The Red Squirrel

Although I'm only seeing a few birds, the Red Squirrel that lives under our shed keeps me amused.  It usually emerges once or twice a day to race back and forth up and down the tree trunks and through the tree branches.  The Red Squirrel, Tamiasciurus hudsonicus, doesn't hibernate, so it's active all winter, though it may hide away in a warm nest eating its winter cache of food or sleeping a lot of the time.

The peak of our shed is one of its favourite perches, I presume watching out for predators.  It will sit here for a full minute or two.

But once it's on the move it will race up and down the tree trunks, only pausing occasionally when I may get a lucky photograph.

There were numerous discards before I got this shot of the squirrel actually on the move.

And this is its highway, a network of branches where it can find horizontal stretches before leaping to the next safe spot.  I've watched it go all across the yard and disappear to the east, and then come back again without ever slowing down.  It doesn't seem to travel in the deep light fluffy snow we have on the ground currently.

It does pause occasionally.

Yesterday it was exploring our shed, by all appearances looking for a way in.  We've watched it go under the shed at the back corner, but so far I don't think it's found a way inside.  At the last house a Red squirrel raised a litter of four young inside the shed.

I hope this one is enjoying his chances to run around in the sky, they only have a very short life span.  Only 22% make it to one year, but I suspect that this one, with few predators inside the town, and a good hiding spot may be luckier than that.  By the way, female Red Squirrels are totally promiscuous, mating with as many males as they can find, though only on one or two days a year.  

Blizzard and snow squalls here today, but at least it's light fluffy snow.

A Few Winter Birds

 Yes, it's been a very few birds this winter, just a handful of Chickadees, the Nuthatches, and the occasional woodpecker.  Even the Goldfinch, who we've seen lots of the past couple of years, have only been rare visitors.  But here's what I've been able to gather, with a lot of cropping.  Sure shows the value of a good lens compared to an iphone!  I've been very pleased to be able to successfully use my big old Nikon and handhold it to get these.

The most unusual visitor for me has been the Red-bellied Woodpecker, a bird I'd never seen at all until last year.  It doesn't come very often, but when it does it's nice to see it.

This is my little flock of Chickadees, sometimes a few more, but they typically travel in a small group like this over the winter before disappearing in the summer to breed.

They fly quickly back and forth between the feeder and  te spruce tree, in their bouncing flight that's easy to recognize.

This is a terrible photo of the White-breasted Nuthatch, but at least it does show it in its typical upside-down pose that makes it so easy to recognize.

The nuthatch in its natural habitat, a tree!  These nuthatches typically follow along with a group of Chickadees over the winter.  I almost always see them together.

Finally, a terrible picture, but it's the best I've got to show the visiting Downy  Woodpecker.

I've been trying to capture the snow sparkles, these from yesterday's sunny day.  They almost never show up in a picture, but this heavily cropped photo does reveal them, even if it's a little blurry.

Today our winter weather has returned with blowing snow under a Wind Advisory.  We were surprised my PSW got here.  It looks like we're in for a long stretch of cold and snow, but that is typical for the middle of February. 

Another Winter Ski - from 2016

I watched two young women ski across the golf course here yesterday and it got me thinking about my own past cross-country ski adventures.  My favourite trails were the Glenelg Highlands trails which are extensive enough that I only skiid one part of the trails on any one visit.  These are the trails on one of the associated private properties involved in the club.

The trail starts across an open field and as you can see, it's well groomed.  In crisp winter weather like we have right now, it makes for perfect ski conditions. 

You're soon into the woods, and crossing the shadows of all the tall deciduous trees.

At one point the trail runs along the edge of fields to the east, with long lines of fences, and tall Sugar Maples marking the edge of the woods.

At this point a major snowmobile trail passes close by.  Snowmobiles are a big part of rural winter life up here, and as far as I've seen snowmobilers and skiers get along fine.  Snowmobiles are of course used to groom the ski trails.  Further south I've heard of snowmobilers damaging crops, not realizing that the winter wheat is coming up beneath the snow cover, but up here many of the snowmobilers are from farm families themselves and they know enough to stick to the designated trails.

After a few wiggles, I get to the Long Piney Woods trail, between two well-trimmed rows of pines planted quite a few years back.  If you get going well at the crest of the trail you can run down all the way and out into the open.  Exhilarating!

Then it's back to the open field, along past the summer beehives, and out to the car.  My usual ski would be a lot longer than this post; it usually took me an hour or more.

Imbolc, Candelmas or Groundhog Day - Take Your Pick!

Since written records exist, societies, at least Western societies, have celebrated the beginning of February as a turning point in the year.  Winter is half over, days are longer, the sun is higher in the sky, and at least here, we're much more likely to get those blessed sunny days.  

Held on Feb. 1st, Imbolc is the ancient Celtic festival marking the coming of early spring, often celebrated as St. Brigid's Day.  Brigid was a Celtic goddess, adopted as an early Catholic Saint, one of Ireland's three patron Saints.  The 'real' Brigid was said to have studied under St. Patrick.  Imbolc has been associated with both lambing season and spring sowing of crops in Ireland and Scotland.

Candlemas is a largely separate Christian holiday celebrated on Feb. 2nd.  It too goes back to ancient times, and is said to have its origin in celebrating the return of light.  I only have to turn and look out my window to see how February's light is so much brighter than the dull days of January!  Both of these holidays may have origins in the Roman holiday Februalia. from which of course we get the modern month of February.

