Fall is coming

Good morning from our cozy home in Telkwa.

There's a big rain forecasted for today so we're getting ready by baking some muffins, cleaning the house a bit, and relaxing with some knitting, movies and cat-cuddles.

We've been doing lots of exploring lately! Last weekend (the long weekend) Tom and I went for a drive and found ourselves at the Telkwa River, at the base of the Telkwa Range of mountains.  We got out and walked along a little trail through the woods, popping out to the river to check for bears every so often - no bears, phew!  We found some creepy abandoned vehicles in the bush - one van that looked like it had been washed down the river in the 80's, and an equally old bus.  We were wondering if it was the bus from Into the Wild...

The water looked cool and textured in this pic!

Tom and his Magic School Bus

Next up was the Hankin Plateau hike.  Tom wanted to hike to the very top of the plateau, but we only made it half way thanks to me... I'd been to the gym for the first time in months, the day before, and honestly thought my legs were going to give out if I tried to go any further.  Sadly, we may not get the chance to hike to the top again this year; the area is in a Caribou Recovery Area, which mean that the backcountry in this area is closed to people from mid-Sept 'til the following summer.  This is in an effort to protect the dwindling Caribou population that uses the area to over-winter.  That being said... there are only 14 Caribou in the herd! So a big closure for a small herd. Oh well, the hike will be there waiting for us next summer.

View from the lookout - that second ridge on the left is where Tom had wanted to go... oops, sorry Tom.  And that's my finger up top haha

Nice view of the glacier and peaks.  Goat habitat!  We looked by didn't spot any.

I built a little Inuksuk for the Caribou.  I wonder if it will be there next year.

I went on a Canfor team-building event to the Sibola Mountains!  So these mountains are waaay down south of Houston, along logging roads.  About a two hour drive or 115km on bumpy logging roads - totally worth it!  We had the chance to explore part of the area that not many others do.  Almost everyone from the office drove down with quads and we took off into the bush, crossed rivers (which was terrifying - I kept floating down stream) and had a BBQ on a river bank.

My quad and the mountain mist.

Some of the other quads during one of our stops to check out the scenery.

A nice spot to stop and take a break

 So, I'm STILL waiting to hear about that permitting job.  I had an interview about a month ago and was told they would get back to me either way in a week... It is still open and I was told it would be open until filled... so using my common sense on this one and I figure I wasn't picked.  Which is disappointing but, oh well, it kind of makes sense.  They probably want to have someone in that position who will stick around for a long time.

I've been stressing out over what to do now... Tom is enjoying his job and it pays well and we are happy staying here for a bit longer.  As Tom said, he'd like one more summer to hike all of the hikes and camp some more! Which is great - let's soak up the mountain life while we can!  That being said, I don't want to continue at Canfor in my current position.  It's a field position, which I don't want to put my back through any longer, and I come home and complain to Tom all night long about the dweeb that I work with.  Not what I want Tom to have to hear.  And not what I want to spend my time doing.  I would love to continue working at Canfor, but if they don't have a position that I can do and that keeps me out of the field, I think I should be going elsewhere.  My contract is up at the end of the year, so at least I won't be leaving in the middle of a contract - I can wait until it's up and then move on... BUT TO WHERE? ** and there goes my blood pressure haha

So that's become a constant worry of mine.  I'm trying not to obsess over it and let things happen.  I'm continuing to keep an eye out for any job (here and at home, just incase) and have started going back to the gym and doing yoga to burn off steam and keep my head on straight!

And I've also been knitting up a storm!  To the point that I've had to take a break because my hands hurt! haha! Here's the completed body of my sweater - I'm almost done the first arm, as well : )

It will be sooo warm and snuggly!

Bruce and the back of the sweater.  He loves sleeping on it

Tom made a table from old barn board Jill had, and he used a wood burner to do this awesome drawing on top!  He used transfer paper to trace the design from a print-out and then 'coloured' it in.

 The cats are doing well and are outside galavanting at the moment... I'm expecting them to come flying back inside as soon as the rain starts.  I'm worried they will be lonely when we come home for a visit.  We will be home from Sept 20-Oct 1st.  Jill and Tom's work-buddy Kevin are going to come and feed the cats but I hope they spend some time with the cats as well. They are used to Tom coming home at lunch, and us spending lots of time cuddling and playing with them.  They are also used to going outside, now... the house is going to be destroyed when we come back! It'll make for an interesting blog post at least : )

I am SO looking forward to our visit home, and will be topping it off with a visit to KnitCity in Vancouver on my birthday!! I can't wait!  It's a festival for everything knitting and I will definitely be filling up any empty space in my carry-on with YARN!!!

And on that note, I'm going to relax with Tom and plan out our tour of the big city!

Hope all is well wherever this blog finds you!

xoxo