So what do you do when you check to see how things are at your home which is 17 hours away? Last night we went on line to check that the furnace was set to the right temperature as we were getting stormy weather. What a surprise to see this on our furnace dial!! The first thing that went through our mind was how do we know what the temperature in the house is? How long has this error been here and what do we do now? The weather was really bad Sunday and Monday in the St. Thomas and Dutton area. We were concerned with Jay driving to check it out but he said he would head over on Monday morning. We managed to find a way to see the temperature and the furnace seemed to be working ok which made us rest easy. Thankfully the error cleared overnight and we saved Jay a drive in the snowy weather.
This week we will be celebrating the arrival of Lawrence and Teresa They will be joining us for dinner on New Years Eve. We look forward to seeing them. It will be nice to have the 3 couples all back again. We look forward to some fun golf games all together.
On Monday Ralph and I had a game of golf planned at Meadowlands. We had another gentleman join us and discovered he lived in Canada as well. He lives in Stevensville which is near to Niagara. It was nice having him join us. We shared that we were the first Canadians that he had seen since arriving at the beginning of December. We laughed and told him he was the first as well. That's a good reflection on how quiet it is here for tourism. Golf was fun and actually got quite warm. We were able to take our sweaters and jackets off and to enjoy the warmth. Afterwards we drove to Sunset Beach to see if there was any activity with the Eagle. We didn't stay long as there was fog rolling in and it makes it very difficult to take photos. Usually the clarity is greatly affected and when photographing birds it makes them look soft and often blurry.
There was an eagle sitting on the nest most likely keeping the your eaglet(s) warm as there was a fair bit of wind blowing off the ocean. It's amazing that they can sit for hours on the nest waiting for the mate to return with some food. We have observed on occasion the eagle flying off for a short "spin" around the lake possibly looking for it's mate but it definitely does not stay away from the nest for long.
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Early morning sunrise (see the haze on the ocean and how blurry the clouds appear)
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| Patiently waiting |
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| Bald Eagle |
The weather is changing once again. When we arrived back at the Condo the temperature had dropped a few degree's. Tomorrow it is going down to a high of 9c. I don't mind as long as the sun is shining.
We had some rain but not much before finishing off the day with a pretty sunset.
We had quite a shift in the temperature on Tuesday with it being around 1c when I woke up. It gradually went up to 8c with sunshine making it feel a few degrees warmer. It was a good day to go out for a walk. The sunrise was beautiful again although a large cloud rolled in a took away some of the beautiful red colours that we were seeing. I thought it was still quite beautiful with the wispy clouds above.
I enjoyed a nice walk at sunset. I decided to walk south along the beach and photograph the pier. The sky was a beautiful colour and it was nice to be out.
As I got closer to the condo I noticed how brightly the moon was shining. I pointed my camera up to the sky and snapped a few shots. I was amazed at the clarity.
On Wednesday I went out for a nice long walk along the beach. We are starting to experience what is called a negative tide which means that the water goes much lower than normal. This negative tide will last about 3-4 days and should be a good time to find shells and sharks teeth. Initially I wasn't finding anything until I walked further south down the beach. I was then successful in finding some sharks teeth along the waters edge. They don't seem as plentiful this year making it more special when one is found.
We had another nice sunset to end the year. The ocean has been nice calm for the day.
Teresa and Lawrence arrived later in the afternoon and joined us for dinner and New Years Eve festivities. It's nice to have them here. Ralph spent the afternoon preparing stuffed chicken with spinach, mushrooms, cream cheese and gruyere cheese. This was something that he made up by mixing ingredients togethers. He finished it with a mushroom sauce on top. Yummy!!! Along with that he made scalloped potatoes with cream, spices and gruyere cheese blended through it. Another delicious addition to the meal. I prepared some green beans (the easy part of the meal) and finished them off with grated lemon rind and butter. A festive meal to end the year.
Around 9:00 p.m. the fireworks started down the beach near the boardwalk. We were able to see them from our balcony. There were also some on the beach and again more at midnight. To me it seemed like it wasn't quite as many as previous years, but it was still really nice to watch.
New Years day was a quiet one for us. We both took advantage of the weather and went out for extended walks. I was lucky and was able to find several sharks teeth. I have been collecting shells for a project I have in mind. There aren't many but I have 3 months left to find what I need.
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| Holes in the sand where little crabs hide |
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| Seagulls |
We went to Huntington Beach on Friday. We met up with Teresa and Lawrence while we were there and had the chance to show them where the screech owl was. It's always exciting to see something that is outside of the norm. We noticed that the park had put up camera's. We suspect that they want to ensure that people are not bothering it.
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| Osprey |
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| Osprey |
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| Great Blue Heron |
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| Competing Mergansers |
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| Shake it off Osprey |
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| Juvenile Eagle |
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| Bald Eagle |
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| Great Blue Heron |
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| Great Blue Heron |
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| A sleepy Screech Owl |
The day ended with another pretty sunset.
We had another rainy day on Saturday. It was a day to spend inside and enjoy catching up on reading and other things. Lawrence and Teresa joined us for the hockey game in the evening. Sometimes it's nice to have a quiet day. A time to rejuvenate and relax.
On Sunday Teresa and I took chairs down to the beach to do a little bird watching. The temperature was really nice and we enjoyed spending the time together.
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| Brown Pelican |
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| Common Loon |
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| Seagull chasing the tern who has a fish in its beak |
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| Brown Pelicans |
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| Sanderling |
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| Day 2 of the full moon (we missed the Wolf moon due to cloud cover) |
