After a couple of trips south, we are hopefully home to stay for a while. You know spring is really here, but the still cold winds that keep coming our way keeps you confused. The animals are rustling about. Saw our first hummingbirds last week and now have two feeders going with at least six hummers arguing over the nectar.
I have seen signs of herring and the birds and seals are active, so there has to be salmon. We are doing well on prawns. Have to get some in the freezer before the commercial guys come in next month. They will take all the prawns for a month or so. Our four pots can't compete with their forty on a string.
We also have a mink coming on the back porch. He has found the cat door and the cat's food. Starting to be a nuisance, so we put out the live trap. We will relocate him further down the inlet.
He's a beautiful chocolate brown and about 2 feet long. Would love to get a picture, but he moves too fast.
Here is my spring poem:
You Know It’s Spring at Jervis Inlet When…………
You Know It’s Spring at Jervis Inlet
When the daffodils bloom in the garden.
When you don’t need to start a fire in the morning.
When the hummingbirds return and fight over the feeders.
When the frogs emerge at the pond and croak their mating songs.
When the wild currant bushes bloom their bright, hot pink flowers.
When the merganser family returns and begins nesting.
When you can see the gray rock through the snow on Mt. Churchill.
When the slugs are back in the garden.
When the cruise boats return to head up the Inlet to Princess Louisa.
When our traps are full of large, plump prawns.
When the eagles perch once again on their favorite tree.
When the dog wants to spend the night outside.
When you have to change to a short-sleeved shirt in the afternoon.
When friends come and visit because it is a perfect boating day.
When you quit working and just spend some time on the deck soaking up the warm rays of the sun!
BDSaunders 2004
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
A Break from Winter
Here it is, a week until the first day of Spring and we woke to snow on the ground yesterday! Somebody clue in Mother Nature!
Jim and I were tired of this winter weather and took a break. We headed to New Orleans for a Valentines Day treat and Mardi Gras. The 70 degree weather was fantastic and we had a wonderful time. Our good friends, Gary and Jody, flew in from Austin, Texas and spent a couple of days. We hit all the parades we could and came back with loads of beads. We also ate wonderful regional foods including crayfish, oyster po-boys, red beans and rice and pralines. Don't forget the beignets and cafe au lait at Cafe Du Monde. Heavenly. The entire floor is covered in powdered sugar from the thousands of donuts served daily.
Here are a few pictures of our trip. (Working in this one!)
We are back home now and we thought we had missed the rest of winter, but alas, not so.
Jim and I were tired of this winter weather and took a break. We headed to New Orleans for a Valentines Day treat and Mardi Gras. The 70 degree weather was fantastic and we had a wonderful time. Our good friends, Gary and Jody, flew in from Austin, Texas and spent a couple of days. We hit all the parades we could and came back with loads of beads. We also ate wonderful regional foods including crayfish, oyster po-boys, red beans and rice and pralines. Don't forget the beignets and cafe au lait at Cafe Du Monde. Heavenly. The entire floor is covered in powdered sugar from the thousands of donuts served daily.
Here are a few pictures of our trip. (Working in this one!)
We are back home now and we thought we had missed the rest of winter, but alas, not so.
Friday, January 2, 2009
Hello to 2009!
Happy New Year! Still cold and snowy here,(That's our dock and lower deck in the picture.) so we spent a quiet new year's eve at home. As did many people across the province. The weather is just too lousy to risk driving out there! No matter, a bottle of bubbly, some snacks and a good video are all we need for a great evening.
It was great to hear from family and friends far and wide this holiday. Seems we are spread all over from N. America to S. America and Europe. Best wishes in 2009 to you all. How wonderful that we have the Internet to stay in touch. A place where we can watch children grow, celebrate good times and learn what is happening in each other's lives.
Guess we are all gearing up for Monday, when kids go back to school and we have to deal again with the real world. Jim and I have been enjoying kicking back, sleeping in and reading all those new books we got for Christmas.
It hasn't all been easy going however. This cold weather has frozen our water line, so we are hauling water. It will be some days before the long pipe that runs through the forest from the stream to our house thaws out. We must also keep the wood stove going along with the propane heater in order to stay warm downstairs. Going through wood twice as fast as normal. Ah, life in the wilderness.
