Saturday, January 12, 2013

Is This January?


Sharp-Shinned Hawk
Originally uploaded by *Bundy*
Before I say anything I want to be completely up front on this. I'm not complaining!!!

What is going on with the weather? Here it is mid-January when we should be seeing temperatures well below freezing, snow falling from the sky and me bitching and moaning about how miserable I am and how much I hate winter.

Instead, all of the snow we received over the Christmas holidays has all but vanished, rain has replaced the snow and the temperature is about 10 degrees above freezing. I actually saw people riding on motorcycles today.

As I said, I'm not complaining and I'm quite certain this little trip north by the jet stream will no doubt end soon. After all, February is typically the coldest month if memory servers me.

I'll enjoy this brief reprieve from having to scrape the ice off my car at six in the morning before I go to work. Not having to hold my hands up to the heater to thaw them out is something I know will happen again before Spring arrives, much to my dismay.

Of course I had to take full advantage of this amazing weather today. I grabbed my camera equipment and headed out to Presqu'ile Provincial Park and went for a nice long walk. There was snow back in the bush but most of the roads were clear for walking.

I came home with a few photos worth keeping including the one I've posted here. While I'm no birding expert, I'm pretty sure it's a Sharp-shinned Hawk. I was just getting ready to head home when he flew past me and landed on a feeding station nearby. I was able to snap four frames quickly before he spotted me and got out of Dodge. I was pretty happy with this one.

Tuesday, January 01, 2013

Happy 50th Anniversary


50th Anniversary Cake Cutting
Originally uploaded by *Bundy*
After months of planning and preparation the party for me parents 50th Anniversary was a pleasant success.

Despite all of the planning the one thing I couldn't control was the weather. And after two winters with very little snow, Mother Nature decided that this was the ideal time to dump a lot of white stuff on us.

With a light dusting of snow on Christmas Day I thought that wouldn't be too big a deal. Then two days before the party on the 27th we were hit with the biggest snow storm we've had in several years. Luckily my brother and sister-in-law were still able to fly into Toronto to attend.

Not a big deal since we still had two days to get the roads in shape for people to attend. Wrong! The day of the party another storm blew in making travel nearly impossible.

Needless to say many people from out of town that had planned to attend the party to surprise mom and dad were forced to cancel or turn back after trying to make it. It was the right thing to do. The last thing we wanted was for anyone to get into an accident.

Luckily a lot of local people that had been invited decided to venture out into the storm to see my parents and wish them congratulations.

After fearing that only a few people would make it, I was thrilled to see over 70 friends and family walk through the door to enjoy some good food and drinks and the opportunity to not only see my parents but other people they hadn't seen in quite some time. It turned out to be a very pleasant and successful afternoon.

My thanks to everyone who helped to make the day such a big success and a memorable and special day for my mom and dad.