Birds, Flowers, Street Work & Voting

I was awakened early this morning with machinery sounds as workers were outside my window working. I was surprised they were working this early as it was before 7:00 am – but they were. I rolled over to try to get back to sleep – but it was too noisy, so I finally decided I might as well get up.

They have been working on the road for a few days now, but they haven’t been there this early before today. I have no idea what they are doing other than digging holes and then filling them back in again.

Today the advance polls for the Federal Election in Canada opened and since my polling station is only a short walk away, I headed over there soon after they opened. There was an outside lineup when I got there so I joined in. All of us in line were seniors, so we chatted a bit as we waited. Some of the employees brought chairs out for those who couldn’t stand very long. Almost an hour later, I got inside, but there were still several ahead of me in the inside line. I hadn’t realized that this polling station only had 1 ballet box, so only one person (or family) was allowed in the small room at a time. We seemed to move a bit faster by that time though. Since this was the first day of the advance polls, it may not have been quite as organized as they (or we) would have liked. But – I have voted and will now have to wait for the results. The outside line up was quite a bit longer when I left than when I started, so unless things pick up, they will be waiting for a couple of hours.

I walked home the same way I went, but on the road was a very recent road kill – a little Red Squirrel. A Crow had found it and was starting to eat it, but nearby several Red Squirrels were making a lot of noise and were obviously still very upset. This happened in between my going and returning home, and and must have been just minutes before I saw it. On busy streets it is often impossible to avoid critters in the road, but this is a very quiet bay and it is too bad someone didn’t slow down for a couple of seconds to avoid killing the little guy.

Back home on my balcony, I took a few photos of my flowers and a Chickadee or two.