The only one

As you might guess, this photo is being posted only for the record, not for its technical merit! Though it might look rather like a large lump of snow or a discarded plastic bag that has blown into the farmer's field, this really was a Snowy Owl, lol. Taken at full zoom (48x) then cropped, I really don't know how my daughter spotted the tiny white speck way off in the distance. We were both so happy to at least see a Snowy Owl yesterday, 21 December 2015, even though we had hoped to find a much closer one.

Finding a Snowy was not the only purpose in our minds, though - and thank goodness, last year, my daughter and I did see and photograph beautiful Snowies that were nice and close. Yesterday was our Christmas get-together, and we had a great day, in beautiful sunshine and in one of my favourite areas to explore. We had first planned to go NE of the city, but my daughter, waiting for her surgery on 11 January 2016, didn't feel up to travelling that far. Once she has recovered from her surgery, we can always go NE of the city and try for owls again.

So, plans changed and instead, we went to the Saskatoon Farm for breakfast. Afterwards, we then went a bit further, to drive some of the roads east of High River, hoping to possibly find a Snowy Owl. We went as far as Mossleigh, where we stopped to take a few quick photos of the three grain elevators and then found a group of several old barns that I don't remember seeing before. They were off the main road, but fortunately the narrow gravel road had enough snow packed on it that the drive was very smooth. From there, we also stopped at the little wooden church at Dinton, seen in my next photo.

Later in the afternoon, we couldn't resist the temptation to call in at Glamorgan Bakery on the way home and buy a few Christmas goodies, followed by a desperately needed food shopping trip. I just hadn't had a chance to go grocery shopping and had run out of even basic things. This was a huge relief, especially as I have a very long day tomorrow, taking part in the Drumheller area Christmas Bird Count. Actually, last year, we saw several Snowy Owls on the long drive to and from the Badlands of Alberta, so maybe I'll be lucky tomorrow.

Thanks so much for a great day out, Rachel. The best kind of day, as far as I am concerned : ) Many thanks, too, for the beautiful, very carefully chosen (as always!) Christmas gifts. Love the owl that looks rather like a furry, stuffed children's toy, that is in fact a wonderful heat pad (that you warm in the microwave), full of lavender. Haven't used it yet, but it will feel wonderful on my neck and shoulders that are painful from whiplash, thanks to the woman driver who suddenly came out of a parking lot exit and cut across my lane of moving traffic about three weeks ago! Nothing I could do, as I couldn't stop in time to avoid impact. So, I'm looking forward to having an owl on my shoulder : )