Thursday, January 22, 2015

A Gorgeous Sunny Morning

Why I bypassed dishes and making the bed

 
Let me preface this post by saying that I do my evening dishes the next morning. I know that is not for everyone and there are those who would tell me that waking up to dirty dishes just starts your day off poorly. But it works for me. I admit that there are nights I will make the effort to get them done but that is few and far between. There, I got that out in the open. My nasty little secret. I am extremely lazy after I eat dinner.
Waking up out here in the bush in the winter is quite different than in the city. There is no traffic to break the silence. Not even neighbours starting their cars to let you know it is “that” time. Yes we do have a clock but it is not visible from the bed. So, it’s wake up when you wake up* and the light from the window may give you an indication of the time. On moonless winter nights, if there is any light coming in the window, you can guess it’s anywhere from 4:30-7:00 based on the amount of light. On nights where the moon is full it can look like there is a streetlight beaming right outside. I’ve become very good at estimating the time when I wake now. It’s a skill I’m happy to have acquired. Although it doesn’t help me fall back to sleep when I know it’s only 3 am. But I live with that when it happens.
Today was one of the many, full on, sunshine coming in, blinding me, in case I felt like staying in bed, days of late. I am by no means complaining, since as you know, sunshine is pretty much our lifeblood. The winter looks stunning out here in the sunshine and I love starring out the window admiring the beauty of it as I go through my morning ritual of doing the dishes. Generally I stay in and get through all the morning chores while Ed heads out and does his outdoor stuff. Depending on exactly what chores are needing attention, it can be almost lunch time by the time I am finished. I felt I was missing something by not getting out earlier in the day. Today I decided to change my routine. I had my morning lemon water followed by my protein shake and then got on my outdoor gear and headed out. I wasn’t really sure what I was going to do, but I was going to do it outside this morning.
Tono didn’t want to follow me as I headed down the road. But that didn’t concern me. Ed would be out soon enough and Tono was likely waiting for him. I headed down towards the river. The snow was crunching like styrofoam under my boots. If you know me, that is a sound/feeling I hated down south. This too has become something to which I am now just accustomed. I made sure I came out with my sunglasses as the reflection off the snow, as beautiful as it is, can be hard on the eyes. I also had my camera neatly tucked under my coat hanging on a lanyard. You don’t know how happy I am that I have found a way to keep the batteries in picture taking condition. I had no idea that cameras do not like the cold. So off I went to enjoy whatever nature had to share with me today.
 
There was so much drawing my attention. The glistening diamonds that come from the snow in the sunshine, the trees holding the last snowfall,l heavy on their branches. It was then that Ed caught up to me. He walks this every morning and began to tell me about the cat, moose and rabbit tracks that were there from the previous days. Then we saw fresh tracks. Definitely cat, likely lynx. I have seen a lynx out here once on an early morning drive. Not really nearby, even though we are seeing the tracks, very close, pretty much daily. Lynx are more nocturnal as are the rabbits they hunt. I still have not managed to see one of the snowshoe hares either.

 
 
 
We continued and were assaulted by the sound of, what turned out to be, a pine grosbeak. It was loud and just out of camera view. Then the chickadees started. I hear them regularly but once again getting a picture was not going to happen. As I watched the chickadee jump from branch to branch, feeding on whatever could be had from the snow covered trees, I noticed a flock of birds just up the road. I thought they seemed to be of a similar red colouring to the pine grosbeak but not as big. They would fly off as I approached but come back to feed on whatever had caught their interest on the road. I walked very slowly, taking pictures as I went. Take a step, take a picture. I got as close as I could before they took off for a final time. While I still had not been able to get a look that would allow me to say they were more than LBJs (little brown jobs), I felt lucky that my camera would come to the rescue, as it has so many times before, and show me what my eyes could not see.
My hands were quite cold by this time.  Ed headed back as he was getting cold,  but I did stop on the walk home and take a few more pictures of the scenery and the snow covered cabin that has not been used since the end of hunting season this .



 
Once inside and warming up with a coffee in hand we looked through the pictures. As I thought, the chickadee and pine grosbeak could not be captured. The greatest surprise was the flock of birds that turned out to be white-winged crossbills, both male and female. I was very happy to have captured a picture that allowed me to say they were not simply LBJs.


 
Dishes are still waiting and the bed will likely just have the covers pulled up for today but I had a morning to remember and the dishes didn’t even notice.

 

*For those who do not know, I am extremely grateful to work with a wonderful company.  I am a health and wellness, network marketing professional. I buy safe products from my own store in the cloud and teach others to read ingredient labels, get safe products and have their own store if they so desire. That means I am my own boss and can make an income even while we are living out here in the bush.