A cool May morning

Last Saturday morning (May 26) was absolutely gorgeous with a wonderful sunrise and temperatures down around 0C.  Although there was a short frost delay I'm sure that all the golfers had a wonderful morning at the course.

The north edge of the practice green with the rising sun just hitting the trees in the background.

Lesser or Greater?

These Scaups have been around the golf course for quite a few years now.  The males are easily recognizable with their white bellies and flanks and by their blue bills.  According to some literature, the Greater Scaups don't actually breed in Alberta so could these be Lesser Scaups?  I think that they are Greater Scaups that are just in the area for a month or two in the spring, on their way to the northern nesting grounds.

Another look at one of the Greater Scaups in the 9th pond.

one word

Whoops!

Buffleheads

Another early spring visitor to the golf course ponds is the Bufflehead duck, easily spotted due to the large white head patch on the male.  They stop by the golf course for a couple of weeks each spring during their migration.

Mergansers

Some of the earliest visitors back to the golf course each spring are the Common mergansers.  The male, on the left, is quite easy to see from a distance with a large portion of his body being white.  The female has a reddish head with some feathers that fan outwards.  They are fish-eaters and possess a serated bill giving them the nickname "Sawbills".  During the winter months they are like some of the golf course members in that they migrate south to where the rivers and lakes don't freeze.

January also went by very quickly as John, Chris, Kenny, James, Tina and myself did some renovations in the clubhouse.  We removed the old carpeting and painted all the walls in the main area and hallway going to a nice brick red color, adding some warmth to the area.  The ceiling was given 2 coats of paint and a new sub-floor was installed followed by some new carpet and vinyl floor that looks awesome.  New lights were installed throughout the building and the bathrooms also got some new paint and fixtures.  The older style wallpaper in the main entrance was covered over with two good coats of paint and the new furniture really tied it all together.  Unfortunately there are no pictures as I was too tired to take any.  Kudos to everyone for putting in a strenuous three weeks, especially Chris and John for masterminding the renovations.

It' hard to believe that it's almost March and another winter has flown by very quickly.  Things tend to move quickly when you are busy and it was a busy and enjoyable off-season.  The winter months are always a great time to participate in a multitude of educational activities and the first event is the Alberta Golf Superintendent's Association Property Manager's Conference that was held in Red Deer at the end of November.  Each year the Association presents the Distinguished Service Award to a superintendent in Alberta and I was certainly touched when I was chosen to be the 2011 recipient of the award.  Jason Clouston, my good friend from Olds GC made the presentation:

For the entire issue of the magazine http://www.albertagsa.com/external/documents/December%202011%20Final%20Copy.pdf