Only six days between posts, there was excitement around here this morning.
It was about 6:30 and I was in the guest room/Linda's exercise room. I was in front of the east window and noticed the back of an owl in the tree below me. I was off in a panic to get the camera and calling to Pat as I scurried. I was sure he would fly away before I got back. We managed to get some pictures with both of us taking credit for this one although we aren't sure who took it. I managed to hit the window with the lens fully extended which he heard and swivelled to look. How fortuitous.
In profile as well.
It was pretty exciting for me, I have seen Great Horned Owls fly over but I have never had a chance to photograph them and observe them for awhile. This guy/gal was still there when I left 45 minutes or so later.
We were also interested to note that there were about half a dozen Blue Jays in the same tree. The Horned Owl didn't move although it did seem that he was watching them, his head slowly rotating at times.
I love the blue of his back against the rust coloured lichen on the tree.
Very windy here today, a good enough excuse for me to stay inside and sew. A beautiful day yesterday we had our first tea of the season in the veranda.
As I organize my self to do a post I always go back and read the last one I have done. It orients my thoughts and keeps me from repeating myself. It has been a month since my last post. When I started I tried to post weekly and the time between posts has gradually lengthened. I think monthly will be my new norm. The renovating has slowed down and/or it is taking longer.
We were in Saskatoon for Brooke's fourth birthday. It was a great time. She wanted a
"dance party" complete with disco ball and that was what she had. After an hour of many children under the age of five all dance partying I was looking for a calmer place. With foresight we had arranged coffee and a visit elsewhere.
Two hours later Zarchary and Heather hosted the family birthday dinner as Brooke, Ian, Carmen, Heather and I all celebrate our birthdays in March. Another great time and a chance to visit with Heather's family.
Last weekend I was to a quilt retreat with a couple of friends from my new neighbourhood. It has been a number of years since I have done this and it was great. No thought to meals, dishes or anything else that might interfere with me and my sewing machine. We were at Wolfe Creek Circle Square Ranch. Fairly basic accommodation but served some of the best food I have had at a retreat. Too much as usual but I won't go into that.
For quilters only: Shirley of Shirley's Sewing Room demo'd a ruler for pineapple blocks that is the slickest I've seen. I am in awe of the person with the math brain who designed it. I won't go into detail here but if anyone is interested get in touch and I will give you more details. For the Smarter Than you Think crowd it has the little grey square that you can click on with your "smart something" and watch a video about the ruler. I think Clive might be onto something he just didn't choose the right examples for me!
Back to the more general topics.
We have new flooring in the living room and dining room. The old hardwood wasn't too bad but by putting in new floor we were able to do move a furnace duct, fill some holes and do some levelling. I really like the new floor, particularly the texture you get in oak.
Also it might just be my imagination but to my eye the wider boards make the room look wider which is a good thing.
Pat has started on the kitchen counter tops so far so good, they should be done by the time I post again.
We have had some warmer days. There have been moments where I am convinced that spring is on its way. The squirrels have been spotted in one of their favourite spots and there is brown grass visible.
It snowed last night and this is the view from the front step.
Wayne Miskolczi of CBC radio weather fame assures me that the temperatures will warm up and the snow will melt. It just takes a lot longer if you still has a lot of snow cover. Do you think we fit into that category?
I long for the sound of running water, pussy willows and crocuses on the south-facing side of the ravine.
The very cold weekend has come and gone. We were able to do some trip planning and as the title says, some people went out everyday. I was not one of the some.
The group arrived early Thursday afternoon and according to Environment Canada it was to be the best day of the weekend so out we went. It was about -16°C and not much wind. The photographer for the weekend was Trent Watts. Now he admits to a little enhancement of the blue in the sky but I can assure you that it really was an incredible blue. As for the clouds, I don't think I have ever seen them in this configuration. The aurora borealis in cloud to my eye.
The next day dawned colder but brought sun dogs that were incredible! Especially when you are in a warm house marvelling about them through the window.
