The adventures begin

Well, the adventure of COVID-19 unfolds with 134,700 identified as having it.

  In the morning, our provincial Premier announced that all was well with the world, and kids should go off on their March Break vacations and enjoy them. In the afternoon, he sent out the education minister to tell us that after next week's March Break the schools would remain closed for two weeks to ensure traveling kids don't bring back CORVID-19 to their schools.

My fear? Families with money will extend trips. Cynical me! People are spending 2 or more hours trying to cancel trip plans.

We have the kids next week during March Break. Likely we have them for two more weeks. We cleared our calendars.

The facts are slowly coming out: about 20% of people with COVID-19 have severe or critical symptoms. COVID-19 has a 3-4% death rate, flu 0.1%.

Our Prime Minister's wife, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, brought back COVID-19 from a speaking engagement at a fundraiser in the UK. Justin Trudeau is now self-isolated, as a precaution. He'll be able to work from home!

We needed to get out of the house. We took off to Newboro, for lunch at the Stagecoach Inn. it was a sunny day, prior to our big dump of rain, and a good opportunity.



The bee hives aren't ready for business yet.



Dead ends, and cottage country signage. Lots of places for social isolation and to explore!



There was only the odd car or truck. A nice, peaceful drive.



Frozen wetlands...



This is, obviously, a drive-by; the bovine colours were amazing.



I love this rusty boat. I'd paint it bright colours, though!



Another drive-by, there were quite a few geese about. It's so good seeing them.



Some of the birds are back so early, the mergansers don't mind the ice and the cold, as they are flying north to breed.

The outdoor market looks pretty bleak. Soon...



Newboro



Imagine, they were using snow machine across this piece of ice a couple of weeks ago!



At home, Cinnamon had fun in the sun. I have a video of him standing in the water in a puddle. He is a hoot. I'll get on that for tomorrow. It's pouring rain today. I hooked the water barrels up again.

Dalhousie Lake

Off we went for another drive. I'd had some chest pains in the night, from high blood pressure, insomnia for several hours, a cat fight that woke me up. Thankfully, my client cancelled the next morning.
What a great way to depressurize, as long as I kill all that mind chatter in my head!


Pulling up to the train track, we were all excited. JB likes trains. Then the lights went off, the arms lifted. No train. We approached the track.


Nothing to the right. 

A stopped train to our left. Yikes.


We carried on, up to Kiwi Gardens. They were having a delivery. Whew! This was a masterful job. I thought he was in the ditch.


I look at all that sand in the quarry, and can feel it between my toes.


We made it. We saw the Chinese food on the menu, in both Chinese characters and English, and weren't sure what was up. What we didn't know is that after being for sale for 3 years, it was sold to an Asian man who, until a year ago, only spoke Mandarin. I love this country!
It's a big complex, with motor homes, and cabins.
We had chicken fingers, which were moist and yummy. They have buffets on the weekend. Of the three couples there, two were from Perth. We should have had some Chinese food!


Just to tease me This butterfly landed right beside me, on the ground, then flew away. I only managed to use three of my Monarch stickers.


It's a lovely lake, the river dekes under the bridge. Very shallow. There were some mergansers preening.

Common Goldeneye on the Big Rideau

Not to bore you, but the flooding has been amazing. Besides, hubby wants to see where we were the other day. He was driving! We had a drought last year. This moisture, while extreme, is welcomed. It was dangerous boating, not to mention our well system.



 There is still ice on the lake, which will melt soon. The Goldeneyes are loving it, of course.


These are archival photos, as I couldn't get anywhere near them! The wind was wicked. These ducks like the cold water. These are all males, as well. Lots of birds species: the males migrate farther north first. I love the way they bob and head below the water.
They nest in cavities. The chicks jumping from the nest within a day of birth.

These are really old photos from our time in Bala. We lived there 2006 - 2010. I miss my lake, my canoe, but not the tourists! I miss the changing water, which was a new picture every day. Each day there would be new colours, clouds, and critters, especially during migration season.

These are Mergansers. 

Some migrate to northern Ontario. They nest in cavities, like my wood ducks. I think this female (right) is a Common Merganser, whereas the ones on the left are Hooded Mergansers. They are an interesting breed.