Interesting Statistics

As you read this, my 64th post, please note the recorder in the upper right hand corner of this page. Below the numbers you will note the words "view my stats".  If you place your cursor over these words they will turn light blue. Click on them and a new page will open that shows this weeks numbers of the people who have visited this Blog as well as the number of pages they have visited.

While the numbers are rather low, they do show a very slow growth. What I find even more interesting is when I go down the list on the left hand side of the page to the 18th item that states, Recent Visitor Activity.

If you click on this heading you will be taken to a detailed list of the more recent visitors. In most cases a person simply reads the page they searched for and then moves on.  In that case the time spent on the page is simply recorded as zero.  If the person moves to one or more different pages the time spent is recorded.
I am quit surprised at the number of people who spend up to an hour or two reading many posts.

What is even more interesting, and some times down right surprising, is the information displayed when you click on item 19 on the left hand list, called Recent Visitor Map.  When this page opens it displays a map of the world with a marker over each town where a recent visitor resides. Clicking on a marker results in a pop up with more information. The markers are constantly being added and subtracted as I believe they only remain about a month. In other words the map shows the visitors to this page during the last thirty days. It only proves that the Internet continues to shrink our world.

Thoughts of Spring

This post is merely to confirm I am still alive, though I barely survived February with a serious case of the Flue. This is the time of the year we search desperately for any signs of spring. I have heard a few crows so that is one indicator.

Late last night the coyote pack was howling in unison with the occasional solo, which my dog replied to. They are on the prowl looking for winter killed deer.

If you look carefully you will see small signs of the snow retreating. The south facing ditch banks are almost free of snow, so I know woodcocks will soon appear .They are a very hardy bird that likes to reclaim their territory and nest very early.

Having said all that, I must get back to work writing some new posts, before the few loyal readers I have give up on me.

Freezing Rain in February

I awoke during the night from the sound of raindrops on my window pane. It was hard to get back to sleep what with worrying about all the problems it causes. The worst is the build-up of ice on the power lines, coupled with strong winds which pull down the lines . No power, no sump pumps, equals water flooding the basement.

Ice on the windshield a quarter of an inch thick gets the day off to a good start. Car door hard to open, windows frozen shut, roads like a skating rink.

But all that is minor when considering the effect freezing rain has on wildlife. With our two feet of snow, a frozen crust cuts the front legs of deer as they walk. Owls are unable to break through the crust to catch the mice they hear under the snow. Ruff Grouse can be sealed in their overnight shelter and starve to death.

I am not going to complain as I will not suffer any injuries or die of starvation.

More Snow and Colder Weather

This morning started out at -18F, the second of two cold nights, with one more to go this evening.

By afternoon it was a sunny and a balmy -3F, so it was time to hit the snowshoe trails.

With three to four new inches of fresh snow, that makes a total of at least twenty-four inches of snow on the ground. The snow depth is very obvious on any large logs laying around.

The packed snowshoe trail is only six inches below the overall snow depth. Without snowshoes, the snow is knee deep and very difficult to walk in. The dog occasionally forgets and ends up floundering up to her chin.

The frequent snow falls through out January has made it difficult to keep all of our trails packed down. One in particular was deep with fresh snow so it was slow going. The old dog was not too happy as she has been spoiled with travel on the packed trails.

Flying Underwater

One spring, as the north end of the Lake of the Woods began to thaw, I headed out into the open water in my canoe. The distance I could go was limited by the ice. Where there was the slightest current, that was where the ice melted first.

As I explored the sections of open water, I noticed a single duck swimming some distance away. When I paddled towards it, the duck moved away ahead of me. The channel slowly narrowed, until it was no more than six feet wide.

Since it was a duck that I was not familiar with, I kept paddling slowly towards it in the hope of identifying it.. As the distance narrowed, the duck suddenly found that it no longer had enough open water to take off in.
I expected it would hop up on the ice and take off from there.

To my surprise, the duck simply dived underwater and disappeared. Because of all the ice, the only open water was behind my canoe, so I looked down into the water to see if I could find the duck. Within a few seconds I saw the duck about ten feet below my canoe and it was moving swiftly through the water by using its wings as if it were flying.

I had seen many ducks and loons dive under water but they seemed to use their webbed feet to propel themselves. In this instance the duck was flying in the water, similarly to the way it flew in the air, with its wings fully outstretched. I watched as it flew below the canoe and then popped up behind me in the open water. From that point it quickly ran across the surface of the water and took to the air.

The ease with which the bird moved through the water was impressive, as it seemed to move effortlessly but with speed. The entire demonstration took place in a matter of seconds, but I was able to identify it as a male Common Goldeneye.
　
　

Saved by "A Flash of Light"

I was directing traffic in Banff, Alberta, one day, at a minor traffic accident, when a passing motorist rolled down his window and asked, “Was anyone hurt in that accident where the car went through the guard rail and down the cliff?” “What accident and where?” I enquired.

I quickly obtained a good description of where the accident occurred, thanked the driver for the information and waved him on.

Once the damaged cars had been cleared from the intersection, I got on the car radio and contacted the dispatcher in the Calgary sub-division. They had no reports of any accident as I described. At that point I contacted the Canmore Detachment, as the accident scene was in their area. They had no knowledge of the accident.

I carefully explained where the accident was located in the mountains, on a very sharp curve, where there was a very steep drop off down the face of the cliff. The key was to look for the any damage to the guard rails.

Within the hour I heard radio traffic and realized they had found the vehicle with the driver still in it and a rescue was taking place. After that I was distracted with other duties and did not hear any additional details.

