Crumbly Acres bird song

Monday morning, I took out the garbage. It is a nice view.

I was greeted by a squadron of Cedar Waxwings.

This is what they love: the serviceberries.

These elms are fighting Dutch Elm Disease. The birds filled them.

Sound up for their chatter.

Joe went in to the 1st Anniversary of Perth General Store on Sunday. He brought me home some free lunch! 

On my way to check for storm damage, our doe.

I found myself another tick. 

 I hadn't seen The Freds since July 5th. This was my opportunity. July 6th I stained the middle deck. All went well. I didn't see any of them until July 7th. 

They have dispersed somewhat. They are solitary critters.

 I think I spotted Auntie Fred July 5th! I imagine them all out there digging burrows.

Cinnamon patrolled. The deerflies are bad. 

The Muskoka Room is the safest spot.

All Voices Community Choir

Caitlin is on her way home. The choir trip is over. She boarded in Zurich Wednesday morning our time, headed for Montreal. That's 8 hours! Then another flight to Ottawa. 

It was a wonderful trip, from all I have seen.

This is a video of their last concert! They performed with The Garfunkels at the Church of St. Catherine in Vilnius, Lithuania.

The best part was when the Canadian Ambassador to Lithuania announced herself as an alto with The Garfunkels! She later said that many diplomats end up joining choirs in Europe as it is a great way to make friends. Music really does bring people together!

All Voices Community Choir

The Freds and flowers

Firstly, to answer Jeanie's excellent question. 

Q. "Was this a tornado or just a major wind/lightning storm?"

It was just a thunder storm, with big winds. Down drafts, perhaps. It went for several km up the highway. It could have been a lot worse.

FRED Report!

OK, while we have tree damage, I do have flowers in bloom. Oh, yes, and views of Fred. I think we have Auntie Fred at the shed. Then a kit under the septic bed. One keeps running up and down the driveway. The grass is greener there! This is July 3

Then July 5th

July 3rd they were on the wood pile.  

 The coyote appeared on the camera in the forest. It looks more like a rabbit than a groundhog.

 

Now, for the flowers. Such a short season we have.

This is a heavy planter. The other one was balanced on an upside down pot. Whoopsie, Butch raccoon! My zucchini plant! 

I moved it, drained the bird bath, and will try this.

I am happy to say the planter Fred decimated, has come back. They haven't been running around the front yard garden. Thankfully!

I rather think these are fireflies! We have hundreds.

Bats in the belfry, or wasps in the flagpole topper. Live and let live!

Storm damage from July 1st & 2nd

 Not to bore you with all the photos, but I do want to record the damage. It helps me to process it, and figure out a plan of attack. We'll have to get someone in, and I need to figure out what I want done. 

I'm feeling a little better today. It's a bit of a shock, and to see those majestic poor white pines... The sun brings a new day. It was a nice view at 5:30!

Tree House White Pine Tree

We spotted the fallen pine tree branches from the house, the next day, July 2nd, another big fall. These beautiful old white pine trees are susceptible to the wind. This is the tree with the tree house. It whipped off the top in two spots.

Before and after...

Pine Tree at the Frogpond

We've lost the top of one beautiful old pine, in the forest just along the path to the pond. 

Down the hill to the meadow a small job.

Deal Elm out front

That is not all. I didn't explore here until the next day. Our rescue squirrel tree is down. The 3 squirrels have moved on and out, which is good. It was an old Elm, ravaged by Dutch Elm disease. It was a perfect spot for the squirrel nest box.

2012 – the sumacs have since died, shallow soil, climate change,
lack of moisture... the original owners mowed all of this. 
The integrity of the Sumac grove was compromised.

2026 the squirrel nest box

The path down to the meadow is blocked. Glad I mowed prior to the storm. 

No one was home. 

The Five Sisters

One trunk fell a number of years ago. When a tree falls in the forest – 2016. We are sort of down to 3 sisters, plus two half sisters.

Barry's Aspen Grove out back

Barry Beaver's Aspen trees are down. In the spring photo you can see all the older Aspen trees on the right, reflecting the sunshine. They are all down. 

All gone.

The path is quite blocked. 

I think we need to wait to see how much Barry eats and/or moves. In the fall we can call in our people to harvest the wood. Burning Aspen isn't as good as other hardwoods, the BTU is very low in comparison. This is why Barry prefers Aspen and Willow. 

Barry has continued to work on it... the doe did an inspection.

From there I went on down to the point. (Maybe that's where I got my tick, a nymph!) The edge of the wetland is chaotic.

What else in the neighbourhood?

We drove to the village to get gas for my lawn tractor. We passed this sweet little church. They lost a big Maple tree which appears on Google maps from Autumn.

Looks like lots of people to help. I heard chain saws for several days from a couple km away.