Old barn in a field of canola
Alberta foothills in smoke haze
Cameron Falls, Waterton Lakes National Park
Splash of colour
No longer a home
Treasures in the yellow strip
Yesterday's barn
Out in the middle of nowhere
Bison with smoke haze
Love those hills
Vanishing landscape
Little country school with company
A road less travelled
Clouds over the mountains
The beauty of our mountains
Wide angle on the Bighorn Sheep ridge
A favourite road
Old country schoolhouse
Scenery along Highway 40, Kananaskis
Sheep on a smoky day
Farm in the foothills
Walker House, Inglewood Bird Sanctuary
Our precious Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta…
Road through Kananaskis
In the middle of nowhere - spot the truck
Waterton Lake from the townsite - before the fire
Pine Coulee Reservoir, Alberta
Pine Coulee Reservoir, Alberta
The colours of fall
Ah, those glorious Larches in their fall colours
Things are not always what they seem
Part of an old miners' camp
Before the snow arrived
Kananaskis before the snowstorm
Lenticular (?) clouds over the mountains
The charred remains of McDougall Memorial United C…
Heading for the mountains on a hazy morning
Cattle drive in the mountains of Kananaskis, Alber…
Fall colours in Fish Creek Park
A mountain meadow, Kananaskis, Alberta
Fish Creek Park on a low-light day
A new-to-me old barn
A view from Quarry Lake, Canmore
When the storm moved in
Town of Canmore, Alberta
Beneath the cloud
A drive through Kananaskis
Rural decay
Storm arriving at Quarry Lake, near Canmore
Early morning sunrise over the mountains
Autumn Stripes
Final resting place
Fragile and leaning
In fairly good condition
Hello, winter
Old barns in late afternoon sun
The red barn
In winter time
Old house on the prairie
Morning sun over Pine Coulee Reservoir
Distant ice patterns on the reservoir
Start of the storm
Alberta foothills in the fall
A view from Red Rock Canyon, Waterton
Cameron Lake, Waterton Lakes National Park
I LOVE Canola
A different view from Maskinonge lookout, Waterton
Upper Waterton Lake, seen from the town
Maskinonge Lake, Waterton Lakes National Park
Slough near Eagle Lake
Forgetmenot Pond, Kananaskis
Forgetmenot Pond, Kananaskis
Elbow Falls, Kananaskis
Elbow Falls, Kananaskis
Forgetmenot Pond, Kananaskis
A hazy view with Dandelions
Beyond the fence
Alberta's beautiful foothills and mountains
Cacti on Little Tobago, Day 3
Sand and sea - Blue Waters Inn beach, Tobago
Blue Waters Inn, Tobago
Tropical beach beauty, Tobago
Rocks near Little Tobago island
Frank's Glass-bottomed boat, Blue Waters Inn, Tob…
Batteaux Bay at Blue Waters Inn, Tobago
Batteaux Bay, from Blue Waters Inn, Tobago
Kananaskis - a winter wonderland
One of my favourite views
Arethusa Cirque trail, Kananaskis
Upper Kananaskis Lake
Logging piles in the Porcupine Hills
Skull on a fence post
Stubble pattern
Cattle drive - and a few old barns and sheds
Old times remembered
A view from the Porcupine Hills
Dreaming of spring
Old prairie barn
Winter textures
With a little filtered help
Lying on a bed of hoarfrost
Winter in the Nanton, Alberta, area
Non-wild horses in a wild landscape
The beautiful mountains of Alberta
Filtered
Modern - but I like it
Down by the river on a frosty morning
Winter in Kananaskis
Afternoon light on the foothills
An old, red beauty
Our beautiful Alberta
Snow turns something ordinary into beautiful
Winter walking
Nanton Christmas Bird Count
New Year's Day Bird Count
Sunrise colour over the mountain peaks
A beautiful start to a day
Red's the best in winter
TV's "Heartland" series location
Before the snow
Jagged little peaks
A lone Larch in fall colour
Before winter officially arrives
Following the fenceline
Plateau Mountain, Kananaskis
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Smoke from the British Columbia wildfires reaches Alberta
Yesterday afternoon, 16 July 2017, I had no choice but to get out for a short drive. My place was like an oven from weeks of heat, and I just couldn't stand it for one more minute. I drove the back roads SW of the city that I so often drive when I only have time or energy for a short drive.
Today is much cooler and now, after having a couple of windows open, my place smells strongly of smoke from the B.C. wildfires and the Banff area. I posted a photo showing how the smoke is affecting Albertans. Best to stay indoors if possible, so I guess I won't be going anywhere for at least the next few days. It makes scenic shots pretty much useless. Then, last night, we had a blackout in my part of the city. Apparently, the outage was due to a motor vehicle damaging ENMAX equipment. I guess that is why two or three firetrucks came rushing down my street around 11:30 pm last night, and ENMAX vehicles were working till almost 2:00 am just down my street, within sight.