As for the modern Groundhog Day, in Pennsylvania this started as a newspaper stunt in Punxatawney, later picked up here in Wiarton and in Shubenecadie, Nova Scotia.  But it may have its Punxatawney origin, in Pensylvania Dutch country, in earlier German Candelmas traditions.  At any rate when Wiarton Willie appeared the other day, he did not see his shadow, so predicting an early spring, you'll be glad to hear!

Wiarton Willie, Ontario's famous albino weather prognosticator.

As for me, I just took a moment to rejoice at the bright February sunshine, three days in a row now!

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Yesterday was a bone scan test in Owen Sound, we thought it would be a quick half-hour appointment.  And it was, until they said, 'You''ll have to come back for part two of the test this afternoon.'  What with delays and driving, it turned into a whole day of going back and forth.  We were both exhausted.

It's February!

I always think that winter is half over by now, and it will be in a couple of days.  But more than that, we're well over the hump of day length and winter weather.  The days are so much noticeably longer, and the sun higher in the sky.  The worst of our dull and grey January weather is over.  Though we'll still see winter storms, we're much more likely to get sunny days.  Bring it on!

So I wondered what past February days have been like, and I went back and picked a photo out of the first post every February since this blog started, in late 2010.  Seven were sunny days and the other three were after snow storms.  They all reflect my pre-1918 ability to get out and about.

In 2020 I found a peak snow accumulation.

In 2019 a beautiful view down over the bay as we returned to town.

In 2018 a giant old snow-covered Beech seen on a walk in the woods - two weeks before my fateful heart surgery.

In 2017 it was a walk in the woods, checking out a new Bruce Trail property, the snow cover already disappearing in the strong late winter sun.

In 2016 there were two ships wintering in the Owen Sound harbour, this one beside the grain elevators. We've since learned that this is a fairly popular place for ships to spend the winter monts.

In 2015 another sunny day, and Walters Falls, totally frozen over.

In 2014 the ski slopes at Georgian Peaks, with lots of skiers, unlike this year!

In 2013 another snowy walk in the woods.

And another, in 2012, both of these on snowshoes of course.

Finally some winter shadows in 2011, the first February for this blog.

You can thank Blogger for the inconsistent spacing in this post!

Frosty Morning

 The weather remains cold here, and this morning we woke to frost rather than more snow.  In fact it looks like hoarfrost in the distance.  Of course I can't get out there to get closer pictures, but it was pretty for a couple of hours anyway.

The big maple tree out on the golf course caught my attention first.

The line of pines down the east side of my view was also heavily coated.

Even the small twigs of the trees in our yard were coated and looking white.  It all reminded me of two previous occasions when I've seen really heavy hoarfrost glistening in the sun.  I may dig out pictures of those times to share.

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I'm now reading a great book on the search for Franklin and his ships, Ice Ghosts, by Paul Watson.  I like the writer's style and I'm finding some strongly expressed contradictory perspectives on Arctic exploration that simply make the story more interesting.  Was Franklin really fit to lead that 1845 expedition?  Why didn't Arctic explorers have the common sense to seek help and advice from those who lived there?  Was it British arrogance that decorated our Arctic towns, islands and waterways with names from Victorian England?

It all makes the whole story ever more fascinating.  Watson was actually on the icebreaker CCGS Sir Wilfrid Laurier which led the expedition that found the Erebus.  He tells us the inside story of finding the Terror two years later as well.  Most of the book is devoted to describing the century and a half of searches for Franklin, the story of which Watson brings right up to 2016.  

I've gained the information to write my series of posts on the Arctic from online historical sources.  But there are lots of books on the Arctic and its explorers.  Of all those this is the one I chose to read, and I recommend it to you for a good read.

Zooming and Grow Lights

 Yesterday I delivered my first ever presentation via zoom, for the Thornbury Library.  It was on the waterfalls of the Beaver Valley and Owen Sound area.  We have one of the best collections of waterfalls in the whole province around here.  My talk was recorded by the only other participant, the technician at the library, and will eventually be made available on YouTube, once she's done all the editing.  It went well so I'm thinking of more things like that that I can do.

In the meantime, Mrs. F.G. ordered a set of shelves and some grow lights to go on them, so she can start some seeds.  She used to do this, and I made the original set of grow light shelves, a work of art at the time.  But technology has changed so these shelves will have fancy new LED lights.  Today I put them together with a bit of her help.  I was already half-way done when she took the first picture.

It took a little bit of figuring to decide which post and which clip fitted where, but in the end it went together remarkably well.

Of course that doesn't mean I got the shelves level on the first try.  I had to redo each level at least once!  And doing it in a wheelchair was just a little awkward at times.  Thank goodness I had my seatbelt on!

The little black clips looked fiddly and flimsy, but once they were pushed onto the poles they were secure, and once all levels were on the whole thing was secure.

Then we tried out the wiring to make sure Mrs. F.G. knew how to put it together when she got the whole thing downstairs.

It worked well, but with a really bright weird pink light which is presumably good for plants.

Mrs. F.G. took it downstairs easily (it was quite light and on casters so it could roll around) and got it set up with the lights and seed trays on the first two shelves - looks good.  We're having a rare and very cold sunny day outside.