We all got out on snowshoes again that day, but we stayed on this side of the ravine in the trees. It was in the low minus 20's with wind taking it to the minus 30's.
This photo courtesy of Cathy Watts
Notice the bulkier, warmer coat and pants.
Saturday March 1 broke records. It was -40°C, with the wind chill -51°C. This is where we get to "some went out everyday." Cathy, Trent and Pat were out, Trent and Pat twice. Don, Lynne and I stayed in the house with latte's in hand.
I hope it is safe for me to wax on about winter after having admitted that there are days that I just ignore it. The winter landscape is beautiful and wind an incredible sculptor.
That is probably enough about winter. This post is photo heavy but one last one for those who don't live on the prairies anymore. Can you feel that wind, does it take your breath away?
A week ago today we were on our way to Riding Mountain National Park for a destination wedding! Some people do exotic places we do Manitoba.
It was such a great time and it brought back so many wonderful memories. For many, many years our family went to Prince Albert National Park at this time of year with a fairly large group of friends. We cross-country skied, played shinny and card games and ate.
This time Pat was out skiing a couple of times but I was content with my snowshoes. We had three days that we were able to get out and it was glorious, clear blue sky, crisp air and the boreal forest. My sister-in-law Val and I agreed that we love winter when it is like this. I will try and hold those thoughts for the weekend. There are blowing snow and wind chill warnings for tonight Saturday night the forecast low is -39 degrees C, breathing out should create a wind chill well into the minus 40's.
We have friends arriving today, we were supposed to be spending time outdoors and planning a trip. We travelled to Italy with them a couple years ago and are looking forward to seeing some of Scotland and perhaps Spain with them this fall. With the forecast I think most of our time this weekend will be indoors.
I had a good morning, we have a new radio.
I know some of you are thinking hmmm, excited about a radio.
I spent most of the morning in the kitchen cooking. I like to listen to CBC when I cook. An induction stove, rural Saskatchewan and our old radio were not compatible. The stove interferes with the radio and creates all sorts of whines, clicks and bleeps that drown out the voices. This morning I had two burners and the oven on. I was able to listen to The Current and Q. It was great, no "i's" or apps involved.
Now an update and correction on the stoat. After more internet searching and a couple of conversations with people who know more about wildlife than Pat and I we have decided that what we saw was a short tailed weasel in Canada and a stoat in Britain. The names are interchangeable. Now I need someone to tell me if ermine is the winter name for a short tailed weasel/stoat or is it a different mammal.
We were in Saskatoon last weekend, not much time between trips this time but it was Norah's second birthday and we wanted to be part of the celebration. We drove down in a snowstorm but I think just enough ahead of it that it didn't seem too bad. It left our road in a mess but Bruce was around this time and had a chance to blow it out so we didn't have to walk in from the grid road.
A slightly worried look. Norah is very aware of "hot" and sparklers are in the hot category. Notice her new top, Nana made it for her for her birthday. Thankfully a fairly simple project, it has been a long time since I made a garment. I'm not sure if you can see them, but there are two green buttons on the front of her top (the first thing she noticed when she opened her gift) and she has her new bracelet and necklace on.
She likes jewelry like her Grandma and buttons like her Nana.
We see a lot of deer tracks but I have only seen a deer once since we moved here. Eagle eye Pat was looking out my studio window yesterday afternoon. Across the ravine feeding on the exposed grass were these gals. I hope they stay on the other side of the ravine, we don't need them discovering our garden this spring
Do you think the one looking at the camera noticed the man with the camera?
It has just started to snow and the wind is forecast to be blowing up to 60km/hr tonight. I think I might have mentioned it before but a bobcat with a snowblower is a wonderful tool. We need to be able to get out tomorrow.
Surprise, surprise, surprise, a sunrise picture. I watched this as I did my stretching and yoga this morning. Who cares about blown in roads.
Friday was glorious and it needed to be. It has been cold and windy, generally nasty so I hadn't been out much. Cabin fever has never been a problem for me but I can't really describe how good it felt to be outside on Friday. It was calm, the sun was shining in a beautiful blue sky. Pat and I had put on our snow shoes with the idea of renewing the trails that we were sure had blown in. They weren't too bad and the upside of strong winds is it makes the snow hard allowing us to walk on the surface in many places.
