Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: sheep

Three mornings ago, on 30 June 2019, I woke up earlier than usual. Once I was on my computer, I checked the weather forecast and saw raindrop icons in the forecast for the next week, but the 30th was for sun. I knew what I had to do! Luckily, I had a tank full of gas, so I grabbed both cameras and a snack or two, and headed out the door. I must be the only person who hadn't been to Kananaskis recently and taken photos of the tiny Pikas (Rock Rabbits), and that was my destination. Last weekend was a long weekend for Canada Day, and my plan had been to keep off the roads, as I was sure they would be busy, making it more difficult to stop whenever I wanted, to take a photo or two. However, when I saw the weather forecast, it changed my mind. Sunshine, blue sky with clouds, made it a perfect day to be out - I'm sure you agreed, Bonnie : ) A day in Kananaskis is always great, but sometimes 'great' turns out to be fantastic! Can't believe how lucky I was, not just in the mountains, but on the journey there and, at the end of the day, calling in at my 'usual' area closer to home. I suspect the Pika is most people's favourite - around 6 inches long and almost impossible to see against the mountainside of broken rocks that are the same colour as the Pika's fur. Starting to believe that maybe I was going to be out of luck, the first one appeared, racing in and out and over and between the endless, sharp rocks. Take your eyes off the animal and you stand a good chance of not being able to find it again. Then a second one appeared, a baby. It perched itself on top of a rock and simply stayed there for a few minutes. Several of my photos show the eyes closing slightly. However, eventually it did move, and off it went. When it appeared not too far away, I caught sight of it and thought at first it was a mouse, ha. So tiny! While I was searching for a Pika, a herd of Bighorn Sheep had come down the massive mountain side and, as they usually do, gathered right in the middle of the road to lick salt left by vehicles. After quite a time, there was an almighty BOOM that startled me and a handful of others. We hadn't noticed a Park's truck arrive, armed with 'bangers' to make the Sheep move from the road. Once the Park's person had left, the Sheep returned to the road. There were several young ones along with the females. It will take me ages to go through my photos, especially having to combine two cameras, but lots of images can wait till winter. More important, to me, is to continue editing and posting the remaining Texas photos, if/when I get time to do so. I suspect that, too, might end up being a winter project.

HAPPY CANADA DAY!!! Yesterday morning, 30 June 2019, I woke up earlier than usual. Once I was on my computer, I checked the weather forecast and saw raindrop icons in the forecast for the next week, but yesterday was for sun. I knew what I had to do! Luckily, I had a tank full of gas, so I grabbed both cameras and a snack or two, and headed out the door. I must be the only person who hadn't been to Kananaskis recently and taken photos of the tiny Pikas (Rock Rabbits), and that was my destination. This is a long weekend for Canada Day, and my plan had been to keep off the roads, as I was sure they would be busy, making it more difficult to stop whenever I wanted, to take a photo or two. However, when I saw the weather forecast, it changed my mind. Sunshine, blue sky with clouds, made it a perfect day to be out - I'm sure you agreed, Bonnie : ) A day in Kananaskis is always great, but sometimes 'great' turns out to be fantastic! Can't believe how lucky I was, not just in the mountains, but on the journey there and, at the end of the day, calling in at my 'usual' area closer to home. I suspect the Pika is most people's favourite - around 6 inches long and almost impossible to see against the mountainside of broken rocks that are the same colour as the Pika's fur. Starting to believe that maybe I was going to be out of luck, the first one appeared, racing in and out and over and between the endless, sharp rocks. Take your eyes off the animal and you stand a good chance of not being able to find it again. Then a second one appeared, a baby - which I think is the one on this photo. It perched itself on top of this rock and simply stayed there for a few minutes. Several of my photos show the eyes closing slightly. However, eventually it did move, and off it went. When it appeared not too far away, I caught sight of it and thought at first it was a mouse, ha. So tiny! While I was searching for a Pika, a herd of Bighorn Sheep had come down the massive mountain side and, as they usually do, gathered right in the middle of the road to lick salt left by vehicles. After quite a time, there was an almighty BOOM that startled me and a handful of others. We hadn't noticed a Park's truck arrive, armed with 'bangers' to make the Sheep move from the road. Once the Park's person had left, the Sheep returned to the road. There were several young ones along with the females. It will take me ages to go through my photos, especially having to combine two cameras, but lots of images can wait till winter. More important, to me, is to continue editing and posting the remaining Texas photos.

