2011 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 6,100 times in 2011. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 5 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

White-tailed Deer

As I mentioned yesterday, Chester and I found a couple of White-tailed Deer at Birds Hill Park.  I was driving past the parking lot for a trail named White-tail Deer Trail and I glanced in (as I always do), but this time I saw 2 deer on the trail. I was already past it by the time I saw them, so I turned around and drove into the parking lot.  The deer were still there, so I got out of the car with my camera and stood at the back of the car to take some pictures.  There was only 1 deer in sight at that time and she saw me, and didn’t seem worried, so I walked a bit closer to take more pictures.

Then the other deer came out of the bush a little further back and walked towards me.  She also saw me, but continued.  So, I got a few pictures.    The one that had been out of sight when I arrived is a little bigger than the other one, so I assume she is the mom and the smaller one is her baby from the spring.

The young one had been eating under a bird feeder and also watching the birds – mostly chickadees.

White-tailed Deer Dec 30

I just thought this picture was so cute.  In reality, she is watching the birds – but it sure looks like she is looking for directions and reading the sign.

White-tailed Deer Dec 30

White-tailed Deer Dec 30

White-tailed Deer Dec 30

White-tailed Deer Dec 30

White-tailed Deer Dec 30

She is still coming closer and has been checking me out as she comes. Then baby spots more birds and comes a little closer too. 

White-tailed Deer Dec 30

White-tailed Deer Dec 30

White-tailed Deer Dec 30

White-tailed Deer Dec 30

In this picture, the young one is looking at a chickadee on the ground.  I tried to get a picture of the chickadee but it flew away just as I was ready to snap.

White-tailed Deer Dec 30

Just as I snapped this last picture the deer bounded off as a truck pulled into the parking lot with a couple of guys and 3 very large and loud barking dogs.  Chester had been so good while I was outside the car taking these pictures.  He got his walk and his picture taken not too far down the road.

So far on Africam today, we have seen Lion, Elephant, Kudu, Wahlbergs Eagle, Hyaena, Nyala, Egyptian Geese, Waterbuck, Striped Skink, Impala, Oxpeckers, Giraffe, Vultures, Warthog, Cape Turtle Doves, Wildebeest and Black-backed Jackal.  Click here to see all of today’s pictures.

Today is New Year’s Eve and a time to say good-bye to 2011 and welcome to 2012.  If you are out partying, please do not drink and drive.  If you are drinking,  do not drive and if you are driving,  do not drink.  We have freezing rain coming down here now, so the roads are going to be difficult enough even when sober – so please drive carefully.

Chester

After the scare Chester gave us in early December, it looks like he is responding to the increased meds and we hopefully have the seizures under control now.  It has only been 12 days since his last seizures, so we’re not out of the woods yet, but I am feeling much more confidant  now that I had been before.

I told you when I decided to give him his Christmas toys a few days before Christmas.  I honestly had doubts that he would make it to Christmas, I have to admit – but I wasn’t going to put that into words at that time.

He always seems to be fine in between seizures, and I would always get my hopes up that we’ve got this beat only to watch him go through another one shortly after that.  Although its early, I’m starting to get my hopes up again and maybe this time we’ll do it. 

Chester and I took a drive out to Bird’s Hill Park this afternoon to see if any deer were around and to have a little walk in the park.  We accomplished both today. 

I’ve only re-sized the pictures I took of Chester so far and tomorrow, we can see the white-tailed deer pictures.

Chester Dec 30

Chester Dec 30

The weather was beautiful out there today with a temperature of -6C and just a slight wind chill of -11C

On Africam today, we have seen Lion, Elephant, Egyptian Geese, Hyaena, Three-banded Plover, Black-backed Jackal, Impala, Vervet Monkey, Zebra, Nyala, Waterbuck, Giraffe, Wildebeest, Woolly-necked Storks, Kudu, Duiker, African Comb Duck and Frogs with their foam nest.  Click here to see all of today’s pictures.

New Year’s Resolutions

If you make New Year’s Resolutions – now is the time to decide what you are going to change or improve in 2012.

Getting fit and losing weight  are the 2 most common ones that I see at work.  Stopping smoking is another common one.  Learning to control your temper is a good one for many people also.

Do you have any New Year’s Resolutions for this year?

I never have a New Year’s Resolution.  If I am going to change something, I would rather change it when it is a problem and if that is July, that is when I’ll change (or attempt to change) it.

