Evidence of Spring

The ice left the lake between Leacock and Tudhope out at least 2K to the north of here with just 13K further for the lake to be ice-free again. I have taken lots of images on Sat and Sun but here are a few special moments from Friday afternoon when the sun came out and all seemed well with the world. I also worked out on the bike, something I have not done since - will have to see about Monday but I am measuring water quality again - so maybe not for awhile.

These trees were up against the terrace wall. I then walked away to the beach:

I found the ripples fascinating.

When one gets close to something one begins to see in a different way:

Quite simple things like 2 birch trees reflected off melt water. Or trees with their bark coated with wind-driven snow from the night

The "Winter" snow could not embrace the trees for long. Spring sprang loose. Now I am going to look for a comet and further evidence for Spring. Have a great week.

W O B

Shooting against the sun

If you look below at the April, April blog below
you will note that the terrace glass panels are covered in snow:

This photo was taken before 2pm. The sun came out an hour or so later and just after 5pm I went outside to shoot the sun through this snowy coating.

Hope  you enjoy counter-point - W O B

April, April!

Anybody can have an April 1st joke on April 1 - however, it took an innocent letter to a friend who shall remain nameless but to whom I will refer  as "Val" because I used this name last December and it seems like a plausible solution now as it did then.

Please click on the link to recall the history.

Yesterday I had a thank-you letter from "Val" and I pointed out to her that Santa had already checked his list once for 2017 - on his way, of course, to checking it twice as is required by protocol. I can only think that the reindeer found that funny and kicked over the snow that I had been storing up for the coming winter when there might be a need for a little extra until all the new devices had been tested - you know, beaver, dolphins, drones, entanglement, 3-D printers, and "X-factors".

So this is what happened at middle earth this morning:

It is -2C! On Monday the forecast is plus 23C and sunny. Go figure that out! By the way, a practical alternative to the sleigh is the bicycle so in recent days I have been pushing my helpers, leading by example, of course, to bike that bike. I have been pushing my limit, slowly, to #10 on the scale which gives me approx 150 Watts and I am currently able to do that 4 times 4 minutes in 30 minutes. I know, that is peanuts, and I would much rather be pulled than have to pull. And the rolling friction is slightly less than sliding friction, unless of course, I had to bike today through this "hot mush" .

W O B

swans: Trumpeters 2

There have been Mutes and Trumpeters here since I became aware of them in 2010. The trumpeters usually wear a yellow number clipped to one of their wings. So I was surprised to note on Wednesday that this pair was new.

There is some thought that they will become the new "Canada goose" plague. I hope not.

They do make a lot of "vocalization"!

W O B

swans: Mute 2

At Langman's I saw a pair

of Mute Swans:

They have served, apparently as surrogate parents for the reintroduction of Trumpeter Swans, a decade or so ago.

W O B

I ran 5K yesterday

It rained this morning; it snowed this afternoon - I biked down strairs on the "interval" prog.

I don't want to have to show photographs of every run or route. However, for my European friends who might consider me to have become a flat-earth society member, I feel I ought to show a hill or two from the Oro Medonte Moraines.

So here was the initial short turn-around at "Line 14":

I di not actuall run up Line #14 but did turn around here some 250m from where I parked the car for another, "Trumpeter" blog entry for another day.

I ran past a "Century" farm - I know, nothing compared to "Kuchen" or "Cuchen" 's home of AD 800.

Here I ran down to Bass  Lake on Line 13:

From here I run a km or so up hill past old cedar fences, past old barns, to a solar farm set among cattle and tradition:

 

This old barn is set amidst a solar farm:

It is not much further to the top of the hill -

Don't forget the sunscreen!

The way back -

And then back past the "past"

I now feel comfortable at 5K - but I do not need the camera to unbalance me- So unless you have special requests - to see bear "Bär" or coyotes, etc., I may leave the camera at home.

One can get a buzz without the camera:

W O B

The high level mark on McGee Creek

On Sat March 4 I photographed the ice level under the bridge:

The question is how deep would the water have been if I had been able to measure the depth when the Creek had been so covered with ice?

So on Sun April 2 I measured the various levels of concrete under the bridge, that water level, and the depth of water at my "standard" position = 36cm.

The ice appeared at this marke

r:

The difference between the "45"cm ice mark and the "86"cm mark is 41cm, and the depth under the bridge is 36cm so the depth of the Creek to form the layer of ice on Sat Mar 4 must have been 77cm.
I can now determine the depth from the water level on the side of the bridge - at least until the stream dry up.

W O B