The animals are having their own difficult time in this weather. We found a varied thrush 
in the wood bin. Brought it in to warm up and gave it some water. It was alert, but didn't try to fly away. Sat in my house plants all night, but was gone by the morning. Beautiful bird. We are keeping the feeders and suet out for the birds and the squirrels. Lots of Stellar's jays as usual, also vaired thrushes, sparrows, juncos. A large flock of thrushes was here for days nibbling the red berries off the arbutus (manzanita) trees, which have an abundant crop this year.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Brrrrrrrrrr !!
After such a beautiful fall, winter has now come on strong. We woke to a light snow the other morning. It is dipping below 0 degrees C here and strong 30-40 mph winds have been heading down the inlet from the north. That has created even colder wind chill temperatures and 4 ft. waves. These waves have washed over our boat's stearn and our bilge pump couldn't keep up. Fortunately Jim found out the boat cabin was holding water and we managed to get it pumped out before disaster struck. We ended up moving our boat around to the other side of the dock so it was more protected from the northern winds and waves. Not a fun job on a bobbing dock in strong cold winds! Had to retie bouys, ropes, etc. But the Expat seems to be doing fine now.The winds have died down a bit and the temperature says 33 F this afternoon. But the weather report says colder and snow expected. We are keeping the propane heater going and the wood stove. And to think that we used to live in Oregon at 1400 ft. and dealt with this all the time!
Guess this should put us in the Christmas mode. We are going out for a Christmas tree today. I have my cards done and the US presents sent off. I got my Christmas shopping done in the US during the Thanksgiving holidays where we spent a week with our sons.
Egmont celebrates Christmas this week. Community Club members will meet at the community hall on Wednesday to decorate and the annual Christmas dinner for the community is on Friday. May not make that this year as it is so cold and I do not want to boat home in the dark.
Off to pick out a tree in the forest behind our place and maybe do some Christmas baking.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Fish Stories at the Egmont Heritage Centre
We have a wonderful new museum in Egmont, the Egmont Heritage Centre. It features the history of the area focusing on the fishing, logging and Native history. One of the things I volunteer to do is organize a fall lecture series. Last week we had a panel discussion with local fishermen discussing commercial fishing on the coast over the past 70 years. So interesting.....here is the article I wrote for the local Coast Reporter newspaper.
Record catches, close calls, boat building and the dwindling fish runs were some of the subjects covered by Egmont commercial fishermen Leonard Silvey, Billy Griffith and John West at the Egmont Heritage Centre on Saturday, November 15. The men have been fishing the coastal waters for over 70 years and they brought their stories and pictures to share with a very appreciative audience.
Leonard Silvey, a fourth generation fisherman and a descendant of Portuguese Joe Silvey, was born in Egmont in 1933 and has lived in Egmont all his life. He began fishing on his grandfather Henry’s boat, the New Castle 4, as a deck hand at the age of 13. In 1950 he acquired his first boat which was powered by a 5 horsepower Easthope engine. He had a couple of more boats before buying the Silver Side around 1954 which he still fishes with to this day.
Billy Griffith, another life-long fisherman, was born in New Westminster in 1934 and has also lived in Egmont all his life. He started fishing for cod in 1953 with a boat with a 6 horsepower Easthope engine. Since the mid-1950’s he has fished with the Tzoonie River which has a 200 horsepower engine. Griffith remembers 20 cents per Imperial gallon fuel prices. He says with the current terrible fuel prices he can still come out okay compared to the modern “steel boxes” that are the new boats of today.
John West was born in Vancouver in 1913 and came home to Westmere on Nelson Island as a newborn baby. He grew up there and then worked in Vancouver where he learned woodworking. He returned to Nelson Island in 1933 and in 1941 purchased property in Egmont. West has built a number of boats from a 10 foot (3 meters) dugout canoe to his 43 foot (13.11 meters) troller the Mary Ann W named after his mother. He fished the coastal waters from Prince Rupert to the Columbia River for salmon and cod until 1973 when he retired.
All of the men had stories of record catches with their seine nets. As Griffith said, “You have to be smarter than the fish to troll, but with seining, you only have to be smarter than the net.”
Griffith told the story of a Frazer River fishery where many other boats set their nets before the opening. His boat came in at 7 a.m. and set in the one remaining open patch of water. With just his wife and daughter as crew, they hauled in over 3000 sockeye or around 20,000 pounds (9,071.85 kg.) of fish. They were paid $1.50 per pound that season.
A good sockeye run was the best catch related by Leonard Silvey. He remembers a catch in 1958 in the Straits where he caught around 2500 sockeye that loaded his boat to the stern.
