Day 31- 31st January 2019 - Evening Grosbeak, Blue Jay and Starling

Here we are at the last day of the first month of they year - that flew by! It's cold, -5/-6, wind is blowing and it's snowing.  Looks like we'll have cold and flurries for some of the day. I'm off to the dentist later, this is the day to get rid of the bothersome tooth. Maybe I''ll buzz around and do a few things this morning because I'm sure later I won't feel like doing a lot. I hate the feel of the freezing coming out.  Had a good day at knitting, always fun, lots of laughs and I love to see everyone finish projects and start another. Yarn is so different now than it was almost 40 years ago when I was doing a lot of  knitting. Some of it is makes up beautiful patterns and it's cool to watch it knit up. I'm knitting hats and headbands with faithful Briggs and Little wool, hopefully will have a good stock of them done to sell in our gift shop when I go back to work for the season.  Feeders were busy again yesterday morning. Had a few stray Starlings stop in.

Blue Jay

 One of the Evening Grosbeaks, waiting his turn

Starling - I rarely have them in the winter months, but every once in a while a few will stop in.




Enjoy your day!

Day 30 - 30th January 2019 - Evening Grosbeaks

A little snowfall overnight, still a few flakes in the air but it's going to change over, rain on it's way but a few ice pellets in between. Temperature is hovering right around 0, so anything could happen. It's "Knit & Yarn" day so hopefully it will be straight rain by the time we are ready to go. I could use a little knitting today. My upload speed really sucks today and I should call and see what's going on with the internet but then it straightens out again and I forget. Got some stuff done around the house yesterday and by lunch time it had warmed up a bit (or the sun was stronger) and I went for a roam in the hood. The lake was noisy - snapping, cracking, moaning and groaning. I counted 33 Evening Grosbeaks in the trees and feeders yesterday, probably the most I've had at one time. Lots of Blue Jays and Mourning Doves of course along with Goldfinches, Chickadees, Nuthatches, Sparrows and Woodpeckers. No sign of Purple Finches yet. Well it's a short and sweet post this morning - too much on my mind.

Evening Grosbeaks



Enjoy your day!

Day 29 - 29th January 2019 -Ice and Mallards

Brrr....it's a chilly morning. Temperature around -7, a bit of wind but the stars are twinkling in the sky and a sliver of moon is peeking through the trees. It was a beautiful sunset last night over Beaverfarm Lake - bright red/pink. I'm home today and have the house all to myself - rah! Not that I mind Larry being home, but there is something to be said for some time on your own and I get so much more done. I'm sure he feels the same way sometimes. I think it's going to be a cooking/cleaning kind of day. Have a little computer work to do too and maybe a roam in the hood later. Yesterday I puttered around, made stuffed peppers for supper - they were good, Italian sausage, salsa, spinach brown rice and cheese. Had a small flock of Evening Grosbeaks at the feeders along with all the regular birds. There seems to be a large number of Blue Jays and Mourning Doves and way too many Squirrels.  A meeting in town mid afternoon and then exercise class last night.

Pieces of ices were floating down the river













Seems a little cold to be napping in the brook

There are Mallards of all different colors and of course the white Duck.





Enjoy your day!

Day 28 - 28th January 2019 - Mallards, Ice and Common Mergansers

Here it is Monday the start of a new week again. Foggy and +2 this morning,  oh how the weather flip flops.  Yesterday was a nice day, since it was Larry's birthday we didn't work too hard. Started the day off with breakfast at the Fire Hall, then a drive up the road to check out the lakes and see what was around. He had seen a Hooded Merganser a few days ago in Lake Philip. No sign of him, but there were Common Mergansers and Goldeneyes in East McKay Lake. A quick trip to town before lunch and then we settled in around home for the day. I puttered and made a seafood quiche for supper, Larry put  a little more wood in the basement and that's what we call an exciting Sunday. Today, needs to be a day of some work around here and cooking then I have a meeting in town this afternoon.

Mallards and the White Duck at the head of the harbour

 Water and ice, the water was really running fast by Hodgeson's bridge

Males and a Female Common Mergansers at East McKay Lake.






Enjoy your day!

