Saturday's Critters

 The bird feeders continue to attract blue jays, chickadees, goldfinches, mourning doves, downy and hairy woodpeckers, and nuthatches, for example. The male cardinal visits mostly at dusk. This was a wet day.

The goldfish are doing well. There was ice on top of the goldfish pond. They don't know what they are missing! 

 I miss all our seasonal critters. That said, we've a lot of deer and raccoons about, thanks to the pumpkins. The deer are sometimes curious.

Doe selfie from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Butch raccoon is quite wary. If anything spooks them, up the tree they go!

 

Deer and Butch from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

We had a fawn with a limp. I haven't noticed it since. We'll see what happens.

 

Injured fawn from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

This momma is the one with triplets!

 

deer triplets from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Down in the forest, I've two trailcams. One by the frogpond, the other by the deer scrape. What is fun is that the fox appeared on both trailcams, which gives me an idea of where it was headed. 

quick red fox from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

After a couple of weeks of trying, I finally managed to video the actual bucks at the deer scrape. The one buck sneezed, after sparring at the deer scrape. It is mating season. They appear to be brothers, and sort of play fight. They might be 3 years old, judging by their antlers.

 

deer sparring from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Thanks to Eileen for hosting Saturday's Critters # 468!

A skiff of snow!

 Here we are, back to Friday. There isn't much happening here. We had a skiff of snow, but it pretty much evaporated! 

The goldfish pond is nicely filled. It has holes in it, due to mice friends. Today, non-mental note, I shall have to spend a few minutes unhooking the water barrel, again. Checking the weather forecast, I think we are done with rain. 

The wetland is wet, thanks to recent rains. 

Some bloggers have beautifully crafted photos, images carefully curated to show amazing photography skills. Me, I have an example of coyote scat! They are getting their winter coats, and it is very furry. 

This caught me eye on my walk. This tree is one of the Five Sisters clump. We lost a sister awhile back, but four remain. If you look closely, you can see sap dripping from the scar where a branch was lost.

There is lots of action outdoors. Oregano was on the camera, I surely don't know how he survives, crossing the highway as he does.  

We have deer hanging about. Some in the backyard.

backyard deer from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Another was in the front yard.

Frontyard buck from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Rain, snow, wind, and a buck!

The weather has been nuts, but the snow tires are on. We had 20 mm rain, when a massive storm rolled on through. The massive storm was followed by strong winds. Our power went off about 11:00 last night. I was up at 3:15 and when the power came on, our outdoor lights came in! 

The goldfish pond looks great. I'm glad I reattached the water barrel. The more water, the better – it protects the critters. There are three baby goldfish, several frogs, and a water beetle in there. 

We've sunk below zero, and the rain was followed by snow. Just a touch. Here is my summary of our November weather! 

I went out after the clouds cleared off. The hornet's nest had been blown off the branch. It was quite soggy, with all the rain, and it fell with a splat on the ground. It is quite delicate, and a lovely pattern.

The winds, they blew!

Sunset was lovely!

I've had fun trying to video a buck at this year's buck scrape. I finally got one. I replaced the spent battery, reformatted the SD Card, and put it on the correct setting. 

buck scrape from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

He's a younger buck, this lad ↑. Normally, they follow a fertile doe around for the 24 hours they are 'in heat' or whatever it is called! This is a much better example of a buck scrape, from the photos I collected in 2018.

 

deer scrape from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The buck, doe and Butch raccoon

 That was a long day. We were anxiously awaiting the Planners report on the gun range. Watching the US/Iran soccer game kept us occupied. I finished off a sketch. Sort of a testament to my mindset right now.

I knew a dear young woman on Twitter who loved my silly sketches, Erin Gilmer. I would dedicate them to her, and she would giggle. She ended her journey, and I miss her. 

Yesterday, the notice came:

DNE Township Council have three options; vote for the rezoning, vote against it, or defer.  

The Planner's recommendation is to defer. They await a Peer Review of the Acoustic Survey. 

OK, back to waiting! In the meantime, this is the lightning map around Tennessee. I was quite shocked. 

Today will bring us some rainfall. Quebec has some snow on the way. British COlumbia is facing a snowstorm. Such a mess. "Thousands Without Power!" I think our kids are OK, according to the outage map. 

I usually get far fewer critters on trailcams when it is raining. We'll see what happens.

 

Buck 1 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I had videos of the doe during both day and night!

