I didn't walk the dogs today ...

This is maybe the third time since September that I didn't take the dogs for a walk; and I feel like a rat.

Usually the only reason I don't walk them is coz the weather is just intolerable, but today I  just never seemed to get around to it.   I spent the morning sorting choir music and then enjoying choir, then on to the market, Giant Tiger, the dollar store and Superstore.  By the time I got home it was 4 pm and I hadn't had lunch and the dogs needed to be fed.

I've promised them a good walk tomorrow.

Hard to believe that one week ago (last Friday) the golf course* where we sometimes walk in winter didn't have stitch of snow.

Wendy walks on water.

It wasn't too cold so Sooki didn't have to wear her big winter coat.

The next day, Saturday, we went to Shubie off leash park; still no snow.

The lake looked frozen but not be able to hold my weight.

Sunday we returned to the golf course where the walking was still easy due to the lack of snow.

Monday was cold with a biting wind so we went to the Lucasville woods as being in the trees cuts down on the chilling winds.

The woods form a dark mono culture of similar trees.

The recent high winds have taken their toll in the woods.

 The waterfall was roaring because of the recent rains.

The first snow of the winter in Halifax (not Nova Scotia) fell on Monday night and we went on a lovely walk in the Sackville woods on Tuesday.

The golf course looked very different the next day than it had on our previous visits.  Though it is very pretty it is much more difficult for walking.

Snow was still falling during our walk but it wasn't that cold and as you can see, it was rather magical.

There are some lovely sections that follow wide woodland trails.

So much snow fell on me that I couldn't see through my wet glasses and I had to take them off and tuck them in my pocket.  Also my hair got a mite wet ...

and the dogs got soggy too so I had to towel their heads to de-sog them.

Yesterday we went back to Shubie and while there the sun finally came out.  

The heaps of snow sticking to the tree branches would occasionally let loose with a shoooshing sound as it fell to the ground below; with one such "bomb" hitting me full on the top of my head, sliding down my neck and filling the hood of my coat.

So that's it.  Six days of walks and nothing to report for today.   Glad to hear it may get a degree or two above zero Celsius tomorrow.  That should make for a pleasant walk.

I'll let you know how it goes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

* From December 15 - March 15 they allow dogs on the golf course as long as we pick up the dog poop.  

** I have messed with some of the images using an app on my phone called "Prisma".

Cabin Fever ...

I have "cabin fever" !

In nice weather I spend more time outside than in. In nice weather I don't fall asleep in my big poofy chair after reading ten pages of a book.   In nice weather I don't fall asleep in my big poofy chair for three hours after reading ten pages of my book, after getting a good solid ten hours sleep.

In nice weather I do not Troll the internet reacting immaturely to comments that raise my ire.

Cabin fever has changed me.

In winters past I have still gotten out and gone for lovely drives over to the Bay of Fundy,

or down to Peggy's Cove,

or even just for a walk along the shore near me.

But this winter has been (and sadly, still is) long and bitter and icy and the roads not conducive to road trips.

My only outings have been to Shubie park.  But even walking there has sometimes been treacherous.

In order to be able to walk on ice I bought some "grippers" that slip onto the bottom of my boots.

They do help with the walking but I still am unnerved when walking on ice.

 All in all I've pretty much had it with winter !

Halifax winter "walk off" ...

Les, over at A Tidewater Gardener issued a "walk off" challenge.   

He asked us to simply open our front door and go for a walk.

But I didn't do it.  Can't make me.  Don't want to.  Feeling petulant.

So I waited until last Friday when I had to go into Halifax for my Lunch Bunch Choir,

and went for a walk there.

And in the interest of honesty in blogging; I cheated.

St. Matthew's Church with the Bell Alliant building behind.

Like so many days before it, Friday was cold.  Too cold.  Too freakin' cold.

I hustled out of choir and across Barrington Street, to take a quick photo of ye Olde Burying Ground, and the intriguing sign that hangs next to its closed-for-the-winter gate.

