Snow, love it.

We’ve has several snowy days lately, like this morning, snow was falling; big lazy flakes blurring the world into soft shapes.

On days like this, sounds are muted, time seems to stand still.  

In the garden, the dead flower heads are covered in a thick icing of snow; shrubs are draped in a lacy shroud. 

When the snowfall ends and the sun peeks through the clouds, every tree limb and branch is covered in white.

You might think everything is white and boring...but just as snow hides a lot, it reveals more…

The sunlight reflecting off snow crystals really does make it look like there are diamonds everywhere, it’s real, not a cliché.

Step outside in the afternoon and the stark shadows of simple objects appear dark blue on pure white…art by nature.

 

 Then there’s the wind, molding the snow into ever changing shapes; like smooth waves piling up against a fence, ledges and curves contouring rocks.

Even the tiny footprints of many birds pecking at seeds scattered in the snow, create a striking tableau of shadows and shapes.

I sometimes hate a late winter snowfall when I’m longing for warm spring days, but I always appreciate the importance of snow and imagine the underground aquifers replenished, the soil enriched. Remember this when you have to clear the sidewalk…

Louise



What's in a name?

You might wonder why I chose chipmunkheaven as my blog title. I was inspired by the Eastern Chipmunk, they are so darn cute, and who can resist that little impish face.

There are plenty of chipmunks living on our property. The soil is sandy, so it’s easy to dig a burrow and there is plenty to eat: maple keys, seeds, acorns, wild grape,  blackberries, cranberries,  crabapples, mushrooms, slugs, insects….and of course peanuts in the shell … so it really is heaven for these feisty little guys. They are very busy gathering food all the time, so you get to see them a lot.  I name them,  “Split Ear”, “No Tail” “Broken Tail” based on their appearance.  Split Ear lived for 3yrs, others are not so lucky.



Chipmunks have personality and spunk, but mostly I love them because they evoke childhood memories of a simpler time growing up in northern Ontario. A time when a cottage was a cabin in the woods and not a mansion on acres of lawn. A time when a bathroom meant an outhouse, a pump bringing water from the lake was a luxury and a woodstove is what you cooked on and heated your water. (OK now you know I’m past a certain age) You could drink the lake water and enjoy complete silence with no whine of “personal water craft”. Entertainment was watching a family of beavers in action, playing cards by candlelight, swimming and the best was letting chipmunks run up your legs to get peanuts out of your pockets. My earliest memories of nature are the crayfish, tadpoles and minnows in a shallow rocky cove; the salamanders and mushrooms in the dark mossy forest floor; watching the early morning mist rising on the lake, the old rowboat, hearing the mournful call of the loons and the howls of wolves.  I don’t recall missing the flush toilet or hot shower from our house in town. What memories will today’s children have of their youth… their first cell phone? video game? lipgloss? designer togs? hanging out at the mall? sad to think…

Many think of chipmunks as pesky rodents, but chipmunks in fact do a lot of good. They excavate burrows with storage chambers where they keep the food they collect for winter use. They are constantly burying nuts and seeds and often these will germinate and grow; think of an acorn becoming the mighty oak tree. They are also a prime food source for others species such as foxes, coyotes, hawks and owls.



This year another favorite mammal has taken up residence and after a few skirmishes, now lives in relative peace with the chipmunks. It’s of course the Red Squirrel, a playful agile little fellow whose chattering calls also take me right back to the boreal forests of the north. I watched a pair carrying nuts from our Black Walnut Tree, the nuts almost bigger than their heads. I found the remnant outer layers of several nuts in a mound. I wouldn’t want to be bitten by a squirrel; they must have very strong teeth to eat through the hard inner shell of a black walnut. We had to use a vise to get ours open.

Black Walnut outer layer

 



Inside the thick walnut shell

They’ve made a home in an abandoned owl nest box, easier than finding a tree cavity.

 

While their cousins the chipmunks hibernate, the squirrels are active all winter except on the coldest days. They seem to enjoy scattering the mourning doves under the bird feeders, quickly stuffing their cheeks with fallen sunflower seeds and scooting back to their home.

They too play an important role in scattering and germinating seeds, especially cone seeds and they serve as a food source for larger species.

So what’s in a name? A lot.

Louise



Big Sky Part II

Winter is a good time to watch the sky. Tiny ice crystals in the clouds refract and reflect sunlight which frequently results in lovely halos and sundogs. You can see these on days when the sun is shining and there are a few clouds about, especially thin cirrus clouds. I am not a scientist or an expert so for good information on atmospheric events please check out http://www.atoptics.co.uk/halosim.htm , it's well worth it.

You don't have to be anywhere special to see these, simply look at the sky and check out the areas around the sun but please never look directly at the sun, use your hand or other object to block it off. Also never look at the sun through binoculars, camera lens or telescope as it could easily damage your eyes instantly, so be safe!

The other day while a passenger in a car, I was treated to 2 large sundogs, which look like portions of rainbow on one or both sides of the sun, as above.

Other things to watch for from anywhere are early morning views of the sun or of the rising moon. The sun rises and sets every day and the moon appears every month, so just find a spot where you can watch. No need to spend thousands on a trip to sit and watch these events when they happen everywhere for free! I've enjoyed spectacular sunrises while a passenger on many commutes. Too often we miss enjoying the beauty of these everyday events because we are too busy...

 Misty sunrise.

Full moon.

A partially cloudy day offers another opportunity to see beauty in the sky.The sun's rays sneaking through the clouds make a magnificent spectacle.

Here is an atmospheric event most people are unaware of: seeing the earth's shadow at twilight. For this you need to have a pretty good view of the eastern horizon. As the sun sets, a darkish band rises on the eastern horizon. This is the shadow of the earth reflected on the atmosphere. To read more about this please check out this site:http://www.atoptics.co.uk/atoptics/earshad.htm . Lots of interesting stuff on that site.

Faint dark band at the horizon is earth's shadow at twilight.

The sky...ever changing...look up!

Louise

Big sky around us.

Since this is my first post, I thought I should tell you a bit about the special place where I live with my soul mate and various wildlife. The property is on the south slope of a large drumlin on the southern edge of the Oak Ridges Moraine. A drumlin is a deposit of sediment left by a glacier, so our soil is sandy with gravel, rocks and boulders. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drumlin

We are surrounded by hills and valleys with mostly hay fields, cattle pastures and woodlots. Our property is next to a regenerating meadow and a deciduous woodlot and beyond this is a large spruce and pine plantation. Our property itself has open grassy areas, loved by Eastern Bluebirds and Northern Flickers, interspersed with many trees and shrubs. There is a creek nearby and a couple miles north lies the Ganaraska Forest, a large tract of mixed forest.

Twelve miles south and below us is Lake Ontario, seen from our location on clear days. Because of our high elevation and lack of close neighbours except to the north, we have a mostly unobstructed view for miles to the south and south-east. I spend a lot of time watching the sky as it seems so big here. It is ever changing, with spectacular blazing sunrises, clouds and storms rushing by, each season bringing it's own beauty. Sunsets are more subdued, as we are below the rise of the drumlin to the west. I took these photos from our deck and they are untouched, colours are true.

Winter sunrise

Golden sunrise

Fall sunrise



Sunset (photo of the eastern sky)

Winter sky



Summer sky

Double rainbows are common here

I hope you enjoy these photos as much as I enjoy these vistas.
Louise