Clover doe from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Butch Raccoon doesn't feel the same way about rain, however. They waddle about, wearing their winter fat store.

Butch Raccoon & doe from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Indoor and outdoor tails

For the third day out of 4, I forgot to put the trailcam to the 'on' position after reinserting the fresh card. I am still unable to get a video of the buck marking his scrape (below, right). One is supposed to turn the camera off when removing and reinserting the cards. I thought I was being prudent. Whoopsie. 😳 Don't tell the kids. 

The one day I remembered, all I got was the doe and a raccoon.

Deer scrape from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

This is where they mark territory, it is rutting season. Nov. 26/22

Then, I contacted the wrong person, enquiring after something online. I thought it was, for example Dave Jones, when it was Don Jones. 😳 Don't tell the kids. 

Finished my workout, fetched trailcam cards, came in for a shower, and found I'd been wearing my t-shirt on inside out all morning. 😳 Don't tell the kids.

I did think to send flowers to Caitlin. They are there beside her tissue box! Covid has settled into her nose. Each day she is better, which is good news. She texted a 'thank you' and a photo!

In the fall there was lots of fungus and many mushrooms. This seems to be the last of it! I bright spot of colour.

I finally remembered to remove the house wren nesting box. It looks a bit the worse for wear. It's actually a bluebird nesting box, but I haven't seen one in years. They have flown south in search of live food! 

Grampa thought Polar Bear looked cold. He fixed that.

More rain tomorrow, they say. And winds. I need to clean the goldfish tank, too. Maybe that is a good rainy day activity. Percy-the-pooper is on the go!

Monday comes around, again!

Here we are, Monday, although it is the dread I used to feel. No pressure to get up, dressed, and try to entertain educate kids all day. Time means something different these days. We get snow tires on – on Thursday. 

 Caitlin is still testing positive for COVID. She is feeling better, now, however. She has sniffles. Happily she is able to work from home. 

🎾 We spent Sunday watching the Davis Cup tennis, the last game. I didn't know it was on TV until the final game. Felix Auger Aliassime was playing for Team Canada. Denis Shapovalov had just won his game. Then, the TSN satellite feed from Spain pooched out. I had to quickly pull up the real time scores. They won the cup. 

⚽ From there we watched World Soccer, and the Canadian men's team lost 4 - 1. They are out of the tournament. The announcer said that this is "the greatest moment in Canadian soccer history." Janine Beckie gave him skank eye after he said that. She was on the women's Olympic soccer team when they won gold. He then corrected himself and said it was "on the same level" as the women's win. 😳

Women have fought so hard for equal funding!
And to sit at the anchor desk.

🌦I did my chores prior to the rainfall. We had about 9 mm Sunday. I set up the water barrel, again, as I said I would. The goldfish pond is full. 

I'll have to dress warmly, as I have to put the garbage out. It is chilly, but tonight it's going to -6 C., so I have to think about draining the water barrel. We expect another 15 - 20 mm on Wednesday. Decision, decisions! 

We haven't had as much snow this November as in other years. (Blue is rain, gray is snow.)

We have many dead elms. I'm inclined to leave this one here. I ought to gather some kindling from it, I suppose.

Polar bear is having a grand time hanging out with goldfish.

Oregano was back.

 

Oregano from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Butch

 

Butch treed from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The best protection for raccoons is to climb a tree. They seem to be traveling in a flock, now! Or would that be a herd?! Nope, looked it up. I think the best collective noun is a committee. They argue and snarl over food and disagreements abound.  

butch from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

OK, garbage detail calls. I might not get dressed, but just put my winter coat over my housecoat and jammies! 

Cinnamon and Frosty

That was quite a week. Now, why do you think Facebook suggested this ad for me?! 

I laughingly told Caitlin that I was watching the broadcasted hearings, on the government response to the Truck Convoy, as a break from our municipal issues. The next protests are against the provincial government of Ford, who wants to pass Bill 23 to be able to pave across the Toronto Greenbelt wetlands and make his developer buddies rich. Sarah Harmer was in Smiths Falls protesting at our local MPPs office for a protest.

The federal government enabled the Emergencies Act at the time, to put in some laws to freeze occupier GoFundMe funds ($10 million), and force trucking companies to tow away the culprits. The tow trucks were bribed and/or threatened not to do so. The law requires the government to hold a hearing after the fact to determine three things:

1. Why did the federal government declare the emergency?
2. How did it use its powers?
3. Were those actions appropriate?