Day 27 - 27th January 2019 - Boats, Common Eider and Gull

Temperature is -5, stars are all out, looks like another nice day in the making. It was a beautiful morning on Cape Sable Island with little to no wind. We had a good time checking out the hot spots, not that we found anything really exciting  but it's great to get out there and look. Even ran into Johnny & Sandra so caught up on the CSI birding news with them. There were lots of Gulls around, but truthfully they  are hard on the head when  you are trying to identify them, I commend anyone who has taken the time to study Gulls and know one from the other in the various cycles. Common Eiders, Long tail Ducks, Scaups, Mergansers, Mallards to name a few others. From there we stopped at Barrington Passage and did the grocery shopping, wasn't all that busy at either story and headed homeward.  Larry's been putting some wood in the basement from the woodshed, replacing what we've used. Breakfast is at our Fire Hall this morning, so maybe I'll treat Larry on is birthday and we will go up. Have to do some lunch box prep and muffins for him sometime today.  Need to run in town, maybe we'll take a scout around and see what's around  at the head of the harbour and waterfront.

Calm morning, a few boats still at the wharves.

Common Eider - immature male. 

I was shooting right into the sun, but I like the silhouette look of this Gull losing the crab he had been carrying.




Enjoy your day!

Day 26 - 26th January 2019 - Chickadee, Fungi and Ice

It's a little cool out there but not bad, temperature is around -4, stars are all out and the lake is groaning. Looks like another good day in the making. I think we'll head out to Cape Sable Island  this morning and see what's around, hear there are some interesting Gulls and a Duck out that way. Never know what we might find. Of course there will be grocery shopping at Barrington. We had a great day knitting on Friday, so much fun and laughter, world problem solving. Lots of Canada Geese and Ducks down that way, maybe Sunday will take a spin down there and check things out more closely. Being Friday, it was marble night, Larry's team won again. Since there were 7 of us I sat out, knitting and watched. Sometimes I wonder if they've ever played before! It was also a night for cake, since Larry has a birthday this week.

 Chickadee - like small acrobats

Fungi

Little bit of ice, clinging on.


Enjoy your day!

Day 25 - 25th January 2019 - Gull, Grebe and Loon

That was a wild and windy night. Glad it's calm down this morning. Our power went out around 10pm, back around 1am. Then it must have flickered or went out again during the night as I woke up and the digital clock was flashing. It must have been wicked along the coast, not sure I can remember it blowing that hard before. But once again it's mild  +6, makes it easy on the wood pile. Had a good day in town yesterday, even got a few things done around here before I went. Tried making bagels, didn't turn out bad, might need to cook them another couple of minutes longer and shape them a little bigger. Larry thought they were great until I told him they were made with yogurt. Although he said he wanted blueberries in his  the next time so he must be planning on putting the yogurt out of his mind. I used cinnamon and dried cranberries. It's not really cheaper to make them, but they are healthier and easy so will do them once in a while.  Had lunch with the girls, a few errands at the mall and that was it. Even managed to go to exercise class last night. Although by the time I got home my stomach was happy. It's Friday and another social day - Knit & Yarn! rah! and then marbles tonight. Saturday looks like pretty good weather and with all the wind we've had, might be a good day to get out and chase some birds.

I've had to dig out some photos from my archives.


Gull

Grebe

Loon



Enjoy your day!

Day 24 - 24th January 2019 - Loon, Common Eider and Guillemot

This morning is certainly a change from the last few days, temperature has jumped up to +10. Blowing hard, rain last  night with more to come throughout the day. The antibiotics are done, so now I can hopefully get back to feeling like normal again. It's Thelma and Louise day but before going to town I need to get a few things done around here this morning. I'll just say things are getting a bit cluttered and have  to find their way back where they belong. A quick whip around will do it! We had great day at Knit & Yarn, Ive got another hat almost done so will be starting something else on Friday (well probably another hat or a headband). Short and sweet this morning - some days are like that!

Loon in his winter plumage. 

Male Common Eider

Guillemot






Enjoy your day!

Day 23 - 23rd January 2019 - Chickadees and a Song Sparrow

Cold again, -12 this morning but a clear bright sky. Well as is norm with our weather, the temperatures are going to rise snow and then rain coming through tonight and Thursday.  I picked Larry up a Farmer's Almanac for Christmas and it claims a snow storm for the end of the month. Guess we'll have to wait and see on that one.  My contribution to the grant writing is completed, done for another year, I think, I hope. To town yesterday, after an appointment, Margie and I had lunch did a few errands then it was homeward bound. Since it's Wednesday, that means Knit & Yarn day so Gina and I are off to Becky's shop in Lockeport to knit up a storm with the rest of the ladies. I am seriously going to miss these outings when I go back to work.

