Tuesday, 22 September 2026

Things are heating up and cooling down!

I've put up a few things for Autumn. Frosty has his outfit on. Scarecrow girl and skeleton are at the end of the deck. She sits on a pile of hay.

With all the goldfish indoors, I filled the goldfish pond back up a bit, just to protect the water lilies. It was grunt work. Those rocks are dead weights! 



I have cement block in there. It protects the fish, giving them somewhere to hide. The water pump sits on them, as well.
The leopard frogs have tried to move in. 

🍎More fun! Caitlin and Aster went apple picking, then to see the Spiderman movie. Two thumbs up, apparently. We don't do theatres, too noisy and crowded. A pie was made, as well!


🍏 I thought of a poem we used to recite with them when the grandies were little (and when I taught kindergarten!):
           
        Way up high in the apple tree. 
        Two little apples smiled at me. 
        I shook that tree as hard as I could. 
        Down came the apples. 
        Mmmm, they were good!

My son, Jesse, and family went to a Medieval Faire. Also, first day of school for our Vancouver grandies!
 


Jean-Luc and his two buddies flew from the Republic of Türkiye. to Warsaw, Poland. They took a tour. 



This statue, The Little Insurrectionist (below left) is honouring the child soldiers who fought and died during the Warsaw uprising in 1944. 

"The Warsaw Uprising was a major World War II operation by the Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from German occupation."

Warsaw Uprising monument next to the Supreme Court 


And still humans battle on for territory and resources. 

I have been in the kitchen: chilli and biscuits.

Banana bread helped warm the kitchen up. We need it. It was only 5℃ this morning.


Monday, 21 September 2026

Black Squirrels, Bullfrogs, Goldfish

 We are officially in Autumn, meteorological fall. The autumnal fall is officially Sept. 22. Close enough! 


The light levels are interesting.


We've two black squirrels now. They were arguing over food. We released three in June. Crumbly Acres Squirrel Release!

They wasted time fighting! I imagine this is two of the three we released. They are more bold than #75 was.

The Rose of Sharon is in bloom.


We have two ponds. The goldfish pond I hand dug. And the vernal frog pond. 

The news is the fishies are in from the goldfish pond. First job was to move the two bullfrogs to the frog pond. They were quite happy to jump in. I spotted a painted turtle a few days ago. It is a great pond. 



LEMME OUTTA HERE!


He is a big one!

The frog pond is quite full this year, with all our summer rain. In August we had 141 mm. In September, we're only up to 25 mm. I did water the front garden, with my new plants.

My second task was to drain the goldfish pond. Cinnamon helped. 


I spent some time digging out the sapling, as I found that one wall has collapsed. Cinnamon christened the hole for me. I chased him off. 


I'm not sure what I'll do. I'd like to fix it, but need to figure out a plan.

Once I got the water level down this far, it took time to get the fish out. The more you fish for them, the wilier they get.
 

That task is done!

Sunday, 20 September 2026

Fall chores & Türkiye

 Yes, Autumn is here! 🍁Fall Chores are underway. 


I was up at 6 a.m., checking out back, I heard geese coming!



The fish tank is ready. I run the hose from out back, directly into the tank. Then I vigilantly check for leaks. None found. 😊

 

Next job is to drain the goldfish pond in order to catch the fishies. I try to plan this just before a rain storm to fill the tank up again. Otherwise, the water lilies could be damaged in the air. The pond fills via the water barrel, fed by the eaves downspout.

It is a dance!

¯\_(^^)_/¯ 

       |/\|

 ((((/\/\))))

   \ |__| /

    _|  |_



As I have said, the critters are preparing either to migrate, hibernate, or are fattening up for winter. Barry Beaver is back at work.



Fred is fattening up... 

The cats are happy with indoor play. Little Nutmeg won the top bunk. She gets so mad when he's up there first. She leaps before she looks, and meets him up top, then jumps down. 

This is a big one! 



Meantime, my son-in-law and his two friends, have been enjoying his trip with his buddies! They are now in the Republic of Türkiye.
These are where people would shelter from invaders. The rock would be pulled in from of the tunnel.