It’s Still Chilly

It is -11 on April 11th and I realize that is about our normal temperatures.  Although looking back to last year, it was 2C in the morning for the walk on the 11th.  Back then the Red River was rising, and there was still snow and ice around.  Click here to see pictures from yesterday’s date last year.

Chester is still doing good and we’re almost at the 4 week mark since his last seizure.  We are still going one day at a time and I guess that is the way it will always be.

I am still behaving myself somewhat on watching my cholesterol intake.  I have to admit that when I read labels of the foods I ate regularly, I am glad that I have stopped eating them like I did.  Now I wonder why these companies are allowed to process such unhealthy foods.

I don’t have much in the way of pictures for you today.  I’ve found a new log in the river that could easily be the setting for my ‘bump on the log’ series this year.

Log - April 11

It looks like a wonderful log for critters to sit on to make a nice bump on a log.

So far on Africam today, we have seen Elephants, Nyala, Terrapin, Wildebeest, Waterbuck, baboons, White-tail Mongoose, Egyptian Geese, Hadeda Ibis, Jackal and a pair of big cats.  Click here to see all the pictures from April 11th.

It’s Still March

It is still March here and absolutely anything goes as far as the weather.  It has been a wonderful March so far and it is really looking as if it will go out fairly warm. 

We’ve been having the April showers (that we normally get in May) so with luck, we will have some April flowers.  The tulips in my yard have got a good start so far.

Every morning now, the birds are singing as I go for my walk with Chester along the Red River.  The summer residents have returned and with spring this early, I expect that most will have 2 nests this year. 

The last 4 days, I have taken pictures of Sea Gulls, Canada Geese, a Crow, a little Junco and a Song Sparrow.  I have also taken a couple of shots of the big tree across the river – but it looks like there won’t be a Red River Rising series this year – its just not rising – LOL

Chester is doing good on his latest mix of meds – he has been on it for 2 weeks now and I’m sure hoping that they’ve found the right dosages for him.  Of course we have a picture of Chester too. 

My trip to Africa is getting closer, just as my trip to Europe is coming to an end.

March 27 Canada Goose

March 27 Big Trees

March 28 Big Trees

March 28 Crow

March 28 Elm Tree Buds

March 28 Gull

March 28 Junco

March 29 Canada Geese

March 29 Canada Geese

March 29 Gull

March 30 Song Sparrow

March 30 Song Sparrow

March 28 Chester

Spring on the Red River – March 24

Actually, I’ve been taking pictures the last 3 days, so we can see together the changes (if any) along the Red River.   When I started putting this together, I haven’t even looked at the pictures to see if the river is rising or not.  I don’t expect it will be anywhere close to flooding this year unless we get lot of rain.    There is no longer any ice floating along.

As well as the Red River, I also have a picture of Chester (of course) and some signs of spring in my flower bed. 

Chester March 22

March 22 Big Tree

March 23 Big Tree

The mist on the river on the 23rd makes it hard to see if the river level has changed or not.

March 24 Big Tree

Now we can see that it hasn’t really changed from the 23rd.

March 22 Red River South

This is about the most we’ve seen of the sun for the last few days.

March 23 Red River South

March 22 Red River North

March 23 Red River North

March 23 Red River North

I just loved the mist on the water, but in this picture, the 2 dots in the middle are a pair of Mallard Ducks and almost directly above them is a seagull.

March 23 Mallard

I wouldn’t have known from the earlier picture that the ducks were Mallards and I still wouldn’t have know without the zoom on the camera. 

March 24 Red River North

March 24 Iris and Tulip

March 24 Elephant Ear

This plant is really starting to spread now – I hope it will flower one year.  I’ve seen it flowering in other yards along my walk, but mine just grows.  It might need more sun than it gets in my yard.

March 24 Tulips and smaller Elephant Ear

March 24 more Tulips

I got a bit of yard cleanup done in the back yesterday and had planned on doing more today, but its been raining off and on so far this morning.

Chester is doing fine on his new meds, but it has only been a little over a week so far.  Keep your fingers crossed that we’ve got the right combo now.  I sure don’t want my daughter to have to deal with adjustments when I’m away.

