High Water In The Skeena ~ Back To The Cable Car!

Ahhhh yes.  It is that time of year.  Actually it's happening late this year, the spring melt and rising river.  We've had cooler then average weather, so that melt up there in the mountains is taking it's sweet time.  I'm not sure how I feel about this.  In some ways I'd rather just get it over with as it is rather annoying not knowing just how high the water will get and how long it will last.  Plus, I'm ready for some nice warm weather.  

The water came up earlier this spring around May 28th and peaked at about 7 1/2 meters.  The cable car goes into use when the water gets to somewhere around 7 meters I think depending on the Ferry Operators and what the great and mighty Nechacko (Company that has the contract for the Ferry/Cable Car).  What we do out here and how we trasport our selves back and for to our homes depends a lot on these factors.  Anyways the water went up to a 7 1/2 meters, we switched from using the ferry over to the Cable Car, parking our vehicles on the opposite side of the river.  Then the water went back down after a day or two, and we drove home again.

On June 6th water was at just under 6 1/2 meters high.  My daughter who was at home for the day sick (though miraculously cured the minute it was too late to catch the bus to school) go to pick up her older sister from the ferry.  You can see it on the river crossing.  While we wait, my youngest drops sticks off one side of the dock then goes to watch them come out the other side.

Another fun pass time while we wait is to throw rocks into the river.

My oldest and her friend wait for the ferry to come into dock and chain up.

Later that evening just about bed time we got a phone call to move vehicles because the river was coming up quite quickly and by morning they though it would be too high to run the ferry.  Sure enough by morning the water was over 7 meters high.

By June 12th the water was at about 8 1/2 meters high and rising quite quickly, so the issued a 2 passenger limit on the Cable Car.  Yes they do this.  It's a pain.  But that's the the way it is.  When the river gets really high, the cable car is closer to the water.  I think the extra weight makes the cable car even closer.  I have heard stories of tree's coming down stream in the high water and flipping or shooting out of the water and knocking the cable car.  I've never had or seen it happen, but apparently it can.  Oh the excitement and thrill of risk while crossing in high water.  hee hee!  Ok.  At least I find it exciting!

Here The operator is taking a passenger across while I wait for my kids to come home across the river.  The cable car is on the left and you can see the ferry docked in the center at the far side of the river.

The ferry and cable car off in the distance across the river the water was quite high.  It was getting closer to the lawn.

Oh!  Here comes the girls!  There goes a chunk of log in the river!

Yep!  They're happy to see me!

Yesterday morning (June 13th) the water was up to 9.6 meters high.  The girls were watching logs float under us as we crossed to catch the bus.

Looking upstream.

Yes, the ferry is closed for high water this time of year.

Yesterday after noon the water peaked (this time) and is starting to go down.  Right now it is at  8.2 meters and going down still.

There is a low spot in our back yard where the pig pen is and yesterday it started getting water in it.  This is ground water that seeps up from the river usually a day or so after it hits 9 meters.  Today I am glad we didn't get pigs to put in there.

We're not sure what will happen this year.  The snow pack in the mountains was 195% of normal as of June 1st.  There was a lot of snow up there this winter and the weather has been so cool that the melt is delayed.  The high water from the melt is usually around the beginning of June, but from what I read I understand it may be delayed until closer to the end of June this year.  What happens will depend on the weather.  A hot spell with warm nights and a big rain would be aweful.   As it is now, the are saying that there could be lots of rain this weekend and the river may rise again.

And so, we wait on the river....  and the weather and cross our fingers.

A Splendid Day!

Today has been a splendid day!  I woke up about 5 am this morning and enjoyed a hot drink and watched the day come.

This is my favorite time of day.  Early mornings.  The morning was a foggy one, but when I could see the sky it was a light powdery blue with gorgeous peach clouds for a few minutes.  I like watching the fog.  After I had my hot drink and read my book for a bit the kids got up and we got ready to take them to the bus.

Mornings like this morning makes up for all those rainy ones.  Beautiful.  The river still had fog on it and I can't help but feel very privileged to live my life style in which I must cross the river every morning aboard the little ferry.  I truly love it.

Looking down towards Kitselas Mountain, you can see the fog rising off the river as the sun kisses the mountain.

The sun rises over Bornite Mountain up river.

We cross in the morning as foot passengers.  I love the sound of the river.  Looking back across towards home.

There is something about the mist in the trees which makes one feel at peace.

The River isn't as high as it normally is this time of year.   This worries me, as it means that all that snow up there on our lovely mountain hasn't been doing the melting we would like to see.  The river is about 2 meters lower then it usually is most years.  I've been a little worried that the melt will hold off until we get a hot spell in June (that's what happened in 2007).  We had lots of snow last winter and it all has to come down.  I was just reading on the Rivers Forcast Center site that the snow pack for the Skeena/Nass region was at 158%, which is very high.

