Roadtrip 2025: July 2022

Maybe some good blogger news coming!

As many bloggers know, the Windows Live Writer blog editor has not been working - at least with Blogger for a long time now. That means we are forced to use the awkward, clumsy Blogger editor.

Having said that, after being forced to use it for months or years now, I have figured out ways to work around the numerous issues and lousy formatting - and now find it 'adequate' at least.

However, the Blogger editor contains one huge obstacle, that cannot be overcome. You must be online to use the editor or to do any updates or additions.

So here's my blogging excuse: All of my recent camping locations have been in completely cell phone and internet-free areas. (And, I no longer have the satellite system I used to have - and Starlink isn't a reasonable option for me at this point) So even though I may be able to find time to blog between kayaking, biking, swimming, eating, happy hour, and enjoying the wildlife and scenery, - because there is no service, I can do nothing! Then, when I get home for a short while, I am too busy doing other things, and blogging gets put on the back burner, and delayed yet again.

If my blog was primarily text based, I could conceivably use any text editor to do the writing, then paste it into Blogger when online. But my blog is primarily photos, with brief descriptions, so that does not work for me :-(

I have done a couple of brief, successful tests of Live Writer, so will try it with the next post, but since I had already taken advantage of some brief internet to upload a lot of photos for this post, I will not risk losing it all, and will continue this post on Blogger.

So, here we are back in mid-June, after ending my time in Prince Albert National Park. Back at home for a bit, the June monsoons seem to have arrived, and the local river predictably began to rise.

The bridge in our local neighbourhood did Ok, but it risked becoming part of a log jam, as lots and lots of full length trees, dead wood, and driftwood came floating downstream.

Below the bridge, some of my neighbours lots were flooded, but I don't think there was any serious damage.

Not so lucky, the county roads on the way to town! Despite my warning the County two years ago in writing, with photos and aerial video, they did nothing to protect this area of the road! Predictably it washed out completely, and predictably the expensive repairs began two days later!

Not quite as bad as the Yellowstone flood damage!

Out hiking in the area one day around home, I spotted this Osprey on the ground. As I approached, it only flew a short distance, and landed on the ground again. I thought perhaps it was a juvenile, waiting for it's parents to feed it, so I left it alone. A day or two later, a neighbour reported the bird still in the area, still on the ground, not moving very far away.

Fortunately, we have a nearby Medicine River Wildlife Centre , so I phoned them for advice. We were able to capture it fairly easily, and we met staff from the centre on the road - the long way around, because our road was still washed out.

When I called to check up on 'Ozzie' the Osprey a few days later, I got the sad news that he had not survived even the first night. They discovered some sort of injury to his chest, and said he had basically starved to death. Sad end for such a beautiful bird.

Hailey was outside one day at home on a supervised squirrel hunt, when I was shocked to see a Red Fox approach to within about 15 feet! Before I could react to protect her, she took off after it and chased it out of the yard! I had to call her off, ha ha. I wouldn't want to tangle with her either!

By late June, the weather forecast looked good in the Revelstoke Lake area of British Columbia, our mortgage was approved to fill the fuel tank (!), so off we went!

We found one of our favourite private free spots to set up camp - and stayed there for a week.

There was still a lot more snow remaining in the high country than usual, and the lake water was not exactly warm, but eventually I managed to get in for regular cool-down swims.