Saturday at the source of the Severn

It was a mild day and Vicki and I thought we'd leave the "cabin" fever behind and get some fresh air. We were expecting Trumpeter swans but not the 100 to 120 we counted - there were 2 other groups of each approximately 20 birds bringing the total to more than 150. And most were banded this year, even the young which might have made up nearly 50% of the birds we saw.

While we were watching the swans some motion on the snow caught our attention:

I then went up on the road bridge and took the next photos looking up river:

Then I crossed the road and looked down stream:

I'll leave the turkeys and sunset impressions for another time.

W O B

The "Hand of Man" vs Nature

Also on that walk Saturday afternoon, I saw signs of humans interacting with Nature.

I wondered about this fence and whether the intention was to try and hold back Winter?

And then there was this powerful(?) defiance:

And then these Inukshuks - here made of wood, not the traditional stone.

They worked, I found my way back home.

Wintery Old Bird

Street lighting in Muskoka

I went for a walk late Saturday afternoon - looking for snowy owls and a covered bridge, without success. However, I did not trip or stumble because the path I took was illuminated in various ways.

By homes:

By Santa's elves:

(I have more images but this gives you the idea.)

And by the sky:

I thought this was "cool"!

It was achieved by exchanging the definition of "white" and then a little imagination? Maybe?

W O B

Monday after the weekend

I felt good Saturday morning. There was sunshine, a light breeze but I was sheltered by the trees, and it was cold - I don't remember whether it was still -30C or whether it was already along the rise to -13C that it would reach when I dared start the car. It started but what would I do if it didn't - I was not going to leave until Sunday afternoon.

It was rather pleasant sitting around talking about food, and a 1000piece jig-saw puzzle with a Canadian aurora borealis as theme

Vicki loves to puzzle:

But of course, so do lots of others:

Actually, quite a little party. This scene was on Friday evening and continued until Sunday afternoon.

Back to my walk on the Saturday morning - across a bridge -

Some icicles - the building appeared to be unheated, so the melting was caused by the roof absorbing sunlight.

And there were several chickadees:

The road not taken

Maybe I'll show the way I took at sunset in another entry.

W O B

More about not liking the "feel"

So chill out!

Want to talk about "feeling" the blues?
It is even felt in Germany    
I thank my friends for their "warm" support!

W O B

The map suggests that the white regions are experiencing zero anomolous temperatures - the people there might just be numb? No "feelin"? 

19C feeling(?) like 29C

I have to appologize to Merry Christmas - of course it should read -19C feeling like -29C. I should not be so lazy. Not everybody has a "feel" for windchill. The wind is 20kmh gusting to 35kmh. A "green flash" caught my I and I had to see what was up. A T-shirt is not adequate, even for a Canadian when the Nor'-west wind doth blow. So I didn't take so many photos, probably too many for those of you in Florida, Texas or Mexico. Incidently, it would be interesting if Mexico were to build a wall for Trump - say for the Mexico prior to Antonio López de Santa Anna taking office.

Anyway, back to the "green flash".

Shall we talk about wind chill?   Or just let our teeth chatter:

The background is fuzzy, actually snowy, because the strong gusts have lifted a lot of snow from the lake in order to dump it in Buffalo or Ottawa or some place in between, as in "the land between".   If you can, watch the TVO series.

Now the snow is up and away!

I understand that Florida received some snow from US today.
Snowbirds?

W O B

Happy New Year from other survivors

Some survivors of the Chicxulub crater   have asked to be represented at the start of 2018 before they are forgotten.  The birds, of course, say don't forget the bird feeder:

However, there must have been other survivors like these friendly reptiles:

What sharp claws, the better to ...

It has been noted that there are a large number of cenotes, pot-holes of fresh water, along the rim of
the former crater. So I shall end this entry with the "cenote house" of Tulum, one of the prettiest buildings in the Tulum archaeological park  - for me:

I visited Tulum on Friday November 17, just 65 million years after the beeg meteor impact. Did see some lesser Geminids in December:

Busman's holiday.

new meaning to W O B ?

A better 2018 than the one the dinos experienced.