Again, my excuse for not posting sooner is work.  I finalized the listing for the property for sale,  and cleaned out the cabin on that property.  What a job!  I can no longer kneel after my knee replacement so all floor scrubbing under shelves and in tight corners had to be done sitting on my bum.  When you try and scrub like that, your legs get in the way.

For weeks the forecast had been for warmer weather a couple of days down the road.  But for weeks it was basically grey and cool.  Then finally we had a clear, sunny morning.  Plus 25C was promised (that’s 80F in American) – and we actually got it.  It was fantastic to be able to sit on the deck in the afternoon wind and feel hot!

The earlier pussy willows all popped out at once.

And the pond finally lost all its ice.

The hummingbirds arrived!  Usually one will come for a day or two and they will straggle in.  But they had been waiting for the warm weather and came in a rush.

All day, a greater yellowlegs screeched stridently from high trees.

The next day I made a quick trip to Williams Lake to pick up some insulation.  It is warmer there.  En route, the aspens were flowering.

And as I dropped into Williams Lake, new leaves were out!

There are lots of mule deer by the road right now.  Cars hit them all the time.  A couple of dead ones lay in the roadside grass.

As I left town, the temperature began to drop.  This was forecast, too.  I had left my sunbathing chair on the deck, and this is what it looked like the following morning.

It was the prettiest snow of the winter because there was no wind.

I had not yet unloaded the insulation from the van…

Many birds had rushed ahead because of the warm weather, now they were crowding the feeding area.

Junco

White crowned sparrowGold crowned sparrow.  I have never seen so many of these – about 20 or them.  They will pass through quickly and nest in the alpine.

The ponds were particularly beautiful.  Some new ice had formed but mostly they were open and the lack of wind made them very peaceful.

Female barrows goldeneye.

With her partner

The inevitable mallards

And, on the upper pond, a rarer pair of ring-necked ducks.

It snowed or sleeted for two days.  Then the morning dawned clear and the temperature dropped to -10C.  We don’t often get a white frost here, it is usually too dry.  But the recent wet weather meant everything turned silver.

The pond was frozen over again.

One advantage of a lot of crappy weather means that when it does clear it is so incredibly beautiful.  The disadvantage is that I never get any work done – I just want to play with my camera.

I don’t know what happened with this next picture – I did not notice the effect until I put the picture onto the computer.  I’ve never had this happen this before.

 

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