Box Elder Maple

 I've been watching our maple tree. Some photos are better than others. 

ashleaf/box elder maple, I think

This is the view from the highway.

I wandered down there, and saw three red cars go by. I thought a red vehicle might compliment the maple colours. I waited, and waited! 

Finally, I gave up as the orange car seemed to do nicely!

The traffic has been noisy. People are in such a hurry.

 

October has been busy

🍂 Fall Chores

There is lots to do outside. I'm just taking my time. Someone put his back out and he's still looking after it.

• Tuesday I did the leaves, mulching them and the pine needles, and did some lawn. 
• Switched out the bird bath for the heated bird bath. (Thanks again, AC!) 
• Tried to put the bird feeder stand up. Crooked. Gotta try again. It started raining after I rested. Pfftt.
• I caught another little frog. Almost. No luck. I missed. Twice. Jeremiah sleeps for the winter.

The water fountain is covered, and ready for winter. The pagan lights need some help. A couple of strands are not working. Nothing lasts these days. You have to be really careful in matching the plugs. (Non-mental note!)

 I had wrapped up the bench swing, then the winds blew! I started again and secured it a little more effectively! I don't mind doing a job once.. 😏

Back to it. THIS is secure!

The sun has disappeared for a few days. No precipitation to speak of, but there is a chill in the air. The sun warms me up enough to manage outside, but it's been hiding. I played with these two images. I could not decide which I prefer.

Dark skies! I mulched the leaves again. It is terribly satisfying.

Joe has been watching football on his TV. Nutmeg likes to keep him company. It's not cold enough to put a fire on, but that day is approaching.

Just for fun, a brief power outage. All the clocks had to be reset! 

The good news is that the biting bugs are slowly going to sleep. We've ticks. Nutmeg brought Joe one, and Cinnamon shared another with me. Since they invented the anti-tick goop for cats, things have improved. This year is about the same as last year.

Forest walkies

Cinnamon was out exploring. I asked if he wanted 'walkies' and he did. We went to the back 40. This is a photo of me standing in the Aspen grove, June 2020. You can see the house in the background.

After being stripped of leaves, the Woolly Moth caterpillars didn't do them much harm. The deer have trimmed these for years!

Can you see how much they have grown?!

Along we went. Cinnamon headed to the wetland, I veered left. Hopeful anticipation that maybe the Barred Owl was there. She was! She kept her eyes on Cinnamon. I approached and Cinnamon ran over to me. It didn't like that. Off she went.

🦉Barred Owl

The lighting is awful, with her backlit. Fortunately, I have other Barred Owl photos. The key to finding them is looking for the white mute under the tree. No owl pellets this time.

They seem to like their regular perches. This ought to be the Barred Owl Tree, since many owls have sat here.

One year they were nesting back here. This is their call, 'who-cooks-for-you?'  – June, 2016

 

Checking the wood duck nest box, I think something has been scratching at it.

A dust bath, and back we went to the house. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

 We had an early Thanksgiving last weekend. Our SIL, Jean-Luc, was going to be traveling to Las Vegas for business on a last minute basis, and we were worried about him bringing COVID back. 

Many of us have a holiday on the second Monday in October, on either side of the border.

From my reading, some Americans are marking Columbus Day today, yet there have been changes. Of course, Columbus' and his men brought disease and they put native into slavery. He didn't actually 'discover' this land. Nor did he have any respect for its people. 

Some states have replaced this day with Indigenous People Day or Native American Day. I  like that. 

Back to us! I sent Grampa out for a turkey. He couldn't lift it, and staff were very helpful in putting it in the cart, and putting it in the car for him. This one was 9.4 kg. It thawed in our little refrigerator. We have two bar fridges. The previous owners put the regular fridge in the basement, we gave it away. We've a chest freezer in the basement. 

I worked on the table. There were adjustments. Did you see it?

They arrived. While dinner was cooking, we were catching frogs. This took me back! The days of kids and nature. Jo and Aster took them down to the pond.

As they were headed down the hill to the frog pond, Jo found a ribbon snake. He came back to show us. Aster held onto the frog bucket.

Back down he went...

JL stuffed the turkey with Caitlin's stuffing, and then put the turkey in, I could barely lift it! (9.4 kg/ 22 lbs.) Then he used the power washer on the sidewalk. He was soaked. He loves a project, Caitlin says!!

xxx

The turkey was great. JL did a really good job. I sent home half the leftovers for Caitlin. 

We had a surprise dessert. Aster decorated it for us. Jo turns 17 in early December, but we seldom are able to celebrate it since things are busy at school. Both kids are in the musical, The Addams Family, in the chorus. Rehearsals after school for a couple of weeks. Also, Jo has to train the tech crew. Then, there is school work! 

His gift was a piece from an artisan in the Sundance Art Festival in Maberley. You can hang it on the wall.