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So here we are, on a snowy day in March, in lovely James Bay. An unseasonal blizzard outside the window. Charlotte has already been out to play, and tried to catch the falling snowflakes on her tongue. It's starting to stick on the ground, and I hear we are to expect a centimetre or so....

Just had to link in to our nearby weather station, so we can check very local conditions.

The Victoria Emergency Mgmt. Agency is holding a series of workshops this year.

Seems like the gang at NORAD have pumped up the NORAD tracks Santa site with lots of new features to play with this year, include neat Google Maps. We are once again tracking Santa across the globe as he makes his way to the West Coast....

A beauty of a day in Victoria today. Sunshine and nice autumn weather. Didn't get out for noon soccer today, which was a bummer, as it was such a nice day for the game. I've got a client putting a new system in place, so we're pretty busy dealing with the patron data load. I did get out for a brief moment at lunchtime, and saw a few students out there had shorts on. Maybe summer is not totally over ?

This evening it was really nice as well. How nice? Nice enough for some folks to hunker down on the beach near Holland Point and light a beach fire. I took OTP out for a walk around 9:45 PM and we ended up walking down along the cliffs there. It was fairly clear out, with only thin, wispy clouds overhead. The moon was out, casting everything in a dull, grey light. We smelled the fire from a ways off, and went down to the edge of the cliffs to see what was going on. There were actually a few folks down on the beach tonight, and out walking as late as we were.....

Now that was an awesome eclipse! I was up multiple times last night, so managed to catch the leading edge of the eclipse, the total, and then a bit on the trailing side. I think we had a fussy little red-head on our hands last night.....she hasn't been sleeping all that great this week.....

Justine and I had a date this afternoon, where we went whale watching together! To celebrate our recent anniversary, we picked up tix to go out with the crew from Orca Spirit, located just down the road at the Coast Hotel.

Justine really wanted to go out on the zodiac, so we were hoping for nice weather. The hard rain this morning was not looking promising, but by the time we went out at 1 PM, things had cleared up nicely. We had a great trip out on the water. We saw all the local resident killer whale pods as they were coming north through the strait, just south of Chatham Island. They were heading up towards San Juan Island, and we must have seen 2 groups of 20 or so whales. It was really neat to watch. They were in a resting phase, so just swimming along at the surface of the water. There was at least one new baby out there today.

We were down at the beach first thing Saturday morning about 3 weeks ago. Back in the summer of 2007. Such a beautiful summer morning on the beach. So much blue sky to view and plenty of summer sunbeams splashing on my face. *sigh*

Now it's been cloudy for a whole week, and raining a lot. The crapola weather that we had to endure all last winter is back, and it's making me so pessimistic that I'm going to say that it looks like it's here to stay. Yeah, it's not just because I saw a cat get run over the other night that I'm dreary.

Was out for a walk with Charlotte down along the waterfront by Laurel Point, and came upon this family of otters. They were frolicking up on the beach, and down in the water near the shore. We followed them back around the point, all the way to the wharves down at the Coast Hotel. They got up onto the dock here in a rather interesting way - Mom climbed up first, then reached down into the water and grabbed them by the scruff of the neck in her mouth, then hauled them up, 1 2 3. They bombed around on the dock for a bit, and I think were chowing on some crab while we were heading home....

Our road-trip back down Island was a lot better than the way up. Charlotte slept from Pac Rim Park to Port Alberni, and then again from Cassidy down to Cowichan Bay. We stopped in Cathedral Grove to walk about and take some pics, look at some big trees, etc.

Charlotte was a bit unsettled up at Pacific Sands. She had a much better time last year, it seems. She didn't want to play on the beach with us, but just wanted instead to hunker down inside. OK. We read stories on the couch instead. That's OK. We like to read stories. Curious George was on deck today.

I got out to surf for a couple of hours this PM while Charlotte napped. Good swell in today.

Had to finalize plans for the fence this AM with Kevin, then loaded vacation gear into the truck for the trip to Tofino. A tougher road-trip than many. Charlotte not in great spirits past Cassidy, but was glad to stop for lunch at Woodgrove. The road toward Kennedy Lake did not agree with her, so we had to stop for a little unexpected pit-stop at one of the pullouts. Ugh. Made it there in about 6 1/2 hours....

The comet MacNaught is now gracing the skies of the Southern Hemisphere. Comets are cool. Remember Hyakutake.

Have sort of become somewhat isolated from world events lately. Yeah, I know I got the world at my fingertips here, but I didn't even know about this comet until checking out APOD tonight.....

We are creeping back before the 8 AM hour now. The darkness is soon to clear. I will once again see the morning sun. The evolution to spring. There is Hope.

