Lots of things going on around here these days:

• First Swainson's Thrushes calling in the evening. Haunting, delicate call which you can hear here.
  
  
• Salmonberries are ripe and being eaten. Looks like a good year for them. Thimble berry blossoms are thick on the bushes and promise a better than average harvest this year. Huckleberry looks average, and salal looks good but if it gets really dry again this summer, they may not get as big and juicy as they are able to.
  
  
• Western Tent caterpillars, which had invaded the west side of the island last year have moved over here and are eating foliage on the alders, ash and cherry trees. Not as bad an infestation as last year on the west side, but we hardly had any over here last spring.
  
  
• No carpenter ants in our house so far (knock on what's left of the wood). I think I found their lair last summer and drenched it with water, probably drowning the queen.
  
  
• Lots of development along Miller Road. A large stand of alders has been completely clear cut for Abbeyfield House, which after many years of planning and fundraising, is now beginning construction. Further along there is a new house being put up three doors down from us. Our neighbour two doors down, Gord, is in the process of tearing down his cottage and building something new. He's is one of the hardest working men I've ever met. Our next door neighbours, Brock and Kim are blasting some rock today to build out their driveway a little. The piles on our house shake every time the bedrock trembles.
  
  
• And finally, it looks like we are in for a very dry summer again. Several days this week it has threatened rain, but it's almost as if the sky has forgotten how to drench us. With summer drought and aumtumn deluges, we're becoming more and more like California every year.