So far on Africam today, we have seen Impala, Wildebeest, Zebra, Elephant, Saddle-Billed Stork, Waterbuck and Nyala.  Click here to see all of today’s pictures.

The stats for my blog tell me some of the search terms used to get to my page.  One of the ones day gave me a chuckle – it was ‘eat tour 1975′.

Spring on the Red River – March 21/12

It was cool again yesterday morning with 6C when Chester and I walked along the Red River, but it warmed up by afternoon.  Not up to the 20′s again, but quite nice.

There are some chunks of ice floating along the river, but I took a picture of one big chunk and it sure was not thick at all.  I’m sure I have pictures of some chunks from last winter that were a couple of feet thick and this one is well under a foot thick and it was the biggest chunk I could find.

March 21 - Red River looking South

My south pictures are always a little dark because we’re looking towards the sun (which is rising just pas the left of the picture).

March 21 - Red River looking West

The big tree is still well out of the water on the right, but one of the trees on the left is definitely in the water already.  The Red River is rising. 

March 21 - Red River looking North

March 21 Ice

Click Here for a post from April 7th last year showing some of the ice chunks for comparison.

Crow - March 21

Crow - March 21

I clearly saw a robin on the walk yesterday – and heard more of them.  This crow landed on the riverbank and I got full use of the 36X zoom on my Nikon camera.  These pictures are not cropped.  The Sony might have taken a clearer picture, but it would have had to be cropped to bring it in.

Spring on the Red River – March 20/12

It was only a couple of weeks ago that I was thinking that people should not be walking on the Red River and suddenly there is no ice to walk on anyway.  It was obviously not very thick ice to disappear so quickly.

During yesterday’s walk with Chester the water was flowing with just a bit of ice floating along.

The temperature has dropped down from the mid 20′s on the weekend, but its still above what we normally have in March.

I have no pictures, but I’ve seen so many birds that don’t normally show up around here until April.

The Kestrals are back in the neighbourhood.  I think the parents and kids from last year are all here, so maybe we will have more than one pair nesting nearby as they set up their territories.

Hundreds of Canada Geese are back.  I have seen countless flocks going by.  I did try to get a picture of some of them, but I was in my back yard where there are just too many trees to get a good shot.

I saw a flock of robins fly by one morning when it was too dark to try to get a picture and have now heard them singing also – still haven’t had a good look at one though.

I saw about 6 Turkey Vultures flying high above the city.  I wasn’t sure what they were at first, but they were circling and just riding on the currents.  I could tell they were large birds, but it wasn’t until I got home and searched online that I saw a picture of a turkey vulture flying and I knew that’s what they were.  I have seen them before – but never in the city.

I can hear a lot of different birds singing, but have not been able to see what they are.  I hope all these birds haven’t returned too early due to this weather.

Anyway – I have pictures taken of the Red River yesterday morning.  The river is starting to rise, but I don’t expect much flooding this year.  I have no idea what the experts expect though. 

March 20 - Big Tree Across the Red River

March 20 Red River looking West (showing big tree, plus other trees)

You can see the big tree on the left is still well above the river, but some of the trees on the left are in the water.  I’ll get a better picture tomorrow.

March 20 - Red River looking South

March 20 - Red River looking North

Chester is still doing fine with the new combination of meds.  Its still early, of course – but with luck, we got it now.

Chester March 20

So far on Africam today, we have seen Lion, Elephant, Giraffe, Skink, Waterbuck, Wildebeest, Hadeda Ibis, Zebra, Nyala, Impala, Blacksmith Lapwing and Giant Eagle Owl.  Click here to see today’s pictures.

Moving Furniture

I knew it was going to take me a long time to get the furniture re-arranged in my livingroom and I was right!  I did finally get the hide-a-bed couch moved yesterday morning and I have been spending my time since then cleaning up behind and beside where it used to be.  There was an awful lot of stuff behind and beside it – so this will take me a few days.  I have 3 piles – garbage, recycling and freecycle.  Right now I am doing a lot of shredding, since one of the things I found was an drawer full of old bank statements and pay stubs.  Why I ever kept the pay stubs is beyond me – but I did.  My little shredder heats up quickly, so I can’t do much at a time before having to give it a break.  I am so glad that all my current bank accounts are filed online and I never even receive a paper copy of it and I haven’t kept a pay stub in years now.  This stuff is all over 10 years old!