Oh banish thee, dark winter demons.

Just read about that over on the Encorp site. Several depots in Victoria now take back used milk cartons and tetra paks. That means we'll be doverting even more trash from the landfill - yay.

Local sun-Rise: 8:03 AM, Set: 16:21. Ouch.

Have finally made it to the turn-around point. It's just so dark. Lemme outta here.

So yeah, a bit of snow yesterday, and overnight, giving us about a foot deep in the backyard. Went out once yesterday to Colwood Corners, and the roads were quite treacherous. Good thing we got the 4x4 mode activated on the truck. Today we have cold temperatures, and some flurries in the AM, and lots of snow on the ground. The roads are looking plowed now, but this morning before sunrise, things were not great, from the sounds of it....

So around the sun we go 1 more time. So many orbits already complete. Billions of turns. And I, 1 more year older today. A junior, by comparison.

Putting Earth in perpespective. Thanks, Dick.

Yeah, we had a few small earthquakes down on the Big Island when I was down there in '94, but nothing as big as this morning's quake. It was centered just off the coast from where me and Pete and Mike used to live. Wonder how our old shack held up.....?

Had a bit of treat on Monday, in that I drove my 2-door up to campus. Yeah, my Granada, left over from my days as an undergrad student. Still bombing around in that thing from time to time, and it is such a legendary ride. Lance is driving it more often than I these days, and recently told me about this old dude that stopped him and said "now that's a real car".

Oh yeah, baby. That's whacked, but it is still happening.

So I'm taking the bus a lot to work these days, which is really the right thing to do. Allows me some time in the morning to prep for work, or do some reading, and maybe some journalling. Well, it is a little hard to write on the bus, but oh well, I've got a few entries in hard-copy that have treated me right....I take the #14 UVic from Old Island Hwy and Helmcken up to campus.

But on Monday, I was piloting the old sled up to Gordon Head. Parked near L-Hut. How many hours of my undergrad life did I spend in L-Hut...? Working on those old Sparc stations, writing code in the chilly winter....doing all-nighters in there....ok, I was never the fastest coder. But I got through....Writing code...all night long....the best of times, I tell you.

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Apparently, at 7:30 PM tonight there is an astronomy presentation courtesy of the crew at the H.R. Macmillan Space Centre. Weather permitting, they'll also be setting up the 25-inch portable telescope....clouds, clouds, go away!

The lecture tonight is called 'Our Vanishing Sky', and is about light pollution.

Just peeled this news out of the Goldstream Gazette.

Another early-morning trip to Witty's Lagoon. This time we parked at the Tower Point entrance, and headed down to the beach that way. The grass is still long in the meadow there, with just a path mowed through that leads down to the beach trail. Nice. Oscar likes to run through the tall grasses, and roll around in them. He likes to roll around in lots of things. We were down there early, around 8 AM, and this time encountered a couple of other Goldens out for a walk. Another great morning, as it was so sunny and nice. Ahhh, early AM times in the summer are the best.....

We were down there for low tide again, and that was awesome. Once again, we encountered the dude with the clip-board, and this time found out a bit more about him. He is a MSc. student in Biology, who is doing a study of toxic pollutants in the local harbours. The way he is doing his research is by tracking down sites where sea otters leave their scat. He takes the scat back to the lab, and looks for traces of bad stuff in it. It comes as no surprise that Oscar found some of this scat up on the bluff where this fellow was working, and proceeded to enjoy himself in it. Bad boy.

Really glad I have new footwear. The TrailFrogs from Merrell are treating me so right. Take this morning, for example....We headed out to Metchosin around 7 AM or so, I think....was a couple of days ago, as I write this......but we stopped at the trailhead on Metchosin Road, just before the school....headed down through the meadow to the Lagoon Trail, where it looks like they have been doing some trail improvements lately....

Walked the Lagoon Trail with pups and Charlotte in the backpack. We came out to the beach, and what wonderful timing, given that it was low tide. We're talking really low tide.....like it was WAY out there.....so, what to do....? Well, walk out to the water, of course....!

I love walking in the muddy sand at low tide.....squish squash sploosh. The way the sand is laid out in long ripples along the beach, some spots hard, some soft. We meandered our way out along the tidal flats, and got almost all the way out to the water, but stopped short of disturbing these seagulls that were chilling out near the water.....we had pups on leash, and under control. What a good boy....

Didn't see anybody out there, and it was nice to be the only folks out on the beach. Nice sunny morning, going to be another great summer's day.....ahhhhh.....

Decided to head over and see if we could cross the stream and climb up to the meadow at Tower Point. No such luck of course, as I didn't really want to go in that deep and really get drenched....not to mention any incidents with small children in backpacks. Nope.

