This morning, the weatherman said that as of today, no more snow is predicted for us this season. I’m happy to hear that it is Winter’s swan song.
Whether we should believe any of the weathermen is debatable, since they all predicted a 1-2 inch snowfall last night. *
This morning I got up and switched on the radio to get my first news fix of the day and the weatherman said “oops – that predicted snow kind of fizzled out.”
So, I gained a bonus walk.
Oops indeed … it seems there are many oops when it comes to the weather, and that is why I told you recently that I wait to see what it looks like with my own eyes, and then decide whether I will venture out on a walk.
We’re told that cold weather will prevail until the end of the month, but no more snow, so do I dare tuck away the shovel and hiking boots, or keep them within easy reach?
The swans are still present and accounted for, gliding gracefully down the Ecorse Creek at Council Point Park. This one was in the wider portion of the Creek.
I watched from afar, camera in hand, enjoying the beauty of this bird.
I watched it take that first sip of water – the pause that refreshes.
Then a second sip, equally as tasty.
So why not stick your head and neck into the water and get totally refreshed?
A fellow walker by the name of Mike told me the end of April is when the cygnets are born and at John Dingell Park there is a cove where you can find swans with their babies. Mama swans transport their cygnets by carrying them on their back. I’ve only seen this in pictures before. Mike goes to Dingell Park several times a week and promised to tell me about his first sighting of the 2018 cygnets, so I can hustle down there for a photo op. Mike said once the silver bass start running, Dingell Park will be overrun with fishermen, so I best get down there sometime in April for a primo and unobstructed view of the cygnets.
P.S. – * So go ahead and ask me what’s shakin’ … the weatherman DID NOT predict the earthquake that rumbled through here around 8:00 p.m. tonight. I had just settled in to write today’s blog post and heard this long, low rumble which made the house shake. I thought to myself “is that an earthquake? Another meteorite? Nah, it’s just a large airplane flying way too low.” But, my first guess was spot on. At 8:01 p.m. there WAS a 3.6 magnitude earthquake originating out of Amherstburg, Ontario which is 21 miles from here. It was felt in all the Downriver cities. I turned on WWJ and they reported calls from those who felt the ground shaking but no earthquake was reported. Five minutes later a shallow earthquake was confirmed:
https://www.earthquaketrack.com/quakes/2018-04-20-00-01-35-utc-3-6-5
Those darn Canadians! I say that tongue-in-cheek, because I am a Canadian myself. So what is next? A meteorite in January, an earthquake in April …. I think someone made Mother Nature mad!
Linda Schaub
WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 
Woah Mother Nature is scary in your area!
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AJ – I couldn’t believe that feeling like a big plane was overhead. I am somewhat near the airport so do get some air traffic, but nothing like this. The whole house was shaking … me too!
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The last earthquake we had, I thought a truck had driven into the building!
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Well AJ, they are trying to minimize that earthquake, saying it was “shallow” but it didn’t feel all that small. Speaking of trucks running into a building, some semi truck crashed into a dental office earlier today – took down an entire wall. The patients who would have sat in that office were running late … imagine how they must feel today! The truck actually was embedded in the building:
https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/semi-truck-crashes-into-dental-office-in-clarkston-driver-extricated-from-gravel-hauler
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Oh that’s horrible!!!
We get earthquakes all the time here so they can’t minimize it, though they say it’s a good thing as it relieves the pressure of the plates
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I think they said we’d not had an earthquake of this magnitude since 1915. That’s okay, now that I’ve experienced one and I hope we don’t get any aftershocks. Isn’t that accident awful?
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Yes!
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Beautiful swans! I hope you are able to get pictures of the swan babies.
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Thanks Rebecca – I think swans are so graceful and beautiful, and up until a month ago or so when the two had climbed out of the water, I had no idea they were that large.
I hope to see the swan babies too. Another month before the ducklings and goslings will be here.
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It’s time for spring weather to come. We’ve had over 70 ° F all week. But up the country there is still snow, but even there it is sunny and hot now. Swans is a beautiful and proud bird. We have many mute swans here, and they are so familiar with people that you can come very close to them. In one of my favorite places, Karpalund ponds, there have coming a new pair of mute swans and they are not use to people. One of the swans hissed annoying to me, yet it was in the water some distance away from me.
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They are beautiful birds John and I enjoy seeing them gliding down the Creek at the Park where I walk. I’m looking forward to seeing cygnets, even if I have to check out another park … I don’t see swans at Council Point Park on an everyday basis – it’s like the heron. Sometimes weeks go by and no herons. (Though I think they dodge me, if they see me coming.) .,.. I had no idea how mean they were til the one that chased me.
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April is my favorite time of year. Everything wakes up. I live in Western Oregon and it is fun to watch the trees, the animals, even the people wake from a long winters nap. We all have a spring in our step. Even the pesky weeds.:)
Love the pictures. Thank you!!!
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Bryan – I like April too as everything comes to life. Don’t you just love that first day you go out of the house and the trees have leafed out looking like a canopy over the street … the grass is green, the forsythias are out – it makes you feel alive, and, like you say – everyone has a spring in their step. I have seen no dandelions, nor forsythias which at least brighten the blah landscape … today was a gorgeous day. I walk in the morning and hated to come home. Glad you liked the pictures – those swans are so beautiful!
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Say hello to the Swans next time out. 🙂
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I will – love them and they don’t make every day appearances, and that is what makes them so special!
