Saturday 31 July 2021

Saturday's Critters

 🐻BEAR WATCH <= check out my latest. There have been reports of bears in the area. We haven't seen any since July 9th [Critters galore!]. These reports are all within a normal bear's range to us.  

July 20 – reports of a big bear at Beveridge's Locks. (Since May.)
July 25 – Report of three cubs Elm Grove and Hughes Rd.
July 28 – Bear scat on Sunset Dr.

We saw a small bear on camera in June of 2021.


And a large bear  in June 2020.


A Great Crested Flycatcher!  

I spotted this bird on Tuesday, but by the time I put on my 2nd shoe... I missed it. Wednesday morning, it was in the backyard, worried about the crows.


This is probably a vireo chick  They are all over, and BirdNet keeps IDing them by song.


The grandies named our coyotes, Chad! 


Who knew there was such a thing as a Coyote map for urban Toronto? They are quite bold in the city, acclimated to humans. Ours lurk in the forest, scooting past the trailcams most of the time. I've seen them, perhaps, four times in ten years here. Ours are quite afraid of humans, as many here have animals to protect.

Coyote map


doe and two fawns  
The fawns are now appearing on camera. If you watch this one to the end, you'll see the two fawns nursing behind the tree! They don't need to nurse, as they can chew on leaves and grass, but you know how the little ones are!

 

Saturday's Critters # 398 Thanks, Eileen, for hosting.

Friday 30 July 2021

Gramma Camp – Week 34.3

 We eased into the day. I did my blogging. The girls arose around 10. It rained much of the day, on and off. 

Papa set the girls up with an old games player. Isabelle and I connected it up, after a few tries. Iz wanted to play Bubble Bobble. We met with varied success. It was so funny.

My favourite game of the 80s was Q*BERT. We tried that. Hilarity ensued. I just couldn't get the controller under control. We laughed so hard, Josephine came downstairs because of the noise. Isabelle said it wasn't her fault she didn't do well. She grew up in the age controllers with more than 6 buttons,  3–D graphics, and open world settings, not this stuff! She is quite droll.

Bubble Bobble - Wikipedia
Bubble Bobble

Q*BERT

I told Jos that the tree frog was on the railing. It is so well hidden, she asked to play 'hot and cold!' That helped.


After it rudely peed on her, she giggled, put it back, and washed her hands!

Isabelle found two connect-the-dot pages to do. She couldn't connect her wifi to my printer, so she did Facetime with Papa. I heard her talking to someone and was curious. I ambled down the hall. Poor Papa was trying to work from home, so I offered to help. She texted the PDF file to me and I printed it from my laptop. The one she did had 650 dots to connect!



They did the garbage and recycling today, with Grampa directing traffic. Everyone helped tidy, the girls broke down boxes with me, they filled the dishwasher. Grampa said, "This is great, by week 34 they are doing garbage and recycling!" Grampa's arm precludes him doing garbage right now. It's been tough.

I watched the afternoon movie with them, in the basement. They finish each other's sentences;  'his brother...'  'Oh, yeah!'

Guardians of the Galaxy

Today, the 2nd monarch chrysalis should eclose! IT is getting quite dark.

Thursday 29 July 2021

Gramma Camp – Week 34.2

I tried to make the dashcam video better, but I didn't do very well. When Grampa and Josephine went to the store on Tuesday, they saw the doe and a fawn on the front lawn. They are on the left. Maybe for my birthday we'll get a new dashcam! fawn 

It was the first time we've seen the fawns in the daylight up here. We'll see them more often in August, when they are a little less vulnerable, and a little more streetwise!

 We'd planned on going to the Perth Wildlife Centre Tuesday, but it is cool and rainy! I spotted an ad for volunteers to help with their butterfly gardens, which reminded me of it. 

On Tuesday, Isabelle announced that she was going to the Muskoka Room. With lots of rain on the way today, she might end up there to draw and listen to music, again. Notice the water bottle, Momma! 

Off we went Thursday at 10 a.m. We packed water, bug spray, cameras. 

Not quite sure what they were up to...

We made it. We have an annual pass to the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority (RVCA) parks.
A swallowtail was doing something in the mud in the parking lot. One car left as we arrived, and there was one other there. It was quite peaceful.

It was a lovely walk through the forest, along the paths. Lots of birds, but the bugs were so bad we didn't stop.

