The Duck and Some Flowers
The sun is shining today!! Everything looks so much better with the sunshine. After a long weekend of rain, it looks and feels wonderful this morning. Chester and I headed out for our walk as usual to enjoy the start of our day.
Today we have tulips, Lily of the Valley, Elephant Ear and a beautiful male Mallard Duck (or should I say handsome). Of course, we also have the big tree across the Red River and the little tree on this side of the Red River to show the water level, which hasn’t appeared to change in some time now.
Little Tree by the Red River – May 22/13
Big Tree across the Red River – May 22/13
The trees across the river are sure starting to look nice and green now, but the little tree on my side is dead and provides some birds a nice place to perch to sing their songs.
Lily of the Valley – May 22
Tulips and Elephant Ear – May 22
Tulips and Elephant Ear – May 22
Mallard Duck – May 22
Mallard Duck – May 22
Unfortunately I cut off the duck’s reflection.
Time to check out what is happening at Africam today. We had lions at the waterhole at Tembe just as I was heading off to bed last night, but I see that they came back again after I left. You never know what might happen to wander into our view.
Chocolate Mug Cake
Yes, you see it right – this non-baker is doing another food blog! I fell into the chocolate mug cage recipes awhile ago and have been experimenting on my own. I mean – who actually makes it exactly the same as the recipe anyway?
I’ll give you what I found and I’ll also tell you approximately what I use. I say approximately because I can’t find my measuring spoons so I’m not exactly sure how much of anything I use. 
The ingredients on the recipe that I liked the most:
4 tbs each of flour and sugar
2 tbs cocoa
1 egg
3 tbs each of milk, oil and chocolate chips (optional)
small splash of good vanilla
What I use approximately are:
4 – 5 tbs each of flour and sweetened hot chocolate mix
3 – 4 tbs each of milk and chocolate chips and blueberry sauce or applesauce
1 tsp oil
small splash vanilla
My reasoning for the changes are:
A whole egg for such a small cake seems unnecessary, but put it in if you like. Maybe get extra small ones.
That is a lot of oil, so first I substituted most of it for apple sauce, but then one day I found blueberry sauce and I preferred that.
Method
Mix the dry ingredients together. You can mix them right in the mug (it should be a large mug), or you can mix them in a bowl. I like to mix it in a bowl since I sometimes found little dry bits in the bottom of the mug that had not been mixed in.
Pour in the milk, oil and blueberry sauce (or applesauce) and mix well.
Add the vanilla and chocolate chips (if using) and mix again.
Pour into the mug and cook on high for 3 minutes.
Depending on the size of the mug (I use a very large one), the cake may rise over the top of the mug, but will settle down again.
You can eat it right out of the mug or take it out to put on a plate. There is enough for 2. Enjoy.
Chocolate Mug Cake
As I said, I use a very large mug – it is large enough to put a large can of soup in. If you have a normal size mug, please use the smaller amounts.
I haven’t seen any critters around for a couple of days. It has been cool and raining, so I wouldn’t have been able to take pictures of them anyway.
Luckily I can tune into Africam for my critter viewing. The first egg should be hatching soon at the Black Eagle Cam, we are watching the baby hippo grow on Idube and we never know what will show up at Nkorho, Elephant Plains or Tembe. Hope to see you there.
Flowers and Ducks
It is another gloomy and drizzly day here so pictures are without sun – but this is spring and we do need the rain. As always, I would like to request that it rains all night – a nice steady rain – and then the sun comes out in the mornings. I think that would be best.
My first tulip is now open and more are coming soon. Chester and I watched a pair of Mallard Ducks on the Red River for our walk yesterday, so I have a couple of pictures of them to go along with the tulip.
Mallard Ducks – May 18
Mallard Ducks – May 18
Mallard Ducks – May 18
Tulips and Elephant Ear – May 18
Tulip – May 18
I had hoped to get some yard work done this weekend, but it is a little damp to get much done. I did fill one large garbage bag yesterday but there is still much to do. I will have to get grass seed to fill in the spots where the grass didn’t make it through the winter. Maybe I’ll just hang out at Africam.
Around the House
I took most of today’s pictures around the house. 
It was cloudy and drizzled off and on all day yesterday and it is looking like today might be about the same. Of course – it is the May long weekend.
We’ve got a couple of bunnies or maybe 3. I got one on his own earlier and then 2 together later one. We also have one beautiful Wood Duck from our walk along the Red River in the morning.
It was Chester’s day at the spa yesterday. He had his nails done and he had a b.a.t.h! He doesn’t like either, but the nails are done on a regular basis and he always gets a treat when we’re finished, so he has learned over the years to lie still and he will get his treat faster than if he squirms. The bath is hated, but I can tie him into his tub and it doesn’t take too long. It actually takes as long or longer to set up the tub and take it down again – so I get a good workout. I didn’t get any pictures of his day at the home spa, since I need both my hands to accomplish the events.
Bunnies – May 17
Bunny – May 17
Bunny – May 17
Notice how he is eating my grass instead of those lovely weeds.
Elephant Ear and Tulips – May 17
Elephant Ear and Tulips – May 17
Snow on the Mountain/Bishop’s Gout May 17
Wood Duck – May 17
I have a few chores to do around the house and yard today if it doesn’t rain too much. After that I am sure you will find me on Africam.
Just a Bunny
The bunnies seem to be everywhere we look these days and the babies haven’t started appearing yet. I expect there will be plenty of the really cute little ones around soon. Chester can see them almost all the time out of any window in the house and is pacing and whining to get out and attempt to get one. I just hope they stay out of the back yard.
