Ice-breaking: a slow process

This month's ice-clearing operations on the Rideau River, upstream from the Rideau Falls, have so far only reached as far as the Chinese Embassy. As usual, dynamite was used first, then the amphibious excavator, but it's taking more time than usual because the ice is so thick this year and because the ice is piling up to a huge extent at the base of the falls.

I took some photos yesterday:

They've begun

The ice-breaking crews have sprung into action on the local rivers. The amphibious excavator has created a semicircle of ice floes beneath the Rideau Falls and this morning my husband 'phoned to warn me that the bridge on Sussex Drive across the Rideau River was being closed, so that the dynamiting operations could begin just above the Rideau Falls. As the Minto bridges are also closed at present, this means quite a long detour for people wanting to access the Rockcliffe Parkway.

Anyhow, they have a nice, bright day for it. Windy, but sky clear.

Boats are back

My MacKay Street friend Susan reports that the "boats are back in the dog park" on her side of the Rideau River, ready for use by the ice breaking team. There's no accessible water to float them on yet, though. The Weather Network reports that the "polar vortex makes a return this week" and the current temperature out there is -12º (feels like -17º)

Crossing the river on foot

Mid-week I walked over the Rideau River from our house to the New Edinburgh Park. Other people were doing likewise, and vehicles have been on the ice too, in preparation for the ice-breaking operations.

For the record, I stopped half way across the river to take photos in all four directions.

Straight ahead, the river bank and the New Edinburgh Park

To my left, the Minto Bridges and Green Island

To my right, looking up-river

Behind me, Bordeleau Park, Cathcart Street and the city

An ice-breaking party

Nancy and John invited us and all the other neighbours on Cathcart Street to an impromptu party last weekend, which we very much enjoyed. The wording of the invitation was topical, referring to the icebreaking operations on the Rideau River that will start in a week or two and which several of our neighbours will be able to observe all day long from their homes. The dynamite blasts will certainly rattle our homes, as they do every year. And apparently I'm not the only person who worries about the effect this also has on the local wildlife.

The invitation, including a picture of the demolition team in their orange jackets at work by the river, read as follows:

It's almost that time again.

The boys will soon be on the river playing with their toys and making lots of noise.

That means it's time for our own ice-breaking party where we start to say goodbye to winter and say hello to each other after a long season of semi-hibernation.

Join us [...] for beer, wine, sherry and snacks ... 

A nice idea, John and Nancy! Thanks.

Winter putting up a good fight

Image from the Fletcher wildlife garden website

The crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos brachyrhynchos) are getting restless; there were huge numbers of them flocking and cawing in the sumac bushes on the bluffs above the Ottawa River by Rockcliffe airport yesterday. The lengthening daylight will make them think about nest-building soon.

The blasting operations on the Rideau River began on schedule, with part of Sussex Drive closed to traffic while they dynamited the ice near the bridge there in anticipation of the eventual thaw. When I drove across in the late afternoon there were lumps of ice all over the road that had fallen from the sky in the process. I have heard a few explosions this morning as well.

Despite these harbingers of spring, winter is not giving in just yet. Today began with freezing rain and now snow keeps piling up in the city, with a Snowfall Warning in effect, 15 cm forecast by the afternoon.