Couple more photos.

Couple more photos here.
Skunk man came today to evict - my only fear is that I saw a family of racoons looking at the des res one evening this week - just what we need - there'll be bleedin bears moving in next......

Long weekend

OD mercifully dragged me away from DIY - I have to say, digging up and double-bagging asbestos tiles wearing a full face mask in mid-80's heat was proving a little tedious.
We took a risk and headed up the squamish river valley - a risk because the whole of Vancouver seems to go camping on the early August long weekend, and we were heading up on Sunday night.
Ended up at quite a cool campsite, camped on the banks of the Squamish River (temp approx freezing - isn't ice only because it somehow manages to keep moving....), watched the sun set over mountains, glaciers etc and listened to the distant sound of rednecks partying....
Next day, went for a drive up the valley - about 40ks on dirt roads, and found some genius spots to camp for the future - also sparked the idea that we might need to buy a 4x4 - oh yes.
Outrageous scenery - even after a year and a half, still can't believe this stuff is just up the road.

Folk Fest

Somehow, OD managed to trick me into attending a folk festival.
Was actually tres jolly, especially 'cos of the nalgene filled with Rioja (curiously puritanical views re alcohol at public occasions in BC, so meant to be an ethanol free zone).
Hols ran around like a hippy child, the sun sat over the ocean, bonkers music played and everyone had a fun time - I'd even do it again. Imagine that.

Skunks!

So, one of the unexpected joys of living in BC is the fascinating parade of different wildlife we get exposed to - we knew that an old, blind-looking skunk lived in the area, but OD was surprised to see a gaggle of junior skunks playing around on the side deck one afternoon - even worse, they appeared to be living under the back of the house......
One 'skunk-expert', a quick look under the side deck, and a phase of demolition later, we're now in a position to evict our unwanted Pepe LePeu guests - lets see if the trap-door works.....

Demolishing the deck revealed a whole new realm of building nightmares, so I'm currently in a phase of reconstructing the drainage behind the house - we filled a 20yd skip in a weekend and removed a load of junk that the previous owners kindly left for us - the work will never stop.

.....more new summerish photos

I'll post some more soon - we have quite a few more.......

Summer is (more or less) here.

OK, so it's been a while since we posted, but life has been happening to us, whether it's unexpected examples of mortality, too much work, having fun or having to read 'The Wild Things' to Hols one more time......
We managed to go on holiday, and went to Salt Spring Island - stayed in a sooper nice place, complete with very sloping floors, splendid hosts, excellent (unexpected) breakfasts, hummingbirds, a cute dog and a stack of free tomato plants - highly recommended if you're in that neck of the woods - weather was kind of OK - fine for wandering along beaches (which is what we mostly did), but not quite sunbathing weather - all in all, a really great week, and managed to get in a spot of rock-exploration, some kayaking, and a healthy dose of otter-spotting!
Of course, I, and then all of us, were in the UK recently - bittersweet times - just lovely to see everyone - family and friends -but so very sad for the reasons that we were there. Sorry that I didn't get to Cork, but I know that OD and Hols had a fab time.
Other than that, the usual outdoors stuff, managing to climb a fair bit with Sparky, ignoring the DIY that needs doing, slowly sorting the garden, going greyer, a spot of kayaking, fitter, happier, more productive.......
Hols continues to grow (how'd that happen?), get cuter and has a bigger vocabulary than me - obviously, she's a genius and child-prodigy as well - I just need to teach her a few key phrases and she could probably do my job for me - I imagine you only want to see photos of Hols anyway (this is what OD told me anyway), so I will quit rambling and post photies.

Happy Easter......

Happy Easter everyone. Luckily Kev brought a good supply of Cadbury's to tide us over! Enjoying a weekend of almost summer like conditions - after 5 months of greyness and rain we're pretty pleased to welcome in the sun. Just transitioning between the end of the ski season and starting into climbing, kayaking and mountain biking.......oh, and DIY. Plenty of things to do to keep us out of trouble....................

KC & the sunshine band

Kev is over right now, living the high life and getting some form of west coast adrenaline rush every day - he's trying to fit about a year's worth of action into 3 weeks......
Couple of photos here, though strangely, none of Kev - will try and rectify.

Evening snowshoeing

One evening after work, determined to try out Colin's snowshoes, I got a bit committed in an area where I should really have been using axe and crampons.... Oh well, a great evening, I was the only person on the mountain, setting sun on the mountains all around and the lights of the 'couve down below - nice.

Around Paddy's Day

Holly 2 - St Patrick 1400

There were never any snakes in post-glacial Ireland, so that was a pretty easy party-piece.....
Anyway, in honour of the snake-charlatan, Holly's second B'day and a rather belated house-warming, we had a splendid party on Saturday.
Panic from Mrs R re how many people might turn up, and a lack of training re portion control (Nif - I should have called you last week...) mean that we cooked enough chilli to feed Mexico - literally.
We spent Sunday tidying up, and then opened presents on Monday - Thomas the Tank Engine was a big hit - plenty of opportunity to start a new series of stupid voices to narrate Hols' story telling - and various items of new clothing, including her first knickers!
Thanks to all for presents and cards - it's amazing how Hols has changed in only a few months - she got a real kick out of opening presents and cards, vs Xmas, when she didn't have much of a clue what was going on.
We've been working too much lately and being a bit boring, so we don't really have any cool pictures from stuff we've done in the last month or so, but hopefully that'll change soon - Kev is over this week, so I'm sure he'll drag us out......

Squamish

Well, I'm sat here with my leg up and a bag of ice on my groin, so I must be post hernia-op....
Decided it was time to sort the little tinker out as it was starting to slow down my snowboarding - can't have that.
Mrs R is doing a splendid turn as Florence Nightingale, and I'm trying my hardest not to remind her too much of my old man as I melodramatically wince in pain and send her off running errands......

Here's a couple of photos from a trip to Squamish a few weeks ago - taken mostly by Sparky's fair hand - am looking forward to the spring, as I think there should be a good posse to go bouldering with.

Other news? We're looking forward to Kev coming over in a couple of weeks time, and it was good to see Dec and Jules last weekend.
Plus, we're having a combined Holly's 2nd birthday/house warming/Paddy's day party on the 17th - should be fun.

..and some more

These ones are mostly from when Liz was over to stay, and her and OD did the 60 km walk - fun times!

Backlog of photos

So, here's a bunch of other photos from the summer....