Saturday's Critters

 It's both hunting season, and mating season for deer. I noticed some deer scrapes in the forest. They scrape out a clear spot, and urinate on their glands to spread their scent. They nudge low hanging branches with the same purpose. They've 5 sets of glands, I believe. 

Sure enough, a young buck.

The does are hanging around now. We didn't see them most of the summer after the fawn was born in the front yard.

   

 I heard the owl, and figured out it was in the back 40.

 

Butch in the rain, they are bulking up for winter!

   

 I found this caterpillar on the driveway. I put it in the leaves, in a safer place. Time to sleep!

   

 The coyotes continue to take advantage of the driveway. Only in the dark.

 

Saturday's Critters # 621 visit Eileen's blog for more critters.

No end to the excitement...

 We've had a busy few days. Somebody has contact dermatitis on his head. We think from a (wool) hat he put on. He is allergic to wool. This is our working theory. After Caitlin's advice, I sent him in to ask the pharmacist about some cream with cortisone. It didn't seem to work. He went back in for a stronger (2%) product. 

In the meantime, there was a doctor's appointment. Joe has problems with ingrown toe nails. It is painful, as I am sure you can imagine. The doctor said it's not as bad as some of his patients. I left the room while a procedure was done. All went fairly well. The physician forgot, in the excitement, to actually email to Rx to the pharmacy. (That took a couple of days to fix. I picked it up for him.)

At home I'd prepared various bandages, not knowing what we had or needed. It turns out not to have bled as much as last time, not as extreme a lift off.

🐭I arose from my bed the next day. I could hear something rattling the furnace vent. Hmmmm. Flipping out the vent, I pulled back the sofa to wait and see. 

I took off to the kitchen to get coffee going, then settled into my chair to do my blogging. Nutmeg came back into the room, after pointing out the noise to me (like a hunting dog!), and was staring in the upside down vent. There was a mouse!

Out it went, to live another day. 

Over it goes, into the leaves. Whew!

It scuttled off. 

 🇨🇦 The rest of our day was taken up with politics. There is more great excitement here, since PM Carney has tabled his first budget. He is an international economist, and many have great faith in him. The government either votes to accept the budget or to topple the government and have another election. 😱The Liberals have a minority government. The Liberals had a new member of their party 'cross the aisle' to join them from the Conservative Party. Then, late yesterday another Conservative met with the PM, stating his resignation. Rumours are that there were many threats in the darkness against him and his family, should he defect to the Liberals. He decided to resign his seat shortly. The word coercion was mentioned. 

This morning, he has not officially resigned. Perhaps in 6 months? What a soap opera!

TorStar article

Sunrise, people and politics

Sunrise was lovely.

The US military is still bombing and murdering unknown people in boats.

I am reading a lot of posts by 🇺🇸 Robert Reich. Everyone should be able to earn a living wage, if they are healthy. Others need a hand up. It's like universal healthcare, everyone contributes some, if they can, and everyone is entitled to food, clothing and shelter.

It appears that the people knew what to do! Our two countries have been so tied at the hip. Things are changing. There might be hope, in the meantime our elbows are up.

I am very excited to see Zohran Mamdani elected as mayor. All that despite racists fearmongering about what he would/could do. These are people with little understanding of the Muslim faith, or his platform. They conflate Socialism with Communism. 

Zohran Mamdani

This horrific plane crash in Louisville was shocking. You can see the helicopter surveying the scene. They have 300 cargo planes go through this facility. I am happy to look for the helpers. You know many people are out there trying to help.

🇨🇦 A cloudy day, I was watching Flight Radar. 

There were some power outages with the winds from the storm. Not too bad, truthfully.

Canada has a newish government. PM Carney has presented a new budget. Thing is, the Liberals have a minority government. Parliament can vote to topple the government. I don't think that will happen. One Conservative has 'crossed the floor' to join the Liberals. We are fairly tired, many of us, of the Conservative leader.

The Opposition Conservative Leader is a tool. Poilievre's attitudes mimic someone else we know. He's never had a job aside from being a politician. He faces a confidence vote himself, in January.

Aren't politics fun?! 

Git yerself outta the gutter!

 I needed to clean out the shed eavestrough. An annual chore. 

The easy part was getting the ladder out and up. Next, I waited for Joe to come home. 

ladder up

Up I went. I have bad knees, and once I made it to the top, I couldn't step-up knee-up! I thought I might just turn around and sit, then stand up. I got stuck. My big butt! I laughed so hard, as my attempts increased. 

Joe could barely look, fretting, but he was moral support. Bless him, he was too worried to laugh with me. I was roaring. 😆😜😹 Picture me, my butt stuck between the ladder prongs. I had to turn around and back up the top rung. It was filled with dead leaves and pine needles. My gloves were a mess. 

The Aspen trees still have some leaves. Poor Joe was cold. I was tromping around and heated up.

I need to reshingle the wood shed part of the roof. (Non-mental note.) 

The previous owners seem to have reshingled the top roof. Not the lower one. It's falling apart. 

ladder down

I was a bit stiff by the time the ladder was put away. Walkies were a good idea. The frog pond is good with several inches of water.

We've more rain on the way. I'm glad the shed is done. 

It'll be indoor play today. At least I think it's rain. Could be snow. Snow tires go on next week! It is November, and this is the way it goes.

Rain gauge & water pump

Rain Gauge

We had rain for a couple of days in a row. It was too bad for the kids going out to trick-or-treat. 

I'm glad I didn't drain the water barrel. The fresh water is good in the goldfish pond. We've a few frogs in it. I want them to be able to hibernate.

 I enjoy keeping track of rainfall. Stratus is the gauge I have used for years. It is 'built to US Weather Service standards.' Some of the professionals have them. The first one I bought is from 2015.

2015

 

I taped it for a few years. The tape just falls off. The funnel keeps falling out of line. Which doesn't matter too much, as it captures it at the bottom. But in the dark, in a rain storm, it is irritating!

I've dropped it, on very cold days, and cracked my original kit. I've cracked the larger cylinder, too.

I put it on my wish list one year. It was available from Lee Valley Tools. No more. Looking for a new one, the prices shocked me. (Have you heard about tariffs?!) Yes, the consumer pays them.

This is about what we paid awhile back, this one isn't available. I clicked on the link, and it gave me a 404 message. They are out of stock, I suppose.

Once I began searching for it, it would pop up in my google ads, of course. But I'm not shopping at Walmart or Wayfair anymore. Not with tariffs, and billionaires profiting off the items.

Wayfair

Even on American sites it is out of stock.
With the exchange rate, it would be $65.85 CAD, plus shipping.

Amazon

Also Amazon. A knock-off, methinks.
That, I do not trust.

I ended up doing a better job of my repair. Several layers of clear packing tape. Whatever that doohickey is named around the rim reinforced it. 

Bird bath

Another problem with Amazon. I am trying to avoid it, going to the publisher or manufacturer's websites directly. Canada doesn't make these products, though. There was a simple pump that lasted 10+ years. The pumps helps stop mosquitoes laying eggs in the water. They like still water.

I first bought it in 2020, and then in 2023. It lasted two years. Not bad for something that lives in water 24/7. We have terribly hard water.

I ordered a replacement pump/light from Amazon. 

This is what they sent. No fancy LED lights. I have complained, twice. Once to the seller, once to Amazon. They don't seem to care. 

They can't get it right. Some weirdo seller. That's up to me. I should have checked it out. I am culpable.