Fair To Middling

I don't know why, but lately the days seem to be rushing by, and I cannot seem to catch up with what needs doing, and that included bringing you up to date on what I have been up to. First, I had commitments that kept me in my machine shop for some time, completing work that I had made a commitment to get done. Once this work was completed,and I was still in my machinist role, I finished a project of my own, that I wanted to complete before summer was upon me, and this project then dragged in to fall. Finally, I was able to switch roles once again.

I had a morning that was rain filled with rain having fallen most of the night, but that did not stop me from heading out, just after 6:00 am both yesterday morning and this morning. Yesterday found me driving a looping route across from Okotoks, over to Millarville, where I picked up highway 22x south. I couldn't help but notice that all the roadside groves of trees that have nests in them, have residents residing in these nests. I saw more hawks than I could count. The female would be sitting on the nest, with the male keeping watch nearby. It is a good idea to stay in your vehicle, when you are in the vicinity of a hawks nest, as they will let you know in no uncertain terms, that you are not welcome. I stopped quite a number of times, to shoot photos, and at one point, a eagle swooped down on a gopher in the roadside ditch. While on the backroad that takes you from Okotoks to Millarville, I did a double take, when I spotted what I took for a hawk of sorts, perched in a tree some distance off of the road. I backed up, and upon taking a closer look through my binoculars, realized that it was a immature eagle, with his head still not completely white, but sort of two-toned!

Every creek that I crossed over was running high, with a lot of silt being carried along. The Rockies off to the west, were looking like they have for most of the winter, white! It will be some time yet before spring run-off commences, as far as snow-melt goes. The timing for that seems to arrive at the most in-opportune time for me, as the streams along the front ranges of the Rockies, open for fishing going in to June, and about the time they are legally available for casting a line over, the run off gets underway, go figure! Meanwhile I have been on the Bow a number of times, and it has been most pleasurable, to finally pull my various flyrods from their rod-cases, and take them out in turn, for some fishing on the Bow. The fishing has been fair to middling, as the water is still quite cold, both in the eyes of the trout, and myself. The trout being cold blooded will not move out of the spot their holding n to chase your offering, as it uses up to much of their reserves, with the water as cold as it is. Its important to know the structure of the river, and know where the fish are holding, then when you make your presentation, you want to drift the fly right on the money, so they will take it, if it is to their liking.


Several hours later, found me down towards Longview, and realized that I had time for a coffee, or in my case, a cup of tea, so I turned east, and made my way over to the Heritage in High River, where I took in the coffee-klatch with some of the hams that I talk to on my radios. With that done, I headed back up to Calgary.

This morning, I was not getting to far from home, but decided that with some of the temperatures we have been seeing, I would head over for a visit to the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary. I love the IBS at this time of year, as the trees start to bud, and birds are going about their nesting duties. With light rain happening as I got out of my truck, I put on my favorite rain jacket, that actually is my wading jacket that I use while fly fishing in foul weather. I also took my hand held Yaesu VX-8 along, as I thought it would be fun too lay way-points along my route through the IBS. I have included a down-loaded map to show you the track I made, while I was in the IBS. I enjoyed myself immensely, as I knew that I would, as the IBS was just as I suspected it would be, on a morning with few visitors, probably due to the weather. The paths were in reasonable shape, considering the weather and all. I enjoyed shooting photos of the various interesting things that I noticed along the trails that I followed. I also was manually beaconing with my VX-8 at the various strategic points, that being bends in the trail, and points of interests. My VX-8 being of low power, cannot reliably send the beacons directly to a digipeater, or a I-gate. Therefore, I was using my truck radio as a digipeater, and once it captured the beacons from my VX-8 that I was carrying, my mobile radio mounted in my truck, forwarded the beacons to a I-gate in south Calgary, with a Internet connection. Once this happened, the way-points that my VX-8 generated, were placed on goggle maps showing you my track on your computer screen at: www.aprs.fi Once back at my truck, I shut my VX-8 off, and headed home to work on another project that needs my attention, and I may get time to edit some of the photos that I shot this morning while out and about.