Working at the Y, of course I see all the attempts at getting fit and losing weight resolutions.  Many of the current members either cancel their membership or just stay away for January.  The facility is extremely busy on most days anyway and the added new members in January just makes it too crowded for many. Most of the ones who join at this time of year will be cancelling their memberships in March.  They won’t use it much and finally decide to cancel then.  Some will come every day for a week or two, some will come a few times, others will just never make it in and some will actually stay and get fit and/or lose weight.

You have to be disciplined in order to make any resolution work.  Getting fit is not going to happen in a week or two.  Don’t start off with something that you will not be able to continue, such as every day – start with maybe 3 times a week and don’t overdo it your first times in.  If you’re not in shape, you can stop after 1/2 an hour and in that 1/2 hour, you can try a few pieces of equipment.  You shouldn’t be stiff and sore and will be ok to try it again.  After the first week of 1/2 hour workouts, add another 15 minutes the next week.  Maybe bring your bathing suit and go for a soak in the hot tub after your workout.

Change your routine often so you don’t get bored – try an aquafit  or step class (the Y offers many different classes).  Some people find they enjoy classes more than doing their own thing on the equipment and some people would rather work out on their own.  Try some of each to see what you prefer.

The important thing is to get moving.  If you don’t want to join a fitness club, start taking your dog for more and/or longer walks.  If you don’t have a dog you can volunteer at your local humane society or rescue shelter to walk dogs for them.

So far on Africam today, we have seen Elephant, Waterbuck, Woolly-necked Stork, Egyptian Goose, Blacksmith Lapwing, Impala, Vervet Monkey, Wildebeest, Nyala, Duiker, foam nest frogs at their nests, Giraffe and Terrapin.  Click here to see all of today’s pictures.

Chester and I will be leaving on our walk soon.  The temperature is currently -7C  and is supposed to drop to -12C as the sun comes up (right about the time we head out the door).

Post a Day 2011

In 2010, I normally posted about once a week – but it wasn’t unusual for me to miss a week or two once in awhile.   Then Word Press challenged all their bloggers to write either once a day or once a week.  I opted for the once a day, since I had been writing pretty much once a week already.

I certainly didn’t post every day.  There were some days that I just didn’t have anything to write about and although I have a little bit of time before work to write, its hard to come up with something from nothing.  The prompts from Word Press gave me a few topics on occasion, but I usually combined 3 or 4 of those topics into one blog – so 7 topics in a week only gave me 2 posts.

I could usually find enough to talk about in the spring, summer and fall – since there was almost always something to see on the Chester walks along the Red River.  It is much harder to find something to talk about in the winter though, since there is seldom much to see and just reporting that it’s cold gets very monotonous.

I don’t expect that much will change this year.  I will continue to write most days, but without the challenge to write every day it may not bother me to miss a day or 2 when I don’t have anything to say or any pictures to show.  I always have Africam to write about and as it gets closer to my trip to Africa I’m sure I will have things to say about that.  When I get back from Africa, there should be lots of days of blogs about my trip.

I will continue to write about my pets Chester and Jewel and may include my daughter’s pets again as well.

There isn’t much time left in 2011 now to catch up to my missed posts, so I will fall short of my goal – but not by too much.  Including this post, I have blogged 333 times in 2011.  I can still post 3 more times, or if I go crazy and post twice a day, 7 more times this year.  I’m not apt to post twice a day – so my grand total for the year should be 336.  I’m happy with that.

I have never considered myself a writer.  I like to write things down and sometimes I find that writing things will help me get past a problem or to get unhappy thoughts out of my head, since once I’ve put the thoughts into words, I can get past whatever was bothering me.

It surprises me that people actually read my blog, but a lot of traffic is random when they enter a search and end up on my page.  I don’t know anything about most of the people who read a post or 2 and then continue on.  If someone clicks ‘like’, I then know who they are and can go to their blog and like it as well.  If someone leaves a comment, I also know who they are, but most are just numbers that show up on my stats page and I can see which page they were on when they clicked the link to come to my blog.

The most views I’ve had in one day was 96 on March 10, 2011 and the lowest was – well zero and that has been one a few days, but mostly on the days I didn’t post.  All together, there have been 10,375 views since I started blogging in August, 2008 and I have 612 posts all together.

Thanks Word Press for providing this blog!

So far on Africam today we have seen Elephant, Woolly-necked Stork, Impala, Wildebeest, Hadeda Ibis, Waterbuck, Egyptian Goose, Black-backed Jackal, Hyaena, Zebra and Nyala.  Click here to see all of today’s pictures.

