Saturday Morning Walk

My second "couch to 5K" session on Thursday wasn't too bad.  I didn't get drenched with rain, which was the best part.  I'm still the second slowest of the group, but that's OK I guess.  We did walk-one-minute-jog-20-seconds for the full length of our trail, which wasn't too bad, although by the end of it, my chest was feeling a bit tight and I was definitely out of breath.  I hope that will improve.

This morning I went for a more leisurely walk in the Sackville Waterfowl Park, which is one of my favourite places to be.  It's a beautiful park and so many birds make it their home - I feel really lucky to be so close to it.  This morning there were vast numbers of Yellow-rumped Warblers (formerly named Myrtle Warblers) all over the park.  They're so cute and quite bold, so I can get relatively close to them.  I took a lot of photos, but they just captivate me.  I really liked this shot with the cattails from last year, even though he's not looking my way. 

The perfect little models, they are!

Imagine this one with a Scottish accent, saying "Och...the wind's blowin' up me kilt!"

 
Lady, can I have a little modesty here?  Please?

There are also Palm Warblers around - it's so good to see them again now that spring is finally here.

I love their little rusty coloured "hats."

A good number of sparrows are also out and about.  Some are bold and others are more shy. Here's a song sparrow—and they do have a lovely song!

This is the back end of a swamp sparrow who was being really reticent about having his picture taken, so I had to take him in two halves!

Peek-a-boo!  The front end of the swamp sparrow.

This one is a Savannah sparrow.

Of course, none of those birds are waterfowl.  Here's an actual waterfowl—a green-winged teal.

I'll leave you with a whole series of tree swallow photographs, because I couldn't decide which ones to share.  They were being especially helpful with posing today! 

 
This one sat for a while just a few feet from me on the boardwalk railing.

There are houses on posts in the lake that they prefer for their nest boxes.

 

Some of them have a more distinct dark chest spot.

I think this one is my favourite shot - it's a swallow pretending to be a small, grumpy penguin.

Couch to 5K

I recently signed up for a recreation program here in my town called "Couch to 5K," which is a learn to run program for sedentary folks, like me.  I signed up for several reasons:

1. I'm a bit of a slug.  I don't leave slime trails, and I do have a sit-stand desk, but I still sit for a lot of time every day, and all my hobbies are seated, so I feel it's important for me to try to get more exercise. 
2. I turned 50 recently, which sort of makes you think about your health and your overall fitness level perhaps a bit more than you did before.
3. I could stand to lose a few pounds, like 50 or so, and sitting isn't accomplishing that.
4. I looked at the picture of a former "couch to 5K" class and there were people who were clearly even less fit than me, so I figured I would not be the worst of the bunch, and that was, admittedly, somewhat encouraging.
5. It's good for me to get out and do things, because I tend to be a hermit.

So, I was pleased this morning when I woke up to a lovely, sunny day.  "Good," I thought to myself, "this will be a good day for my running program."  As the day progressed, there was a bit of a breeze, and I lay in my new hammock for a few minutes around lunchtime and thought about how that was a good thing, because it would be nice to have a bit of a breeze when running, in case I got a bit hot.

I planned my supper early so that I wasn't too full to go to the class, which started at 6 pm.  When I was eating, I noticed it was clouding over a bit, and I thought to myself "Well, that's OK, because it won't be too hot." (not that it was particularly hot in the first place, but one tries to see the bright side). 

So  I put on a light jacket of a sort of velour type fabric and headed out. I drove into town and went to the park where we were meeting, and I noticed on my way that it was quite a bit chillier than it had been and that there was quite a wind now.  "Well, that's OK," I thought "because I'll be warm as we are running or trying to run, and the cooler air will feel nice."  (bright side...but slightly less bright than earlier)

We met the young, exuberant and bouncy instructor, who is a 3rd year kinesiology student and I would be willing to put money on the fact that she has never in her life felt overweight, arthritic, uncoordinated, or slug-like.  I look around at the other people and realize that... oh dear, maybe I actually am the worst of the bunch.  I listened to the instructor do her spiel and tell us our route today, which was going to be mostly walking, because it was the first day.  I thought to myself, I can still do this.  So we head out onto the path that goes to the Fundy trail and it was right around that point that I felt the first raindrop.

Off we go, down the trail, with Ms. Exuberance giving us helpful tips about running, which I'm sure were helpful, but the sound of about 20 people's feet on gravel is noisy, and the wind is really quite blustery by this point, which made it hard enough to hear her because we're all in a sort of jumbled pack, and then, of course, the skies opened and the rain began in earnest.  So there I was, puttering along, shivering in the cold wind, drenched to the skin because velour-type jackets are not waterproof nor warm when wet, not hearing much, and thinking about how amazingly appealing my reclining chair would be at that moment, with a nice warm blanket and a bit of knitting and a hot cocoa.  

So our half hour walk (with a tiny bit of a jog in the middle) was essentially a wind and water bath and I arrived back at my car looking like a drowned rat (drowned slug?) and feeling utterly miserable.  Don't get me wrong, I'll still go back on Thursday.  It's twice a week for eight weeks, which is supposed to be enough to form a habit out of it.  But on Thursday, I'll bring my parka, my umbrella, a box of tissues, galoshes, and a personal flotation device, just in case. 

