Archive for the ‘About Monkey Valley’ Category

Bandit: more about the dog from Missezula Lake

Wednesday, November 19th, 2008

A while back I told you the story of the New Year's Eve visitor who resembled a wolf, and scared my friend Dorrie as she was sitting on the porch one evening. I recently went through some boxes and found a picture of the dog, and a thank-you card from ...

Cougars: pistol-packing mama!

Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008

Prior to moving to Monkey Valley I had little exposure to guns. My dad taught me and my sister Kim to shoot a rifle one summer at the family cabin on Knouff Lake. It was fun, shooting at cans on a log. Learning to watch for the kick. But since ...

Cougars: a man, a truck, a dog, and a gun

Monday, October 20th, 2008

When I told people I was moving to Monkey Valley, they inevitably thought I needed a man, a truck, a dog, and a gun. In fact, when I first bought the place, I had the man, Hugh McMillan, and we were getting along pretty good. I bought a pickup truck—a ...

Cougars: fears in the dusk

Sunday, October 19th, 2008

When I first moved to Monkey Valley, my biggest fears were attack by cougars, bears, and humans. I've already documented some of the encounters with humans. Pretty innocuous, and nothing like my late-night imaginings of a Charles Manson-like gang bent on my murder. So it is with cougars. Due to my ...

Holy cow, a visiting vole!

Saturday, October 18th, 2008

The other night I was wakened from a peaceful sleep by a crinkling sound. It's not the first time this has ever happened, but it's been a while. I replayed the sound in my head, and figured it wasn't a human intruder—the sound was too small. It could be a ...

Why Amazon?

Wednesday, October 15th, 2008

You might have noticed that when I refer to a book in my blog I usually include a link to the book on Amazon.ca or Amazon.com. An exception to this is when the book is available from Lost Borders Press. I want to support Meredith Little, who operates Lost Borders Press ...

Roads, signs, and what the heck is Mercury retrograde?

Tuesday, October 14th, 2008

What the heck is Mercury retrograde? On this blog I have been talking about the Four Directions model of noticing how humans are part of nature's cycles. Being in rhythm with these cycles can help us flow through our lives more smoothly. It doesn't make sense to plant a seed ...

Coming home to Monkey Valley – October

Monday, October 13th, 2008

I actually come home to Monkey Valley quite often. Usually, I make two trips a month to Vancouver, which means I get to come home to Monkey Valley twice a month. The previous post gives some background on why I was away so much before the September homecoming. Originally, I began ...

Coming home to Monkey Valley – September

Sunday, October 12th, 2008

On Wednesday, September 10, I came back to Monkey Valley. This might not seem remarkable to you, but it was a very exciting day for me. You see, in November 2006 I went to Vancouver expecting to return to Monkey Valley in a few days. But there was a big snow ...

Is that a wolf?

Thursday, September 25th, 2008

Cowboys, dogs, and dirtbikers: visitors to Monkey Valley You might be noticing that all of these invaders of my privacy are men. Men who break the law and ignore the postings I have put up every 20 to 50 meters around the perimeter of the property. But one time there was ...