I gave up trying to post after the power flickered off for the third time last night.  This is year 14 of living where I do and I have never experienced wind gusts like those happening yesterday.  I was expecting my siding and shingles to be in the bush behind my house.

This morning I had to push the back door open.  The wind knocked over the broom and snow shovel in front of the door.  The covered stand that holds my firewood on the deck was blown over.  The little deck table was moved over about three feet.  The birds seed from the tray feeder was spread all over the deck.

When I finally made it down the steps, I inspected the rest of the yard.  The wind pruned branches from the willows next door.  They are now

on the ground in my yard.  There are numerous branches in my eave troughs.  The dead poplar in the neighbor's yard is minus some branches.  Some of them were on my deck and some are still on my roof.  That was most likely the cause of the power flickers last night.  The line runs right beside that tree.

I went out yesterday morning only to feed the birds and the cat.  The wind howled the entire day and part of the evening so I spent the day reading garden magazines, watching the birds try to make it to the feeder and setting myself up on ebird to begin participating on backyard bird counts. 

The weather reports said that the gusts here were over 90kmph.  I can't imagine what it is like for those living in areas where gusts such as these are common.  

https://www.facebook.com/Ramblings-of-an-Outdoor-Girl-1015659961820012/ 

The morning began with a beautiful sunrise.  I love that my kitchen faces east.  I can sit at the table with a coffee and watch the brilliant colors appear between the trees.  The colorful dawn did not disappoint.

All the backyard critters must have known that my afternoon was going to be spent in the basement.  They showed up while I ate lunch at the kitchen table.

The nuthatches arrived first.  They are usually skittish when they land at the feeder.  The smallest movement through the window causes them to fly away; except for today.  One of them stayed put and entertained me by sorting through the nut feast that I put out earlier in the day.

The deer showed up shortly after.  This was the first time in weeks that they showed up in daylight hours.  Their visit is usually under the cover of darkness but four of them stopped in for a quick tour of the yard around noon.  They are looking healthy and have grown a lot through the winter months.  

I'm trying to get the indoor tasks completed before my full week off so I can take advantage of the warm temperatures and sunshine.  
 

On the drive home today, the talk show hosts on the radio were discussing squirrels.  Their conversation brought back memories and made me laugh.  One of them witnessed an aggressive squirrel chasing a crow round and round a tree.  The crow had grabbed food from the squirrel and was not about to give it back.  The radio host described how the crow eventually flew up into a tree and the squirrel followed it.

The conversation lead to talk of feeding the squirrel.  This in turn encouraged people to call and text into the show with their squirrel horror stories.  On fellow spoke of a squirrel getting into the cabin of his boat.  The boat owner filled 10 garbage bags with pine cones.  This conversation brought back memories of my own.

A squirrel got into my garage.  It chewed through the wood floor and got up into the attic.  When I contacted the county pest control department, they told me that I had to get rid of their food store.  This meant that I had to crawl into the attic.

I found a large 'ball' of chewed up pink insulation.  In the middle of the ball was a winter's worth of dried mushrooms, peanuts, sunflower seeds and whatever else that little rodent could haul up there.  I filled 4 large garbage bags full of insulation bits.  That did the trick.  It did not return.

For days after that, I found more stores in the garage.  There were dried mushrooms in the bindings of my snowshoes and behind the wreath hanging on the wall.  The birdhouse hanging on the exterior wall was full of mushrooms.

The squirrels in the backyard are entertaining to watch but can be very destructive.

The groundhog predicted an early spring.  I have my own indications.  The deer that were frequenting my yard daily through the winter, now come only a couple times a week.  It is easier for them to access their natural food sources since the depth of the snow in the forest has decreased.

My bird feeders are still being frequented by the redpolls but the grosbeaks have not been here since January 25.

The number of daylight hours is increasing.  It is so nice to drive home while it is light out and still have a couple of hours before the sun goes down.

I stepped onto the deck this afternoon and heard a chorus. The little chickadees were singing in the willow next door and the pileated woodpecker called from the top of a snag.

