Today was one of those days when I was able to visit the beach after dropping my daughter off at work.
This time, twice!
I got these shots this morning.
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Morning on the beach
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
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At the Beach
My daughter had a short shift today, so once again I stayed in town. I had no errands to run, so it was a good opportunity to play some Pokemon Go. ;-)
One of my regular stops is at a Pokemon gym by the beach, right where access to the ice road is. I saw some vehicles already there as I drove up that seemed out of place, now that there is no ice on the lake.
There were vehicles on the sand.
One turned out to be a little pickup truck, stuck in the sand, and the other a tow truck, there to pull it out.
I waited until they were done and gone before going down to the water.
Today was barely above freezing temperatures, with a wicked wind, so I did not stay out long!
On the way back, I could see this.
You can see how far out the pickup truck had driven onto the beach before the driver decided to back up, then got stuck. It’s back end had sunk right down to the undercarriage.
I can’t for the life of me figure out why someone would do that at all, never mind trying to drive on sand with an ordinary vehicle.
I see strange things while playing Pokemon Go at times! :-D
The Re-Farmer
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Beach Views
We went into town today and after our errand, checked out the beach. I don’t think I’ve been to the beach at this time day. The tide was quite a bit lower than I usually see it. That meant we could see more of the opposite shore than usual.
The land looks like it’s floating!
The low water meant there was lots to look for on the beach.
Including some pretty, but unfortunate, things.
To the right, you can see a little cluster of tiny zebra mussels. A couple have attached themselves to the shell on the left. We were seeing little bunches like this all over. Not long ago, some sections of beach had so many zebra mussels wash up on shore that the shoreline was completely covered with glass-sharp shells, several inches deep.
Zebra mussels are an invasive species that showed up here about 5 years ago, likely introduced through the ballast of someone’s boat that was used in infected water, elsewhere (pdf). They grow very quickly, and cause all sorts of problems with the local ecology, boats and infrastructure. The infestation has gotten so bad, some are seriously proposing killing the entire lake off to combat them! This is one of the top 10 largest freshwater lakes in the world, so it gives an idea of how bad the situation has gotten, and how desperate people are getting.
Yet they look so harmless, in their little clusters on the beach.
The Re-Farmer
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A Beautiful morning… avoiding the snakes
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. :-D
The Re-Farmer
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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
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Morning at the lake
After the heat we’ve been having lately, this morning was downright chilly!
No, that’s not a complaint! :-D
I actually wore a light jacket when I drove my daughter to work. :-D After dropping her off, I stopped at the lake and walked on the beach for a while (which just happens to help me get some kilometers in on Pokemon Go… ;-) ). By the time I got back to the van, it was starting to be too warm for that jacket! We’re supposed to hit over 30C today, so we’ll really be appreciating how cool the house got overnight, because it’ll stay that way for most of the day, once we close up the windows.
Life is so much slower and calmer out here. For all the inconveniences of the move, and the various challenges we’ve had since then, life is good!
Speaking of good…
My husband’s CPAP came in yesterday!! He was lying down when we got back, but for this, I disturbed him. :-D We got it set up, and he immediately lay down to sleep again – this time, with his hospital bed flat. He’s been without for so long, he has to get used to it all over again! Much to our surprise, he even had to reduce the pressure on the machine. It’s an adjustable pressure machine, which means it is set at a range, rather than just one pressure. It’s rather a big deal for him to be able to reduce that range, considering how high he normally needs to keep it.
Pretty awesome. :-)
The Re-Farmer.
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A photogenic morning
The beach was quite lovely this morning. :-)
Someone’s sand castle looks like part of its wall has already been claimed by the waves.
I played around with the settings on my phone’s camera and was happy to get more true-to-life photos.
The closer to the marina, the rockier the beach. I find the beach much more interesting, the rockier it gets.
These boulders are right at the wharf. It’s not unusual to see someone sitting on them, reading a book or something, and just enjoying this quiet little spot.
There is a little cove on the other side of the marina. The lake shore here is lined with boulders to protect from erosion. The entry/exit through the breakwater into the marina is near here, and the yacht club is nearby as well.
A beautiful day for a sail.
Near the frog fountain are a couple of mountain-ash trees, aka rowan. They are gorgeous trees. We had a couple, around where our plum trees are, when I was a kid, but I have no idea what happened to them. These trees are of similar size. When we first moved to the city we were in for the past 14 years, one of the things that amazed me was how many mountain-ash trees there were, and how HUGE they were, compared to here. When we first moved into the housing co-op, we were in a townhouse on the second and third floors at the end of the row, and there was a mountain-ash right outside the third floor bedroom windows. Every spring, it would fill with waxwings, eating the remaining berries. Gorgeous birds, though it didn’t take long for their incessant fee-fee-fee! noise, that would start at about 3 a.m. and continue for hours, to get very annoying. :-D
While in the area, I saw some gazebo tents set up and remembered that it was Saturday – Farmer’s Market day. This was the first time I was able to take it in, since our move. It was still early, to I walked for a while before coming back to the market and seeing what was there. I even had a bit of cash on hand, for a change. I normally never have cash and use my debit card for everything, but I had decided to take some money out this morning, just in case.
Then I found my cousin’s honey booth.
I no longer have any cash on hand, but I now have a big bucket of creamed honey!
That should last us through the winter. :-D
The Re-Farmer
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Smoke on the water
My daughter had a slightly later shift today, so the sun was well up by the time I got to the beach.
During the drive in, we could see the haze of smoke, everywhere. The lake was no exception.
Normally, I’d be able to see at least a bit of the other side of the lake from here. Especially when the water is so calm.
(I believe there is an advisory against going into the water right now. The birds are pretty, but their fecal matter can result in E. coli problems.)
The camera on my phone automatically “clears up” images taken in fog or haze. The trees in the distance were not actually as visible in real life as in the photo!
While walking along the beach, a splash of colour caught my attention.
Someone left a bit of cheer for others to enjoy. :-)
I hung around town long enough for the post office to open, and for the postmaster to put out the mail, so I wandered over to the marina and sat by a fountain (and added a Pokemon into the gym that is there, which was controlled by my team at the time. :-D ).
It still feels weird to see the bright green frogs. They used to be just the brass, which developed a natural patina.
I still like them. Because they’re frogs. :-D
I headed home shortly after this and was able to stop at the post office. Sadly, my husband’s CPAP has not come in yet. The company could only guarantee speed of delivery within the US. Once in Canada, they have no control over how quickly something gets delivered. Usually, packages get processed quickly. Much faster than envelopes, anyhow.
Usually.
The Re-Farmer
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Beach finds
I was able to stop at the beach again, after dropping my daughter off.
One of these days, we should there and actually swim or something. :-D
When I’m just there for a quick visit, I like to walk away from the sandy part of the beach and head for the rocky part.
I like to keep a look out for unusual colours, shapes, fossils and fairy stones.
It’s mostly sand and lime stone. I like ones like this, with the interesting colours and textures. Sandstone is remarkably light.
It’s common to find pieces of shell as well, but today, I found what looked like teeth.
Which turned out to be exactly what it was! On the jawbone of a fish.
No. I didn’t keep it.
It’s a really nice and relaxing way to spend a bit of time in the morning. Especially when it’s early enough that there’s hardly anyone else out, yet! :-D
The Re-Farmer
The Re-Farmer 