Day 31 - 31st January 2014 - Sunrise, Old Metal, and Harbour

Here we are at the last day of the first month of the year. Temperature is -3.2. It's been a busy month - clearing up after the holidays, some volunteer work, etc. Of course every Wednesday we had a snow storm - wonder what February will bring. Hopefully, longer days and more sunshine. Grant applications are done and gone, so don't have to think about those for another year, but I've got some research that has to be finished up. By the looks of things here, I'd say some housework to catch up on. Of course a jaunt around the hood will be great to.
Thursday was nice, just had to watch out where you walked, snow over ice. More of the penguin walk for me on the way to catch my ride with Nancy in the morning. Had a good day in town - the standard, volunteer work, lunch at the Beandock, errands, groceries, coffee meeting with the girls at the Bistro. It was nice to run into people I haven't seen for a while even if it was just a quick hello. Exercise class last night.

 Some unusual looking clouds across the sky.

 The sun was coming through - highlighting the road.

 It breaks through layers of clouds.

 Along the harbour is so pretty even in the winter.

 Feeders but no birds in sight.

 An Icicle hanging from some old equipment.

 Covered in snow, no longer in use.

 A dash of color along the street.



















Enjoy your day!

Day 30 - 30th January 2014 - Another Snow day - From the Kitchen Window

It just gets colder every morning, temperature is -10, brrr. Looks like it will be a fine day. So I'm off on the trek to town today. Get some errands done, pay some bills and do a bit of volunteer work. Lunch at the Beandock and a meeting in the afternoon. Should take care of most of the day. I'll get my walking in, I'm sure around town and have exercise class today.
Wednesday was a day to hunker down and stay inside if you could. I could and I did. Of course after supper I was feeling guilty that I didn't go out for my walk. Truthfully I was cold most of the day. My photos came via the kitchen window. The Blue Jays seem to have taken over the feeders, I think I'm going to declare war on them soon - I don't mind if they use two of the feeders but prefer they leave the 3rd one for the little birds and the suet log for the Woodpeckers and Chickadees.

 Larry filled the feeders in the snow yesterday morning.

 Lexi helps too of course.

 And it snowed all day.

 The fence seemed to be a favourite spot for the birds to rest.

 I'm sure I can reach that.

 The ladder.

 And everyone is here.

 The Goldfinches stopped in.

 The Chickadees spend most of the day hanging out.













Enjoy your day!

Day 29 - 29th January 2014 - Ice, Lake and Birds Nest

Wednesday and normally my to town day but they are giving some snow (10-15cm) so I'll keep myself home. Tomorrow sounds better, it's not like I have to go. Temperature is -8.2 and has started snowing at 5:30 am. So if I'm staying home, guess that a strong case for housework - yuk, might as well do it and get it over with. Will spend a little time doing research. Hopefully I'll get out around the hood.
Didn't warm up much yesterday, maybe -5. Got my grant applications done, except a last read over and printing them off  and signatures - one gets mailed, one hand delivered. Managed to get my walk in - tackled the woods - easier walking through snow than on ice. Most anywhere that is gravel/dirt is a lot of ice now.  So I did a bit of housework after that and pulled out my Kobo to finish my book. I need a little more excitement in my life!

 The Amaryllis is almost fully open and adds some color to the kitchen.

 A little sparkle on the trees.

 My self portrait. Taken in a truck cap.

 It was clear and bright on the lake.

 Lois' Wisteria has stretched out and upward.

 Cracked Ice, but it's frozen over again.

 Along the lake.

The Chickadees are cute to watch.

I'll keep my eye open and see if this nest gets reused this year.











Enjoy your day!

Day 28 - 28th January 2014 - Woodpeckers, Chickadees, Leaves and Moss

Another nippy morning, temperature is -6.6 and the stars are all out. In a few more months it will be daylight again early in the morning. I suspect that if you are driving or walking it's probably slippery  so be careful. After the rain we had yesterday and then of course cold temperatures again, well you know. I did the Penguin  walk yesterday morning on my walk in some places. It was just easier than landing on my butt and breaking either me or my camera. On the return trip I hit the woods - it was easier going.   Today I've got that one application to finish off, so my brain will be jammed up with that most of the day.
I think Larry had a pretty good birthday, nothing exciting but maybe after a certain point it's just nice to have some time to relax. I spent most of the day on the computer trying to be brilliant, not sure how that actually went but I only have one application left to do and hopefully will finish today.  I did get some laundry done and made a pretty tasty birthday supper of scallops and lobster, and of course some of the ice cream we made Sunday for dessert.  Thank goodness it was exercise class night to work that off.

