Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: explore2014May02

On 14 April 2014, I spent a wonderful, fun day with my youngest daughter, driving the backroads SE of Calgary. Some of the roads were familiar to me, but others were new territory, which gave us a chance to discover some different abandoned barns and anything else that we thought was interesting and/or beautiful. We knew where our destination was going to be, more or less Mossleigh and Arrowwood, though it was disappointing that the "heat wave" distortion was just too great to get distant, zoomed photos of this row of old grain elevators. It was quite a hazy day, which never helps. Once we got really close, the problem thankfully lessened. A very interesting and informative website, with a lot of information about this row of old elevators, is found at the following link. I find myself returning often to Chris and Connie's site to read about other places they have visited. It's well worth a visit to read about their travels. www.bigdoer.com/2360/exploring-history/mossleigh-elevators/ According to the website at the above link: " Update: May 2013. The lineage of the Mossleigh grain elevators has been cleared up. One was built for P&H, one for Pioneer which was later taken over by P&H, and finally one was built for the Searle Grain Company, later UGG and finally P&H. All were built in 1930 but it’s not clear exactly when they changed hands. A forth elevator used to sit here (UGG) but it was destroyed by fire in the 1960s. Update: September 2013. It’s understood that plans are in place to use the track that remains along the subdivision for some sort of tourist train, operating out of the nearby Aspen Crossing campground/garden centre complex. Time will tell if this will come to fruition – Aspen Crossing as it turns out, does have some rail cars sitting on a section of subdivision track just west of Mossleigh." WEATHER: Tonight and all tomorrow - snow (5-10 cms) Sunday & Monday - rain Tuesday - isolated showers Wednesday - cloudy with sunny breaks Thursday - cloudy Friday - rain Wednesday looks like the only partly decent day - and I have to spend it indoors on my volunteer shift, lol!

tThe fact that this image came out OK amazed me, as it was taken on a heavily overcast, snowy morning with low visibility (26 April 2014). My camera kept focusing on the snowflakes, but I'm glad that at least one of the photos worked. We certainly had a mix of weather last weekend. On the day this photo was taken, a few of us had gathered to go on a birding drive south of the city, but weren't sure whether to cancel the trip. We drove to the edge of the city to check out a huge pond, but it was decided that the visibility was just not going to be good enough, so the trip was postponed. Two of us did drive some of the backroads just south of the city and the snow did stop for a while, but the light was not good. I really appreciated the drive, though, as we went on a few roads that I don't drive, but now will feel confident to do so. Thanks so much, Terry! We had a few nice sightings, including a Moose, a Snow Goose (possibly a Ross's Goose) that I didn't see, and a distant flock of about 60 Mountain Bluebirds which was a real treat. The Yellow-headed Blackbirds are now back, joining the Red-winged Blackbirds that I believe arrived first. Feels so good to have them back again! www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/red-winged_blackbird/id?utm_s... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-winged_Blackbird The weather forecast for the next five days is mixed precipitation, light snow or snow-rain showers. Not quite the way one wants to welcome the month of May, but we can't complain. Compared to all those people who are suffering and continue to suffer the loss of loved ones and loss of homes and businesses, thanks to air or sea tragedies and the tremendous nightmare from tornado damage, we here in Alberta are very fortunate. My thoughts go out to all those who are going through such terrible times. If I suddenly disappear off Flickr, it will be because of anti-virus software problems that surfaced this morning. No part of McAfee worked - anything I clicked on did nothing. There was no McAfee to be seen! When I bought my computer, it already had this anti-virus software installed on it. I have to remove it so that I can install Norton (that I've always used before). Just hope I manage to remove all the bits and pieces from the present one, or the new one won't work. Later: dashed out immediately to buy the software I normally use, and thank goodness, it seems to have installed successfully. Relief! Which was short-lived, as I find that now my printer won't work after installing Norton Anti-virus. Aren't computers fun?