Running and Sawing

     Started the day with a 13 km run with my running group. I had the misfortune of being slightly faster than some and much slower than the rest so I did about half of the run on my own. By a bit of creative trail making, I managed to finish about the same time as the runners that ran 2 km further than I did. It was nice to have company for the last few blocks when I was really tired.

        After I got home, ate and had a bit of a rest, I took my pruning saw and machete out to clean up more of our trails. We still had several large branches and small trees down across the trails. I managed to get most of the trails cleared with only two hours of work but now not only my legs but also my arms, back, and shoulders are tired. I should sleep well tonight.

        Below is a photo from near our east pond pointing back toward the house. No house can be seen through all the ice and snow covered trees and shrubs. It gives a nice feel for what some of our trail look like in winter.

Ice Storm

        We were lucky. It did not seem so at the time as we were without power for over 24 hours but some people in Toronto were without power for over 48 hours and some may wait for another day or two. Compared to them, we were lucky. We also have a fireplace and lots of wood so we were not too cold and I got out the old camp lantern so we had a bit of light too. We have a cistern in the barn so I was able to bring up a pail of water to flush the toilet. I know that  most of the Toronto people do not have such luxuries.

        There was a fair bit of tree damage and I know that I will be cleaning up twigs and limbs and a couple of trees until spring time but that means more wood for the next storm. 

        And I did get some interesting photos after the storm. Here's one:

Winter Solstice

        Happy Winter Solstice! We are now on the way to full winter but already thinking of spring. I heard a confused Cardinal singing it's spring song this morning as the temperatures were about 4 degrees above freezing and the rain and mist were coming down. Meanwhile, the weather forecasters are full of doom and gloom and forecasts of ice storms and power outages. Time will tell.

        I am thinking about a video about the seasons and to that end have a series of photos of our east "pond." I put pond in quotes as it sometimes is dry for months. We have had years of water all year but there have also been some with more dry months than wet so it is very weather dependant. With one tall willow and several smaller trees and shrubs around it can lose its water very quickly.

        Below is a collaged photo of the four seasons at the "pond."

Deer Beds and Blue Jays

        When the dog and I were out for our morning walk/run - I walked, she ran - we found two white-tailed deer in our east meadow. As we went further along we found the places where they had spent time lying down i.e. a pair of deer beds. I attempted to take a photo with my iPhone camera but the photo just did not work. Hard to photograph anything in snow without a good camera and even then it can be difficult at times. I decided to not put up that photo. Maybe another day with another camera I can be more lucky.

        I was taking photos of birds at the bird feeder two days ago and managed to get a fairly good photo of a bluejay. I wish it were a bit sharper but it was taken through two panes of glass on the side door so the quality is not quite as good as it could be but it will have to do for now.

Red-bellied Woodpecker

        It's another cool day with the temperature hovering around -10 C. The wind chill is again in the -20 range. Meanwhile back at the bird feeder the Red-bellied Woodpecker has come in for some food.