Garden delights, lunch out

 Garden delights

Lenten Rose:

I shoved a couple of planters in the garage over the winter season. Hauling it out, I found a flower in bloom. I set it out front hoping for the best. 

The skunk roars on by:

Our temperatures have been up and down. One day I'm in a summer dress...

Then I am bundled up...

It's too early to mow, really. No mow May, etc., but I had them take my tractor away for a tune up. I did a quick mow as they said it would be 3 weeks. 

My sewing machine has an automatic threader. It is not working. I've been trying to figure it out. I think the little hook is bent, as it ought to go in the hole. It is so difficult to see it, I had to take a photo.  Another project. 

Nutmeg is such a cute cat. If I fits I sits! She is sitting on her cat bed, but certain humans threw their blankets on her chair.

This show how wee Nutmeg is, compared to her big brother, Cinnamon.

An actual bullfrog in the frog pond. 

Shoddy work at the pond, but the best we could do with the weasels, minks, and raccoons about:

Non-mental note: I moved a trail camera. I tend to lose them and wander around looking for them. Taking a photo puts it in my brain! This camera is on the big aspen trees Barry is fond of.

Barry has been... well, busy. He loves the aspen, and they've been coming down.  

This is the little aspen grove I've been nursing. The previous owners used to mow it.  I let it go natural.

I expect Barry will move on once he fells our trees! Good thing we have 16 acres. 

We drove to town to have Joe's artwork reframed. On the way, a meandering stream.

Afterwards, we had lunch in Perth.

Soon it will be patio season!

Note to our Premier: Bill McKibben on the solar energy boom: “Sunlight has to travel 93 million miles to reach the Earth, but none of those miles go through the Strait of Hormuz."

Saturday's Critters

It took time and effort to video this! Luck = preparation + opportunity. Blue Jay courting:

🐣 PHOEBE 5 phoebe eggs, estimated to hatch May 15! They are in a safe place. Critters tend to avoid the house. 

 

This Blue Jay was making strange sounds!

 

Barry Beaver continues to be busy. In the dark, it seems. That's when the coyotes are out... I should warn him.

   

 Along Barry's path, a porcupine. Or a porcupette, it seems smallish. 

   

 Our squirrel, '#75,' was supervising the crows who were gathering deer fur for their nest! We lost a fawn in March to coyotes.

   

 The woodpecker was going at #75's nest box! This is in between banging on the internet tower!

 

More critters at Eileen's blog: Saturday's Critters # 646 !

Daffodils and Osprey

 Despite it being 'Spring' we had a cold spell. That said, the Forsythia is in bloom. It is in front of an evergreen, which helps one see it.

My daffodils are thriving. 

The daffodil garden out back:

This patch has had a shock, as it is 0℃ this morning. They are drooping!

I did some work. Every year I promise myself I will research whether one has to remove last year's growth on the ornamental grasses. I figured I'd just get rid of them. That way the new growth will get some sun.

They are terribly sharp, the stems, and you can get 'paper cuts' from them. I left them until the next day. Pacing myself. It was colder, and long sleeves and gloves weren't too hot. Soon the mosquitoes and black flies will be out. I preferred getting this done now.

The ospreys migrate from our territory. They eat fish and snakes, so winter isn't a good time for them when the bodies of water freeze over. 

This one visited our front yard one summer for some reason. Maybe trying out its wings. It pooped and flew off.

We've quite a few human-built nests around the area as we reintroduced them. DDT did a number on their populations. Oh, humans, such harm we do. 

This is what precipitated my post, a fly by of one osprey. 

Spring has sprung!

 The grass has riz...

Jordan and Caitlin packed up his dorm room at Queen's U in Kingston. They took everything to the new student housing apartment he and a friend will rent for the next year. He is in Ottawa for a week, then goes back to look for a summer job. He's been looking for weeks. I hope he finds something. 

Parent/child bonding! Hot and sweaty, Jorden texted, but they have big smiles. A job well done.

In Vancouver our grandies are outdoors enjoying the sun and Spring weather. 

👮We watched a Border Security: American's Front Line. We used to watch the one filmed in Canada. They stopped filming that. I don't know why.

One show they showed them using this amazing tool. I roared! I need that for opening the kitty little containers. Joe went online, searching for 'large lid opener!'

Mother's Day came early! The cats bought this for me. 

It is amazing. I wanted it to open up the kitty litter we use. It is light, and fragrance free. It is amazing! I put the empty containers out at the end of the driveway, they disappear in a day.

Fred is grooming. When you are doing renovations, you need to do this frequently!

 

Busy Barry Beaver! This is #2 of 4. All on one night.

 

We had a heckuva rain yesterday. About 23 mm, nearly an inch. Spring flowers! 

Pond Study

 April 28 – grass fires, as well as rain warnings? It just petered out. Lots of tornadoes on the other side of the border. We had about 2 mm. 

In the frog pond a wood frog has laid these eggs. I took photos, as I'll watch as they grow and hatch into tadpoles!

This was an accidental photo, in that I was trying to get a photo of the Wood Frog eggs in the foreground, and ended up with this.

There are billions of mosquito larvae in the pond. BILLIONS! It seems as if it'll be a banner year. I can see water striders, faery shrimp, toe biters, as well as other wee things. 

fairy shrimp

toe biter

mosquito larvae

Happily, the toe biter was madly eating the mosquito larvae! You go!