THE RETARDED SQUIRRIL

       I told the retarded squirrel story in the seventies. Today you would never use a term like retarded , but at that time we did use retarded.

      On a wintery day I noticed a squirrel that was apparently trying to cross the alley by jumping from one tree to the other.

     The squirrel would run up one branch and then another looking for which branch was the closest to his target across the alley.

    Finally he chose a branch and went as far as possible to the end which would still support him. He rocked back and forth three times trying to find the best jumping off place. He tried this a few times and then gave it his best push.

    He missed. He didn't get to the branch in the other tree. Instead he fell about 10 feet and landed in a soft snow bank. He was stunned for a moment . Then shook some snow of and jumped through the snow until he got to the fence.

     Only middle school kids would think this is funny. They seemed to like the squirrel falling in the deep snow.They kept asking about my squirrel,   but I did not see more  squirrel  incidents.

   It was  odd as we think of squirrels  running through the trees with little effort..

SNOW

 Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

     Yes, it definitely is a Christmas tune sung by many singers like Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby.

     Why am I bringing up this topic? Well we had a major snow storm last night. We had about 10 cm of snow with lots of wind. South east of us there was much more snow and wind. So across the Canadian prairies and Montana and North Dakota had much more snow.

    So it was  very dull this morning when I took these photos. It was still snowing.

SNOW

     Yesterday we had about four or five cm of snow. That's not much but we don't get a lot of snow. 

The snow was powder so it was fluffy and dry. It was easy to shovel as it was light. Now it was about minus 8 below. So this would be winter snow as compared to spring snow which is heavy and wet.

      Now' just recently I transferred my photos from an old hard drive to a memory stick. There were  close to 8000 photos, It was a good time to cull some photos. I discarded about 4000 photos, Many photos were snow photos. It looked like I never saw a snow flake I didn't like and by the way, I didn't take any snow photos yesterday.

        I had never transferred  anything to a memory stick so it was a bit of a surprise, I downloaded 6 files and then it said it was downloading 4441 photos! When It was finished I looked at what I had. I thought they were all jumbled up. As with any problem like this I waited a couple of days before I went back to the photos. Upon inspection , I found that the photos were in exactly the order they had been in.

     Since I did not make files the computer filed them by date. 

   I do have a few things to learn.

MARCH WEATHER

       Here in Central Alberta, Canada, March is considered to be a spring month although with extremes.

       Today was a good example. When I got up today there was light rain. It was about plus 2 C. The rain soon stopped and the wind started. Then snow flurries occurred. The rain lasted about 30 minutes. Just enough to make things wet. The light snow lasted about 60 minutes.  

      March can be very windy. Weather systems go through quickly. We tend to get much precipitation in March.

      So today was a day that's quite common in March. You feel the warmth from the sun ,but the wind makes it feel cold. 

      So what will tomorrow bring? It's supposed to get cold tomorrow. 

A TWO JACK RABBIT WALK

            I walk three or four times a week. If the weather is nice , I may walk 7 or 8 times in a row. I usually walk 3 to 4 Km. I like to walk after supper. In the summer it's light and I meet many people and their dogs. About the end of September it gets dark before 7 PM . So I walk at 7.00 PM in the dark. In the past I have walked all winter in the dark. Now I'm worried about ice and falling so I walk less in the winter. Many times I do not meet  a person on my winter walks. Most of the time there  is not a car going around. 

        So on to the Jack rabbits. I like all wildlife.  At this time most of the Jack rabbits have turned white. We didn't have snow until today so   without snow it was easy to see these critters.

       So since I've been walking in the dark it's easy to see the Jacks. Last night I saw two. About  week ago I saw seven on my walk. Last night one of them didn't move until I was less than three meters away.

      Usually I see four or five deer but not this year so far. You would see four or five bucks in one place and once in a while one would pick a little shoving match with another. As soon s one's head was turned the contest was over.

     So you see why I walk at night. There are many critters to see.

IT HAD TO HAPPEN

       Well, what had to happen? Well snow of course. 

        So snow was forecast. Around 9:00 PM there was wind and the air was full of snow. It snows for about 20 minutes and it was over.  

         Today it was plus1 with a nasty wind.

         It was not pleasant.

         Now this is my first post on the lap top, so there are some things I don't have set up because I don't know how. I will find a  solution.

WEATHER

      Weather has been a big topic for the last week. It's a major holiday week end and people want to be travelling. It's the beginning of winter and we want to see winter come as late as possible.

     Some of the weather reports this weekend are brutal. Reports of 3 ft. of snow is enough to paralyze me. Certain areas have been paralyzed. In Ontario , Canada , many people have  been without power for several days and for some people it looks like a few more days without power. 

