Saturday, January 29, 2022

Back Home Again

Well, the shadows are back here in Meaford.  There isn't much new to report other than the continuing snow and cold temperatures.  We get a little snow every few days, and tonight there's an extreme cold weather alert with wind chills forecast to take the mercury down to near -30C.  My caregiver this morning said her car thermometer read -31C!  Seems like a pretty typical January to me!

We did have a bright sunny day yesterday, and it was glorious, even though the sun wasn't enough to raise the temperature much.  It did bring the shadows of the trees back for awhile and the sun is back today.

And those trees were outlined against a totally blue sky.

The view out back was beautiful, making me think of the next season to come.

But there's enough snow that our heron is still behaving like an ostrich.

Just as a reminder, our heron still had his head (mostly) above the snow only 6 days ago.

Just 24 hours before the bright sunny photos above, this was the view out back, with the snow coming down heavily.  We haven't had as much snow as some years, but it's plenty to make you feel that it's winter, and the continuous below freezing weather has been great for outdoor rinks and cross-country ski trails.

Not much else to report on here, but I'll see what I can come up with to keep you amused.  I've been stuck at home with a skin infection for longer than I'd like, missing both physio and church for several weeks now.  And our coffee group can't meet because of the current covid rules.  Hopefully that will end next week, and I am starting to feel better.  In fact I'm keeping happily busy with reading and writing as well as doing all my exercises.

I've just been looking back at posts from the past, and found we had a squirrel invasion 4 years ago on this date.  We had 6 squirrels clustered around the bird feeder at once!  In comparison I don't think I've seen a single squirrel for three weeks this year.  I have hardly seen a single bird in the yard either; it's a dull time of year for wildlife.

So I hope you're enjoying whatever weather the winter season is bringing you as we approach Groundhog Day and Candlemas next week.  Now only four days away, these festivals traditionally mark the middle of winter, 40 days after Christmas, on Feb. 2nd.  Hope that the groundhog does not see its shadow!







14 comments:

  1. The heron is a good indicator for snow depth, Mrs F.G., I have seen some quilters use their rulers to measure the outdoor stuff, hoping the plastic does not get too brittle in the extreme cold. -31 C, colder than at anytime down here anywhere in NZ. In 1995, on 3rd July, -21.6C was recorded at Ophir in Central Otago. In 1903 a -25.6 was recorded, in Ranfurly, but we cannot equal yours..

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  2. I actually saw a couple of squirrels this morning but have seen few birds around except Starlings, Sparrows , and a few Woodpeckers. Let's hope it is cloudy on Tuesday.

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  3. I haven’t seen birds around here for a week or more. It’s been to windy to leave the feeder out. We are coming up on the middle of winter! Yay!

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  4. We've had several milder than average winters here in Ontario so this "normal" one is driving folks crazy isn't it? I've lost count of the -30 days here East of Algonquin. Last year we had only two, the year before only one. We haven't got a lot of snow though, maybe a foot tops.

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  5. Your weather sounds a bit like ours here but not nearly as cold.

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  6. The winter just continues. We actually got above freezing today but it didn't melt anything. The sun does make things more tolerable. Your photos tell it all with sunny days and snow storms. We keep jumping up and down on our temps. Stay busy and I hope comfortable.

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  7. When it's really chilly gray squirrels stay holed up as long as they can,often for several days at a time. The ones in our yard haven't been seen in several days. But these crisp cold days certainly are beautiful.

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  8. Snow is so beautiful. We had some down here last year. Almost shut down our power grid. We were without power for 5 days. Camped at our son's home as he did not lose power. Hope old photos and memories can make the cold days pass more quickly.

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  10. When it's minus 30 C and we're retired we just have to hunker down and stay inside.

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  11. Good thing your heron likes snow!
    Pretty pictures of the snow in sunshine. But brrrrr!

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  12. Love seeing the shadows on the snow, it's so pretty. And I'm glad you are getting better every day. I sure did enjoy going to Iceland with you! :-)

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  13. I like that last photo. The problem with days that produce those shadows in January is that they are invariably very cold. It is dull here this morning which means that it isn’t as cold. But it could be windy (I don’t know if it is) which can be miserable.

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  14. you have been having really lovely views, the snow falling is my favorite. we have been having extreme low temperatures here too, extreme for us!!

    i am really enjoying the snow, but it has been too cold for me to go out. i am enjoying the view from my window too!!

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