Merry Xmas From The NWN Staff

The lighthouse at Pilot Bay.

Sprinting Towards The Snow

Autumn is almost over and we are heading very quickly towards receiving our first snow. There is already snow at our ski hill, 54cm (21.3") has fallen this season to date. We are expecting our first trip to the hill to be the second weekend in December.

We are still managing to commute to work on our bikes which is admittedly a bit cold in the mornings, but it certainly wakes us up.

There hasn't been much happening over here this month but we have been to the annual pumpkin carving party at one of our friends houses. Here is a picture of this years pumpkin which is a 'free format' design of a face.

Shaun also dressed up for the office Halloween fancy dress competition. You will see that he is a wizard. Missing from the photo is his wizards staff - which never actually made its way back home from the office so I dread to think what they are using it for!

Halloween here is a huge event for kids but unfortunately it was raining so we only got about 10 little trick or treaters at the door. The best one was dressed up as Darth Vadar and had a bucket thing on his head, he was a very polite Darth Vadar as when he took his candies from my selection bowl he said "thank you very much, happy Halloween" cute.

All the animals chez Davidson are doing well. Harley has taken to sitting on the back of the sofa whilst we watch the TV and likes to groom my hair - strange little creature.

Oscar is always busy following Phantom everywhere he goes. Oscar has just completed his obedience training and will now do anything for a treat. I am currently weaning him off food rewards and giving what our trainer calls 'life rewards' like a chin tickle or a game in the garden for doing well, otherwise he is going to be a HUGE puppy.

We had an animal weigh in the other day and here are the results:

Harley 5kg

Phantom 5.5kg

Oscar 27kg

The funniest thing we learnt at the training sessions was around dog health and how to brush your dogs teeth. Often dogs can be a bit resistant to this activity apparently but Oscar was quite happy to get poultry flavoured dog toothpaste all over his teeth (and lips) then spent 15 minutes licking it all off with his huge wet tongue. Very funny.

That is all for now. See you in December.

Rachael, Shaun, Harley, Phantom and Oscar

Autumn Is Here

September has been very warm and dry, all the locals comment. It has been really nice weather but now with the colder nights we have the beautiful Autumn colours on the trees. We were interested to find out what the statistics were for the Nelson area to share with you and these are taken from our weather office stats.
Average figures for a regular September are: 1.7" rain, 14 degrees C average temperature and an amazing 192 hours of sunshine! We were even more amazed to discover that our average total rainfall for the year is just 28.7" and a total of 1876 hours of sunshine.

We are however awaiting the snow again. We have bought our season passes for the ski hill already as it won't be too long until the snow arrives in town. There is already snow falling at the hill. Lovely!

We have just spent a great weekend in Banff and Canmore with our friends The Tooths who were over in Canada for a weeks holiday. The weather over there was much colder than here in the Kootenays, it was -9 degrees C on Sunday morning - hats, gloves and down jacket weather! Just a great reminder of what is on the way. We had a lovely walk around Lake Minnewanka, the light was beautiful and the mountain air so fresh as ever.

We hope The Tooths had a safe trip home and we look forward to seeing them over in Nelson again very soon.

This month we have finally invested in a new fridge freezer, they are so expensive over here compared to UK, and we had managed to limp along with the old one which was in the house when we moved in until we realised that it was actually more effective at heating the house than cooling food! Here is a photo of it showing the water and ice dispenser which does work on this appliance what a treat! Rachael has mostly been baking cakes and making jam this month. Locally we have a glut of soft fruits which have been picked to keep the bears away and we have had people giving us their fruit to use. We have had a batch of delicious apricot and also plum jam. Good old Delia Smith's jam recipes win again - no pectin required. This is our apricot jam.

