Wild life all around

Today we took a drive down to the High Bar Indian Reserve in the Fraser canyon to see Tom and take another look at some horses we are figuring on buying. This location is 9 miles as the crow flies and it is quite common to see all sorts of wild life that many others have to go to great lengths to see. Today we got to see California Big Horn sheep as well as a Golden eagle - without a doubt we were observed by cougars, coyote, bob cat, as well as many other local inhabitants - perhaps next time we will see them too :)

Rising sun, setting moon

Rising sun, setting moon
These two shots were taken within minutes of each other, to the east is are the signs of the rising sun and to the west the moon can be seen sinking down below the horizon. These photos are from yesterday, the day after the lunar eclipse.

Ice fishing derby

A sold out fishing derby was held at Big Bar Lake today with over 200 participants trying their luck for the big prize. We chose not to drive out on the lake this time and instead visited with Bill and his wife who have a place at the end of the lake.
Big Bar Lake is one of the lakes that we take our guests to in the summer to try their hand at catching a Rainbow trout, trout weighing over 5 pounds are quite common.

Valentines Day at Echo Valley Ranch

A very special Valentines Day for Nan and Norm this year, they booked the entire Echo Valley Ranch for the occasion and enjoyed the peace and solitude of the place. The meal was not too shabby iether, cheffed by Norm and Nan, moose steaks, onions & mushrooms, white asperagus tips, specially fried potatoe slices - wine was real special too, Torbreck, Borassa Valley 2002 Descendant - we drank the whole bottle followed by an excellent Port with our cheese.
What made the experience so special though, apart from Nan being so wonderful :), is the feeling you get from being in such a remote location. It is peaceful and you connect with nature in a more intimate way - hard to explain but it helps to tune you in to dimensions that are far more meaningful that what you can view on the CNN News; BBC too coming to that :).
When we go outside and wander arround under the stars for sure it becomes clear that nobody should worry about anything that may be whizzing around in ones mind.

I am Silver

Silver is an outdoor wild cat which trusts us enough to come inside from time to time - our guess is that he is 17 years old, at least!
Koda is our fearless kitten that still takes chances when messing with Silver - he thinks that just because he can terrorize all of our dogs, except Bett, that he can take on another cat - WRONG! :)

At a local trapper's pad

To quote our friend Chuchit, "...I feel like a stranger in paradise" - well, something like that :)
The picture is of the home of one of the many colourful characters that we have the pleasure of knowing in our area. This place is on the Fraser river where gold prospectors came through in the late eighteen hundreds.

Winter in the canyon

A good freind of Norm & Nan, Chuchit, visited enroute from Florida to Bangkok and yesterday we took him to see the Fraser Canyon. This is quite a change in scene compared with the streets of Bangkok - change in temperature too :).
The Fraser canyon is a complete change of scene from Echo Valley Ranch as well and very rarely has as much snow as this year, it is basically desert type terrain with sage brush and cactus being the predominant plant - and to think that the canyon is just three miles (5 km) from the ranch!

EVR Winter office

One of the guest dining table serves as a first class office desk during the winter months when Norm and Nan have the place to themselves - well, almost to themselves since as you can see the kitten takes up residence any place he wants! :)