No time to get out with my camera at the moment, so I have added another three photos from my archives. I am adding the description from a previously posted photo taken on the same day. "Ran out of time and energy yesterday to choose and edit any photos to post this morning. Decided to do it this evening, instead. Also, I overslept this morning and had to dash out to meet friends for a three-hour walk in Fish Creek Park (saw 2 Northern Pygmy-owls, but they were both SO far away!), and would not have had time to post. Just realized that I probably won't have time tonight to look for and edit photos for tomorrow morning. Wouldn't surprise me if I oversleep again, which would not be good, as I have a very early start tomorrow and must not be late for when a friend picks me up. My daughter and I had a such a great day on 5 September 2017. She had a free day, so we decided to drive north-east of the city and visit the Pioneer Acres Museum. The day started off with seeing three perched Swainson's Hawks, which were a bonus. We had passed the colourful old truck and tractor displayed on tall posts, to indicate Pioneer Acres, on various occasions and this time, we actually turned off the highway and went to the museum. What an amazing collection of old farming equipment, some standing outdoors and many others in large sheds. Have to say that I am always attracted to old, rusty things, and there was no shortage of these, either. "Pioneer Acres is operated by a team of volunteer members who, in many cases, have extended their golden years of retirement, performing the duties necessary to meet the club's objectives. These include work to collect, restore, maintain and demonstrate the artifacts which were used by the pioneers of early Alberta. The end result is that present and future generations have the opportunity to glimpse into our pioneering past through the artifacts on display and demonstrated. Younger members of the club also learn the care, maintenance and operation of these living artifacts." From link below. www.pioneeracres.ab.ca/member.aspx While we were walking round the grounds, visiting each massive shed in turn, my daughter spotted a Plains Garter Snake, and waved me over to see it. She also saw several birds running round behind one of the sheds, and when I went to check, I found there were four Gray Partridge running off in the distance. A distant Jackrabbit completed our wildlife sightings, first noticed when it was standing tall and upright on its back legs in 'freeze mode'. My mind wandered to Alice in Wonderland : ) Though we did not do a tour of the inside of the "Long" House, we found it an impressive building, complete with a few Sunflowers, Hollyhock and other flowers in the garden, and a tall, metal windmill. "The "Long" House was built in 1914 by John Thomas on a farm just northwest of Irricana, Alberta. It has been lived in by three generations of the Long Family since 1914. The house was donated to Pioneer Acres, moved to our location, and restored to 1929 status." From the Pioneer Acres website. There is also an old schoolhouse on the Museum site. "The Crown School, built in 1905, was located west of Three Hills on Highway 583. It closed in 1953 and was bought by the district of Allingham for use as a community league. In 1996, the building was relocated to Pioneer Aces of Alberta Museum." From the Alberta Teachers' Association website. After spending a long time walking round the grounds, we decided to drive through Irricana itself in order to get back to the highway. I had seen photos on the Internet of three murals there - sunflowers, crayons, and a view of the old grain elevators that had once stood nearby - and I wanted to go and see them. All near each other, as this town only has a few streets. I had never been to Irricana before and I was impressed with what a delightful place it is, full of brightly coloured murals, and well kept. One of the outer roads had many flower beds along the edge, watered with well water, looking most attractive. I had asked my daughter if she was interested in calling in at the Silver Springs Botanical Gardens in NW Calgary, if there was time after our drive east. I had planned the drive ahead of time, partly because I had also seen a photo somewhere on the Internet of a rather nice old barn that I really wanted to find. We were not disappointed, though it was a shame to see that the cupola had fallen from the roof since that photo was taken. I had never driven through the town of Airdrie before, but did the "drive" on Google Earth the night before and it looked straightforward enough. Returning to the city via Cochrane, my daughter told me how to get to Silver Springs. I had never driven there before, but I had been there with a friend last year, I think on 1 October, and thoroughly enjoyed these meticulously kept gardens. We were just too hot and tired to see every inch of the garden, but finished off with photographing sunflowers and enjoying the American Goldfinches that were feeding on them, before we continued on our way. A great day, despite the heat and smoke from the B.C. and Alberta wildfires (distant low visibility, too). Thanks so much, Rachel - hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. We drove 256 km (used about half a tank of gas, or less). I was absolutely tired out from the heat and driving unfamiliar roads."

Today is the first day of September already! Here, trees have started getting yellow leaves, everywhere is bone dry, and two days ago, the temperature rose to 33C. Still got a few very hot days in the forecast. The crazy imbalance of weather just gets worse and worse, with no rain and continuing wildfires in the west, and too much water brought to Texas by hurricane/tropical storm Harvey, causing devastating flooding and damage in the eastern U.S.. If only the two sides could share the water - how ironic it all is. Yesterday, 31 August 2017, I went with 16 birder friends on a day's outing east of Calgary. What a full, rewarding day we had, with 83 species seen! I have added our leader's final list in a comment box below, mainly for my own interest/record. Thanks, Andrew! There were many species that I did not see, as they were too far away, but I was delighted to see three or four species that I hadn't seen or photographed before, including a Black-bellied Plover and Baird's Sandpipers. It was yet another smoky day (which we've been getting all summer, from the wildfires in British Columbia and, to a much lesser extent, Alberta), but yesterday's temperature was more bearable than most of our summer (got up to around 25C). Early morning felt quite chilly, in fact. Today, the smoke blown into Alberta continues. I saw on TV this morning that the dreadful Fort McMurray wildfire in Alberta, that started well over a year ago on 1 May 2016, is finally completely out. After meeting in the city, we car-pooled in five cars east to Langdon. Our first stop was at Weed Lake; first the south end and then the east side. All the birds were far away, so any photos I took were group shots or a single, very distant lone bird. This kind of birding is very different from when I go out anywhere on my own. It involves a lot of very careful study of each area we stop at, with binoculars and scopes, and it provides very important information on all the bird species. When I go out by myself, I am looking for any kind of bird that is close enough to photograph - usually, the closer the better, of course. I never count bird numbers and I don't make lists. I simply look for anything beautiful - and that often includes old barns, scenery, wildflowers, insects, and so on. From Weed Lake, we continued east, eventually reaching Eagle Lake and Marsland Basin. I always love going to the latter location; a great place that is called 'home' for our friends, Lyn and Sue. They have a wonderful wetland on their property. After looking at the distant birds, I wandered around the grounds, finding a beautiful, tiny butterfly (Checkered Skipper sp.?), Sunflowers in the garden with a pair of American Goldfinches feeding on the Sunflower seeds, and the two donkeys. Needless to say, by the time we reached the Eagle Lake area, I wasn't sure where we were, each time we stopped. A day later, I'm hoping I can remember where I saw at least some of the birds in my photos. A thoroughly enjoyable trip - thanks, Andrew, as always! Many thanks, too, Lenora and Dick, for letting Dorothy and me carpool with you. It was so much appreciated. By the way, I didn't post any photos to Flickr yesterday. The day before was such a hot day (up to 33C, which is no joke when you don't have air-conditioning) and the smoke was bad. By the time evening came, I was just too hot and tired to look through photos and edit them. Also, I knew I was going to have a very early start next morning (4;50 am) and had no energy to post anything that early.