Hot and windy are not my favourite conditions, but the air-conditioning in my car felt wonderful! There didn't seem to be all that much to be seen, though I suspect that one Mountain Bluebird pair has a second family to feed now. I was so happy to see the male in his usual place and even more excited when I saw him with a tiny insect in his beak, meaning only one thing - new babies. Usually, there are no cattle to be seen in the field, but yesterday, I had a lot of curious faces watching me carefully.
Other than this Bluebird pair, the only other bird I photographed was an American Robin. No Snipe could be heard and only a couple of Red-winged Blackbirds to be seen. So, I decided to drive to Brown-Lowery Provincial Park, intending to just check the forest around the parking lot, to see if there were any fungi growing. There were four vehicles in the parking lot and I plucked up enough courage to go a short way into the park. This place always gives me the creeps and, usually, I only go a few feet into the actual park. Knowing that bears and cougars have been seen, it's never a good feeling to be there on my own. I've only ever seen a large Moose there on a couple of occasions. A few days ago, a friend told me that she had been told that someone who has an amazing forest for fungi had said that the fungi were at their peak right now. This seemed rather unlikely, as it is still only mid-July, plus the fact that everywhere is so dry. I just had to go to Brown-Lowery to check on the fungi there - absolutely nothing, other than three or four small, shapeless blobs on tree trunks. Hopefully, we will get rain in the next few weeks.
Far more important, I hope that B.C. (British Columbia, the province to our west) gets a heavy amount of rain very, very soon, though there is none in their forecast. Maybe a week ago, about 200 wildfires were being reported, causing a lot of devastation and evacuations. Now we have a forest fire here in Alberta, near Banff. Each summer, we get a lot of wildfires, the worst being the one in Fort McMurray that started on 1 May 2016. The fire spread across approximately 590,000 hectares (1,500,000 acres) before it was declared to be under control on July 5, 2016. It was the most expensive natural disaster in Canadian history. My heart goes out to all those affected, especially by the ongoing B.C. fires.
Today is much cooler and now, after having a couple of windows open, my place smells strongly of smoke from the B.C. wildfires and the Banff area. I posted a photo showing how the smoke is affecting Albertans. Best to stay indoors if possible, so I guess I won't be going anywhere for at least the next few days. It makes scenic shots pretty much useless. Then, last night, we had a blackout in my part of the city. Apparently, the outage was due to a motor vehicle damaging ENMAX equipment. I guess that is why two or three firetrucks came rushing down my street around 11:30 pm last night, and ENMAX vehicles were working till almost 2:00 am just down my street, within sight.
Hot and windy are not my favourite conditions, but the air-conditioning in my car felt wonderful! There didn't seem to be all that much to be seen, though I suspect that one Mountain Bluebird pair has a second family to feed now. I was so happy to see the male in his usual place and even more excited when I saw him with a tiny insect in his beak, meaning only one thing - new babies. Usually, there are no cattle to be seen in the field, but yesterday, I had a lot of curious faces watching me carefully.
Other than this Bluebird pair, the only other bird I photographed was an American Robin. No Snipe could be heard and only a couple of Red-winged Blackbirds to be seen. So, I decided to drive to Brown-Lowery Provincial Park, intending to just check the forest around the parking lot, to see if there were any fungi growing. There were four vehicles in the parking lot and I plucked up enough courage to go a short way into the park. This place always gives me the creeps and, usually, I only go a few feet into the actual park. Knowing that bears and cougars have been seen, it's never a good feeling to be there on my own. I've only ever seen a large Moose there on a couple of occasions. A few days ago, a friend told me that she had been told that someone who has an amazing forest for fungi had said that the fungi were at their peak right now. This seemed rather unlikely, as it is still only mid-July, plus the fact that everywhere is so dry. I just had to go to Brown-Lowery to check on the fungi there - absolutely nothing, other than three or four small, shapeless blobs on tree trunks. Hopefully, we will get rain in the next few weeks.
Far more important, I hope that B.C. (British Columbia, the province to our west) gets a heavy amount of rain very, very soon, though there is none in their forecast. Maybe a week ago, about 200 wildfires were being reported, causing a lot of devastation and evacuations. Now we have a forest fire here in Alberta, near Banff. Each summer, we get a lot of wildfires, the worst being the one in Fort McMurray that started on 1 May 2016. The fire spread across approximately 590,000 hectares (1,500,000 acres) before it was declared to be under control on July 5, 2016. It was the most expensive natural disaster in Canadian history. My heart goes out to all those affected, especially by the ongoing B.C. fires.
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