Wednesday, 12 February 2025

Storm's a comin'!

 My new blog friend, Scary Mary, said she likes rodents. Here is the kids' gerbil. Aster is in the background, and she is now 14. Oct. 2016, Barney is no longer of this world. He was so cute.


💰The taxes on Canadian goods going into the US (25%) were signed off last week, due to begin march 4th. We've Canadian Premiers meeting with US governments below the border. This Economic Terrorism is shocking. 

The broligarchs are messing up all sorts of things. When you Google anything, you must check sources. Google Maps are no longer a viable source. Look what happens when you search the Gulf of Mexico from a Canada-based computer. In the US, I am told, it appears as 'Gulf of America.'

Google Maps



Bing maps has not given in to the orange cheeto. 
Bing maps



After my morning read of news and other tragedies, I got it together to go to a meeting of local volunteers at our agency. I wore a mask for the hour. I felt safer.


The cats are feeling housebound. I came to bed one night and Cinnamon was in Nutmeg's spot. That is rather cheeky! I added another cat bed and we'll hope for world peace.


We're a bit cold this morning. Not the red warning! 



They expect 5 cm/hour late tonight, into tomorrow. I did get more gas for the snowblower, although it was doing a little bit of backfiring. I put in oil and filled 'er up.

We had a huge wind come through, and I took down Joe's flag. Yesterday I put it back up. 


This is the trailcam I sorta lost! I totally forgot where it was. But I'm not failing!


Tuesday, 11 February 2025

🇨🇦 Canadian products

🇺🇸  It's been a month of politics. In the US, I wonder who is running the country... Apparently, the DOGE boys are getting into computers! Sadly, they are programmers, not Forensic Accountants, who may have a chance in determining where Dump can cut costs in order to give oligarchs tax breaks.



🇨🇦 All of us know what is going on in the US. Canadians are sticking together.  This is a unifying force for us. The provincial and territorial leaders are talking with our Prime Minister, and while it  is easier to truck goods back and forth between northern US states and Canada, we're going to make this work. It is a 5000+ km border between Canada and the US. 

Snowbirds are selling their Florida homes. People are changing their holiday plans from US destinations to alternative locations. 

Is this Canadian? is a new AI app, created in Quebec. Canadians are scouring labels for Made in Canada.

Is this Canadian?


Websites are popping up to source out Canadian goods, i.e., buytheleaf.ca .
buytheleaf.ca

Many are sourcing Canadian goods and providing options. Made in Belleville.



A pair of Edmonton entrepreneurs, Matthew Suddaby and William Boytinck, have created an app called Shop Canadian to help with just that.

There are options, with the difference between using Canadian ingredients, vs. bottled in Canada, using national sources.

This is really deceitful. You need your reading glasses to determine that this states "Designed in Canada," but is made in the USA. 


Also... CBC is reporting that some grocers are putting flags on Canadian products. That is helpful.

There are some foods we simply won't buy fresh these days. A lot of produce comes from the US. With flash freeze technology, frozen foods will be the best choice. Apparently, 75% of our salad dressing comes from the US. We can change that. 

Joe has been buying wonderful soup. From Spain! No more USA produced Campbell's Soups for us.

In the meantime, products, such as a snowblower, we can only access from the US. 

 

We've a winter storm watch for Wednesday/Thursday. Perhaps 20 -  30 cm. 

Monday, 10 February 2025

Wetland walkies and a Labbit

Note to self: after a fresh snow, it's probably best to wear taller winter boots or my snowshoes! The snow snuck in the back under my pants. It's cold. It's bracing!


I'm not sure what these tracks are from. There are no claws, which eliminates some critters. It could have been Red Fox! 


I found a trailcam. I couldn't remember where it was. Searching down the hill in the forest, I was not successful. Turns out I'd put it on the driveway! Hah! But I'm not failing! 

I've put a bird feeder out under the deck. We've had birds visit, but mostly Labbit.


Sure enough, Labbit!

Here she is during a snowstorm, Feb. 6th.


I've been tracking Labbit. I've found she is staying in Fred's garden burrow! This is Fred, he's gone to another burrow, sleeping for winter. Behind him is the flag garden, where he's dug a big burrow under my rhododendron. 



Labbit sits around nibbling on lilac tree shoots and providing fertilizer. It's win-win, actually! It's the cutest little bunny poop!



She runs from the garden to the lilac shrub, and then under the deck to visit the feeder.

After searching her tracks. I found her on the Wingscapes camera, but tracks lead to another burrow. She's a tricky one! You can see the large hind feet and the little cotton tail!

Sunday, 9 February 2025

Crumbly Acres in winter

First, the bad news.

Monday, the owner of the property beside us is back at it. A friend emailed, notifying us of the court docket. He has more money than sense. He is appealing the denial of his property rezoning to the Ontario Supreme Court! Court appearance: Monday, Feb. 10th.  

'WHYTE V TOWNSHIP OF DRUMMOND/NORTH ELMSLEY, CV-23-00000114-0000, family court room'

🐣🐤🐥I was asked if there is bird flu about. We are sitting on 16 acres, the neighbour has 120 acres, and the next neighbour, 600 acres. That said, they've found bird flu in Toronto. These are scary times for such. Neither our premier, nor the US are happy to track such things. The new US Department of Health has RFK Jr., who doesn't believe in tracking diseases, vaccines, or COVID!

🔥 💨 I was up at 3 am with the smoke detector chirping. The battery is getting low. I removed the battery, in order to get some sleep. I'll put batteries on the shopping list! 

🌤 It's not all bad news. The sun rose, as it tends to do, and my friends showed up. This was 8 a.m., Feb. 6th. It's fun playing around with settings. 


 🦌 🦌 🦌 🦌 🦌 🦌 🦌 🦌

There are storms coming. I suggested that we need to 'get more gas for the snowmobile.' I am losing it! We don't have a snowmobile. The wetland isn't suitable for such travel, with plants sticking up all over the place!

wetland walkies, March 4, 2012

I do need to refill the gas can for snowblower. 



Saturday morning:



🌳 The oak tree leaves are finally falling. Our oak trees drop their leaves mid winter!
"Many deciduous species are marcescent (Wiki), not dropping dead leaves until spring."


I was following the deer tracks, and found the leaves blown into a line in the groove.


We have two young oak trees. They are about the same ages, I think. Not yet old enough to produce acorns.

They are lovely trees with beautiful leaves..



We had 6 cm snow last night. I'll have some work to do today, but first coffee!