This past Sunday, the weather was mild enough that I was able to spend some time on the beach.
It was really fascinating.
The sand was frozen solid, but you could see the effects of water and ice. One dramatic visual was at the outflow for storm drains.
At the time I was there, the tide was still going out. There was ample evidence of how high it had gotten.
Continue readingI was in town this morning, and had the chance to visit the beach. Since I was last there, the town has pushed all the rocks and pebbles that the storm had pushed across the entry onto the main dock back onto the beach.
The beach is still very changed in this area, from before the storm. Much of the organic debris has been washed away, but the big rocks next to the dock itself are completely covered with sand. There is no sign that they are there at all!
With every tide, a new sand ridge is created in the area, though.
Where I took this photo, the ridge was probably about 8 inches high.
New layers of pebbles are slowly being washed back onto the water’s edge. So many colours and textures! I just love it. 🙂
The Re-Farmer
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.
Continue readingIt’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.
Continue readingMy 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. 😀
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! 😀
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. 😀
The Re-Farmer
It’s been a chilly few days, with even a bit of snow during the night. Nothing like what they got in other parts of the country, that’s for sure! I actually wouldn’t mind more snow right now. Or rain. Instead, as of yesterday, we are now under a burn ban. It’s just too dry out there.
I had a bit of company while doing my rounds today. Just Rolando Moon this morning.
It’s funny that such an ornery cat acts so affectionate at times. She’s gotten better at letting me pick her up, but not for long. She either jumps down after a few moments, or starts biting at my fingers. Not full-on bites. Just enough to feel it. Then she jumps down. 😀
Continue readingAfter dropping my daughter off at work this morning, I decided to head over to the beach and see how the lake was looking.
I am absolutely amazed that there are still ice fishing sheds out there!
I can’t believe the ice is still strong enough to drive on! Most of the shacks are gone, and it looks like the last few are being readied to haul away.
What you see in the in the centre and to the right of the photo is water from the storm drain, partially covering the ice road. Yesterday, we had a quick dip into colder temperatures, so things froze up again, but we’re supposed to stay above freezing during the day for a while. As I write this, we’re still at -11C, with a “RealFeel” of -7C. We’re supposed to have a high of -1C, which means all that ice and snow is going to start softening again.
In this photo, looking towards where the ice driving track was, you can see a sign on the left that has already started to fall over.
Even the beach shows signs of how much more difficult it has been for vehicles to drive onto the lake; the top inch or two is thawed and soft, but it’s still frozen underneath, and you can see where several vehicles had to spin their way out of it.
With the temperatures we’re expected to have in the long range forecast, I expect this entry onto the ice to be soon closed to traffic completely. It won’t be long before the beach grooming machines are brought out, to clean up whatever mess has been left behind as the snow melts away.
At home, I’ve already started to do a bit of that clean up.
The outside cats’ food and water bowls are now well away from the house. The last couple of nights have been cold enough for the water to freeze solid by morning, but there is enough access to water for them that it’s not a problem, as it was before.
On the plus side, it means we can walk to and from the garage on areas of ice, instead of slogging through puddles. 😉
Where the food bowls were, next to the sun room, has melted way into quite a mess. Frozen cat kibble and various bones and whatnot are now exposed. By this morning, the concrete around the house has, for the most part, melted clear. I was able to sweep things, and will eventually head out with garbage bags to pick up the big stuff that won’t break down into the grass easily.
I’m looking forward to being able to go all around the yard, and pick up all the twigs and branches that fell throughout the winter.
This is the ugly, messy time of year! 😀
The Re-Farmer
Yesterday evening, my younger daughter and I were able to take her friend into town for dinner. When we were told it would be about 20-30 minutes before a table would be open (buffet night is popular, it turns out… 😀 ), we put our name on the list, then headed for the beach, which was basically across the street from the restaurant.
We had been getting thunderstorm warnings for a few hours by then. While there were no signs of a storm, yet, the winds were incredibly high. High enough that one of the small trees on the boulevard near where we parked came down while we were in the area!