    In some areas of the U.S. they are expecting 2 to 3 ft  of snow. How long will it take to clean that up and transportation be restored?

    What do people do? For most people everything depends on power. Very few people are off grid. Very few people have their own power supply. Very few people have another source of heat like wood. 

    If the power was off at my place for 4 or 5 days we would have trouble surviving. 

    We've had a very cold week. Our lows have been in the minus 17 to 19C degree. This isn't that bad. We are easily able to get around. We look after our needs in the usual  way.

   It is forecast to warm up here in the next few days. Here's my one hope. I hope it doesn't get too warm. If it gets above freezing we get ice. Roads become slippery and walking is risky. So warm up but not too warm.

   Far all of you with severe winter conditions I hope you stay safe and as comfortable as possible. 

SNOW !

     Today we are having our first big dump of snow. One of these strange "bomb" weather patterns have reached the prairies of western Canada and the northwestern states. 

    So today, right after breakfast I was out shoveling about 5 in of snow. An hour later I was out cleaning up about 1 1/2  in of snow. Then I got lucky. the neighbors adult grandson was at Grandpa's cleaning the snow from the driveway and sidewalk. Later on I noticed my security light come on. When I looked out "said grandson" was cleaning my driveway. I checked and he'd done the neighbors. I checked further and he had also done the long side walk at the side of my house.

    I certainly appreciated the grandson's efforts. 

    So with the new snow, everything looks clean , white and fresh. 

SNOW

      Three or four days ago we received 3 or 4 cm. of snow. It was gentle and fresh.

      There was lots of snow to shovel and it was pleasant to be outside. What was extra special were the flocks of geese flying south. 

      At this time of year we have many local geese flying out to the fields to feed. The ponds have many geese. But these geese meant business. They were fairly high up and flying directly south. These are northern geese. The ice has frozen solid where they have been hanging around. They will fly south until they find bodies of water that are ice free and empty of other geese that they might have to compete with. 

    Only very small ponds are frozen over here.  Anything bigger than my yard is clear of ice. 

    Now it was pleasant to see these geese fly over , but I know that there are millions more hanging around. The big migration happens when we get the first deep freeze. Temperatures about the minus 20 C will persuade most geese to move south where they will find food and open water. I remember one boxing day when the flights of geese were almost continuous.

    We do not have cold temperatures in the forecast so geese will be here for a while. Some geese stay here all winter using spots in the river that don't freeze over. 

   Sorry! No photos! I have replaced the card in my camera and ready to take photos.  

SNOW

       I must admit that I like the comments I get when I talk about snow. This will be my first snow post for this  fall.

       I was shocked the other day when I heard a forecast for snow in the mountains.

      I live about 100 km from the Rocky Mountains. Most of the elevation in this huge range is from 8000 feet to 10000 feet. A few peaks are higher like beautiful Mount Robson. 

     Their are many glaciers that have been there for thousands of years. All summer at the higher elevations you will get fresh snow.

     So the forecast of snow was not out of the ordinary. Where I live we had a high of 24.

     But the snow does remind me that fall is on the way and then winter. 

     This is a peak in Montana which I think was 11000 feet. I climbed this one on a hot afternoon. Getting on the peak was a little tricky. I hope John will recognize this peak and give me he name. 

WINTER WEATHER.

      Now I like winter. I don't mind the cold. I like snow. I like wind and prairie blizzards. 

     Now having said all that, I'm about to do a 180.

    This winter has been very different from our usual winter. Generally it's been a mild winter with above average temperatures. We've had long stretches of above average winter.

    This photo was taken from a window in my house. It was very dull. 

   However , I don't like constant change to the extremes. This week we've had lows of minus 28 C and highs of around minus 20 C. This is the first week of March! We should not be getting these temperatures, although they do happen. The week before we had similar very frigid weather. Then it was mild and thawed so that we had ice. We've had icy conditions all winter. I like to walk but I stay away from ice now. I watch kids who look for the longest  patch of very slippery ice and then slide. If they fall,  no harm is done. If I fall, I could remain broken for the rest of my life. 

    This winter with the mild spells we have lots of ice. 

    So I would like a winter that starts with snow and cool temperatures at the beginning of Nov. Then it can gradually get colder with snow piling up. Then in Mar. and April it can warm up and snow and ice slowly melt.

   However, the world doesn't work like this. We have a great variety as weather change all the time. 

   Maybe it's time to buy a gym membership and walk inside. We have a city facility with a 400 m walking and running track. 

