Spotting me in the window, taking his picture. :-)
The Re-Farmer
nature photography
Like little suns
One of my mother’s flower patches is blooming quite enthusiastically right now. Like dozens of little yellow suns, waving in the breeze.
The Re-Farmer
Share this:
Oh, my shaggy friends!
Driving home from town this morning, I was happy to see the bison were by the fence – on a day when I had the DSLR with me!
Though the orange haze of this morning was fading away, it was still smokey, as you can see in the background.
This adolescent bison seemed rather curious about me.
What a beautiful, shaggy face!
Oh, how I love seeing these beautiful creatures!
The Re-Farmer
Share this:
Orange haze
It was almost disorienting, getting up to drive my daughter to work this morning. Instead of the usual brightness for this time of year, it was dark. Instead of sunshine, everything had an orange overcast to it.
The cloud of smoke from the fires on the West coast that had engulfed our former home for the past few days has finally reached us.
And yet, we weren’t getting any air quality warnings on our weather apps at all – that didn’t come in until several hours later – and it didn’t smell like smoke.
I had planned to bring my older daughter’s camera along, to take photos at the beach after dropping her sister off at work. I decided to bring it anyhow, leaving the telephoto lens on it. I honestly didn’t expect to get any good photos, but I did manage a few.
(click on the photos to see larger versions)
Everything was just this greyish orange colour. There was no sun. We couldn’t even see any sign of where the sun should have been.
I wanted to stay in town long enough to be able to pick up some prescription refills, so along with my usual playing of Pokemon Go, I decided to walk along the wharf and the breakwater. The wharf ends abruptly, and then there is a gravel path along the stones of the breakwater. While walking to the end of this section (there is a gap for the larger boats, then it continues into a cove), I had my game up. I couldn’t help but laugh.
I can walk on water! :-D
The wharf is on the game’s map, but not the breakwater.
Interestingly, the line of buoys in the lake, marking the closest boats can come to the shore, and the farthest swimmers can go out, is on the map, looking for all the world like a sidewalk, running through the lake.
The stones are naturally more of a pale yellow in colour, but not today!
After while, I headed to a park that’s part of my gaming routine and stayed a while. I was just getting ready to leave, when the sun made an appearance, at almost 9:30!
It was so hazy, I could look directly at it, comfortably. I tried playing with the settings on the camera to try and get how orange it was, but this is the closest I could get. The orange that you can see around the circumference is what the entire orb looked like in real life.
Though I couldn’t smell the smoke much at all – it was more than lost in the smell of yeast from the distillery – by the time I was done walking around and returned to my van, I could feel my throat and lungs starting to get irritated. These conditions would be awful for anyone with respiratory conditions!
I pray that the rains will come and help the firefighters put out these devastating blazes.
The Re-Farmer
Share this:
Blue Jay Watching
Lately, they fly away as soon as I get near the camera. This time, it hung around to watch me take its picture. :-)
The Re-Farmer
Share this:
Our Froggy Friend
Aside from a day after it had been cold enough that I closed the window for the night, our tree frog friend has continued to return every morning to it’s spot in the kitchen window.
I just want to touch the round, squishy belly! :-D
The Re-Farmer
Share this:
Red Sided Garter Snake!
We saw our first snake of the year!!
Can you spot it in the greenery?
Thankfully, it moved and stayed in a spot I could get better pictures of it. :-D (There IS a red stripe along its sides; honest!)
Garter snakes are awesome to have around, because they eat insects, mice – even leeches. If you ever have the opportunity to visit Manitoba‘s famous Narcisse Snake Dens, either in May, when they first come out of hibernation, or September, when they return to the dens, I would highly recommend it. There are dens in Saskatchewan and Alberta, too, but none as extensive as in Narcisse. Sadly, people sometimes destroy the dens, thinking the snakes are some sort of pest, which they most certainly are not!
Judging from the size of this one, it might be a female. They are quite a bit bigger than the males.
I am so happy to see it, and I hope to see more!
