Force 10 From Navarone...er..Kearney Lake Dam

I went for a short hike today around the Kearney Lake area. The lake crosses under a minor highway , forms a pond, and that has a dam at the end. Normally the water laps gently against the dam. There is an output pipe at the bottom of the opposite side of the dam and water flows at a slow but regular rate into a river that leads to Paper Mill Lake, which in turn has its own dam that empties into 9 Mile River (and used to be used to power the Moirs Paper Mill), which then empties into the Bedford Basin, which is the northern part of the Halifax Harbour. Whew. Anyway, the Kearney Lake dam, about 25 feet high, today was more like Niagra Falls.


I walked to the bottom of the dam and around the pool at the bottom and into the woods a little way. There I discovered another stream, partly formed by runoff and snow melt and partly fed from underground. It was rushing by a felled and decaying tree that made me think of some arboreal Hannibal Lechter victim. I know how to spook myself, that's for sure.


Another tree I came across looked like it should have a for rent sign out front to advertise a two level woodpecker home.
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I also took a short walk close to Sandy Lake and after a trek through the woods determined that I had enough exercise for the day. It poured again last night and this morning and it'll be cloudy and drizzly until Sunday at least, so the boots and jacket are drying out again. When I got home I decided to take a quick peek at the garden. First signs of life are the grape hyacinth:


Second signs of life are the rhubarb buds:


In case you're wondering, the Wookie is away on business. *sigh*

S.

How Dry I Ain't

Since Friday night we have received rain in epic proportions. The local rivers are swollen and overflowing and the woods are as soggy as can be. The rain won't keep me from exploring though.

There is a new construction site I wanted to explore where an access ramp to one of the local highways is being built. They're just at the tree-clearing stage and this is perfect for getting a look at the ground close up. My first discovery was deer poop.



Looking from the top of a cliff of sorts (don't worry Herrad, it wasn't the same sort of cliff I climbed before) you can see the clearing happening on both sides of the highway.



Looking behind me into the woods I could make out a larger body of water. I think this was my main reward for the hike as I had no idea this pond was there. I'm not sure anyone else was aware of it either until the clearing began and it may just be a temporarily as large as it is because of the amount of water that has come down, snow melt, and the effects of clearing. But if you look at the rock cliff on the left side you'll get an idea of what Nova Scotia is made of. That cliff is about 20 feet high and ponds like this are all over the province.



I also took home an interesting rock and a piece of a tree that had a really cool hole in it that I need to find out what creature made it. I'll post pics of those soon as I want to put them both under the microscope.

I took a couple of pics of the Sackville River to show how swollen it is:



The soccer field is completely under water, the bleachers almost covered. In the distance you can see a highway overpass that goes over the Bedford Sackville Trail which winds along the river. There was supposed to be a guided walk along the river yesterday, but most of the walkway is under water.

My boots and jacket are drying out and should be ready for another jaunt by Tuesday. It's going to be wet most of the week apparently, but that's ok as it means less people to contend with while I'm out enjoying nature.

Bum Legs

When I was 7 I asked my grandmother what had happened to her leg to cause her to limp. She told me she had been kicked by a cow. That wasn't an unreasonable explanation to a 7 year old and I spent the next 10 years thinking that my grandmother had been injured during a milking accident. When I was 17 I found out that she had polio as a child. That's what caused her bum leg. Why she told me the fib about the cow I'll never know, though I think she might have thought that was funny somehow. Anyway, not once did I see or hear Nanny complain about her leg. I know it slowed her down, but she worked hard at child rearing, housekeeping and cooking all her life. She spent weeks in the summers at a church camp cooking for all the kids. I never heard her say "If only I didn't have this bum leg".

For the past two years a certain crow has been hanging around where I live. It's hard to tell one from the other, but this one has a deformed left leg. I don't know if the deformity was there from hatching or if it was the result of a run in with a cat or other predator. And it may not even be the same crow, but I'm pretty sure it is. Most animals hang around where they can get food and crows are no different. They have certain neighbourhoods they hang around, leaving at night for a communal rookery. Some hunt or forage for food together, some are solitary. But they are creatures of habit, so I like to think my "disabled" crow is the same one.

I hadn't seen it all winter. Today I saw it about half a block from my home, hopping around on the front lawn at a neighbour's house. It made it through another winter and appears healthy. It put a smile on my face to see this bird.

Because of its injury, its survival is compromised. Its reproductive success is also compromised. With only one functional leg it may not be as good a defender of food and territory. It might lose more arguments on the ground with other scavengers. But it doesn't go around thinking "if I only didn't have this bum leg I could get a girl crow (or a boy crow) and have baby crows". It will go through the motions of attempting to woo a mate or perhaps be wooed. But getting and keeping food is undoubtedly a struggle that may not be enough to feed a family. But it still hops around from spot to spot checking things out and of course its flying ability is intact. If I ever see it with nesting material in its beak then I'll know it's attempting to reproduce.

Perhaps if I were Native Canadian I would believe my grandmother's spirit inhabits the crow. I don't, but the crow makes me think of my grandmother and how she stoically carried on with life. And it's a gentle reminder that I am carrying on as well.

S.

Jam Packed Weekend

We had an exceedingly busy weekend, including two very long hikes. the first one was along a still snow and ice covered trail I bike often and where I saw my first insect of the season. It's just one of those little millers and I actually saw three of them.


Sunday saw us trek around my neighbourhood a couple of times and I took pictures of the old Moirs Mill building I mentioned previously. You can see the remains of the big water intake pipe on the right hand side.


Looking through the intake pipe you can kind of make out the inside of the building, and on the right is a window in the floor which allows you to see the river rushing by underneath.


Walking upriver are the cement pylons that supported the water pipe that came from the river which is fed by Paper Mill Lake. I'm standing on one to take the picture and each one is about 4 feet tall.


