Fred is awake!

 The big news, Cinnamon and I spotted Fred running across the back of the lawn. Cinnamon watched from the deck. She went back to her winter burrow, and we might have 6 more weeks of winter!

 

Cinnamon liked to watch Fred in summer. Fred is just under the deck, behind the planter. Cinnamon watches from the table.

July 6, 2025

I went out to check its tracks before the snow covered them up. They are a bit imprecise in the fluffy snow! 

It was better under the tree, with less snow.

I think this is Momma Fred, as I know miniFred is sleeping in this hole (#2, in front of the shed). 

Fred came over to check it out, but it is frozen and snow-covered. There is no way miniFred or Momma Fred can get in or out.

Following the tracks down to the wetland, I think she was headed back to her winter hide out under the highway. She will wait another day. I hope we don't have 6 more weeks of winter!

This is burrow #4, into the side of the septic bed. She didn't go in there! 

There are lots of tracks in the upper meadow. Skunk, Fred, coyotes and deer.

Fred <= my observations.

Fred was awake March 21st last year. I keep track just for fun. In 2024 it was March 30th. 

We've another winter storm on the way. Landing is getting rain. This morning is the Vernal Equinox. Days are getting longer, the sun is warming us up, when it is out. 

Canadians in ICE detention

 I don't know if this reaches everybody, but I do want to draw attention to it. Canadians are not safe. A Canadian woman, Tania, married a Texas man, Edward. She has a daughter (7) with autism. They have lived 5 years in Texas. Mother and daughter were at a baby shower, on their way home to Kingsville. Going through a checkpoint they were stopped, fingerprinted, and put into the infamous centre that housed children in cages. 

Tania has papers, and has a work Visa. 

According to CTV the centre, in McAllen, Texas, has been renovated and cages removed. However, they are cold, are only given space blankets, and sleep on floor mats. The food is horrible. What are they doing to human beings? 

More snow!

 We celebrated in our own way! Joe Brian is Irish on his mother's side!

Even after the melt, the wetland is still frozen and Barry Beaver slumbers. Of course it has refrozen with this roller coaster weather.

I had someone email me to ask about this bird feeder! I had to explain that it was adapted for my needs. I wrote about it here. The curved topper is from one source, the tray feeder was a gift, and the base I bought at Lee Valley. I McGyvered it! 

While the topper is intended to be a squirrel baffle, it works to keep the rain off, and to stop birds pooping in the feeder.

After the coyote kill, it came back a couple of days later but decided there was no need.

Butch has awoken!

It was tense. We watched the radar all day last Wednesday. And the thermometer. The big branch kept lowering layered with ice. Saturday another 13 cm snow...

There was ice all down the balcony glass. 

Out front I chewed my fingernails... all was well, though. 

2026

No branches lost during this storm. Whoopeee. The last one, and the one before, cost us several thousand dollars to clean up. [The arborists were here!] We had ice storms in 2013, 2016 and 2023.  

#75 is doing cleanup.

We had the first sign of Butch March 7th. Butch makes a good clean up crew. Sort of.

  

Cats were chomping at the bit Thursday morning. Going outside with them on the deck I noticed that some thing had moved the hornet's nest. The cats were very keen on looking out onto the lawn. I saw nothing unusual.

 

On the back deck some stones had been moved out of the rabbit's bowl. I usually plant paperwhites in this container. Deeply suspicious I was. 

Off to check out the Crumbly Acres camera footage, I found them! Butch doesn't hibernate. They tend to hunker down in the deep cold around here. Something like 5 - 10 degrees below zero. 

I prepared this a few days ago. Since then we've had snow. This morning we're back in a deep freeze. to -16℃. We've been going back and forth between rain and snow. Coffee is a welcome ritual this morning.

 

The last snowfall?

Turns out it wasn't! We had 💧2 mm rain yesterday (Mon., March 16), and 🌨 5 cm snow in the wee hours today! But I'm getting ahead in my story! 

March 13th...

13 cm

I accidentally blew some snow on the sidewalk. Seeing as we were supposed to have rain Monday, I left it! 

The asphalt is very warm from our warmer days, and I had to work quickly. It clogged the auger down at the highway. One cannot use the snow blower on slushy snow.

I worked on the end of the driveway. As I returned to the house, our two deer were at the feeder!

At the end of the day the sun came out.

Back to square one!

The coyotes had a feast

 We often watch the deer fighting. It's just to say who is boss. I realized that the play fighting teaches them how to protect themselves. They seldom hurt one another, and want to establish dominance. They whack away with their hooves.

Coyotes can't take down a healthy deer. They can kill the fawns and vulnerable, or ill deer.  We are down a fawn. In the predawn hours March 15th, about 4 a.m., I think. I could see blood just beyond the shed.

It was fast.

She fought hard...

There are no bones left, or other body parts. Lots of fur remains. They cleaned up really well.

Coyotes had the audacity to poop and pee: 

Lots of coyote tracks. I took a walk and there are coyote tracks all down the hill, across the meadow and the frog pond. 

In the predawn hours March 15th, about 4 a.m. I'd been awake at three, but fell asleep. I caught the coyote trotting down the driveway holding the leg in its mouth. It's been a cold winter. They must be hungry.

The full story, with all the photos, is here if you are curious. I don't want to gross you out. I'm still processing the event. I went out to see the site after the rain. I think the crows have been cleaning up, and taken the stomach and other few bits.  

Things were pretty quiet for a couple of days, but then the deer returned.