City of Totems

Wednesday morning got off to it's usual start of making coffee and sitting down at the computer to review a few favourite news sites and RV blogs. Looking out my office window, I saw the skies were clear and it looked like another beautiful day was in store - and it turned out that way, just about perfect!

After taking Molly and Rylie for their morning walk, I had breakfast and read the morning newspaper. Paulette left to go to her Hand Quilting group for the day so I was left with the muttzo's to guard the home front. I was going to make spaghetti sauce, in our crockpot, so we could have spaghetti for dinner last night - but, I discovered we didn't have any onions! So, I didn't feel like going to the store so early and decided spaghetti would have to wait until today.

In mid-morning, I loaded up the back of my truck with bags full of garbage from our 2 big containers and headed off to the local transfer station with Molly and Rylie. This was Rylie's first trip to the garbage dump and she was quite interested in the goings on there even though she could only see it from the open window in the back seat! I just know she was dying to get out for a better look at all the wonderful stuff there - but, no way!!

The Cowichan Valley is home to the Cowichan Tribe of the Coast Salish Nation

From City of Totems

After Paulette got home about 3:00, I took a run into the Safeway in Duncan to fill the van up with gas. It sure makes a big difference getting the 7 cents a liter discount - that's approximately 30 cents a gallon! When we're home, I always make sure I fill my truck up with diesel at Safeway too. It was a nice afternoon and I had my camera with me, so I decided to take a walk around downtown Duncan and take a few pics.

There are over 80 Totem Poles erected throughout the downtown area


The first thing one notices when walking around downtown Duncan is that there are a lot, and I mean a lot, of Totem Poles. It's no wonder it's called the "City of Totems", as there are over 80 Totem Poles positioned along the sidewalks of the main streets, in parks, in front of buildings, on boulevards and just about anywhere else they can fit one.

These Totem Poles are located at an intersection of the main street in downtown Duncan

From City of Totems

The Cowichan Valley, which includes Duncan, is home to the Cowichan Tribe of the Coast Salish Nation and these Totem Poles are a pictorial record of the Cowichan peoples’ legends and family ancestry.

Just follow the yellow footprints for a Totem Tour

From City of Totems

Duncan, however, has more than just Totem Poles as a claim to fame. It is also home to the "World's Biggest Hockey Stick". This huge hockey stick was shipped to Duncan, by barge, after Expo 86 in Vancouver, B.C. Then it was hooked up to a crane and raised to the top of the Community Centre hockey rink. At night, small lights cover the outside edges of the stick. The stick itself is made out of laminated wood, is 205 feet long and weighs 31 tons.

Some people hate this hockey stick but more seem to love it!

From City of Totems

After walking around Duncan for about 45 minutes, I headed back home. Signing on to my computer to check out a few blogs, I saw that Dee and Jim, after a pretty long haul, sold their condominium today and would soon be free to go ahead with the purchase of their brand new Carriage Cameo 5th wheel.

So, it looks like Dee and Jim will meet their goal of fulltiming in just 25 weeks and 4 days! The countdown is on for real now, so congratulations and the best of luck to both of you.

In yesterday's blog, I talked a bit about the Picasa 3 photo editing program and how to use just one simple technique - I'm Feeling Lucky to improve digital pictures. Al, of The Bayfield Bunch, has used Picasa 3 a lot longer than me and he has demonstrated a few additional functions in his blog today, that are simple to use and can make dramatic improvements to your images. He also explains the steps he uses to edit his pictures using Picasa 3. Judging by his results, Al's process has proven to be an excellent way to really bring digital images to life!