About a week later I was on the phone with the Canmore Detachment on another incident, and when I was done I asked them about the accident where the car went over the cliff.

I learned that they had a great deal of trouble locating the car as there were no tire marks and no damage to the guard rails. The vehicle could not be seen by anyone standing on the road at the point where the car went over the edge.

The driver of the car that first reported the accident to me, was very careful to point out that he noticed the wrecked car only because the sun was reflected off the windshield, when they were about a half mile away and approaching a u-shaped curve. They were at the top end of one side of the curve and the wreck was at the top end of the opposite side of the U.

It took some time to realize that the car could only be spotted for a second, in one specific place on the highway, some distance away and down the side of the mountain. Many spruce and pine trees hid the vehicle. Both before and after passing that point, it was impossible to see the wreck.

Eventually tire tracks were found in the dirt, where the vehicle had gone between the guard rail posts without touching any one of them. The car dropped down the steep slope about a hundred feet and became lodged on its side between the mountain and the base of a large pine tree.

Mountain climbing gear had to be used to lower a rescuer down the side of the mountain to the car.
It was discovered that the male driver was still alive in the automobile, and terrified to even move. Because the car was on its side he was sitting on the driver’s door and looking down through the glass, to a the bottom of the valley, very far below.

Each time he tried to move, his weight shifted the car and it seemed about to fall down the steep cliff.

Later it was determined that he was not paying attention to the road, but was enjoying the scenery, lost control of the car and went over the edge, but was saved when the car jammed between the tree and the cliff.

The rescue of the driver took place many hours after the accident had occurred, and at a time when he thought he would never be found. He yelled for help but could not be seen nor heard. He would probably have died, long before he would have been found.

Recovery of the car was even more difficult and all traffic on the road had to be halted for a number of hours until the job was done.

The man was saved only because a very observant driver saw "a flash of light" off the windshield and realized it was a car. He assumed it was an old accident but spoke to me only because he was curious about the details. I was too busy at the time to get his name, but I did follow up on the report and was happy to hear the driver was saved.

Mountain Driving at Night

One very dark night I was driving my car from Banff, Alberta, and heading for Calgary. The old highway I was traveling on clung to the side of the mountain, with a steep drop off to my right and a cliff to my left. The road wound back and forth with many curves that did not allow any distractions.

There was no other traffic in the beginning, but eventually I was passed by a brand new 1955 Buick on one of the few straight sections of the road. I was driving a 1953 Hillman convertible which had trouble with the hills, but handled the mountain curves with ease.

As the miles passed, I would catch up with the other vehicle on the curves, but then fall back on the straight sections, which were few. Normally I do not like following another vehicle, but it was such a pitch black night I appreciated the lights of the car ahead, as he gave me warning of the direction of the curves.

The miles were sliding by, until we ran through a serious of sharp curves, during which I caught up. We then reached a straight section of the road which led down a slight hill.

Suddenly, with no warning, the tail lights of the other car came on, in what was obviously a panic stop. I immediately applied my brakes and the two cars skidded in unison down the highway. I can clearly remember seeing the smoke curling up from behind each of his rear tires as he was skidding. Almost at the same time, the Buick smashed into something on the road, and a short distance later, came to a full stop.

I managed to get my vehicle to stop with less than ten feet separating our vehicles, but I stalled the engine. The headlights on the Buick were knocked out and just the tail lights remained on.

I got out of my vehicle and as I walked forward, the other driver got out. I asked him what happened but he did not know what he had hit. All he saw was a dark object on the road just before he smashed into it. Steam from his broken radiator was leaking out in the cool night air and it was very difficult to see. The other driver was not injured but he was quite upset.

There were no towns or even homes in this area of the Bow River Valley, so it was pitch dark in every direction. As I had a flashlight in the car, I went back to get it, so we could check the damage.

When I came back with the flashlight, we examined the front of the car and found the entire front end smashed along with the hood and fenders. We found blood on the road and it led to the edge of the highway and then down into a steep ditch.

I suggested that he had hit an elk, since they were numerous in this area of the mountains. When I grabbed the flashlight I had also grabbed my service revolver, in case we had to put the injured elk out of its misery.

My flashlight was not very bright so we proceeded slowly, down into the steep deep ditch. Once we were safely down the slope I shone the light on the other side of this very dark ditch.

It took a second for it to sink in, just exactly what we were looking at in the puny beam of light. Standing upright with both front legs spread wide was the biggest black bear I had ever seen. Its mouth was open, its eyes were glaring and blood was dripping from the jaws.

In one motion, the two of us spun around and climbed out of that ditch with record breaking speed.
As we ran up onto the highway I took a quick look with the flashlight to see if it was following us. While still running, I saw the bear fall backwards on to the far side of the ditch bank and lay still.

It took a few moments for us to calm down and get our hearts beating at a somewhat normal rate. Then I slowly moved back around the front of the smashed car and checked out the location of the bear. By this time it was lying motionless on its back and the eyes were closed. We waited some moments to make sure it was not breathing before we checked it up close.

The bear had died from massive injuries, but had enough strength left to stand up as we jumped down into the ditch. It was probably as frightened as we were in the last seconds of its life.

We left the Buick with the tail lights on and set out some warning reflectors before I drove the owner to the next town where he could hire a tow truck. I continued on to Calgary and was quite wide awake for the rest of the trip.

The next morning on my way back to Banff, I stopped at the scene, but everything had been cleaned up, including the bear. I found out later that some local Indians had removed the bear and made use of the bear meat, and in particular the bear claws.