The snow was just about gone. Lots of coyotes on my trail camera this winter.

Not long afterwards, the tree swallows arrived. I loved watching them raise their family last year.

At this time of year I occasionally see pine grosbeaks at my feeder. They are nearly as big as blackbirds.

First green leaves. Mid April so quite early.

We’d had a month of summer-like weather, and a friend came and helped plant the garden.

But of course it immediately turned cold.

I lucked out on another volunteer. Nuk Tessli ask their volunteers if they would like to stay with me before or after their stint in the mountains, and Julia came for a week. I took advantage of her to collect some horse manure for next year’s compost.

While Julia was with me, the Tatla school put on Snow White. They did a fantastic job. My neighbour’s daughter, Wren, was the wicked queen and she was totally excellent.

Unfortunately, the music teacher has been let go due to lack of funds and we won’t get any plays for a while.

Then Julia had to leave for Nuk Tessli on a cold, miserable day.

The swallows started nest building.

But this is the last picture I have of them. A couple of days later there was a lot of agitated squawking. Then silence. Two more days and I found a dead adult nearby. I doubt the cat would have got it as the swallows never go on the ground. It was probably a weasel. Squirrels are terrible at raiding eggs and baby birds but the hole is too small for them. I took the box down after a couple of weeks and found a nest and a single broken egg inside. The season here is too short for a second brood.