Archive for the ‘Wild Nature’ Category

Q: Does a bear poop in the woods?

Sunday, September 13th, 2009

A: Yes, and so can you! Okay, you're probably thinking I've totally flipped out, if you didn't already think this after some of my previous entries about mouse turds, including "The mystery of the dead animal in my living room," and the moving song "Blue turd on my window sill." But the ...

What, more cows!?

Wednesday, September 9th, 2009

It's been a while since I wrote about some mysterious winter visitors that I thought could be wild horses. A friend had recently told me about encountering wild horses near Merritt in the 60s, and the idea of wild horses is very romantic, so I guess I wanted the creatures ...

Live entertainment from the Monkey Valley porch

Monday, September 7th, 2009

Moose in the meadow Last Saturday morning I was sitting on the porch having tea and brekkie, looking out over the creek now and then but mostly reading a good mystery novel. I heard some splashing sounds to my left, and looked up. Lo and behold, a young male moose emerged ...

Madame Moose strides again

Tuesday, August 18th, 2009

On a run at Monkey Valley recently, a magical thing happened. I was running up the road, and saw a magnificent female moose in the meadow beside the road. She saw me too, we looked at each other for a little, and then she moved away up the hill. I felt awe ...

Black bear safe from exhaust fumes

Sunday, August 9th, 2009

Good news! I wrote previously about the trail expansion on the Twin Bridges trail and my concern that regular vehicle traffic would be permitted on my favourite running trail, disturbing a magical pocket of wilderness and the creatures who live there, including the black bear I spotted on my run ...

Wild Vancouver nights

Thursday, July 23rd, 2009

Last night I went for another run and skinny dip in the Seymour River. This time I went down the Twin Bridges trail, which is closed for trail work. I felt worried as I ran down the trail and saw that they are widening it and gravelling it. The sign ...

Blue turd on the window sill

Thursday, June 25th, 2009

A recent discovery at Monkey Valley inspired me to write this homage to John Denver: Blue turd on the counter makes me happy Blue turds in my bed can make me cry Blue turd means the mouse has found the poison Blue turd means the mouse is going to die I was very moved by ...

Wild women run with bears

Monday, May 11th, 2009

The absolute best thing about Monkey Valley is running with the bears. (The worst thing is the cell reception, but I won't go into that now.) It has not happened often that I've had the chance to run with bears here—only a few times in nine years—but it happened today. I ...

Winter visitors

Wednesday, April 8th, 2009

I just got back from Monkey Valley, where I had a chance to find out how the place fared for the winter. I found evidence of some horses (or so I thought) in the yard, and the corpse of a tiny shrew in the power room. Other than that, no ...

Wascally weasel!

Tuesday, February 24th, 2009

One of the things I love about Monkey Valley, which goes hand-in-hand with the stillness, is the presence of wild animals. Being so far away from people and their noise means being out where the animals live. Having an encounter with a wild animal is a special gift that sometimes happens ...