Chester and I will head out for our walk along the Red River in a few minutes and the temperature is now -9C with a wind chill of -18C.  It is supposed to go up to -3C by this afternoon.  We’ve had a bit of fresh snow over night so everything looks nice and white.

Back to Normal (whatever that is)

OK – Christmas is over, the madness of Boxing Day is over and today it is time to go back to work.  We still have New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day ahead of us, but those days don’t normally cause to much of a difference in my life (other than I get a day off work).

I only work 3 days this week and that is followed by 3 days off work – so I guess its not really normal yet anyway.

We got the rain and snow yesterday as predicted and right now the temperature is -19C with a windchill that feels like -28C – brrrr – that is the coldest we have had this winter.  The roads and sidewalks are going to be very slippery this morning and I expect that my car is covered in ice.

I have the spikes on my walking shoes to wear when walking Chester this morning and I’m sure glad I have those.  I am happy to report that Chester had another good day and night. 

So far on Africam today, we have seen Waterbuck, Striped Skink, Kudu, Nyala, Elephant, Terrapin, Vulture, Grey Heron, Wildebeest and Impala.  Click here to see all of today’s pictures.

I have nothing else to report today and no pictures to post.

Have a great day everyone and if you live in Winnipeg, please be careful when walking or driving.

Random

Christmas is over for another year.  Actually, I ate more than enough to last me for a year – but amazingly enough I woke up hungry this morning.

Chester  has now gone a full 7 days since his last seizure.  I know we’re not out of the woods yet with just 7 days since his last seizure – but its a start.   After that cluster of 5 within a few days of each other, I was not feeling too hopeful for him.  With luck the increase in the meds are working.

I have noticed some slight changes in his personality and unfortunately, this might point us back towards the brain tumour idea.  He has started to be interested in people and other dogs when we walk now.  I have never had to shorten his leash when passing people or dogs before, because he always had just walked by without paying any attention to them.  The last few days though, he is sniffing people and stopping to see other dogs and he has been friendly.  I realize that this doesn’t sound like a bad thing – but its a change in personality and that is one of the things that his vet asked me to watch for.

Another change that I think is hopeful is that he is back to looking for rabbits when we are walking.  He is still looking for food – but his nose isn’t on the the ground all the time.

The day is starting off with a temperature of zero (0C) and is supposed to get up to +4C this afternoon.  The not so great thing is that we are supposed to get snow mixed with rain – and that means slippery since we know the temperature will be back below zero by night time again.

The pictures today are ones that I took a few days ago, but ended up on another subject for some reason or another.  We have Chester from December 21st and the sunrise from December 22nd.

Chester Dec 21

Sunrise Dec 22

Sunrise Dec 22

On Africam today so far, we have seen Elephant, African Harrier Hawk, Waterbuck, Village Weavers, Impala, Terrapin, Nyala, Bushbuck, Kudu, Vervet Monkey, Egyptian Geese, African Comb Duck and Hyaena.  Click here to see all of today’s pictures.

Merry Christmas

I hope you have a day full of family and friends and lots of food. 

Once the turkey starts cooking here and I can smell it, I know how great all the food will be.  I am one who can never get tired of turkey dinners.

The temperature here is amazing for this time of year.  I don’t remember ever having above zero temperatures at the end of December .  It is -1C now and is supposed to go up to +2C by afternoon.

Chester had another good day and night yesterday.  We are up early this morning because I kept thinking of the things I have to get done before anyone arrives for supper (many hours away yet – LOL).  Poor Chester thinks he should eat as soon as we get up, since that is normally the way we do it here.  Due to his meds though, I don’t want him eating too soon this morning.  Our normal schedule for him is 7am and 7pm to keep his meds 12 hours apart.  It is only 5:30 am now – LOL – but I will probably feed him around 6 today.  He does love to eat these days.

So far on Africam today we have seen Elephant, Nyala, Wildebeest, Waterbuck, Hadeda Ibis, Grey Heron (hunting frogs), Masked Weaver, Impala, Vulture (still working on that buffalo carcass) and a little lizard of some kind.  With this being Christmas, not as many people are watching and taking pictures for us – so there may have been more.

Have a wonderful Christmas and above all – be safe!

Bath Day

When you have a dog who hates baths – bath day is just one of the evils of life.    Chester hates baths.

A few years ago, I purchased a dog bath from Costco.  You can see it in this blog from 2008 when I first got it.  It is a wonderful bath – gets the dog up to my level, so I don’t have to bend down in a regular tub and has a tie down to keep squirming dogs in the tub.