John West remembered a record catch of spring salmon in the ‘60’s around Cape Flattery. Coho were reported at 10 to 50 fathoms. After about 2 hours out in the Mary Ann W they found them. He said they caught around 200 fish everyday with a total haul of 9000 pounds (4,082.33 kg.) for that season.
These large catches didn’t necessarily mean anyone was getting rich. West brought his fisherman’s log book which showed salmon prices in the years of 1940 and 1941. He received 14 cents per pound for red salmon and 7 cents a pound for whites.
The men have sold to any number of buyers over the years from the local Japanese fish buyers in old Egmont to the fishermen’s co-op. Some of the canneries such as the Queen Charlotte Cannery used to send scows to the area to buy the fish. There are fewer buyers now as the larger corporations take over the smaller companies.
While many of the commercial fishermen have worked for the large corporations, all of these men have remained independent fishermen through the years. They started small, built their own boats or purchased used ones for a good price. Griffith said that sadly many of the fishermen who are under contract to the large companies have to take the price they are offered because they owe them for their boats and gear. Unfortunately, many of these men have been unable to make their payments and have lost their boats.
The men also had stories of some close calls. West recalled a time about 100 miles out of Cape Flattery while fishing for tuna. After a poor drift and few tuna, it began blowing hard from the southwest. “Water was blowing over the stovepipe, the bilge was plugged up and the boat sprung a leak,” said West. “We had to go in. It was really rough, but we made it to Victoria. There the boat was hauled out and repaired.”
Griffith said he had hit everything from logs to rocks to sand bars. “It’s not the accident itself,” said Griffith, “but how you behave after that accident that’s important.”
The discussion turned to the present day situation for fishermen. Griffith said the south coast was in bad shape while the north coast was better. He said they got an increase this season in the sockeye quota.
When asked where are all the fish? The men agreed that everyone was to blame for the lack of fish from over fishing by the commercial fishery to sports fishermen to lack of good habitat from logging practices. But they sited the herring fishery as the main problem. “You can’t take all the food fish,” said West. He explained that without the food fish there is nothing to sustain the larger fish. All of them expressed concern that fish stocks were dwindling and the orcas were disappearing. They felt that a moratorium on the herring fishery was in order. This does not include the herring roe on kelp fishery which doesn’t kill the herring.
While West has retired, you can still see the Tzoonie River and the Silver Sides plying the waters, searching for that good day’s catch.
Record catches, close calls, boat building and the dwindling fish runs were some of the subjects covered by Egmont commercial fishermen Leonard Silvey, Billy Griffith and John West at the Egmont Heritage Centre on Saturday, November 15. The men have been fishing the coastal waters for over 70 years and they brought their stories and pictures to share with a very appreciative audience.
Leonard Silvey, a fourth generation fisherman and a descendant of Portuguese Joe Silvey, was born in Egmont in 1933 and has lived in Egmont all his life. He began fishing on his grandfather Henry’s boat, the New Castle 4, as a deck hand at the age of 13. In 1950 he acquired his first boat which was powered by a 5 horsepower Easthope engine. He had a couple of more boats before buying the Silver Side around 1954 which he still fishes with to this day.
Billy Griffith, another life-long fisherman, was born in New Westminster in 1934 and has also lived in Egmont all his life. He started fishing for cod in 1953 with a boat with a 6 horsepower Easthope engine. Since the mid-1950’s he has fished with the Tzoonie River which has a 200 horsepower engine. Griffith remembers 20 cents per Imperial gallon fuel prices. He says with the current terrible fuel prices he can still come out okay compared to the modern “steel boxes” that are the new boats of today.
John West was born in Vancouver in 1913 and came home to Westmere on Nelson Island as a newborn baby. He grew up there and then worked in Vancouver where he learned woodworking. He returned to Nelson Island in 1933 and in 1941 purchased property in Egmont. West has built a number of boats from a 10 foot (3 meters) dugout canoe to his 43 foot (13.11 meters) troller the Mary Ann W named after his mother. He fished the coastal waters from Prince Rupert to the Columbia River for salmon and cod until 1973 when he retired.
All of the men had stories of record catches with their seine nets. As Griffith said, “You have to be smarter than the fish to troll, but with seining, you only have to be smarter than the net.”
Griffith told the story of a Frazer River fishery where many other boats set their nets before the opening. His boat came in at 7 a.m. and set in the one remaining open patch of water. With just his wife and daughter as crew, they hauled in over 3000 sockeye or around 20,000 pounds (9,071.85 kg.) of fish. They were paid $1.50 per pound that season.
