The temperature has been warm but the wind was pretty blustery the last couple of days.  I noticed my next door neighbor taking advantage of the conditions.  He was raking the leaves in the backyard, allowing the wind to blow them straight into the bush so he didn't have to bag them up.  It was quite amusing.

I hiked the Amisk Wuche trail at Elk Island yesterday.  The wind created some havoc there with the trees.  It was so gusty that it snapped some young trees off in addition to some old decaying ones.  There were at least 4 large ones laying across the trail.  The parks staff is going to be busy for a few days.

I was looking for my coyote friend that tends to hunt along the roadside.

He wasn't around but the bison were.  A number of them were grazing in the tall grass where the coyote usually is hunting.  It was entertaining to watch a couple of bulls having a duel as the others calmly went about the feeding.  

The ponds along the parkway are still home to a number of different types of ducks.  There were a few muskrats out; either grooming or feeding.  I could see that the beavers have been getting ready for winter.  They have stockpiled branches and twigs beside their lodges.  

At Astotin Lake, people were enjoying the last days of fall with picnics spread out on the tables.  The rental company that had supplied the canoes through the summer was loading them up for storage.  The snow is going to fall sooner or later.  

I picked up my granddaughters today.  They are sleeping over for a few days.  We are definitely going to take advantage of the weather.  There's leaf walk planned for tomorrow.  We talked about picking leaves to do crafts with.  The youngest was concerned that we wouldn't find any.  "Gramma, your trees are naked."