The only problem is that the sprayer has to be attached onto a tap and the tap in the basement has the aerator stuck on it so I can’t get it off to attach the sprayer.    One time I used the tub in the basement anyway and filled a pail with water (over and over again) and bathed him that way.  That was way too time consuming and I wasn’t sure if I rinsed him well enough underneath.  So, last time I decided to use the tub in the bathroom.  That was exhausting – trying to hold him in the tub with one hand while spraying him and shampooing him with the other.

This time I asked Angela to bring the dog tub upstairs so I could use it in the bathroom.  I planned on putting the back end with the drain into the tub and using the hand held shower there to bath him.  First problem was that it didn’t fit through the door to get it into the bathroom.  It was close, so I decided to remove the legs and see if it would go in that way – and it did!    I then had to put the legs back on while inside this tiny room.  I got that done and put the back end into the tub – done!

It seems that raised the back end so that the water wouldn’t flow out the drain – but I knew I could lift up the front end after we were finished and drain it that way.  Of course with the back end – which is where it is low for the dog to jump in – in the tub, I would have to carry Chester and put him in.  He is only about 50 lbs, so I did that and attached him in there.

The bath was a breeze with him raised and the nice shower head. 

I dried the top 1/2 of him before getting him out of the tub, since he was up nice and high, but because the tub was slanted down in the front, there was a fair amount of water covering his feet and legs so I had to lift him out with very wet feet and legs.  I got those parts dried though and it was a very successful bath. 

I lifted and drained the tub very easily and left it there to dry for awhile.

Later, I went back upstairs to clean up and decided to try to move the tub back out of the room by just removing the legs on one side of it to see if it would fit that way.  It did  so next time its only 2 legs to remove for in and then out of the room.

If you’ve been watching Nkorho on Africam, you will know that the lions left early this morning and the hyaenas, jackals and vultures moved in to clean up the carcass.  It was amazing to watch how they all swooped in at the same time.  Right now there are still vultures on it.  Click here to see all of today’s pictures, that includes the vultures, jackals, hyaenas, lions, hippo, impala, wildebeest and Hadeda Ibis.  Now we have to wait for other critters to start showing up at Nkorho again.

Right now, shortly before Chester and I walk along the Red River, the temperature is -9C with a wind chill of -18C.  It is supposed to get up to zero (0C) by this afternoon.  This is certainly not the normal Christmas time weather we are having this year – but I’m not complaining.

Speaking of Christmas – this is pretty much it.  It is Christmas eve morning now  and it is late afternoon in Africa now.

Best wishes to everyone for a safe and happy/merry/wonderful Christmas from my house to yours. 

I Missed It

Here I was at work – minding my own business, when the Styx pride of lions along with one of the Majingilane male lions went hunting right in front of the camera at Nkorho.  They took down a buffalo and calf, feasted the whole night, went back for a second helping in the morning and generally just lazed around for awhile after that before going back for a third helping. As I am writing this, they are still there.

I got home from work shortly before dawn and I did get to see quite a bit of flat cats lying around – well, flat except for the extended bellies sticking up that is. I also saw them going back for a second helping – with the male insisting that he would eat alone first and only after he was finished could the girls and the kids get more.

The Styx pride has several cubs now and one was quite a bit smaller than the rest.  Everyone watching fell in love with the little one – he/she was absolutely adorable.  Africam watchers remember seeing the Styx pride in 2006 when they took down a buffalo on Christmas eve and spent all day Christmas in front of the cam with us.  We didn’t have the lights from the vehicles that night – so we did not see any of the kill or night time feasting like we did this time.

This pride has not had much luck in raising their babies – so I hope  this year will be the year that all these youngsters are allowed to grow up.  Hopefully with the help of the Maj coalition, this will happen.

Here are some of my pictures, but there are lots more covering both December 22 and December 23 on Africam.

Lions at Nkorho Dec 22 and 23, 2011

Lions at Nkorho Dec 22 and 23, 2011

Lions at Nkorho Dec 22 and 23, 2011

Lions at Nkorho Dec 22 and 23, 2011

Lions at Nkorho Dec 22 and 23, 2011

Lions at Nkorho Dec 22 and 23, 2011

Lions at Nkorho Dec 22 and 23, 2011

Chester had another good day and night.  We will be heading out for our walk very soon.  The temperature is -8C with a wind chill of -16C and is expected to stay around the same temperature all day.