Not an auspicious start to my exercise program, but at least I did it.  

A few improvements

I am in a brief lull between major projects at the moment, so I have taken some time to make a few improvements for the summer season.  First of all, I purchased and assembled a handy plant stand that I plan to use for hardening off my transplants before I put them in the raised beds.  It has 4 shelves so there is plenty of room for me to use.

The entire stand is covered with a reinforced covering that has 2 zippers down the front.  You can roll up the middle section to have access to the shelves, and then close it to give them extra protection overnight.  I'm sure it will be useful at other times of the year as well.  I will probably bring it inside over the winter and use it in the basement as added storage space for garden pots and such.

The next improvement I put in place was to construct some pea and bean frames for vining peas and beans.  They aren't exactly works of art, but they serve their purpose! 

I used 2x4 lumber for the uprights and 1x3 for the cross supports.  I used deck screws to attach the cross pieces to the upright frames and sandwiched the netting in between.  Now I have great vertical space for my peas and beans.  I actually planted some peas as well.  It's early, but they can be sown as soon as the soil can be worked. 

My contractor and general construction guy brought new soil this past weekend to fill the raised beds back up to the top, since they had subsided a lot over the last season and then the winter.  Now they are ready to go.  I had planned on using some of our own compost pile but it isn't well composted enough yet.  Next year. 

Then, I needed to think about outdoor relaxation, so my final improvement was to assemble this fabulous double hammock on a deck stand.  The instructions were fairly simple and although it said you should have two people to assemble it, I managed just fine by myself.  The slightly hair-raising part was when I had to balance the overhead cover supports on my head when putting in the first screws.  Fortunately, I have a hard head and a decent sense of balance, so I managed to get it done quite quickly. 

I have already had a couple of rest sessions on the hammock.  It does take a wee bit of coordination to get in and out of it, but I'm getting the hang of it.  I think this will be a lovely treat during the warmer weather.  I do plan to get a mosquito net for it.

Soon the weather will allow me to re-plant my deck containers and hanging baskets and then deck will be ready for summer.  I can't wait to get the raised beds growing again!

More birds returning as spring progresses

I've been enjoying watching the birds for the past couple of weeks as more species return after their long migrations.  This spring in particular, I've had a lot of purple finches at the feeder.  I have had them on occasion in the past, but never quite so many.  Last week I had a day with 8 of them at the feeders at once.  The male purple finches are such cheerfully coloured birds and I do enjoy watching them.  I took a lot of pictures - here are some of the better ones.

Keeping an eye out for danger.

The flock at the feeder. 

Hey lady, are you looking at me?

I've also had more pine siskins this year, including some during the winter.  I love the flash of yellow on their wings.  Here are a group of them at the feeder.

Here's a pine siskin enjoying a sip from the bird bath.

The robins have returned and I do hope that they will build a nest in the area.  I've had a pair build a nest under my eaves for the past 2 years, but I haven't seen any nest building activity yet.  Here's a watchful male robin who could probably see me taking pictures of him through my home office window.

I see you!

The white-throated sparrows are also showing up now - I love their song and their lovely little golden head spots.

I think he saw me too!

I didn't see as many pheasants as usual this past winter, but I did see this female earlier this week.  They are so good at camouflage.

Finally, I have a tailless song sparrow that has been visiting regularly.  No doubt it was nearly caught by a predator - perhaps a cat or a larger bird of prey.  Its lack of tail doesn't seem to hamper it though.  It flies with no trouble at all. 

I think I'll name him "Stubby!"

So lovely to have spring finally appear with a greater variety of birds in my yard!

A Leucistic Junco

Today I happened to be looking out the window and caught sight of a dark-eyed junco with some unusual characteristics.  They are common birds for my area, so I'm used to seeing them, but this one was different.

Here's a "normal" dark-eyed junco.

Here's the one I saw today.  Notice that it has a crescent-shaped white marking on its chest.  This is not at all a normal feature.

In addition, it had several white bars across the back of its head, as shown in the following pictures.

Those white patches are definitely not a standard feature on the dark-eyed junco.

These unusual markings led me to the conclusion that this junco has a touch of leucism.  Unlike albinism, which is a complete loss of pigmentation, leucism is a partial loss of pigmentation.  It can occur in skin or hair, as well as feathers.  It can also be widespread across the animal's body, or just in small patches, as is the case with this junco.

I'm hoping that the junco will return to my yard on a nicer day.  The photos I took were in the rain, through my home office window, so they are not nearly as clear as I would like.  Unfortunately, we have rain in the forecast every day for the next week or two.  Spring showers...although it's a bit much for my taste.  I've already seen 2 mosquitoes and the snow isn't even fully melted!

It's Still Winter Here

Admittedly, there are signs of spring, and I am definitely encouraged by this, but one look around my yard today will show you that winter is still here in my part of the world.  I took a short walk this afternoon, although it's difficult here because there are no sidewalks and the snow and ice on the sides of the roads mean that the roads are narrower, so one must be mindful of safety when out walking.  I actually saw my first robin of 2019, so that's a good sign!