And along one of the ponds connected to Paper Mill Lake is a muskrat lodge. Close examination along the shore revealed footprints of something and an access hole in the ice. I'm not sure if the prints are of a muskrat or racoon; I did take a closer shot of the tracks but after searching the internet am unable to discern their source.


We covered about 12 k on the weekend as the weather was absolutely gorgeous. Of course we're paying for it now. The rain began late last night and continued in flood like proportions until this evening when it changed to snow. Halifax got off luckier than northern and eastern parts of the province though as they're getting much more snow. It is spring in Nova Scotia though, so it's to be expected.

We also went to the symphony Saturday night - they were joined by a rock band and the night was The Music of Queen. It was a spectacular show. Sunday afternoon we went to the last game of the season of the Halifax Rainmen and the guys were hot. The team they were playing really were no match so there was a lot of crowd pleasing show-off plays. Of course last night I was asleep almost before my head hit the pillow.

And today was my annual physical check up with my family doc. If it weren't for my brain degenerating as I type I'd be perfectly healthy. Them's the breaks I guess.

S.

A Beautiful Walk

Last Sunday the Wookie and I went for a hike in Shubenacadie Park, a beautiful system of wooded trails we often bike in the warmer seasons. It is built around the Shubenacadie Canal, a waterway that stretches the width of the province. There was still quite a bit of snow and ice in more exposed areas and we had to turn back from one part of the trail that was too treacherous, so we walked by the system of locks. The Wookie told me I should take some pics of the locks, but I declined. I will take pics the next time. Instead I took some shots of the ducks on the ice covered canal.

On the way back we were driving through an industrial park and had to stop to allow a porcupine to cross the road. I have seen a few live porcupines in my life, but not many. They pepper the side of highways from spring to fall after having been hit by cars. Another car came along beside me and stopped as well as they realized I must be at a standstill for a reason. The occupants also got a chuckle from the animal lumbering across the road. The Wookie says if you're ever lost in the woods in Canada, find a porcupine and follow it. They always end up somewhere on the Trans Canada highway.

Braincheese wanted to know about my camera. It's a Fuji Fine Pix Z digital camera. The reason all the pics are so clear is that I don't post the blurry ones (heh).

The weather for the most part this week ranged from blinding snowstorm to extreme sunshine with high winds so walking and hiking have been curtailed. Haven't even got the bike out yet and I'm beginning to get frustrated. I will play in the snow, hike in the cold, and bike in the rain, but the wind has been too brutal. The weather is improving for today and tomorrow though so I anticipate a little physical activity in the very near future. The Bike Tour is a mere 4 months away and I have to get moving again!

Maybe we'll go hunting rabbits....I did find tracks a couple of weeks ago:



S.

Ada Lovelace

Ada Lovelace is considered to be the first computer programmer. She is a beacon for women scientists everywhere and Tuesday was un-officially Ada Lovelace Day, whereby bloggers publish a post to draw attention to women excelling in technology. I am not familiar with the tech world on any level, so I am writing about a teacher I had who excelled in introducing science to first graders.

My Grade One teacher was Mrs. Martin at Eastview Elementary School in North Vancouver. She reminded me more of a grandmother than a teacher.

I have written before of how angry I was when on my first day of school I wasn't taught to read. I had waited for so long and wanted to read more than anything that when I came home that first day I told my mother I wasn't going back. She talked me into going back and assured me I would learn to read.

Mrs. Martin taught my class to read. And she taught us a lot more than that. My first biology class was in grade one as well. We had an incubator filled with chicken eggs and for two weeks we cracked one open every day to watch the progression of the developing embryo chick. Of course we had several left over at 3 weeks which hatched, some during class. Mrs. Martin also arranged for a woman to bring in a momma skunk with her kittens so we could get an up close look at them (the momma had been descented).

And then there was the day we made applesauce. Watching the apples cook down and putting them through a ginormous strainer and then eating the finished product. What fun!

We also had another class come in once a week for arts and crafts type activities. It was a developmentally delayed class, mostly children with Down's Syndrome, who would come in and do things with us.

And we put on a play as well, The Bremen Town Musicians. I played the part of one of the robbers and got the biggest laughs with my "acting" fearful and falling down from the noise of the animals. My first taste of slapstick, and fame.

And though not my first taste of biology or science, it was my first structured teaching of those subjects. To Mrs. Martin, I am grateful, as it wasn't until I was in Grade 10 that I had such a "sciency" and hands on teacher. Mrs. Martin is my Ada Lovelace.

Not to take away from any of the other teachers I had, in science or other subjects, but Mrs. Martin left such a lasting impression. As did my first "boyfriend", redheaded and freckled Scott, who would let me win at marbles, much to the disgust of his best friend George. But that's a whole other post...

S.

9 Mile River

Last week I went for a walk along 9 Mile River in Bedford, so called because it's 9 miles from Halifax. There are a dozen such named rivers in Nova Scotia though only this one is actually 9 miles from Halifax. What's interesting about this one is that it comes from Paper Mill Lake. The lake and river water was used to run the Moirs Mill on the edge of the Bedford Basin. They made the paper for the boxes for Moirs chocolates, long since out of production here. There are still concrete supports in the river for the pipes that fed the mill. The building that is left is now a tourist bureau, not open until May 15th so I can't show you any pics from inside, but come May I'll get some shots from inside the building. In the meantime enjoy these:




In previous posts I have talked about Jack's Lake, which feeds into Paper Mill Lake. Paper Mill Lake is the source of the sound of loons I hear early in the morning or late at night. We would swim there as kids and nowadays it is supervised. I haven't been swimming there for 30 years.

We're off on another hike today before the bad weather hits again. Not sure where but I'll keep you posted.

S.