Oh, and our great horned owl is back, and we think she's got two little ones this year!
Walking around the park and inspecting things, everything seems to have survived the winter just fine. But then, it was a very mild winter for this part of the country. And spring has definitely arrived early. Check out these pics...
May 1st last year.
May 1st this year.
Last year.
This year.
It's going to be a lot less work getting things cleaned up. That's a good thing because last year we had a summer student start with us May 1st, and this year we haven't been able to find a suitable full time person yet. We have several part time students that will be good for when things get busy, but for now we're on our own. No problem, everything will get done.
The little blue car survived the winter without a problem. I was worried about mice, so I had parked the car on a sheet of plastic, and then put oil around all of the tires. Mice don't like oil, so they would have a difficult time getting into the car. Still, somehow a couple of them got through the barrier! I found two mouse poops on the back seat, and the start of a nest on top of the engine. But, no apparent damage.
I put the battery back in, and the little blue car fired right up. Ready to go! By the way, this is the original battery that came with the car when it was new nine years ago! And, the car now has 200,000 kms (124,000 miles) on it and still has the original brakes.
Also got one of the gators fired up. Nice to know that all of the equipment was serviced last fall when we closed things down, so it's all ready to go. What a difference compared to when we arrived last year at this time!
Pissed off about one thing though...
We are not impressed!
They had some tree trimming work done either later in the fall or earlier in the spring, and I'm assuming these ruts were left by those guys. Not impressed! We'll have to fill the ruts and plant some more grass seed there.
Oh, and our great horned owl is back...
Momma owl.
You can't tell by the picture, but we think she's got two little ones in the nest with her. We haven't confirmed that yet, but we'll keep our eyes on the nest for two little feathered heads to pop up at the same time.
That's enough for now...first day of work and we've got things to do! And it's another beautiful day out there!
RV wheel covers are still on sale at Amazon.com....almost 50% off... (make sure you order the correct size!)
And, a fantastic deal on Amazon.ca for any RV'ers looking for the new Garmin RV specific GPS unit. This has a huge 7" screen, and is designed for RV'ers. It's on sale now for the best price I've ever seen. In fact, it would be an even better deal for Americans too if you can get it to ship to your address in the states. You'd save a further 25% on the exchange rate benefit...
Glad to see you are back safe and sound, we are hoping to see you later in the season, We are heading to Alaska via the northern states we pick up a cruise in Vancouver get off in Seward train to Anchorage then Denali and to Fairbanks, fly to Dawson City then bus to Whitehorse and fly back to Vancouver. Phil has finally said he would go to Alaska, so I am making it a worthwhile trip for him. We will be gone about 2 mths See you soon Wendy
ReplyDeleteThanks Wendy! If you plan to visit us later in the season try to make later in August or in September. July and the beginning of August are just way to busy.
DeleteSounds like you and Phil have a great trip planned up to Alaska. We are very envious as this is somewhere that we both want to go but the only time to go is in the summer and that's when we have to work.. Looking forward to hearing about when you come for a visit.
Yes it will be late Aug or early Sept will let you knoe
DeleteOk! :-)
DeleteBack in the swing of things! Don't blame you for being upset about the ruts in the grass. We have a little of that here - bet you can't guess who did it with his backhoe when making our driveway bigger!!!!! He said "this too shall pass" when I said about it - LOL! Love the Momma owl photo - cutiepie!
ReplyDeleteYep, and for our first day we did pretty good. It's a bit of a pain about the ruts because really it is extra work that we wouldn't have had too do, oh well, such is life.
DeleteThe owl is a sweetie and yes, there are TWO babies this year. We re so thrilled about it.
Spring is way further along there than last year. Glad things are in good order there. Hopefully you will be able to find some help soon because that grass is going to need mowed soon.
ReplyDeleteYes, it is way ahead. Kevin was out cutting grass yesterday afternoon. Yes, it would be nice to have the extra help now but I think because we did so much work last year and all the equipment is ready to go, it will make things much easier this year.
DeleteGotta be loving thew weather, enjoy !
ReplyDeleteThe weather is totally amazing for this time of year. Not sure how long it will last but we are going to enjoy every minute of it.
DeleteYou'll have things in shape in no time. I wonder if you can hire a foreigner for next season?
ReplyDeleteThey don't make it easy to do this, however it's a possibility! I'm going to take a more serious look at the procedure...
DeleteThere doesn't seem to be quite so many leaves to rake this year as last. The blue car seems to be just like a Timex...
ReplyDeleteWe thought the same thing, we're not quite sure why. We think that there must a been some strong winds in the fall that blew them away or else last year we just cleaned up a couple of years worth that weren't cleaned up so well in previous years. Whatever the reason we are pretty happy about it.
DeleteYep, it just keeps on ticking. That car has been so good and it doesn't owe us everything. Kevin said keeping it well maintained is the key.