Here's a tour around the yard where you will see mostly winter, and a bit of spring. We have actually had a reasonably good March - it's further along in terms of melting than I'd expected it to be at this point.  Loads better than last year!  Here's the back deck, where you can actually see some of the wood steps.  These have only been uncovered in the past week - before that it was just a big heap of snow.  But, there's a lot of snow yet to go!

The path through the yard to the chicken coop is still completely snow and ice, especially underfoot where it has been compacted over the winter.  This snow is at least 2 feet deep still in some places.

The side yard where the spring bulbs live is still under deep snow.  We have a lot of shade from the woods so that does slow the melting process.

There has been a good amount of melting on the driveway, so you can actually see some pavement and gravel now, but as you can see, there is a great deal of snow on the flower bed in front of the workshop.  That flower bed is the one that receives the most sun, so it is the furthest along in terms of melting.

Look!  Bare driveway!! 

The snow piles left on the edge of the driveway in front of the house are also considerable.

The huge hat of snow that was on top of the arbour has mostly melted, but there is much yet to go underneath.

Here are the mounds of the raised beds, still enclosed in their snowy blankets.

The bird feeders were, at one point, covered up over the bottoms of the raccoon baffles, but now there is a lot of space under the baffles.  You can see that the sunflower shells, with their dark colour, have absorbed extra sunlight and caused additional melting in that spot.

Along the back of the house, there is a lot of snow but you can see where the drips from the melting on the roof have created a long groove.  

I've had a very difficult time with the chicken coop gate door this winter.  We had a lot of snow, so I kept digging out in front of the door so that I could continue to open it.  Over time, this led to a sort of deep "valley" right in front of the gate.  Now that we have some melting, it pools exactly in that spot, and there's no access to the ground yet.  As a result, I keep ending up with puddles that freeze overnight and it takes me a good 30 minutes sometimes to get the door free so I can access the birds.  I'm going to have it modified this summer so that next winter, it won't be an issue.  You can also see, in the picture below, that finally my feed bins are visible again.  The shorter one on the right had to be dug out a few times because I couldn't even see the top of it.  

The birds are all well though, and I only lost 1 chicken this winter, which is really quite good.  Here are Shadow the Icelandic cross hen, and Fancy Pants the Icelandic cross rooster, enjoying a bit of sunshine.  I love Shadow's grey feathering.

I might even call them lovebirds!  They do spend a lot of time together.

Inside the coop, here's a shot of Onyx--one of my biggest hens--and Sienna, a bantam hen. 

 One other sign of spring - egg production is in full swing!  Hooray!

Always busy!

Sometimes when I haven't blogged for a long time, it seems a bit overwhelming to get back to it because I really don't know where to start.  I feel that 2019 has been rushing by in a bit of a whirlwind.  I had an awful lot of work in the first 8 weeks - some regular contracts and then a few other projects I took on....a few too many I think.  I also had to travel several times so far this year - including to Charlottetown, PEI and Fredericton, NB - both to help facilitate workshops, and then I also went to Iowa for several days - primarily for 2 days of business meetings.  I was also able to visit friends along the way because I drove there.  In addition, my Iowa client is a former colleague who  hired my former administrative assistant, and we had a group meeting with a former attorney friend, so it was like 'going home again' in a way, sitting around a meeting table with people I hadn't seen in 8 years. 

After my work meetings were finished, I had a lovely time visiting with Teresa at Eden Hills, in particular helping her with an antique spinning wheel she had purchased at an auction.  Her Dad helped us out a lot too, and by the time I left, everything was working except the bobbin tension.  I need to do more research on that.  For the full story and pictures on the day of the wheel, Teresa's blog is the place to go, right here: https://edenhills.wordpress.com/2019/02/08/a-conundrum/

I had a lovely time visiting with Teresa's goats, llamas, chickens, cats, and of course, her lovable dog, Sky.  I think his one-ear-up-one-ear-down appearance is just so endearing. 

I also caught up with my friend Anne, a flautist who plays at the Des Moines Area Community College gourmet dinner series that I used to attend.  It was so lovely to see her and hear all her news.  Then I enjoyed a great visit with my former colleague Kathryn at a local barbecue restaurant - I do love good midwestern bbq!  It's really lovely to be able to catch up with old friends, even if it's only just a brief visit.

On my drive home again, I visited with friends in New York just briefly, since I had to be back in good time for a meeting in New Brunswick, so my visits were sadly short.  However, I got to cuddle with mini horses and goats along the way.  What better way to break up a long drive?!

Some long-time readers may remember the blog of Isobelle Golightly the Beautiful Goat.  This picture is with the mini horses where Isobelle lives.  Well, technically the one on the left is a mini mule, but they're all more-or-less horses!

I'm still in the midst of many work projects but I am hoping that things will ease up a bit in the coming weeks.  I'd really like to stop and smell the roses.  Well, not that we have any roses, because my yard has at least 2 or 3 feet of snow throughout, but I do have a lovely amaryllis blooming indoors, thanks to my mother who bought it for me for Christmas.  What a lovely blossom!