A good sockeye run was the best catch related by Leonard Silvey. He remembers a catch in 1958 in the Straits where he caught around 2500 sockeye that loaded his boat to the stern.
John West remembered a record catch of spring salmon in the ‘60’s around Cape Flattery. Coho were reported at 10 to 50 fathoms. After about 2 hours out in the Mary Ann W they found them. He said they caught around 200 fish everyday with a total haul of 9000 pounds (4,082.33 kg.) for that season.
These large catches didn’t necessarily mean anyone was getting rich. West brought his fisherman’s log book which showed salmon prices in the years of 1940 and 1941. He received 14 cents per pound for red salmon and 7 cents a pound for whites.
The men have sold to any number of buyers over the years from the local Japanese fish buyers in old Egmont to the fishermen’s co-op. Some of the canneries such as the Queen Charlotte Cannery used to send scows to the area to buy the fish. There are fewer buyers now as the larger corporations take over the smaller companies.
While many of the commercial fishermen have worked for the large corporations, all of these men have remained independent fishermen through the years. They started small, built their own boats or purchased used ones for a good price. Griffith said that sadly many of the fishermen who are under contract to the large companies have to take the price they are offered because they owe them for their boats and gear. Unfortunately, many of these men have been unable to make their payments and have lost their boats.
The men also had stories of some close calls. West recalled a time about 100 miles out of Cape Flattery while fishing for tuna. After a poor drift and few tuna, it began blowing hard from the southwest. “Water was blowing over the stovepipe, the bilge was plugged up and the boat sprung a leak,” said West. “We had to go in. It was really rough, but we made it to Victoria. There the boat was hauled out and repaired.”
Griffith said he had hit everything from logs to rocks to sand bars. “It’s not the accident itself,” said Griffith, “but how you behave after that accident that’s important.”
The discussion turned to the present day situation for fishermen. Griffith said the south coast was in bad shape while the north coast was better. He said they got an increase this season in the sockeye quota.
When asked where are all the fish? The men agreed that everyone was to blame for the lack of fish from over fishing by the commercial fishery to sports fishermen to lack of good habitat from logging practices. But they sited the herring fishery as the main problem. “You can’t take all the food fish,” said West. He explained that without the food fish there is nothing to sustain the larger fish. All of them expressed concern that fish stocks were dwindling and the orcas were disappearing. They felt that a moratorium on the herring fishery was in order. This does not include the herring roe on kelp fishery which doesn’t kill the herring.
While West has retired, you can still see the Tzoonie River and the Silver Sides plying the waters, searching for that good day’s catch.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
US Elections & Fall
The long-awaited US elections are over and I am please that Barack Obama won. I am crossing my fingers that the campaign slogan "Change" will really mean something and not just be a slogan to get elected. The US is mired deeply in troubled waters and it is going to take a new view of things and the way they are done to get the country out of it.
I am already concerned as I keep hearing political appointees names that are associated with the old Clinton group. I am expecting some new people, hopefully unencumbered by past associations, lobby groups, etc. But for now, I am keeping an open mind and giving this guy a chance.
Meanwhile, I am very proud of the American voters, especially the young people. The spontaneous celebrations in the streets on election night really surprised me. There hasn't been that kind of positive political excitement since the '60's. Good for them, I hope he doesn't let them down.
Here on the inlet, we are getting ready for winter by cutting firewood, clearing the deck and putting away the outdoor furniture and moving in the tender plants. This is a beautiful fall. The colors on the trees are spectacular this year and since there haven't been any early wind storms, the leaves are remaining on the trees to enjoy for a good while.
I am already concerned as I keep hearing political appointees names that are associated with the old Clinton group. I am expecting some new people, hopefully unencumbered by past associations, lobby groups, etc. But for now, I am keeping an open mind and giving this guy a chance.
Meanwhile, I am very proud of the American voters, especially the young people. The spontaneous celebrations in the streets on election night really surprised me. There hasn't been that kind of positive political excitement since the '60's. Good for them, I hope he doesn't let them down.
Here on the inlet, we are getting ready for winter by cutting firewood, clearing the deck and putting away the outdoor furniture and moving in the tender plants. This is a beautiful fall. The colors on the trees are spectacular this year and since there haven't been any early wind storms, the leaves are remaining on the trees to enjoy for a good while.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Summer Recap
Well, here it is, full-on fall and I haven't written during the summer! So here is a re-cap of the summer happenings.
