Winter

This is my first post for quite some time. My digital camera broke just before Christmas and I have just gotten around to buying a new one. Since my cousins and my best friend who all live in Ontario have been bragging/complaining about all the snow they have been having this winter, I thought I would remind them of what a typical winter is like back here in Newfoundland. I woke up this morning humming "In the Bleak Midwinter" and was reminded of the beautiful post that Sara created to that beautiful Christmas hymn and I had to go revisit it.










A view from Glynmill Inn Pond, with Sir Richard Squires Building in the background.

My house and driveway as seen from the road.

Looking up Corner Brook Stream from the bridge on Glynmill Inn pond.

Looking out my front door on a blustery day. Note that my finch feeder is now only about a half a meter above the snow.

Another view of the tree and bird feeder in a less blustery moment.

A winter fashionista!!!! Could I have pulled my hat down any lower?! What a Geek!

Tucker slogging through some deep snow in the Participark. I didn't fare much better and was wishing I had my snowshoes.

Winter Wonderland

I have to keep up with the cousins and show some more snow pictures of Corner Brook. I don't think we have as much as Ontario seems to have at the moment, but I think that is going to change overnight!





Tucker enjoys the freedom of the trail.


What's taking you so long? Stay with the program!

Some little birdies enjoying a rest in my maple. Marion Hann's house is in the background.

A lonely park bench on the Glynmill Inn Trail, probably thinking its going to be quite a while before anyone will want to be sitting on it....brrrrrr......

Crazy Cali strikes again!

I think Cali has the potential to be a psycho-dog. She's never been caught with a knife but on occasion can become a bit of a whirling-dirvish. There was a time when Mikki would join in with the antics and they would entertain themselves for quite a while. But Mikki is not so interested in playing anymore. She just looks at Cali with bewilderment and a little fear. Eventually she sought refuge in my arms.

Psycho-dog Strikes Again

Sometimes its so hard to get comfortable!

No sofa's were harmed in the making of this video.

weather

November has been an interesting month when it comes to weather. Early this month we had wind storm. I think it was the tail end of Hurricane or Tropical storm Noel. Noel blew down lots of trees on the nice trails that I like to walk on every day. I went for a walk during the wind storm ( the day before these pictures were taken) and you could hear trees creaking in the woods and I realized it wasn't Fallen trees I needed to watch out for, It was Falling trees.







Had to detour around this one that fell across the path on the Glynmill Inn Pond trail.

And another one across the trail around the pond.

This one is hanging across the path on the upper trail ( Pipleine Trail)



Then, about a week later we had snow. Lots and lots of snow. This is up along the Pipeline near 3 Mile Dam. I was wishing I had my snowshoes.

Tucker didn't mind that he didn't have snowshoes. He was able to move much faster than me, but was nice enough to wait and let me catch up.

Then we had some mild weather ( up to 18 degrees) , some rain and some sun. the snow is all gone, the trails are mucky, but we soldier on.

Here's a nice rainbow I managed to capture digitally a couple of days ago.

And another view of the rainbow

Its a dog's life don't you think? We should all have it so good.

Wild Flowers

I have a new hobby. its taking pictures of wild flowers. It started as just something to do while on one of my many walks with Tucker. Then it became a bit of an obsession. Its a great way to get to know the names of the flowers as its so much easier to look them up in a book when you have a digital picture on your computer. Now my goal is to identify as many different flowers as I can.




I have found four orchids.




Showy Lady Slipper


Yellow Lady Slipper ( variety makasin)

Yellow Lady Slipper ( variety pubescens)

Pink Lady Slipper

I was very proud of the 4 species of orchids until I read in my orchid book that there are 19,500 species of which 43 species and 4 varieties can be found in Newfoundland. So I have a ways to go.

Of course I'm not sticking to just orchids. here are a few more favorites.

I think this is a Hare Bell. If you look closely there is a bee or bug inside the flower,

The Twin Flower is one of my favorite woodland flowers. Its so delicate looking.

I have no idea what these are. I assume they are some kind of mushroom. All I know is that they look pretty growing in nature's green shag carpet.

More sights from the trail

I thought this picture was "Blog Worthy". I was walking along the pipeline yesterday with Tucker when I saw what I thought was a paper bag on the water pipe. On closer investigation i realized it was a Grouse. Grouse are apparently related to chickens, which explains why it was so stunned. It sat there, on its bum with legs dangling watching me taking its picture before it flew off into the woods. tucker had run ahead of me and missed it entirely, lucky for the Grouse.