The Re-Farmer
Share this:
A bit blustery out there!
First up, here are a couple of bird photos for you to enjoy. :-)
My husband got this purple finch at the feeder not long ago.
And I finally got a blue jay picture!
The blue jays have a habit of taking off before I can get to the camera, so these days, it’s a challenge to get any pictures of them at all.
This was another indoor day, for the most part. There were plenty of storm warnings for the southern province which, for us, translated to rain early in the morning, and now high winds. I had to go into town to pick up some prescription refills, and made a point of checking the yard out before I left. There were a few downs branches that were of little concern. In the areas of the maple grove I haven’t cleaned yet, I found myself looking at some branches and wondering, is that new? Or what that already there?
About the only good thing right now is the wind direction. If one of the trees by the house does come down, it’ll be fall away from the roof, instead of on it. Though, looking out my window at the trees behind the storage house, it’s the opposite. At least that building is empty and has no power.
Speaking of which…
The second tree care company came by on Monday, and I got the estimate emailed to me last night. It’s basically the same as the first company; $1500. Looking over our budget (barring any unexpected expenses), we should be able to get it done in November. Choosing the company is going to be a bit more difficult; they’re pretty equal in every tangible sense. One also does yard work and landscaping, which I would want to keep in mind for the future. The other does trees and nothing else.
So we have some talking to do and a decision to make. I’m just glad it’s something we can get done before winter, instead of waiting until spring. Though if we get some sort of cash infusion (like the shares the housing co-op we moved away from still owes us!), it would be good to get it done earlier.
The Re-Farmer
Share this:
Sun Rays
While preparing the fire for a cookout, we got that perfect combination of sun through the trees, and smoke creating dramatic rays!
The Re-Farmer
Share this:
Critters, and technical difficulties
First up, I want to share a couple of photos from our living room camera.
This one was taken a few days ago. With the birdseed running out, there have been much fewer visitors of late. Which means that, of the ones that do show up, they are less active and easier to get photos of. :-)
While doing our Costco shopping, I made sure to pick up a bag of mixed bird seed. I even figured out how to pop the roof off of the bird feeder, so I could fill it. I also added some seed to the platform part of the stand.
The birds haven’t really rediscovered it yet, but this squirrel did!
I know squirrels aren’t supposed to be good for feeders, as they eat so much of the seeds, but I really like these guys. They take cat or dog kibble, too. Back when this place still had a wood burning furnace, when it was time to gather wood from the big pile outside to throw into the basement, we would sometimes uncover a cache of kibble that the squirrels had hidden in the logs. :-D
My dad really liked the squirrels, too. Sometimes, he would sit on the concrete steps out the main entry and lie back in the sun and fall asleep. At least once, he woke up to find a squirrel on his chest, checking him out!
With another scorcher predicted for today, I headed out early to try and mow the lawn. I don’t like working with loud equipment in the morning, but I wanted to get it done before things got too hot. I got most of the lawn done, and was just doing the last couple of bits around the main garden, when I ran out of gas. After refilling it, the mower wouldn’t start.
While I was trying to get it started, I jostled the fuel line filter, and it popped off! I got it back on again, then got a screwdriver to loosen the clamp, push the filter nozzle as far in as I could, then tightened it again. Then I went back to trying to start the mower.
No go. Literally.
I ended up pushing the mower all the way back to the garage. My daughters and I headed into town in the afternoon, then back again soon after we returned (but for good reasons… ;-) ), so I wasn’t able to try again until almost evening.
It started beautifully.
I guess it just needed a rest!
I finished the last bit of lawn. Though it took me maybe 15 minutes to do it, it was about 30C out there, and wow am I glad I started early in the morning, when it was still relatively cool!
But at least that’s done, now.
And that’s the extent of outside work for today!! Looking at the forecast, it looks like early mornings, or late evenings, are going to be the only times we’ll be getting outside work done for at least the next two weeks.
The Re-Farmer
The Re-Farmer 