Chickadee - they sure like the Christmas tree.

 Chickadee - he's got his seed.

Song Sparrow





Enjoy your day!

Day 22 - 22nd January 2019 - Song Sparrow, Chickadee and Junco

It's cold out there this morning with the wind blowing and the temperature at -12 , but the moon and stars are shining brightly in the sky. Almost as bright as if it were daytime. This month is passing by rather quickly, really only another week and it will be gone. Just today and tomorrow left of the antibiotics and they will be done,  I'm so glad. The last few days have been the worse I've felt since I had a flu bug a few years ago. Next week the tooth gets extracted and all should be well again. Yesterday was a frustrating day, our landlines all went out the night before, my internet was wonky - and of course both of those things I needed to use. Did get a little work done on the last of the grant apps and will do up the rest  in a while and send  to Cady for input and finishing touching. Will be glad to have those gone. Then I'm off to town later this morning for an appointment and some errands. After two days in the house it will be good to have a short excursion.  I love watching the birds at the feeders and around the yard in the winter. Doesn't matter that there aren't always new ones but to see the interactions between species is very interesting. Some are quite happy to share a feeder, others want their own. Size does not always mean anything, I've seen some of the small birds put the run to bigger ones.

 One of our 6 chubby Song Sparrows

Chickadee - they are moving so fast these days it's hard to get a pic. 

We have  5-6 Juncos in the yard this winter too.





Enjoy your day!

Day 21 - 21st January 2019 - Downy Woodpecker, Evening Grosbeak and a Gull

It's a mild morning, wind seems to have died down some and not raining at the moment. It was a day of all seasons yesterday. Started off with snow - we probably got a couple of inches, then ice pellets with snow and finally rain around noon or so.  By early evening the wind really picked up and was blowing hard and the rain was coming down but it was mild, the temperature had gone up. Power went out at 8pm. Figuring it would be that way all night and possibly longer I took my kobo and went to bed to read. Around 11pm the flashing digital light on the clock woke me up and I could hear the tv on downstairs - short outage, no complaints from me.  I got some cooking done in the morning, lunches done up  for Larry, meatloaf, s/s meat balls, veggies and quoina - 8 days and a batch of muffins. Sometime this week I'll do another batch of something so he's got some variety. Did them both in the Instant Pot - a little playing around with the time but they came out good. By afternoon I was curled up with a blanket, watching tv, knitting. It was a lazy afternoon. It's Monday so time to get some things done.

This Female Downy Woodpecker comes every day to the suet .

 High up in the willow tree and flock of Evening Grosbeaks sat, managed to get a shot of one.

Gull  - coming in for a landing.




Enjoy your day!

Day 20 - 20th January 2019 - Male and Female Ring-necked Ducks and Barred Owl

Temperature is -5, windy and it's spitting a fine snow, maybe laced with a few ice pellets. So it's suppose to be a messy storm day - wind, snow, ice and then rain but we will get more rain than anything I think if any of the weather predictions are right. Since I  writing this a 1/2 hour ago it's turned to straight snow coming down fairly fast. Just in case I always have a jug or two of water, some flashlights, lanterns etc. Needless to say, sounds like a good day to be inside, get some cooking done this morning then curl up and knit/read and watch a little Netflix (if I still have internet).  It's been somewhat of a wasted week, I've not been feeling great so doing the bare minimal is more up my alley right now. Counting down the antibiotics til they are done, only 3 days after today then hopefully I'll feel myself again.  Suck it up princess and move on, lots of people are in worse shape. Yesterday was groceries, Larry went to the Shelburne Fire Dept. yearly get together last night, so I went with the girls to Chase the Ace at the IOOF hall in Jordan and supper. It's a good fundraiser for their hall but we weren't the winners yesterday. A quiet evening with the knitting needles and some tv. Can life get anymore exciting?

 The Ring-necked Ducks have returned to the river - Males.

Female Ring-necked Ducks

Barred Owl




Enjoy your day!

