Sunday, November 26, 2023

PHOTOS

    I'm not a photographer. Don't argue with me on that one. I take photos. That is all. 

    However, the other day I came across something that was interesting and took a photo. 

    So here's the photo and then I'll tell you what my problem is. 

    I was standing on a little footbridge and looked into a little pond on the creek and I saw  crystal clear reflection , You can see ice on the edge of the pond. 

    Then I looked around for some perspective. Normally you would open things up and show the trees on the bank and the reflections together. 

   Well that wouldn't work. I was on a foot bridge . The image was quite far down . the tree was on a high bank. Even if I did take the bridge railing off I couldn't get the whole image. 

   So I'll have to be content with a pretty image and complete lack of perspective. 




   I went to the other side of the bridge and there was the typical reflection photo. So you see the trees and reflection in the same photo.

    This came out of my walk on Nov. 19. 

Friday, November 24, 2023

BRUSH ALONG THE CREEK

       This is not meant to be a post with pretty photos. 

       I quite often walk the path along this creek about 1 km from my house. The banks are steep and the land has never been developed. 

      Native species are  there but there are many invasives.

     Put that together with all the different soil types and you have a variety of scrubby  vegetation. So in these photos it shows areas with vegetation which struggles with poor conditions. 





       The second photo is just a poor photo. I swear that the other photos were in better focus in the camera . However it was a very gray day. 

Tuesday, November 21, 2023

THE GRAMMAR POLICE

      The grammar police visited my post A Memory. 

      Have you ever had grammar police visit your blog? 

     This visit was more of a raid as they went a little further than just grammar. 

     I had tried to say that Mr Pudding from Yorkshire Pudding had been to his favorite pub for quiz night. Question # 12 gave me a good memory for my post. I was chastised because  I hadn't explained "Mr Pudding" or "Yorkshire Pudding" In fact, they thought that so much was missing that I may have had a TIA. Well part of this is their problem but I admit that it was a  sloppy paragraph. 

   There were further omissions and out right mistakes. I confess to some very poor editing. I was in a hurry. 

   So this would bring up a question for bloggers. How much should we concern ourselves with grammar? Are bloggers supposed to work to rule? Is it necessary to have completely correct grammar? I'm sure everybody has their own opinions. What makes up a good blog? Does it take correct grammar to have a good blog? 

    When you read my blog I think you see that I am somewhat informal. That's me. I'm that kind of person.

    When I read your blogs, which are all good, I see different styles. People can write the way they talk and it makes for an interesting blog. 

     With so much variety blogging is very interesting. 

      So since I have confessed to some errors, will the grammar police wonder what I'm talking about or will bloggers wonder what grammar police are? There seems to be something wrong with my last sentence but I don't know what it is. 

     

Sunday, November 19, 2023

PLEASANT FALL WEATHER

     On Oct. 23 we had a heavy snowfall. I predicted  that it would be our winter snow and not melt until the spring.

    Well, 99% of it is gone. We've had beautiful weather and the snow has melted. Temperatures have been well above average. 

   This would be what my Dad would call an open fall. 


                                      This was Oct 23

       Today NOV 19.This is the most snow I could find.

                 Today Nov 19. Sea any snow here?

Wednesday, November 15, 2023

A MEMORY

      Mr. Pudding from Yorkshire pudding was at a quiz night when # 12 was. What does the term weenie mean in North America.

     He didn't get it but it reminded me of a story revolving around a weenie roast. In my day the weenie roast was common and happened many times quite by accident.

    So in my days in Inuvik the Mackenzie river was he center of many things. It was spring...the beginning of June. The ice hadn't gone out on the Mackenzie river. But there was a rumor that is was going out this night. We had never seen the ice go out so about ten of us decided we would go down and wait for the ice to go out. And why not take a package of wieners and some buns and have a weenie roast while we waited. It was a mixed group of friends. The midnight sun was bright . We found some firewood...there was lots of it and built a fire and waited. 

    About 2:00 AM we decided the ice wasn't going out and  slowly went home. We all had to be at work in the morning. 

   Now the Mackenzie River divides into many channels but there is a main channel. Being white men who knew everything we had been taken in by some aboriginals who assured us the river would break up. The break up on the channel we were at would be great but not spectacular. 

    The main channel of the river is where the excitement takes place. There are enormous blocks of ice flying around and and enormous flow of water. 

    Any river that flows from south to north has a gigantic spring break up. It's warmer in the south and there's much melting. In the north the ice is still solid but the huge flow of water breaks up on the river. The ice is about 4 or 5 feet think. 

    So this is a weenie roast I'll remember and I never got to see the river break break up. 

Monday, November 13, 2023

CLOTHES DRYER QUITS.

     Today my clothes dryer did some funny things which made it so that it didn't work. The timer would go from 29 to one and quit. One time it went from 41 to 34. Skipped 34 to 9. skipped 3 and 4 and went to 0. Needless to say we didn't get many clothes dried. 

     We got this dryer in March of 23 so I hope there's still some warranty on it. With all the computer boards on everything these days you really don't know what the problem is. 

     Now on the farm my mother had the same clothes dryer for 35 years. It did not have a warranty. It broke a few times but was working again in a few minutes. All you had to do was tie the wire together again. Mother's clothes dryer was outside made of wires set around a pulley at each end. Mother took her clothes basket out side and pinned the clothes to the wire. As she needed more space to hang clothes she used the pulley to move the clothes already on the line. 

    It didn't take long and the clothes were dry and fresh smelling.

    Winter weather made this clothes drier very painful to use. Working with wet hands in freezing weather was painful. The clothes would dry a bit and then she'd bring them in as they were frozen stiff. She's hang them in the house until they were dry. 

    So I'm wondering if I should put a couple of posts in the yard, buy a couple of pulleys and some wire and dry my clothes outside? 

Saturday, November 11, 2023

AWESOME WEATHER HERE

     Today was just a super day for mid November. 

     We had heavy snowfall on Oct. 23. I thought ,"This is it. We have snow all winter."

      Surprise, Surprise. We've had mild weather since about Oct. 25. Today most of our snow is gone. 

     We've had a super day with a high of plus 10 C (50 F). 

     The average high for the month of November is 0 C (32 F) so at 10 C we're well above the average high.

    It was chinooking today so it was windy and warm. I did not get a photo of the chinook arch.

    The forecast for the next seven days is great with highs above freezing all the time.

    In spite of such pleasant weather , I put up my Christmas lights today. So to make my kids happy, I did not climb the ladder (very high) as I put the lights low down on the house.

    And I walked at 8 PM and it was most pleasant.