This late in the day, the tide was very low, and people were taking advantage of it.
I’m not sure if you can tell, but the kids on the left are lying in the shallow water, waiting for the waves to crash over them. 😀
It didn’t show well in any of the photos I took, but the high winds would, at times, pick up and blow away sand hard enough that walking into the wind meant our faces getting sandblasted as we returned to the restaurant.
The dinner was excellent, and we got a couple of pizzas to take home for my husband and older daughter, too. I never imagined a chicken and broccoli pizza with Alfredo sauce would be that incredibly delicious!
Since we were in town, we took advantage of being there to play some Pokemon Go. We ended up joining a group for a legendary raid, at a park near a cove. While waiting for the rest of the group to show up, I got these photos.
I usually come by here in the mornings, and this area is, if not completely under water, very close to it. It looks absolutely dry in the photo, though that would be very misleading.
Such a pretty little cove.
This evening was an example of one of the reasons I enjoy playing Pokemon Go. For those who don’t know the game, it uses GPS and real-world maps to get you to different areas to catch Pokemon. There are “stops” in the game that are at real-world locations (churches, public art, historical buildings, etc.) that can be spun to get things needed in the game. Some of these stops are also gyms, where you can train your Pokemon by battling the Pokemon from people on other teams that control the gym, and take control of the gym for your own team. A fairly new feature added to the game has giant, different coloured eggs suddenly appear at gyms, with a countdown to when they will hatch.  Most of the time, it’s a larger version of regular Pokemon, of varying strengths. Some, a player can battle by themselves. Others can be defeated within the time frame only when players battle in groups. The colour of the egg gives players an idea of how powerful the hatchling will be, and how many people will be needed to “raid” the gym and defeat the Pokemon. This is a way people from normally opposing teams can work together for mutual benefit in the game.
Then there are the Legendary Pokemon. These hatch out of a particular type of egg, and typically require quite a large group battling together to defeat. That is what we ended up joining last night, and there ended up 9 players battling together. I’m part of a chat group that people use to organize this, and it’s rare that we are in town and able to take part, so we took advantage of it.
We got to the location early and just hung out at the park and statue in the area, until others started to arrive.
The first group arrives and I watch as they come out of the vehicle, realizing that I know one of them. A woman from my home town that I’ve known for pretty much all my life, in fact, and haven’t seen in more than a decade! It turned out she has been playing the game for less than a week, and she was there with family members who where showing her how to play.
Then, just before we started, a little family group arrives, including a young child. I recognize the mom and daughter. They are the daughter and granddaughter of a friend of mine from high school! It was the dad and daughter that were playing the game. 😀
I also got to attach faces to user names that I have as “friends” in the game.
Since I’ve started playing the game, I’ve found Pokemon Go players to be the friendliest of people, and now the game is bringing me on contact with people I wouldn’t be crossing paths with, otherwise.
It’s really quite awesome!
The Re-Farmer
Driving to and from town on the gravel road for the past while, I have been noticing quite a lot of garter snakes trying to cross the road. Avoiding them has become a challenge. Is that a stick on the road? Nope, it moved! swerve
Sadly, I’m also seeing quite a few that have been run over, too.
I had been wondering why the sudden uptick in snakes, until I remembered what time of year it is. They are starting to make their way back to their winter dens, to the north of us. We will likely be seeing increased numbers for a few more weeks.
It was a beautiful morning to drive my daughter to work, then swing by the lake, after.
Usually, I walk past the wave line, but not today.
Today, I got soaked to my knees from the waves. 😀
The Re-Farmer
The lake was so very calm this morning!
I had the beach to myself, except for the seagulls and a woman doing yoga in the sand, while oriented to the sun. The sand looked like it had just been groomed, too.
I found some pretty rocks while I was walking, including one larger one I might try painting on. 🙂
It almost makes me want to be a morning person.
Almost.
Gzzzzzz……
The Re-Farmer
The Re-Farmer 