WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES.

     Yesterday morning, Nov. 17, it was minus 17 C (0 F) when I got up. I was going out at 10:00 so needed the car. I plugged the car in ( the block heater) to make sure that it would start.

    The day before we had a nice winter snowfall...about 6 or 7 cm ( 2 -3 in.) I had shoveled my driveway and found it cold. I say nice snow as it was what we call dry snow...not a sloppy slushy mess.

    At 1:30 Pm yesterday I was meeting my bird watching group. It was minus 4 when we started. It was a brisk pleasant winter afternoon.  Nine of us spent 2 hours and found 9 species of birds. At the end of 2 hours I was ready to go home.

     All photos from Lynette Asselstine Braun.









    Today  Nov. 18 , when I got up it was plus 3 C ( 35 F). Around 9:00 AM it started to rain and rained for a couple of hours. Now we have a sloppy slushy mess. When things freeze this evening it will become icy. For the next three days our highs are 6 and 7 C. This is very unusual weather for us. I prefer weather to be stable and make gradual changes. It's easier to get used to things that way.

    So it's been a big change in just 48 hours.

SEVEN DAYS CONTRAST

      I spend a lot of time outdoors wandering through parks and natural areas. It gets me outdoors. It gives me some exercise and it certainly does wonders to overall good well being. I lead a bird watching group once a week and sometimes you have to work pretty hard to pursue the little birdie to make an identification.


    Now most days you are going to meet someone to visit with. You meet all kinds of different people. Since I carry binoculars , most people can guess what I'm doing.


    From time to time you find things. These days the woods are filled with junk from homeless people. Sometimes I report the junk and the city picks it up and if it's small I clean it up myself.


    Sometimes you find other things...wallets. Usually there's nothing left. Twice I found wallets and the only thing missing was cash. Then I turn them in to the police.


    Yesterday I found something different. I saw a bit of black cord sticking out of the snow. I thought it might be keys so I kicked the snow away. Surprisingly it turned out to be a flashlight. I wanted to see if it worked and if not it would go in the garbage. One of the birders told me how to turn it on and yes it worked.


    Now the flash light likely belonged to a homeless person as they use the flashlights to navigate through the bush and also as a bicycle light. They also use them for lights in their tent.


     Now when I got home I googled to see what I had. I found out that it was a $50.00 flashlight. I've never found anything of value that I could keep. The light is LED and the beam shines up to 751 feet!




    Sometimes you get lucky!