A squirrel’s version of raiding the cookie jar ….

The latest addition here in the empire is a feeder box for the local squirrels. The reason for this is to feed only squirrels and not the pillaging and looting Blue Jays.

The loaded box went out this morning to its temporary location at the entrance to the wood shed. It did not take too long for the intended recipients to figure out how to obtain breakfast, lunch, dinner and the frequent in between snacks.

As for the local chipmunk who only rarely gets access to the box, he still has not figured out how to successfully raid it for the goodies ~ stay tuned, I am sure there will be much more to come …..

A morning in the joyful company ….

 ….. of seagulls.

With the tide at an extreme low and therefore providing an abundance of healthy natural food for them, I enjoyed sharing my time with the gulls on Crescent Beach and listening to their wonderful squawking.

On perhaps hundreds of visits to the coast as a young laddie in Scotland, I grew to love the sound of seagulls, their call always provided a significant element of the whole sand, rocks, salty air and coastal wind experience.

When I lived in Southern Ontario, I occasionally heard the same sound of seagulls squawking, but in the landlocked province that was obviously not by the sea. It was instead mainly in and around shopping precincts outside a McDonald’s or Tim Hortons, where the gulls were always waiting anxiously to chew on a piece of discarded Big Mac or a fragment of an overly sweetened Boston Cream. Often at those times when I heard the wonderful sound of seagulls calling, I would shut my eyes and imagine for a brief moment that I was by the coast ~ fortunately nowadays, I no longer have to imagine.

Below are some of this morning’s pics, which includes one where there was a dispute over food sharing … 

A walk onto Bush Island …

With the tide coming in at what I thought was an accelerated rate, this morning’s wander on Crescent Beach was achieved in warm, slightly misty and windless conditions ~ it is rare event to find Crescent without a wind.

After the 2.5km wander along the beach, I had my customary sit down to admire life moment on My Rock. During this time, I was dangerously oblivious to the fact that very soon My Rock was extremely close to becoming an island with the hastily advancing tide.

After narrowly escaping a situation where my feet would have got wet and the title of this blog could have been much different, I decided to do a personal first and walk onto Bush Island. On all my many previous visits to the LaHave Islands, I have always driven over the two iron bridges, the first one separates the Crescent Beach causeway from Bush Island, while the second allows the crossing over to Bell Island.

Below are some pics of the area around the first iron bridge along with a couple from Crescent Beach ….

Is that sign meant for me …?

For longer than I can remember I have always enjoyed walking. I find it has huge physical and mental benefits and now with living in Nova Scotia, I have the added bonus of being able to do by the ocean.

During my working chapter in Scotland, Spain and the Canada, regardless of the weather I always went walking at lunchtime and wore out many pairs of shoes doing it. Perhaps with a slight hint of exaggeration, I often say that “in 37 years of attending a workplace, I could count on one hand the number of times I never walked at lunchtime”.

As a young lad, I would walk with my dad through the country lanes and fields near our house in Scotland, and then on many memorable trips to highlands we would wander the most magnificent beaches, mountain and loch sides ~ it’s no wonder that I turned out the way I did …

But getting back to the plot ~ during 2022 the following sign appeared at Crescent Beach, which lead me to the question ~ is that sign meant for me …? Maybe, I am a very fast walker. 

It has been observed, noted and frequently commented by many on my wanders around the local empire, that I am very fast on my feet. The truth is, I have great difficulty walking slowly, there are odd occasions when I do keep within the speed limits, but they are very rare.

On beach wanders I almost turn the sand to glass as I arrive at one end before departing from the other ~ in the scientific world this is known as “Einstein’s Theory of Beach Wandering”.

So, today as I stepped foot onto Crescent Beach, I pondered as to whether the “Maximum Speed Limit” sign was aimed directly at me. But as normal on this cool bright morning with the tide retreating, I went off again at my usual haste, which fortunately was successfully completed without receiving any speeding tickets …!!

Below are a few pics from the outing …