Day 19 - 19th January 2019 - Barred Owl, Guillemot and Long Tail Duck

Temperature is up around 0 this morning, bit breezy and a dusting of snow overnight. Our fickle weather.  Wait five minutes and it will change again. Looks like the upcoming storm will bring mostly rain for us, some snow ahead of time. So I opted for "knit & yarn" day in Lockeport instead of groceries in Barrington on Friday. Doesn't take much to change my mind, so now I'll have to go shopping this morning. It's always a fun time and I know that I won't get there all summer when I go back to work. Ironically as I'm knitting away, there is a Redhead Duck swimming around with some Scaups not 5 minutes away. When Larry picked me up  we went down to check it out, of course I missed good shots of him by 10 minutes they all moved off. So what I managed to get was a distance shot, heavily cropped but enough to say I saw him. Did see some Longtail Ducks, Guillemots, Scaups and Eiders. On the way home I spotted a Barred Owl and the Ring Neck Ducks were in the river just below the lake. Overall my day turned out great - birds and knitting!

 Guillemot

Long Tailed Duck. They are a stunning duck -a few years ago I got some nice shots of them in Meteghan.





Enjoy your day!

Day 18 - 18th January 2019 - Chickadee, Goldfinches and Mallards

Friday seems to be my wake up too early morning (4am) well I'm not complaining too much as I'm sleeping better most nights again. It's cold again but it is winter so that's kind of the norm. Storm coming on Sunday, sounds like a good day for me to do some lunch box prep for Larry and then curl up with netflix and knitting needles. That's a few days off, so before then there are  lots of other things to do. I'm going to be very happy to see the end of these antibiotics, if I make it through them all.  I think we'll head off to Barrington this morning to do grocery shopping, maybe a few detours in search of birds along the way. Yesterday was our Thelma and Louise day, had lunch with the girls. Overall wasn't a terribly exciting day. I did do a little knitting last night, working on a new pattern, realized I used the wrong color in it, but we'll think of it as my "get the kinks out" piece. Will try to dig out one of Grandmother's Journals this weekend so I can see what was happening a few years ago.

Chickadee

Goldfinches

Mallards - that water looks icy cold








Enjoy your day!

Day 17 - 17th January 2019 - Goldfinches, Chickadee and Junco

A little snow during the night, windy and cold this morning. Hard to believe the temperature went up to +3 yesterday and back down to -8 last night. The birds were busy at the feeders on Wednesday, as usual the Blue Jays and Mourning Doves with some help from the squirrels clean out the platform feeders in a few short  minutes but the Christmas trees and tube feeder remain for the little birds. They flit back and forth. It's fun to watch the Chickadees grabbing seeds and trying to find places to hide them later. I spent most of the day doing grant writing, but I think by late afternoon I had finished my part with Cady's help and sent them over to her. My stomach felt the affects of the antibiotics all morning, but after supper wasn't too bad. It's worse early in the day, but it's only for a week so I'm sure I'll survive. Today will be Thelma and Louise Day, off to lunch and maybe a few errands.

Sometimes they share - Goldfinch and Chickadee

They love to perch on the netting Larry has up for the pole beans

Junco with his tail fanned out.





Enjoy your day!

Day 16 - 16th January 2019 - White Throated Sparrow and Female Mallard

Another nippy morning, but the stars are all out and someone is bowling on the lake again. I heard something in the yard, sounded like maybe a deer moving around - let's hope so. Got lots of work to get done today, still into the grant writing, even though Cady and I made great progress yesterday.  It's Knit & Yarn day but we won't make it this week. Hoping the girls have a blast. That really sucks, but will give me a chance to get this stuff finished up. I'm working on a new headband pattern, which I've ripped out once and might have to one or two more times until I get what I want from my head to the graph paper and then the needles. Being creative takes time! Dentist appointment as well yesterday, nothing new or good there, I'm now on antibiotics for the next 8 days then an extraction at the end of the month. Not looking forward to the antibiotics, pretty well guaranteed to upset my stomach. Taking 4 a day and making sure I eat with them, probably means another few pounds I'm going to add to my already widening body! I should get the rest of the holiday junk food finished off!

White Throated Sparrow taken through the kitchen window, not a great shot.
















Female Mallard - even though they are rather plain, they are pretty with the various brown tones and wing patch.



Enjoy your day!

