Cinnamon, Fred, the bat

I had a bad day Wednesday. The fight to get the eaves fixed properly is wearing me thin [Our eavestrough replacement]. I remember when we had the new toilet installed, it took 6 tries to get it to stop leaking. Next time we use a real plumber. 

This thing ain't over: 😷COVID-19 We've gone from 4 in hospital July 14th, to 12 reported yesterday. Not a lot, but it is a trend upwards. 

Anyway, JB did chores in town, happily masked. He brought me home a rose! Cinnamon inspected it!

During the day, I spotted Cinnamon sitting on the pile of gravel. That was curious. I found a hole where Fred the groundhog must have dug a home. I videotaped Fred on Sunday, but I haven't seen him since. I'll keep an eye out!

Sad news, the pond pump died. I ordered a new one, after some research. I don't think they need it, they are pretty hardy goldfish, but all I can do is wait for the delivery. Percy seems fine, and there is a goodly amount of water. I'll hope for rain, and hope that the eaves works this time. The water drains from the gutter into the water barrel and into the goldfish pond. Cross your fingers for me!

First Monarch caterpillar of the season!

Serendipity... I took the camera out, with the zoom lens to try and photograph the cedar waxwings on the serviceberry bush. By the time I hooked the camera up on the unipod, and got out there, they were gone. 

What I spotted were caterpillars on the Austrian pine tree. I bought a pair of these, on sale, in the early years here. They haven't exactly thrived, but they are growing slowly. I shall have to research them. They don't seem to have denuded it at all. I'll watch them.

Bat in the Belfry

 That was a really good example of bad sleep hygiene. We had watch the last episode of Murder en provence, and had wound down for the night. We'd had a quiet day, aside from having the chimney cleaned, I had a new library book to read and I'd plowed through 100 pages of my new book, which JB had fetched for me earlier in the day.

Bedtime, with the TV just turned off, I looked up and spotted a bat flying around the living room. Grabbing the butterfly net, I tried to grab it, but it was too fast for me. JB suggested we just open the back door, as it was trying to fly out there, but I didn't want to let the cats out. Batty flew around the kitchen, up and down the hall. It was so stressed. They come in in summer sometimes, through the chimney trying to get back out.

Happily, not for the bat, Cinnamon whacked it out of the air and it lay upside down, in shock. "What the heck?" chittering at us all. I netted it, and it kept on chittering at me complaining loudly. JB guarded the door from the cats, and I let it go outside. It was dark, and it happily flew off. Whew. I went to bed to read, and try to settle into sleep mode. It was tough! 

It wasn't our first bat, and won't be the last. 

Traveling Home!

As I write this, the kids are sitting in the Amsterdam airport waiting for their flight back to Toronto. It will be at least an hour late leaving, and they are waiting patiently in the lounge. They will probably miss their flight from Toronto back to Ottawa, but there are lots of flights on that route.

Clouds, critters, Amsterdam

We've had some wonderful days. It's been hot in the daytime, around 27 C., but for the last few days it cools and I throw my windows open overnight. Tuesday morning it was 14 C. and it was so pleasant for sleeping. 

🌤 🌤 🌤 🌤 🌤 🌤 🌤 🌤 🌤 🌤 🌤 🌤

The clouds were amazing last Thursday, July 21.

Wicked nightmare

This is where we used to live in Ottawa. We lived in 113, and the retired high school teacher was in 115 on the right. I don't even remember her name, but she had the corner lot, with a large wedge-shaped garden she lived in in summer. She must be gone now, as she retired from teaching in 1981 when we lived on Craig Henry Dr. 

We never really got along. We had a kitten we'd adopted who liked jumping over her fence and going after her birds. It was the cutest little kitten, with a manx tail. I just couldn't juggle parenting, and the stress of watching the kitten. We had to take her to the Humane Society.

The nightmare was bizarre. We had moved in with this former neighbour. Anyway, there is NO way she would have let us stay in her home with her. It was so bizarre.

From there the dream went south, as I recall looking out the window and seeing someone hanging there. I looked up again and there were two dead bodies. Do you think I am watching or reading too many murder-mysteries? Currently, we are watching Murder en provence, as Unforgotten was a bit too much for me. 

Critters

The trailcams have been pretty quiet. This is the time of year when the bucks are growing their antlers. This is from 2019, as the video (below) showed little of the buck. 

I looked out the front window, and there was our doe. I figured the fawn was somewhere nearby, and walked along the driveway. She was staring at the grasses, and he spooked and ran.

doe and buck from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Speaking of nightmares... I had to prop up my hibiscus and tiger lily after the eavestrough dudes came back to fix the gutters. The Yucca plant has bloomed, I'll have to put some more dirt around it where they whacked it with their ladders.

My rose gives me peace. They knocked over the first bud in June. It's finally found the energy to blossom. The work had to be done, I know, but flower season is so short.

Intrepid Travelers

The kids are enjoying Amsterdam. 

Boat tours are a must, I am sure! 

Look at these homes, they aren't vertical! Caitlin said they are the famous dancing houses!

COVID–19, Eavestrough and the moths

😷COVID-19 <= I've been keeping track of our local cases.

Things are heating up around here. Friday, July 15th, Ontario announced 2,105 cases of COVID. Ontario removed its masking mandate on March 21st when we had 1,217 cases. This daily case count is higher than both December 15th, 2021 and February 7th, 2022. 

They test high-risk cases, people in the ER, etc. And people who have access to the PCR tests, rather than the RATs, are a limited group. Not everyone can get one and you must be a front-line healthcare worker.  

Who is eligible for PCR or rapid molecular testing in Ontario?

We'll continue to be careful. We mask everywhere indoors.  

🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃🍃

 Common Angel's Trumpet

Brugmansia arborea is an open treelike plant with 6-inch-long trumpet-shape white flowers with a delicate scent. It grows 6-12 feet tall.

This is why we cannot have nice flowers: potato beetles! Can you see it peeking out?! 

This is the seed pod. Like the many garden or household plants they are toxic. I grew some Bean Plants one year. They have similar sharp pods, and have ricin in them, which is poisonous. 

The coleus is doing well. The wild grape vine is working its way up to cover the blue cat.

These are the clouds that rolled in on Sunday, July 24.

 

storm July 24, 2022 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Our new eavestrough was in a bad way. I turned on the front floodlights to check it out.

moth in the storm from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

They came and fixed the eavestrough, again. (I'd sent a video.) They seemed grumpy, dropping the F* bomb on top of our eaves as they undid screws and changed the level of the eaves. Left without saying they were done. They warned me of the debris in the gutter, but it wasn't much truthfully. The angle of the trough needs to go from the high point to this, the drain point over the downspout. 

This is the fascia I thought they should have replaced. They told me they hadn't needed to during the original installation. We shall have to see what the next big dump of rain brings. 

eavestrough fascia from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

It really is discouraging. I put my ladder away, and went out onto the back deck to read. There are two tree frogs back there. One must be a male, as it was singing. This one, our Vancouver grandie named her Maple, spent the day under the aquarium keeping me company.

🏛🏛🏛🏛🏛🏛🏛🏛🏛🏛🏛🏛🏛🏛🏛🏛🏛🏛

Happy Wanderers

They are in Amsterdam for a few days. Their trip to the Rijksmuseum was amazing. They rose early for a 9:30 a.m. guided tour. It sounded like a good idea, as the tour guide highlighted several sections of the museum. The art library is awesome. 

This was a photo by Isabelle!