Oscar has started his obedience classes with Rachael and can now sit, stay, come and take food nicely from your hand. The classes run for 8 weeks and include a bit on first aid, dog health and well being, walking well on a lead and off the lead. There are 8 dogs in Oscar's class and he loves going to meet them all. He is really quite well behaved.
However, when we went to Canmore and our friends looked after Oscar on their farm he was very well behaved apart from eating peaches from their fruit trees and eating bear pooh then being sick on their kitchen floor. He then decided to roll in something smelly in the garden and they had to bath him. Finally he decided to run away after some deer in the forest but luckily he came back! All that said they still enjoyed looking after him and their dog Huckleberry loved having him around. Oscar even slept in their son's bedroom, he is 4 years old and says that Oscar is his little puppy - cute! This picture was taken yesterday, 17th October in the sunshine, yes we really were back in t'shirts again. All the animals seem to have sorted out their position in the pack - here is a picture of Phantom sitting in Oscar's new bed!

This is the pack leader - our alpha male - Phantom aka Earl. He is our Yorkshire pudding!
That is all our news for this month - let us know what you are doing.

Rachael, Shaun, Harley, Phantom and Oscar
xx

Climbing At Skaha And Other Outdoor Adventures

We have been on vacation to Penticton BC which is about a four hour drive North West of Nelson in the Okanagan Valley. The attraction to Skaha was the rock climbing! We camped at Okanagan Falls Provincial Park which was a small quiet campsite about 20km away from the crags. The climbing was excellent and Oscar even managed to sit nice and quietly at the base of the climbs for us to finish. He also enjoyed when other climbers walked past getting a tickle and a head rub!
Although we had our camping BBQ with us we found that the open fire pit was much better for cooking tasty steak and sausages.
On the way home way couldn't resist calling into one of the many wineries along the Okanagan Valley. We visited the Tinhorn Creek Vineyard and enjoyed a tour and also some tasting - we came away with a box of 2005 Merlot. Yes, just one box as unfortunately we were all full in the back of the truck with all the camping gear and the dog!
Oscar has been settling in to his new home and is getting along brilliantly with Harley and Phantom. He has even started to bring in the newspaper in the evening.

We have also tipped our toes into a new outdoor activity, we have got ourselves a canoe. It is made by a local company just 6 miles up the lake called Hellman Canoes, we have the Prospector and it is 17ft long and can fit us, the camping gear and the dog in there.

Here is a picture of the canoe on the truck and a few of our maiden voyage to Pilot Bay where we sat on the beach enjoying a picnic and paddled around the bay for a bit.
Rachael has been doing some more cooking of cakes and puddings, here is a photo of her blackcurrant upside down steamed pudding.

The weather has still been warm although we did get a few showers last week. The temperatures are around 20 to 25 degrees Celcius during the day and fall to about 3 degrees Celcius at night. Apparently we are due for a night frost soon which will get the Fall on its way.

One of our friends celebrated her 40th birthday this week and we all went to party at her house having a BBQ and a few drinks. Although she was here for the party, her and her Hubby have jetted off to California for the week to celebrate in style with a luxury vacation.

That is our news - how about you?
Rachael, Shaun, Harley, Phantom and Oscar
xx

What Do You Do When It's 39 Degrees Celcius?

Well in a house that has no air conditioning we headed straight for one of our Delia Smith cookbooks, turned on the oven and made some bread and scones! For those who prefer the conversion, 39 degrees Celcius works out to be 102 degrees in Farenheit.

The only problem was that the ambient temperature was way too high for the scone mixture so we were unable to roll out the scone dough and cut into nice pieces, instead they turned into scone blobs. But they still tasted just as good. Here is a picture of the scones and also the bread rolls. The bread sat out on the deck to have its second rise and they doubled in size in about 5 minutes!

We are however very pleased to report that we both work in offices that have air conditioning creating our own small carbon foot prints.

