Sprouts, rain, Lenton Rose

 🌱After such a stressful week, I thought some outdoor work was called for! I trimmed all of these tall grasses. I neglected an 'after' photo! It's been raining for two days, so I haven't ventured out. The new shoots are coming up. Indoors, my sprouts are sprouting!

 

After getting out and about, and trying to garden, I paid for it! My tenosynovitis kicked it. 😏 Foot brace is on, foot is up.

I finally remembered to check on my magnolia. Thank you, Ontario Wanderer, for reminding me! I have a memory, it is just selective! Maggie Magnolia only has buds right now (below, left). But soon!  She is growing, as you can see from my May 12, 2012 post on planting her (below right). She is almost as tall as the stick supporting the chicken wire.

 

This is what I await!

I have 180 videos of the spider web across the Crumbly Acres camera. 😏 It's the perfect place, with the light attracting bugs! You just gotta laugh.

 

☔While there was sun and clouds, as predicted, there were dumps of rain during out Kingston trip last Monday! We were headed to the pet store to supplement our goldfish stocks, as long as we were in the city. The weather was interesting!

We've a week of rain on the way. Percy is still managing all alone in his room (the outdoor goldfish pond), where he is supposed to be thinking about his behaviour, having eaten his siblings!

I noticed a robin's nest, about chest level. What could go wrong?!

The Lenten Rose has 7 or 8 blossoms! I am so happy to see it. The deer have been scarce, thankfully.

 

I had another go at it, with my iPhone...  It is tricky! I'm sure AC would fix it up, but I haven't the patience! 

Grecian Windflowers, along with the pale blue star flowers.

🐾 Nutmeg had the first tick of the season. Then, Cinnamon! We'll get some tick prevention meds Monday.

A little later than last year. JB and I had the most in 2022! 

It's the rainy season!

I read this on Elephant's Child's page: "the weather boffins predicted buckets of rain." It is rather fitting for us this week. Our arborists had to cancel. It's a mucky mess. 

Saturday's Critters

A whirlwind week on  Crumbly Acres! (<= story is there)!   The critters are returning, or becoming more active. I heard gunshots yesterday, it sounded like a single gun doing target practice with 6 shots, a pause and 6 shots. Perfectly legal on your own property, but distressing to the wildlife. Not on the gun range. And shortly thereafter there was a barred owl in our forest. That was lovely to hear. 

Percy goldfish seems quiet, but it is chilly in the goldfish pond. 

We've still a leaking, broken outdoor tap, but they are slammed, like all the trades, and won't get a plumber until next Friday. 

Our arborists were to come today, but we've heavy rains. We'll see what happens. 

The gray tree frogs are awake! They call for females to breed, then hop down to the wetland to lay eggs.

When we were cleaning out the garage, I could hear it. I was worried it was in the garage, but it is inside the wheel of the garden hose!

froggie from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I could hear the gray tree frog, it took a couple of days to figure out where it was! He was there last year, too.

tree frog in the water barrel! from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I've since removed this handy little bird bath, thank you AC, but before I did it had a visitor! Every time we are in the garage, it keeps trying to get in at the bird seed. There is only a little left, soon I'll wind all that down. Our bear hasn't come back, good thing.

 

Dratted Red Squirrel from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The cardinal is still banging away on the windows, fighting his shadow. No bugs there, just a possible rival for his mate's attention! He does this on our picture window, as well. The cats rush to the window!

   

 In and on Golden Pond:

 

Saturday's Critters # 489  <= visit more critters here! Thanks to Eileen for hosting. 

Crumbly Acres has its issues!

🙈 I am fried. Stomach issues what with the stress of it all, but I had a great haircut Tuesday, prior to the big Anti-gun range meeting. Yes, we prevented the rezoning from rural to a rural exemption, which would have permitted the gun range from being created! 🎉 The gun range applicant went to CBC Radio Ottawa to rant about his loss. It was full of lies, claiming we are uneducated about guns, and if people only came to him to ask questions he could explain it to us. Our group working to prevent this new use of the gun range has worked so hard on this. 

🐡 The Goldfish Pond

This was a previous year in the height of the season. The pump has stopped working.

I was thinking I should take the pond pump indoors, maybe in the bathtub to try work on it? The old one began working, then stopped while in the pond. I was getting mucky.  Having worked on that for an hour, I had the brilliant idea to work on it in the bird bath. It began working, then pooched out on me. 

I needed a new pond pump. Percy is cooling his jets out there. Although, I did not see him yesterday. It's been cold. JB went shopping for me, and I will install the new one when it warms up. You can see from the photo↑ that the spray, when it is working, does protect the fish from being seen by the Ospreys who live nearby. This is one who visited our front yard one day. They only eat fish and snakes, I've read.

