2022 Rides - Week Ten

Mondays, amirite?

I don't even remember what happened last monday... but I didn't ride anywhere... 

Tuesday I rolled down to the library and then to the Circle Drive Bridge and loop back on the east side of the river. 

Saw lots of Mallards

Trees. Snow. 

Found some chickadees!

So I dug out some of the seeds I'm now carrying in my pockets in case of any such encounters

These ones were not so interested (starving?). 

I wend out a couple more times for very short rides, just to get places. It was fucking cold and/or I was in a rush to get places so I didn't take any pictures. 

Thursday and Friday it was so cold we woke up to windchills dipping down in to the -30s and -40s!? 

Saturday it got up to +6°C!? Because... Saskatchewan...

I had to go pick up Keiran from my sisters, where they were dog-sitting, and haul them back across the city to dance class Saturday morning. 

Because we were SO EARLY Keiran decided they needed to climb on the giant pile of snow in the parking lot. Many parking lots have a giant pile of snow in one corner. 

After dropping them off I went for a ride to Montgomery again. 

Lots of birds to be seen and heard - including loads of chickadees... but none could be enticed to take seeds from my hand.... 

This trip I rode up and down a few alleys - to see if I could see more birds in the backyard trees. Lots of high fences and dense evergreens meant I could still HEAR a lot... but not always see any birds. 

Deep snow on the pathway heading back to dance studio - that had been cleared, but then blown over. Luckily most of it was navigable! 

For scale = some place they'd cleared snow straight through drifts that were taller than my bike! 

Just as we got home I spotted a RAven being chased out of the neighbourhood by a gang of magpies. 

After lunch I took Keiran back to my sisters and then went fro a ride around the bridges. 

By this point it was well above freezing and the snow was getting soft and mushing is places. There were lots of people out on the trails. 

I even spotted some Canada Geese. It's been a weird winter.  Since as long as I can remember, there have been Canada Geese that overwintered here along the river - often rather large flocks of them. So it was surprising to me that I hadn't see ANY... ALL WINTER (so far!) this year! So I was pretty excited when I finally spotted this pair. I doubt they're migrants returning from a sunny vacation in Mexico... they've just been hiding...SOMEWHERE around here!? 

I almost didn't see these at all, I'd stopped to get a better look at a nearby duck I'd spotted from the bridge (It looked like it had a reddish head - but turned out to be a trick of the light or something, as it was just Common Goldeneye). These were completely hidden from view from the bridge, and even where I was standing on the trail they weren't super clear, because they just kind of blended in with the surrounding shades of grey... 

Rock Doves out enjoying the sun. 

By mid afternoon there was getting to be a LOT Of large puddles covering lower sections of the pathways. 

Dirt trails in the trees weren't too bad. This section reminded me of some of the paintings of the Group of Seven wih the blue/purple shadows on the otherwise pure white snow.

More chickadees. 

More water. 

SO MUCH MORE WATTER... was not looking forward to this all freezing again! 

Sunday I only went out for a short ride to pick up Keiran from my sisters. everything had frozen again and the trails were pretty treacherous! This section of pathway near out house was pure ice. Some was bumpy and kicked wheels in random directions. Other parts totally smooth and offering zero traction. It was on one of the latter parts that I totally wiped out! Bike just went out from under me. I bailed and landed on my feet, clear of the bike, but then slipped on the ice and and a tumble.