The wind is also a very talented sculptor. We had a fantastic time wandering around the quarter admiring the sculpted snow. If only we had brought the camera along. I'm not sure the snow sculptures would have photographed all that well, but it would have been worth a try.
The second reason for wishing we had the camera. We were at the bottom of the ravine just about to start up the hill and I saw white movement. It was a stoat.
I must tell you that just before Christmas I was reading a magazine that had an article about stoats. I had never heard of a stoat. What we have called weasels are actually stoats. How do you tell the difference. The tips of stoat tails are black. Their reproduction is quite interesting as well but you will have to learn about that yourself. There will be a quiz.
We quietly moved a little deeper into the bush and watched that little guy run around for quite awhile. Pat commented that he has never seen one for so long and maintained that he was watching us trying to figure out what we were up to. I was thrilled as I had not seen one before. He was cute! I have pulled two pictures off the web for those who have never seen a stoat in winter.
I had a look for him the next day when we were down there with the camera but of course he was no where to be seen.
Today is Saturday. We had morning appointments so arrived home just before 5:00 on Tuesday. Another taste of our country life awaited us. We knew the wind had been blowing ferociously so we were mentally prepared. We had to walk in most of the way and once we got there the battery was dead on the Bobcat! Why? It had never given us any trouble before. Thankfully Bruce had a battery in the shop. Pat had to drive over and get it, come back to our road, unload the car to get the booster cables out of the bottom of the car, load the battery and the booster cables onto the toboggan, bring them into the garage, boost the Bobcat and then clear the road enough to bring the car in. We unloaded the car in the dark ending a long day that had been preceded by a night that did not involve a lot of sleep.
We bought a new battery for the Bobcat Thursday and are thinking about getting some sort of portable battery booster. At the very least we will get another set of booster cables. Adjustments and learning continue.
We had a few reasons to be in Saskatoon this time, work for Pat, Slow Book Club, but the primary reason was Zachary and Heather had a ski trip planned and we were there to look after the girls. It created a flood of memories. Foremost that groggy thick headedness that comes from a mostly sleepless night. Brooke slept quite well, we put her to bed at 8:00 and didn't hear from her until 7:30 or so. Norah was another story, she was not feeling well so she was awake a lot! Pat was working so I was the one who was up every hour or so. I survived and do not yet have the cold and cough she had which is amazing to me.
The second is 4 year olds and their need to constantly question why. I was thankful for having read a book called The Power of Why this summer. It discussed how important "why" is and how unfortunate it is that so many of us quit asking "why". So even though it was the 49th time I had answered to "why" I would take a calming breathe and respond. At times I would respond with "why do you think?", and it was interesting sometimes she would think for a moment and then have an answer other times not.
One of the first times we were back in Saskatoon I had a number of places to go, Brooke came along and so did Edna. It is quite funny because now if Brooke and I are going anywhere her first comment is, "we should pick up Edna!".
We did pick up Edna on Thursday and I learned that with two children two adults are important.
Carmen and I took them to an installation of sock monkeys at the Mendal, but they are too young and spent very little time with the exhibit. We had a "treat" and went through the conservatory instead. From the little I saw it looks quite interesting and I plan to go back when we are in Saskatoon later this month.
I learned how important carts are and that you really don't want to be in a retail environment that doesn't have carts.
It also left me wondering what I did when my kids were small, especially in the winter. I think we stayed home.
Brooke was quite interested in my knitting this trip so I took advantage of " get them while they're young" and they both took turns holding the needles and we knit.
It is a grey day today, a good day to be inside with a fire. Pat is working on the baseboards in my studio. I will take and post some pictures when the room is put back together. I don't think I have posted any since I set everything up. When he is done there all that is left is the living room and dining room and we are planning to install flooring first which hasn't even been ordered. Next stop kitchen counters.
