Winter Birds!

I've actually been worried about how few birds are passing by our feeders this winter, so I was delighted to see a number of birds fluttering around the feeders when I passed through the kitchen later in the morning.  There were several Chickadees and Goldfinch, and at least one each of White-breasted Nuthatch and Red-breasted Nuthatch.

My first good shot was of a Chickadee and a White-breasted Nuthatch.

The Nuthatch kept moving down and the Chickadee quickly flew away.  There's obviously a goldfinch on the opposite side of the feeder too.

The Goldfinch will occupy a perch and simply keep eating.  Chickadees pick up an individual seed and carry it away to hammer it open.

One flew in in spite of the Goldfinch sitting there,

but the Chickadee was soon just hanging off the bottom of the feeder.  Never-the-less, I am encouraged with the prospect of winter avian visitors.

A Shattering Experience!

At physio last week I was greeted by this friendly skeleton!  Well, the skeleton is there every week, but this time he had a friendly Santa hat on.  Enough to make me smile.

But as I ended my appointment and was getting my coat on, I wasn't smiling at all.  I was just inside the front door when an older lady drove up to park in one of the handicapped spaces right outside.  Except she must have stepped on the gas instead of the brake and crash!  She smashed right into the glass and the door frame shattering the glass which exploded everywhere, and bending the door frame.

Everyone in the clinic came running and an ambulance was called.  It appeared that no-one was hurt, which is the good side, but I fear that someone might lose their license.  In the meantime, I left in the opposite direction.  The physio clinic is attached to the medical clinic here, so I was able to leave by using their door, and my ride was waiting right outside.  It was only after I got home that I realized the police might have wanted to talk to me as a witness.

Beautiful Winter's Day

We got lots more snow overnight, but woke to beautiful sunshine, at least for awhile.  The forecast calls for slightly rising temperatures, a fair bit of sun tomorrow, and a nice winter week ahead.  Looking forward to it, since it's what the weather is supposed to be like at this time of year.

Sure provides for stark shadows, doesn't it!

The Storms Come and Go

The winter weather goes up and down as we know to expect.  We've now gone through a couple of warmer (4-5°) days leading to a big melt, and now the snow and colder temperatures are back!  Wind makes for bad driving (and missed caregiver visits), and today an actual forecast of a blizzard!

On two mornings the sun actually came out, and as the temperature climbed above freezing, the snow started to melt, or more accurately to 'sublimate', simply disappearing into the atmosphere.  You'll notice that the top of our snowstick has been partially exposed in the lower left.

With the sun out, the shadows were back, though they were shadows of fewer trees now that all the ash had been removed last summer.

Then this morning we woke to much colder temperatures and blowing snow.  You could hardly make out the houses across the street.  No caregivers today!

And the living room window, facing north, was plastered with snow, blown against the glass.  You may be able to see in the lower left hand corner that our snowstick has disappeared again.  Meanwhile I'm making the best of my winter hibernation, as I enjoy sitting by the window and dwelling in memories of the summer.

Freezing Rain

The temperatures rose yesterday and the snow began to melt.  Today we have a fine drizzle becoming rain.  It's a fine dance between the temperature and the rainfall, potentially quite treacherous.

Mrs. F.G. is in Owen Sound shipping off our parcel for the kids out west.  With Canada Post on strike everyone is using courier companies, which are therefore overwhelmingly busy.  The deadline is Friday, so we're a few days early, but we'll still be crossing our fingers.

Continuing Snow

The snow hasn't stopped since last Thursday, so the plows have been out a lot!  But then the sun came out yesterday and we had a beautiful 2 hours.  I got out to my Thursday lunch and quite enjoyed it, though they pulled the transport van off the road at 2 o'clock, so I came home early.

This is Wednesday, after 5 straight days with at least some snowfall.  The snow stick is under that hump of snow on the left, beside the deck.

But Friday morning was glorious!  Bright sun and blue skies, though snow returned by the afternoon.

In the original snowstorm the snow had been blowing from the west, so the trees still had stripes of white.

And the shadows are back, though we are missing several ash trees that were cut down in the summer.

Eagle Summit Nature Reserve

I learned just a few days ago that the Bruce Trail Conservancy is acquiring a property they are naming 'Eagle Summit'.  It's a prominent landmark along the escarpment where it dips down to the bottom of the Beaver Valley, featuring a high rocky lookout.  The viewpoint was once on the Bruce Trail, but landowner permission changed and now it's inaccessible.  However, I know the neighbouring landowners so one day nearly 10 years ago I hiked out there.  It will always be 'Vulture Rock' to me, for the number of vuItures I saw when I was out there.  

This is a view of the property from below.  It`s a prominent outcrop on the east side of the valley, just south of the village of Kimberley.  It's almost as prominent as the nearby and much better known Old Baldy, but there`s no trail out to these rocks.

Looking closely at the  highest point, it's a series of rock ledges, unlike the tall vertical cliffs of Old Baldy, but providing an even better view!

Just north of this property a huge rockfall occurred about 10 years ago, when one of the dolostone fissures gave way.  This is on Conservation Authority land.

Looking down on the rockfall from above you can see that the broken off pieces of rocks are white more than gray, and several were car-size chunks.

Standing in one place you can look north and south to get a spectacular view of the valley.  This is the view north with the bottom of the old Talisman ski runs just visible on the left, and the village of Kimberley along the road but hidden among trees, just left of centre..

And this is the view south (or southwest).  The slopes of the Beaver Valley Ski Club are obvious and you can just pick out the Bowles Hill Road, curving up the steep slope, to the left of the ski runs..

I was standing at Turkey Vulture height; they glided past or below me.  'Eagle Summit' is of course just a fund-raising name; I think it would have been better labelled 'Vulture Rock'!