Back from Thanksgiving trip

Down to Lindsay, ON visiting my sister for the Thanksgiving weekend.  Great time and lots of turkey.  Every weekend during  the summer and early fall there is a Farmer's market set up downtown.  The weather was great and the crowds were out for Thanksgiving goodies.

Out for a walk in the Ken Reid conservation area.  Lots of trails great colours and lots of Milkweed something we don't see this far north.

Bab's Lake

 Out for a ride and stopped by Babs Lake, up the Everette Lake Rd.  Lots of logging going on up there right now.  Starts just past the old transformer station all the way east to the old mine headframe that burned down.

Looking for a new laundry post

Down the Mann ridge road to find a new laundry pole as the one I had put in years ago fell down.  Finally found a good cedar tree that would do the job, cut and into the back of the truck a 16 footer. 
Took some pics along the way and then spotted some Shaggy Mane mushrooms (Coprinus Comatus), they are apparently good to eat see link.  These were found in the gravel on the side of the road.
There are still some Mountain Ash berries that you can't miss along the side of the roads.  Leaves are starting to fall with the wind now and rain is expected soon too.

Early morning Outlook Pt.

More colours from Outlook Pt.

 

More fall colours

Out and about with the camera taking some more fall pics.  Here's one from east of Gowganda.

Milky Way

Beautiful days and cool clear nites are great to get pics of the stars.  This is the Milky Way with some light painting on the trees done with a flashlight.

Fall colours

With the last couple of heavy frosts the trees are starting to turn colour.  Some pics from along the road.

Chasing the aurora borealis

Each time when the conditions are high I have been out looking for the northern lites again.  One night the clouds rolled in about ll:30pm and that was end of that night, a couple of days later on it was quite cool and the fog started coming up of the Miller Lake not much to see again. Here is one of the pics of all the stars, there is even an airplane moving thru.

Yesterday starting my walk I spotted a bright object in the north sky.  It turned out the be a large weather ballon that was let go in Timmins in the early morning and finally came down in Amos, Quebec.  This is a joint project with Canada and the French space agency studying the upper atmosphere.  When I got home I snapped this shot of it. You can just see the 1100kg package that is hanging below the balloon. 

On Wapus Creek

Out yesterday on Wapus Creek looking for ducks, taking pics and some fishing.  The pike I caught tasted good today. A look at the Notch Dam from the bottom end.  Later in the day a canoe came by with Doug Robinson and his wife Betty on the way to Gowganda, a great canoe trip.

Edith lake rapids

Out to take some pics of water levels at Edith Lake rapids.  Found some Rose hips enough to make some tea.

Hint of fall in the air

Today you could almost feel fall around the corner. The flowers have started to wind down and bits of colour are showing up in the trees.  Geese have started to fly over the house now too.  Some of the lingering flowers Pearly everlastings, Large leafed aster and some Mountain Ash berries.

ATV ride to Spear Lake

Down the Spear Lake Rd to of all places Spear Lk.  Time for lunch and a picture on the shore and a pic of the lake. Return by snowmobile trail for a bit of a mud run and out the Indian Lake Rd and back to Duncan Lake where the trucks were left.

Farming area around Earlton, Ontario

Went for a trip to Earlton the farming area on the little clay belt.  Earlton is about 70km east of Gowganda as the crow flies.  Miles of crops can be seen grains, corn and canola are the most important.  Some of the crops are just now being harvested. 

Click of pic for panorama.

This mornings Aurora Borealis

Went out to Miller Lake around 10:30pm last night to watch the northern lights across the lake.  They were on and off from 11 to 1:30am and I finally left after not seeing anything more at 3:00am.  The brightness of the moon didn't help seeing the Aurora.

A view of me taking the pictures, it is a lot darker than what this picture looks.

More pictures from the skies

Last night clear skies to see the International Space Station fly over our area.  If you are interested in looking for yourself go to this link to find when it will fly over your area.  It will tell you the time and the area to watch in the sky.  Later in the evening I even caught a meteor which I did not see until I looked the pictures.

Out looking for meteor shower

The meteor shower peaked on the 12th I have been out 3 times, saw a few on the 10th and the rest of the time clouds were in the way.  Last night it finally cleared I went out the back yard and looked for some time around midnite and a bit later then some clouds rolled in again.  I did get to take a couple of 30 second shots looking over the house at the Milky Way. Click to enlarge.

A view of Single Lake

Here is a look at the rest of Single Lake. I call it Single Lake as there is a snowmobile trail sign that says Single Lane.  The "N" in the Lane looks like a "K" on the sign.

Single Lake visit

Great day today, cool this AM and sunny.  Finally out for some pics.  At Single Lake some Meadowsweet  and a sign of things to come, Red Maples starting to turn colour.

Different view of Beaver Pond

Looking back towards the road.

Bouche Rd. beaver pond

Something I have been wanting to  do for some time is put the canoe into the beaver pond on the Bouche Rd.  There are some floating bogs in the center that I wanted to check for plants.  One of the most interesting is the  Drosera, commonly known as the Sundews, comprise one of the largest genera of carnivorous plants, with at least 194 species. Found mostly in boggy areas these plants lure, capture, and digest insects using stalked sticky glands covering their leaf surfaces. The insects are used to supplement the poor mineral nutrition of the soil in which they grow.  Here is a link to a Youtube clip showing a Sundew eating a bug.