Spring is here (she cautiously says)

It does appear that Spring has finally arrived although there is still some talk of flurries at higher elevations. As long as it stays at higher elevations, I don't mind.

We are supposed to be hiking up Mt. Prevost (a local mountain) on Sunday and I did notice that there is still a fair amount of snow on it. I guess we'll manage fine as long as we bring our stablicers and hiking poles.
Tomorrow's hike with the OCV is for an end-to-end hike at East Sooke Park but the forecast doesn't look too promising so we'll miss it.

As far as spring flowers goes, I would post flower pictures but forgot to take them today and it is currently dark outside so, the bragging pictures will have to wait until it is light out. We have faun lilies, tulips and crocuses blooming and daffodils budding. We are a wee bit behind Victoria where the daffodils have been blooming for awhile. I will post pictures tomorrow, promise!

Our daughter and son-in-law have gone to Victoria for the evening so we are minding Ashton. We took him along on our walk figuring he'd nap but no such luck. He was quite happy to meet with some of the locals and quite enjoyed the scenery. He did end up sleeping for about 10 minutes and then demanded to be fed. I gave him a 4 ounce bottle and he seemed shocked when he emptied it. I put him to bed but he wasn't too fond of that plan so I got him up again and, after awhile gave him another 4 ounce bottle. That seemed to do the trick and he's currently sound asleep in his crib in our bedroom. Hopefully he'll remain asleep until his parents come home.
Ashton hadn't been gaining as expected so Lisa took him to see the doctor yesterday. Apparently Ashton's diapers were on too tight thus constricting his tummy. Now Lisa is to feed him a bit more, with looser diapers and then she'll bring him back to see if there was a weight gain next week.

Into every life a little rain must fall.

I'm not really complaining since we do have a fairly severe shortage of snow pack in the mountains meaning possible water restrictions in the summer. (Whether there is a shortage or not, we still seem to have the restrictions). Oh well, as long as it doesn't rain when I finally decide to drive to Victoria or want to hike.
We had two great hikes on the weekend. Saturday's hike with the OCV was a 6 hour hike from Caleb Pike to Fork Lake in the Highlands. We ended up doing a car shuttle for it and the weather was beautiful. We really enjoyed the entertainment provided by the ravens once we reached the summit of Mt. Work. It appears that this is the time of year that they do their mating rituals so all types of aerial displays were happening. The ravens were swooping and diving, nearly hitting each other as they did this. Others were sitting in the trees, cawing and croaking.
Yesterday's hike was a hike to Saltspring Island with the COG and the Saltspring Trail and Nature group. Despite the weather forecast calling for a 30% chance of showers, we managed to have dry weather.
On the ferry trip across from Crofton to Vesuvius we saw a shrimp boat followed by quite a few seagulls and about 6 or 7 bald eagles ranging from immatures to adult ones.
The hike was the "Cog Wheel" trail which started part way along the road to Mount Maxwell. The earlier name of the trail was the Shepherd Hill trail. The trail went down and up and down and up, finally ending at a beautiful viewpoint overlooking the Cowichan Valley.

We did also see an immature Eagle and an adult Eagle resting in trees at different times during the hike.
At the completion of our hike we went into Ganges for coffee at TJ Beans with our hosts. The hot cinnamon buns fresh out of the oven was very tempting but my conscious, a.k.a. husband persuaded me to NOT fall for the temptation. He was also impervious to the fresh cheese scones which were calling our names. I'll have to make a batch of fresh cinnamon buns this week. At least I know that my recipe is lower in fats than the ones that most bakeries make.

Spring is springing

Despite a wee setback two weeks ago (less than an inch of snow here) it does appear that Spring is putting in an appearance.
Now that my friend Mary is home she and I have been hiking a tiny bit more. Last week Friday she and I hiked up Cobble Hill Mountain. Last Tuesday we were supposed to hike on Saltspring Island but it poured plus I had a bunch of chores to do. Yesterday we did some route marking on Maple Mountain. We had hoped to find an easier route through a patch of salal which the COG had taken last week but we failed, and then ran out of flagging tape. We did find what Mary called the "million dollar viewpoint" and had lunch in the sunshine there.

View south with Eagle Heights in the background. Quamichan Lake (left) and Somenos Lake (right) are also visible.


Mt. Prevost from the side.
It was supposed to snow overnight and this weekend but I woke up to a beautiful sunny day, perfect for my neighbour's daughter's wedding.
Tomorrow the forecast has changed from snow and rain to a mix of sun and cloud. That just means that Pat and I will likely be hiking with the COG tomorrow.