Sunrise, froggies, chores

 Such a lovely sunrise Tuesday!

I had a notice that my health card needed a new photo and renewal. I looked at it, and at my driver's licence, yes, expiring as well, on my birthday in December. My driver's licence was free to renew. The healthcard $90. Our premier is trying to buy re-election.

There was a decision to make. You know how bad such photos are? Should I bother with make up? Caitlin said I should! I'd feel better. 

Wednesday

We had a balmy day. It was weird. It got up to 23 ℃., and it felt like summer.

Joe took the car into town and had the snow tires put on. Yes, weird. There is cold weather on its way. We have another year for the summer tires until we have to replace them. 

The frogs woke up in the goldfish pond. They've been sleeping in the mud in the cold weather. The pond was down to 2℃.  I had to move them. It was good exercise.

• Oct. 30 – warm day, moved 19 (see below!) and later 6, then 7 more  = 32
• Total moved, so far this fall, = 61

I set them down, and they hopped into the pond. 

I got tired of going down to the frog pond. The third time, I went to the back 40. I was blessed with an owl sighting on the owl tree.

We've rain on the way. I've my respite client volunteer visit, so that works out. The leaves are nearly down. I still have to redo the eaves under the catalpa tree and the shed is ready, as well. 

The arborists were here!

We booked them a couple of weeks ago. Manager Jamie came by, a gracious, personable young man and I led him around the garden path 😁 to show him what I wanted taken down and cut up. The quote was very specific and well done.

BEFORE: This is the view out the bathroom window. The maple is getting taller, which is fine, but it's going to rub up against the roof soon. We had to have a tree removed that was broken and leaning on the roof a couple of years ago. This is a prudent, proactive decision. 

This is the view out the bathroom window. The trees are slowly growing towards the house. With the storms we've had, it was worrisome. This will give the sumac more sunshine, too! They are a lovely spot of colour.

Before and after! 

It was a beautiful morning, the sunrise was lovely! 

BEFORE

during...

AFTER - from the opposite direction!

I've clean up on aisle 2 to do! The branches will be left for critter shelter. 

 

Some of the logs are too big for me to carry. I moved three lots of wood. I'll whittle away at it over the week. 😉

I managed a couple loads the first afternoon. Tuesday, 3 more loads. I'm going to hire someone to help split the stuff I cannot lift. 

Their first area was to remove the dead sumac tree trunks and lay them flat. You can see the snow on them before they arrived. 

The snow melted, and the sumacs laid flat. The previous owners used to cut all these down. This was an area with a lovely forest of sumacs. When that happened, there wasn't enough moisture and they lost the integrity of the forest. Now it is full of milkweed. We don't need an English-style lawn here!

It looks much tidier without all those dead elms. I haven't been able to cut the weeds and wildflowers for Joe's walking path. Where we walk, I keep down the grasses, since the ticks like that habitat. I literally ran into a dead tree trunk and had to back up. That problem is solved!

First snow!

 The snow was a bit of a shock. I knew it was coming. It does signal that we are in that part of the season. It isn't unexpected, but it was still a shock! This was the view out the back deck!

Once the sun came up, it was pretty.

Monday is garbage day. Off I went. Happily, the sun came out and it melted. I didn't have to shovel anything.

These are the sumacs my arborists were going to down Monday. More on that tomorrow.

After taking the garbage out, coming back into the house for a hot cup of coffee, and snuggling under my blanket, is a treat.

The poor rhododendron! I shall have to wrap them soon. That's on my To Do List.

In the meantime, the kids in Ottawa are having fun. Aster's Pathfinder group went down to Parliament Hill. Can you see her?! She told us she was at 9:00 o'clock, and closest to the fire, in the image from the live cam on the hill.

Another Pathfinder adventure, they all went to the Hamilton Ticat football game against the Ottawa Redblacks. This was Caitlin's father's team. JL and Aster on either side of her. The Pathfinders slept in tents on the field overnight. I'm just happy for my warm bed!

The kids in Vancouver are having fun, as well! They went to a community Hallowe'en Party! 

Crumbly Acres

 Sunday afternoon, Oct. 20, I could hear an ambulance roaring by. It caught my attention, since the lights were flashing, then the siren began. Still people didn't pull over. They were honking their horn to get stupid people out of their way. It turns out a man and toddler were out canoeing and fell out of the canoe. He got them to an island, but the canoe blew away in the wind. NO lifejackets. The OPP used the canoe to rescue them. Oh, city people.  

In other news, a 16-year-old girl was arrested for the murder of a 15-year-old in Perth, ON, on Friday afternoon, Oct. 25th. It has been a shock to many of us. The town population is about 6500, and lots of people know one another. We live 5 km out of town, but it still hits hard. 

UPDATE: Murder of Reese Stanzel

A 16-year-old has pled guilty to murdering the 15-year-old in 2024. This is a relief for many, I am sure. The small community is still shaken. 

 Back to nature...

The milkweed seeds are good to go!  

 We had a fisher come by.

   

The cottontail is adorable!

  

 The blue jays are happy with the feeder.  

 The mice friends are regular visitors, as well.  

Talking to a friend, she mentioned her issue with mice. It was in 2014 that Dorah would watch for deermice here. I ended up trapping some. I put them in the cat carrier so she wouldn't get into the traps. 

And we knew it was coming... It's melted this morning. This is a good thing. 

This morning we have people coming to cut down some dead sumac and elm trees cluttering the yard. We'll see how they do. I'll have some wood to stack. Thank goodness for the lawn tractor and trailer.

Fall clean up

🍁Fall Chores

 Somebody, with his bad back, is finding indoor work. Spring Fall cleaning the bathroom cupboard. He took expired drugs to the pharmacy. Old age is complicated, and between backs, knees, arthritis, and eye issues, we are holding our own! 

I have a lot of eaves to clean out. I took a shot at the house, the maple in front just fills the eaves over the garage. It went well. I took my time, dressed for it, as it was chilly. The Catalpa tree has just about lost leaves. I climbed up the ladder. 

The Catalpa tree leaves are huge, and just plaster the ground.

 

This is a view we only see in the cold season. It is out the bathroom window. We are having more branches taken down on Monday. The highway is beyond the trees and the traffic noise is not a baffled by the leaves.

Next job will be the shed. This was a frosty morning. That's two mild frosts!

The skies are wonderful in the fall!

This is the lowest roof we have. It's easy to get up there. I just have to wait for the maple to leave its burden

The maple tree is done, the catalpa trees still holds its leaves. I did all these eaves yesterday in the sun. 

I took some quick photos during the day. The horse chestnut leaves kept dropping. I'm not sure if the video demonstrates this! 

I've done the driveway several times. They blow all the way along the 100m. 

I had a new respite client on Thursday. It was a lovely visit. It is wonderful being useful, and getting out of the house. As I arrived home, there were two deer munching on the grass. They hung around until after dinner.