Who goes there?

I heard a Pine Grosbeak, according to Merlin. This one sounded like it was in the big pine tree out back. I've no photos that I can find. Just a photo of the purple finch. Whaddya think? Close enough?! 😉 The purple finch and house finch always give me trouble. Now I have to worry about the Pine Grosbeak! 

 

The doe was on a mission.

These two hang around all the time. Once Spring arrives we won't see them.

I saw these tracks, and wondered who was out in the night! 🦨

Skunk videos

Scanning the trailcams, I found some answers. The Crumbly Acres camera doesn't capture small mammals too well. 

 

 I caught it as it went along the driveway, headed across the highway. 

 

I wrote a piece about animal tracking for our local lake association! Soon the snow will go and we won't know who goes there!  

Deer, barred owl, goldfish...

It looks pretty, especially when the sun comes out! The doe was on the sidewalk. 

The doe was eating my Candytuft plant↑. They do this every year! Often they eat the buds waiting for spring. Little twerps. The bud don't come back. This is why I like the snow cover.

candytuft in Spring

  There is lots of action. Three black squirrels were roaring around. Spring fever and they are twitterpated.

 

Sitting in my easy chair, I spotted some commotion at the chestnut tree. If squirrels had 9 lives, #75 would be down one. Or we'd be down one squirrel. The barred owl was chasing 75 up the tree. It's a tricky proposition. Not so easy with a great big wing span. The owl flew off to this tree. Talk about camouflage! 

Happily I've lots of archived photos. 

 

She sat for a period of time. The birds and squirrels disappeared. Joe Brian was napping, but I was tempted to wake him up. His meds are helping him sleep.

I was a bit shaky. Tired, and my arm was falling asleep, but you get the picture!.

   

I leaned on the camera tripod, but it didn't help. Eventually the wee birds came back. We are down a chickadee, I think. I wrote about that adventure on Saturday. The kestrel came by.

 

In the meantime, not to neglect the fish. I cleaned the tank and the filter on Sunday. It should be done monthly. They'll go outdoors into the goldfish pond in May when we warm up. 

Warm up may be awhile! It was -24 ℃ Monday morning. I made a fire to warm us up. I plan to drive the garbage down to the road. It'd be good to get the car going. 

The moon was amazing. Clear skies for once. I should have gotten a proper photo, but this will do.

Have a good week. Stay safe. Stay warm. 

Come on , SPRING!

It is hard to believe, but this was me Feb. 21st! I sped up the video. 

Poor Good Bunny Labbit! I scared her just looking out the window.

 

  It looked like a rain storm Saturday, but all we had was 0.5 mm of rain. The snow is melty and awful to walk in. It is still knee-deep out back. We made it up to 8 ℃! 

I had to sweep the sidewalk! I shoveled off the water and it dried and/or drained well.

 9:30 | 2:30  and the next day, a skiff of snow!

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This morning it is -11℃, and we had a skiff of snow.

 🤧 Poor Joseph Brian, he has had this cough since December. 🤒 Thanks for your kind wishes. He phoned our physician Friday, and the earliest appointment he could get was for March 12th! That was 14 days away. I think it is just a cold. He has had this before. It lasted 6 months. All we could do was treat the symptoms. I feel so badly for him. He's doing Ventolin, antihistamines, but no fever, therefore no sign of bacterial infection. I did a pharmacy run for him. 

We carry on. 

Aster went with her Junior Band to Musicfest! At the same time Caitlin went to a Saturday choir rehearsal for their choir trip to the Baltics in June. She is on the far left, with her gorgeous red hair!

There were 19 deer! 

A hawking good tail

We've lots of hawks around. 

Juvenile sharp-shinned, I've been told. 

This one was eyeing #75's nest box. 

These three photos are from a company who goes around to festivals and fairs. Very educational.

kestrel

red-tailed hawk

This was from Bala, when we lived there.

This hawk hit the window in 2018. I am sure it was chasing a bird. 

hawk 2 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

rough-legged hawk from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

This broad-winged hawk came in a pair in summer. It hung around for a couple of days. 

It was screeching something in hawk-speak: 

 Why are these men on the roof? That was an adventure. They brought a hawk to scare away the gulls while they harvested the gull eggs to limit the gull population.

We had a hawk visit the feeder this week. I am giving up identifying hawks. Sharp-shinned, red-tailed, Cooper's,  or kestrel. We have a kestrel in the area. Birders with much more expertise have seen it around. I won't lead anyone astray! It was small, not as chubby as the mourning doves. 

It cleared the feeder. They slowly came back, first the chickadees. It was still sitting on the branch in the tree. I went out and it flew off at great speed. 

For more critters: Saturday's Critters # 637 visit Eileen!

Annual check ups

They are quite the pair. The vets estimate they were born June 30, 2019. This was their first check up: Kitten vet visit. It was 2019 and they both fit into the same carrier!

Wednesday was my day to take the cats in for their annual exams and shots. There have been many successful visits, but I had a problem. Joe is sick with a horrid bout of coughing, wheezing, and I was going solo. 

I have so many bad visits with cats. I tried not to think of those. One year we had to cancel and rebook. Nutmeg was so loud, Cinnamon and disappeared in a panic. 

This is what she is like:

One year a dog sat and barked for our 15 minutes in the waiting room. The cats were scared to death. Noises trigger my social anxiety. 

Another time we turned up in the parking lot and a woman was there looking for her cat who had escaped her arms or the car. It was so sad. She never found it. 

This time, I had to wait a bit. There was a dog in one room. I covered the two cat carriers with my coats, hoping to shield them. The dog was being noisy in the room Another big dog entered, and he was very excited and was yapped loudly. I just shook. He was very kind and took his dog outside after apologising. I was so stressed. I was nearly weeping. I was tearing up.

I finally realized what was wrong with me. I'd missed my antidepressant pill the day before. I couldn't figure out was was wrong. Not until dinner time, when I went to take my meds. Oy vey.

Nutmeg wasn't a happy camper. They lived at the vet about 6 years ago. They were rescued by someone who found them on the side of the road. We adopted them from the vet, where they lived for a few weeks until we took them in. 

Cinnamon was quite relaxed. He is an easy going boy.

She settled on the table, and didn't budge. Her weight is 100 gm down: to 4.5 kg. Not bad. 

Cinnamon (6.8 kg) has gained a half kilogram. Whoopsie. They are both on a senior's diet. He needs more walkies.  When the snow goes...

He was calm enough to rub up against my leg.

We arrived home safely. I took her into the basement. I wasn't lifting him any further than I had to. I let him out of the carrier, and off he went.