It Is Done!

After about 3 months of work, I declare it done! It started as a rough carved block of Tupelo Gum.

After the feathers were carved in, they were detailed with a wood burning tool

The body started to look not bad after a month or so of burning

Here it is carved, burnt and sealed

The final product, an American Wigeon!

Happy, Happy, Happy!

 Happy New Year to All Out in Blogland!

And an end to 2018!

Welcome to 2019, a new beginning!

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!

Remembering the Acreage

I was poking through some photos and found this one of Tucker, my first horse. She left us at 28 years. She is still on the Acreage, the place she really liked

This fellow came back for 4 years straight. He must have liked my fence post!

Riding with the hounds. There was only Boots and Brooklyn on this trip. Sometimes I had upwards of 10 dogs along. The neighbours dogs seemed to know when I was saddling up and joined in. After 5 hours of riding on the mountain, their butts were dragging

Life Goes On

I just noticed that it has been 3 weeks since my last posting. I wish I could say that things have been too busy around here, but alas, not the case.

It was hunting season and I got out 4 times. I saw 6 deer. 3 were Mule deer and I didn't have a draw. The others were a doe Whitetail and two fawns. I didn't want to in effect kill 3 deer, so I passed

The weather has been miserable, with everything, from rain, to snow, to a mixture and black ice. Not much fun being outdoors in that!

I did spend some time carving in my man cave in the garage. I got this American Wigeon to the paint stage after 3 months. Another month and I may have it finished.

In the meantime, Life Goes On!

Out for a Drive

I came across this immature bald eagle watching a deer carcass. I was hoping he would come down, or fly, but no such luck.

 He was blended in quite well and I didn't see him at first.

 A very regal bird, but still a scavenger.

Also there were lots of Blue Jays

 And a Downey Woodpecker

 The Athabasca River is making ice at a good rate

 The Magpies were settling for left overs.

How Can You Get Mad?

This is a picture of a good dog, sitting patiently for me to play with her, or to be allowed into the kitchen. She is normally not allowed to cross the line.

This is a picture of a not so good dog that likes to show who is boss when it comes to sleeping priorities!

Another First!

I had to run Elaine into Edmonton yesterday, and of course I never go anywhere without my faithful camera. While waiting, I took Daphne for a walk in a grassy area and we found a Jack Rabbit Now you who have these critters as a common occurrence, you are probably saying "So What". Well for me, this a first. He snuck back after Daphne put the run on him, and I snuck back to the car, dropped Daphne off and grabbed my camera. He was very relaxed and let me get fairly close. He is a White Tailed Jack Rabbit.

A Working Day

The garden pumpkins have finally ripened on the kitchen table. The biggest one (15 pounds) was sacrificed  and converted to 4 pies.

 I could not get the edges covered in tinfoil. so the crusts are a little dark.

 After doing the 4 pumpkin pies I decided to advance to my frozen sour cherries. These were cut with a knife and the pits removed. I could have used a little more filling, but, what the heck we now have 2 pies from our own tree.

 I guess I will have to tackle the rest of the pumpkins Saturday.

Another Five Mile Bush Walk

This was at the start of the walk. She was still perky.

Five miles, and no birds or deer to photograph. We did see two Ruffed Grouse, but Daphne spooked them before I could get a shot

 all in all, a good afternoon

Call it Lucky!

We bought these Orchids about 5 years ago and after the initial flowering, nada!

This summer, I got mad and was going to throw it out. Elaine gave an emphatic "No" to that idea.

So, I bought some orchid soil, split the roots, repotted and voila! instant flowers.

 I should have split one of the plants one more time, but I didn't  Anyway, a long story short. Elaine was right and we have flowers for about 5 more weeks. Life is good!

From This........to This

In only two days!

 The Larch, or Tamarack are beautiful

 The access trails are sunny and bright

 Then came the snow!

 It doesn't faze my faithful companion though.

 -3 C, feeling like -10 and she still wants to run! Oh well, only six months till spring!

Bits and Pieces

 I figured that I should maybe post a blog before I forget how! Its been very slow in the great outdoors probably due to the miserable weather. Everybody is in hibernation mode, including me.

My faithful companion is always up for a walk in the woods, or a trip to the Dog Park. Whitecourt is blessed to have a facility as great as Rotary Park! I caught this little guy sitting on a rock wall having breakfast. 

There are still a few Mallards hanging around. If it were me, I would be

in the deep south by now instead of freezing my tail feathers off!

 I have bee adopted by about 6 Blue Jays that are eating my bird seed like its going out of style.
 Then, there is always this guy that figures he should eat for free also. Hopefully the weather improves and I can go farther afield for some photos.