Saturday 30 June 2018

VISA FRAUD: phone scam

Yes, another one. It's not new, either. This is the gist of the first part, from 2016, from someone else.

I asked him  how did I know he was from VISA? He told me my name and full address. He asked, "How else would I know this information? I have your file here."

This is my call, after the first dude passed me on to a 'supervisor.' Eventually she hung up on me. I put the phone on speaker phone to record it. I was curious.

VISA Phone Scam 3.0 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Everything is coming up daisies!

I have refrained from cutting the 'grass' as the daisies are blooming, although the Devil's Paintbrush have just finished. 



There is one little spot, under the white pine tree, where there are a few devil's paintbrush still blooming. I mowed around it!


Daisy was being silly.


I love this piece of sumac root. It looks like the head of a Dr. Seuss character!
If you look closely...

Friday 29 June 2018

Hooper walkies and Bucky

One never knows who will turn up on the trailcam! My morning ritual is to go down to fetch the SD Card. It is amazing to think that this particular path, which narrows between the wetland and the frog pond, is where critters have crossed for ever. I wear a pashmina, and flick at the bugs. It's not too hot, and protects me. They are merciless.



As I approached the frog pond, I could hear the pileated wood pecker. Eventually I saw him.

Pileated Woodpecker from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

 My videocamera used to be fantastic. The colour is not great in my photos, in the shadows. I shall have to take my regular camera with me on walkies. The frog pond is growing over with cattails. Hopefully, another muskrat family will come and get rid of them for me. [Guess who had six babies! 2016]


There were LOTS of birds! I think this was a yellowthroat. It's a pretty bird, anyway.
Common yellowthroat from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

In the meantime, I am glad I wore my big boots. There is lots of poison ivy and poison oak in the forest.


My traveling companion...

Can you see him in the trees?!


The bear has been busy, searching for bugs under the tree bark. S/he has ripped up the bark from the bottom. He has appeared June 2nd, 5th, 7th and the 21st. Happily there is lots of food for him.


We followed the wetland shoreline, as the bears do! I often se their tracks along the muck on the shore.


Hooper climbed a tree!
Hooper walkies from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

As he came down from the tree, he obviously heard something in the forest. I didn't panic... Usually it is a doe, a deer, a female deer. This time it was a buck.

Bucky & Hooper from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

We carried on. It was a good run.


He paused on the hill, on the way back up to the house. Happy boy.

Thursday 28 June 2018

Our trip is over, time to get to work

Indeedy! What a trip to see the younger two grandies. [Vancouver and kidlets!]
I've curated a bazillion photos from our trip. I've dumped some, edited some of others. I listened to an interesting CBC radio program at 4:00 a.m.: Overlooked: Photography and the Smartphone (an estimated 1.2 trillion photos being shot a year,)

I found that I'm not the only one to take a LOT of photos! I don't have a cell phone, let alone a smartphone. 
Anyhoo, back to my Ms. Maintenance stuff...

Water fountain

I have worked my buns off. After our trip out west to see the kidlets, I resigned myself to get the birdbath fixed, as well as the water fountain.

The water fountain was a surprise present for JB, from me. It was almost a surprise, as he was napping when they arrived to install it. Sadly, he began doing dishes as he looked out the kitchen window, and saw them walking by! He does dishes religiously.


 A Swainson's Thrush and a blue jay. The birds love it, as much as we do.


I uncovered it this spring. There were helpers. Cats love cement, don't they?!


My big problem was lifting off the tiers, then replacing them. On Friday (June 22), we had guys in to clean the chimney. We asked, and they helped by putting the sections back on for me, after I'd worked an hour on it. It still didn't work. Back to the drawing board.


I spent 6 hours Friday, all told. Hubby took pity on me.  I had the hangries, and he got out of Dodge. He brought me home a pre-made pizza, and wine! I put my feet up that night.

On Saturday, I spent another 3 hours on it. The company that put it in refused to come and fix it. What I wanted was a new motor, and a new topper. I gave up, turned it off, and we went to see a tennis game in Kingston. (More on that: Kingston Tennis Club – Sat., June 16th.)

When I did my research, I found out a new motor was only $40.  Last year I had broken off the piece, the one that pokes up, to which the copper pipe attaches. I had jury-rigged it, and severely compromised it last fall. Without the copper piece, it topples over.

I ended up cutting the copper pipe in thirds, and attached them with fish tank plastic tubing. That worked, by day three, when I realized the tubing was kinked under the first bowl. With the bendy plastic, I can tip it over and slide on the bowl toppers. Voilà!

Broken birdbath

broke my birdbath last winter. (It was the way I'd put the heater in, the top 4" froze.) Me bad. You can see the ice on the side of the pedestal, as it leaked out. It held water, up to a certain point.


I had some advice about getting some premixed cement. I never even thought of that!
Out To Pasture said...
Sorry about your bird bath. I have two. One cement and one metal. The cement one cracks and I just mend it with cement repair compound. 

I applied it twice, two containers worth, and it worked after the second coating. Everyone is happy.

Happy dance!

¯\_(^^)_/¯ 
       /\
 ((((/\/\))))
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    _|  |_

Wednesday 27 June 2018

Goat's beard & phoebe

I have two videos, unrelated to the weekend!
This was so funny. This is a goldfinch on a Goat's Beard, after it had gone to seed. The second bird looks like a juvenile.  I took this video through the front window, from my arm chair.


Most of our birds had hatched and fledged their broods. Phoebe, however, is on her second brood. I was at the shed, looking for Fred Groundhog, and she flew out. I checked the nest, sure enough, 5 more little eggies!

The girls are coming!!!

We haven't seen our Ottawa grandies in ages. As they grow (ages 8 and 10), their lives are busier, they have weekend birthday parties, and events to attend. Somedays, it's just R & R, and laundry for their family! They have a fun, diverse calendar, as well as many diverse friends. I'm so proud of them.

The good news is that in addition to going to "Spy Camp" in July (Welcome to Spy Camp! | Diefenbunker), they will be coming to visit us for "Gramma Camp!"

I prepared by filling the pool. (The girls had been talking affectionately about our pool time!) Hubby bought it on sale, and it was a really good deal, for all the joy it brings us. We are anticipating a heat wave this weekend. Last weekend was a bit cloudy and cool.

By the end of day two, the water in the pool had warmed up enough for me to hop in. (It comes out pretty cold!)  JB was off visiting a friend in hospital. I did a few gardening chores, and it was quite warm! I hopped in, just wearing my gardening dress.

 

The overnight temperatures do not help, but it is warmer than the 4 C. water that comes out of the well!
I read a post by an upper middle class media personality bemoaning the $8.59 carbon tax on the $200 bill for propane to heat her pool. Sigh. I told her mine is solar powered!

Someone responded: "You are paying $8.59 to offset the non-renewable energy costs of your luxury asset. I’m having difficulty relating to your concern."

I snorted!

It was a bit chilly on Saturday, but Isabelle was keen.


The rest of us were watching World Cup Soccer. Hooper sat with anyone who would take him! Josie is writing a story on her dad's laptop from her Google drive, Hooper was moral support.


JL is allergic to cats, and he is a dog person. The pollen is really bad, right now, he said it didn't matter.
Lo, these many years, we are turning him into a cat person!


Sunday was a bit warmer. Izzy had breakfast on the back deck.

Then, it was play time.


She's growing up!