Build It and They Will Come!

I finally got enough get up and go to build a temporary bird feeder. It is set up just outside the patio doors. It's only been up a few days, but has attracted lots of wildlife.

 The blue heron looked regal.

 Wood ducks were present

 Even a Barrow's Golden Eye showed up!

The Canvasback seemed to like the view.

Seriously, this is just wish full thinking with some of the birds that I have carved over the years. We will have to wait and see what real stuff shows up. :-}

Hap Hap Happy Spring!

After several weeks of very nice weather in the plus 10C range, we woke up this morning on the first day of Spring to this!

 The weatherman has been playing some serious jokes on us.

 Yesterday, I saw the first four Canada Geese  flying over. I wouldn't blame them for turning around and going back south.

Happy March 1st !

Normally, when March rolls in, we are thinking of spring being just around the corner. Not so today, or for the next 3 days coming. Dagnabit, I need heat!

Today will be sit on the couch and vegetate day with a good book and the drapes drawn.

 Anybody know a good heat dance?

Wishful Thinking!

An early spring coming soon, I hope!

Update

I sort of took the better part of the week off from blogging, mainly to enjoy a visit from our son, up from Houston, Texas. It was great to see him again.

 In the meantime, things have happened on the Acreage! Apple trees have blossomed, with lots of flowers and hopefully, plenty of apples. We still have the chance of frosts, but hopefully, not this year.

 The lower field is greening up.

The horses are still mainly on hay with about an hour and a half per day in the corral eating green grass.The upper field ( in the background is greening up nicely. It will be the second week in June before they are allowed in there. Can you spot Boots?

 The orchard is doing well and showing lots of promise. Cheap labour was offered and accepted this last week and the gardens were dug and prepared.

 Raspberry bushes were cleaned out and the dead canes removed and the live canes tied up.

 We are even eating fresh tomatoes from the green house. These plants (three) were bought from the nursery and will supply fresh tomatoes until fall.

 The rhubarb patch is almost ready for pies and crumbles.

 Strawberries have been planted and are flowering.

All in all, lots of changes on the acreage!

PS Thanks for not mentioning that the grass needs cutting!

It's Still a'comin

I haven't been posting for the last few days for several reasons. 1. I got hit with the Man Flu. 2.It's been miserable outside, with temps going down to -8C and highs of +2C. However, there are some improvements outside. A couple of really good days into the double digits, removed a lot of snow!

The paddock is getting close to being usable. 

The lower pasture is getting clear.

 The horses although being confined at the moment are reaching over and nibbling at a little bit of green along the fence line. Their motto appears to be "If it looks like it might be greenish, eat it!"

 The garden and orchard, on the other hand, likely will be a while longer before it clears up.

Tomorrow, Wednesday, the temps go back up to double digits, and hopefully, the snow will be totally gone by the weekend. It will still be 6 weeks before anything can be planted ( if we are lucky).

We here in Alberta have to consider ourselves lucky in that the big dump (15 cm) of snow that hit parts of eastern Alberta and Saskatchewan, missed us!

A Hint of Spring

This is what I had prepared to post prior to the 25 cm dump of snow we got. (See previous post)

A trip to the Athabasca River today showed that , yes, ducks have returned, why I don't know!

 The river was flowing pretty good for this early, but no where near flood stage. That normally happens in August when the mountain glaciers really start melting.

 Lots of little ducks floating around.

 Houston, we have lift off!

 There was a hint that a heron had also returned.

 There were lots of geese on the sandbar out front, but they were in the brush squawking and choosing mates. The ones that were flying were going down the back channel, out of camera range.

Two Gold Eyes  were indifferent to my presence, up to a point. This goes to show that maybe we will get spring ( we may call it summer) this year.

The dogs are shedding, the horses are shedding and some of the birds are back!
Bring it on!

Here is what we have scheduled for this weekend!

Alerts in effect for Whitecourt, AB

Snowfall Warning

Issued at 10:33 AM MDT Friday 12 April 2013

SUMMARY

Heavy snow beginning tonight.

DETAILS

A low pressure system will develop over Alberta tonight bringing with it a band of heavy snow. Current guidance suggests the band will set up from the Grande Cache region through the Capital region and into areas east of Red Deer. Total snowfall amounts up to 20 cm are possible by Sunday.

They were wrong! We got 25 cm (10 inches) of very wet snow!

Ho Hum!

Yesterday!

 Today!

At Least the dogs are happy!

Once More , Here We Go!

Alerts in effect for Whitecourt, AB

Snowfall Warning

Issued at 3:40 PM MDT Thursday 4 April 2013

SUMMARY

Heavy snow tonight and Friday.

DETAILS

A developing low pressure system will bring heavy snow to parts of Western Alberta and mixed precipitation to parts of Central Alberta. For western parts heavy snow will begin this evening and continue until Friday evening. Accumulations between 10 to 15 centimetres are expected with locally higher amounts possible. In parts of Central Alberta precipitation will begin as rain this evening before changing to patchy freezing rain as the overnight temperatures drop below zero. Freezing rain will then change to snow by Friday morning. These areas will likely receive 5 to 10 centimetres of snow by Friday night.

We are in a band that other folks are saying will produce 20 cm.(8 inches)

Blaahh !!!

Easter Weekend

Happy Resurrection Day to Everybody!

Our youngest son , his wife, and oldest boy are in Uganda on a mission trip. Along with Mad max, we have our youngest grandchild and sister for the next two weeks. So far, all of them are doing great. Noah gets to play with his dog in the snow, and Camryn gets to watch as she is on crutches due to broken bones in her foot

 As you can see, temperatures are great +10C and the snow is going fast! Some might say "Not fast enough"

 Max is big and boisterous and is great at knocking kids over. Shortly after this i had to go and rescue a boot when it came off about 2 feet down. The wet snow ate it.

No, he doesn't have gloves on! His choice.

March 15 Dusting of Snow

 This is the well used trail down to the lower pasture. Time to get out the snowshoes again. Close to 30 cm (12 inches) of snow fell the last two days.

 The driveway was a mess this morning. A trip to town required 4 wheel drive most of the way in and back. No sign of any plows yet in our area. I took that amount off the driveway yesterday.

 My son's truck may be here for a while longer. It is 2 wheel drive.

 I still need to shovel out the trails to the horse area.

 If Brooklyn gets any wider in the back end, I may have to widen the path. Can't have side rub!

She is watching the neighbours closely, just in case there is something interesting going on.

How was your day?

A Week of Great Weather!

With temperatures ranging from +1 to +10 C in the daytime, the snow pack has dropped a lot! Brooklyn can now navigate almost anywhere without sinking or plowing.

 This pile of wood was missed in the big burn, clean-up. It was buried.

 Overall the view looks much the same, but there is only about a foot of hard snow left.

 The sitting rock and climbing -on-horse- rock is starting to make an appearance again.

 The neighbour's horses are out grazing. This is a south facing hillside, so gets a lot more sunlight.

Spring! It's getting closer!