Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Tuesday’s Chatter. #9
Good morning everyone! The sky is a crystal clear, bright blue this morning with the sun shining so nice and brilliantly. There are a lot of redpolls out there this morning, filling the feeders, hopping through the tree branches and crawling all over the snow. Very difficult to count them right now but I would think between 70 and 80 of them, perhaps more. There is one female evening grosbeak who seems to be very bossy today and wants the main feeder to herself.
The redpolls, however, are overwhelming in their numbers so she seems to be giving up and letting them stay so she can eat. There are 2 male pine grosbeaks which she refuses to allow on her feeder so they are staying satisfied with the hanging feeders instead. Red-breasted nuthatches were here early and remain busy. White-breasted nuthatches were here earlier than normal this morning as well. Blue jays were around but seem to have gone again.
Oddly, so far I have only seen 2 chickadees which is very unusual. Normally they do begin building nests in March, but closer to the latter part of the month. Our spring weather forecast has come out from at least 3 of our weather services today. The spring season is considered to be from March to May. The seasons are each given 3 months for us by the weather services. Anyway, it seems they all agree this year, spring is going to be, on average, colder than normal with winter like weather persisting well into April.
Spring snowstorms are expected to continue right through until the end of April. However, we can also expect melting temps to come along as well. Just because it will be colder than normal, our normal temps are usually warmer during spring, so it doesn’t mean the snow won’t be melting, it will just melt slower. Although that is good for people out west who experience problems with flooding, it is not so good for this area and people like me who find walking on ice to be rather dangerous.
And slow melting means lots of ice. Oh well. Minor details. Guess I will have to settle for dangerous walking conditions for the next couple of months. But it is a beautiful morning, with a forecast high of 23F (-5C). I am going for a walk today, though actually getting to the path is going to be a problem. But, that is winter. I will start calling it spring when the snow starts to melt. I hope you all have a most wonderful day and God bless!
Steve and Muffin. (top featured image is an early morning sunrise a few days ago)
©2022 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 
I hope you had a nice safe walk…
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It was a beautiful walk and I did make it back, though perhaps not quite as safely as I would have liked. More on that walk tomorrow!🙄
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I hope you did not hurt yourself!
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Not too seriously, though I am moving slow today and still in a lot of pain from my second fall.
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sorry to hear that; I hope you have a speedy recovery…
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Thanks Jim! I didn’t do much today, except sit and lie down, so I am feeling quite a bit better. Not quite back to normal though.
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taking a rest can work wonders…
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Yes it can, for many things. Now if only it would work for my brain.🙄😂
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What a gorgeous sky! 😍 Happy March, hope you are doing well. Btw you’re not allowed to fall on your walk, because I said so. That’s what I tell my patients. There is probably ice on the trails and we all knows what happens when it’s icy/slippery outside.
“You’re not allowed to fall. Not on my shift anyways.” I mostly deal with fall risk patients. Not saying you’re fall risk but you’ve got a history. 😂😅
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Wouldn’t you put some sand in front of the door for tracking ?
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I wish I had read this before my walk. Sigh. I think I’m definitely “fall risk”, I certainly do it often enough!😳🙄😂😹 Well, there really wasn’t any ice, except right at the beginning, which is also the end, and almost was.😬🙄 Sigh. But there was a lot of loose snow on the trail, plus because it’s somewhat milder now the trail is getting soft, so walking was not easy today. But it was nice to be back out there again.😊 However, I think I might need to rest up a bit before trying another walk.
That was one of the nicest sunrises in a long time around here. At least from this location. I hope you had a great day Hilary!😊😺🌞
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Fabulous sunrise
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Enjoy the trek!😁😊
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Oh, I really did! It was nice being out there again!😊🚶♂️
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How was the snow bank climbing??🤔
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It was kind of sort of interesting. When I got to the spot it was up to my stomach for the first step and it was straight up, no slant, just straight up. For me that was not an easy climb, I was on my hands and knees. Coming back…
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That was all down hill picking up speed??😂😂
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That part was definitely a problem. But I made it.
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Glad to hear it! Hey I even did two loads of laundry today!!😁😊
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Wow, you were flying today!😁😁
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Yeah, I finally felt like I was making progress today..
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That’s good, spring will do that, gives more energy and just makes us feel better all around.😁
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Yep! For sure! It was a very pleasant day here today. Lots of sun and a slight breeze.
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Mostly cloudy this afternoon, morning was sunny, should have gone walking then. It was a cold wind down at the river though.🤔🙄
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Open water will make it feel that way.
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No ice left now on the river, the river is much higher, they are letting a lot of water out right now.😳🙄
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Getting ready for the meltdown.
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Yep, there will be a lot of runoff into the lake this spring. We have above normal snow pack this year, and likely will get more yet.
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It amazes me how they translate the snow fall to how much water to release.. must be a complicated calculation I would think!
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Yes, especially since not all snow is equal in how much water will be produced. They have messed up sometimes because of drier snow meaning less water enters the lake. But they usually do quite well. It was a dry year last year too which usually means less runoff. So it is tricky.
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Quite interesting 🤔
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Magnificent sunrise ! You captured it well ! Your downy woodpeckers are so sweet ! Sleep well ! 🙂😻😴
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Thank you so much, have a good night!😁🌜😴😴
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