Summer itself was fleeting. Seemed it just didn't get here, then there was a brief hot few weeks, then rain and cooler weather again. I did manage to get some red tomatoes by August, but many of the other summer crops were disappointing. The Egmont blackberries, which are everywhere in town, seemed to not be as sweet as usual. Not enough warm sunshine?
We had our usual bbqs on the deck. Lots of prawns, salmon and burgers. Out of town guests love to sit on the deck, look out over the inlet, while enjoying some BC brew and delecacies. Pulling up the prawn traps are always fun for visitors. Unless the traps are empty or low!
We lost our adopted lab, Grizzley, at the end of the summer. Fortunately, his former owner, Matt was able to visit us this summer and they got to have a final walk down the beach. Grizzley was at least 15 years old and wasn't getting around too well. He just fell asleep on his pillow and didn't wake up. We will miss you old guy.
After losing Grizzley and our wonderful Sheltie, Sherlock, last year, we are now dogless.
We have always had a dog and especially want one to keep the bears at bay here. So we are deciding which breed we want to get and mulling it over this winter.
We are also down to one cat, Dusty. Our other cat, Bubbles, also died this summer. She was 18+. We just seemed to get down to all older animals this year. We will be getting a couple of kittens when the opportunity presents itself.
Had a great overnight boat trip with friends this August. Took their lovely Bayliner around the inlet to Pender Harbour and checked out the vintage cars at their annual car show in Garden Bay. Met up with some other couples, enjoyed a wonderful dinner at the Painted Boat resort and a great bbq the next evening. Thanks, Heather and Kent! Check out Heather's blog www.boatinginbeautifulbritishcolumbia.com/
Spent a lot of time in the US this summer too. Jim and I took a road trip through north central Washington state in August and visited friends in Tonasket. We took in the annual Garlic Festival. Lots of food, music and (believe it!) belly dancers! 
We met up with our son Mason(left pic) and had a great birthday dinner for Jim with our friends, Allen and Cathy. Allen seems to have perfected the smoked burger and chicken on his grill. I had fun decorating a mug for Cathy to fire later with her very creative pottery pieces. She has a good eye and a whimsical outlook on life.
Summer itself was fleeting. Seemed it just didn't get here, then there was a brief hot few weeks, then rain and cooler weather again. I did manage to get some red tomatoes by August, but many of the other summer crops were disappointing. The Egmont blackberries, which are everywhere in town, seemed to not be as sweet as usual. Not enough warm sunshine?
We had our usual bbqs on the deck. Lots of prawns, salmon and burgers. Out of town guests love to sit on the deck, look out over the inlet, while enjoying some BC brew and delecacies. Pulling up the prawn traps are always fun for visitors. Unless the traps are empty or low!
We lost our adopted lab, Grizzley, at the end of the summer. Fortunately, his former owner, Matt was able to visit us this summer and they got to have a final walk down the beach. Grizzley was at least 15 years old and wasn't getting around too well. He just fell asleep on his pillow and didn't wake up. We will miss you old guy.
After losing Grizzley and our wonderful Sheltie, Sherlock, last year, we are now dogless.
We have always had a dog and especially want one to keep the bears at bay here. So we are deciding which breed we want to get and mulling it over this winter.We are also down to one cat, Dusty. Our other cat, Bubbles, also died this summer. She was 18+. We just seemed to get down to all older animals this year. We will be getting a couple of kittens when the opportunity presents itself.
Had a great overnight boat trip with friends this August. Took their lovely Bayliner around the inlet to Pender Harbour and checked out the vintage cars at their annual car show in Garden Bay. Met up with some other couples, enjoyed a wonderful dinner at the Painted Boat resort and a great bbq the next evening. Thanks, Heather and Kent! Check out Heather's blog www.boatinginbeautifulbritishcolumbia.com/
Spent a lot of time in the US this summer too. Jim and I took a road trip through north central Washington state in August and visited friends in Tonasket. We took in the annual Garlic Festival. Lots of food, music and (believe it!) belly dancers! 
We met up with our son Mason(left pic) and had a great birthday dinner for Jim with our friends, Allen and Cathy. Allen seems to have perfected the smoked burger and chicken on his grill. I had fun decorating a mug for Cathy to fire later with her very creative pottery pieces. She has a good eye and a whimsical outlook on life.
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