Well, a domestic update, anyway:

Dogs got a trim.  Sal wanted them to ‘look good’ for Christmas.  I have problems with that – as you’d guess – but I go along.  “Look good for whom?  They stepping out on each other?  Ya know, there are no other dogs around here to flirt with.  And anyway, Meg’s likely gay.  They can let themselves go.  And, anyway, their idea of lookin’ good is first rolling around in otter poop and then carrying a disgusting squeeze toy in their mouth.  Then they drool.  And the best they can look is, well, like a dog!  What are we talkin’ here?”

“Oh sweetie!  I just like it when they get all cute and all.  The little sweeties!” (Note that both the dogs and I are referred to with the ‘sweetie’ term).  “And it’s Christmas, ya know?” (as if that means something to the way dogs look) “and I really don’t want to leave them with J if they aren’t neat and tidy.”

“Given that I, too, am a ‘sweetie’, am I getting a trim too?”

“What?”

“Never mind.  But I am willing to let you give me a nice bath!  All sudsy and all.”

“What the hell are you talkin’ about?”

Sal and I don’t always see eye to eye.

Ravens are back.  Feast or more feast for them.  We feed them pretty good and up the rations significantly when they reward us with offspring in the early summer.

Those guys can ‘pack it away’.  I swear that each raven eats the equivalent of a full-complement turkey sandwich in the sunny months.  Every day!  Not quite their weight and volume but easily 40-50% of it.  Of course, most of it is packed away in the excess of their throats and shared with the kids but I have seen Jack eat the equivalent of two hamburger patties all on his own and none of it went anywhere but down his gullet.  Jack can eat.

Both Jack and Liz are looking sleeker and trimmer right now, though.  I am not so sure why.  We are still feeding them on a regular basis.  So are our neighbours.  But it is colder and we aren’t as regular as in the summer.  Probably 3 or 4 days out of seven. You’d think they could always go back to natural raven food if we weren’t serving that day.  But we may have spoiled them.

During bookclub, they showed up and announced their arrival with the usual cacophony of demands.  One of the women said to Sal, “Ravens are here” and she went back to being social with the others, few of whom bothered to look up or out the window.  Sal got up and while staying with the conversation at hand, scooped up the previously stashed raven food, deftly stepped outside and deposited it on their perch and came back in, hardly missing a syllable.  And they ate and left.  The ravens, I mean.

They are clearly a regular part of our day.

Sometimes they are just part of the dog’s day, though.  Jack will swoop down on to the perch and Fiddich, thinking we aren’t looking, will race across the deck and ‘chase’ Jack away.  Jack hovers a few feet off the perch until Fid turns away and then settles back down.  If Fid doesn’t notice that Jack is back, Jack calls out to him.  Caaah, caacac!  Which, best I can make it out is, “Nyah, nyah.  I am back!” 

Fid chases again.  Jack floats again.  Fid leaves again and the cycle is repeated until one of them has had enough or Sally or I show up.  If that happens, Fid just sits there all innocent as if he and Jack had just been chatting nicely.  “No problem here!”

Right now there seems to be a bit of a lull in the wildlife.  I guess the bears are getting ready for a good sleep.  The wolves seemed to have moved on.  The deer are still around but we haven’t seen many lately.  Dolphins are out and about, tho.  Saw a big sea lion last week.  And an otter.  Eagles of course.  But no Orcas, no whales, no mink, fewer birds and there is just a sense of ’empty’ right now.  It is just a lot quieter, I guess.

We’re about a quarter into our woodpile already.  The stove has been on pretty steady for the last two months.  But we are good.  We have enough to make it.  Nothing has frozen yet, either.  Been close a few times but we have been lucky so far.  Generally speaking, it has been a good winter so far.  Even the storms have been few and not-so-harsh.

Prawns are ‘up’.  The few local guys prawning are reporting good catches.  Smaller sizes but the numbers are up.  Mind you, the boats are way fewer.  Marine traffic has been dropping for years and, in the winter, there is virtually nothing.  Starting in November and extending til May, we feel remote and ‘wild’.  Come the summer, there are visitors, kayakers and pleasure boats, marine commerce and the frequent buzz and whop of small planes and helicopters all the time. It really is quite different in winter.  In winter it is silent.  You can hear a fish splash from a mile away sometimes.

I can’t say I like winter better but I sure do like the quiet.

There you have it.  A raven ‘fix’ and a ‘dog’ update.  With a general roundup of weather and incidentals.  Kinda like the CBC, don’t you think?