Snow sculpture

The wind is doing some great things with the snow, this is on the corner of a wood pile.

Gowganda today

Here is a couple of pics of the highway thru town showing how much snow we  have.  I have been leaving the snow blower idling in the garage.

More snow today

Snowed on and off all day today and not going to let up until tomorrow. Not much  inspiration these days at all.  Haven't been on the snowshoes this year.  The foot doctor advised me that my foot problem may have been aggravated by the snowshoes, so I have stayed away from them.  Anyway these are the two springy horses down at the town beach barely showing their heads.  The snowmobiles are just missing them.

Redpoll

I caught this Redpoll snoozing by the feeder in the warm sun, I should have joined him.

Pine cone and seed macros

I've been practicing with the new lens again.  Can't wait for the snow to disappear.

Winter Logging

Logging is at work all year round, right now they are just finishing up on the Everett Lake Rd.  The workers have been at it since the fall, right now they are by Babs Lake.  Jack Pine, Spruce, Poplar and Birch are the main species  Pine and Spruce for saw logs and Poplar and Birch for chip board. All species are transported by trucks to different mills.  Elk Lake has a mill for lumber and Englehart has the chip board mill. The chip board mill takes in 100 truck loads a day from all over the area to keep it working.  Here are a couple of pics near the latest cut nearby.

More Pics from yesterday

Pictures from Everett Lake and road up to tower  A bit of open water at Miller Creek, looks as though a otter went for a swim.  The chickadee is from the tower road.

Tonights sunset

Words not necessary

Sunny day sundown

Another nice day with great sundown. Lots of snowmobile trails on the lake now there is lots of snow.

Balsam fir winter buds

Out trying out the macro lens again.

Duncan Lake

Great day today warm almost felt like spring.  Our groundhogs couldn't come up through the snow to see his shadow or not.  We always have six more weeks of winter anyway.  A couple of pics from Duncan Lake the other day.  One I may have gone a little overboard with.

Frost on the window

Testing out a new macro lens on the frosty windows in the porch this AM.  I'm looking forward to some close ups of flowers this summer.

More snow

Yesterday it dumped about 15cm and I went out and cleaned up with the snowblower by the time I had finished there was another 2.5 cm by this AM there was another 10+cm.  Out with the snoblo again nice, bright sunny morning and took these pics to show there is enough.  Some are saying that we have too much now. Can't please everyone.

Friday was the coldest morning of the whole winter so far, my thermometer was hanging around -30C fortunately this AM was a lot better.  Around 9:00 AM the sun was out and it just got warmer, good time for some pics.  Up the Everett Lake road to a new cut by Fiset around the west end of Babs Lake.

The first picture is one of the two rock cuts at the top of the hill into Gowganda I call them the gates of Gowganda.  The second is a shot of the mining exploration camp up the Everett Rd.

The last is a scan of a picture I took in the Gowganda Museum  a couple of years after we bought the house in 1986 and I have carried it in my wallet ever since, I thought you might enjoy it if you have been to Gowganda.

Snow building up

A couple of days ago we had a great overnight storm that dropped close to 7-8 inches.  It is hard to know exactly as it was drifting and blowing everywhere.  The next two days have been sunny and very cold, tomorrow it is warming again.  This mornings temps were around -23C.

Another dull foggy day, good for going to town, didn't look much better when I got back either.

West on Hwy 560

Out to take some pics with all the new snow.  We have well over a foot of snow now, had to snoblo again this AM.  More snow the the next couple of days in the forecast.  The lakes have enough ice but the slush is very bad.  There are some air holes to look out for too.  Hope we have  some sunshine soon.

Winter arrives

Finally there is enough snow and ice, there are snowmobiles on the lake and one ice hut.  The snow plows seem to have magically disappeared as the snow gets deeper.  I was told that the routes had been changed because their was more need for them around the mine at Matachewan.  The road is now split at Long Point Lake.  One snowplow comes from Shingtree to Long Point and the one from Elk lake turns back at Long point.  The road to Elk Lake is half plowed most of the time until they finally get around  to it.  It used to be one snowplow from Elk Lake to Gowganda and back, which is better for the school bus.  What is wrong with these peoples minds.  The safety of the kids on the school bus should come first.

The second pic is from the high hill looking back towards the west as the sun was coming up.

Bright sunny and cold

                                                                    

Good crisp morning today with temps around -27C.  I had put up one feeder before I left Gowganda and there were only a couple of Chickadees hanging around.  Yesterday I filled up the big feeder and ended up with Redpolls and Pine Grosbeaks like the one in this pic.

I've had the other picture hanging around on my desktop for some time, I took a pic a couple or more years ago of the same place (along highway 65 nr Hooper's hill), but this time the roof is starting to struggle a bit. Now I can remove it from my desktop.

Happy New Year to All

Well another new year has started, I just got back from another tour of the south, this time  Sudbury, Lindsay and Huntsville and back home about 1400km.  A great time visiting family.  Great to see everyone but it's sure nice to get back home.
The road into Gowganda was covered with snow coming in yesterday and this morning I had a hard time opening the door to get out, the wind and snow had laid a big drift right at the door.  Several large drifts in the driveway got the snowblower treatment.  There is probably enough to get the snowmobiles out now but I haven't seen any all day.

Today's pic is from Lindsay area at the Ken Reid Conservation area.