I'M FORTUNATE

       I have to consider myself very fortunate as people do things for me and I have not asked for help.

      We've had some snow and cold the last few days. We've had 5 to 10 cm (2 to 4 in) . Well you know , it has to be shoveled. I also have more than my share of sidewalks ...about 150 ft. So when we get the 2 to 4 in of snow it's a lot of work.

      Now I'm very capable of shoveling snow . I will also shovel snow for other people.

     I have four people I know who have cleared my sidewalk and one other person that I have not identified. So that's a lot of help. I was outside when one guy came along and he told me to go in my house and he would also do my drive way. 

     So I am fortunate and thankful that people come by and shovel snow for me.

     So here we are in our younger years shoveling snow. Well, I see it's only 9 years ago!

WINTER'S HERE!

       Winter hit us today with a wallop. We are in the midst of a blizzard with white out conditions. We've had abut 10 cm of snow and lots of wind.

      So guess what the old boy had to try to do day all day. That's right! I shoveled snow. It was miserable because we've had warm weather until last night. So the snow came down on ground that was above freezing and melted just enough to make things miserable. So the snow stuck to my shovel. Think about it this way. 10 lbs. of snow stuck to my shovel while I shoveled one lb. of snow. I had to shovel things twice today. 

     So I'm a chicken. I took all these photos through my window. 

APRIL FIRST AND NO SPRING

      Okay, most of my followers have very nice spring weather. That's the way it should be for April 1.

      Meanwhile I'm left looking forward to spring from winter. Today we had a high of minus 12 C (10 F). There was a blustery  wind. It was far from a spring day. It would even be classified as a nasty winter day.

     Needless to say, very little winter snow has melted. The first snow melts off the roof. From my photo you can see that snow is still on the roof of all houses.

    So at 7:30 Pm I was sadly looking out the window when I thought this is a good day to mark a very late spring.

       So lots of snow on the roof.

     I noticed the evening sun on a wall. When I looked at the photo I thought this would be good for one of those fence photos. You  can see three separate fences and a shadow of a fence.

SNOWY IMAGES

    This weekend , Sept 27, 28,  and 29 we had snowfall. We were very fortunate as we missed the very heavy snow. We had maybe one or two cm.  Further south the storm and snowfall were brutal. Waterton Lakes National Park, on the American border, had 95 cm of snow. They had the snowplows out. Calgary had about 30 cm of snow. It slowed a large city down and there was lots of street clearing.

     Black current, raspberry and gooseberry.

     Juniper

    Juniper and wet street

Snow formed on a juniper branch

JUST TO LET YOU KNOW...

   Just to let you know that in Red Deer Alberta we had snow today!!! Yes, it snowed for about two hours this morning. At one time there was about 2 cm on the ground. It's rained all day...just what we need. It's very dry here.

    There was much more snow in the Rocky Mountains. At higher elevations there was lots of snow.

MY SNOW IS ALMOST GONE

        I've had a bit of a struggle with the blog lately. I've been very busy. Topics come to my head and by the time I get to pencil and paper the topic is gone.

        However , today I have something to write about that was planned for me by somebody else.

        I want to tell you that my winter snow is about 90% gone. There are only snow banks on the north side of something or in a very sheltered spot.

       So I went out to get some photos of my gone snow. 

       Well, I found some other things and some things I didn't find quite soon enough.

       I noticed  that a large tree trunk had fallen and the the bark was stripped off the branches close to the ground. I had to check this out. From a distance I thought it would have been a porcupine. When I got there I discovered that it had been deer that had chewed the bark off and nipped all the end twigs. Most nights deer had gone through my yard so I was not surprised by the evidence.

     Now I was so interested in the evidence of the trees being chewed that I missed seeing the larger bulk if the evidence. Since the deer had stayed in this area most of the winter they had left a massive amount of droppings. I didn't see the droppings quite soon enough. They were in a consistency where they mushed and really stuck to my shoes!

    So you see the deer gave me my topic today.

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.

JUST FOR INFORMATION

     Just for information:

          ... it didn't rain here today.

               ...but it did snow!

     Just for more information:

          ... it's going to snow  tomorrow.

                 ... about 10 cm (4 in).

IT'S WHITE AGAIN

      Yes, we had another good dump of snow last night. We got about 7 -8 cm ( 5 in). I got up several times in the night to see heavy snowfall. 

      The snow is quite wet so some large tree branches broke off trees.

       It's been about minus 2 C ( 28 F)  all day .

      So all in all it was a very dull day.

  Lilac leaves holding snow

Lilac bush loaded with snow

  Mountain ash

Car loaded with snow

The large poplar across the street