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Linda, I’m glad snow ❄️ is gone for good till God knows when in December. Is that the same swan from last time? What a gorgeous creature. ♥️
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Me too Iri – it was beautiful today when I was at the Park. I think there are a pair of swans that live at the Park, this was the larger one, thinking the male. This morning there were two walkers who told me they saw two swans building a nest yesterday. They showed me the nest. So, I am hopeful to see some of the cygnets at this Park as well. It will be a while yet. Even the geese don’t have goslings til late May, then suddenly you see goslings running around – so cute!
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Omg! 😮 That’ll be awesome, I love goslings, they are the cutest.🐣 😍💕 Please Linda share their photos when those cute buttons arrive.
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I sure will Iri – I am looking forward to it. I like when they are walking around on the path. I’ll go to the Park, come home with 150 pictures of which maybe 5 or 10 are good, but you keep thinking “better take more in case they move” … they don’t move so much as the parents do – sometimes they turn around and flap their wings and hiss at you, even if you are just looking at the “family” … that’s okay. A mother’s love.
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Oh Linda! 😊 Your description makes them even more adorable. 🐣 I have never seen goslings, but I know ducklings waddle all scattered behind their mothers, trying hard to catch up at all times. 😊
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Yes, they are fuzzy and adorable, and then you see them a couple of weeks later and they have grown into long-legged, boat-shaped bodies and they just grow in leaps and bounds. The ducklings don’t seem to grow so fast, but maybe it is because ducks are so much smaller than geese.
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Oh I see! Ducks 🦆 indeed take a little bit longer to mature.
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I don’t think I have any pictures of ducklings from before because they are small and follow their moms in a neat little row and tend to swim along the water’s edge, so no good pics of them. I think I will go to Heritage Park in May and see if I can get some pictures there as they have all the ducks that lives on the manmade lake they have created. Here is a picture of the goslings taken last year. In the third picture down, you see how little and fuzzy they are, as opposed to up top where they are bigger and gangley looking.
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Aww! Thanks Linda I will surely check them out. 😘
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No more snowflakes and no more earthquakes!
Can we make a truce with Mother Nature and her blind justice?
What do we have to offer in return, Linda?
For no matter what we promise, She knows better than to believe us.
Cygnets? Really? 🙂 They’re called cygnets? LoL
I learned something today. Thank you! What a funny-looking word.
Nice shots of the big white bird! Cheerz to the last frost, UT
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Uncle Tree – I hope there are neither flakes nor quakes! It was beautiful this morning when I walked. I went five miles and hated to come inside.
I think I’m going to write a post about the swans again, as two walkers showed me their nest but the swans were nowhere close. I will keep looking for them, but at Dingell Park, there are more swans, and a better chance to enjoy those little cygnets. It is a funny-looking word, and that’s the word for swan babies. I like that the mom carries them on her back – have a look at this link from YouTube.
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Oh, my gosh! 🙂 That is too sweet!
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I knew you’d like it Uncle Tree. I sure hope I can find some. I like how she “offloaded” a couple and they climbed back on again. 🙂
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Uncle Tree I’m going to “borrow” your sentence about snowflakes and earthquakes for Friday’s blog post title … it has a certain ring to it!
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You have my blessing. 🙂 I kinda liked it, too.
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Thanks … I thought my original title was lame and this was more clever. Do you ever write something, publish it and a few hours later, you think of a catchier title, or you think or a better word or description than you have … at least we have the ability to edit our posts since they are not carved in stone.
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Well, Linda, I pretend they are set in stone, and I abhor regrets, so I usually sleep on a post and title for at least one night. And, I always google titles, cuz I long to be original.
“Beware of too much cleverness, Siddhartha.” Hermann Hesse
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Nice quote Uncle Tree … I usually decide my title while I’m out walking. Many times the blog is half-written in my mind as I walk home or drive home … there are more times I walk than drive. Sometimes I think I’ve got a catchy title and I search on my blog and find I already used it … oops! Then it is back to the drawing board.
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Wow! I didn’t know that Ontario had earthquakes!
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Me neither – I was just as surprised as you. I live relatively close to the border and some parts of Downriver were just across the Detroit River, so a mere 2-4 miles away and they had rattling windows and dishes. I just had the long, slow rumble lasted maybe 45 seconds. I had just settled in to write yesterday’s post, and it was quiet – no fridge running, furnace not running … thought I’d lost my mind for a minute.
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that quake was because all us Canuks were tired of winter & so we put our foot down!
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And that was a might big foot to put down Wayne. Apparently it worked … we have four more beautiful Spring-like days in store for us.
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Welllll I dunno about snow, but we’re getting gallons (litres?!) of rain now. (No, gallons sounds better!) But haven’t seen any swans here lately, you’re a lucky one! Love the ‘drinking’ sequence of pics, so perfect!
I forget where you’re from in Canada, remind me…?
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We had the “rain thing” Tuesday and Wednesday and the weekend before was horrid. I liked that swan drinking as it reminded me of the Coke commercial – I think it was Coke “the pause that refreshes” … I lived in Toronto the first two years of my life, then my parents moved to Oakville, My father got transferred to Ford of Woodhaven (Michigan) from Ford of Oakville.
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Okie doke.
Hey, dig the alliteration of my latest post title. 😁
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I have to go see it Ellie right now – I have not been to Reader yet today, and I treated you to some alliteration in my post I just finished about an hour ago … I know you will be “D”elighted.
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Will read!!
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