Earlier this week Rachael decided to do some radical gardening. It was amazing how quickly the plants in the garden (back yard as they call it here) had grown. After 4 hours of clipping, pruning and pulling weeds being helped by Harley and Phantom I had finished. The cats thought it was great fun to hide in the huge piles of cuttings just as I was trying to load them into the truck for a trip to the transfer station (dump-it site). For garden waste dumping it is charged by the truck load at $5 (2.50GBP). Unfortunately we don't have the space for a composter or compost heap as we did in England and they are really not such a great idea in town as they attract bears and we don't really fancy that! I crammed as much garden matter as I could into the truck and headed off to the transfer station. It is quite cool how they keep track on how much waste you are dumping - they weigh you in and weigh you out - and for all you Dietitians out there reading this, by 'you' I mean the truck not just me! Our weight differential was 45kg. I took a picture to show the truck.

To celebrate having Oscar for 1 month we had been looking at getting him a new bed. One of our friends suggested a company that make some really high end dog beds which you could select the material and style of the bed to match your decor, well unsurprisingly these beds were a jaw dropping $200 (100GBP) after tax and delivery WOW !
So we decided to visit our local Walmart (our version of Asdas) and found a nice dog bed for $25. Well we figured he's not going to know anyhow and bearing in mind that he is currently snuggling up on an old bath mat don't think he is fussy.

Here is a picture of Oscar in his new bed followed by a picture taken 10 minutes later when Phantom discovered a new bed in the house and it was still warm - a cats dream! We are hoping for some cooler weather towards the end of this week with the forecast for Thursday being just 15 degrees Celcius with a splash of rain.

Catch up next week,

Rachael, Shaun, Harley, Phantom and Oscar

xx

Just Like Carry On Camping

The blog is a little late this week as we have spent the weekend on a camping trip. We decided that our little two man mountaineering tent was just too cozy to try and fit not only two humans but also one 47lb dog in comfortably so we had bought ourselves a new tent. The new tent is a 4 man tent and has a porch which is ideal for a dog to sleep in. Not knowing how Oscar would get on we just went for one night and he was very well behaved even when we got rain, thunder and lightning!
Harley and Phantom stayed at home to look after the house but all three animals were really excited to see each other when we got home, although the cats were possibly thinking "oh no, they brought that big smelly creature back too". We caught Oscar trying to lick Harley which did not go down too well the look on Harley's face was funny "Now I am going to have to groom this dog saliva off my lovely ginger coat -yuck".

Here are some pictures we took at the weekend. Rachael and Oscar in Nakusp, just going for a coffee.

Shaun and Oscar at the Lake.

Nakusp is a lovely little town which is about 2 hours north of Nelson and sits on the Arrow Lake. If you click this link you will be able to see a map.According to the Nakusp website, 3000-5000 years ago three main Indian tribes came into this area - the Shuswap from the Okanagan, the SolvilIe from Washington and Kutenai from the East Kootenay.
The first white settlers arrived in 1890 following stories of the Gold Rush and mining. There are some old photos on the website. Nakusp today has some remaining logging companies however, much like Nelson, tourism is still booming due to the beautiful location of the town, the hot springs, the Lake and mountains. There is also a beautiful flower garden which has been donated and maintained by a local couple where our Photo Editor couldn't resist taking some pictures!

On Sunday on our way home we came back through Kaslo which is on Kootenay Lake about an hour north of Nelson where we have previously covered the Logger Festival on the blog. Kaslo is one of our most favourite places as there is nothing happening but always something to do, even if it is just having a picnic on the beach!

So after our wet camping trip we now have our tent up in the garage drying out but the rain has stopped and we are back to warm temperatures of about 25 degrees Celcius. Nice but not too hot for us humans, cats and dog.

That is all for this week, keep in touch.

Rachael, Shaun, Harley, Phantom and Oscar

xx

August Long Weekend

This weekend is our August long weekend where we have Monday off work for our Civic Day. We have had a busy weekend so far and Oscar has joined in some of our activities. Saturday morning Rachael took Oscar on his first 5km run which was more sucessful than anticipated. He ran quite comfortably at Rachael's side for the whole route, well apart from the initial 'I am a big silly puppy jumping up and down' as we left the house! He soon got into the workout zone and ran the whole distance.

