I’m excited to see how participants interpreted this month’s Photo Blogging Challenge theme – exploration! Did anyone explore one thing with a set of 5 photographs? Who traveled to a new-to-them place? Did anyone investigate/study/analyze something interesting?

As for the GeoKs, we deepened our familiarity with some local trails, started to become familiar with a new-to-us small kitchen appliance, and solved a problem by investigation and trying possible solutions. Here are some of those moments, captured in photographs:

1. Alert

One of our favourite ways to explore is on foot. We stay alert when walking and hiking. In urban areas, cars, bicycles and icy patches are some of the most common safety hazards. On mountain trails, it’s fallen trees and wildlife. For example, even though the Canmore elk herd is quite habituated to humans, we give them a wide berth. During rutting and calving seasons, we give them even more room! And there’s a reciprocal alertness, with at least one elk carefully watching our passing until we’re no longer a threat.

2. Alone

One way of becoming familiar with which bird species overwinter in your area is by hanging at least one feeder. We’ve hung two – a suet block holder and a squirrel-proof birdseed feeder. While there’s room for multiple songbirds to perch at the feeder, we’ve notice that birds at the suet block dine alone. Even when Mr and Mrs Hairy Woodpecker visit at the same time, they take turns at the suet block feeder.

3. Learn

When something stops working, it’s time to investigate. For me, part of the investigation is learning from others, often via YouTube or discussion threads. When my fancy, built-in, 15 year-old coffee maker suddenly started filling my mug with nothing but hot water, I found one post that got me started.

Initially equipped with a pipe cleaner, I soon opted for a tiny bottle brush and then a right-angle hook on a handle. Between that assortment of tools and my finger, I managed to unblock the chute between the bean grinder and brewing unit, dislodging enough finely ground coffee to brew at least two mugs!

I now know NOT to use the finest grind setting for more than a cup every now and then. The powdery grinds eventually clog up the works!

4. Trail

Despite walking the same trail over and over, we’re never quite sure what we’re going to experience or see on any given day. This particular day, Mr GeoK ended up with one foot going through the shoreline ice. Fortunately, he carries spare socks, so changing the one, he was good to go for the rest of our planned walk.

Speaking of plans, we’re keen to explore Canmore’s 2024 “Art Walk in the Woods” before the end of March.

5. Trial

Mr GeoK finally talked me into agreeing that it’s time to add an air fryer to our assortment of small kitchen appliances. He did a lot of research before buying a Dreo ChefMaker Combi Fryer (on sale).

So far, we’ve prepared a sirloin strip steak, homemade fries and hash browns. We reheated a few slices of pizza and a sausage roll. And we baked some frozen croissants, including this delicious pain chocolat.

There are a lot of recipes on the internet specifically for air fryers. But when it comes to old favourite recipes, some trial and error will be involved (hopefully not too many errors).

Mini Review

Our first impressions are very favourable. For example, the (thawed) frozen croissants baked in about 13 minutes with no pre-heating. In our regular oven, we’d have had about 15 minutes of preheating and then baked them for 22 minutes, so that’s quite an energy savings. And the capacity of this unit is just right for one or two people, so those energy savings can be a regular thing for us.

Finally, we don’t eat a lot of meat, but when we do, we often enjoy BBQing. I can think of two ways this unit is preferable to a BBQ: 1) it works well at -30C (-22F), when propane starts to jellify and it’s hard to get the BBQ to temperature; and 2) no direct CO2 emissions, as when BBQing. More testing will confirm whether the Dreo is an adequate replacement for the BBQ at least some of the time.

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That’s it for this month’s photos. But before pointing you to the linkup for the group, let me point out the extra layer of exploration embedded in this post – just in case you missed it. 😉 All of the titles for the images are spelled with letters from the word “exploration.” And I opted for five-letter words because of the symmetry with five photos.

Now, if you’re as excited as I am to see how other participants explored this theme, hop on over to host PJ’s post. The link up is at the bottom.

While you’re there, please consider joining us next month. I’ll drop the theme for March here as soon as it’s available. All you need are 5 photos and a blogging site. We are a small, supportive community always keen for new members to join.