Freds, frogs, spinx caterpillar

The Freds   <= tracking data

My faithful readers have been enjoying the Freds. Bless your hearts, you make my day. Our first Fred (RIP) would disappear to her winter burrow in August. Last year Auntie Fred, went down for winter Sept. 12th. I saw her with leaves in her mouth, and the next day no sign. They'll arise in March, according to past history. 

Auntie has a burrow in the flag pole garden. She was out for hours munching nearby. 

You may giggle. I had a great photo last week. Both Freds were out, Auntie at the top X and MiniFred nearer the deck, at the second X. In some computer glitch it disappeared. 

The sun makes a pretty interesting photo on the trailcam!

Then there are two frogs in the goldfish pond. (Soon the fish will have to come in.) The second biggest frog has an issue with its eye. I wanted a closer look. It doesn't seem to be suffering, but I can't help. Those of us with cataracts can empathise. He seems to be able to eat.

Do you come here often?! 

Pandora Sphinx Moth Caterpillar

I've no photos of the adult. You can see one on Wiki. I was fascinated. It was in the front garden. 

A moth... 

Cinnamon and I went walkies to fetch trailcams. Caterpigly was walking across the driveway, towards Cinn! After I fetched the trailcam memory card, I walked back and it was still on the driveway. It was picked up and placed on the grass. 

 

The Dogwood plants have produced fruits...

or flowers. Rose of Sharon with one bloom. There are a couple more to come, but three have been chomped off my someone. Ah, nature.

Bright red berries which we must enjoy. Soon the trees will sleep for winter.

Hunting season 2026

 WMU #67 (Provincial regs. PDF)

Oct. to Nov. bows, Nov.2 - Nov. 15 big guns

deer

Migratory game birds are under Federal regs.

We are in Southern District #4.

Ducks Sept. 26 - Jan. 10, Geese Sept. 10 - 20. 

Haircut, driving, Freds

 I had a haircut! It was shaggy. The salons have been so busy, but I snagged a cancellation. That reminds me, I must scrape the bugs off of the windshield. (🚙 Non-mental note!) 

Before and after. 

I left Carleton Place around 3, feeling refreshed! The driving to and fro was crazy. It was a long weekend, but I wanted to get there. Drivers these days are late for important things, apparently. I hung on, checked around me, kept my head on a swivel. Nearly home, this nutbar, way too arrogant. 

I wonder if his insurance company knows how he rides? 

 

There was wine in the fridge, pouring some, I put my feet up on the back deck. My stomach has been bothering me for a couple of weeks. Stress, maybe. Things have been so unsettled. 

It was a lovely day. I unwound on the back deck watching MiniFred and Cinnamon. They were watching something in the forest. They have an understanding the carnivore and the herbivore. Auntie Fred has been out, as well. With the cold mornings they are sleeping in. Soon they just won't wake up, and will go into hibernation.

Watching Cinnamon get up here was a hoot. He's not a skinny cat.

We watched the vultures soar. Soon they will migrate. Just a flick of those long feathers, and they float in the sky.

A nice nap.

I bought Joe Brian a new t-shirt. Canadian company, of course. He wore it to the market and got a lot of compliments. I listened to an interesting podcast that explains how trade talks fell apart. Front Burner is a good show. It was a night of sleeplessness, and I listened to it twice, it was that interesting. Basically the orange felon doesn't want to have free trade deals, he want to run us into the ground. 

It is a whole new world (dis)order. We are finding a new way towards independence. We are fighting for digital sovereignty, privacy, maintaining our culture, values and traditions, the ability to made trade agreements with European countries, and our ability to sell goods to the US. 

What could go wrong? I've been using these notebooks for years. Hilroy is a US company. They Canadians a ton of these books in 2026. Sadly, they decided to leave Newfoundland and Cape Breton off the eastern coast. What is with that? Canada is going to have to begin to manufacture our own. 

Hilroy was founded in Toronto in 1918, bought out by Americans and passed around various conglomerates since 1994. Time to stop the sellouts.

