Just because I haven't seen any new pics lately

[tomanique]

These pictures were taken 2 days apart. Got to love springtime in the Lower Mainland

[GREENME@U]

ssssswwwwweeeeeeeeett pics u got there!

[coaxial]

I agree we should have a steady stream of photos here :) this is from the weekend on mt.maxwell, saltspring island. I saw at least 4 other delicas and 2 canters on the island by the way, I was impressed.

Also I saw a photo off this van and although it is not a Delica, I would like to see someone do this to their delica :) (not me though!)

[konadog]

Love those pictures, and the idea of a steady supply of new ones! Here's my latest - Dog waiting for the magic word to commence the Snowden trail ride, and one of Hazel sporting her new bike rack

[sahdot]

I agree we should have a steady stream of photos here :) this is from the weekend on mt.maxwell, saltspring island. I saw at least 4 other delicas and 2 canters on the island by the way, I was impressed.

Coaxial,
I wonder if it was you I saw Sunday the 20th getting on the 9:30 ferry from Crofton to Saltspring? I was getting off the ferry in a dark gray over gray Super Exceed. Don't know if you caught my wave as I didn't see the van that looked to be the same colour as yours until almost past. Just saw a wave out of the corner of my eye. As an aside, I was in a Ganges parking lot yesterday with three other Delicas. Moved to another lot up island and parked next to another different one. I can think of nine of them as well as a couple of toyota vans on this island of ten thousand people now. Canters and Kei Jidoshu Sambars, Hiaces, and Carrys are everywhere here. I've also seen a Jet Industries' Electravan which looks to be a converted left hand drive Sambar here. We're taking over!

-jim

[coaxial]

Hmm I caught the 1PM ferry from saltspring to tswassen, so possibly! saw & waved at a lot of delicas on the weekend, got a friendly wave from one of the canters too :)

we are taking over, everyone is realizing the superiority of JDM vehicles

[paddlequest]

Good looking van Scott and Joanne! It was great to run into you guys the other day. I guess we will have to get shots of our Deli up too!
Cheers
Dave

[konadog]

Hey Dave and Chris! Great to see you posting. Yep, some pics of your bus and that awesome roof rack would go over big here on the forum, for sure. And your cop story would be much appreciated too! It's a real pleasure to meet some other local delica owners that are enthusiastic about their bus - sadly, (and very strangely!) not all are ... Anyway, looking forward to some pics from you. See you out there!
Scott

[tomanique]

Victoria Day Weekend day trip to Manning Park.



31 degrees(yes Celsius) and Lightening Lakes were still frozen over. So much for renting a canoe!!



Frankendeli and pine beetles(or at least their handywork).



More pine beetle infestation



The ground squirrels stood up and took notice of Frankendeli

[jrman]

Nice photos....and this is a Hijack warning for this thread....but have to tell you that the Mountain Pine Beetle (MPB) is a native species to our forests and has nothing to do with Asia. The current epidemic is caused by the "perfect" storm of conditions, there is a variety of factors, but most notably;

1 - aggressive forest fire fighting post WWII assisting to create the massive food source of over mature Pine.
2 - lack of "cold snap" prior to November 15 (global warming?).

The death of 25% of our commercial timber by 2013 is simply mother nature doing what is expected and to some extent necessary. It may have tragic economic consequences, but it is NOT an ecological tragedy by any means.

Natural forest fire activity creates the reasonably large mono cultures of Lodgepole Pine (fire initiated species - heat from fires opens the cones that have fallen to the ground for years thus renewing the species). These vast areas of Pine have been protected by the timber company's and the Ministry of Forests very aggressively from post WWII till now in order to save the timber for harvesting. These huge areas have become "over mature" - mature generally accepted in Lodgepole Pine as 80 years old. The over mature trees do not have the resources to "pitch out" the beetle - which is pretty much the only defense the trees have as the little beetle bores into the tree.

Even an overnight chill of minus 15-20 in mid October would help keep the beetle population in check - but by December, the beetles have built up their anti freeze defenses and would need minus 30 for 2 weeks to have any significant mortality on the population. We have not had the October cold snaps that used to be common, nor has the interior experienced long enough periods of minus 30 or more in the heart of winter....thus the beetle rampages on.

Its ironic how something so little will end up destroying so much - especially after so much work was put into protecting the timber for the purpose of milling it into finished products. The economic damage to the interior by 2015 will be massive.

Animated map of MPB infestation since 1950 at;
http://cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/subsite/mpb/hist ... historique

Additional info at;
http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfp/mountain_pine_beetle/#info

[tomanique]

Thanks Sean.

Delica.ca for me is now a cool AND educational site. I only assumed (or maybe heard somewhere) that the pine beetles came as a foreign species from Asia, much like the zebra mussel. But I stand corrected and have edited my post above to reflect my new found knowledge.

At least I had the right species of rodent (Columbian Ground Squirrel to be exact). I did overhear woman exclaim to her boyfriend "Oh look! Ferrets!"

As for your idea of global warming nonsense, that's purely speculative. It's always in the 30's by May isn't it?

[jrman]

Totally agree....everything is speculative!!!! We are just riding along on this great big blue ball - and not to minimize our ability to impact our environment, but surely Mother Nature will be here long after we are a distant memory. Anyway - back to the original intention of this post....lots of photos....sadly I have nothing recent...will change that soon and post accordingly!
All the best.

[rdub]

Sunny sunny days. What a wicked weekend,we were in White Rock on Friday eve and there was a small car show going on in the park,
as i was driving by i saw a space to slide the Deli in for some photo opps,these guys were PISSED. but what ever ,the gate was opened ,we rolled in took some photos,with a few questions asked buy the none pissed leather jacket,Daton struton crowed and off we went.

[jwfchase]

Hee hee hee, nice one RDub!

[tomanique]

Hey RDub!

That's hilarious, great pics.

Tom