YOU JUST WON'T BELIEVE THIS!

       I think I've written about snow more than anything else. Now falls must be getting close to snow!

       So you'll never believe this. I took two falls this week!

        First, I was looking after my neighbor's yard and had to water some plants. I threw my garden hose over the fence and watered the plants. I threw the hose nozzle back over the fence but not the hose. Somehow, the hose caught on my foot when I was leaving  and I didn't notice it until I was on my face on the ground. The hose felt like my foot was hooked on a rubber band.  I was very lucky that I landed on new soft sod.  Next time it could be on cement. Yes , I remember that when old people fall their head hits the ground before they know they are falling. 

     Then I was applying flashing to a small garden shed. I had to put my ladder in behind the bleeding heart . So one of the many times I came down the ladder , I fell. I don't know if I missed the last step or got off the ladder with one step left to go or if the ladder fell off the board to cover the soil under the bleeding heart or if I just tipped the ladder over. I landed in a peony and before I got up the ants had found me and they didn't like me. 

    Okay, I'm not looking for sympathy. I know what I'm going to get here and I won't like it. 

    However, I know that I must learn to be much more careful around my feet. I find it difficult to "slow down" and "be more careful". It's a hard thing to do after living a very active life. 

     You'll also not believe that I had to look up how to spell nozzle...well maybe you will. 

ARE THERE GHOSTS ?

      Now I've been around long enough to hear many good ghost stories .

      Some ghost stories are on the humorous side. People play pranks on others using a ghost theme. 

      Other ghost stories are those that relate an incident which can be used to explain an incident that is odd. 

     Some ghost stories come from those who firmly think that there are ghosts. 

     If we go back in history there is much about ghosts. They used ghosts to explain many happenings. 

      The Arctic has generated many excellent ghost stories. Many people lived in very isolated areas and some saw very few people in a year. Traders would sometimes go for months without seeing anybody. Some of them were spooked. Many trappers lived alone for long periods of time. 

     Hudson Bay trading post buildings were built in the same style. They were small story and a half buildings. There are many stories about hearing steps moving across the second story floor. There have been stories about boots that seem to move . 

    One night visitors came to a lonely trader. The visitors knew about the trader's story. They carefully set up a situation with string so that they could move boots across the floor. The trader would hear steps and go up and check. Sure enough the boots had moved but there was nothing there. He would come down and continue his meal until the boots moved again. Needless to say, it was a fun evening and the visitors admitted their prank. 

     I was once on a church work party and I went up the stepladder to replace burned out light bulbs. The lights were about 14 ft up. I moved from light to light. Finally I got to the front right hand corner. When I was at the top of the ladder I heard a swishing sound between me and the wall. If I was still the noise swishing sound was less . If I moved the swishing became louder. So was there something up in the corner telling me to go away? It was an experience that I have never forgotten. 

     What do I think? I think that for some reason there was static electricity and when I moved the static electricity was more active. I've heard similar  stories and they are used to prove the absolute existence of ghosts. The stories go on about the many funerals held in the church and that some of the spirits are left and are angry. 

    Well, I find a good ghost story interesting. What about you? What is your thinking about ghosts.? Do you have some good ghost stories? 

IT'S TOO HOT

        Usually I'm posting about snow! Well , not in July! I think this is my first post on hot weather.

       We've had record breaking temperatures in this region. In the 50 years I've lived here I don't remember temperatures above 30 C. Now I know temperatures have been above 30 but not often and I don't remember it. 

        So we are on our third day with a high of 35 C. Now I know some will laugh at this temperature as I know temperatures go much higher than 35. However, 35 C is an extreme for me. 

      Plants suffer from the heat but when  we get cooler temperatures and a little rain , the plants will bounce back. 

     As I've said many times our annual average amount of precipitation is 12 in. (That's counting snow. ) 10 in of snow equals one inch of water. 

    So how do we produce huge crops? There's usually about a 1000 ft of clay below us. Very little of our precipitation will run off. Many other  places have little top soil and so water runs off. 

    So there you have it. An explanation, although it's too brief, about soil moisture. 

    Now if it would only cool off! We have two more days of hot weather. 

THE HORSE STORY

     I inadvertently set something up in my last post. My purpose in writing the post was to describe more of Heritage Ranch. I put in a small paragraph about my daughter riding at Heritage Ranch. That one little paragraph got more interest than the whole post. 

     My kids were raised in the 1970's which was the day of free range kids. The kids were sometimes gone all afternoon and we didn't really know where they were. Yes, we had a good idea of where they might be and the kids knew where  they could go and where they could not go. 

    Heritage Ranch was about 2 1/2 miles from my house. I think my daughter rode her bike out with a friend to ride horses. I'm not sure which parent gave permission to go. 

    She told me that the horses to rent were very  gentle but not that smart. Some of the riders weren't that smart either. She remembers the ride and still talks about it. The horse was not a smooth ride and it really didn't go that fast. 

    She did survive without accident and went on to ride many more horses. At 49 she's still interested in riding some more. 

    She made comments on the last post as unknown. I hope she comments on this post and corrects my memory. 

     These photos of horses at Heritage Ranch were taken long after her time at Heritage Ranch. 

HERITAGE RANCH

       The three hundred acres I rambled through the other day is known as Heritage Ranch.

      In the early 1980's a very progressive government set up a plan to make large park areas in our cities. Trails and many facilities were developed. Cross country ski trails, picnic areas and playgrounds were established. 

     When I came here in 1969 the Heritage ranch area was farmed and much of it was taken  for gravel. 20 km of trails were developed. Some of the gravel pits were made into ponds and stocked with fish.

     But the main part of Heritage Ranch was to be set up for horses and at that time the emphasis was on equestrian training. Excellent corals and stables had been built. The equestrian training didn't pan out so they tried just horse riding. That didn't work well either. 

     When my daughter was about ten she was intensely interested in horse riding. She went to a 6 day equestrian camp. You could rent horses to ride at Heritage ranch so one day she took some allowance money and rented a horse to ride. I happened to be riding bike through the area when I saw a horse wildly galloping through gravel pits and around trees. There was a little kid on the horse hanging on to a half out of control horse and the little kid was my daughter. 

    Today the operator runs sleigh rides in the winter and an assortment of wagon rides in the summer.

    So as I was getting back from my ramble I could overlook the horse facilities. 

FATHER'S DAY RAMBLE

      I spent a few hours of my father's day rambling over 300 or so acres of park known as Heritage Ranch. I've spent many hours in this area cycling, cross country skiing and leading my bird watching group through the are. I have spent much time in the area and know it well.

     Yesterday , I wanted to check on a patch of tiger lily  (western wood lily) or (Lilium philidelphicum) and brown eyed susan  (wild gaillardia) or (Gaillardia aristata).

     I was a few days too early as I only found one tiger lily in full bloom 

     However thee were other plants in bloom such as the wild rose. 

     It was a windy day so some of the smaller plants I photographed and not in focus but worth a look.

MY LADY SLIPPER FIX

      A few days ago I had my annual yellow lady slipper (Cyptipedium calceonus) fix. Yellow lady slippers are one of my favorite wild flowers. Yellow lady slippers are quite common and can grow on some very poor soils.

      Some people think that the yellow lady slipper is scarce. Yellow lady slippers are doing well. People, including me, have transplanted yellow lady slippers and spread them around. All those I've transplanted have done well. Some kinds of lady slippers are not abundant. 

     So I visited my favorite spot for yellow lady slippers and here's what I saw. Enlarge these photos for a better view.