Winter solstice approches

Winter officially begins on Dec. 21, marking the slow return of the sun making the days become longer for those north of the equator. The day itself is the darkest and shortest day of the year, when the sun reaches its southernmost point in the sky.

Cold weather is not moving out yet

Very cold the last few days with the temps in the morning around -30° C one morning.  Days have had terrible wind chill too.  Snowmobiles are now on the lake.  Ice fishermen have said there is over 6" of ice.  Here is a pic of the old well in the back yard as the sun is setting.

Finally a bit of sun

After the ice storm and melt a bit of sunshine today

Back to the river

Down at the rapids where I took some pics earlier (Nov. 9), now with the snow a new view.  There is 10 inches on the ground in the bush right now.  Most of that will have disappeared with the rain last night.

Snow starting to add up

 After the last week or so temperatures have fallen and the lake is frozen over.  Snow is building up slowly even to getting the snowblowers out all over town, snowplows keep the roads clear and sanded.  Winter has set in.  Here are a couple of pics from last week.

Snowblowing today

 More than enough snow to get the rust off the snowblower today.  Always nice to get out and make sure it's working well for the rest of the winter.

Banker's bay yesterday

  To day it snowed off and on the whole day, it didn't look like it was coming down too hard but by the end there was at least 10 cm. 
   A pic of Banker's Bay and the ice that was pushed up from the south winds.

Tonight's sundown

Couple more from last days shoot

 

First picture is from the same spot only looking east.  The bottom pic is on the road just south of Firth Lake.

Wapus Creek

Warm and wet today with more rain to come tonight.  Out for a ride towards Wapus Creek for some pics. Walked down the old road bed where the bailey bridge used to be, the water is high just like all the areas right now.  Took some pics looking west from the bridge.

Tuesdays cold clear night

There was hard ice almost an inch thick in Outlook Bay, the south wind by the afternoon was pushing it up in front of the Post Office.  Earlton weather station logged in -16°C from midnight to 3:00 am.

Video of Montreal River

 A short video of the rushing water.

A very busy Montreal River

This picture was taken about half way between the dam and the bridge yesterday.  There is a lot of water coming down right now much like the spring runoff maybe even more. Don't forget to click on image for larger view.

Lots of rain the last few days

With all the rain and the fact that they took 4 logs out of the dam the water going down  Burke and Edith Lake like a flood.  The boat ramp at Edith is underwater and the concrete boat anchor they lock the boats to is 6 inches underwater. Here is a pic taken today.

Hedlund marsh iced over

Great day today, lots of sun and cool.  Headed out west on the highway and never got past Hedlund marsh.  Here are a couple of pics.  All of the water has a thin skin of ice.  This was taken around 3:00 pm.

Changes to a dull picture

Before 

After

Driftwood

Just sitting along the shore taking some pics in between showers.

Gowganda snow

The last couple of days we have had a bit of snow.  Here are a few pics.

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.