Good news from the Ipernity Members Association (IMA) yesterday, 15 July 2017, for those Flickr members who are also on the ipernity website! I added it to yesterday's posts, but later in the day, after people had commented. "Dear members, We are absolutely delighted to share with you that the legal basis of our IMA goal to take the Ipernity platform over is achieved: Ipernity S.A. (represented by Christophe Ruelle) and IMA (represented by Eric Desjours) signed the contract regarding the transfer of the Ipernity platform, the underlying intellectual property and associated rights from Ipernity S.A. to IMA. We can share in short the following details of the contract and next steps: The price for the transfer is 1 €. IMA will cover 12,000€ of costs that had been incurred by hosting and maintaining the Ipernity platform during the negotiations. Codes and passwords are being handed over as we speak. IMA has a 15 days withdrawal right. Ipernity S.A. will then start the transfer of the accounts of Amazon, Paypal, Google, etc. Other necessary legal processes will follow. The transfer process will be finished end of July. We will keep you informed! Best regards, William and Eric" www.ipernity.com/group/2260604/discuss/187672 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Two days ago, on 14 July 2017, it was a hot day, but our bio-blitz of the Rusty Bucket Ranch, west of Calgary, started at 8:00 am, to catch the coolest part of the day. This was the first time we had been there and we had such a great morning. What a beautiful place and area! Thirteen of us gathered to explore part of the land belonging to Liz and Alan Breakey - 160 acres, mostly wooded, with many streams feeding into Bragg Creek. The gorgeous garden itself was full of bright, healthy plants, including these Bittersweet Nightshade flowers. Once we were in the forest, we came across all sorts of wildflower species and even a few fungi. We all met the challenges of small, hidden logs along the trail, lying in wait to trip anyone who was not paying careful attention. One of the last areas was a bog, where the small, partly hidden pools of water were difficult or impossible to avoid - I nearly lost a shoe in there, lol! On the final stretch back to the house, we caught sight of a distant buck with its new growth of antlers; also, a few of the sheep that the Breakey family raises. A really fun walk for us all, with all sorts of things of interest. Many thanks to Liz and Alan for inviting us to the Rusty Bucket Ranch to explore and list all species seen! Thank you, too, for the very warm welcome you gave us, and for the muffins, delicious lemon drink, and coffee! After the morning's hike, we all returned to the city and thoroughly enjoyed a BBQ lunch put on by our botany/birding friends, Dorothy and Stephen. I hadn't had a burger in years - and this one was so good! Thanks so much, Dorothy and Stephen, for all the time and effort you put into this. What a lovely way to spend the afternoon, chatting with friends and eating all sorts of 'goodies'. Happy to see the tiny Hummingbird that has been visiting your garden, and lovely to see the bright yellow American Goldfinch. It was quite windy, too, which felt wonderful on a hot day.

Another in a series of old photos taken in Doha, Qatar (Middle East) from 1966-1967. This is a scan of a print made from a colour slide that had been taken in December 1966. Takes me a while to get rid of all the tiny white flecks that you tend to get when you look closely at a scan of an old print, lol - hard on the eyes, too, so I only edit one photo at a time, but it is worth the effort. I feel we were so lucky to live here for six months (and a few years later, 1972-1978, near Muscat, Oman, for six years) at a time when life was very simple and the true culture of the people was untouched. (Note - I don't know exactly what part of the old seafront this was taken, so I have just located Doha in general on my map). Link to a YouTube video (6 mins. 22secs) about the New Museum, by the Qatar Museums Authority QMA: youtu.be/MOaw4lYLtOk ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I just think this little guy looks as if he has an attitude! Saw them both on a visit to the Pasu Farm in Alberta.

This little guy at the Pasu Farm, Alberta, looks almost as if he is contemplating a headbutt!