When we were walking back to the trailhead, we observed a fellow down on the beach with a clip-board. We'll encounter him again in a future blog....

Great walk back through the forest....and got lucky, and found Oscar's bell on the trail - yipes, I didn't even notice that he dropped it...!

Finding a spot from which to view the sunset is always special. Here's the view of tonight's show from our backyard....

Followed the signs out to Sunset Point after dark this evening. That's the point in between Cox Bay and Rosie's. Nice boardwalk to get you most of the way out there, before you reach the end of that project, and have to skip over the exposed tree roots that make up the rest of the trail. Got out there close to 10 PM, and still lots of light in the sky, and still over 2 dozen dudes in the surf on Cox.....nice.

I got out there well after sunset, of course, but you can see why the point is so-named. Great views out to the west and north for prime sunset viewing. Wow. The sky, the islands, the waves, the sounds of the crashing surf. Stayed out there until past 10 PM, and thought I should head back in along the trails. Scooted through the forest, and back to the shack.....

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So we go out this afternoon to frolic in the waves. And it's a bit sunny, a bit cloudy, a bit grey, a bit bright. But warm. I'm out there with my board, catching a few waves here and there, and so are a lot of other folks. And these big, cranky, dark looking clouds are coming in to hover over the beach.....and it's so nice out there with the clouds and the sun and the waves. Yah. And I have this 6 mil wet-suit on, so I'm comfy, nothing's gonna take me down.

The dull, rumbling sounds of thunder started coming down from above. No lightning, just thunder. Then again, I didn't have my eyes peeled for lightning....I was looking for waves.....

I kept surfing....and the thunder subsided......no biggie.....just a wee bit of audio from mother nature to accompany the session.....

So this afternoon we headed out for a bit of a walk around the neighbourhood with Ann and Laurelle. We got Charlotte some clothing to protect her from the effects of harmful UV rays. Apparently this year, it is going to be worse for all of us here on planet Earth.

Justine went down to the NoZone outlet on Douglas Street to get Charlotte the UV-protecting hat and long-sleeved shirt. Our fair-skinned redhead is not only looking cute and hip, but wearing gear rated at UPF 50+. Nice.

Here's some more technical data for you on the sun, and the effects of UV rays.

Remember : Slip, slap, and slop....!

Ended up getting a seat on the CRD watershed tour that went out today, and it was an excellent trip. Highly recommended event, if you can swing the day off work. Or happen to be retired - I was likely the youngest person on our bus....

I was on the bus starting at the North end of the watershed lands, so we cruised up over the Malahat and into South Shawnigan, then took Sooke Lake Road through some of the newly developed lands north of the watershed, and soon reached the north gates. The watershed lands are closed to the public, which is a feature of the management approach to maintaining water quality standards.

We learned quite a bit about forest and land management on this trip, given that the watershed lands are almost entirely forested. The subject of keeping a healthy forest was the subject of a stop we made for a brief forest walk. We learned about what forest management practices are being used to keep the forests healthy, and the risk of forest fire to a minimum.

We stopped at a couple of the main creeks that feed the Sooke reservoir, the main supply for Victoria's water. One of the stops was at a weir that has been built to measure the flow rate into the reservoir. There are several such stations in use. The inflows and outflows of the reservoir are constantly monitored.

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The CRD watershed tours are on this week! I'd like to go, as I have always wanted to visit the watershed.....! This is the kind of thing you can only do when not otherwise occupied during business hours....

Here's a nice walk to go on....if you're up for it....We took a much shorter version of this walk on Saturday....and we cheated by driving from our place to the Gorge and parked next to the schoolhouse. We looped through Cuthbert Holmes only.....but you could take it much further.....read on.....

Starting from our place in View Royal, head towards the Four Mile Pub, staying close to Esquimalt Harbour. Don't stop for a pint until the return trip. Go into Portage Park, and see if they're doing any work on that burial site at the edge of the Cove. If not, then head up to the railroad tracks, and meander over to the Admirals Walk plaza, and mebee stop for a coffee, to go. Ahhh. Nice.

Take your java down Admirals and cross the Craigflower Bridge, maybe on the north side if all the dudes fishing on the south side of the bridge are jamming the tiny sidewalk......at the very end of winter, and the start of spring, there's some kind of fishing season that happens right there in the Gorge.....gets busy busy.

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I heard on CBC that Spring arrived today at precisely 10:25:35 AM today PST.

A reason to rejoice! Let the light shine, I say!!!!!

I am already enjoying the ride home in the light, and the AM doggie walks without the flashlight and safety-hazard vest!