About 16 cm or a little over 6 in of snow has fallen since late Friday night. I can see a significant lightening in the cloud deck. An average snow event. We are snug inside, as are our house plants.
Month: December 2013
Watchful
I finished shoveling snow to create a pathout to the bird feeder, then took a few photos. Achilles was keeping an eye on the neighbour dog Rascal. If Chili dog is not keeping an eye on me he almost always keeps an eye on the surroundings. It’s very difficult to sneak up on us.
Ship ahoy
Faye and I went for a drive this morning. We found ourselves driving on St. Clair Parkway at the same time the US Coast Guard Cutter Alder made its way slowly downriver.
Snow
About one inch fell overnight with a few more inches in the way throughout the day. An average winter snow event.
Achilles in the moment
This is another favourite photo. Achilles romps in deep snow in the backyard in Goderich during our first winter in Canada. Living in the moment.
Dog run
This is a favourite photo, taken in Goderich not long after Achilles, Stella, and I arrived in Canada.
Stella as she so often is, is a blur. Angling in on Achilles, who is spotlighted by the sun, whiskers glowing. He’s galloping along, looking sideways at her and running so hard that his big, sturdy, upright ears are flopping down.
It’s a portrait of life, living in the here and now. It’s a good reminder to live in the now.
Exit
The sun dramatically exited yesterday’s stage..
Gray day
This morning’s sky was almost uniform, almost featureless. Look closely though and the observant viewer will see subtle shadings of light and colour.
No one here
This photo aptly summarizes the past three weeks of activity at our bird feeder. You may recall that I am participating in Project Feeder Watch, a citizen science project.
For the first two weeks there was a stream of visitors – sparrows, juncos, a Red-breasted Nuthach, blue jays. Since then, few birds have come. I suspect it’s because the fruitful growing season resulted in a prolific supply of wild foods. Another factor is the absence of snow cover so far this season. Activity will probably pick up because it’s been colder than normal for most of the past week and it looks the first accumulating snowfall will happen this weekend.
Close call
My drive home at this time of year takes place during dusk. There is quite a lot of light when I leave work and by the time I get home it’s virtually dark.
I was about five minutes from home tonight, driving about 93, 55 mph, speed limit is 90. Normally I drive at 100 or so. Headlights on but not brights because they added no useful illumination. I was scanning the shoulders for eye reflections, looking left. As I swept eyes to the right, motion caught my attention, moving from right to left. What I’m about to describe might imply conscious thought, decision, and reaction. Not at all.
I recognized a deer very close, crossing the highway. In less than a second I stepped hard on the brake, cut the wheel about 1/4 turn right and took my foot off the brake. By that time the deer was basically in the middle of the road maybe about 15 feet in front of me, running hard to the left. I had been ready to take the ditch which was only about 18 inches deep; the right wheels were just on the shoulder so I slowly corrected steering back to the left to stay on the road. Bambi kept running so I stayed on the road.
Everything in the previous paragraph happened in about three seconds. Not enough time to feel fright let alone fear. It’s a good thing I was driving no faster and probably good I had turned the radio off.
I make a point to be an alert driver – no cell phone use, adjust sound system and other systems when no traffic as about, do the same when drinking, two hands (generally) on the wheel. Yet so many things worked out – I was going slower than usual, paying attention to what I was doing, the deer kept going instead of stopping or turning around, the pavement was dry.
Perhaps I will drive closer to the speed limit.
previouslytexan 