East Coast Birding

Dodie, Irene, and I are all birders (to a varying degree), so the guys had to put up with a few hours of walking around Sackville N.B.'s waterfowl park.  It's a really nice place for a walk.

Deb with all her friends!

The boardwalk runs right around and through the park, so you're able to get close to the birds.  We saw a lot of birds, but I was most impressed with the Pied Grebe, which I had never seen before.

They are classified as a duck, I believe, but they are ... different looking.

It was much easier to get a good look at it with binoculars!

The view was pretty, despite the cloudy day.

The view is lovely throughout.

We also spotted a Gadwall, a number of Warblers, and a Redstart.  Also a rather shy Muskrat.  I think if I lived in Sackville, I would be here all the time.

This gives you an idea of the size of the place.  When you leave the boardwalk, there is a trail on land that goes all the way back to the park entrance.

Iain was pleased to see his favourite, the Red Winged Blackbird.

Red shoulders rule!

We saw a lot of birds that I didn't catch on camera.  I watched one Black Duck for about five minutes as it poked among the reeds like it was going to build a nest, and then changed its mind.  I tried to photograph it, but all you can see is a lot of reeds - the duck is just too well camouflaged!

Yard Sale-ing and Dump Digging

Lot of yard sales this summer, and this was, I think, my favourite find: a wine-and-glasses rack, that I picked up for $2.  It didn’t look like this when I got it, mind you; the whole things was very rusty and somewhat less attractive. The seller didn’t know what it was; she’d found it in her garage and didn’t know where she’d picked it up. She was under the impression that it was perhaps an umbrella stand.

Pretty, yes?

A coat of rust paint later, and voila! It is an item I don’t really need but it was fun to fix it up anyway. We will probably stock it with sherry and other sipping items, next summer.

We made our last dump run of the year out to Brudenell, to dispose of the last of the recycling and also a few bits of wood and some other garbage that was accumulated this summer. When we walked up to the household garbage area, I found this beautiful lamp sitting perched on top of a box. I think the owner couldn’t find a home for it, but hated to throw it out.

Iain contemplated dropping something on top of it, because he KNEW I’d want to take it home. He’s changed his mind about it, though, now that it is hanging in our cottage. After much searching for a lamp that would give us more light above the table (for the last year, at least), we had this one handed to us. Some things are just meant to be!

Lots of light over the table, now.

The light that was over the table was beautiful, but, alas, not bright enough. It is PERFECT, however, in the entryway.

 

 

 

I love this.

Bird Counting, Victoria Day Weekend

It was certainly a good weekend for it; hardly a drop of rain, not a lot of bugs (yet), and quiet enough to be able to hear the birds singing!  We saw and/or heard a large variety (by “we” I mean Dodie, Myles, and I, at different times); our total for the weekend was 42 species.  I so wish I had a picture of the Black-Backed Woodpecker we saw; it was a first-time sighting for me, and I didn’t have my camera with me.

The Mergansers dropped by to say hello.

As soon as I got out the camera, they started to turn away. Camera shy?

There is lots of power in those wings.

I should have had the setting on a higher shutter speed.

We counted more Robins than anything else (19). They seemed to be everywhere.

Om nom nom...

The Blue Jays were at the feeders, of course.

Love the little dangling feet!

I was pleased to see several Veerys. They are friendly little birds.

He flew in for this closeup.

Iain got a picture of the Beaver dragging a stick around.

I really wish he'd go to another lake - he makes such a mess.

And Nibbles came by for a snack.

If he would only content himself with the clover and weeds, and leave my Purple Liatris alone!

The wee Bunny is still living around there somewhere, too.

He came to the patio door again, too. He must see his reflection.

Aside from this, the usual assortment of Squirrels and Chipmunks kept the feeders empty!

Not Quite The Weekend Update

I have had a busy month, which is why no posts. Winter is ending – long overdue – and spring briefly exploded to form an early summer, before settling back into more seasonal temperatures. There was frost last night, so I’m glad I didn’t rush out to plant annuals as yet.

The church’s annual yard sale/bake sale took place last weekend, which meant I had to do some baking, though not as much as in some years past: no buns (no time), just four or five batches of cookies. The sale was a success anyway, so I don’t think they were missed much (I did get told that my baked beans must be available at our fall sale, Lord willing).

We brought home the old VHS player from the cottage so I could try an experiment: transferring old VHS stuff to DVD. It seems to work; we have a DVD recorder that we used to used in our pre-PVR days, that has just been gathering dust. I hooked everything together and VOILA!: the old super8 movies that I had transferred to VHS (about 20 years ago) are now ready to burn to DVD. It isn’t a lot of film – only about 20-30 minutes worth – but it has some precious images from the 1970’s.

This is a still I found between scenes: it’s blurry (there were only two frames to take it from) but I know it is my Mom at the kitchen sink, probably drying a dish. Strange to find it wedged in there; I didn’t even know it existed until I was editing the raw VRO file. Probably I turned on my camera for a second by mistake, and that’s how it ended up on the film, but I’d never seen it before this, it being there and gone too quickly for the eye to see.

It’s too bad there is no sound on those old films. When I see my Dad, and Dodie’s first husband Terry, and my Aunt Bea, how I’d love to hear their voices again!

We’re gearing up for the long weekend, and then summer is truly here. Cottage time again, and I can’t wait!

