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musings of mark since 2001

   It will be a year tomorrow since my first night on Bowen Island listening to the clip clop of deer coming up the boardwalk and what a great year it’s been! The summer hasn’t lasted nearly long enough, getting some local beach time with the upstairs lady today and probably tomorrow too on the other side of the island. They have a nice raft out in the water at Bowen Bay to swim out to, so we’ll go there and loll in the swell of the sea. September Morn was real busy this afternoon, when we got to the top of the trail there was six cars up there making it look like a regular parking lot.
   Got to head off the island here soon, it’s been a couple months and my bag of rice has run out and the sugar isn’t far behind. Doesn’t take long in the smell and noise of the mainland to be glad to get back to this rock, except for a Safeway to get large portions of food there’s not much reason or need for me to leave. Especially for haircuts, the best one ever in my life the other day from Barbara Murphy; the haircut wasn’t out of the ordinary, but the head massage after was! It’s the little touches that count, she’s got me for a lifelong customer fer sure.
   Everything is still dry as toast around here with no rain in sight for another week, it’s green on top but when you look under the ferns walking through the woods to work it’s brown and the ground has no sponge feel to it anymore. Nice weather for riding my bike down to feed the cats at the farm, coming home is definitely some exercise as the hills are just a bit steeper that way.

   The Kelowna fire is far from out, but at least about 10,000 people got to go home. About 250 of them had no home left to go to, and there is still over 19,000 people on evacuation staying in hotels and friends homes. My parents in Rutland are still on alert, they haven’t had to leave yet but things change quickly in a forest fire where the weather is helping a little but not nearly enough. Winds predicted at 20kph will clear a bit of the smoke out of the valleys and help the water bombers and helicopters see where they are going. Any more of a breeze though, and the fire will start spreading again and as far as rain there is nothing in sight.
   Heads up for Dad, there’s a care/birthday package making it’s way through the postal system and some socks that Margaret left at the B n’ B are in there too.

   The annual Bowfest celebration was a great time for all. We all went out and watched the parade of floats make their way from the school to the Cenotaph. The Koreans from the General Store had a large accompaniment of kids drumming and playing traditional Korean instruments as usual, and Doc Morgan’s did a fine job of playing up the Disney theme for the parade with their float titles “Frying Nemo” with walking french fries to go along with the excellent halibut they serve every day. The parade champion was the S.K.Y. group (Seniors Keeping Young) with their bikini(teeshirt)-clad group dancing and doing semi-high kicks down the street.
   After work I found a couple friends that had been at the festivities all afternoon, looking a bit sunburnt and tired, so we took a break at my place just as the angry band came on the stage. I didn’t get their name and don’t have the souvenir program from the Undercurrent, but they sure sounded upset about something compared to the rest of the music that day that was pretty much upbeat. The main stage had a new musical group every half hour it seemed, and Gino the Happy Italian played his bass guitar with practically every one of them it seemed. Chris Corrigan had a good set and probably the most people dancing as it’s pretty much impossible not to at least tap your toes listening to Irish Heather music.
   About nine o’clock someone named Frank Soda started playing in a suit covered with what looked like white xmas tree lights, then went on to a ping pong ball head that reminded me of the Jack in the Box commercials from the US until the point when it started shooting out roman candle fireworks from the top. That was when we left and made out way up to The Pub to dance the rest of the night away to the great sounds of Brenda, Tony and the Boweners.

   We’ve got a smart deer hanging around. There’s a couple bucks here usualy, a four year old and a two pointer. The two pointer takes to the structure around the house and prefers to use the steps and boardwalk to get around rather than the ground when it’s time to go up or downhill. No problem, but all the boardwalks eventually lead to the garden and guess who has figured out a way to get in with even the gates closed.
   After putting together the Lieben flyer for the Bowfest Festivities this weekend, Bernice and I walked out the door and there he was just having a fine munch. I checked the lower gate, it was closed, check the upper gate, it’s closed too so I lock it open and start shooing. Of course he goes for the lower gate, so I had to open that one and off he went.
   About 6:30 this morning, I hear steps coming down the side of the house on the garden boardwalk and think it’s pretty early for someone to be doing some gardening. Not too early for our buck to have some breakfast though and he was happily munching on a big patch of morning glory. We’ve got way too much of that, so I let him go at it for a while before chasing him out. I started off with the gates closed and tried to herd him up the hill from where I heard him coming to see where he got in, but he went for the lower gate every time so don’t know how he does it.
   The upper gate doesn’t lock, it operates on a spring that keeps it closed and from the outside of the garden you can push on it all day and it won’t open. There isn’t any footprints around the fence where he may have jumped, so maybe deer know how to pull?

   Millions of board feet of lumber is my guess as to how many logs were boomed up in our little bay overnight as the weather at the mouth of the South Fraser was to rough for them to attempt. It was sunny and just a slight breeze here with kayakers rounding Dorman Point, apparently things change when the mouth of a large river meets the sea and it can get treacherous for even the most seasoned captain. The boom is held together with fat chain around the outside and cables stringing the inside together, but the tug boat captain said it was more like a shoestring when the big waves come.
   He also talked about Tugboat Willy, the Orca that likes to hang around the tugboats when they are under a full load, but only those with twin screws. The Orca dolphin will swim for hours along side, and at times entertain himself with the twin propellers of the boat which seem to fascinate him. There’s about four barges a day going past Bowen on one side or the other, lots of wood with fish underneath and things for Willy to play around and with only 8 tugboat people aware of him he’s been a pretty well kept secret. Willy likes to be petted by the tugboat captains, and hanging around them at least keeps him from the dangerous high speed traffic. I don’t know if he belongs to a pod and just visits, they don’t see him all the time and it kind of explains maybe the odd sighting of a single Orca of the eastern side of the island.