a stack of pick-up-sticks. The wind, which was surprisingly warm during the night, lapped up about 10 inches of snow in the exposed fields during a 24-hour period. Warm temperatures for the next few days proceeded to melt the rest of the exposed snow.
Mediocre meters
It seems the new electric meters are not so smart after all.
Individual residential meters readings are not reaching the central receiving router at McCarthy Road so BC Hydro is not aware of household electricity consumption nor are they automatically aware of power outages in the area.
Residents may have noticed that their last BC Hydro bill was estimated, evidence that the system is not fully operational. All smart meters around the lake were being tested by a Corix technician in early November.
He indicated that the infrastructure should be fully working within two months. Outages should still be reported to BC Hydro at 1-888-769-3766.
High flyers
Flocks of migrating birds have been observed the last few weeks. On Nov. 2, during the snow storm, three large flocks of geese were seen going east and north – nowhere near the southern direction expected.
Residents presumed the geese were looking for quiet open water to sit out the storm. Many different ducks have been sighted with one resident surprised to see a golden eye and mallard apparently paired up and travelling together.
A pair of swans was seen on Nov. 11 and observant residents are likely to glimpse or hear more as there are often several pairs and small flocks of trumpeter swans that overnight on our lake during their migration.
Wolves confirmed
Several residents have been out driving and hiking the back roads in both Regions 3 and 5 that surround our area during the current hunting season.
Although deer and moose sightings are few, the blanket of fresh snow provided considerable evidence of just how plentiful the wolves are this year.
Areas previously known for concentrated deer and moose population show tracks of wolves only, some the size of a man’s hand, and more typical of tracks seen hundreds of miles to the north.
Residents who spend a lot of time outdoors will continue to hear the wolves’ howling in the hills all around the lake.