I think I might have mentioned, several times, that we have an enormous number of stellar sea lions in our neighbourhood these days. There is every indication that there is a ton of food in the waters for them and that bodes well for a good herring spawn this coming spring. Hundreds of the sea lions continue to swim past our window during the day, barking and coughing as they travel by.

I don’t have a picture to prove it, but we saw another nature channel first this week. One of the sea lions swimming under our window had a giant number spray painted on his back. Apparently, in the 90’s, two researchers began a study on the travelling habits of the stellar sea lions. They tagged seal pups and followed their lives. The study isn’t interested in my sighting because I was too surprised to take a picture, but I was able to track his number (X76) and it indicates he was born in the summer of 2000, and was tagged July 3rd on Sugar Loaf Island, in the Barren Islands, Gulf of Alaska.

Our long to-do list has come to a roaring halt because it is freezing outside and snowing as well. With the generator up and working and safe in its temporary home we are not eager to be outside any longer than absolutely necessary.

After the removal of the batteries from our bathroom, it became apparent last night that E needed to demousify (is that a word?) the utility cupboard. It was a simple job today to seal potential exposures but it took more time outside than E would have liked, brrrrr. Hopefully, our dogs will no longer be entertained with a little critter running past them in the living room like they were last night. We have plenty of traps available for just such an emergency and am confident we caught the ingress promptly.

There is good news on the Camelia front. Remember when I told you that the plum tree hadn’t given us plums for years so we took it down and moved a Camelia to its spot in the garden. The Camelia hadn’t flowered in years so I had every hope it would thrive in the plum’s spot in the garden. I am happy to report that the Camelia is covered in buds.

For a pleasant diversion, I have begun to dream about the summer garden and browse the seed catalogues. It is worth looking at the different suppliers, as there is quite the range in prices. I ended up ordering from three different suppliers last year but mostly from William Dam. For example Tango celery seeds (or equivalant) are $3.95 at William Dam seeds, $4.40 at Vesey seeds and $6.49 at West Coast.

Last summer, for the first time, I tried my hand at growing brussels sprouts. Not for us so much, but for our kids who apparently like them. Our vegetable supply was running low today so, in a desperate search for green vegetables, I braved the cold temperature and headed up to the garden. I had to shake the snow off the plants but was able to harvest enough brussel sprouts for our dinner. I will definitely grow them again next summer if I can harvest fresh greens in the middle of December. They didn’t taste anything at all like the sprouts I was fed in my youth. These ones were small but sweet.

Every day, I

learn something new