Day 250 - 6th September 2013 - Misty Mornings, Swamp Sparrows, Common Yellow Throat and Myrtle Warblers

So the week sped by and we are at Friday once again. If I can clear a few more things off my desk at work I'll be happy, happy, happy as they say. Progress does make a person feel so much better. Stars are still out this morning, suppose to be a fine day. Temperature is at +8.2.
Thursday went well, beautiful in the morning but rain by noon, by supper time the sun was out. The air changed in the afternoon - much cooler and fall like. I like the those temperatures in the evening, so much clearer and better for sleeping. Got four research orders finished off yesterday, so that was a very good feeling. Exercise class last night - another good workout - of course we wouldn't expect anything else.
Grandmother's Journal:
4th September 1974 - Turned out lovely fall day. Lots of partridges on the road. Reg in mud down cutting wood. Home 5 o'clock. 
5th September 1974 - Overcast all day. Left for town at 6 o'clock. Getting cool now. Looks like a storm. No game. Deer eating trees but we can't see them. Gertrude and I played crib until nearly 12. 8 games, good game tonight and Sidney up with us. Good little boy. Made fire in fireplace. He toasted marshmallows which pleased him.

Morning over the lake, the sun is breaking through the fog.

 I do love the webs.

 Swamp Sparrow.

 Common Yellowthroat.

 He was all about posing for me.

 The fog was lifting.

Had a visit supper time in the yard from a Myrtle Warbler - guessing he stopped by to say so long till next year.


















Enjoy your day!

Day 249 - 5th September 2013 - A mid week trip to the Beach - Shorebirds

It's Thursday, back to the grindstone for a couple more days then the weekend rolls in. I have a funny feeling this month is going to fly just as fast as the rests have. I know it's fall for sure because we got our truck insurance bill yesterday, the one for the house will arrive shortly. All of our insurance bills are due between October and November. I'm hoping for a nice mild fall that lasts til Christmas (that will be the next thing to think about).
Hard rain yesterday morning but by noon it had cleared. Did a quick whip around the house and since Larry was home...yup we headed to the beach after lunch! So where to go, decided on Sandhills. What a great afternoon - now with everyone back in school we had the whole beach to ourselves. Saw lots of gulls and shorebirds, even a new one for me. Not often hubby and I get to spend the afternoon together in the middle of the week so it was a nice relaxing few hours. I even got him past Thomson's without stopping for ice cream. Home by supper time, Larry got the lawn mowed as it was finally dry enough. Shouldn't complain didn't have to mow much in August. Some more veggies picked from the garden and put down for the winter months.

 Semipalmated Plover.

 Semipalmated Sandpiper.

 Black-bellied Plover.

 You can look over and see Barrington from the beach.

Beautiful, peaceful day.

 A rather cool looking grasshopper.

 Solitary Sandpiper - love the white ring around his eye.

A Great Blue Heron, I would really like to get close enough for a good pic of these guys!










Enjoy your day!

Day 248 - 4th September 2013 - Ferns, Goldenrod, Roses and Hermit Thrush

My day off - that came fast this week!  Looks like it might clear off this morning, so guess Lexi and I will get a chance to roam the hood some. Might be a morning for cookies or some baking, although it feels kind of warm and humid. Of course there is the never ending housework - a lick and a promise will put that right. Won't be much longer and I'll be doing my fall cleaning. It's so dark in the mornings now, daylight is slow, the evening darkness comes quick enough though. This morning we'll hear and see the school bus back on it's run. Hard to believe that those 2 months have flashed by so quickly.
Montuesday as my friend calls it, went well. Relatively quiet so I accomplished a fair amount. Although our Simply Accounting program decided to go wonky - so not sure what it's problem was. I called in the big gun - our treasurer, she'll sort it out and I won't have to throw anything out the window! It was a dismal day, rained off and on but cleared enough for me to go for a walk after supper. Pretty quiet in the hood, saw a Hermit Thrush and that was about it.

 Where did my pretty lake go?

 Goldenrod. Not great for allergies.

 Next fine day I must haunt the hood with my mushroom book and camera.

 My friendly Hermit Thrush.

 Blackberries are mostly ripe now.

 I've been in the neighbour's yards again, but couldn't resist - love red roses.

 Not sure what these berries are but there are a lot of them around.