 I look forward to the Hairy Woodpecker checking in. Guess I better fill up his suet again.

 The grasses have had a hard winter.

 You can always find a Chickadee.

 Snow covered moss.

 All the wind and snow we've had and this leaves hold tight.

 Birch bark peels away.

A little Linguine with lobster and scallops.












Enjoy your day!

Day 27 - 27th January 2014 - Snow Flurries and Feeders

I've got to get myself back into a decent time line again. Nice to sleep in but I don't get anything done laying in bed. When day light comes earlier that will get me out of bed at a better hour. Temperature is -4.3 this morning. It's Larry's birthday today, so have to cook a special supper - he's put in a request for something with lobster and scallops. Both of those are in the freezer, all I have to do is pull it together later today!  Exercise class tonight - good thing. Well I need to finish up the last of the grant applications, hopefully between today and tomorrow.
It sure snowed hard at times on Sunday. I was beginning to think that their "flurries" would amount to something but didn't really seem to. Had a good turn out for breakfast for January. I'm always amazed that folks will drive way up here in miserable weather but we certainly appreciate their support.  Always nice to see and catch up with  people  we've not seen for a while. Our afternoon was homemade ice cream - ah it was good. Lots of memories of the old hand crank machine my mom used for many years. Ours is an electric one and takes a lot of the hard work out.

 Snow flurries!

 Even the poor little Junco was covered in snow.

 Becoming very good at hanging on to the suet log.

 Greedy Blue Jay with a mouth of seed.

 Another reason it's empty!

They don't seem to get along well. They also have a hard time hanging on to the log for some reason.











Enjoy your day!

Day 26 - 26th January 2014 - Blue Jays, Woodpeckers and the Lake

Up early, it's our turn to work the monthly breakfast at our Fire Hall. We set the alarm last night for 5:30 am, I truthfully can't be trusted to wake up when I need to anymore since becoming so lazy and sleeping til 6 am most morning. Although I was surprised I woke up at 5:26, but I didn't really want to get up. Thank goodness for alarms! It's usually a pretty busy morning, especially if the weather is decent. Larry says there are a few flurries coming down. Rained over night, so I'm guessing the roads are a tad bit slippery. Temperature is +1.1. I have no idea what the afternoon will bring.
Saturday was mostly an in house day. Tidied up around, floors, dusting, all that fun stuff, and then I moved on to research and tried to get a few things caught up in that direction. Planned to finish off a grant application but the government website was down so gave that a miss. I still had a few sore muscles from Friday's trek. The best thing I could have done was gone for a good walk but got tied up with that stuff and didn't - big mistake! A lazy evening and a fairly early night.

 I like this shot, you can see the corn kernel that he's grabbed.

 The Hairy Woodpecker was in and out two or three times.

The Blue Jay got quite a surprise when he saw the Woodpecker at the suet.

 The moon is getting smaller.

 Mornings over the lake are peaceful no matter what time of year.

Enjoy your day!

Day 25 - 25th January 2014 - Ducks, Icy Rocks - a trip to the Shore

Brr, another cold morning, -8.5 but I guess that's mild compared to yesterday.  Suppose to warm up later today, then be a bit milder for a while. I guess today I should to everything plus some that I planned to do yesterday. Tomorrow is another wasted day since it's our turn to do the breakfast in the morning at the Hall. So today is a day of work- house, research and maybe even some on the last few grants I have to get done before the end of the week.
Headed out on my walk early yesterday morning, it was really cold and I wonder why I do that. I guess for me mornings are best and the most enjoyable. It's a way to start the day off with a little peace and I can line up my day. Good thing I got some laundry done and buzzed around the house as we blew a good part of the day away and went birding. Didn't see a lot of birds but we got in one very good cardio workout. And we were very fortunate to have a tour guide, another birder showed us the area. We've been down there several times, but really got a lot of great info  from Bill. Nice to have someone tour you around even if it was a quiet day in the bird world. We did almost 3 hours of walking. Then it was off to town and groceries and home again. A pretty laid back evening.

 Soft shades of morning in the background.

 But the brilliance of the sun soon comes through.

 Larry with the binoculars checking for ducks. He's my spotter.

 Harlequin Duck - a new one for my list.

 Long tails or what we always called Old Squaws in flight. Another new one for my list.

 The rocks were covered in ice.

 So cold looking.

 The ponds we usually see ducks in were frozen over.

 The waves were crashing over the rocks.

A Horned Lark.












Enjoy your day!