lake

On the beach

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This past Sunday, as has become my custom, I stay in town during my daughter’s short shift. It turned out to be a beautiful day, and I was able to have my first visit to the beach since the blizzard.

I have to say again, how incredibly fortunate we were during that storm. Yeah, we got some tree damage and were snowed in until we could shovel our driveway out, but we really didn’t have a bad run of it. Just yesterday, I was reading that there are still some 2000 people without power. The electric company, with help from other provinces, has about a thousand people working to restore power. In some places, generators were delivered or where on the way, to provide emergency power. The remote areas they workers are in, and the conditions, make these last northern areas much more difficult; in some places, workers are trying to restore power lines while chest deep in water and mud! A rough estimate was that the storm resulted in about $100 million in damage to the electrical system, though there is no way to know for sure until after it’s all done and the numbers are crunched.

We have much to be thankful for.

How the storm hit could be very different, depending on the area. Especially with the lake effect. The one time we did go by the beach, it was amazing to see no snow at all, yet just a couple of blocks away, people’s yards had about 6 inches of snow.

People living near the beach and marina posted videos online, and it was astonishing to see the waves crashing over the breakwall on the main dock.

There were some significant changes that I could see, right away.

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Mystery critter: what are you?

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It’s been another very wet day today (I’ve read that, last month, we got triple the average amount of rain for our region; it doesn’t seem to be letting up this month, yet). We did manage to get a dump run in. Because of when it closes on Saturdays, and when my younger daughter gets off work, we left it to near closing time, then just continued on to town. After running some errands, we had time enough to hit the beach and look for interesting things.

Along with fascinating bones and interesting rocks, we found a tiny surprise.

What follows are pictures of a dead creature, so for those who don’t like seeing that, I’ll post it after the jump.

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A cool find!

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This morning, after dropping my daughter off at work, I took the time to check out the beach and take a walk.

It was really quite gorgeous.

As always, I keep an eye out for interesting things washed up by the waves and tides. For myself, I look for interesting rocks. For my older daughter, I look for interesting… anything.

And, wow, did I ever hit the jackpot today!!

At first glance, I actually thought it was some washed up, crumpled plastic or something.

I’ve found the odd jaw bone of a fish before, but never an entire skull! It’s pretty big, too. About the size of the palm of my hand. Slightly longer, in fact.

I have no clue what it is, though. That bone “sail” at the back of the skull is fascinating.

Does anyone recognize what it is?

Also, it rattles. There is something stuck inside the skull. Sounds like a small pebble.

As I write this, it is being disinfected! :-D

The Re-Farmer

Morning on the beach

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I was able to swing by the beach after dropping my daughter off at work.

What a glorious morning!

I love these marks the waves left behind, as the tide receded.

Those squiggly whiter lines are tiny ridges of sand, left behind by waves.

The rocky part of the beach is always so much more interesting than the sandy parts!

You never know what you might find, too.

Unfortunately all the pictures I took focused on my dash in the background, instead of this amazing rib bone I found. The size of the fish this belonged to must have been impressive!

Yes, I kept it – for my other daughter’s collection.

The Re-Farmer

Critter(s) of the Day: Denizens of the Beach

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I was able to visit the beach yesterday morning and was walking along on the sidewalk, when I realized I was seeing a whole lot of birds that weren’t seagulls!

So I headed over for a closer look (my broken toe is healing nicely, so walking on the sand wasn’t too much of an issue).

If you look at the opposite shore, on the left, you can see smoke. It had been heavier, earlier, but was gone by the time I returned to my vehicle, which is good.

This is just one group of the different birds, along with our usual seagulls, that were along the beach.

Digital zoom sucks.

I did some research to find out what these birds were. In appearance, it came down to either Laughing Gulls or Franklin’s Gulls. They have to be Franklin’s Gulls, though. Laughing Gulls have a range in the southeastern and southwestern North American coast, while the Franklin’s Gull is a more northerly, prairie bird.

Beautiful birds. :-)

Smoke on the Water

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I was up earlier this morning, heading out to switch the memory card on the trail cam so I could check the files before heading out. I left the critter stuff for my older daughter to do later, since I was heading for the airport after dropping off her sister.

It was less than an hour later when we headed out, and immediately noticed a dustiness to the air – except it was in all directions.

There was also the smell of smoke.

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Growing things – and that’s dedication!

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While doing my evening rounds, I found all sorts of lovely growing things!

My mother’s yellow lilies ad opening up like crazy, with lots of buds. They are going to do very well this year!

The white roses my mother planted in the same area are doing much better than last year. These are the same type as by the house, but it’s not as good a location for them, so they tend not to be the explosion of flowers, like I can see outside my bedroom window right now.

I was really happy to see so many cherries forming! These are just the ones by the house – where last year, I found only 3 cherries, in total! The ones by the spruces are also showing lots of cherries starting to form.

Not long after I did my rounds and got these photos, it start to rain.

It continued to rain pretty much through the night, and was still raining when I drove my daughter to work.

Which is so awesome! All the flowers, fruit trees and berry bushes are going to love it!

I swung by the lake this morning. It was still raining and quite windy, so I was expecting things to be empty, but nope. Some people are just really, really dedicated to their fun!

I watched as this guy was kneeling on his board, struggling to paddle against the waves. He managed to stand for a little while, but was soon back on his knees, trying to paddle out further. He was still at it when I left!

Though the rain has certainly cooled things down, we’re still supposed to be hitting temperatures in the mid 20s C for a while, then into the high 20s C by next week. I’ll take the cool breezes while I can! :-)

The Re-Farmer

An afternoon at the beach

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My daughter had a short shift today, so I just stayed in town until she was done. At times like this, weather willing, I like to check out the beach (and play some Pokemon Go… ;-) ).

On a beautiful day like today, lots of people were at the marina, getting their boats out for the summer, while others were already out on the water.

If you click on the first picture, you should be able to see the row of sails at the horizon. :-D

Near the main dock, you could really see where the tide was working away at the beach stones. I like looking in this area for interesting things.

Like this.

This one is much bigger than the last one I found.

When I showed a picture of that one to my older daughter, the first thing she asked was, “did you keep it?”

I hadn’t, and she was quite disappointed, so this time I brought it home.

She was thrilled! :-D

Further down the beach, I found a pile of rocks someone had made. One of them reminded me of a nose.

So I did this with them.

I hope it brings a smile to someone’s day. :-D

The Re-Farmer