Trying out my new flashy rubber boots

So many childhood memories around rubber boots: Sinking in the mud, stuck in the mud! testing the ice, breaking through the ice! splashing through puddles and wading into ditches, going just up to the top of your boot, which of course, always ended up with a 'booter'..... Walking all the way home with cold, soaking wet feet and then stuffing your boots with newspaper and setting them by the stove to dry out for the next day's adventures. Good times, so very long ago. I bet you've all got lots of your own 'rubber boot memories'. 04/13/22

Baxter at 11 months

He just keeps growing and growing.... As you can see, he loves to play in the mud :( 04 26 22

Rose bush, enjoying a foot bath

Somehow these rose hips made it through the winter. They must have been under the snow - the deer and the rabbits usually find every last one before spring. 04/12/22

A nice slow melt

Finally!! Spring is arriving in Manitoba. We still haven't had any warm days but this is a probably a good thing, as the snow is melting slowly and all that wonderful moisture is sinking into the ground where it is so desperately needed. It's hard to get a half decent shot of the Prairie at this time of year, it looks so raggedy and colourless, but this is how it looked yesterday. We haven't seen water like this in years! 04/11/22

Lone leaf caught in the ice

This shot was taken 2 days ago..... this little leaf is now buried under at least 12 inches of snow. Our blizzard rages on into it's full second day. It is not expected to end until Friday morning, possibly into Saturday. Despite the constant heavy snowfall and crazy high winds, we still have power! So thankful for that! 04/14/22

Water & Ice, endlessly fascinating.

04/16/22

Fragile ice

The ice forms like the thinest of glass, and doesn't last long in the rising sun. 04/29/22

Ice art

Prairie plant from last year, possilbly a Goldenrod, found frozen in the thin ice, catching the rays of the sun. 04/18/22

Frozen in time

Caught between winter and spring, stuck in a holding pattern..... like the rest of us. 04/23/22

Our visitors for the weekend

We had a LOT of guests stay with us during the storm over the weekend, most of them were Juncos. It's hard to say for sure, but we must have had at least 200, maybe more. I bought two bags of bird food on the Thursday before the storm and thought I was prepared. On Friday morning there were SO many birds - everywhere - we managed to get back to the store for two more bags. Lucky that we did, because by Sunday we were running out and Monday still threatened to be terribly cold, windy and snowy, so we made it into town to buy more food - and all the stores were sold out! Apparently everyone was feeding the birds to help them get through the storm, which is wonderful! I felt bad on Monday that we didn't have much left for them, but by Tuesday afternoon, the storm was over and it seemed many of them had moved on. 04/28/22

Keeping warm in the sun

This little Junco was relaxing in the sun after a satisfying early morning feed, at least that's the way I imagine it to be! 05/02/22

A little Junco, taking a break.

Even a cold and hungry little bird has to take a break from the constant job of looking for food. 05/01/22

Flood damage

We went to visit friends on the weekend, and found the end of their driveway disappearing - eaten away by the water flowing off the field and into the ditch. Btw... that is a live electric fence post lying in the water, so very dangerous! 05/04/22

Our front yard

After another three days of heavy rain over the weekend, most of our snow is finally gone - which is, of course, wonderful. BUT - now we are dealing with serious flooding throughout most of Manitoba, 18 Municipalities have declared 'states of emergency'. So far, thankfully, our house is fine, we are quite high. In our world of extremes, we've really outdone ourselves this year - from extreme drought to flooding in one season, quite remarkable! 05/03/22

The waters are receeding nicely

In spite of all the snow and rain we've had, the water is still soaking into the ground fairly quickly, the temps are warming up and I do believe - spring is finally upon us! (touch wood, lol) 05/05/22