Dec 08, 2020
More first to us happenings
On Monday November 30th the lake was still liquid. It must have been very cold because on Tuesday, December 1st it was frozen. Not a drop of water to be seen.
There were a lot of geese out there on the ice.
The next morning I looked out to see tiny black specs. I had trouble with the binoculars and thought that perhaps some of the tiny diving ducks might be frozen to the ice. They did not move. Colin finally came home, checked it out and informed me that that they were not ducks but goose droppings 😳 Blog reader Jim ( & Barb ) had made a comment on a post and then I replied to that and he replied again. I have to thank him for setting me straight on ice, ducks and geese. Maybe you will learn something as well.
Once again Jim thanks for explaining the que pasa of it all to me.
The next morning Colin took these three shots with his camera. The birds were quite far out. As you can see the geese are walking around on the ice. We saw them land. They simply came straight down like a helicopter and had a soft landing.
There was a good deal of preening and just relaxing on the ice.
Perhaps this one was looking for a sip of water. Eventually after a few hours they started to fly away in small groups. They just stood up and started to quickly flap their wings and within seconds they went straight up.
We have had a week of blue sky and cooler temperatures. It was cloudy Sunday night and yesterday morning ( Monday ) I was surprised to see this line on the lake. It was a crack in the ice. I took these photos from inside hence the reflections. I haven’t left the house since Sunday afternoon.
The lake appeared to unthaw just a bit.
By the end of Monday there was much more water. The lake was still frozen closer to shore.
Today the lake was mostly unthawed. We never expected that to happen and so quickly. We kept watching but haven’t seen any geese nor ducks since Sunday before dark. You would think that now that the ice was almost gone that they would be here swimming about.
I still shake my head at the lake freezing and then thawing from Monday to Monday. So many firsts for us this winter including decorating for Christmas.
Decorating the tree came back slowly. It took me a few minutes to realize that the lights went on first. Then I did the bead garland.
Colin likes to put the ornaments up.
Long time readers will remember that I always hung these together over the visor. They are still together but have a new look thanks to Colin.
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Our daughters Krista, Erika and I always decorated the tree until we got to the tinsel. They would start throwing it at the tree and I’d fire them which was what the wanted anyway as tinsel was too time consuming! In those days we used to roll out white paper table covering and potatoe print it with Christmas shapes. Lots of fighting as they criticized each other…ahhh the memories LOL!
I love adding tinsel, strand by strand, to the tree listening to Christmas carols. This year the tinsel I purchased at Canadian Tire was plastic and so full of statice that there was no point adding it.
Comical Watching Geese land on frozen surfaces but not funny when they freeze in the ice.
Nice to get the decorating doe early.
Be Safe and Enjoy!
It’s about time.
We did the decorations early as we are feeling the need to brighten up our life.
Your tree is beautiful!
🙂
Ha. I see Colin is still in his shorts, and you, you have on sandals. You do not present a very convincing photo of Canadian cold, or at least if the frozen lake isn’t taken into account. Yes, geese do leave fertilizer wherever they go……for such small creatures, they do seem to leave a lot. Stay warm and safe and continue enjoying your wonderful view. I certainly enjoy your posts. Thanks.
I only wear sandals here in the house where it is very warm, usually those I am wearing warm sheepskin slippers. Colin does only wear shorts inside but less and less outside as it get cooler. So happy to have you along with us this winter. Too bad we weren’t at the beach. Hopefully next winter.
So cool to see the different phases the lake goes through. We have had a warm spell here as well but it looks like that is over and it is about to get a lot colder!
This lake is going to make the winter interesting. We had not idea that this would happen.
Your home looks so Christmasy and joyous. The tree is outstanding. I often wondered the same about the Geese and Ducks on the frozen lake. They have left our pound a week ago at least.
Merry Christmas Contessa and Colin and all the best in the New Year.
love reading your blog,
Catheline
Thank you my friend. Interesting as it has been since last Sunday that we have not seen any fowl. I expect that at least the ducks will return.