2022 Rides - Week Twelve

I was up pretty early on Monday. Had to get over to Broadway and pick up Keiran from a dentist appointment that they had walked to with Amanda (on her way to work). 

Just outside the dentist I noticed all the benches had been buried in snow!? 

benches emarge from snow as it melts away. 

Hauling Keiran to school on the back of the Big Fat Dummy.

I had thought of going for a longer ride, after dropping them off... but it was sleeting and was just so cold and wet and it's supposed to be much warmer every other day this week, I decided just to go back home and get some drawing done. 

Went out for a longer ride on Wednesday.

Spotted gulls again

This time I remembered to bring binoculars. I have to admit this was the first time I've look at birds through binoculars. Wow. They work huh!? 

Still couldn't figure out what type of gull though... I'll have to remember to bring one of the BIGGER pairs. 

We have an assortment of binoculars at our house. Some Amanda bought for briding for herself. There are a bunch of cheap smaller compact folding ones like this one that Amanda bought a BUNCH of to use when she was doing Bird Quest and running an environment camp for kids. And then there are a bunch we inherited from my folks when they downsized from house to apartment (some of which probably belonged to my grandparents that MY parents got when THEY moved into a seniors centre)

I thought I'd grabbed one of the CHEAP compact folding binoculars - but when I got home later and was chatting with Amanda, she informed me that I had taken her GOOD compact folding binoculars... that were NOT CHEAP... and she would be VERY DISAPPOINTED if i lost or damaged them... 

(I found one of the cheaper pairs to put in my bag...) 

Also on that ride... 

While most of the trails were clearing up - though wet - there were a few spots - like this uphill section that were pure ice!? 

I happened to note, as I was getting close to home, sundogs (light refracted through ice crystals in the upper atmosphere) which are usually indicators that it IS cold, or ABOUT TO BE COLD.

Sure enough, the next day it had plummeted in temperature and was snowing again. 

I had an appointment to get to downtown... 

But managed to take a few pics.

So many geese coming back. 

Mallard. 

turned down this alley only to find a HUGE muddy puddle in it. Turned out it was okay I was able to dodge around the side and the gravel was pretty good 

Crow.

Cawing at passersby. 

MORE geese

STILL MORE geese

I decided to swing by a grocery store to pick up some food and found my usual backway in blocked by a HUGE puddle. I tried to ride through it thinking "how bad can it be". Halfway through I was up to my hube, bottom bracket/feet/cranks submerged and I ended up with very wet feet... doh... 

Inside the store I herd some chirping and thought it was some ambient noises the store was playing... but then looked around and notice a bird way up by the ceiling chirping away!? 

Went out for a short ride Friday evening, it was getting dark and none of the pictures I took turned out. 

Gave Saturday a miss as it was COLD again!? 

Sunday was too nice not to get out for a ride.... I flailed around most of the day distracted by so many things... but eventually got out in the late afternoon. 

SO MANY GEESE! 

They're just everywhere now. 

Everywhere. 

Night be a raven way up there...? 

I even spotted some deer!? 

This is well inside the city limits - on the other side of the fence, where the deer are, is the grounds of the city's water treatment plant. 

I rode all the way up to Chief Mistawasis Bridge. First time this year. 

view from the Bridge. 

Wetlands bordering on the North East Swale - still frozen over. I often see lots of ducks at this one, depite it being right next to the freeway! 

The trails along the east end of the Swale were still covered in snow and ice!? Despite being in pretty much FULL SUN!? 

Some bits were pretty much unridable - I had to deke into the adjoining neighbourhood and ride on the streets to get past them. 

Rock Dove. (Common Pigeon) 

I actually pumped up the tires and rode the Yuba for this ride. 

LOTS of gulls along the river. Still not entirely sure what type of gull. 

Finally, I doubled back towards the senator Buckwold bridge - just to add a kilometre to the ride and make it an even 40Km - and spotted a beaver there! 

So many critters out enjoying the sun. 

It was nice to get out for a much longer ride. I do hope I'll be doing that more often! 

The forecast suggests that Tuesday id going to be cold again (High of -2°C and SNOWING!?) but the rest of the week is looking better - highs above zero and getting warmer through the week! 

2022 Rides - Week Eleven

 After the wipe out on Sunday and knowing it was all going to be awful and ice until we had a few days of melting... I basically didn't ride anywhere for the first few days of the week (I did walk a few places!). 

Geese returning - There were lots out on the ice and on the island under the south bridges - where many make nests. 

Lots out just wandering on the ice. 

Spotted another Blue Jay! 

Some of the trails (and streets) were just awful to ride on... 

This stuff is no fun at all - it's somewhere between ice and slush - not strong enough to support you riding on top of, but a lot more work to push through than looser, wetter slush. 

And it was everywhere... 

Geese under the Broadway Bridge. 

Still Geese under the Broadway Bridge. 

Gulls have returned. There were a PILE of them on the island just south of the weir... got excited thinking I'd be able to add them to the Birbs of Saskatchetoon Sketchbook... Then reading up on Gulls in Saskatchewan, I discovered there are TWENTY THREE different species of Gulls that have been identified in Saskatchewan!? And most of them all look very, VERY similar -  no way they could be identified from THIS distance!? Sure, there are some that are far more common than others. These are very likely Ring-Billed Gulls... but I can't say for certain, so... 

More Geese in field North of Campus 

Same as above. 

Friday I'd planned to go for a longer ride, but ended up going for a 2.5 hour WALK with a friend and his dogs... and didn't take ANY pictures for some reason... (largely because I'd forgotten my small camera at home and the phone just felt to unwieldy to pull out and snap pictures with... 

Saturday I was out doing errands and that meant a lot of street riding. The streets were in a LOT better shape than last week, or even earlier this week. But there was some pretty wide variation in the state of the streets. Some were still covered in ice and deeply rutted in spots 

Ruts. 

Some were mostly clear of ice, but very, very wet. These were not the largest puddles I saw - or RODE THROUGH! 

Others were (almost) completely dry... 

Again had intentions to go for a longer ride on Sunday... but woke up to freezing rain, which is the least fun sort of weather to ride in.... 

By late afternoon the rain wasn't coming down so hard so I decided to go for a ride. two blocks from my house the rain totally stopped and the wind died down and I had a lovely ride. 

I headed out north towards the Circle Drive Bridge and planned to do the figure eight loop back to the south bridges 

There was still a fair bit of ice on the trails... but it was starting to clear. 

And water... 

SO MUCH WATER!? 

Lots of signs that beavers have woken from their winter slumber with a mad-ass case of the munchies. 

Still more water. 

Pairs of Geese everywhere. 

I'd actually brought along field glasses to try and identify what type of Gull had returned... but there were no gulls to be seen along the river!? Where had they all gone!? 

I did see my first Richardson Ground Squirrel of the season. 

MORE ice. 

smooth ice with water on top of it - which is SUPER slippery!? 

More Geese. 

As I got back to the Sentaor Buckwold/Idylwyld Freeway Bridge, the middle of my figure-eight loop, I finally saw some gulls - but they were way up in the sky flying BACK the way I'd come!? Then my camera battery died... Then is started raining in earnest again and i was getting wet and cold and I decided it was the universe suggesting maybe calling it a day...