Ottawa citizens, who were the victims of the lockdown of the city spoke. Local politicians spoke of what their citizens went through, racism, anger, the smell of diesel fuel and the noise of 24/7 honking. We heard about a baby being treated for frostbite by paramedics. This last week we had the final week, during which 7 cabinet ministers testified. On Friday the Prime Minister testified. The lawyer for the convoy occupiers read some testimonials from said occupiers. One said, "We just want to be heard!"  

The Prime Minister replied with this, 

"It was it was clear that they just didn't want to be heard. They wanted to be obeyed. They wanted us to change public health policy designed to help Canadians and were going to occupy locations across this country and interfere with the lives of Canadians until such a decision was taken."

🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄

Back to nature. Saturday morning we had red skies. Of course, by the time I would have looked up the proper camera settings, it'd be gone. Here is the best I could do! I just used the automatic setting.

Cinnamon went out for about 90 minutes. Nutmeg an hour until she got hungry and came in.

I went down to fetch SD cards, and realized I'd forgotten to turn one camera on, after resetting it. That's the one at the deer scrape. Oh well. Maybe today I'll capture the action. 

Who do you think this it? I could not see it, but I could hear it.

 

who goes there? from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The pumpkins are popular along the driveway. I can see the trailcam light up in the dark, in the background. 

It should be frosty out there, but we expect rain today. I'm thinking of reconnecting the water barrel, just to fill the goldfish pond a tad. That will protect the 3 little goldfish I couldn't get in. The deeper the water, the better as it doesn't freeze and thaw.

I've put out a few traditional seasonal items. Frosty is an old faithful.

Cinn and Frosty from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Saturday's Critters

It's Saturday, again! Thanks to Eileen for hosting.

Saturday's Critters # 467

The doe quite likes the pumpkin seeds. She really gets into her work!

 

doe & pumpkins from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

This little one had a great doggy shake as it was about to move off!

young deer from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I inserted new batteries in this trailcam. Much better view of the coyote.

coyote from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Butch has been a less frequent visitor, depending up the temperature. They do sleep in the wicked cold, but they don't truly hibernate.

Butch raccoon from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Cats, birds, doe

 I finally managed to wash the kitchen floor. I'd been resisting the urge. Instead, I was put out Christmas decor! Monday I tramped in and out of the kitchen and garage bringing in groceries. Stuff to do Tuesday, I thought Wednesday was the day. The deed done, I patted myself on the back. Thursday morning, Nutmeg threw up on the floor! As JB said, "No good deed goes unpunished!"

Who, me?

JB's back is slowly getting better, but we thought we'd play it safe. He is now managing a cold. I made chili to warm us up. My late mother wrote out a chili recipe for him, and I have some fondness for it. He retired before I did, and was doing groceries and house cleaning. She thought she'd help him with a recipe!

Another giggle for you. I did a massive grocery order Monday.  I ended up with ONE brussel sprout! Thinking I was ordering one unit, I learned my lesson. I did put in the notes, two handfuls, but my picker missed it. Oh well! A fun moment, and I laughed so hard at myself.

I managed an evening photo of JB's bears. They were a gift from the kids to JB.

😷OCDSB debates mask mandates 

Ottawa's public school board (OCDSB) trustees tried to vote on a new mask policy. Anti-maskers stormed the meeting, police were called and it was cancelled. The anti-mask Facebook group that organized the disruption of this school board meeting is also talking about going to the intensive care unit at Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO)  and getting video footage proving there is “no issue.” Our pediatric hospitals, i.e., CHEO, are over capacity with flu, RSV, and respiratory viruses, including COVID. CHEO’s chief of staff explained that non-ICU hospital occupancy is at 185%, ICU at 200%, and heart and cancer surgeries being cancelled.

OCDSB went to a Zoom meeting format yesterday, and the motion failed. Our grandkids have all worn them. It's not a big deal for most kids. 

🐦I'm not seeing a lot of critters these days, except for the birds at the feeder. Too busy to take photos this week, I will set up the tripod, and try for some good photos. We had several evening grosbeaks Thursday. They are pretty birds.

 

The weather is up and down, freezing one day, rain the next. Sometimes all of it on the same day! It's freezing rain in Ottawa. Yuck.

Happily, I can still see the deer about. The doe is really getting into the pumpkin! Those seeds are yummy. 

 

deer from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.