Back Country Sightings

We drove out to Houston yesterday for shopping and a chiropractors appointment for me. We have a half hour trip to the main highway and on the way out we saw 3 black bears, 1 moose and a coyote and on the return we saw five bear some of which were a mom and three tiny cubs. Those were the fun sightings.

The not so fun sighting was a black fly that took sight of me as I nipped out to tell Dave he had a phone call, about 30secs, I did not bother to put on my anti-bug hat and I paid the price. I have two black fly bites on my head that were all bloody and now are oozing and sticking up my hair. My husband can stay out all day and although he gets bothered by the bugs they don't bite. I have been taking B Vitamins for over a year as that is what the logging companies recommend to the staff that go into the bush but I think they just make me more tasty.

Today is lovely and I feel I should be out in it but it is not fun to have to be either covered completely or have Deep Woods Off in a thick layer all over and I would still have to wear the bug hat and I feel guilty for staying in doors.  Trouble is if I don't feel guilty for that I am sure my psyche will find something else for me to feel guilty about.

Eternally crass

This is a Google Earth picture of our village. To the right is the huge Babine Lake but there are three lakes at the back of the village about 2km or 1 mile into the bush from our place. I have drawn a line from where we live to the lake that Dave and Sid have just left to fish for trout.

It is only accessible by ATV and is a really bumpy ride. There are three lakes there. The one they have gone to this morning is called Skinhead and very close to it and just north is called Bonehead and the tiny one to its right is called P…..head, I will leave that to your imagination.

Who else but a bunch of insensitive men could have come up with names that will go into eternity to represent what my husband has told me are incredibly beautiful wilderness spots. Surely they could have thought of something else.

Got the new name Dave's suggestion

Well after much pondering I lent back from my computer chair and asked Dave what he suggested and he came up with it right away. Back Country Ponderer which is neat because it includes BC in the title and will fit just about anywhere in BC should we move. I purloined the photo and made a few changes. Hope you like it.

Help me out with some ideas

When we first moved here we were told we lived in the northern Cariboo region of BC and there was even a sign to that effect on the way to the village, however the sign is now removed because it appears we are not part of the Cariboo. We are classed as Northern BC or to be more precise the Bulkely-Stikine area. We are approximately 200 miles or 322 km inland from the bottom of the Alaska pan handle. Weatherwise we are on the cusp of three different weather patterns which makes it difficult to judge what our weather will be when we listen to the reports as it depends largely on which way the wind is blowing.

So the problem is I want to change my blog name to something else since I am no longer pondering in the Cariboo. I will not change my actual blog address "www.caribooponderer.com"  though as that would be problematic. It probably wasn't a good idea to give the blog a name that bears a region anyway as we may move in the future although when we came here we thought this was the last stop before the crematorium.

Right now I am not inspired beyond Berni's Blog  I wondered if anyone who reads this blog on a regular basis and has got to know me just a little would have anything to suggest that would fit. Since I am changing so many things and if it will not confuse Joan too much (joking) I thought this would be a good time. What do you think?

Well that's a weight of my mind

Excerpts from More evidence that overweight is the healthiest weight

A large-scale study confirms that a little overweight won't hurt you. This one analyzed "11,326 adults in Canada over a 12-year period using data from the National Population Health Survey."

This study found the advantage extending to a much larger age range. The population studied here was age 25 and older.

The most salient finding of this study was that the most unhealthy weight was one that produced a BMI under 18.5. People with that weight were 73% more likely to die than people with a normal BMI.

People with a BMI of 25-30 were 17% less likely to die than people with a normal weight. Even those classified officially as "obese," people with a BMI of 30-35, had a 5% lower risk of death than normal people.

Only those who were seriously obese, with a BMI was greater than 35, had a greater risk of death than normal, but that risk was only one half the risk the skinnies ran--36% as opposed to 73%.

The researchers who discovered this are falling all over themselves arguing the public should ignore their results and continue to fear fat. Obviously they are influenced by their religious belief that Fat Is Bad.

Since over 12 years, the overweight and modestly obese people in this large sample were outliving the others, you have to wonder why the researchers didn't do some sub-analyses to see how many of these longer living folk had diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure. Or, more importantly, whether they had been diagnosed with these conditions but had them under control. One almost wonders if these sub-analyses were done but turned up facts so incongruent with their religious belief the researchers dismissed them as impossible.

My own experience over the years has also been that the thin and often vegan people my region are the people most likely to get fatal cancers at young ages. I don't know if that is because the defects in their genes that make them susceptible to cancer also keep them from putting on weight and incline them towards the diets they prefer or what. But you have to wonder now that two major epidemiological studies have shown that thin kills.

As a final note: many of those who contact me are very worried because, while they can take off some weight eating a low carb diet and watching their blood sugars, their weight stalls above the normal range and their doctors continue to assure them that they'd be healthier if they could only lose that last, resistant 20 or 30 lbs.

This study suggests very strongly that their bodies know something their doctors do not and that the weight at which you stall after a serious diet effort that includes blood sugar control may very well be the healthiest weight for you.

Reuters: A few extra pounds can add years to your life: study

More Evidence That Overweight is The Healthiest Weight

Losing weight kills older folks

Anyone know what these flowers are

I know these are a bit crushed however I wonder if anyone knows what they are.

Hubby wanted to go for a drive into the bush looking for a possible wood source the other day. So I grabbed the chance to go with him in order to get out of the house. We went about 20km into the bush and we saw a lot of wild flowers starting to come out. I think the white ones are a wild Baby’s Breath but the other two I don’t know.
The red and yellow one has a long stalk and there are about 20 to a plant. The yellow one with petals likes to grow on burned areas and are in great masses.
It won’t be long before the wild Shasta daisies, purple lupine, dark blue centaurus and pink fireweed will be out. Then we will have a riot of colour.

Look at my thrift store finds

I went into Houston last week for my chiropractors appointment  and as always I took time to browse the thrift store.

These are a brand new pair of jeans $5, size 10 can you believe, I almost passed them by but thought they looked too big for a 10 so tried them on and they fit perfectly. They must be sized incorrectly and someone bought them without trying them on and that is how they ended in the thrift store.

The other is a little cardigan style jacket made in ribbed T-shirt material almost brand new for $3. That is sized M which could be correct at a stretch. Get it! Ha Ha

I have to try everything on these days but an outfit for $8 is worth it. I will wear it with a short ribbed T-shirt under the jacket.

Now I will have to create some dangly earrings to go with it. Possibly a necklace but I rarely wear them. I never wear rings either not even my wedding ring. They just seem to get in my way.

Sure can't seeum but can sure feelum

The tiny no-seeum bugs must have just hatched because a whole bunch of them just crawled through the nets on one side of the living room and started biting. So we have had to close all the windows and spray the place. Now I hope it doesn't get too hot because I can't open the windows for the next few days until this hatch dies off. We haven't had a problem for a few years but about four years ago there was a hatch that flew through the nets in the back bedroom and when I eventually found them and sprayed there was a heap about a half inch deep and the full length of the window.