I only have a few pictures again, but I need to try to post more regularly, so here we are. Sunset on April 2nd: Sunrise through the mountain ash tree branches on April 3rd: And then here's the big surprise. Or not. When I got up this morning, it was snowing and clearly had been doing so for a while. There was probably half an inch of snow on the ground already when I went out to take pictures of the eagle around 11AM. And it kept on snowing for a while after that, though it's stopped now. And yet it was still warm outside - a nice 0°C, so the snow was already kind of turning into slush.
Anyway, the first picture is one I took around 9AM. (What a contrast to the first picture, eh?) Then later, closer to 11, my mom saw an eagle sitting in one of the trees. So after I went out to take a look, I came back and got my camera. But when I walked closer to the eagle, for some reason he felt threatened by that, even though he has wings and was probably seventy feet off the ground, and I don't have wings and was on the ground. So he flew away.
0 Comments
Well, I did not know that the bean seeds were arriving today, until about five minutes before the truck showed up. But they did, and here are a few pictures, courtesy of my sister! (I was keeping an eye on supper and asked if she would take some pictures for me.)
Okay, first I have a bit of a comedy for a picture. I took this on the morning of March 24th, but the incident had happened the night before. Red arrow: The path we made through the snow to get to some of the outbuildings. Yellow arrow: What the cat does when he thinks he's about to get fed and decides that it wastes too much time to run around the corner. The sun behind the clouds on March 26th: Sunrise on March 29th: Very spring-type scene that same day - all the grassy and muddy patches between the stubborn spots of snow and ice - and then the sunset later that evening. Snow sparkling on the morning of March 30th, and then the sunset that evening. And March 31 - Easter morning - dawned beautifully bright and clear, which I thought was so fitting! Jesus is alive! We serve a risen Saviour! The sunset Easter evening was also gorgeous. I already love Easter because it's celebration of Jesus' resurrection, but when I see a scene like this on the same day, it's just amazing to me! " . . .Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen . . ." ~Luke 24:5b-6a
The weather here in March - or at any time of year, for that matter - is predictably unpredictable. You never know what's going to happen next. Nothing out of the ordinary happened this time, but I do remember a couple of incidents in the past where it was snowing, thundering and flashing lightning all at once - in May, if I'm not mistaken. That was a little bit weird. I titled this post "Typical Alberta Spring" because that's exactly what this March has been. We went from the single-digit minuses at the beginning of March, to having some beautifully warm days. Almost all the snow had melted, and a lot of the resulting mini-ponds had mostly dried up. Then BOOM, I woke up the other morning and there's snow on the ground again. I think it's been lightly snowing almost non-stop for two or three days now. And I am absolutely fine with that! We've had such a mild winter that I'm not quite ready for spring yet, though I do enjoy spring as well. Anyway, that's enough of my rambling about the weather. I've got 12 photos this time, so here you go! Sunset on March 15: Pussy willows; spruce needles; a snow-drifted path through the trees; and the sunset reflecting off of a puddle in the field, all on March 16. Blue jays on the 20th. (It's not the greatest quality picture because I was taking it through the window screen.) And the sunset from the same day. Snowing again on the 21st, and after it stopped, the sun came out and was making the fresh snow sparkle. I love it when that happens; it looks so pretty. And finally, three from today. The top two are just pictures I took in different directions, of the falling snow. And the last one is of some icicles that I thought looked neat . . . and also kind of murderous, so hopefully they don't unexpectedly fall on anyone!
I have another small batch - only six this time - but anyway, enjoy! Hockey rink on March 9th: Close to sunset on the 11th: Ladybugs on the 12th. Every year without fail, a low spot along our tree line near the house floods, and I'm not sure where exactly the ladybugs hibernate, but in any case, every year a lot of them end up in that icy water. Ever since I was a little girl, I've gone down there every spring to fish them out of the water. They're good for our crops. And I needed some fresh air anyway, so it worked out well! I'd counted 100 by the time I went back to the house, but there were a few incidents where I wasn't sure if I'd double-counted one or not. So there are more or less 100 ladybugs in my hand here. Sunset on the 12th: Redpoll on the 13th (I think some birdseed had been spilled there): And just this afternoon, a male house sparrow hanging around the feeders.
I just realized the other day that I'd never done a photo of the month for either of these two months, so here they are now! January 28, 2024 - Sunrise on Cornerstone Acres February 26, 2024 - First real snowfall of the year
I've only got five photos for today, so this isn't going to take very long... A downy woodpecker on the bird feeder on March 4th: And right after the woodpecker, I took a picture of this. I thought it looked really neat how the sun was right behind those trees, so that the trees were silhouetted against the gray clouds. Sunset on the 6th: Sunset on the 7th: And then yesterday morning, my brother suddenly yells, "There's moose out there!"
We all went running for the window, and sure enough, there's a couple of moose quite close to the house, wading through the asparagus. I'm still here! I was away from the farm for a while, and when I got back I needed a few days to get a collection of photos to share, so here we go! Sunset on February 19: Sunrise on the 21st: Another sunrise on the 22nd: These woodpeckers don't usually hang around our house a lot, but for some reason, a couple of northern flickers have been making frequent stops to our bird feeders this year. Here's one of them on the 24th. (You can see the melting snow on the driveway in the background.) And then the snow came back. It started falling in the evening of the 25th, and by the following morning, we had quite a lot of it already. So here's the mountain ash tree clothed in its new blanket on the 26th, and then another shot of the flicker, who arrived for more food on the same day. And five pictures from the 27th. Three are just different angles of shots of the spruce trees, and one is just a visual of how much snow we got, most of it over one night. This fifth picture was an accident. The chickadee had better timing than I do. He decided to fly up from his position on the ground just as I snapped a picture, and I happened to catch him in mid-air, along with his buddy and, of course, the flicker. (Notice the difference of background between this picture and the first one of the flicker.) And finally, this morning's sunrise. Enjoy your weekend!