Last weekend on my travels to Fernie I saw flocks of Canada Geese feeding in the fields.

The warm temperatures have caused the snow on my metal garage roof to 'avalanche' to the ground.

I'm not a groundhog but based on my observations, spring will soon be here.

It is getting very noticeable that the daylight hours are getting longer.  Today was Groundhog Day and according to the friendly rodent, spring is coming early.  Spring?  We have had springlike temperatures throughout winter.  The pussywillows have been open for a couple of months now.  In my opinion, there really was no winter.

The effects of my weekend away in the snow have not worn off.  This was the second day that I was back at work and I caught myself glancing over my left shoulder with the hope that I would see mountains on the horizon as I drove into town.  Silly me.

That drive north on HWY 22, the Cowboy Trail, left me wanting more.  That glimpse of the Rocky Mountains beyond the rolling hills was just enough to keep me thinking of when the next drive will be.  The trip down that highway is like no other that I've been on.

There is open, rolling ranch land that leads into the foothills below the majestic Rocky Mountains.  Cattle

dotted the country side.  Ranch homes were spread sparsely along the way.

As I drove north on the Cowboy Trail, all I could think about was how much open space we have here in Alberta.  There are some people in the world that will never have the opportunity to experience this.  All I can say is we are truly lucky and should be grateful for this amazing landscape and the freedom to explore it.

 

 

The first and only time I had been through the Crowsnest Pass was in 1967.  That was a lot of years ago.  I did not appreciate the history of the area.  I do remember having a photo taken beside a big boulder at the Frank Slide site.  Since that time, an interpretive centre has been built there.  Visitors can stop and learn about the slide.

I did not have the opportunity to stop in during my weekend road trip but the Centre is definitely on the to-do list for the future.  I cannot imagine what the scene was like on April 29, 1903 when Turtle Mountain came tumbling down.  The landslide is said to have lasted 90 seconds and could be heard up to 200 kilometers away.  It fell under the cover of darkness when the residents of Frank were tucked in their beds.

The boulders at the slide site lay strewn on either side of the highway and either side of the rail line.  Some of them have been defaced with graffiti.  Trees are growing in between the rocks.

As I drove through the area looking at the slide site, I was in awe of the power exerted by Mother Nature.  



http://www.history.alberta.ca/frankslide/frankslidestory/frankslidestory.aspx 

 





 

My road trip to Fernie and back consisted of a 1461km loop through central and southern Alberta and southern British Columbia.  I took the 'scenic' routes to stay off the very busy HWY 2 and found some amazing landscapes.  I need to do that more often; stay off the beaten track.  I found some hidden gems and for the most part, there was little to no traffic on the routes that I chose.  There were a couple of sections of highway where I drove for more than an hour without seeing another vehicle.

The trip to Fernie took me through flat prairie, sprawling valleys, rolling foot hills and majestic mountains.  I saw wind turbines for the first time and had no idea that they were fields full of them in central Alberta.  I thought they were prevalent only in southern Alberta.  I learned something new!  The last time that I was through the Crowsnest Pass was in 1967.  Needless to say, there is not much that I remember of that trip and probably did not appreciate the rich coal mining and railroad history.

I saw areas of Alberta that had no snow, some that had a dusting of snow and yet others with snow cover equivalent to what I have at home.

I thought that I had died and gone to heaven when I saw all the snow in Fernie.  There were actually snowbanks on either side of the highway!  It was great fun to snowshoe through the snowy forests.

I took a different route home.  It was just as scenic and gave me a view of the mountains for a greater distance.  Each time I glanced over my left shoulder, I had glimpse of their snow topped peaks.  I have to say that when I reached the northernmost point of the highway where I had to turn east, I had to take one last, longing look at the mountains.

The trip went by much too quickly.  I took note of some historical points of interest that I want to check out.  The Frank Slide Interpretive Centre and the Leitch Collieries Historic Site are both on the list.  I'll save those for a time when I have more than three days off.