So – yesterday was groceries and errands along with moving the couch.  We didn’t see a single critter on our walk along the Red River yesterday or on our drive to  Bird’s Hill Park.  Today on our walk, we didn’t see anything either – but I did take one picture (before my batteries died) of the big old tree across the river.  I couldn’t upload it until my batteries were charged.

Big Tree Across the Red River June 24

According to the City of Winnipeg Emergency Preparedness Facebook page, the Red River is now 15.9 feet about winter ice level, which is down from over 19 feet at the peek of the flood, but is over the 13.9 feet that is was at only 2 days ago.  I thought it was looking higher on my side of the river, but hadn’t been checking the levels.  This morning when I took this picture, it was 15.5 feet – so it has risen since then.

The high water must be what ruined the beaver’s home building attempt.  My 2nd picture today would have shown what was left of his lodge and there wasn’t much left of it. 

Today, after our walk, I cut the grass and gave Chester a bath.  Giving him a bath was much more exhausting that cutting the grass – LOL.    A few years ago, I bought a dog bath tub that is great to use and has a tie down to keep dogs like Chester in the tub and I can stand to bath him.  But to use the shower attachment, I have to attach the hose onto the fawcet in the sink there and the aerator nozzle has become stuck so I can’t remove that to attach the hose.  Today, I decided I would put him in the tub upstairs, since I now have a hand held shower there.  This means being on my knees to give hm the bath and holding him with one arm (and sometimes 2) to keep him in the tub.  This gives a much better spray than the one downstairs though and it was fairly quick even with all the struggling.   He really needed a bath and its nice to have him feel so clean 

The weather has been wonderful the last couple of days with temperatures in the mid 20′s C.  I finally got my bike out, filled the tires and cleaned it up. 

Red River May 7th

The rain predicted for today seems to be holding off for now – which is fine with me.  The sump pump isn’t getting much of a break since the snow melted.  The Red River is still quite high and I see by looking at the Province’s Department of Highways road map that many of the roads south of the city are closed due to flooding.  The detours more than double the usual distance, which makes a day trip to the U.S. out of the question for now.

It was 12C when  Chester and I took our walk this morning – it was still this morning, but getting very close to noon by the time we returned.  We saw a few Mallard ducks and some water birds that I will have to check out to see what they are.  I remember seeing similar birds in my yard, many years ago when my yard was lower than the surrounding yards and it always flooded in the spring.  I was ready to give my yard a lake name instead of draining it.    I thought Lake Mavis sounded good – but instead we continued to drain the yard until basement construction gave us enough dirt to raise it up.

We will start with the traditional big tree picture.  The Red River seems to still be staying at the same depth.

Big Tree May 7th

Crow May 7th

Flicker May 7th

I love the zoom I have on my camera – but when I’m taking pictures, I have no idea how they turn out because I can’t see the image on the camera without my glasses and I don’t wear glasses when walking.  Too bad I didn’t get more of his front – and I don’t know if it is a yellow shafted or red shafted flicker since I didn’t see him fly.  The older cameras where you looked through a viewfinder was easier for me to see what I was getting – but then I was younger and maybe had better eyesight – LOL   Thanks to Barry, I now know this is a Yellow Shafted Flicker because the Red Shafted Flicker does not have red on the back of his head.    Thanks Barry.

bump on a log

I just thought this bump on the log looked kind of interesting and again, by zooming in on it I could tell (once the pictures was on my computer) what it was.  I wasn’t sure if it was just a bump or if it was something sitting on the log.  Again, it was quite a distance from me.

A couple of Male Mallards

Female Mallard

Waterbird May 7th

Thanks to Barry, I now have an ID on this guy – he is a Spotted Sandpiper.  Thanks Barry.

Waterbird May 7th

When I was taking the pictures, I assumed both these waterbirds were the same kind, but looking at the pictures now, I think they are different.  I guess that’s a little more detective work for me to do.

