August 3 to 10 Babysitting and visiting the Raptors

Tuesday, another hot day at 32C. Spent a good portion of our day on the deck until it got too hot and moved down to the dock to swim and enjoy the lake. A lot quieter today after the long weekend.

Wednesday we left early for Nanaimo as we were needed to look after Amelia for a few hours. Jason had an appointment and errands and Kristi was working. Yes, gladly we will look after Amelia. :)

She was so good not a peep of crying. 

Amelia went down for her nap at 11 and Jason came back about 11:30 so off we went back home to the lake to spend the afternoon sitting on the dock and swimming. Another hot day at 31C. 

Kristi and Jason had Amelia in her pool yesterday too. She loves the water.

Thursday a few clouds and breezy which we have not had for awhile. I did a shopping run to Duncan to pick up some meds for Freya from the Vet. Ray puttered around here. We spent the afternoon on the deck as it was way too windy down at the dock.

Friday morning it was sunny but windy here at the lake. As we would not be spending time on the dock, Ray and I decided to take a little "road trip" and visit the Northwest Raptor Centre on Herd Road. We drove by it lots of times but never stopped. Today was the day. It is not a huge facility, but well done. All the enclosures are as close to natural habitat as possible with live trees growing through them etc. We opted for the basic fare of $18 per adult and walked around taking pictures for about 30 minutes. You can get a real up close ticket and watch the flying demonstrations or you can pay $60 and walk around with a raptor on your arm and it will fly off your arm and come back about 5 times. lol

They have their area of birds they keep and an area where they rehabilitate birds and set them free.

Birds of prey have always inspired awe and it’s easy to understand why. They are silent predators from the sky, swooping down with speed, precision and deadly intent.

But they are also vulnerable. Their existence is threatened by human activity throughout the world. In Asia, three species of vultures are now listed as critically endangered; the Red Kite is threatened in Europe; and persecution of hawks and eagles is common in rural Australia. The list of at-risk species is growing.

If we are to ensure a future that includes these majestic birds, we must see them as more than just predators. We must understand the critical role they play in maintaining the delicate ecological balance of our planet and recognize that we are in this together.


Our team is comprised of a group of biologists and falconers on Vancouver Island, who created The Raptors to bring people closer to birds of prey. Our goal is to educate, illuminate and encourage a sense of personal responsibility for the future of these essential creatures we share the planet with.

With us, they soar the skies unfettered and return – not always when we expect them to! They live enriched, fulfilling lives as ambassadors of their species, permitting people to get closer, which fosters the deeper appreciation and understanding.

WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT

Our innovative wildlife management programs offer a highly effective solution for airports, industrial sites (like landfills, mills, buildings, etc.) and agricultural sites. With our fantastic birds, we can help clear areas of problem species like gulls, starlings, geese, and many others. This applied falconry combined with our team of specialized biologists and wildlife management experts creates unique and effective solutions to wildlife issues. For more information, check our wildlife management page.

Picture from their webpage

Entrance

Pathways to exhibits

The pictures are a bit fuzzy as you had to take the photo through the netting of the cages.

Bald Eagle

Daenarys, Great Horned Owl

Elton the Speckled Owl

Lumi or Sven, Great Horned Owl

Nova, Barn Owl

One of the demonstrations.

Jesse, Peregrine Falcon

Golden Eagle

After our wander around it was time to go to one of our favourite lunch destination, The Lion Rampant Pub in Maple Bay. We were a little early so took a walk down to the public beach, A fairly steep paved path from the parking on the roadside.

Beautiful houses on the hillside.

This house below is beside the path to the beach and sports some cool metal native art as deck panels.

Looking up at the pub from the lower parking lot. 

Our lunch view

Ray's huge portion of fish and chips ... Wow!

After lunch we headed back to the lake. It was nice to see the sun in Maple Bay as it was quite cloudy at home and even started to sprinkle. A great little outing. Rained on and off all night. Don't know if we had much accumulation though.

Saturday we got the predicted rain with a few substantial showers. Campbell River sounds like they got a mini hurricane with localized flooding!  Hopefully the rain helps with the forest fires. We have a recent fire about 20km from us over the mountain near Chemainus. 

Sunday mostly cloudy and breezy. No dock time today.

Monday turned out a bit cool in the morning. My job today was taking my big and small carpet shampooer into the motorhome and clean all the carpets. What a job! I'd put it off, but as today is the last cooler day for awhile, it is perfect to get it done and then the heat tomorrow would finish drying it out. I had noticed a musty smell and thought we must have a leak somewhere, so was on the hunt. It turned out that when we had the motorhome detailed in the early spring some water got in past the slide gasket on either side of the bed turning a strip of carpet close to the wall black. I bleached it and cleaned it several times with the carpet shampooer tool, so I think I have that problem solved.

Ray headed out to Duncan for some shopping and came back with a "Fire Pump". We'd decided to buy one as a preventative measure should Lakeview Park next to us have a fire from campers. Basically the park is right at the end of our driveway. Even though the park had people in there last spring cleaning up a bunch of deadwood for fire prevention, there is still a ton of stuff on the ground that would go up in flames real quick. We did not see much in the way of fire suppression equipment there either.  With our house being timber frame construction it would go up in no time. Easy for us to use this pump with the lake right at the back of our house. Also, we figured if we ever got flooded from the lake, we could use it  to suck the water out of the basement back into the lake. At Adam's Tools, where he got the pump, told him they'd surplus inventory but also brought more in as covid had limited production and a hot summer was forecast.  Now they only have a couple left. Ray will need to get more hose as 50 feet would not reach the front of the house from the lake and that's where the fire is likely to come. Fingers crossed we never need to use it.

After lunch Ray and I sat down at the dock for the afternoon. Quite cloudy but warm out. 

Tuesday, a glorious blue sky day. At 8am the lake is still like glass. This hasn't been the case for over a week. The forest fire 20 miles away, is being held now and hasn't grown past the 32 Hectares. Great news for the people near that area. 

Ray worked on finishing cleaning the ramp and then refilling the motorhome with water. Rugs are still damp so other than turning on the fridge, I left the straightening up, cleaning bathrooms etc. until tomorrow. 

Had our meet and greet phone call from our new family doctor, Kristi managed to get for us. She said YES to adding us. Our current doctor is retiring in September and the clinic does not have a replacement at this time and we were told that we would have to go to the walk-in-clinic instead. Fortunately our daughter managed to get a colleague to accept us. 

After puttering in my kitchen making a soup from all our leftovers from the past few days, we retired to the sundeck for a bit until after lunch. A little breezy down there, but it will warm up and in an hour so we will be swimming. Supposed to get to 29C here today, the coolest day in the next 4!

We've not gone fishing in the big boat yet as the lake temperature is too warm now at 78C and the fish are not showing any interest according to locals that fish the lake year round. Probably start that up again mid-September. 

The kids have not come down as much as we would have liked, but having a baby and Kristi back to work part-time certainly eats up their time. Amelia is starting to sleep through the night, but they haven't been so lucky the last few days. Very tiring for both of them. Next year will be a totally different situation for them, so our boat will be used a lot more for cruising and towing the big tube.

That's been our week.