Beautiful Winter Day in Central Alberta

        Today was a beautiful day in Central Alberta as the temperature was about 0 C (I know this one 32 F). There was a good stiff north west wind in the morning and most of the day was clear. An awesome winter day!

        What do you do on an awesome winter day? Well you guessed it...cross country ski. So I went out on my own private ski trail around the close behind my house. We had 5 cm of snow yesterday so conditions were about as good as they get. Since I've been out 5 or six times in the last 10 days I'm starting to feel in better condition.

       The usual magpies were out enjoying the day. A merlin showed up and the magpies got very excited. The merlin took a couple of runs at the magpies and got them screaming mad. The merlin left as I guess he thought the magpies were in too good of shape for him to handle. A few minutes later a pileated woodpecker showed up and checked out the Schubert cherry trees that are planted in the front of every body's yard. To finish the bird theme a lone raven flew over. So as well as a good ski it was fairly interesting bird wise.

     I also accomplished some stuff in the house. We took down the Christmas tree and decorations and stored them away. Home Farm Girl says never again! That's the last time she's doing Christmas decorations! But I've heard these oaths from her before and they are not serious. I also made a rhubarb stew for supper

     Today the sun sets at 4:39 PM . It's earliest setting here was 4:24  PM around Dec. 7 so you see the days are starting to lengthen ever so slightly as we've gained 15 minutes of daylight by my calculations. We haven't started to gain anything back in the morning as this morning the sun rose at 8:43 AM. I think tomorrow or the next day we finally gain a minute in the morning.

    So it was a day that makes for pleasant times during the winter.