Tourists from the many cruise ships that visit Halifax each summer, often stand with bemused expressions on their faces, looking for the answer to a question they probably never considered: "Why Aren't We (Canadians) Americans?".

St. Mary's Cathedral Basilica

With numb fingers I held my camera above the top of the iron fence to get this view of the lovely church on Spring Garden Road.  Not sure of the identity of the building next door.

Next to St. Matthew's church stands Government House; the home of the Lieutenant Governor.  The Lieutenant Governor represents the Queen, and carries out constitutional and ceremonial duties, at least that's what Wikipaedia says.

Now comes the part where I cheated.

I jumped into my car and hung a left on Bishop Street, crossed Lower Water Street and parked in a lot beside the boardwalk.  At any other time of the year this would have been a pleasant five minute walk. That shows you how sick of winter I am that I drove three blocks.

There, I visited an imaginative art installation that I think I may have shown you before.  

The post on the left is peeing into the harbour

On the far side of the harbour is the Woodside oil refinery, and to the right of that, is George's Island.

The caption for these two is: "Got drunk. Fell down".

 I love how this building reflects the boardwalk seating area and the far shore.

Fishing boat and community college.

If it hadn't been bitchin' cold, I would have shown you much more of the 3 km. long boardwalk.   Instead, you'll just have to take my word that it's well-worth a visit.

For now, I'm heading back into hibernation until spring comes.

And I'm not talking, "date-on-a-calendar" spring.

I'm talking warm spring.

'night.

Frigid Fundy .

Yesterday Lynne and I, with Wendy and Trey in tow, went to see how the Bay of Fundy is dealing with this bitter winter.

Normally when you go to visit a place you check to make sure you know where you're going and what the weather will be like.  When you visit Fundy, you must also take into account one other very significant factor -- the tides.

Here's a what a tide table looks like.  In the sample below you can see that HIGH tide was at 4.26 a.m. and peaked at 13.6 m or 44.6 ft.  YES, 44.6 FEET !   Low tide was at 10:51 a.m. at 1.9 m or 6.2 ft.

The high and the low tides do not occur at the same time each day.  They advance around the clock by about 50 minutes each day.   Note too, that there are two high and two low tides each day.  It takes the tide about six hours to go out and then six hours to come in, then six hours to go out, well you get the picture.

The tides on the Bay of Fundy are the highest tides on the planet.  The 100 billion tonnes water flowing in and out of the Bay of Fundy is greater than all the water in all the freshwater rivers on Earth !  

As you can see from the image below, Fundy is wider at its mouth and gets narrower towards the top. What you can't see is that its bottom likewise goes from deeper to shallower.  Now, imagine lifting up one end of a bathtub with six inches of water in it.  The tub is shallower and narrower at the far end.  As you tip it, the water gets far deeper than the six inches it started at.  Fundy's like that bathtub.  Neat eh ?

As we were headed for Burn(t)coat Head (no one can agree on the spelling), the site of the highest recorded tides in the world, it was important to know where we were in the tide cycle.  Can you guess where Burncoat Head would be located on this map ?

Here is an image of Fundy at low tide in the summer.  No water in sight.  Six hours later, at high tide, the water would be reaching into the foreground area.

So what did Lynne and I find at low tide yesterday ?

The ice that formed at high tide was left behind when the water underneath it receded.

My plans for Lynne and I to walk the shore at low tide, were quickly dashed.

Gypsum cliff at Cheverie.

With a few exceptions the shore was impassible.  We consoled ourselves with getting as close as we could, and taking lots of photos.

Lynne freezing her hands to take photos.

Trey on the ice.

With their built-in, claw-grippers, the dogs walked safely on top of the slushy tops of the ice blocks.  As the tide was out, there was no water below them.

Wendy with the gypsum cliff at Cheverie.

The same little island at Burncoat Head at low tide in summer and winter.

I am not liking this colder than usual winter, but I must confess that it has created some incredibly beautiful scenes.