🚰 Plumbing Problem

There is a plumbing problem. It reminds me of opening the cottage plumbing every spring. Something always goes wrong. This tap hasn't been used all winter, obviously. It's been dripping for days. 

The hose spigot was leaking. I noticed this while I was trying to get the pond pump going. I have failed in that, as well. I watched a YouTube video, and took out the spigot. I couldn't get it back in. We're going to need a plumber. I've played phone tag with them for 5 days. The phone battery was out. It helps if you plug it in the right way. 😜

Yes, I watched a YouTube video on how to repair it, but whomever installed it had issues. He kinda glued it to the wall. 

As I recall he bought the wrong piece, too short or too long, and had to go back to the store. I couldn't put it back in. I use electrical tape to put a piece of hose on the open part. It drips, and runs the well pump from time-to-time. We need a plumber, and I've played phone tag for 5 days with a company that we used for the well pump. We were happy with them.

🌲The arborists are coming Saturday, I hope. The branches still litter the ground. They are swamped with work. Cross your fingers. There is still much debris about. The daffodils are happy, though.

5:00 a.m. on Thursday!

💻 My poor computer. I am missing a couple of screws, one was stripped (?) and I cannot close the laptop lid. I've ordered a new one. It was time.

🐦 On a good note, we've both a Robin's nest, and a second Phoebe's nest.

👀 Then there is crumbly Grampa, with his new glasses. He went to the dentist yesterday, his arm was hurting and he had to stop. He has to go back today. Long story, but somebody had the time wrong. 

dangerous driving from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

He passed JB, as well as the car behind him, then dodged in and out of traffic further up the road.

Prescription sunglasses, too! 

Here we are at Friday. Let's see what trouble we can get into today!!!

Kingston and the Goldfish

A great lunch in Kingston. We made it to Kingston on Monday. It took awhile to find parking – oh, city life! 

Chez Piggy

We had a great lunch, despite the fact that it was crowded and very noisy. We'd planned to meet for 12:30, but arrived at 12:45. The noise level was a shock to me! The other patrons cleared out, and we didn't have to yell to hear one another. It was unsettling for people who haven't eaten indoors for months, but we made it through. It was lovely and a great catch-up visit. 

From there, we went to the pet store, and I bought 4 new fishies. They aren't cheap, goldfish, but they give us such pleasure and it is a hobby I enjoy. I avoided the $35 ones, and bought an older, bigger one for $18, and 3 of the $10 younger ones. I explained that I had Percy, and he needed more friends. She asked if he might eat them, but I explained that there were a couple in the tank he hadn't eaten. Then, we headed home. I was so wrong.

We arrived home from Kingston, and settled in. I popped the fish into the fish tank. You're supposed to let them sit in the tank for a bit, while the water temperature evens out. They are pretty tolerant of temperatures. 

As many of my regular readers know,  spring is the time I pop the goldfish outdoors in their little pond outdoors. Often they mate and produce more fishies. The pond freezes solid in winter, and they cannot last the freeze/thaw out there. The common goldfish don't have longevity. I do try to get the fancier ones. Like Percy. He has grown, and like his namesake, my first father-in-law's piranha, he is aggressive.

 

Numbers had dwindled from 7 to 5 fishies over the last year. You can see↑ one of the small ones that disappeared. I blamed Cinnamon for the missing 2 smaller fish. The poor lad. I was so wrong!

I took some photos with my new iPhone. Not so bad!

 

We were watching TV, and I heard a big splash at the tank. I checked, and Cinnamon wasn't there. What a mistake. At bedtime, I went to the 60 gallon tank to say goodnight and turn out the light. The three smaller fish have been eaten. Percy ate his new siblings. I blamed Cinnamon for eating our smaller one in the fall, but it was Percy Piranha. 

Bubbles is the only new fishy left

I popped the last remaining newbie into the goldfish bucket overnight. It was late, and I was stressed, worrying about the proposed gun range vote the next day. I worried about Bubbles much of the night, it was clearly traumatized, huddling in the fake aquarium plants. In the morning I had a plan. Percy went out, by himself, into the cool goldfish pond. He doesn't look happy. He will be fine. 

Percy is in the dog house... so-to-speak. It was near zero overnight. He will survive. The pond won't freeze now. He is nestled into the leaf debris and I hope he thinks about what he has done!

The lesson is learned. I'll debate what to do. Maybe Bubbles needs some time to grow indoors.