Thursday, 23 July 2026

Stormy weather, Barry, Fred, and a toad

The news is bad out there. I take comfort from my American blog friends who are suffering as well. Things are tense between the USA and Canadian governments. States want us to put US alcohol back in our stores.  Wab Kinew, Ojibway, and Premier of Manitoba, (NDP), you got to love him: "No CUSMA, no BOOZMA!"

de Adder is a great Canadian artist

OK, back to nature. During the last storm, I noticed the down pipe for the gutter wasn't connected. In between storms I shove it together. Wednesday I screwed the two pieces together after I recharged the drill!



It was draining behind the propane tanks. I noticed something moving. A wee toad eating the bugs. Bless its little heart!

A toad in Bala, Muskoka. 2009


 I hadn't ventured here post-storm. It was bad enough on our walking paths. I circled the pond on the far side, and found more damage. 

The frog pond from up above

The top of the white pine tree snapped off.







I found a bone: hmmm. The critters are pretty good at clean up.

 Barry Beaver has been working. Thanks goodness. He has a mess to clean up. Ignore the date stamp. I don't like standing in a bug cloud resetting the time and date!

Auntie Fred has been out. It's been chilly, and I don't know if they are thinking of hibernating! This is where she hunkered down last winter.


The berries attract the birds. A great sight.

I think they've settled in, dividing the burrows amongst them. 

11 comments:

Shug said...

I know for me, I just want Peace in this world...I often think how nice it was to be a kid and not have to know about the ugliness in this world. all I needed was a soda and a piece of bubble gum and I was a happy camper. LOL. Jenn you amaze me with how great you are at fixing things and just enjoying the outdoor life. So nice!

RedPat said...

You will have a whole community of Freds.

tz_garden said...

Nice job with repairs, you are always busy. The toad is a nice sighting, I haven't seen one around here for years!

Mary Kirkland said...

More downed trees, that's sad. I guess you're pretty used to that having all that wilderness around you. Still it's got to be daunting to have to clean it all up so you can walk through after the storms have passed.

DeniseinVA said...

Your blog is most definitely my healing balm from all this madness. I am deeply grateful for all your wonderful photos and videos, and chats. Thank you Jenn!

Red said...

I think the light tells the critters when to go into hibernation.

Modrina Neba - Blue sky said...

So wonderful, Good Friday, Andreja from Slovenija!

Yamini MacLean said...

Hari Om
It's all a bit much, eh? Having nature as a salve right on your doorstep is definitely a plus! YAM xx

eileeninmd said...

Love the cute toad. Nice collection of Fred photos.
Take care , have a great day!

Val Ewing said...

Wow...that storm caused a lot of damage. Do you have to hire someone to come out and clean up a path to walk through?
I'm still trying to clean up after last year's storms.

Jeanie said...

Oddles of damage. Wow. We went to the LCBO when we were in Canada -- great store and we found Pelee wine! Glad America was disinvited to the bridge opening.