OK, venting over. I did some work on the garden, removing the deer fence, cutting down dead plants. I think we have about a half dozen cherry tomatoes to harvest. The fall flowers are a sweet treat. There is lots to do. 

Saturday's Critters

Summer is ending. The critters behaviour changes. Our birds are migrating. I've still seen the House Wren. It's too quick for a photo!

I've seen quite a number of Monarch flying south. Both here, and on the highway drive for a hair cut. We do lose a number on the highway. This is the generation that migrates south. They eat lots of pollen and make the journey.

The woodpecker likes the Common Mullein seeds. 

I found our big toad in the garden. 

Tufted Milkweed caterpillars are eating their way to adulthood. I wonder if Toady has been eating them?!

I don't know what the fox was up to. I wonder if we have more than one?

   

 Oh, Fred. They will go down soon. They don't like the cool weather. 

   

 Butch doesn't hibernate. They tend to slow down, then sleep when it gets to be -10 or so. 

   

 And there is skunk!

   

 The twin fawns will lose their spots. Not quite yet, though.

 

It's a long weekend. The Perth Fair is on. Great excitement. Too much for me, I think. The traffic last night in the dark was loud. I hope they had safe fun!

For more critters: Saturday's Critters # 664 

Free Trade Barriers

 I was listening to a podcast in the wee hours. Sleep wasn't coming. This didn't settle me down, but I listened to it twice. 

Jayne Poisson is the host. The guest is Vass Bednar. Bednar is the managing director of the Canadian Shield Institute.

What does the US want? (transcript)

When trade talks between Canada and the U.S. broke down last week, one of the issues that reportedly came up was Canadian streaming rules that require platforms like Netflix to make Canadian and French-language content easier to find in Canada. Prime Minister Mark Carney said that Canada would not compromise on protecting French culture. But U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said language was never the issue – rather "past discriminatory laws that target U.S. streaming companies." 

Canada needs to establish sovereignty over our digital data. In the EU, some governments are stopping using Microsoft, in order to protect data. I'll bet in our trade negotiations with the US notes are being made using this software. We've had at least 150 Canadians impacted by ICE activities. We respect First Nations, culture, and laud our differences.

Switzerland replacing Microsoft

Judge Kimberley Prost 🇨🇦, who sits on the International Criminal Court, was investigating Israeli and American war crimes. The US State Department sanctioned her and two other judges. It is shocking. She was put into digital jail. Judge Prost could not send an email, or book a flight. Her Alexa wasn't working when she arrived home. This is the power we are fighting. Google, Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, are all in cahoots with the US administration.

Tumber Ridge, in B.C., was one of the worst incidents involving AI. A perfect example of how Digital Security does not protect Canadians, in fact, they overlook us. This is part of why trade talks broke down.

In a horrific event, this person used OpenAI to plan an attack. The company knew about it, but did not report it to Canadian authorities from headquarters in California. Nine dead and 27 injured. 

Jesse Van Rootselaar, 18, killed two family members at her home in the northern B.C. community on Feb. 10, then travelled to the school where six others were shot dead before she killed herself. 

30🇨🇦 Families are suing OpenAI

 This kind of thing is why our government backed off of the talks. This is ridiculous.

September is shoulder season!

  We made it! Kids back in school, tourists back to the city. Garbage day Monday was fun. 

Joe Brian went down to collect the garbage can. The recycling was still there, as well as some extra things. I was royally pissed off. The last time this happened coyotes got into it. It was a mess. JB removed the oil can and the pole, which they wouldn't take. 

Just to vent, once more, this person passed a white delivery van as well as us at the same time. I hope it was important. It gives us some anxiety. Which I don't think we need or deserve.

Summer continues to finish up, and fold up the picnic blanket. We went out for a summery early dinner.

The phlox is coming along. 

There are fewer days left to sit out back. I sat and did a drawing.

People are out and about! I noticed a low flying plane.