A fancy chicken

A week ago, I finally did a drive south of the city and found an old barn that I really wanted to see, plus a few others. Also, two grain elevators joined together by a long, low building. The most northerly one is one of the oldest in Alberta (built in 1905 I think, certainly before 1910).

After the elevators, I explored a few other roads further south and ended up not far from the Saskatoon Farm. Called in and had their delicious Quiche again : ) I always go and look at the chickens that they have in a large enclosure there - so many different kinds of chicken. Wish I knew something about the different breeds. This blonde one is rather fine.

This day had started well, too. I found an e-mail from friend, Sandy, saying that they had just seen a Barred Owl in one of the local parks. Thanks to Sandy, I got over there just before noon and bumped into a few of my friends who had just finished a walk. Two of them said they would come with me and look for it again – and we found it!! This was the first 100% wild Barred Owl I’d ever seen. I had seen a family of them near Edmonton, when we went to see ones that had been banded. They were wild birds, but I still hoped to one day see a completely wild one (no nesting box). The owl was beautiful, but the light was really poor, with a mix of harsh sunlight and dark shadows.

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Our weather forecast for today, 1 November 2014, says it's 3°C (windchill 0°C) right now, with expected mixed precipitation. Looks like the snow could start any moment. Forecast for tomorrow, Sunday, is snow flurries : (

2:30 pm - nooooo, heavy SNOW!