Sometimes it seems to me that sunsets and sunrises are more pretty in the winter than at any other time of the year. And as I just mentioned to a friend the other day, just when you think that you've seen every colour and design possible in the sky, God shows you a beautiful new creation. Here are two sunset pictures I got from the 18th: Two sunrise pictures from the 19th: And on that same day, a chickadee. I think that chickadees are my favourite birds, and I especially love them in the winter when it's more common to see them flitting around looking for food, or just sitting on a branch all fluffed up like a little ball of tiny feathers. This is the ice on our pond on the 24th. It's not the greatest picture, but you can kind of see the frozen bubbles at different layers in the ice. I've always found that neat. Two more sunset pictures from the 25th (and I love it when the sun rays change colour like that):
playing this season for weeks now. But our local public rink has extremely few public skate hours this year, so I figured I'd just skate on our own pond again this year, which works just fine. There were just a few problems. Earlier, I think around the end of November/beginning of December 2023, there was a whole bunch of dust on the surface of the ice. I didn't want to skate on the dust because I knew that would dull my skate blades. Finally, I think at the beginning of January, my brother came and told me that all the dust had blown off the ice. And then it got extremely cold, and nobody wants to skate outdoors when it's -40°C outside. So there went another week. When it finally warmed up again, it had started snowing, and it kept snowing for several days. (Don't get me wrong, I'm really glad it finally snowed!) By the time it stopped snowing there was a foot or more of snow on the pond. It was starting to feel like there wouldn't be any chances at hockey this season. But then on this past Tuesday morning (the 23rd), my brother stuck his head into my little office cubicle and said, "The dugout's cleared off and it's only -5°C. Want to go skating?" Of course I wanted to go skating! After getting our skates out of the shed and leaving them in the porch to warm up a bit, we pulled out the hockey nets and hauled them out to the pond. Then back to the house for the skates. Lace 'em up, grab the sticks, toss a puck onto the ice, and let's play! That's another part of winter that I absolutely love - it's hockey season! I'm pretty convinced that hockey is the best sport ever invented. On Wednesday afternoon, we were out there again. I'd gone out by myself, but when I came back, I opened the porch door and there was my brother, jacket and mitts on, on his way out. So I went back out with him and we played for a while. I would have gone out on Thursday as well, but it got too warm that day. And then I headed to the ice again yesterday. I'd gone out with my brother, and we skated for a while before heading back. But as we pulled up by the house on the quad, my sisters came out of the house with their skates. So I went back out and played some hockey with them for a bit before it warmed up to the point where my skates were actually breaking through the ice in one or two places. But anyway, that's my hockey story for this week. Now for the pictures. On Wednesday, when I'd gone back to the house and run into my brother on his way out, I'm not sure how coffee came into the conversation, but he asked if I wanted some coffee. I said yes, but I still had my skates on (my fingers and toes get cold really fast, and often when I put on my skates outside, so I've been putting my skates on in the house and then taking the quad out to the pond), so he said he would get the coffee for me. I asked for a double-double, and he made one for me and brought the mug out the porch. He also brought my camera, as I'd wanted to take pictures of that neat bubble ice. Back at the pond while waiting for him, I got an idea. Coffee. Skates. Hockey stick. Puck. Skate blade-torn ice. Perfect. Still waiting for my brother, I set all these things on the ice and took a few pictures. Here's one with the skates, and one without. Either way, I think these are perfectly Canadian pictures! because I was trying not to slide forward any farther because I didn't want to knock my coffee over. News flash: I knocked it over anyway. But at least I got my picture (and I think I'd already drank half of it, so it wasn't a total loss) XD)
What's your favourite part of winter? Well, it took until January 5/6, but we finally got some snow! Now it looks more like winter, and I'm very much enjoying it. First, I have three pictures from January 4th, before it snowed. Four from the 5th. The first three I took in the morning while the sun was coming up, and then the last one I took in the afternoon when the sun was shining directly on that pine tree. And then on the 7th, a picture of the snow we finally got! On the 8th, we had a female Pileated woodpecker on the bird feeder. Snow-covered spruce trees on the 10th: Sunset on the 11th: Sunrise on the 13th, and then in the evening, the sun shining on the snow-capped fence railings. Sunrise on the 14th. A crazy little woodpecker . . . she should have stayed home that day (We had quite a cold snap last week; temperatures in the -30s, and there were two or three days where for a time, we were down to -42 and -43°C). And that night, the crescent moon. And finally, the sunrise from this morning, beautiful as always!
|
AuthorHi, I'm Leah! I'm a college student, and I'm the Shop Supervisor here at Cornerstone Acres. I love to read, write, and spend time out in God's creation. I'm looking forward to sharing our farm experiences with you through this blog! "For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him." ~Colossians 1:16, KJV
Archives
April 2024
Categories |