Earth Day on Crumbly Acres

 While Earth Day was Tuesday, I went out on Monday, April 21st, to do some ditch diving. I think there was only one face mask, unlike other years post-COVID. The cigarette packages, frequent flyers, with their gruesome messages and images on lung cancer were out there, this year there were several discarded vaping tools. Then, the cigarette butts have these message:

I went at it. After my first foray, I went back to my bench, grabbed my water bottle, and had a rest. 

As I sat getting my breath, I realized my daffodils were in bud, planted in Oct., 2023: Daffodils are in the ground!

As I sat there, the cowbird was singing his song up in the maple tree. It was lovely. I taped it on the Merlin App, but it didn't record well. You can listen to it on the All About Birds Cornell University site.

We've a pair of cow birds at the feeders. They are brood parasites, she'll lay her eggs in another bird's nest. We had that happen one year. Happily, the cow bird hatched before the Phoebe eggs, and all was well with the world.

May, 2023

Susie Snake made an appearance. It was a bit of a surprise. I talked to it. And carefully walked past it. I was in the bottom of the ditch. I was afraid it'd climb the ditch and go on the highway.

There were a lot of cans, plastics, and recyclables in the lot. Many bottle were tossed on the rocks at the side of the road and were broken. The alcohol containers can be taken to get a deposit back. Thing is truckers are known to limit stops by urinating into bottles. There were some with yellow liquid in them. I used gloves and threw them all into my garbage bag. 

Happily, no condoms or diapers this year. Just a remnant from when they replaced a Hydro pole. I moved it up on the rocks, but couldn't take it far. It is really heavy.

Just at the edge of our property, what iPhoto tells me is Liverwort. 

This is my haul. There was a deer killed, accident debris, and the lid of a garbage can. 

This is our haul from last year when our Ottawa kids helped me. We're on a roll!

They are very busy these days. I asked for help, then realized we should relax. Caitlin has a choir concert this weekend. Aster is preparing for several school band events, including graduation for her sibling in gr. 12. 

 Jordan is busy signing up for university and scholarships/bursaries. Word is, he's taking Astrophysics at Queens U. Grampa went to Queens! We offered to help with transportation next school year. Kingston is about an hour away, double that from Ottawa. That's fun. We like that city for day trips.

We're on a roll!  this was 2024

Let us see what today brings. We're having out snow tires taken off today. I hope we don't jinx it!