Wet and wild

Bit of a breezy day today out in the Straits and the Narrows. Lots of whitecaps being driven north by the wind. Plenty of sediment being stirred up, and a fair few logs bobbing around. Not a day to be trying to get anywhere fast on the water. Not if you wanted to keep your hull in one piece. Some of those logs weigh over two tons.
Took Dog for a hike in the woods while Wife got our place ready for our two (and Mother in law) to visit from the UK. While crossing Canada we heard lots about the damage done by various beetles to trees, noting that it was an offence to take untreated logs or bark from province to province. Took this photo to show what the larva of these nasty little so and so's have don to the local tree population. On this particular specimen they've chomped rather decorative channels through the inner bark and killed the tree in the process. It's not the only one by any manner of means, within twenty paces of entering this particular patch of woodland I could see at least four or five similarly damaged trees.

Hopefully the recent frosts and snowfalls will cull the culprits so the pest populations won't be as large next year. The forecast is for snow by the weekend, which our kids are looking forward to. Even if it means a hike to Mount Washington to go 'Snow Tubing' which sounds like fun.

Have been busy over the past few days going to various functions and friends houses, so the Novel MSS has been lagging behing schedule a little. Got to work out a game plan for my new job too. There's a lot to be done, and only three of us to make a dent in the tasks at hand. I know there are quite a few challenges to be faced, but I reckon I can crack it if I put my head down and graft.

I haven't looked forward to Christmas and New Year like this since I was a boy. God bless Canada.