Later in the morning we met up with some friends at the Kokanee Park beach where dogs are allowed to run off leash. Our friends have a chocolate lab/mastiff mix who just adores swimming and showed Oscar the fun to be had in the water! We weren't sure if Oscar had the opportunity to swim before as he didn't seem that comfortable to start with but after watching the other dog he managed to wade and swim. Maybe there is some Labrador in him after all!

After we had all finished dinner, Shaun and the boys went for a couple of hours of fishing at the lake. He successfully caught two fish, the first was too small and went back into the lake to grow some more, the second weighed in at 1lb after it was filleted and shall be going on to our BBQ this evening for dinner. The fish in the Lake here are mainly Kokanee Salmon and taste really good!

Later we all met up at an open air presentation of the kids film Ratatouille. We all took our deck chairs and at dusk sat and watched the film under our blankets in the garden, in front of a huge screen that our friend's Dad had set up for his Summer films. We hadn't seen the film before but it was as good as the usual Pixar animations about a Rat who was an excellent cook who helped... Okay, we won't spoil it for those of you who haven't seen it yet but we would very much recommend it.
Arriving back home at 12am with a very tired dog we found our kittens very excited that we were all home. Here are a couple of pictures taken whilst Harley and Phantom had their tea, with Oscar looking on.

They seem much more comfortable around each other now although as expected the cats are still the alpha males! You may notice that Harley our orange tom cat has lost his Harley Davidson collar featured in a previous blog. He is currently sporting a blue collar but we have bought him an illuminous pink collar so he will be easy to spot! Here is Harley showing Oscar exactly who is the Boss!

Earlier this week Rachael went on a bike ride with a couple of friends. The bike ride was considered by our local bike store guys to be easy to moderate in technicality but 'a difficult uphill pull'. Well, we set off from the parking lot which was just near to where we leave the main highway to go skiing and started to climb up the fire service road. We got to 5km up this road which was really quite gruelling and one of my friends decided to share with us that actually the guys at the bike shop had told him that the first 5km were the easiest!

They were right, the next 5kms up the hill were torture in low gear all the way. Looking at the map afterwards I think we must have climbed approx 3300 feet (1000 metres). But when we got to the top the views were fantastic and the ride back down the other side of the mountain was a hoot! We even managed to take a rest half way down to pick some fresh huckleberries which were really tasty but apparently even better in a pie.

Well it is now 6pm and it is a warm Sunday evening, still about 28 degrees Celcius and we are now signing off for another week. The Editor about to enjoy a cold glass of Grape Cider which is locally made in the Okanagan valley.

Whilst our Sports Reporter is enjoying a snooze after his walk.

Whatever you are doing this week, enjoy it.

Rachael, Shaun, Harley, Phantom and Oscar

xx

Still Hot Hot Hot

This week has continued to show us the Kootenay Heat with temperatures between 28 and 32 degrees Celcius. The City of Nelson has imposed our watering restriction meaning that we can have our auto sprinklers on alternate days but only between 10pm and 6am. Before the restrictions Shaun got our tall windows washed and cleaned. We had managed for a whole year without doing them! You can see Elephant Mountain behind him.

Oscar has been settling into life with his new family and especially getting used to his new brothers. There does seem to be a bit of boundary setting going on with Phantom. Here is a picture of them having a serious chat the other day.Phantom won the 'staring out contest' paws down. Then Oscar decided to sniff his bum which Phantom took a dislike to and ran straight up our fly screen on the back door.
Harley on the other hand has been quite chilled and just puffs himself up when he doesn't want anything to do with Oscar.

On Friday evening one of our local Banks hosted a community event at the Lakeside Park where a company came in with a huge screen that was erected in the park along with very large speakers ready for dusk when they showed ET. The whole evening was free and donations were collected for the Nelson Food Cupboard which supports local charities for the homeless.
Although we didn't attend the event we could see part of the screen from our deck, it was a really sureal experience sat out relaxing having a few beers and hearing the theme tune to ET coming up the hill. Would you believe it was first released in 1982? Anyhow, moving on swiftly!

