Tag Archives: Whitemud Ravine

Is that…the sun?

July 11, 2019

God knows I love a rainy day. If I am not at work, it’s like free time. I don’t feel pressured to do anything but read. And drink coffee. And listen to the lovely sound of raindrops on kittens, or something like that. But this is getting ridiculous. We’ve had so much rain from mid-June to now, mushrooms have become the official plant of Edmonton, and I swear some of them are becoming sentient.

According to local weatherologist Josh Classen this is only the second rainiest period (June 1-July 7) in the recent past at 138 mm of rain, and we’ve had more rain since he made that graphic. However, enough complaining. Yesterday evening (Wednesday), the clouds broke after an exceedingly gloomy day, and the sun and blue sky were like a spa day and jail break rolled into one. It was beautiful.

I drove over to Sharon’s for dinner, and a walk with Stella. We walked along the powerline and then into Whitemud Ravine. The creek, as expected, was very high and fast which made Stella even more nervous about crossing the wooden bridge, but she made it and we had a great time. She looked particularly lovely nosing about in the clover.

The good thing about the rain is the lushness of the foliage, and a reprieve from the always looming drought, but today it’s once again overcast and cool. Looking forward to my day off on Friday which is supposed to be sunny and warm. O Great Mushroom Lord of the Sky, let it be.

Wednesday (19C) 7:20 – 8:15 pm

Really, I’ve Walked

June 19, 2019

Oh Facebook, robbing this blog of content. Must be the instant gratification of FB. I never know who is reading this blog, if anyone. No matter, it’s kind of a personal journal anyway, with pretty pictures. As always, I want to spread the word of how magnificent the green spaces of our city are, but the blog also serves as a record of my existence, of my adventures small and large, of the dogs in my life, and of the passage of time. That’s enough. But readers are good too.

So here is my walk from Sunday, June 2 with Stella, in a hot and sunny Whitemud Ravine.

I think it was about 22C

Easter Monday in Whitemud

April 29, 2019

On the whole, this April has been very nice, with the exception of this weekend. It snowed Saturday and Sunday, worse in Calgary than here, but still, enough to whiten the ground and temporarily displace thoughts of spring. I was dog-sitting while Kate was in Calgary (driving in harrowing white-out road conditions) and Sharon and Vic were (and still are) in Scottsdale.

Stella of course loved the snow, but it was very cold and very windy, so in the afternoon we only walked for about 45 minutes, with two smaller walks Friday night and Saturday morning.

This post isn’t about the weekend, however, but Easter Monday, April 22 when my car was at the dealer getting its summer gear on and Stella and I had two hours to romp in Whitemud Ravine.

It was a beautiful walk! The ravine is snow/ice free and trails were open and wonderfully soft underfoot. Stella seemed very happy to have so much to smell, and she had her first dip of the year in the creek (along with two annoyed geese). The area where she had her swim, by the rickety boardwalk, has been cleared of trees and bushes. Apparently, both the boardwalk and the stairs will be replaced. I hope they do it in a timely fashion. Many trails in our river valley and ravines are in need of maintenance or repair, but so often, the areas are just blocked off.

During our walk, I was able to get a few chickadees to eat out of my hand, always so cheering. Unfortunately, it’s been so dry there were no frogs in the bog, parts of which was either frozen or dry. The rest of the walk was uneventful, although that final part through Westbrook I think was a bit hard on Stella. She seemed disappointed that none of the cars at the trail head were mine. The walk through the neighbourhood added an extra half hour, for a total of about two hours.

It was about 21C, I believe. We had one day in April that was 23C!

Stick Day!

April 1, 2019

Went for a walk in Whitemud Ravine with Stella and Sharon on Sunday. There is still snow in spots, but the path down the power line is clear, and the creek is running very high and very fast. Stella found a series of giant sticks and amused herself (and us) trying to haul them away.

It was overcast, but warm. Saturday was beautiful with a bright blue sky (like today, Monday) but I was mostly running errands so I didn’t go for a walk.

I’ve been walking most work days home, and that will pick up now that the hockey season is almost over (thank god). One more home game, and then we are freeeee! I wish the Oilers were in the playoffs, but the regular season is such a time commitment already, so I’m not sad about gaining some more time in my life. More time, that is, to frolic in the woods after work and on the weekends.

8C (yesterday).

Christmas Eve Day

December 24, 2018

I write this more than a week past my last ‘good’ walk and on my last day of work for the year. It’s Christmas Eve, and while I am here until noon, there is not much going on, so…

And also, this may prove to be my one and only post from December 2018, but I hope not. Surely there will be some walking opportunities over my week off? You see, that’s the difference between Donna pre and post 2011, when I moved over to the south side. Before, I would create the walking opportunities. It was very rare that I didn’t walk five or six times a week, even if it was just the short 25 minute commute home to Mill Creek. Now, I seem to wait for the perfect weather, or I don’t think about it at all. Sigh…

Funny how habits, ingrained habits, can vanish if the circumstances change. I moved out of my very walkable neighbourhood in 2011 to move in with Sharon’s family for a year, and I stayed for six. And now, back on my own for eight months, I’m still struggling to regain my old habit of making a daily walk my top priority.

In any case, last Friday, December 14, my office gifted us with a day off, a ‘shopping day’, and so while I did hit a mall at some point, I still managed to drive over to my sister’s place to take her dog, Stella, for a walk in a deserted Whitemud Ravine. It was almost creepy how deserted it was, and gloomy. It was book-ended by two beautiful blue sky days, but Friday was overcast and it felt very dark in the woods. Glad I had Stella with me for this reason, and a million more.

We had a good time. I wore my micro-spikes and they were extremely helpful. The trails are quite icy from the warm weather and occasional rain mixed with snow, which seems to be the norm these days. Stella, as usual, wore her naturally spiky nails.

A walk is a walk, though, and we had a good time.

I don’t remember what the temperature was, but not too cold. Probably around -2C.

And then this happened…

September 23, 2018

I made a Chelsea and Andy in honour of their wedding

This is going to be a photo post, because it’s so nice and pretty today (Sunday) but Friday and Saturday were pure rubbish. Once again, it snowed. It snowed hard. Snowed so hard I had to shovel my car out.

I am dog-sitting Stella for four days because most of my family is in California for my step-niece Chelsea’s wedding. Even though I went for two walks a day with the doggo in the heavy wet snow, which did not make me happy, I will admit to a small frolic in the snow on Saturday. It wasn’t until all the snow melted (6cm plus) on Sunday morning that we went for a proper walk in Whitemud Ravine. Landscape-wise, it was like the snow hadn’t happened at all. Mentally…I’m still scarred.