As a precaution, I've been emptying our basement.  Packing everything up to our upper story of our house.  Last time it flooded we had about 7 ft of water in our basement, so I don't dare leave anything in it.  My legs are sore today from all the packing I did yesterday, but I am getting closer to getting everything moved.  It may flood.  It may not flood.  Who knows what this spring will bring, but I feel it doesn't hurt to be prepared. 

Our lives out here depend a lot on what the river is doing.

This morning I sat outside and watched the mountain for a while.  This is my absolute favorite time of year.  The mountain comes alive from her slumber and you can hear little avalanches, and if you are lucky you can see the snow sliding off her faces.  I seen a few really nice slides, which look like long with water falls.  By the time I went in to get my camera the biggest had already finished coming down.  I did catch this little one.

We had a frost a few days ago, and when the sun rose, it turned to beautiful drops of water edging the Lady's Mantle.

Cherry Blossom are Blooming.

Of course, who could look at a delicate Forget Me Not and not appreciate it's beauty?

Even the cat loves a sunny day!

You can see some brown area's on the snow where there has been little avalanches come down.

This Winters Avalanche Pictures ~ Sequence Shots

I've been meaning to post these pictures for quite a while now.  These were actually taken March 23rd, so I guess it was technically spring.   What a beautiful day it had turned out to be.  Just the kind of day that is perfect to watch them blast the snow off the mountain.  

I had my niece staying over and my girls and I all went out and stood near the tracks in front of the house to watch the show.  

The explosives were dropped off a helicopter onto the face of the mountain.  First you see a little plume of dark smoke, then seconds later the sound hits you and you could hear a huge BANG!  Then the snow starts to tumble down the mountain.  Of course this was all very exciting for the kids, and as they watched the cloud of snow grow they were a little worried it might reach us.  But of course we were at a very safe distance. 

Still, it is a wonderful sight to behold!  It's one of my favorite things about winters out here.

I took this picture before they started blasting.  

This is after they blasted.  You can see not as much of the cornus came off as they would have liked.

What a view!  

Culled All Our Poultry ~ Mycoplasma

It is my belief that I contacted this disease this spring when I brought in a bunch of chicks from else where.  After I had the chicks for about 10 days, I noticed a very sick little cochin chick who had very puffy gummy eyes.  I thought it was an eye infection so, I tried to clear it up with antibiotic eye drops.  Well, the eye drops did nothing to clear it up.  Soon I noticed the same symptoms in some of my other chicks.  Then chicks started dying.  I lost 11 of the shipped cochins first to this, and it also spread to my own chicks that I hatched which were very active and healthy until the shipped birds were added.  It also spread to my meat birds and to my turkey poults.

Their symptoms were:

Eye and Nasal Discharge

Sneezing

Coughing

Wet gurgly sounding breathing

Lack of appetite

Swelling of the sinuses and around the eyes.

And tissue swelling and red in the corners of the eyes.

I thought I would include some pictures to show what some of the chicks looked like.

In this chick you can see how the face is swollen.  It's all puffy about the eyes and sinuses.  In some cases the eyes are sticky and glued shut so that they can not see.

The chick stands all hunched up and ill looking.  Eyes only partially open.  Not showing much interest in eating or drinking.  Chicks cough and sneeze.

You can see this chick has been rubbing it's eyes on it's shoulders.  You could also see nasal discharge.

I'd been medicating this chick, but even so you can see that the corners of it's eyes are inflamed, red and visible.

The Turkeys had lots of swelling around the eyes and sinuses.  They eyes also were gummy with discharge around them.

In some of the eyes you can see how watery they are.  Also bubbles are present in the eyes.

You can see just how much they eyes are swollen under them.  Some of them had swelling in one or both eyes.  Because of the shine, wet looking discharge the turkeys pecked at it hence the wound above the beak. (probably spreading it further...)

After loosing several of the cochins, some of my own hatched and some turkeys, I sent in 2 turkeys and 3 chicks to be tested.  These birds had to be freshly culled and sent with icepacks to the Animal Health in Abottsford to have a postmortem and tests done on them.  To cull them I used the cervical dislocation method, which is fairly quick and bloodless, since they want the bodies intact.  So I culled, packed and sent off the birds.