Saturday evening was our neighbours Annual Pig Roast which we went to for the first time last year. This year we were well prepared and arrived 20 minutes earlier than the invitation to find that the roast was just being served. It was the nicest pork we had ever tasted. There were about 100 folks there this year and we all took either a pudding or a salad, something the Canadians call a 'Pot Luck' as it is pot luck what folks bring! Shaun made a really tasty apple, lime and cinnamon pudding which was eaten up very quickly!

Other than that we have been working, working, working and trying to keep cool. This was a bit difficult for Shaun at the start of the week as the office air conditioning unit had stopped working. The guys who came to fix it found that it had totally frozen up the pipes and it took two whole days to defrost. His office was about 28 degrees Celcius for most of that time. As in the UK there are unfortunatley no maximum working temperatures here in Canada - so it was icecreams and popsicles all round!

We have taken Oscar on a more difficult hike today which is on Elephant Mountain opposite our house. It is called Pulpit Rock and locals use it as a quick hours workout to the top and back but it really is a bit of a lung buster! He managed really well and we even managed to get a group shot at the top! Also from the top we took a picture back across to Nelson and highlighted View Street and our house for you.

Finally a picture of a speed boat leaving the marina in Nelson with the airport behind the boat sheds.

That is all for this weeks blog, hope you are enjoying your Summer. Remember to let us know what you are doing with your vacation time.

Love Rachael, Shaun, Harley, Phantom & Oscar

xx

Cedar Grove

This week has been one of many changes for all our NWN staff or the Pack as we now like to call them. Harley and Phantom have been taking things slowly around Oscar, we even caught Phantom doing a Michael Jackson 'moon walk' around the dog which was very funny!

Although the funniest encounters seem to be when Oscar is asleep and the cats sneak up secretly to sniff him.

To give you some of Oscar's background as far as we know, he is a 10 month old Labrador / Airedale Terrier mix. He was rescued from a dog pound in Montana USA where he and his sister were going to be put to sleep. He went to a Foster Mum who lived in Idaho then came to us last week. This is why he speaks with an American accent! We have been out and about around town with him meeting other doggy friends and he has even been to Doggy Daycare for a couple of afternoons whilst Rachael has been at work. This has certainly helped with his socialisation with other dogs and he comes home from the afternoon fully tired out!

We have been quite surprised at how many folks have stopped to ask us about him. One couple from Alberta stopped their truck in the middle of the road even to ask. We have toyed with the idea of not admitting that he is a Heinz 57 but instead make up a new breed "Yes, he is a fine dog - he is a Granville Terrier - his father was Hungarian you know" Anyone recognise where this comes from? Answer at the end of this blog!

We are going to do some obedience lessons to get a better idea of walking nicely on the leash. Other than that he is good in the car, is house broken, is crate trained and does no indoor voices.

He did have some initial separation anxiety for the first week had to sleep in his crate in our bedroom but now we have him sleeping at the bottom of our bedroom stairs quite happily and he will stay quiet from 11pm to 6.45am when we go for a W-A-L-K.

We took him for his first hike yesterday to the Kokanee Glacier Park - Old Growth Cedar Trail.

The trail is well know for the size of the old and very large Western Red Cedar trees.

On Saturday we had a great day out at Nelson's 2008 Flight Festival and took some photos for you to see. The best part of this years show was the flying display by The Fraser Blues who showed excellent flying skills. Shaun also liked the Tiger Moth (oh, and also the old fire engine).

This week is going to be a busy one with work, work , work and animal control. Just a quick thank you to Adam for the pictures of Forge Dam - we really enjoyed looking at them.

Catch up soon

Rachael, Shaun, Harley, Phantom & Oscar

xx

PS Answer: Open All Hours

PPS Weather here is 36 degrees Celcius - bit too hot - nicer at night when we get about 17 degrees.