A glorious time of year

 

At 5:30 I stood out on the back deck and listened for the birds. This is what Merlin told me. I've photos of all these, except for the Wood-Pewee. 

I remember standing under a tree trying like heck to find it. The other App I used said it was a Robin. Pfftt. 

We've cool mornings and warm days this week. Pretty ideal conditions for all the critters nesting and borrowing.

The Merlin App has been really helpful. 

  

songbirds from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

  I figured out where the blackflies are: my front garden. Only one bite on Wednesday. I woke up at 4:40 Wednesday, slept in until 5:30 Thursday. That is a good thing. The night before I was awake from 2 - 4 and man, the mind chatter and brain festering with problems. This morning, Friday, I slept until 5 a.m., which isn't bad.

The butterflies are fun. This is a Canadian Tiger Swallowtail, according to iPhotos. It is going after the Goats Beard.

Busy yard!

I've been wrestling with the lawn tractor. I'll recharge the battery, take the heavy sucker down to the shed, pop it into the tractor and it won't start. I had to get some lawn done. I pushed the durn thing across from the shed to the garage where I started it with the recharger, kept it running, and did the deed. 

I was interrupted by a phone call from the OPP Fraud department. I explained what happened. Got all upset again, and put the tractor away. It wouldn't start without the whole routine again. I didn't have the heart for it. I mow in sections so as to not get rid of the various wildflowers the birds, bees, deer and Fred like. There is a No Mow May effort by some. I like that idea. There are others who only leave an inch of grass. It is an old fashioned notion. Especially with droughts and the like.

First poppy:

Since I was lathered with bug spray, I transplanted the Marigold elsewhere, and added the Basil I'd picked up on Monday just before the storm and the tornado watch. (We didn't get a tornado!) This activity makes me happy. 

The trailcams have been fairly quiet. Here is our doe, sniffing at the camera. I think she is pregnant and has been wandering around, trimming the 'grass' for me. 

🎾 Distractions...

Tennis have been great, except for the rainouts! We taped both Shapovalov and Auger-Aliassime, and watched them one after another until the rain fell. The electronics are interesting. I was out back, checking the bank accounts (yes, I'm checking them hourly), and checked the tennis activity. With all the rain they've had to rejig schedules. We've several tennis players doing well. 

🎥 AFTER THE FLOOD

JB went out and brought me a pizza, a new library book, and a bottle of wine. My hero, trying to calm me down. We like to escape to the TV at night. I've a funeral to attend Saturday, and what with worrying about the banking crap, it just sets us both on edge. (You know how it is, many of you!) Watching this murder mystery has been great.

I've been chatting with fellow bloggers about the setting of this UK TV series. We were wondering about the set. There is a YouTube video for everything! This was fascinating for me.  A long drone video, gives the overhead view.

An overhead drone video

This helps some:

Made it to Thursday!

 Wednesday came early, but the forecast looked clear. We had a cold front move in, and it really changes my gardening routines!

In the parking lot, after our visit to the bank manager Monday, a skein of Canada geese! Then the heaven's opened up and the rain poured down. We went home to dry off and try to calm down.

2024 Process of Cancer Treatment Tuesday, May 28

PART CXII – Good PSA test Feb. 2, Lupron injection Feb. 12. MMR booster March.

PART CXIII – Zoom meeting May 28th with Dr. C, the surgeon. All is well. The Lupron is doing its work. Calcium supplements are good, as are his exercises to help build up bone strength. We will carry on as usual. Another Zoom meeting in 6 months, and a face-to-face in a year. 

We were happy to have a Zoom meeting with the surgeon. It works so well. He was only a half hour late to the Zoom meeting, but it was way easier than sitting waiting in the living room, driving the 90 minutes into the city and back.

 

I noticed a doe out back. She seems pregnant! 

I wrote about repainting my coloured pencil, moving it to the daffodil garden. The hummingbird, as well as the phoebes (feeding newly hatched chicks), like to perch on it.

 

Out the open window I heard a bird. I peeked, and it was a Great Crested Flycatcher, gone by the time I returned with the camera. Besides, the screen is in with all the bugs. I do have archived photos. 

Phoebe is doing a good job. I continue to look at them infrequently. I just worry about the mink! Last year it got the cardinals in the nest in the lilac tree. This year it got to the wood duck eggs.

Nutmeg in one of her favourite spots, on top of my Nanny's hand-made quilt. Nanny passed in the late 70s. Nutmeg looks to JB, then back to me.

