It's 2:30 in the afternoon, there are flurries outside, it's 0 degrees, although it feels like -5. Yesterday was worse.. it had been pouring rain, then got up to about 15 degrees, after which it continued to pour, the wind lashing the rain against our windows. It turned to hail around 11pm, then huge snow flakes and -6 degrees around midnight! A drop of 20 degrees in a few hours! The cold has lingered through to today, bringing flurries in between flashes of sun. The cold makes things a little more difficult for us. The warblers disappear the moment the first snow flake falls, becoming completely silent. Although we scour their territories, it's difficult to find much. So things are a bit slow, which is fine by me. Things are going to get busier and we'll have a few long days ahead.
We ventured over to Shivers last night, the bar in the Mackenzie Hotel to catch the first game of the Stanley Cup Final! The bar was a bit busier than the last time we were there... there was a group of women sitting at the table next to us making all sorts of gasps and gripping their seats throughout the game, crying "Jeepers!" and "Get it outta there!". Dining out is a bit above our budget up here so we'll be that annoying table that sits there the whole game with one or two beers for the next few games!
Sunday turned out to be a great day! I got to catch up with a few people on Skype while sitting at the kitchen table with my orange juice, which made my day! It was a hot and sunny outside, so I wandered through town in the afternoon, just observing. When I got back, Kevin called and was going out to walk the dogs, so I grabbed my bag and headed out with him. We went up to the "UFO Landing pad" as it's locally known, which has views over many of the surrounding lakes. We also drove down the Dempster a ways in search of wildlife, but didn't see much besides the birds dashing through the willows along the side of the road. Next time!
That night, David had made a delicious Dahl curry and Tandoori chicken for dinner, and there was even a chocolate cake for dessert! They'd even gone to the trouble of getting candles, but we didn't have any matches! We somehow managed to light the candle with a piece of paper and the stove and they sang me Happy Birthday! It was a great end to the day!
Over the next few days I received my birthday packages, and I feel completely spoiled! There's even a bit of chocolate cake left in the fridge.
This afternoon we're going to head back out into the cold and see if the birds are any more active than this morning. In the meantime, I've seen a few new birds to add to my list! I'm not sure where I got up to, but today I saw Arctic Turns diving over the lagoons, as well as a pair of Long-Tailed Ducks and a pair of Northern Shovelers. Yesterday, we saw a pair of semipalmated plovers, as well as two Lesser Yellow Legs getting it on.. I guess they know how to stay warm!
That's it for now.. check out the new pictures!
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