Butch Raccoon visited

 I'm amazed that people have time to visit blogs. I've been sheltering in place! I do enjoy connecting with fellow bloggers. It makes my day. 

First, we had a snow storm Tuesday. JB went out and did the sidewalk. Twice! We are having a white Christmas.

I did the driveway once, just before dark. There was only about 4 cm at the time. It kept snowing!

Mid-October RVWS brought a dozen rehabilitated, orphaned raccoons for release. It was so much fun. There was a trio that stuck together through November. They've appeared on trailcams from time-to-time. 

There was plenty of food, until there was our cold December. They hunker down in the cold, don't truly hibernate. Safe in a tree in the forest. Until our recent melt. 

In our big melt, we had raccoon visitors. Hungry ones! 

Raccoons 1

   

 It's difficult to spot them until you see them moving. I was clued in as the pumpkins had been attacked! JB has been looking forward to these videos. They can get into trouble if you don't keep garbage secured, as well as bird seed. 

 

Something scared them and they ran up the tree. You can see their eyes reflecting the light.

 

One of them sounded the all clear, and they all came back down the tree quickly. This one decided to check out the water barrel!

 

I hope you had a good giggle. It's a busy time of year for many. A sad time for some as they miss family or friends, or old traditions. I hope I helped. 

Barry Beaver's Trees

Barry felled a number of trees, or half felled them. We had a quick freeze up, which interrupted his work this fall. Here he was in late November, busy as a beaver.

Nov. 25, 2025

 Barry Beaver is locked in under the ice. I hope he cached enough food or is napping. The ice melted in our rain. Then refroze. No sign of him. I'd done some reading, and there are some beavers called bank beavers. Not that it is a different species, but some dig out a lodge in the banks of rivers. I've no river, only a wetland. I suspect Barry will survive. 

This is before the melt! 

This is a sample of his work! The widow maker... 

Widow maker for sure.

We had a wind storm go by, as well as rain. 

From the deck I noticed something that was missing! No widow maker. Hmmmmm...

I approached, and noticed this one newly leaning. Uh oh. This was one he'd partially felled. 

It is firmly wedged in the 'Y' of another tree. This is good. It won't budge.

You can see another tree he worked on but did not finish. (Non-mental note!) I'll be careful to watch that one. 

This is to help us remember what it looks like. Still no sign of my trailcam that he stole. Little twerp!

That is a relief. 

Back to bird watching!

The mailbox flag

 Friday, I toddled out to check for my mailbox flag. It was the day of our melt. I had a ribbon tied on the end, but it fluttered away, as well. It had come off in our winds, obviously not secured properly. 

It's a two-lane highway, and most people, when I am out there, pull over across the centre lines to give me space. It's 80km/hour, but people tend to go faster. I could hear the traffic as I struggled with the flag, retying it with a piece of raw hide. I hope that will suffice. 

As I stood in the rain struggling, a car passed behind, and a truck pulled into the lane directly behind me at great speed to pass the car. I could feel the wind, and the noise of the truck putting pedal to the metal gave me a fright. I was shaking. With social anxiety, I have a bad startle reflex. 

It's not the first time.

Ornaments

Daisy used to like my ornaments and the tree. This was in 2016. 

Joseph Brian offered to take some decorations to the second hand store. I am trying to clean out and purge. If you didn't use something in the previous years, perhaps it should be passed on. 

I sent a note in with them: 

These ornaments are very special. When I went to visit a friend for her December wedding in Northern Ontario, 51 years ago. My parents had gone to cut down a Christmas tree. They cut a small one for my dresser. These decorations were on the tree. I added more, as my students gave me some over my 25 years teaching. Dec. 26th I turn 69. 

My cat, Daisy, adored the tree ornaments, and liked to play with them. Until she chewed the lights one year. She is no longer with us. Nor is the tree. We’ve out grown them. We don’t have a tree anymore. 

My kids are grown up. I have 4 grandkids. I hope someone will find these a nice addition to their Christmas. We need to downsize. The best of the season to all of you.

She was a hoot! 
(This cost us several hundred dollars.)

In the meantime, here we are:

Crumbly Acres Critters

Saturday was the Christmas Bird Count in our area. I could find some of my previous data.

Mourning Dove - 13 
Downy Woodpecker - 1
Blue Jay - 3 
Black-capped chickadee - 8 
American Goldfinch - 1 
American tree sparrow - 1 
Dark-eyed Junco - 4 
Cardinal - 2

Alison, who coordinates it for our area, sent out a message. She reiterates that we can only count the highest number of birds we see at any one time. I did have to look up 'sexually dimorphic species.' (Critters that look different, depending upon their sex.) I spotted both a male and female Downy, but not together. I couldn't count 2!

