Sunday 30 April 2017

April precipitation


April totals 

I began tracking in May, 2013, after the 2012 drought. In 2014, we had flooding, as well. Late snow on the crocus. This year we've had a goodly amount.


2017   127.5 mm
2016   15 cm snow
2015   84 mm
2014    160 mm
2013   84 mm




April 30 – what a change!

April 29



April 26 – Thunder Bay had some ice rain!




April 25 – rainy: 3mm

April 24 - Sunny day!


April 23 –flooding in Ontario



April 21

More clouds!

April 20 – 8 mm!


April 19 - storms brewed up 7mm!


April 16th  Rain fell: 3.8mm

It came in two waves, more or less. 

April 15th – Rain approacheth: 9.7 mm

April 11th – Lots of cloud, little rain 1.8 mm

April 6th – 40+ mm rain, local flooding, with a topping of snow!

I melted the snowfall, only 2.3 mm of liquid.

We've had 74 mm over a few days. This was from the Texas tornado system moving our way.



There were winds, and the resulting power outages. There is flooding across low-lying areas, too.

April 5th 



April 4th – AND, RAIN! We had 28.7 mm (~1+")

April 3rd – something's on its way!

April 1st

A bit of an April Fool's Day joke!
Eventually it all turned to snow fall, after a time. I measured the snow, but since so much melted, I used the rain gauge and we had 14mm of precipitation fall, over about 6 cm snow.

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It's gardening season!

My client and her daughter had just gone shopping, and brought home some pansies. I was inspired.
It's that time of year! Sort of!

Friday, we took a trip to a local garden centre! We shop at quite a few of them. Carol Onion, who is co-owner of Hillside Gardens in Perth, was on our local radio station Lake88's All About The House, talking about the new plants, and what they have in this year. It was also a phone-in show, but we went to Maplefest, and I missed half of the show! (More on Maplefest tomorrow!)
Hillside is having an Open House next weekend, too!

Anyway, Carol was talking about a new type of red petunia, which I'd bought. They are in my planters. I bought some yellow and deep purple pansies, as well, and a couple of bright red geranium! I bought some red and white petunias, the bluewave, which will droop out and over the hanging planters. That is, if I water them properly. There are some years when I go back and buy their ready-made ones after I'd messed them up!

This is all we can put out at this point in the season. We are near 0 C. overnight, and we have to be careful!


The wind ornament, I might just go back and buy it for myself for Mother's Day!
I sat, in the sun, on the bottom step to plant them. Daisy was supervising, Annabelle, too, but she took off prior to the photo.

Oh, yes, and my Orchid Cactus, with its giant flowers, is blooming profusely.
My forsythia is in bloom. It's a pretty newish plant, and NOT robust. I snapped a photo of a big one in town!


The goldfish are out in their pond! They were racing, in circles, around the fountain. They looked so frisky. I brought the fish in, in September, The goldfish are in!,  and back out they go.


In case you missed, at the end of the day, I found that the Eastern Phoebe pair have begun their nest in a safe spot in the shed. Whew! This was the pair on Friday!
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Saturday 29 April 2017

What did I see? What did I hear?

Happy UPDATE: Saturday, April 29th, Phoebe nest building has begun.

I heard the sounds of spring twitterpation! Love calls! It's the sounds of spring in which I experience glory.
Momma barred owl on a hot day last year.
The nest is behind her.
Thursday, April 28th I sat on the back deck. The sun was shining and it was lovely. I first heard the barred owl. The nest, from the back, looks a little more open than last year. I'm curious as to how long it will last. This is a 360˚ view.


In the video, you can barely hear the female answer with the traffic speeding by, but she did! This is a good sign. The thumbnail photo was taken last year, after the chicks were born.



Eastern Phoebe
Phoebe was really busy, in and out of the shed. I caught him grooming on the ground. I thought that unusual. Now, I don't think they are near the building phase. They often choose the shed, but sometimes change their minds!

In 2016, Update on the phoebe nest , they moved it twice!

One year, Phoebe's feeble nest refuge was in the play house. I barricaded it with chicken wire, and the raccoons got it.
Phoebe from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

blue jay/geese from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.


Anyway, my birding list: around 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, I sat quietly and heard, or saw these birds.
I won't bother with images, although I have archival photos.

  1. Barred owl
  2. robin
  3. pileated woodpecker
  4. mourning dove
  5. phoebe
  6. chickadee
  7. nuthatch
  8. Canada geese - flew over in a V
  9. blue jay
  10. red-winged blackbird
  11. wild turkey
  12. junco
  13. American crow

Out front, at our feeder, we have house finches, purple finches, white-crowned sparrows!

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Thursday 27 April 2017

Tay Valley First Nations Artifacts

The Oàmiwinni speak of 10,000 years of the "Algonquin Drum Beat Upon the Land” whereby the intention of the original treaties between England and First Nations as marked in the Wampum Belt — that the nations were to be equal and the knowledge of the indigenous people was to be respected. Treaties were never about giving up land, but governing land together.
Tay Vally is located west of Perth, Ontario.

The Tay Valley community is built on unceded Oàmiwinni territory, and protocols were followed during the ceremony to celebrate the new display. All of the artifacts were labelled, indicating when and where they were found. Many had been found a long, long time ago by settlers. They are on loan from the Perth Museum.

We didn't go to the ceremony, crowds don't appeal to either of us. In fact, there was such a huge crowd, some people couldn't get up to the cases and planned visits later. This is heart warming. A lovely clerk opened the doors for me, when we visited in April. There was a smudging, during the ceremony.

The purpose of our visit was to see the artifacts and to buy a book the township is selling. It's an interesting documentary of the development of the region.

The clay pot shards were representative of pots that were begun to be made around 1200 years ago.
The arrowheads, gouges, scrapers and skinning tools were used. Bone buttons, a cartridge, clay pipes, and the like were left by early settlers. You can visit the township's website Searchable Database to find out which lands were given to which settlers. Many were given to United Empire Loyalists, many as free grants. This is one example, below. The unceded land given to Elizabeth Billing in 1805. It was then sold in 1842. Many parts of these grants are totally unsuitable for farming, with shallow soil, and riddled with wetlands.


The book At Home in Tay Valley, a history of indigenous peoples and European settlers, is also available for purchase at the municipal office. Proceeds from book sales go to a scholarship for a student graduating from Perth and District Collegiate Institute or St John Catholic High School and beginning post secondary education.

Indigenous artifacts opening ceremony in Tay Valley Township draws large crowd

The opening of an exhibit of Indigenous Artifacts, held Saturday, March 25 at the Tay Valley Township Municipal Office, attracted a standing-room-only crowd of over 100 members of the community interested in learning more about the 10,000 year history of the Omàmiwininì (Algonquin) in this area.
 
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