A day or two after they received the birds I received a message that there was Mycoplasma present.  I spoke with the vet over the phone and he confirmed that Mycoplasma was indeed present in our Turkeys.  He hadn't gotten the test results back from my chicks that I sent in yet.  I had been medicating the chicks so he said that it would be hard to detect it in them since the symptoms had been cleared up.  It was agreed that since my turkeys had it for sure, and they had been in contact with my entire flock older chickens, chicks and guinea fowl that everything was exposed to it and it would be best to cull it all, clean house and start over in about a month or so (I decided to wait a year before starting again.)

Mycoplasma is a contagious respiratory disease that poultry can get.  It's a chronic' disease, and even though the birds can and most times do survive this, they remain carriers and can pass it on to other birds.  They can pass this on through coughing, sneezing, dust, eggs and semen.  Incubation period for it is 10 - 21.  This disease is fairly common apperently.  But as someone who breeds and sells poultry, I felt that it would be unfair of me to keep my birds and risk infecting anyone elses.  

You can read about Mycoplasma here:  

http://www.poultrydiseases.net/online/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14&Itemid=26&limit=1&limitstart=0

So last week I culled all my poultry.  This was an awful thing to do.  I still feel horrible when I think on it.  It's one thing to cull a badly injured or dying bird that you know is suffering horribly.  But it's an entirely differnt thing top pick up a bird bird that looks perfectly healthy and end it's life.  I know that even though they look healthy they could be carrying mycoplasma and pass it on to anyother poultry that I bring here.  But it doesn't make it any easier.  Many of these birds are ones I have raised since they were either eggs or day old chicks.  Most of the older ones were pets.  I was very attached.  

I also used Cervical dislocation to do this.  How I did it was to take the bird,  Hold it to calm it.  Grasp the feet in one hand, support the body in the other and lower the bird so that it is upside down with it's chest and neck laying on the ground before you.  Place a broom handle across the back of the neck behind the head, step on the broom handle quickly one foot on either side of the head and quickly and smoothy pull up on the feet.  Pull up until you feel the neck give.  This dislocates the neck, and ruptures the blood vessels in the neck.  It is supposed to be painless since it also severs the spinal cord (but who's to say just what the bird feels).  I couldn't bear to see the birds flop around so I held them as they passed.  After all these were my pets and it broke my heart to do each one.  (See, I still tear up when I think of it.)

After I finished culling, I made a big  pile of brush and dry fire wood and got the fire going good and hot, then burnt almost all of the chickens, except for my daughters 2 favorites.  My daughter wanted to bury them, so I felt that this would be a good way to perhaps bring her some closure too.  We dug a hole by a cedar tree, lined the grave in ferns, placed the little hen and rooster in and covered them in more ferns.  RIP little Millie and Little Peep.

After I thought I was pretty much done culling and burning, I was going to go into the house, but thought I would do one last egg check to see if any were missed earlier (and I guess just to go into the empty hen house and say a silent good bye).  While I was standing in there, I heard a cluck.  Yes, a cluck coming from outside in the pen.  I couldn't believe it and almost thought I was hearing things.  I went out to the pen, and out from behind some glass windows leaned up comes one last Blue Laced Red Wyandotte hen.  It was almost like one of those bad dreams when you think that it can't get any worse, and then it does.  She comes running over to me.  Oh my!  Here I was thinking that I was finished killing and the worst was done and over with and out comes this last bird.  So I picked her up. Sat on a bucket.  Held her and had a serious cry.  I never imagined in my life that I would have to kill anything.  Let alone chickens which I love.  It was so tempting to keep her, sitting there with my face buried in her soft feathers.   But it needed to be done.  I did it, and probably that one last one is what stands out most in my mind now.

Anyways, all of my birds are gone.  Chickens, Turkeys and Guinea Fowl.  The yard is strangely quiet when you go out side.  We've had a few neighbors stop by and comment on the lack of birds about.  When offered condolences, I really don't know what to say.  

I have shoveled out the coops and am working on scrapping them down, then I will disinfect them.  I need to pick up one those car wash brushes that you can attach to a garden hose to help me scrub down things, and garden sprayer to spay disinfectant.  And so now the clean up begins.

When I do start over, I will try and just bring in hatching eggs and treat them with an egg dip of Tylan, which is supposed to kill any mycoplasma present in the eggs.  I will  be very careful with any new chicks brought in, keeping them separate  for at least 4 weeks to be sure they are healthy.

I have also bought a copy of The Chicken Health Handbook by Gail Damerow so I can look things up if anything shows it's self.

If nothing else this spring I have done a lot of research and learned quite a bit about this disease and about bio-security.  

Millie pigging out on cookies 

Fiddlehead Quiche

It's that time of year when the fiddleheads are popping, and begging to be eaten.