At my age anything new is good. I turn 69 on Friday! Joseph Brian (my much older husband) and I had a giggly discussion about this. 

Our cottontail rabbit appeared, 2 Gray squirrels (black morph), and 1 red squirrel. It was a busy spot! Everyone wanted on the list. Some did not fit!

The deer, mother and fawn, had a nap in the yard.

I spotted this rounded brownish thing in the front yard. Turns out it was Labbit! She hunkered down in the deep freeze. Labbit spent her time cleaning up the mess the birds made. She seemed quite happy to do so.  

There was a truce under the tree, both Gray Squirrels (black morph) were similarly cleaning up.

We had so much snow, and then a melt! I thought I should show these from December.

 

 I was crowing that I captured deer actually making their beds in front of the trailcams. Apparently, I not only captures another deer making its bed, but one reusing a bed. They tend to move about, what with they coyotes. I'll find beds all over the forest.

 

Apparently this pair had to inspect the bed, sniffing them thoroughly!

 

Since a neighbour feeds deer to shoot them, we like to support our winter herd. (They disappear and spread out in the forest in summer.) We had 7 visitors on Dec. 16th, then 9 on Dec. 17th. I guess word had spread.

 

During our melt, I shuffled on down to the frog pond. The deer poked a hole in it for a nice drink.

 

Comin' home for Christmas!

There is so much going on! My son, Jesse, in Vancouver moves today. Last I heard. Things are hopping there, I am sure. They visited in October, and had a grand time here and in Ottawa. I am thinking of them, Bryony and Cluny here in our front yard.

Bryony, Aster, Caitlin, Jordan, Jess and Cluny:

This week, Aster had a Junior Band concert at her Ottawa high school. Last week's trip wore us out, so we didn't not attend. Aster belongs to Trex, a girls group. They are planning a camping trip. 

Thursday, Dec. 18, I asked if Jordan was good to go, well, to come home to Ottawa! He kindly posted a photo from Kingston, packed bags. I live vicariously through our kids. With great excitement, I tracked Jordan's bus. It's only $40, and he likes the independence. We have volunteered to help out with transportation if needed, but look at this! The Flix Bus goes from Toronto to Kingston and on to Ottawa. I heard later that he missed the city bus connection and had to grab a later Flix bus! At least I was amused, and occupied! 

This was the sunrise.

The cats seem to know things have melted. Cinnamon was running around this morning, even though it was raining. Usually, in the recent extreme cold, he stays in bed. They both sat on the front deck, watching #75 in the rain in the tree! 

We had a major melt, 18mm rain, and today we're back into the deep cold. I finally managed a photo of 75 near his nest box. I think he sneaks back into it most of the time!

There is another black squirrel, they either chase one another, or share scattered seed under the feeder. Perhaps it should be #76?!

76!

Joseph Brian is still have fun with lights. 

 

Mamma doe showed the fawn where the pumpkin was. 

You can see the second deer bed under the fawn's belly! Sadly it was just off camera. 

  

The fawn has been working on the one uncovered pumpkin. Of course, all this snow is mostly melted. 

Crumbly Acres: coyotes and deer beds

December is always a 🎲 crap shoot for weather. I am fascinated by the critters, and how they cope.  It's such a dance, the seasons. Butch raccoon has been in slumber. They don't truly hibernate, and I expected to see them. Also Labbit! 

I got some exercise and fresh air, walking down to the frog pond trailcam. I was very excited, as I spotted coyote tracks all over the place. (I almost never see the coyotes during the day time!) I've 4 trailcams, with two down in the forest. You can see how the paws sink down in the snow to the ground, which isn't frozen. 

Non-mental note: the tracks were down the hill, through the cedar corridor, past the frogpond trailcam, back up the hill, and along the driveway, to and from the highway. The clever things avoided 2 of 4 trailcams! I readjusted a trail cam, because I think I am smarter than they are. 😖

Here are the doe and the coyote, at different times in the same location.

It's fun roaming the forest and seeing who has been there in the snow.  This is a high traffic corridor, sort of higher ground between the wetland and our frog pond. 

The deer seem curious about trailcams, unlike bears, etc., who can wreck them!

  

I've a lot of images of deer beds. I took a photo of the deer beds in the cedar corridor, coyote tracks crossing them. There were three beds.

 

Miracle of miracles, I have a video of the deer making their beds! This is the first time I've captured it on the trailcams. As I wrote, it is a high traffic area, and maybe a silly place to sleep. The coyotes can't take down a healthy deer, however. Not with those hooves. 

 

 

 Here is the second time a few days later!

   

 We've had rain all night, and the snow cover is dwindling. It might not be a white Christmas! There is a flash freeze tonight. I'll have to change my header!