That was Thanksgiving

Ah, Thanksgiving weekend!  Food, friends, family:  what it's all about, and we had all three.

Iain and his mom on the dock.

 

 It was particularly nice to have Kyle and Sheila up for the weekend.  Poor Kyle had to sleep in the old place, but a space heater kept his room cozily warm.



The leaves are really coming down, but it was still lovely.

We went for a few walks, and saw three cormorants that are (hopefully) just passing through on their migration route. 

Not a great pic, but you can see the long necks; I think most of the Loch Ness sightings are actually cormorants.

It was a bird count weekend, of course, so Dodie had us out looking, but we didn't see too many for her.  It was nice to see the heron, but I guess the bitterns have already left.  We took down our hummingbird feeders, too - they left a week before.

 

 

Thanksgiving dinner was wonderful - we loved having most of the family there, and would have liked to have more of them.  For fun, I made a timelapse video that you can see here.

If you want a gander at our view...

Go to this address and open the Quicktime VR movie there.

QTVR from the cement pad

It's a panoramic view I took from the centre of the cottage pad in early October.  It is unfortunately full of watermarks because I used a free version of the software to create it, but you still can get a sense of why we love it there!  I am hoping it will work for you.

My thanks to Jayme for telling me what I needed to do!

Wingscape Birdcam!

As I mentioned in the previous post, I was using pictures taken with a wildlife camera.  It's a Wingscapes model that was a gift from Iain's mom a couple of Christmases ago.  The usual use is for getting shots of birds visiting the feeders, but we have used it for other spots as well, most notably as a time-lapse of a few of our camping trips.  The camera is only usable in daylight hours, which is a minor drawback, but we have enjoyed it a lot.

Our camera quit working this August; I thought it was case of depleted batteries, but new ones made no difference, and when I ran a test the display showed an error message.  So I decided to contact the manufacturers, an American company, by email.  I hoped they would tell me where to take the camera to be repaired, if it could indeed BE repaired.  I went to their website, http://www.wingscapes.com/ , and wrote them a short "help!" letter.

I received a nice email back from Kim Creel, their customer service manager, and she explained that the error code meant there was a software problem, and the unit would have to be replaced.  She asked for my model and serial number, so they could send me a replacement.

Now, when I sent the info off to her, I thought I'd get an email back saying "Okay, now send money".  But I didn't.  They just found one like it at their factory, tested it to be sure it worked, and sent it off to me.  Gratis.  I had the replacement camera (which they sent with new documention, bungee cords, cables, and remote control, even though I already had these things) delivered by courier to my home in less than 2 weeks!

And because I'm in Canada and sending the camera back across the border would be kind of a hassle, they said "nah, never mind returning it; enjoy your new camera".  Absolutely outstanding customer service!

So if you ever plan to buy one of these cameras, don't pass on the Wingscapes because they are a little more expensive.  They're worth it.

A picture of Onyx enjoying the window seat... 

 ...and a picture of Snaps, enjoying the same spot!

Canoe on the water!

We had a wonderful anniversary vacation! I don't have time to post too much here, but HAD to put up this pic of my honey Iain in the canoe he built, finally on the water. It paddles beautifully, and will be nice for camping and for touring our lake.

Road Trip

A week ago Sunday, Iain and I took a little spin up by the cottage, to see a gentleman who makes canoe yokes. Iain's canoe is coming along really well now. The inside is epoxied and scraped. This photo was taken before the gunnels going on. The finish will look a whole lot nicer when the final product is varnished.The man at Slipstream, who makes the yokes, has a friendly (once you are introduced, that is) old doggie, whose picture I had to take.

On the way home we stopped at the Granary in Eganville for some comfort food. They serve a beer which is a full litre, in a glass so large that Iain's (at present) bum elbow gave him a little trouble. He is not holding it extra close to the camera - it is really that big!

I drove home, just to be on the safe side.

Completed Swing

Well, almost. The roof will go on next year, and we'll paint it then too, but it is ready to use. And Iain decided to try it out. But he won't let me put the picture here, because he doesn't like it.

I took the day off work to go to my Aunt Rachel's funeral, and it turned out to be a good idea, as I have been feeling under the weather all day...just very tired and headachy. We took a spin into the cottage since we were in the neighbourhood, and Iain waded through the above-the-knee snow to pick up the last of the vinyl collection that I'm moving to digital. The snow was deeper in some spots: Mom's garden fence, which stands over three feet, was invisible in some places.
When we got home, Iain made me a nice hot toddy, and I snoozed on the couch until Tim Brennan called to invite us out for supper. I couldn't work up the berries to go anywhere, so I sent Iain on his own. He just called, and is planning to stay there overnight, as a bottle of wine is being uncorked, so I should be able to get to bed early and get lots of rest. Hopefully that will eliminate whatever it is I'm fighting! I also hope to finish - or close to it - 'Shake Hands With The Devil', which I've been reading for a few weeks. I'm usually a slow reader, but this book is being more difficult than some. Dallaire writes in detail about the Rwanda mission, to the point where I can't keep track of all the different people, movements and organizations (UNAMIR, RDP, RGP, Interahamwe, DKNY - wait a minute, that's not right, is it? - but you get the idea). An interesting, sad, infuriating story, which casts the UN and all the power countries in a very poor light.