Walkies on Crumbly Acres

I took a walk down to the frog pond. I hadn't been down there in ages, there was such deep snow. There were two things on the Spring To Do List: clean out the wood duck nest box at the frog pond, and set up the trailcam. Cinnamon came along for Walkies.

This old pine tree has had it. We'll see if it crumbles and/or tumbles. 

We have fun in the forest. I heard the owl, saw some owl mute. I hope she mates this year. These are both archive photos!

There are trees down everywhere. I can't lift them. maybe I'll get the reciprocal saw out. 

Back up at the house, he found a nice spot. I was working on Mamma Bear, and rilling bird feeders. Snow on Saturday, I'll wait to remove the plant coats. Plus it was below zero overnight.

The daffodils are beginning to show!

sunrise

March 19th it was 21 ℃ and I sat and read out front! It has cooled off since then.

In the night, this mysterious orb was shining! One must admit to wondering what the heck it was, at first. 

The spider web is back on the camera! 

I hope spidey goes back to sleep. It is -10℃ this morning! It's only 16℃ in the house, as the thermostat has an overnight setting. I am under a blanket with my coffee, but the furnace is on!

Saturday's Critters

 More critters, and especially birds, show us it is spring. I was able to use the Merlin App and the sounds are lovely. Friday, I heard the song sparrow out back, and the barred owl in the forest. 

The robins hav returned, as well.

The goldfinches are switching over to summer colours! This one is sort of half olive green and yellow.

I've been attempting to put Mama Bear away for summer. There two stakes I cannot remove. It is totally frozen. She'll have to wait. Baby Bear is waiting for Momma.

The red cardinal was winging away in the tops of trees at the top of his lungs!

Canada Geese are flying about!

   

 This was the backyard March 13th. All this snow has melted!

   

 The red-winged blackbirds have returned.  

 The big excitements was spotting Fred Groundhog. I imagine Labbit will move out of the burrow. He's been digging under the wood shed. I've still wood piled up there. We'll see what happens.

 

Visit more critters: Saturday's Critters # 588 at Eileen's page!

Borders and elections, more news

 I know my American friends are on our side. They are as shocked as we are. Someone waved a Canadian flag in a US rally!

Canadian roller derby teams are bowing out of a tournament. With the US attack on LGBTQ+ people, they won't risk it.

🇨🇦 Election possibly April 28th or May 5th. We have a new Prime Minister, leader of the Liberals, he'll need to get elected. He hasn't had any contact with the US administration. They've nothing to discuss! 

It'll be interesting to see who comes to the G7 meeting in Canada. It is our year to host. We don't allow felons into the country.   

People are complaining about this article. It is wrong. Americans often do not understand Canadian government. The government is only going to last until Sunday, when we expect PM Carney to call for an election. He has just replaced out PM Trudeau. This is a caretaker government. 

The women's ministry reports to another minister. PM Carney has a trans son, and he wife is as well-educated as he is.  

Speaking of borders... Do you know about the library in Haskell Free Library which straddles Stanstead, Quebec, and Vermont? CBC is reporting that US Border officials are blocking Canadian access. WTF? This is the place where the US's Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was jumping on either side of the line, mocking Canada when she was standing on the Canadian side, saying it was the 51st state.

Spring is here!

My friend, Natrice, lives in Timmins. She posted a lovely photo which inspired me. They had snow yesterday. What a winter!

On our trip out to lunch last week; tapping and syrup season is nearly done.

The temperature inversion brought fog. It was quite something.

You can see the deer in the edge of the wetland.

The candytuft is being trimmed by our deer. Oh well.

🇺🇸 NOAA has had cuts to staff. 

NOAA relies on 🛰 satellites, which Musk wants to take over. What could go wrong?!

That was a storm, March 16th! About 25 mm (1")

🌪Our Canadian meteorologist was explaining how this impacts Canadians. Fifteen years ago, they could predict tornados 10 minutes ahead. Now, they are up to 46 minutes warning. A lot of our weather comes from the south, i.e., Colorado Low, which we get frequently. 

NOAA, for example, is not releasing weather balloons in remote areas with real time data. Predictability and accuracy relies on sustained data. Future forecasts will be less accurate.

Weather is evolving, and will sites be maintained and updated?

Happy Spring!

🥚 🇨🇦 Canada has plenty of eggs. 🇺🇸 This is why the U.S. doesn't. They've lost 10s of millions of birds to flu. We have smaller farms, with fewer wild birds to mix with birds, our domestic chickens in barns in winter, and barns are tightly sealed for heat. Also, Canada has a supply management system, which looks after smaller farms.

Sadly, you cannot take eggs across our border. Americans are having them confiscated, seized at the border for this reason.

• The US Is Importing A Huge Amount Of Eggs From Turkey Due To Bird Flu

• America finding out it’s very difficult to import eggs

• U.S. officials cracking down on people trying to bring valuable eggs across the border

"Egg interceptions up 116% so far this year, while seizures of fentanyl down 32%."

🌿 Here we are, the first day of Spring. We've gone from 16 deer in the morning to zero. Once food is available, dead weeds and grasses, they are good to go. Wednesday we had 3 deer and 3 turkeys. Whilst cleaning the eaves, atop the ladder the other day, I noticed 2 turkey vultures circling. "Look alive" I said to myself. This is another sign of spring.

We've flood warnings. It's not unusual. We are good, atop the hill in the wetland. We've had a quick melt and the ground isn't thawed.

Flood Watch expanded to entire Rideau Valley
 due to lingering ice coverage

📙I am happily spending some time in the afternoons reading on the front deck in the sunshine. I've been working my way through the Hamish Macbeth novels by M.C. Beaton. They are short and sweet, and paint an interesting picture of life in YAM's part of the world! Yesterday it was 21℃. We had a plumbing emergency yesterday (story to come) and I was happy to escape the world's woes.

🦋 Good news for beleaguered Asheville and North American monarchs! Barb has been telling us about her part of the world. Poor Asheville was wrecked by flooding. This is the map showing the first Monarch appearance this year! 

Our big foreshadowing of Spring is when Butch Raccoon wakes up.

I found her on the front camera.

I had another camera out on the sidewalk.  

 I love watch them as they waddle along. They really are a pain in the butt for some people. Soon we'll put the bird feeders away, and they will be scarce.