Our summer team

Yes, that was our summer staff for Kerry Wood Nature Centre and Fort Normandeau that you may have seen taking pictures (and, um, doing performance art) around the park system today. Looks like a great team this year, and I think we're all raring to go...

Peeking over

Jim shot this photo of the sunflowers at Fort Normandeau peeping over the palisade. Anyone who's visited the Fort and has seen how tall the palisade is can tell you that the sunflowers were a pretty impressive size this year.

The Fort Normandeau grounds close for the season in October, but we look forward to your visits in May 2012. In the meantime, there's always plenty to see and do here at the Nature Centre. Give us a call at 403-346-2010 for information on our upcoming events for fall and winter.

Canada Day weekend in the park

If you're looking for something a little different to do for the long weekend, why not join us out at Fort Normandeau for a Family Sleepover? The sleepover goes from 5 pm Saturday (July 2nd) to 12 pm Sunday, and meals will be provided. Bring your tent, and we'll bring the activities, games, and campfire. The cost is $35 + GST per family. Please preregister by 7:30 pm on Thursday, June 30th.

If you'd like something that isn't overnight, join me at the the Fort on Sunday, July 3rd for an edible plant walk. We'll be talking about some of the historical and modern uses of our native plants, plus I'll point out a few useful weeds that might be helpful on your summer camping trips. We'll be starting at 2 pm. The cost is by recommended donation of $3/person or $10/family.

For more information on this or any of our other upcoming summer events, give us a call at 403-346-2010.

Christmas at the Nature Centre

Just a reminder to anyone looking for something a little different for Christmas gifts this year that tickets for the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour (January 13th & 14th at the Memorial Centre) are now available at the Nature Centre, Valhalla Pure Outfitters, or Purearth Organics. Tickets are $20+GST for each night, or $36+GST for both nights.

As well, the Nature Centre Bookstore is a great source of local nature books, bird feeders and seed, and a wide array of unusual stocking stuffers. Looking for planispheres? Pocket Naturalist Guides? Chocolate-covered Insects? We've got them here!

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If you're looking for Christmas/winter activities, consider participating in the Christmas Bird Count on December 19th. Potluck supper to follow at the Nature Centre. Please call the Red Deer River Naturalists at 403-347-8200 for more information.

For some old-fashioned Christmas fun, come out to Fort Normandeau and join us for Christmas at the Fort (Sunday, December 19th from 1 - 4 pm). There'll be snowshoeing, crafts, activities and a bonfire. It's a great afternoon of fun with the family. $3/person or $10/family at the gate.

For more information on any of our winter programming, please call us at 403-346-2010.

Thank You

CHCA (RDTV by any other name) has been pulled off the air by their parent company.

Over the past decade, the RDTV News Crew and all its variations in name, staff, format and times has been an invaluable ally for the Kerry Wood Nature Centre.

We have been sought out by videographers and reporters looking for expert opinion and/or local insights to environmental stories. For years we were given free-reign for 10 minutes, once a month on the noon-hour news broadcast. The hosts proved to be very game as we brought "things" into their studio; snakes, salamanders, meal-worms, turtles, frogs, drums and drummers, art, snowshoes and in one very memorable show, an entire hive of live bees.

The news crew came to our events, promoted our programs, answered our phone calls and requests for assistance and generally helped keep the Nature Centre and Fort Normandeau in the public mind.

On one noon hour show, Caroline Jarvis and Al Redel took a minute to do my wife a favour and surprise me by broadcasting a picture of my son and I fishing; it was one of the best birthday presents I've ever received.

And now, Chanel 11 is dark, we have no local television news and a talented group of people have been forced to leave town or find other work. Many of them we at the Nature Centre consider our friends.

So, from all of us at the Nature Centre and Fort Normandeau, thank you to all the friends we made at RDTV/CHCA. Your support over the years was amazing. You will all, always have our gratitude.

The joys of yarrow

I'd like to thank everyone who came out for my edible plant walk this afternoon, even after the sudden change of venue (Fort Normandeau was going to be a busy place so we moved the walk to the Nature Centre).

For those interested in edible plants (or those who would like to know what the post title above means), I have one more scheduled walk coming up in August. This one will be at Fort Normandeau -- really -- on Wednesday, August 6th, at 6:00 pm.

Give us a call at the Nature Centre (403-346-2010) to pre-register.

Seen at Fort Fest:

Red Deer Aboriginal Dance Troupe

Our New Neighbour

On Thursday last week Diane and I were out taking pictures of the building for new banners, web-images and other uses. I've got the camera nicely mounted to the tripod and totally locked into a position that, while great for taking slightly upwards-facing images of the building, was totally useless for what came next.

From behind me I heard Diane exclaim "That's the oddest looking Ground Squirrel I've ever... wait a minute... that's a weasel!"

I turned around and sure enough, there, sitting up like the world's skinniest-looking Richardson's Ground Squirrel, was a Long-Tailed Weasel.

We are trying to get a picture of it but it's a quick little critter. The best either of us has so far is a black-tipped tail & rear-end zipping off through the bush.

You can find more information about Long-Tailed Weasels here.

We'll do our best to get a decent photo posted. Watch this space.


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In other news.

Our thanks go out to Community Savings Credit Union and Sobey's Eastview for sponsoring Fort Fest at Fort Normandeau this past weekend.

The Red Deer Aboriginal Dance Troupe and the Waskasoo Bluegrass Society both put on great shows. The Red Deer Archery Club taught dozens of kids how to safely shoot a bow & arrows. The 65th Mount Royal Rifles and the Firestick Living History Society recreated their annual "Battle that never actually ever happened but it's fun to shoot at each other skirmish". The employees and volunteers at the Fort cranked and served gallons of ice-cream and the 78th Field Artillery Unit from Red Deer gave folks a chance to meet the new army and send messages to our troops overseas. Add to that an antiques show and sale and you've got a very full weekend.

If you happen to be at the Fort over the next few days, forgive them their exhausted looks. They all put in a huge effort.

Out on the lake

If you're willing to brave the mosquitoes on the Dr. George Trail, you'll find that the high water levels this year have led to some interesting sights.

The beavers have recently started taking down a few trees in a normally dry part of the forest. I was sort of surprised that they waited this long to start feeding there, but I'm assuming that the high water has made lots of different trees more accessible to them and we just haven't noticed the busier areas yet.

You can find these chewed trees close to the Nature Centre as you first enter the forest on the Dr. George Trail.

One of the nicer things about the flooding has been that it's much easier to watch our muskrats at work on the West Lake from the viewing deck. Usually you'd need binoculars to see whether the brown thing swimming in the water is a muskrat or a beaver, but this year it's not uncommon to see muskrats feeding on cattails right beside the deck.

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I thought I'd end with a quick note about the edible plant walk I mentioned below. The program is definitely a go, so if you're interested in learning the basics of safe grazing give us a call at (403) 346-2010 before July 14th to pre-register. We'll be meeting at Fort Normandeau at 6:30 pm on Saturday the 14th. Hope to see you there!