Silver comes in from the cold

Sliver is a Cariboo wild cat that has learned to trust us and every week or so turns up to be fed and on the rare occasion actually comes into the lodge. Today Silver came in and our kitten Koda decided to check him out, meaning grab at Silver's tail. Well, that resulted in lesson one from Silver (..abt 18 years old incidently!) - a swift boxing of the ears with claws kept in. All is well between them now that Koda knows who he was messing with :)

Interesting visitors

Never a dull moment at Echo Valley Ranch.
Last night we had a very interesting visitor, Dan Johnson, a friend of Brian Davies, who joined us for dinner. Dan met Brian many years ago through their common interest in falconry.
Brian is living in a house that we have near by and Dan is living in Brian's house down on the river. Guess what, Dan trains Golden Eagles down on the river!!! Other than that he is a consultant specializing in placer mining. As you can imaging, all of this leads to interesting conversation at dinner time!
By the way, we finally got the tractor going.
....Nicolle is on her way to EVR today (..with Henry :) ).

Horses to feed at Echo Valley Ranch

Temperature rose to -24C today - pine beetles are saved :(.
We fed horses the old fashion way today, the tractor would not start so we had to use pitch forks to move the hay from the barn to the horses. We have to place the hay in many separate piles to ensure all the horses get their fare share - we spread around just about half a ton of hay which should see them through the night.
Forgot to mention that Uny arrived last night to be with us until Friday. Uny's car is not equipped with a block heater so guess what, Uny might be here until the spring :).
Weather permitting, Nicolle will be coming up to EVR tomorrow. Brian hopes she makes it 'cos she is picking up boxes of frozen chicks for the falcons.
To be continued:

Temperature drop

After many weeks of moderate temperatures, for winter time in this neck of the woods, the temperature dropped to -31C. We have not seen temperatures this low for coming on ten years! Now, if the temperature would drop to -40C, and holds there for ten days or more, the march of the pine beetle may be halted.

Full moon on a winters night

Winter has its very own beauty. The light and colours you see in this photo are natural - we are so fortunate to be living in a place that is still pollution free!

Full moon at Echo Valley Ranch tonight

The full moon has made its appearance and the light to be reflected off the snow tonight will make it look like day time with a very special aura

.....and they drink

...as you saw, you can lead a horse to water but you do not have to make 'em drink; they decide to do that all by themselves :). After this picture was taken we became surrounded by horses all jockying for position to drink.

You can lead a horse to water....

Nan is heading down the hill to the creek with Norm to make sure that there is an open spot, in the ice over the creek, for the horses to drink from. As you can see, you can indeed lead horses to water.....

Winter orchids at Echo Valley Ranch

This photo shows an orchid in full bloom as well as new buds. The view out of the window is looking west.

January 20th - lots of snow

Lots of snow at Echo Valley Ranch today, perfect for taking pictures, cross country skiing, snow shoeing or simply just being outdoors.

....the next morning

As expected, all is bright the next morning at Echo Valley Ranch. You can tell from the shadow that this is a morning shot, sure looks different from the day before when the sky was full of snow.

Wintery day at Echo Valley Ranch

How's this for a wintery day at Echo Valley Ranch?
It is still beautiful to be outside though especially since the temperature is a balmy -1C
Can't wait to see what the morning brings :)

Orchids at Echo Valley Ranch?

Nan has super green thumbs when it comes to growing plants of any type, including orchids. The photo shows new buds on an old orchid plant that Nan has nurtured for several years, it blooms twice every year and the blooms last up to six months.
If anybody would like to know more about taking care of orchids, just ask Nan - we have time to spare right now at Echo Valley Ranch & Spa :)

Photo taken on January 15th

Nan took this photo on January 15th showing how beautiful everything looks after a fresh snow fall.
It is snowing again today and from the looks of the sky we are in for several inches. We are looking forward to heading off down to the creek to make sure the horses can get to the water and looking for fresh tracks in the snow - we are sharing space with many other beings that most times choose to keep them selves to them selves.

...a stroll across the creek

A nice walk to take is to cross the creek and walk across the top of the hay field on the other side. Looking back at the ranch facilities it looks like a small village! The tempersature today was +5.5C and at 4:00PM the light made everything in the sun glow. The ranch is on the south bank, note how much warmer it is there and how the snow has melted off in spots.

Hay burners!

For those of you who would like to know, a horse eats in the order of 25 lbs of hay every day, plus grain, minerals and "treats". That means every day our 32 horses eat 800 lb/day of hay, which is over 12 tons per month. It is not going to get any better, we are planning on buying eight more horses!

...closing the gate

This is what is known as closing the gate before the horses get out.
Dirk has just passed through with the tractor carrying another bale of hay -- lots of bellies to feed at Echo Valley Ranch!

January 13 -- Sunrise at EVR

The previous picture is of the view looking east showing the effect of the sun setting in the west. This picture is the view looking east showing the sun rising over the same mountain, Mount Bowman.
Now how's that for proof that east meets west at Echo Valley Ranch & Spa :)
The temperature the past few days has been over zero centigrade; this morning has started out at +2.2C

Jan 12 - Sunset at Echo Valley Ranch

This picture is taken looking towards the east with the sun setting in the west reflecting beautiful colours from off the clouds back towards Mount Bowman. The sky is constantly changing and painting pictures to marvel at.
Jack is in the foreground heading towards the frozen trout ponds - knowing that is where we are heading.
Nan and Norm are alone at Echo Valley Ranch right now; being in a remote wilderness setting with no other human around is a very special feeling that is hard to describe - it is very least blissful

Eggs anybody?

Here is one wing of the outdoor section of the chicken residence, the indoor section is in the background. If you eat chicken eggs there is nothing better than having one that was laid the same morning that you ate it. Tough to do that in the city - par for the course at Echo Valley Ranch & Spa, even in the winter.

January 11 - Chance meets Silver

A few weeks ago Echo Valley Ranch became the home of a new resident kitten named "Chance".
The kitten was named Chance because, well, he takes chances - he is absolutely fearless and terrorises our dogs - he has taken over the Dove lodge!!
Today Chance was introduced to Silver. Silver is a 16 year old semi tamed down wild cat that lives outdoors, visiting with us only when hungry. We let Silver inside the lodge today, Chance ran over to greet him and this is their eyeball to eyeball encounter.
Both survived :)

Venison for dinner tonight

Nan and Brian putting the finishing touches to the venison roasts before popping them in the oven. If you are wondering where chef Kim is, he is on vacation through to the end of March - we can only get away with this during the time that Echo Valley Ranch & Spa is closed down during the winter months :)

Preparing dinner

Falconer Brian is showing Nan and Norm how to prepare the front quarter of a deer for the oven. Roast venison will be on the menu for dinner tonight - the EVR winter crew do not go hungry :)

January 11 - Another beautiful dat at Echo Valley Ranch

Another wonderful day to walk around this beautiful place tucked away in the Cariboo

Jan 10 - Nan off shopping

Nan is off to the ranch winter food store house - behind the barn door :)

Life at Echo Valley Ranch and Spa during the "closed" season

Echo Valley Ranch and Spa is open to guests between end of March and the beginning of November, and two weeks over the Christmas/New Years holiday period.
From January 6th to April 1st 2008 we are closed to guests but never the less there is a lot going on at Echo Valley Ranch and Spa!
There are still lots of mouths to be fed, we have horses, steers, dogs, cats, chickens, turkeys, rabbits and falcons to take care of. This blog will provide those that are interested with visuals and comments, starting in what is now our winter time, of life at Echo Valley Ranch.

Dove Lodge lit up for Christmas

New Year's dinner