Must be Spring!

 Double full circle rainbow over house on February 9! Hopefully it is a sign of spring

She Knows!

 How to Rest. It doesn't seem to matter where. It is all hers!

Wished I could fall asleep as fast as her, and in more than one position

The Path to the Dog Park

 It was pouring rain today with the possibility of snow in the morning, so I took a different way than normal to the dog park. We came across  this young buck Mule Deer (3X3 points), probably a three year old. The dogs saw him, but they are fairly well trained to "stay" while on the leash.

He let us walk right up to him without startling. You can see Missy's head in the picture

All the time I was saying 'stay" to the girls. When he did bolt, they just watched him go with out yanking or pulling on the leashes, All told I saw 9 Mule deer in the Park today, mostly does. I like these impromptu training sessions! 

Great Horned Owl

 I went for a bit of a drive today with my two dogs and lucked into finding a Great Horned Owl! I stopped at a well site and let the dogs run a bit. When I went to leave, the owl flew up out of a ditch, landed in a tree and posed. He then flew down the road a bit and posed again, and again. He was not skittish and let me walk right up to him several times.

Have a great day!

White Tail Deer

 I took a short drive within the Town limits and found a bunch of deer. Not all cooperated, but a few did,

I only captured 2 of the 4 runners as I had to wait for them to be clear of foreground brush

Getting Back to Normal

 After spending a few days in Red Deer, resting up and eating way too much smoked brisket, I decided to take a look in some of my old haunts for whatever critters were around. The only thing I found was a Red Fox, and I only had time for one shot.

The weather has been ranging from -6C to +8C . That should be good enough to get the animals moving and mating. Next week I will try again

The Fall is Great!

 One of my favourite times of the year is fall. The colours are spectacular and the temperatures are comfortable. A person isn't soaked in sweat all the time!

River Trail

In the fall the wildlife is moving around more. With all the colours they are still hard to see. If you are lucky, an ear twitch may give them away

Cow elk with babies

Bull Elk

Mule Deer

The Mulies know how to blend in

Elk Resting

This is the time to enjoy the colors as the first wind will bring the leaves down. For the next 10 days, the night temperatures are forecast to be below 0C, and daytime highs only +3 to +5. The next thing, the colors will be gone and the landscape turned to white!

A Bush Tour Today

It was a bleary and cool day but I thought I would take a drive anyway. I saw some new country and gave the dogs a good run.

The only thing critter wise was a lone Whitetail Deer 

I suspect that I left my camera on a High shutter speed and the Asa was high enough to slightly blur the photos. My bad!

I was in an area that was new to me and had the privilege of driving on about a three km road made of wooden planks. It must have cost a fortune to put in! I The area was bottomless sand , with steep hills so I saw why it was necessary. I did not go to the end.

 

It's Been Too Long!

 I will try to do better!

I guess I am still adapting from the loss of my lifelong companion. There were also a lot of details around that loss that needed handling. Fortunately I think they are mostly done and that I am getting used to the " new normal".

I finally got out and did a little hunting (with the camera, of course).Only one thing showed up and that was a Spruce Grouse. The lighting was difficult but I took the pictures anyway.

Spruce Grouse

Spruce Grouse

Tamarack Turning

Needless to say, after a three mile hike through the bush the dogs were worn out! I have to post an "after" photo of each dog!

Missy

Daphne

Read It and Weep!

 Here is a page depicting the 1946 Cost of Living! In 75 years how did we get to the prices of today?

I am no economist, but I put it down to Compound Interest Charged on loans. For example, my parents bought their house, a three story 3 bedroom home with basement for $1500.00. When I sold it I got $35,000.00 for the house. To buy an equivalent house in 1983, would have cost $40,000.00.

Now if my parents had taken a loan out to buy the house at @7 % interest they would have to get the $35,000 equity out of the house.

Other items affected by CI is the price of food, wages, etc. I would suggest that the buying power of todays wages is comparable to those in 1946.

I remember as a kid, a quarter meant you were rich and could buy a pop, a chocolate bar, and have change for a pocket full of candy.

Items of Interest

 I found this little gem while cleaning up some bookshelves. I suspect someone gave it to Elaine as a birthday present. It is a small booklet full of interesting facts about 1946.

For instance in 1946 the lifespan of a person was 62.9 years! That doesn't seem to me to be a whole lot!

I looked up what it was for Canada for a person born in 2021. For both sexes it turns out the average is 83.0 years with females being 84.7 years.

Not to be outdone by other countries, I Googled and found that Canada the Great, was ranked #16 in UN Countries, behind counties like Hong Kong, Japan, Macao, Switzerland Singapore  plus 11 other countries. The leading countries have almost two years greater life expectancy than us!

What is going on? Is our diet to blame? Obesity, ? We are not behind by much, but we are behind!

 

Vaccinations have wiped out a lot of diseases  and we have gained a lot of years due to modern medicine.

As I keep reading, I will post other items of interest in future blogs

More Cuteness

 

Not one, but two doggie beds, plus a teddy bear! Is this dog getting spoiled? Or what?

She is also part kangaroo to go along with the Lab! Jump onto the chair and then onto the tomato patch. Needless to say, the chairs have been relocated. Fortunately the tomatoes will not be planted till at least June 1

And so, at the end of a day we have a worn out puppy! Not every pup gets a hand made blanket to cuddle on. How can you stay mad at a pup like this?

 

Incoming Canada Geese

 Canada Geese

A Rusty Blackbird

Nesting pair

Our Munchkin is Growing!

 Little Missy is growing like a weed. Daphne has taken over training, like how to play tug-of war, keep away, and how to handle the outdoors! Here are a few pictures of the two of them.