Winter on the Athabasca River

Today was a nice sunny day after two weeks of bad weather. It was time to take Daphne, my camera, and me and go for a walk. I had been down this access road during the summer, but never in the winter. The walking was good! The temperature was mild at -8C or 17.6F for you non bilingual folks. I followed the road about a mile and a half, hoping to see some wildlife. There were lots of tracks, but no critters.

The road came to the river. There was lots of ice floating down with the current. This part of the river never seems to freeze completely.

 Here is more ice floating down along with some shore freeze.

About 2 miles down, I came to an Indigenous Peoples ceremonial site. I must be politically correct and not use the Indian word, even though most of thenatives that I know refer to it themselves.

 We are coming up on the shortest day of the year and here is the sun behind the trees at high noon!

 I stopped following the road at this point because the river was rising and the water was flooding up where the road was. The slush was about a foot deep.

Here is another picture of the ceremonial site. It is being used as there is fresh wood cut and the snow has been cleared. That's all for today. 5 miles of walking and now time for a nap!

You all stay warm!

Oh, Deer!

It was an interesting day with the dogs. We went for a walk in a tree plantation where we normally don't see much. Coming back with two tired and wet dogs, we came across this Whitetail Buck standing on the trail. He saw all of us, but continued to watch.

He watched until the dogs saw him and then he bolted along with a doe that I didn't see.

The dogs are good. They gave chase for about 50 feet and then returned. They have learned by experience that they cannot catch a deer, but it is still fun giving a token chase!

A Walk in the Woods

It is the May long weekend (Victoria day) and a great day to grab my son and two grand kids for a nine kilometer hike. At the start, they had lots of energy.

 Note the clean condition of the kids and dogs. Pretty shiny, right? The big one is 15 and the littler one is 7.

 After about 7 km, we came across the semi-empty beaver pond. This is the eldest unsticking the youngest and retrieving one rubber boot.

 The dogs didn't sink but I could see this coming. One 6 foot heavy kid didn't last long on the surface.

 It was the slippery, stinking, boot sucking mud. 

 Of course, where big brother goeth, so does little brother.

 It's deep and sticky, and a lot of fun.

 He did get through on his own.

  Daphne did pretty good, and generally stayed on top. 

 Here you can see the tide line on the legs.

Mike and I walked the 9 km and the boys made it on their bikes. Boys aren't boys unless a little mud is involved!

Spring is Finally Here!

The last 4 days have had temperatures in the mid teens, so the snow is going fast! I have been listening to a bunch of geese honking away in the farmers field. Today, I took the dogs for their 5 km walk and thought maybe I would do a sneak on them.

 I guess they were tired and hungry from their long flight and did not seem too concerned about me and two dogs entering their territory.

 They stayed on high alert, continuing to voice their displeasure.

 There were about  a hundred and fifty spread out on the quarter section. I will have to go and sit on the Athabasca River and try for some in flight shots.

This is what we did when we returned home!

The Long Weekend

Today was a very hot day for us at 30C, sunny and humid. I was hankering for a walk in the woods so I grabbed the camera and bear spray and decided to go look for bruin and cub(s)

 My old hunting area showed no bear sign even after walking about a mile down the oil field access road and pipeline right of way.

 There were lots of Indian Paint Brush out

 The only wild life I saw were a bunch of these flies.

And one leech swimming in a pool on the trail.

I decided that our latest acquisition, a pansy orchid needed a picture or two taken of it. They are supposed to hold their flowers for about four weeks and flower two to three times a year. we shall see.

Then we decided to vegetate in the sun and enjoy a good book. Not a bad way to spend some time!

Very Cold Outing!

Today was one of the warmer days over the last 10 days, so I decided that a walk was in order. Looking like the Michelin man all bundled up, I took the two dogs down to a vacant field and turned them loose. They did not seem to mind the -15C  (+5F) temperature and brisk wind.

I did not take a lot of pictures because my hands kept freezing.

Freedom!

Slogging Along

Left Over Cow Parsley

More Cow Parsley

Worn Out Boots!

Worn out Brooklyn!

 Mission Accomplished!