Not every fern is edible, so make sure that you pick the right ones, Ostrich Ferns. The ones you are looking for have a very thin papery skin on them, that you will need to remove before eating it.  The main stem of the fiddle heads are smooth without the darker brown hairy frond skins. The skins should rub of quite easily.  Fiddlehead ferns often have a dark brown spore frond that will be sticking up lasting through the winter.  Pick the tightly curled ones.  I would also recommend not picking ones that grow along roads.  Make sure not to pick all the heads on the plant!

Grasp the fiddlehead coil and bend it back and it will snap away from the plant.

Rub and wash off the papery husks.  Pretty aren't they?

Fiddlehead Quiche

1 frozen or fresh (or homemade) Pie Crust

2 cups chopped Fiddleheads 

1 small Onion 

2 Tbs. Olive Oil 

1 cup Shredded Cheddar

4 Eggs 

1 cup Cream (or half & half) 

1 Tbs. Coarse Mustard 

2 Tbs. Flour
Chopped and cooked Bacon

Precook piecrust in a 350° oven. After preparing the Fiddleheads for cooking (remove the thin golden skins and rinse), sauté onions and Fiddleheads in olive oil for 6-8 minutes then place in crust. Sprinkle cheese evenly over the top. Blend eggs, mustard, flour, cream, and pour over other ingredients.

Bake at 350° for about 50 minutes (full cooked fiddleheads). Pie is cooked when a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. This dish may be served cold, warm, or hot.  Serves 3-5

Isn't there just something so beautiful about a fiddle head?

Snow Avalanches!

With all this snow we've had this year, CN has blasted the snow on the mountain a few times.  On March 3rd, I seen the CN snow plows on the tracks near the house, and heard the helicopter flying around the mountain and knew they were going to do another blasting.  Of course I got all excited because I had just got a camera the day before, and I thought this would be a good opportunity to figure it out some.

Well, the day was quite overcast, so it's harder to see the snow come down, but I went out anyways.  It was rather disappointing, thought because hardly any snow came off the mountain.  I've seen it where massive amounts of snow come billowing down the mountain, and it is extremely exciting.

Here are a few pictures anyways of one of the blasts last week.

First off, here is a picture of the mountain that I took a few days ago while the weather was nice.  Kitselas Mountain.

They fly over the mountain and drop an explosive, then take off.  A few minutes later you will see a puff of smoke, and then hear the big "Boom!" when the sound hits you.  It's quite loud.

The cloud of smoke and snow gets bigger,

and bigger.  Then snow starts down.

More snow comes down the rock face.

Pouring like a giant waterfall.

And then it's just kinda like snow clouds.

That was just a small one.  Hardly worth taking pictures of.  But when you see a huge one that looks like the whole section of the mountain is coming down it is very impressive.

The other day while coming home on the cable car, we seen one of these huge ones come down.  This was not one caused by men dropping explosive, but by mother nature herself shaking snow off her mountain.  We watched as the snow boiled down the mountain, billowing and swirling.  About the same time it came close to the bottom, we watched a train come around the corner at the base of the mountain.  The avalanche must not have quite made the bottom and the train came through ok.  It was very exciting to watch, and the first time I've seen one come down from the cable car hanging over the river.  Also the first I've seen a big one with the train going by.

Then this morning, while I was getting the kids into their jackets to take the cable car across the river, I could hear a train coming in the distance.  You can hear the engines long before you see the train.  All of a sudden, we heard this terrific boom!  Looking out the window you couldn't see much because it was quite overcast today, and the clouds hugging quite low on the mountain.  But a minute later, the train went by with snow plastered over the front of the engine.  WOW!  There must have been an avalanche that crossed the tracks ahead of the train, and the train hit it!  I can only imagine how the conductor was feeling.

I tried to take a picture of the train, but I had my camera on the wrong setting from taking pictures of egg candling the night before so it came out way to bright.  But you can see the snow stuck to the front and top of the engine. ... kinda.

I tried to take a picture of the base of the slide this morning when I took the kids to the bus.  Roy, the operator running the cable car was kind enough to stop for me to hang out the window and take a picture.  I pointed out where I think the snow crossed the tracks, but there may have been other areas where we can't see from there because of the trees.

As much as I would love to go and see exactly where the snow crossed the tracks, I think it would be wise to resist the urge to go for a hike down there.

A couple weeks ago, my husband and I climbed a little ways up the base of the slide.  I took pictures and blogged about it here:

http://klewnufarms.blogspot.com/2012/03/hiking-last-weekend.html

Here's a couple video's I took last year when they were doing the blasting.

And another one, slightly longer video

In the spring time, as the weather gets warmer, the mountain starts waking up, and you can hear and see lots of avalanches.  It has to be one of my favourite times of year.