I learned this from Jim: The pose below is called Flehmen response. It is a cat thing, as well as deer and other critters. Nutmeg does this a lot.

"However, cats also have a secret weapon when it comes to smells. They have a second “nose.” This special piece of equipment is called the Jacobson’s organ, or vomeronasal organ, and is located on the roof of the mouth."

This is Cinnamon exploring the smells of the new antler just after it dropped in winter.

I hope everyone has a good one.

Allium, rhododendron, lady slippers, account fraud

Awake at 4:30 a.m., pondering our banking issues, I was happy to have slept in until then. 

It was a buggy, rainy day on Tuesday, and I must admit I accomplished little else than worrying. Lots of phone calls and emails, trying to resolve the account fraud. There have been lots of emails from my automatic payments. They didn't have my VISA number, just my bank account number. My VISA was still whole. Our old accounts are frozen, deposit only. 

We've been trying to keep ourselves entertained. CNN has been quite the deal, with the Hush Money Trial, as well as tennis. Bugs and spotty rain all day. We fretted indoors. The trick with tennis is figuring out which of the games we'd like to tape at 5:30 a.m.., with the men and women's on various TSN channels. It helps to have insomnia. 

We chilled out with a new show, After the Flood. It is good to have a murder mystery, plus a disaster. It puts one's own issues in perspective. 

🐈 🐦 

With the new doorbell, I am trying to retrain the cats. If a bell rings in a TV show, Cinnamon would wake up and look for danger. With the old bell, Nutmeg would run away from the door. It is handy in trying to keep her indoors. The new one wasn't having that effect, with its Windsor chime, so I keep entering loudly after ringing the new bell. Cinnamon watched Nutmeg run by him when I did so. He really glared at her!

They meow! Catbirds:

  

Gray catbird from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

This is with my phone. May, 2024, with my camera, in the evergreen behind the horse chestnut tree.

grey catbirds from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Up in the sky, is it a bird? Is it a plane? 

I was reminded by someone who posted lady slipper photos, to put on bug spray and go see if ours were blooming! They are.

This sad one was horizontal to the ground. The next had no flower. 

The weigela is in blossom, despite Fred nibbling.

People are posting amazing photos of their rhododendrons in bloom. I wrapped this plant over the winter and it graced me with two blossoms. For that I am grateful.The red one didn't bloom at all. 

Allium:

Fred update

Freda is still nest building. She is quick, though. I am not sure of Fred is still around. They are solitary critters, and I think he's already knocked her up. I've a video of him chasing her! Her belly is lovely and round.

 

Fred nest building from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

We shall see what this new day brings.

Bank Fraud, fungus and flowers

 OK, bank fraud. I wrote about that. We've lost $1550. The bank's manager figured it out and explained it to me after we made an appointment to see her. The person who phoned saying they were from the bank was not. No one was trying to use my credit card in Vancouver. It was the thief. I should have hung up and phoned the bank myself. Lesson learned. They weren't after my credit card, in hindsight, and how did they get the number of my bank account?

We've new debit cards. Our old accounts are locked down, deposit only. We've a new account and I'll have to change a ton of information. It'll be a long week. I am losing sleep. 

Lesson learned. Well, it's only money. I'm getting email messages from various businesses where my payments have bounced. I email back and tell them the card was compromised. It'll take 4 - 10 days to get a new credit card. I'm still so angry humans can do this to one another for a trivial amount of money to them. 

💰 💸 🤑 💰 💸 🤑 💰 💸 🤑 💰 💸 🤑 💰 💸 🤑 

 After a massive storm rolled through (20mm rain), I am happy to look at the previous days' photos.

Little teeny caterpillars!

The jack-in-the-pulpit is in bloom! The iris, as well, which sits in front of it. 

Solomon's Seal:

I took this photo last week. The sun shining on the fungus.

I went back, and realized that the tree had broken and is leaning on another. I'll have to set it down, as it is dangerous in the winds. I didn't even notice there was a crack in the base. It is totally detached.

This planter is doing well. Butch raccoon wasn't attracted to that one.

Funny thing. I went to look at this planter. The white petunia, on the left, was pulled out and left on its side. I had to replant it. 

I had to tuck in the Angel's Trumpet seedlings, as well. Fresh dirt means a possible food source to squirrels. Raccoons, as well. 

The culprit? Two possibilities. our new hare or Butch! 

Butch raccoon from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Butch May 23 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The pair of cottontails we had seem to have disappeared. This is a new critter.

hare from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.