 

The morning began with some beautiful mountain views.  I was able to photograph the snowy trees atop Mount Fernie with my telephoto lens; all from the living room window.  When I moved to the bedroom window, I was able to capture a great close up of the Fernie Alpine Resort; complete with skiers headed down a run.

It was a beautiful morning for scenic views and fresh air fun.  We started at the provincial recreation area where we put the snowshoes on and trekked through some fantastic snowy conditions along a flowing creek.  The running water and the snow crunching under our snowshoes were the only sounds that we heard. 

We trudged through the forest, along the creek bank and across the trunk of a downed tree.  At least I hoped it was a tree trunk that I was balancing on with my snowshoes.  If it wasn't, I was going down into the creek.

The second trail at the recreation area took us up a steep ridge to a look out with a beautiful view of a valley.  The trees along the trail were still holding onto the snow from last night.  The scene was Christmas card perfect.

Our afternoon outing included a hike through the forest by Fairy Creek.  We decided on hiking the trail without the snowshoes.  I didn't have my cleats with me and the soft snow made for some slipping and sliding on the trail.  I wish I would have had them because our goal was to reach the Fairy Creek Falls but it was too difficult for me to get some secure footing so we didn't make it there.

My son, the tour guide, took me out to the trails and chauffeured me around Fernie; showing me all the sights.  He has all his favorite activities just outside his door just as I have mine.  The only things that I'm missing are the mountain view through my living room window and the snow.  There is definitely a lot of it here.

Driving south on Highway 56 was the right decision.  From Camrose to Strathmore I met about 24 vehicles if that.  For much of the drive, I was the only one on the road.  It was the best drive ever.  The roads were dry and clear.  The sun was shining and most of the trek had clear sky overhead.  As I drove, I took in all the sights and thought about how grateful I am to live in Alberta.  We are so fortunate to live where open spaces are wide and the air is clean.

I experienced something for the first time.  I had never seen a wind turbine in real life.  I didn't see just one.  I saw hundreds.  I had to pull over and watch their props turn round and round.

As I got closer to the mountains, there was more snow.  It made for an incredibly different scene.  The spaces down Highway 56 were wide open.  Highway 3 had mountain peaks on either side. 

I got to see the wide open spaces of southern Alberta where the cattle grazed on the open range.  I got to see the wind turbines in action; moving like gentle giants in the winds coming from the mountains.  I was thinking the day could not have gotten any better but...the snowflakes began to fall.

A friend posted a drone video of a musher with his dog sled team.  Now, all I want to do is go dog-sledding. I had to pull out the photographs from the two occasions that I had gone a number of years ago.  It's been awhile but I can still smell that fresh mountain air and hear the excited barking of the dogs.

We went with a tour company from Canmore.  Their driver picked up all those going and drove us out to the meeting spot where the dogs and sleds were waiting.  When all the dogs were hitched to the lines, we climbed into the sleds under some cozy blankets.  They gave us the option of learning to mush but I preferred to be the passenger so I could use my camera.

Just prior to leaving, the barking of the dogs was deafening.  They just wanted to go.  They were in a frenzy!  We followed the road to the Spray Lakes campground.  When we reached the end, the dogs were given time to rest.  We were taken onto the frozen lake surface and our guide shared information about the area.  As we listened and took all our photos, the other guides prepared some warm drinks and snacks for us.  Once the break was over, we mushed back to our starting point where the dogs were unhitched and given some warm broth made from chicken fat.

The tour that we chose was two hours in length.  It was perfect for a first time experience.  I would definitely go again and choose a half or full day tour.  There's nothing like sitting in that sled, moving across the snow with mountains on either side.

The guide that we had participated in the 2015 Ididtarod.  It was pretty exciting to watch the results of each leg to see where he was and how he was doing against the other mushers.  Christian came in 15th out of 66 mushers.  He did really well considering he's an Aussie!  His training with the winner, Dallas Seavey, paid off.