Song for Friday...one for the bees...

 Of course I had to dedicate a song to the new bees around here.

I found this sweet young singer and her sweet song 'Honey Bee'.

Her name is Zee Avi and she's from Malaysia.

 Hope you catch a buzz this weekend!

Where the lilies bloom...

On Tuesday we were lucky enough to go out out on some of the many miles of the Kludahk trail.

The area is not heavily promoted for conservation reasons, mostly to protect sensitive wetlands and has been in the works now for about 25 years.

It is a public trail accessible by logging roads.
 If there is work going on in the area, take caution and let them know.

 Phoebe, rounding up the troops.
So our first stop was to meet in Jordan River at the logging company office.

These areas are restricted and you do not want to mess around on active logging roads.

A big truck piled up with big logs can come around a corner at any time...

Once we were past the working area, it was rough up hill for quite a while until we got to the top of one of the trail heads... this is about 3200 feet above sea level...these areas were logged a few years back.

The most incredible thing is the amount of avalanche lilies!!

When you get up close, there are millions of them...

While I was zooming in on one I spotted this little fella...

Then it was off to the first part of the trail where the first cabin was built...

Yup that's snow still up there!

They call this Tower cabin for the police,hydro, rescue radio tower which sits on the peak.

There's the outhouse...built up high for the depth of the snow in winter...sometimes it can be 14 or 20 feet deep!

The cabin is open to anyone who wants to use it (by donation) and is fully equipped except for food and sleeping gear.

Crutches and snowshoes...what more could a gal want?!

Oh yeah! A bath!

Here's Maywell...

He's one of the pioneers of this area who has cleared, built, cleared more, built more and cleared some more of the many trails and cabins. Along with his friend Phoebe, they have led more than their share of hikes and have been paramount in preserving the area and educating others of the importance of the environment.

Not to mention the stories he has to tell of encounters with cougars, bears, wolves and even a fox or two.

 Fresh bear tracks behind the cabin that day...

The Tower cabin has the most spectacular view point as well as a helicopter pad where we had lunch...

"Any for me?"

This is the San Juan Valley, looking north on Vancouver Island.

Some of the other trails...there are 7 different kinds of blueberries which grow here...they were just coming out in flower though...

On the way down more lilies and wild azaleas...

Stopping for a snack and to listen to the birds...

She'll be coming around the mountain.....

Looking down into the bogs...

Lots of pretty little waterfalls and creeks..

It's good to see some new life from these scarred and ragged hills and to know that there's people out there who will dedicate so much of their time to help commit random acts of conservation.

For more info or to donate to the cause...

http://www.kludahk.com/trail.html

Our newest tenants...

After our visit to the honey farm, we talked to Bob the beekeeper about putting some hives up in our fields. Seems he had lost some places where he used to keep them and needed a new home for several hives.

So Bob and Clayton came up yesterday to clear a spot since the grass is getting quite high now.

After the mow they set up an area with electric fencing to keep bears and other curious critters out...

There's a WHOLE lot of voltage running through these wires...don't get too close!

Powered by a small solar panel...

We had been out all day on a hike so we weren't here when the bees arrived but when we got home we found this...

...and the beautiful humming of thousands of honeybees!

One of our goats has already discovered the electric fence (the hard way!) and is staying far back from the buzz...

Leaf, on the otherhand, is being brave (or stupid) and has yet to discover said fence...

So now we just let them do their thing...

Let it bee!

Now what?

The other day I was cloud gazing and found this beauty...

...some may have thought it a sign of rain but I went and grabbed my camera to take pictures of it's promising silver lining...guess I'm a 'glass half full' kind of gal.

Anyway it got me thinking out on my walk this morning about the changes around us...

This used to be a forest. When they came to plow it down, we were shocked and disappointed in the removal of all the trees and wildlife habitat...

Silver lining?

The new road gave us access by foot instead of vehicle to the 500 acres we walk in everyday. There's nothing better than being able to WALK out the door to take the dog somewhere...before this road was put in, we had to DRIVE to WALK the dog....eerrrgghhhh.

 There was once a forest here too, when we first moved out here 11 years ago. The cutters came in and cleared the land of everything green. It sat brown and grey for a few years until the tree planters came in. It finally began to green up again...

The birds returned...

Then the developers came in and cut down a lot of the trees that had been planted.

New houses and power poles have gone up...

Silver lining?

The developer had to allow a certain amount of the land for public walking trails...It is a five minute walk from the house...Griffin was happy about that. 

There are still lots of birds around.

This huge property used to be a forest as well and then for years it was a dry land log sort. After the log sort was decomissioned, it sat vacant and full of birds and deer and bears.

Then the fences started appearing...

Our access into the woods is getting more and more limited.

 Not sure about the silver lining here....hmmm....at least the fencing is black and stylish?...

I'm hoping there will still be a little hole for us to climb through somewhere in this forest of fencing...

In the mean time...