The old-fashioned way

There is a Snowfall Warning Alert in effect today, 5 February 2017. The snow was heavy earlier today, but falling more lightly at the moment.

"Issued at 10:33 Sunday 05 February 2017
A long period of snowfall, with total amounts of 15 to 25 cm continues." Isn't that what we all just longed to hear, lol?! The temperature is -17C (windchill -22C).

I don't see one of these old, round, wooden grain storage bins very often. Guess it's called a silo, though it is so different from the more modern, metal ones. Couldn't resist taking a quick shot of it.

This photo was taken on 29 December 2016, when three of us took part in the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count for the Cochrane Wildlife Reserve area. I'm not sure why it's called a Wildlife Reserve, as it consists of backroads and farms just like on our other Counts. Only three of us went, travelling in just one car, and the section of the Count circle that we covered was east of Highway 22/Cowboy Trail (across from the Water Valley area). We had to be way NW of the city, ready to start driving our Count area by 8:00 am. There always seems to be a beautiful sunrise when we start this Count.

Unfortunately, it was a very overcast day, which was not good as far as taking photos was concerned. There was so much snow on the ground and several of the backroads were in bad condition and I was expecting us to get stuck, which fortunately didn't happen. A huge bag of gravel and a snow shovel were in the back of the driver's vehicle, just in case.

At one of the first acreages we call in at each year, we always get such a warm welcome. Tea, coffee and cookies are always waiting for us : )

One of my favourite farms to call in at has several beautiful Llamas, These animals tend to be one of the highlights of my day.

Another of my favourite farms to stop at has a beautiful, old, white dog named Fang, along with beautiful cats, and I always look forward to seeing them each year. The neighbouring farm, which is also included in our area, has two lovely old, red barns and I was longing to see these again. Unfortunately, we drove in past them, but didn't stop. A bit further in, we did get out of the car while our leader tried to find someone to ask permission for us to get out and look for birds. No one could be found, but it gave me the chance to take two rapid shots through the trees of the second barn, from a side view, which I had never seen before.

So, it was a very enjoyable day, though there were not all that many species or individual birds to be seen. Many thanks, Andrew, for driving our leader and myself. You did a great job of handling the roads that had not been cleared of snow.