I didn’t take any pictures by the Red River yesterday. Nothing has changed and no critters were in view there.
Bunny – May 16
Bunny – May 16
It is drizzling rain and a little cool today, but Chester and I are heading out on our walk to see what we can see. After that I have chores and errands to do and then some quality time in front of the cams at Africam. Have a great day.
A Couple of Birds
Today is my daughter’s birthday. Happy Birthday Angela! Hope you have a wonderful day.
Those Black-headed Gulls (or whatever they are) are still hanging around the Red River and actually they are the only gulls I saw on yesterday’s walk with Chester. The other bird is a little sparrow of some kind. If I didn’t have to head for work every day I would be able to sit and examine all the types of sparrows and try to figure out what kind it is. Actually, I think he is a Clay-colored Sparrow. I’m pretty sure I did find out what he was last year. Of course we also have pictures of the big and little trees along the river to show the water levels.
Black-headed Gulls – May 15
Black-headed Gull – May 15
Clay-colored Sparrow – May 15
Clay-colored Sparrow – May 15
Big Tree Across the Red River – May 15
Little Tree on this Side of the Red River – May 15
Just about Chester walking time – then a bit of Africam watching. See you there.
My First Flower
What a surprise! My first flower this year wasn’t a tulip. The Elephant Ear shot to the front of the pack, by putting up the first flower this year. I hadn’t even noticed the buds on it, since I haven’t had much luck getting flowers from it before. I think the bigger Elephant Eat had a flower last year, but I always see them in the neighbourhood with flowers and until last year neither of mine had ever had one. This year it is the smaller one.
We also have a Mallard duck, the traditional big tree/little tree and a lost life preserver.
Big Tree Across the Red River – May 14
Little Tree on This Side of the Red River – May 14
Lost Life Preserver – May 14
Mallard Duck – May 14
Elephant Ear and Tulips – May 14
Elephant Ear and Tulips – May 14
We’ve been having some beautiful warm days for the last few days, but the wind is digging up all the leftover sand from the roads and sidewalks and turning it into dust storms. Right now it is calm, but I see they are predicting the winds to pick up again this afternoon.
After Chester and I head out for our morning walk, I will be checking in on Africam to see what has been happening. See you there.
Street Work
A section of a road that is not too far from here is cracking with part of the road dropping down several inches. It has been like this for at least a couple of weeks now and has been barricaded off. Next to that is a path that goes along the Red River and then the river itself. I have seen crews out there a couple of times – mostly standing around and I assume trying to figure out what to do about it. I took a few pictures of the area yesterday when Chester and I took our walk.
The Manitoba Marathon runs along here and I wonder if they will have a detour next month.
I also have a picture of a bird that flew into my window last night. I don’t know what it is, but he was alert and watching me take his picture. A few minutes later he was gone.
Chester at the Broken Road – May 13
Chester at the Broken Road – May 13
Chester at the Broken Road – May 13
Broken Road – May 13
Little Bird – May 13
The picture of the little bird isn’t great, since it was starting to get dark, but I’m glad he was ok after his crash landing.
Time to head out for today’s walk with Chester and find out what we will see. Then I have some time to watch the cams at Africam.
Buds, Bunnies, Birds and Water
The buds are starting to open and we will soon have leaves on our trees! Chester, in his never-ending hunt for bunnies, found one next door yesterday and the bunny stood still while Chester stalked him (with a fence in between them). A singing sparrow let me get quite close to him although I didn’t have a chance to trim the branch in front of him. The Black-headed Gulls (or what I think are Black-headed Gulls) were flying and skimming the top of the water. The Red River continues to remain at about the same level. Those are the headlines for today. Well, they are actually the headlines for yesterday – but who’s counting? The thing is that I have pictures of all the above events.
Red River – May 12
Little Tree on this side of the River – May 12
Big Tree Across the River – May 12
Bunny – May 12
Elm Tree Buds – May 12
Black-Headed Gulls – May 12
Black-Headed Gull – May 12
Black-Headed Gull – May 12
Singing Sparrow – May 12
I didn’t include this in the headlines, but we went to Celebrations Dinner Theatre last night and had a wonderful time. She show was great (as usual), the food was great (as usual) and the service was great (as usual). Our waiter was new and he did an excellent job of keeping all his tables well looked after. The show was Johnny Be Goode – a rock and roll reunion.
It is time to check in to Africam to see what I missed while sleeping. Lately, I have missed Lions and Leopards more than once – but luckily pictures and videos are posted and I get to watch those.
Black-headed Gull
Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers in the world!
When Chester and I had our walk along the Red River yesterday, I found a few of the gulls that look to me as if they are the Black-headed Gull. There were 3 of them floating along so I got a few pictures of them as they went by. I also took a picture of the big tree across the river and it still looks like the river has not moved up at all. If the peak is coming this week as predicted, I predict a low peak.
Big Tree Across the River – May 11
Black-headed Gull – May 11
Black-headed Gull – May 11
Black-headed Gull – May 11
Black-headed Gull – May 11
Black-headed Gull – May 11
I took some time to figure out what these guys are, but the Black-headed Gull seems to be it. I got all 3 birds in at least one picture, so they are all the same anyway.
Click here to see a picture I found of them online and let me know what you think. They are listed as rare/accidental in this area by Avibase – Bird Checklists of the World Manitoba
I’ve got time for a bit of Africam viewing before heading off to work. Have a great day.
