Crumbly Acres Spring

 We've had a set back. Over night we had a couple of cms of snow. Ottawa had 11 cm last night. We've more on the way. 

Last night I heard Spring Peepers. Soon there will be little teeny tadpoles. They hatch thousands of them, as they are easy prey to large frogs, as well as other critters.

Unfortunately, it is -1 ℃ this morning. They are silent. We drove around to search out 4 of my assigned Chorus Frog survey sites. It's too cold for them today. It's discouraging. 

Squirrel nest

We were on the back deck. I noticed some action down in the forest. A black squirrel was running up and down a tree. I thought it was the tree with a nest box.

I decided to put out a trailcam on the old saw-whet owl nest. 

You can see something in there. Squirrels build a nest of leaves. I set up a trail cam. We'll see what happens.

Fred Groundhog

Fred was happily munching grass. He's gone back to bed. The grass is covered in snow this morning.

Labbit was out looking for goodies. 

Garter Snake

I ambled down to the trailcams by the frog pond. On the way I found a cold garter snake trying to warm up in the sun. The poor thing.

White tails! 

The deer are hanging about, just three of them, with two females looking pregnant.

The frog pond is melting. The wee frogs are going to have to wait for real Spring! 

Crumbly Acres

 Soon it'll be bug season. The mosquito larvae have hatched and are flinging themselves around the pond. Next, it'll be the ticks. They come out when it is 5 ℃. We'll treat the cats with the anti-tick goop. It works really well. The joys of spring! 

 

I was supposed to start my Chorus Frog Survey last Thursday (a hot day), but I had an afternoon appointment for a hair cut! Since then, it's been too cold. 

Fred has been out and about.

In the meantime, the birds are happy with the feeders!

The goldfinches are not 'gold' yet. Soon they' get their summer plumage.

Cardinal

Hello down there, said the Nuthatch to the Mourning Dove!

Our deer have spread out into the forest. There are 3 remaining. The doe seems to have had an encounter with something. This is a bad photo from the kitchen window. With a zoom lens. But it is a record.

Goodbye for now!

Nest box and deer

 Snow, ice rain, more rain. The weather has been upsy downsy. As well as the temperatures. Below freezing overnight, then 21 ℃. Soon the goldfish pond will be melted, and goldfish can go out to play.

Last year I moved 154 frogs from the goldfish pond down to the frog pond. In the melt, I found 4 little dead frog bodies. Once they are trapped under the ice there was nothing I could do. They needed to get down to the bottom in the mud, but that didn't happen.

Wood Duck Nest box repairs

Every year I watch for wood ducks. We have two nest boxes. One at the frog pond. Another in the back 40 on the wetland. I keep 🦆track of their progress. 

This was two years ago. It needed to be cleaned out and fresh shavings put into the box.

I'd moved this nest box back in Feb., 2023. We had a duck nest in it that spring (Wood ducking).  

Then Momma bear and two cubs came for a visit.  Momma Bear and Two Cubs📹, June 6th. This is a screen capture of the action.

Back to present day! Down we went to the back 40. I had requested assistance! (I was carrying the ladder!)

Can you see Cinnamon roaring along behind Joe?

Inside the box, a wasp nest. I removed whilst perched on my ladder. It was tricky. It was really stuck.

Behind the nest box, Cinnamon was roaring up and down trees! He flings himself up the tree, then comes back down like a firefighter. Back feet first. Then a final jump for the last few feet.

Somebody in my house is running around putting Canadian flags on everything. 

The deer are on their last half bag of food. A couple of them look pregnant. This is a good sign!

Just for fun, this was June, 2014. You can see a hoof sticking out.

Tariffs, Heard Island, federal election

🔦 Our storms have been quite something. Can you imagine doing this work? My friend, in Muskoka, didn't think she'd get power until Friday. Hydro announced that they have reset the power for 800,000 households. There were about 214,000  still without power April 2nd. By the evening it was reduced to 200,000. 

Christine Cooper lives in Midland, Ontario.

 💰Canada was tuned to the TV April 2nd. We were all watching the liberation  liquidation day announcement. People are gobsmacked with the incompetence. We didn't know what 'Golden Age' they refer to. The age prior to manufacturers moving their factories off shore? People want cheap goods, and labour is cheaper in countries without unions or fair wages.

I read about the McKinley tariff. It didn't do what McKinley thought they would do. The current administration didn't read the end of the story. It backfired. They tried tariffs in 1890 and 1930. 

RAND PAUL: “.. When McKinley most famously put tariffs on in 1890, [the GOP] lost 50 percent of their seats in the next election. When [Smoot and Hawley] put on their tariff in the early 1930s, we lost the House and the Senate for 60 years.”

Washington Post

We watched the roll out of the tariff bingo card and laughed so hard. Many are not actually inhabited islands with people who trade with the U.S. One of the targets for tariffs, is Diego Garcia. I'll bet there are rare earth minerals there.

Diego Garcia Wiki

Heard Island has created a BlueSky page. They have a merchandise page, too! It is part of Australia, and doesn't have any human inhabitants. It was hit with tariffs. Someone with a sense of humour is really going to it on BlueSky. There are days when one simply must laugh. 

Heard Island is ready!

We've tariffs on steel and aluminum. Stellantis Windsor (Ont.) Assembly Plant will be shut down for two weeks. There were 3600 Canadians laid off last week from this plant.

"Measles and tariffs, what century is this?"

Now, these products go back and forth between Canada and the U.S. With Canada selling aluminum to the U.S., and beer companies buying back cans for Canadian beer. This is free trade, which falls under the current CUSMA trade agreement (AKA USMCA) the orange felon signed in his first term. He's gone back on that agreement with these new tariffs. He cannot be trusted. This is our warning to Ukraine, Greenland, and the rest of the world. 

CBC article: 'dumbfounded and disgusted'

 📈Federal Election

🗳All this has turned out well for our Canadian federal election, IMHO. Our Conservative candidate, PP, has gone down in the polls. He's still complaining about the previous government and former PM Trudeau. (Does this sound familiar?!) PM Mark Carney is surging in the polls. He is confident, makes sense, has a degree in economics, and knows how to handle the US government. 

not shocking...

This is what we've faced all around us. The 'F* Trudeau' signs are being replaced. There's a lot of mechandise that was all for nought! 

 Hard core, right-wing Conservatives are really upset, judging by the anger. All attacking transgender people, Liberals, politicians (except PP), and any one who is different or poor. They ignore the disabled, and those with mental health issues. This is what they post:

Obviously these are people who have never worked with people from all walks of life. I have. And I've learned to respect their struggles. Too many people are two pay checks away from being homeless. 

OK, deep breath. We've more rain on the way. Joe has curling to watch. I have birds to feed. 

We've been watching the Dark Winds TV series, based on Tony Hillerman's books. There is much in the way of racism, gender bias, and homophobic attitudes. That was the age in which I grew up. I thought we were past that. Not so.