Happy Holidays

Have a safe and Merry Christmas and all the best in 2012

This mornings pics

A couple of pics of town on my way back from walking this AM.  One of the lake covered in snow and ice and the other looking down past the store as George is coming up the road to start plowing.  Gowganda will have a white Christmas where many in Southern Ontario will be looking at grass.

Damp and misty

Mostly damp, misty and grey skies while going out for a couple of pics near Leroy Lake.  They loggers have fixed up the road going into Leroy lake so they could get at timber on the north side of the lake.  A small bridge was put in over the creek where it flows towards Lost Lake.  These are pics from the bridge looking east.

Gowganda design

Something a little different on this damp afternoon.  Maybe a new Gowganda logo or something.

Crazy weather

We have had many ups and downs with the weather this month, just about everything under the sun, today it is around 2C and misting, snow is disappearing again.  Not your typical December at all.  Haven't been out taking  many pics but played with the old truck in the Miller Lake cut with the snow.  Kind of a dark picture with the truck highlighted.

The ice returns

After a wet warm weekend most of the ice broke up and  melted.  Early this morning under clear cold skies the lake froze again.  Tonight is going to be another cold one.  The frost build up around the edge of the clear ice looked as though there were feathers on it.

ICE

With the cool temps last night it made a very thin ice sheet, with some open water steaming in the sunlight..

Off to town today

On the way back a couple of fall pictures, crop land has all been plowed for the fall and cattle are roaming fields before the snow and cold.  In the summer the crops go on for kilometers on which was once an ancient seabed. Click on the top picture for a panorama.

Lake still open

The main body of the lake still has no ice and the weather is holding up.  Up to Edith Lake yesterday for a few pics.  Here are some ice rings.

You can run but you can't hide

Here is a Snowshoe hare from today, he looks a might damp too.

Shadows

After yesterdays ice storm and today's drizzle it's about time for some sunshine.

A bit of ice on the lake

Yesterday AM the north arm of Gowganda Lake had a skim of ice from side to side, this AM the ice had retreated.  The mist was rising from the lake early in the AM.  The cold air and the warm lake mixing.  Pretty soon it will all be white.

Parry Sound pics

Just a few from Parry Sound while deer hunting

Back from another trip

This time some deer hunting in the Parry Sound area, deer were scarce this year but wolf sign was everywhere. Had a good time but no game was hurt.  After that it was a trip to Toronto, to a Photoshop Seminar right down in the heart of the city.  Haven't been down there for many years much less being on a subway.  Survived and had a great time. Thanks to Lauch and Ruth in Toronto and my friends the Pecks in Sequin Township.  Just a few pics of downtown which has grown so much since I was a kid down there.

Firewood finally stacked

Finally got the firewood stacked a couple of days ago, glad to see the end of that.  The rows are 24 feet long, 2 feet wide and just under 5 feet high.  I figure there are about 6 bush cords of wood stacked.  Lots of wood for a couple of years or more.  Just have to cover it now to keep it dry.

Another Yukon favorite

This pic with the sun shining on the poplars on the banks of the Ogilvie River, with the mountains for a backdrop is one of my favorites.

ATV trip on Sunday afternoon

Paul and I were in a couple of new cuts on Sunday afternoon, one up the east side of the Everett Lake Rd just north of the highway and another on the Miller Lake Rd. Lots of big trees cut some over 100 years old by the the rings counted. That's around when the mining for silver started back in 1909.
Another find at Miller Lake is this old Ford truck right in the middle of the cut, notice the bullet holes in the window right where the driver would sit. I hope that's not how it got there.

Halloween Fun

Have fun

Catching up on some wood work

Still working to get the wood split and piled. May take a few more days if the weather doesn't cooperate. This will be firewood for two years from now. Added a couple of filters on this pic to make it a little more interesting.

Yukon pic

Along the Dempster Highway in the Yukon, this is all permafrost.

More wet weather on the way

Two weeks ago we had great weather some days up to 20C+ days, sunny the best of fall weather. Last week cool wet with several mm. of rain, one day it never stopped there must have been at least 30mm that day even some large wet snowflakes. Now it will rain again tomorrow. The leaves are just about finished on the poplars now, the ground cover hasn't had enough frost yet to drop but its getting there. Here is a final picture of fall leaves taken at Leroy Lake with the camp boat still in the water.

Finally it has stopped raining

Lots of rain the last few days, nice to see a great sunset. Red skies at night sailors delight. Maybe.

Fall in the bog

Another pic from Leroy Lake.

Playing with leaves

Fall leaves

Looking for Cranberries

Out to Leroy Lake for a paddle into a bog at the north end of the lake. I had been there earlier this summer and found some unripe cranberries. This being the Small Cranberry (Vaccinium oxycoccos) the berries are small, red and really don't have much of a taste. I have heard that a good frost may improve that.

The things you see bird hunting

Out near Everett Lake grouse hunting when all of a sudden a water bomber goes over my head no more than 3 or 4 hundred feet. I learned later that the fire was near Highbluff Lake north of Longpoint Lake. I headed down to the shore of Everett Lake to watch him fill up and take off just about every 10 minutes. Here's a couple of pics. the plane is a Canadair CL-415 made by Bombardier it can scoop up 6,130 L. of water in 12 seconds.
Yesterday I drove up near Highbluff lake and didn't see any smoke.

Early morning pics

Here are a couple pics taken in the early morning of the lake. The top is a panorama so click and enlarge it.

Last grass cutting of the year

The day has finally come to stop looking after the grass, as I was cutting I looked up and saw this flower still in bloom. I drove around it and decided to take a picture of it later. By the time I got finished I forgot where the flower was and convinced myself that I had finally run it over with the mower. Today I'm going down to the shed and here I find the plant all in one piece and unscathed. Its only a Daisy Fleabane but it was the only and maybe last flower that I would see in bloom this year so here it is.

Yesterdays sundown

Had to get out last night and get this pic with the reflection.

Weather great today

The forecast is for a week of fairly good weather leading up to Thanksgiving. A couple of pics from this AM.

First bit of snow

Yesterday the temperature started to go down, by morning it was just above O C. Large wet flakes were falling early this morning but did not last too long. A taste of things to come.

Yes, it really is this colour

Red maple in full colour.

More colours

Everyday I go out in the morning the colours are getting stronger. The red maples have outdone themselves and the trees along the Montreal RIver the same

Summer has gone so fast

Misty fall morning on Gowganda Lake, combined with a load of firewood to cut and split.