We made it to the river. The girls hunkered down on the dock and talked, while Grampa and I climbed the viewing lookout. I took a selfie with my phone, and sent it to Momma, who is working from home.


We climbed. I didn't take a photo, this is from our visit in 2018.


From the lookout, there were birds snatching bugs.

There were a pair of ducks but even with the zoom lens, which I dragged along in my backpack, I couldn't attempt to ID it. They were diving for food. 


duck  


The girls were still on the dock when they saw kayakers. They decided to make turkey sounds??? Tay River  

 

It's just a lovely, peaceful scene. The Tay winds around the marsh off in the distance. It was a perfect day!

You can see one of the kayaks in the middle of the river.

The girls joined us on the tower. More selfies for Momma!

And we were done, headed back to the car! It was a good walkabout. It was a good hour we were out there. 


We hustled back along the path, and I heard a bird. (It was really buggy!) catbird 

We didn't see any stinkpot or blandings turtles, but they are there!


When you come to a fork in the road...


I'd shown Josephine my October, 2018 blog post of our extended family visit, and she wanted a reprise of the photo! 

The poor trees, LDD damage.

We arrived home, and Isabelle and I tried a reprise of the lily photo, with pollen on her face. I wasn't wearing my reading glasses and couldn't tell it was out of focus. Oh well! Her facial expression is a hoot. They are so much fun.

We all vegged out after this. It was an afternoon of reading, drawing, and, of course, their 3 p.m. video. The three of them watched in the basement: Isabelle, Josephine, and Cinnamon! It was, apparently, a 'cheesy' one. (They picked their own videos!) Grampa and I watched Olympics to catch our breath, and put our feet up. 

After spaghetti and meatballs, with meatball jokes from Grampa, we watched America's Got Talent while Isabelle had her shower. Lights out by 9:30! 

Wednesday 28 July 2021

Gramma Camp – Week 34.1

Monday afternoon, I noticed a herd of bugs on the maple tree. The trees have been stressed with the infestation of LDD caterpillars and moths.  


After dinner, I thought I'd go out and get more photos of the bugs. This one took a bit of research. It seems to be bark lice or Tree Cattle (Cerastipsocus venosus).  The name comes from the way they all split up if you go near or touch them.


The ones with the black and white are the nymphs. That confused me, as they look like another species! The larger ones are the adults, and they feed on lichen, and debris around the tree. 

They moved like a little herd when I approached for more photos, hence the name 'tree cattle.' The setting sun highlighted them.


We had an interesting discussion at dinner Monday night: "Can vegans eat honey?" It was fun. 

Tuesday, July 27th

Grampa did his walk early on Tuesday, rain was on the way. 


He saw a bunny!


The girls arose around 10:30. Six weeks until school begins anew, they best enjoy it. After they made themselves breakfast, Isabelle went out to the Muskoka Room to write a story and listen to music. It was  raining heavily! We have had a decent amount of rain, thankfully, unlike the west.

Jos was reading and watching gymnastics with me. She multitasks, when the crowd noise captures her attention she looks up. She likes the ads, too. They don't have cable! 

Our afternoon walk was cancelled, due to the rain. Nutmeg made some excitement by coming indoors and throwing up three times. Apparently, there were mice friends ingested outdoors. 

Isabelle and I painted the wall where the oil tank used to be. We moved into this house in 2010, and replaced the oil furnace. They are bad news, with horror stories about them leaking and insurance not paying up. The previous homeowners had finished the basement, and painted around the fuel tank. I've wanted to do this for ages.

Hilarity ensued. Jos took a photo, as did Grampa. Their dear parents include them in all sorts of home projects. They are good with tools. 
Grampa and Josephine went to the store, while Isabelle and I worked. They brought back drumsticks for a treat.


After we were done, we decided to wait an hour and do a second coat. That done, we felt accomplished!

Cinnamon was on the bed waiting for Josephine. 

Isabelle, Josephine and Cinnamon were on Josephine's bed. Iz was petting Cinn, while Jos petted her red headed sister. Then they switched. It was a lovely peaceful moment! It was afternoon, and the movie was Men in Black International.




The rain put a damper on events at the Olympics, we watched tapes of the women's triathlon, in the rain. Grampa and I watched the Canadian women's softball team win, also in the rain. It was exciting!


Dinner was tourtière, it was nice having the oven on, on a cool and rainy day. We all fell into bed by 9, lights out for all of us shortly thereafter!