The ferns are beginning to fade for another season.











Enjoy your day!

Day 247 - 3rd September 2013 - Flowers, Cat and Caterpillar

Back to work this morning. Raining hard and looks like we are in for lots today. We can use it, but I really prefer to have it rain at night and clear in the morning, but I guess we can't always have what we want. Mother nature does as she pleases and I won't argue with her. Have some research projects to work on and finish up, hopefully sometime in the next week I can get them done. Usually during the month of September I see some hands on researchers around. Those are the folks who have retired and often travel in the shoulder seasons.
I believe the long weekend was too short or at least it went too fast. Spent most of the yesterday picking up around the house, doing laundry and all that fun stuff. Larry worked in the wood pile, it's time to get that finished up too. It was grey and dismal out, looking like rain at any time although it didn't. Only in the morning and a shower after supper which I got caught in. It's still officially summer for a few more weeks, even though once September rolls around we think about fall. School starts in a few more days, and I see from various posts on Facebook many of the University students have returned to dorms and apartments the last few days to begin another semester of their studies.

 For some reason I thought this was Yarrow, but I'm not altogether sure.

 I was checking out some of Lois' flowers  - such a striking color.

And one of her kitties got into the picture.

Seeing a few of these wooly fellows around.

A rather dismal looking day on the lake.













Enjoy your day!

Day 246 - 2nd September 2013 - Birds, Whales and Apple Blossoms

I'm awake and up way too early for the last day of the long weekend (3:30 am) not a good way to finish off. Suppose to be some rain today so maybe I'll snag some z's on the sofa later today. Guess it will be mostly a day to get caught up on housework, etc. Doesn't sound like much of a day to go anywhere to do anything and we've probably done enough of that for a while. No idea what Larry's plans are, most of those would involve fine weather so I'm guessing he'll be stuck inside as well. Maybe I can put him to work too.
Had a great weekend away. Nice to have a break. We headed out around 10 am, quick stop in Yarmouth and then home around 1:30. Back to the normal routine, got some laundry going, supper, etc. Not a lot of work, all three of us were tired. Even Lexi laid down on the way home, which is unusual for her, she's scared to miss anything that might be on the road. Pretty foggy Sunday morning so not a great chance for photos before we left but I've got some left from Saturday to share.

 Starlings all in a row!

 Northern Shearwater.

Lots of these little Northern Phalaropes around.

 Can't resist a few more Whale Tails.

Another Shearwater.

 Back home at the Lake.

I think we have a crazy apple tree - these are blossoms in September!



















Enjoy your day!

Day 245 - 1st September 2013 - Whales, Birds and Mudflats

Slept in this morning til 6am, must have been all of that fresh air yesterday. Well we have to head home today, will leave some time this morning. Hate to go, seems there is still so much more to do. I could never be bored here, so much to see and do. The break has been so good, needed to go somewhere to take my mind off everything. I was too busy yesterday to get though all the photos I took and figure out what I took, so will only hit the highlights this morning, promise to get some more posted tomorrow.
Had an absolutely fabulous Saturday! Started off with a bit of rain around 6am but that didn't last long, although I did take my jaunt around the hood in it. Put the rain jacket on my camera and went. Good to get a stretch. Had breakfast and then headed down to go whale watching with Freeport Whale and Bird Tours. Kind of a slow start with the whales but wow what a lot of birds out there. I think I took a lot more bad photos than good ones, not use to the boat moving in one direction and birds in another. There were porpoises breaking and playing, then finally we spotted our first whale. WOW! We saw 3 or 4 during the trip. Got back after 1 pm, had lunch and Roger took me on a tour of the "Jungle Down Under" as he likes to call it - the mudflats. All kinds of cool things live in the various layers of "mud" and under the rockweed and on the rocks, etc. What fun! I felt just like a kid again.

From my morning walk - lots of gulls and a Heron.

 Common Yellow Warbler - love these ones.

It's a gull, assume it's a juvenile but no idea of what kind.

We went by this fish shack on our Whale Watching trip.

 The Whales tail was huge when they did that little flip up and then back down into the water.

He would disappear into the water for quite awhile, never quite sure where he would come up again.

 We were aboard the Georgie Porgie for our tour. Great time!

From the mudflats, look at the size of this worm. Don't just think worm, they make tubes and all kinds of things.











Enjoy your day!