Last of January

The last day of January saw some snow.  The M. R. Kane looks kind of forlorn, in the snow and ice like that.

In the "Things people have thrown out onto the ice now that rocks are harder to find" category, today we have a large flower pot:

And a traffic cone:

Just a little snow.

We got very little snow in the Snowmageddon 2015, though to be fair they were not predicting much for us.  Most of the snow I saw was on the slowly-reforming ice in the harbour.

The giant wire geese just east of us showed no sign of snow whatsoever by this afternoon.

Ducks

The marinas and bits of the harbour are still frozen up pretty hard, but I can hardly blame them as it didn't get above -6C today.

Not sure that one dock is supposed to be out in themiddle like that.

The Western Gap was clear, though, and the ducks were enjoying it.  There were mallards (not pictured) and long-tailed ducks:

And I think a red-breasted merganser or two, but I could not get close enough to tell for certain.

Surprises

So, can anyone tell me how I've managed to miss a pair of decorated Christmas trees down at the marina even though I walk by them at least three times a week?  Muh.

I'm pretty surprised they still have decorations, especially in today's 50/kmh gusts.

It's still zero degrees C out there, too, but the ice is starting to break up under the bright sunshine.

Down near the Empire Sandy's berth, I could see — wha? — people out on the water.  One guy with a sled, and another actually bobbing amid the ice.

I just had to get closer to see what was going on.  Around at HTO West, it looked like a training exercise for the Marine Rescue Unit there.

I hope this guy got paid well for playing victim out there today.

Right at hand there, was another thing in the ice.

Frozen

Today, it was all about things frozen in to the harbour's ice.

A parking ticket:

A shopping bag:

A box of crackers:

A … dead bird (ick):

A trash bag?  A body bag?  Maybe?  It's difficult to tell:

Ah, Old Milwaukee — damned littering hipsters:

Sunset

The sunset tonight was really gorgeous.

Great blues and oranges.  Too bad it was still before 5 PM, eh?

It's a sunny day out there, but still more chilly than you really want — especially when the wind blows.

The Western Gap is all unfrozen though, but for a few mini-floes.

The dog spent most of the walk happily tucked inside my coat.

Coming back toward the homestead, I noticed that the marina area is still frozen, and the rock tossing is getting out of control.

Turning around, it's easy to see where the rocks all come from.

Looks like all the loose rocks are gone, and they're having
to dig them out of the soil now.

Soundly asleep.

There was nothing much interesting outside in the cold today, but this thing was just adorable, taking its after-dinner nap.

Yes, its tongue is stuck to the blanket.

Ice and more stones.

Someone must have moved through this ice since yesterday — it's been all broken up and it looks more interesting now.

Further east along the marina, the stone throwers have been at it again.

I can only imagine the frustration of the people who must have to replace those stone beds in the garden year after year.

Sunny day with chance of totem pole.

Yes, still cold, but you knew that.  Bright, sunny day though, and some of the snow was melting.

Here's the totem pole at Norway Park.  Some day I'll do close-ups, I promise.

Down by the community center, the water was still pretty frozen (except where it stays most agitated, out in the channel):

That dark spot in the mid-to-foreground area on the right?  A rock.  Whenever the harbour first freezes, there is some portion of the population that feels compelled to toss rocks out on the ice.  A close up:

It's still freezing! Imagine that — January, and cold outside.


This photo was taken alongside the quay here, where it meets the water.

After taking that, I felt even colder and hurried home.

Snow, ducks, walk, and camera

It's been so insanely cold this week that I have hardly gotten out and, when I have, it's been all I could do to stop the dog dragging me home at top speed.  She only weighs 3.2 kg, but she has an amazing amount of pull and an indomitable will with things like this.

Today it warmed up.  It warmed up just enough for the harbour to thaw a little, and for it to snow.  Yay?

There were some long-tailed ducks up near the quay.

They always hurry away when I try to take a photo.  Must be shy.

And the flurries were just beginning to stick to the park walkways:

The Music Garden, pretty as always.

In other news, I (if you cannot tell from above) got a new camera for Christmas.  I have it set to a 16:9 aspect right now — good? bad? you didn't notice?

Snowing snowing snowing.

It’s snowing pretty hard today so that’s what you get a photo of: the snow out over the marina.  It’s one of those days that I’m glad I don’t live on a boat right now.

I took the extra time today that I did not spend with a meandering, slow dog wandering through the park and wrote up a quick review of the Castle Ravenloft board game.

A Little Vacation

I'm currently having a little bit of a vacation, sort of.  The weather's been lousy and I actually did take the camera out yesterday and today, but didn't see anything I wanted to get a photo of. . The usually-scheduled photos should resume soon, though.

In the mean time:

Happy New Year!