We’ve had the most miserable November and most of December. Rain, snow, thaw, ice rain, snow, rain, ice rain… and grey, grey, grey. In November, one can expect this. But December is usually cooler and more stable.

The first snow came early – this taken on 25 October. It thawed; exposed areas lost it, but shady areas retained it. Despite the excessive mildness, it never completely went away.

The persistent rain and ice rain became a real problem as the ground had already frozen. After one larger fall of about 12 cms, I decided to plow – big mistake. The subsequent rain turned the whole yard into an inch- thick solid skating rink. Even with ice grippers I could not walk on it. A couple of days later it snowed again. The snow did not bond to the ice but did provide a bit more traction. When I next need to plow I will keep the blade off the ground and leave a bit of snow. The following pictures were taken during rare bits of sunshine.

Alder catkins always form at this time of year, ready to get a head start for spring.

A light pillar at sunset, indicating frost crystals in the sky.

One of several coyotes taking selfies in front of my trail camera.

One bright sunny day I drove west to meet friends near the top of the Bella Coola Hill.

There are outhouses in the chain-up area and I ran into a panhandler.

I didn’t realize how practiced he was until I started to drive again, when he took off , flew over my truck , and landed directly onto the road in front of me. Beautiful birds!

Jade often drives the kids to the school bus at the bridge in the morning, then walks the 4 km back. She then reverses the process in the afternoon. She is seen in the distance, Sitka always leads the way. The following picture was taken Dec 8 in the rain….

The fall roundup always misses a few cows. These turned up by my house recently. I had been thinking I should clean up the dead stalks to make the place look tidier, but the animals ate every last scrap. I told the rancher and they came to fetch them.

Because of the incessant gloom, there has been little of note to photograph. Grey day flowed grey day until it was time for the school Christmas concert. Grants have allowed the school to acquire a variety of musical instruments.

And here is Jade plowing. Her ATV is much bigger and stronger than mine, it has power steering and handlebar warmers so is much easier to use.

And that’s about it for winter so far. It did at last get colder a couple of days ago – minus 18C at night and about minus 10C in the afternoon – and it is supposed to stay that way until after Christmas, when it is forecast to warm up and rain again….

In the mean time, this is a typical view from my window, if the mountains can be seen at all.

Happy Solstice.