Edmonton 2025 - 1st week

 

Before leaving for Edmonton I took a quick trip to Northlands Nursery. The Fern Leaf Bleeding Heart replaced one that had died last year, in the front bed, and the rest went down on the bank to the lake.

Mike picked me up at the airport and our first job was to sex and band the Quail. 

 Mike has 3 coops in the garage with 14 Quail. The ideal ratio is one male for 3 or 4 females. With too many males they fight. After watching a video on how to tell the males from the females we got a system going. Mike would catch one and turn it upside down. I would determine the sex and then put a zip tie on the males leg. Maya would snip the ziptie close to the leg. We discovered that there were 7 males. He needed one for each coop so the other 4 were for the "pot".

 

Maya and Mike decided which ones to keep. This one is Snow. Once the "keepers" were identified they were all named.

The eggs are tiny. 3 of them equal 1 chicken egg.

There are 7 females and we are getting 5 little eggs each evening. 2 are "freeloading"

 

Next job was picking up the municipal compost and purchasing soil. Mike planted potatoes and I planted herbs, lettuce and spinach in the planter boxes on the deck.

Mike and Aimee are exploring the lakes around Edmonton with the idea that they may, some day, buy a lot or cottage on a lake. On one of Mikes days off we went to Isle Lake where

he kayaked and

I went for

a walk.

Maya relearned how to crochet and got thoroughly addicted. Crocheted for 2 days straight and finished a scarf.

If River doesn't get a nap she just suddenly crashes. This was while eating dinner!

The weather has been lovely most days. Cool overnight and then up into the 20s during the day. Buds are emerging. This is one of their apple trees about to blossom.

Meanwhile Rick has been sending me pictures of a rather needy

Rasta,

a clean and shiny Spellbound, ready to launch

and his first photo with his new camera.

Video of a musk rat taken when Mike was kayaking.

"Girls Weekend"

 A group of my rug hooking friends used to get together regularly....at the cottage, at the OHCG Annual and sometimes just randomly we would go somewhere for a weekend of hooking, eating, drinking, shopping and socializing. Over the the last 5 years or so life has got in the way and we don't get together as often, or as easily, as we used to. But recently we manged to find a couple of days that we could all make. 

We haven't been "girls" for a long time but "Girls Weekend" was how I described it when I was picking up lunch contributions at the Dover Cheese Shop. Its an expression that is universally understood. "Womens Weekend" does not have the same ring to it. It also wasn't a weekend. We are all retired so it was a Sunday to Tuesday.

As host I was gifted some lovely wine and flowers.

 

We each dealt with our own breakfasts, provided lunch in two teams and ate out, or ordered in, for dinner.

Coffee in the sunroom or as Heather labeled it "Looking out to sea". Photo by Heather.

.

Ruby gave everyone lots of smiles and was rewarded by lot of  loving. Photo by Heather.

I finished hooking this cushion top and

started working on this. Heather also hooked while Sue, Pam and Pat all worked on multiple knitting projects.

There was not as much drinking as there used to be. No shopping. But we still caught up with each others lives and families, talked about projects and workshops and got some fibre work done. Fun.

I have also now finished this cushion and it is in the Woodhouse Gallery for sale. I forgot to take a picture of it before taking it in. The back is the front of a blue jean shirt.

More swans and dog walking

 Rick had seen swans on a pond behind the Aylmer police college before, so we went to see how many were there.

When he was here before, the swans filled the air with 100s of them landing and taking off.

 

There were a lot in the water but none in the air. It was very windy and maybe that had them grounded (or ponded)

We walked around to the 4 different lookout areas. Just swans and geese, we didn't see any other waterfowl.

We had driven this far so continued down to the lake and drove around Port Stanley and Port Burwell

where a tug was out in the harbour entrance using its engine to move the silt and dredge the river entrance.

Port Burwell lighthouse.

On the way home we passed the damaged windmill. It happened during the big storms the previous week. The motor and blades fell to the ground. Unknown whether it was the high winds or perhaps a lightning strike.

Ducks are back on the Bay.

I love it when the lake is calm enough that they leave these long, watery, vees.

Looking after Ruby for a few weeks and that means

some walks on the Backus trails.

So many furry coyote scat that I can't believe there are any rabbits left.

Spring is trying but

bu the nights are still crisp enough for some clear stars. Horsehead Nebula, photo by Rick.

Spring Swans

 Huge vees of Swans are frequently flying overhead so Rick and I decided to go and search them out.

First stop was Port Dover pier just to see if there were any interesting ducks, but no, just the usual congregation of gulls.

 

Masses of them on the ice by the beach looked like piles of snowballs.

Down to the Port Rowan harbor and we were able to see the Red Throated Loon that had been mentioned on Facebook.

The red-throated loon (North America) or red-throated diver (Britain and Ireland) (Gavia stellata) is a migratory aquatic bird found in the northern hemisphere. The most widely distributed member of the loon or diver family, it breeds primarily in Arctic regions, and winters in northern coastal waters. Ranging from 55 to 67 centimetres (22 to 26 in) in length, the red-throated loon is the smallest and lightest of the world's loons. In winter, it is a nondescript bird, greyish above fading to white below. During the breeding season, it acquires the distinctive reddish throat patch which is the basis for its common name. From Wikipedia.

He has been in Port Rowan for a few days now. Maybe resting up before continuing his journey north. I have to assume that he will get his red throat when he gets there. I have never, knowingly, seen one before.

From the harbor we could see that there were Swans further east

 

so we walked over to

get a better view

Black bill and black legs could be a Trumpeter Swan or a Tundra Swan.

Seems the Tundra Swan has yellow at the base of the bill. Well they were too far away to see that. The Trumpeter honks and the Tundra whistles. The noise they were making didn't sound like either of those. Oh well, nonspecific Swans.

Down to the causeway and all we saw was a couple of Sandhill Cranes

when we walked the, rather mucky, path

around the marsh.

Out on the bay, more Swans

and a couple closer in.

Hmmm, yellow beak with a bump at the base - Mute Swan

The mute swan (Cygnus olor) is a species of swan and a member of the waterfowl family Anatidae. It is native to much of Eurasia, and (as a rare winter visitor) the far north of Africa. It is an introduced species in North America, home to the largest populations outside of its native range, with additional smaller introductions in Australasia and southern Africa. The name "mute" derives from it being less vocal than other swan species.^[2][3][4] Measuring 125 to 160 cm (49 to 63 in) in length, this large swan is wholly white in plumage with an orange beak bordered with black. It is recognisable by its pronounced knob atop the beak, which is larger in males. from Wikipedia.

The bay in front of my place in Port Dover is open water so I was surprised to see the ice mounds and ice out into the lake on Long Point Beach.

 

A short walk then back in the car

to see what was on Silver Lake. A single Mute Swan, Red Headed Ducks

and some others that I haven't been able to identify.

It was nice driving around in the spring like weather and seeing what was stirring. My feeders at home have seen Red Wing Blackbirds, Cardinals, Juncos, Chickadees, Finches, Starlings, Grackles, Mourning Doves and a Downy Woodpecker. Robins on the grass too!