Wednesday 15 August 2018

Goldfish pond, rainfall, ticks, frogs,

Good little bug eater!


Summer continues to unfold. The hibiscus has blossomed. These are in the backyard. The front ones have large buds. I shall continue to water them and cross my fingers.


Our dreadful heat has passed, but yesterday's rain missed us. In Smiths Falls they had a lovely quick rain cell, when I was there. Only 0.3 mm, here near Perth, in the rain gauge. I was quite hopeful. But, alas...

Goldfish pond

The goldfish pond now has 26 little green frogs. They sit in and around the pond, waiting for bugs. The wetland is dry, we are their sanctuary. So far, no water snakes. This is good!


I popped a fake water lily into the goldfish pond. They haven't blossomed.


I am wondering where the bullfrog in the frogpond (also dry) has gone. Perhaps to the lake. hard to say.



Some of the hanging planters are starting to look weary. JB harvested more cherry tomatoes for lunch, though. I have this most successful, despite the chipmunk and the odd bird taking one or two.


Ticks

Daisy looks a bit the worse for wear. She does provoke fights with Hooper. She has been spending 90% of her time on the front deck. She's happy in the heat of summer. We had a forest walk yesterday, although she was distracted, and stayed behind to worry a red squirrel.

I removed two dead ticks from her this past week, another dead one off of Hooper.  They were due to have another treatment of Bravecto June 17th, for ticks. The package says that it works two months for ticks, 3 months for fleas. (We've never had a problem with fleas here!) Anyway, since the ticks are way down this year (31, 64 in August of 2017), I did not bother treating them again in June. I adopted the 'watch and wait' philosophy. I'm glad, because the Rx still seems to be working. I must tell our vet.

The phlox is amazing. The smell divine. Lots of critters love it, as well.



Shop Locavore

Our local farm has a market stand. It's a hoot. People simply do not perceive that there are other people and cars, and the farm's simple protocols. I have been caught, more than once, behind someone who didn't pull through, parked dead stop in the driveway. I have noticed a fair number of people who do not read signs!


I love seeing the sheep in the field.

Milkweed

More eggs are being laid. I'm not sure the dark cluster, but the single one is, of course, a monarch butterfly.

Down in the meadow:


JB's walks

I've convinced him to carry the camera on his morning walks. Since they venture a fair territory, the fawn and doe would well be the ones on my trailcam in our meadow.

Around the World

The kids continue their world tour.

This is Izzy in business class, watching her video just before stretching out for bedtime.

They arrived in Japan, and went dark for 24 hours. What. Me. Worry?!


Josee slept for 12 hours straight, apparently. They are settled in a teeny AirBnB for a week. They visited the Roppongi Hills Mori Tower. At the base, some fun critters. Do you think they'll do the Tokyo Tower??!!

4 comments:

Anvilcloud said...

I'm glad you posted a hibiscus because we just passed one in the neighbourhood, and I couldn't dredge up the name from my failing memory.

William Kendall said...

The deer are always so watchful when they've been noticed.

Red said...

I try not to get too excited about drivers. there are some prizes out there.

Powell River Books said...

My tomatoes have had a hard time in the heat, especially when we go away for more than two days. Some of our boat trips have stretched to four. They perk back up with water, but some of the tomatoes are showing their displeasure with blossom end rot. I did get enough to can some as sauce and diced tomatoes, but not many. - Margy