Day 15 - 15th January 2019 - Just another winter day

Brr... it's cold this morning, again. Monday was a busy day, computer work, grant writing, minimal housework. Went out for a jaunt around lunch time (once it warmed up some)  and tackled the Instant Pot in the afternoon. Made a stew - in no time at all, although I did miss the smell of it simmering away on the back of the stove for hours, but Larry declared it was perfect and we should throw away all of our pots and pans. Needless to say that won't happen! I think he just likes the ideas of washing one container instead of several.  Next free day I'll take a look through the freezer and some recipes and tackle something else. Lots of birds around the feeders, maybe too many Blue Jays and Mourning Doves as they clean out the seeds pretty quickly. But not much I can do about that. The little birds seem to find enough. I counted 6 Juncos yesterday and the American Tree Sparrows popping in and out of the Christmas Tree. At least 5 Songs Sparrows and the White Throated Sparrow. Goldfinches are happy at the tube style feeder and Christmas tree, they don't bother as much with the platform feeders. Exercise class last night, good work out, I'm sure by tomorrow I won't be able to sit or lift anything but just the same.....will help off set some of that holiday candy I've been grazing on. It's off to town today, working on grant applications with Cady, dentist appointment and Trivia tonight. Hopefully the dental work isn't going to put a wrench in the rest of my day. So the upload speed is too annoying for me this morning, no pictures. Sorry folks.

Day 14 - 14th January 2019 - White Duck and Mallards

It's a beautiful morning, stars are shining brightly in the sky, but it's cold, -14.  Sounds like giant bowling balls going up and down the lake, she's loud. So I'm giving up on loading pics this morning, the upload speed is too slow for some reason, time to make a call and get them to check the dish position. Since we always seem to have a lot of wind, it may have moved just a tad. For all the good intentions of getting stuff done on Sunday, I think I mostly failed. Well we did make a trip into town for some groceries, stopped with a coffee at Margie's but then Alice arrived so we played a game of marbles. Started off for a walk when I got home, ran into Lois so we went for a jaunt then had tea and a catch up with her. Finally I settled in home, but by that time, any thought of getting things done were gone so I pulled out the needles, did some knitting and watched TV. Today is certainly going to be different, time to start another set of grant applications, going to tackle the Instant Pot, walking and exercise class tonight. With all that I should have a full day.

One of these ducks is not like the others!

Most of them were resting along the bank. Didn't see the Green Wing Teal but he could have been tucked up anywhere




Enjoy your day!

Day 13 - 13th January 2019 - Mourning Dove and the Lake

Fairly quiet on this Sunday morning, the lake is groaning gently every once in a while, a bit of wind and snow flurries and it's cold (-8/-9) . Yesterday was mostly a laid back, lazy kind of day, we didn't go anywhere. I did bundle up and go for a jaunt around the hood between snow flurries. Big Bertha is not keen on getting wet so we didn't go too long.  It was nice to get out, although there wasn't much around, the swamps are full and frozen now, the birds are all hanging out around neighbourhood feeders. Even though they act hungry, I suspect they are well fed as they go from yard to yard. Some laundry, a few things done around the house and I finished off another hat I was knitting. Time to start a new one! I guess today we better venture to town and pick up a few groceries - the basics at least. Maybe we'll take a drive around and see what ducks are in the harbour too.

Mourning Dove resting on top of a feeder.

A cold and snowy day on the lake




Enjoy your day!

Day 12 - 12th January 2019 - Red-Winged Blackbird, Evening Grosbeaks and Blue Jay

It's Saturday and what will it bring. Cold, (around -10) no wind this morning , but once again a few flurries overnight, another layer on the back deck. We had a great day at "Knit and Yarn", lots of laughter, advise on yarn combo colors, etc. Of course all the world problems were solved in a few hours. Not sure why we aren't running the countries! The only time it was quiet was when we listened to an interview with the Newfoundland Knitting girls on Maritime at Noon. Finished off the day with a game of marbles last night. I came out the winner!!  Overall I feel like I'm getting back to my old self - most nights I sleep better, stress of the last year seems to be leaving and I'm more focused on what I want to do. A winter break is a good thing. I'm also feeling like I want to get out  with Big B. she' really been taking a backseat lately. Maybe today we'll take a roam through the woods, not expecting much for birds but there's a lot of other things out there to see through the lens.

 A few pics I took a while ago.



Red Winged Blackbird

 Evening Grosbeaks - there are still a few regular visitors

Blue Jay - we have a herd!





Enjoy your day!