Not much, just clouds. Because apparently I take a lot of pictures of clouds.
And I haven’t posted in forever, so . . .
A couple pictures of a typical chinook arch at sunset.
A couple pictures of a typical chinook arch at sunset.
Category: Spring
A couple pictures of a typical chinook arch at sunset.
A little back story:
This past weekend, Mother’s Day weekend, I gave an associate at the local home & garden centre something to chuckle about. You see, in the front I have these nice shrubs planted between my columnar aspens, and wanted to plant the same in the back yard. These are hardy, fast-growing, and turn beautiful colours in autumn.
When last I purchased these, I had a quick glance at the tag and moved on. Cotoneaster. Odd name. Cotton-easter. So when I asked for a shrub of the same name at the home & garden centre, I received a puzzled look from the associate.
“Pardon me?” he asks.
“Cotton Easter. They’re all over Bowness Park. They turn rainbow colours during the fall.”
“OH!” he exclaims, followed by a hearty chuckle. “You mean cotoneaster” (pronounced koe-TOE-knee-ASS-tor).
“But it’s spelled “cotton easter” I replied, then immediately thought of this Monty Python’s Flying Circus sketch about Mr. Luxury Yacht.
We both had a good chuckle (I may be dating myself with that Monty Python reference), I purchased my shrubs, and got to gardening.
I have lots of little plans for the back yard this year, and hopefully the Fates let me finish them. First up is finishing the two shrubbery beds by the fence with shrubs. These were the beds I plotted out and had planned on finishing last year but came down with summer pneumonia instead.
So this year, I’m determined to get the shrubs in so they’ll grow into a nice living fence.
Apart from finally getting my bum in gear to finish last year’s projects, I also received a few more unexpected gifts for Mother’s Day.
A few of the neighbourhood birds let me get up close and personal . . .
While I worked, an ominous shadow buzzed by: A raven! It snatched up a field mouse just on the other side of the fence! I was too stunned by the sheer size of this bird (it’s wingspan had to have been four feet!) that by the time I stopped cowering in fear and picked up my camera, he was already across the pond with his catch. Man, that was a massive bird!
And the Hubs bought me an egg chair for the deck, upon which I may lounge and rule over my kingdom (a.k.a. my garden).
There I sat and caught a little sun (and a little sun burn) while sipping my iced coffee. Even Boo liked my new chair, mostly because it was close to the bird feeder where she could surprise the sparrows.
After all was said and done, I realized my lovely new manicure I worked on Friday evening had been ruined. I suppose I need to trim my nails back to a more reasonable length if I’m going to be gardening regularly. The eagle talons were fine for winter but summer will demand a shorter length.
Now that the weather is turning, hopefully for the better, it’s time to start planning some more projects for the back yard to get it summer ready.
Oh, and I need to take more bird pictures. Ha!
-Rissa
Well, it snowed. Again. This side of the Rocky Mountains, I guess we should be used to it by now. It could also be why us Canadians are such a hardy bunch. The Great White North. It’s not just an SCTV sketch.
Mother Nature has been on a regular schedule lately. During the week, she’ll grace us with decent weather. A bit of a flip of the nose from the weather gods since we must enjoy those nice days stuck inside working. But when the weekend rolls around . . .
I’m making the best of it. Usually I keep my cellphone in my back pocket so I can snap pictures of the birds coming to the bird feeder. But since I was getting cabin fever, I decided to grab The Beast: my older-than-dirt Canon DSLR equipped with its “paparazzi lens”.
I camped out at the kitchen table with hopes of snapping shots of the local wildlife. I typically only get two species of birds: my favourites, the adorable black-capped chickadees . .
. . . and the annoying wetland birds I’ve dubbed “The Trolls”: the ear-splittingly-loud red-winged black birds. Not only do the RWBB’s make a mess out of the feeder as they search for sunflower seeds, their calls are like car horns when they get too close.
I’m not sure if the RWBB we have in the foothills of Alberta are different than those I was used to seeing in Ohio. Back home, they had distinctly orange shoulder fluffies, even when perched. Here, they have a white stripe. Their shoulder fluffies aren’t visible unless they’re in flight, or screeching at the top of their little birdie lungs.
Apart from the Trolls, a pair of loons took up haven in the wetland pond. The loon is one of Canada’s national symbols as they’re meant to symbolize the rugged wilderness of Canada (or the fact that it can snow 12 months out of the year. You pick).
Between the loons and the Canadian geese, we’ll have a busy pond this year.
I wonder if the mooses (meese?) will come back this year.
And to round off the sightings, four deer caught my eye as they grazed on the hill.
Eventually they made their way down to the pond area before trotting off.
Well, at least the wildlife is enjoying the snow. I know they say we need the moisture, but maybe I’m a traditionalist and prefer my precipitation in the form of thunderstorms at bedtime.
Until then, I’ll just have to make sure the coffee is extra hot!
-Rissa
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