We had lions at  Tembe Elephant Park on Africam again today (late last night for me at dawn in Africa).  There was one male and 3 females (all the females had collars).  What a great way to end my day – but I stayed up too late watching them.  You can look at the pictures here.  We saw a lot more than lions, of course – but kitties are always so exciting to watch.

Red River May 5th

Its another beautiful morning here, other than the wind – which is less than yesterday, but still windy.  It was 8C when Chester and I had our walk along the Red River.

A bunch of kids were running the opposite way we were going.  Not sure what was going on – it seemed a little early for something to do with school, since we started our walk before 8am – but I’m guessing it must have been a school class.

All the female Mallard ducks were in hiding today, but we saw a couple of groups of the males.  One group was behind too many trees to get a good picture of – the camera wanted to focus on the branches and I’m not one to play with the settings.  But the other group co-operated and we got a couple of pictures.  The seagulls were enjoying the water on the grass in the park area – water seemed a bit higher in the park, and maybe a bit higher on the tree across the river – I got a picture of it today too.

Big Tree across the Red River May 5th

Mallard Boys

Mallard Boys

Red River on the Park

Gulls May 5

Gull May 5

Gull May 5

Gull May 5

On Africam today we have seen many critters and heard several others, including a leopard at Elephant Plains.  We did get a very quick glimpse of him in the dark and he hung around to make enough noise that we knew he was still close by.  He did actually show himself in the daylight though – so there are pictures of him in today’s picture thread.   Lots of pictures of all the critters we saw today here.

Red River Rising May 4th

It was 6C when  Chester and I left for our walk and had risen to 7C by the time we got home.  It was partly sunny and very windy.

I was going to take a picture of the usual big tree across the Red River, but it look just the same as it has for the last couple of weeks, so decided not to bother.  But, by the time I got around to the park area that had been under water earlier this year, it had water over the path in a couple of spots again – so it is obviously higher today than it has been.  I found another new (to me) duck this morning.  There were 4 of them, but quite a distance away, so I didn’t get much of a look at them until I uploaded my pictures.  Checking the Ducks Unlimited site, it appears they are a  Blue Winged Teal.

Blue-Winged Teal

Female Mallard Duck

Male Mallard Duck

These Mallards were not together – so I found the female from one pair and the male from another pair.

Chester checking out where the bank has dropped into the river

Red River over the bank May 4

There are 2 sticks in the water – one pretty close to the center of the pic and the other just off to the right of it.  The closest stick has been out of the water (other than when it first went over the banks) until now and the other stick is right beside where a paid of ducks seemed to be getting their nest ready last week when it was right at the edge of the water.

Red River over the bank May 4

Path under water May 4th

Path under water May 4th

Path under water May 4th

Last night we could hear a leopard for a few hours at Elephant Plains on Africam.  He never did make an appearance though, even though zoomie was looking everywhere.

Happy Birthday Chester

Chester is 8 years old today!  Or he was 8 sometime around now anyway.  When you don’t know the exact date, you do the best you can at estimating, with the information you get.  We had actually decided that May 1st would be his day, but snow and work got in the way – so this year it is on the 2nd. 

Of course there is still  snow and there is still work today – but it will have to do.

So here is a picture of the birthday boy taken this morning.

Chester's Birthday Picture

Next are my poor tulips in the snow.  They have beautiful buds on them, so I hope they will still flower for me.

Tulips in the Snow

And then we still need our big tree across the river to keep track of the Red River rising for this year.  Not that it looks like it has risen any for awhile now.

Big Tree May 2

It was -4C when we started out on our walk and it has now risen to 0C.  It is supposed to get up to 9C by this afternoon, so I sure hope the snow is all gone by then.  I’m not shoveling it so it better go away!

Africam continues to have a wide assortment of critters coming to visit us at their cameras at the three waterholes – Nkorho, Elephant Plains and Tembe Elephant Park.  So far today, we have seen Impalas, Wildebeests, Kudu, Elephants, Waterbucks, Nyalas, Terrapin, Oxpecker, Egyptian Geese, Guineafowl, Jackal and Zebras.  Check out today’s pictures here.  Of course, the day isn’t over yet! 

I’m off to vote now – see you later.