Skies, #75, last flowers

 It is a change in season, and the skies have been lovely.

I bent over forwards to weed the stone path.  😓  I'm glad it is done for this year. I was tempted to use the shop vac on the weed seeds, but used a broom instead. They are ubiquitous.

With great excitement, I am sure I spotted #75 on his tree. (He's our released, rehabbed gray squirrel.) I think he's been out and about all summer. He took a giant leap from the end of the branch to the tree nearby.

He was in the front yard the day after, harvesting chestnuts. 

#75

   

 So far, all is well. #75 was yelling at Cinnamon. Both are aware of one another. 

 

The last of our flowers!

Signs of fall! The sumac is usually a lovely colour. 

But if you zoom in, there are spots of colour!

Rhododendron...

I've spotted the coyote with the hurt leg on the trailcam.

The Goldenrod is abuzz!  

 The porcupine wandered by. It sort of walks like an alligator through the forest.

   

 Yes, as YAM writes, when the goldfish have to come in it is a sign of the change in season. We're getting close.

 

Bugs and blooms

Wednesday was an interesting day. I was worried about the rainfall. We didn't have any!  I did some weeding, while Joe went for a walk and a grocery shop in the morning. Cold mornings, but no snow, unlike out west!

It was chilly. Which isn't unusual as it is meteorological Autumn here. I ended up nearly falling asleep in my chair, and I trundled off to bed for a one-hour nap. This is so unlike me! I woke up cold. Joe made me a cup of tea, and I felt better. 

He brought me home some peaches as I had a plan. PEACH CRISP! Also, some spaghetti for dinner with fresh basil from my planter.

 My garden clean up is going well. As I worked, I spotted a 60cm garter snake. I was sorry to disturb it, eating all those bazillion crickets! 

My goal was to get rid of the weeds and their seeds ASAP. It was bad the day the wasp got me, but that has healed. Tuesday, it was the bees. I was so careful. Bless their little hearts, they are working hard. 

During the big clean up, it occurred to me that I have too many white flowers on either side of the sidewalk! There is the white Trumpet flower vine, sitting in a pot with white petunias. Beyond it is the Angel's Trumpet – more white flowers. Even the hibiscus is white! All within a few metres. 

I noticed our first Monarch caterpillar had disappeared, and it has eclosed Tuesday. I was there for it! They have to hang to let their wings unfurl and lock into place. I let it be. Soon it was gone. FAREWELL!

The second one will take a bit more time. 

On the back deck, baby tree frog is still hanging around! It slept in the sun all day on Tuesday. 

The kids came home from their canoe camping trip. More on the later! Poor Aster re injured an old Aikido leg injury. I went to bed before they arrived home. More later!

Cool mornings, are you ready?

😷 Our COVID symptoms lessen each day. We are still tired. I did a bit of weeding yesterday without coughing my brains out. I still need the puffer. My prescription ran out, and I am using Joe's, which expired in January. I am going to have to argue with the pharmacy to see if I can get a new one. My health insurance won't pay for one until Aug. 16th. Desperate times... 

🐾 Fred Groundhog

Here we are, Aug. 8th. This morning it was 12 ℃., and Fred groundhog has disappeared. I haven't seen him in a few days (perhaps a week), with the cooler August mornings. In 2023, my last recorded sighting of him was Aug. 21st. I imagine that he has to go work on his winter house. Autumn is approaching! See you next year, Fred! He's left early this year. I'm not sure what he knows that we don't know. Maybe an early Fall, after an early spring? 

 My bell fell over. I need to trim off the bottom, which is rotten and uneven. (Non-mental note.) Here is my precious rehomed Daisy, back in 2017, inspecting the bell. She kept attacking Nutmeg.

 

This is Dogwood I transplanted from beside the driveway. It needed more sun. Last year ,the doe trimmed it! Finally, this year, it seems to be thriving inside the deer fence.

Taking some quiet time to read my book on the back deck – a tussock moth caterpillar distracted me.

I uncovered the BBQ to replace the propane tank. It looks like someone was building a nest! Speaking of getting ready for winter. It's been propaneless and idle since July 13th. This is our COVID BBQ, too big for the two of us, but it was the only one that was preassembled. There was no staff available to assemble a smaller one. 

I cooked these for lunches, and to supplement the pasta dish JB got for me at Boston Pizza. They never have enough stuff with the pasta. 

I worked my way through all these Daniel Kalla books whilst home sick. Ruth Ware's One Perfect Couple is fantastic. 

Garbage day, and flowers

 Things are quiet at home. Quiet is good! Sunny skies are heartwarming. Lots of people are out enjoying the weather, those who aren't facing wildfires, drought, or hurricanes. It is horrific for many folks. 

Monday morning is garbage day on our road. I got dressed, and headed out with our container. I always take my camera. This is what I found. The garbage was quietly scattered, as if flung from a vehicle. Usually the critters get into it.

I went back inside to have my morning coffee ,and back out armed with gloves and a bag, and cleaned it up. This has happened before. Tourists staying at a cottage, or camping, don't want to take their garbage home, they dump it on someone's driveway, or chuck it out their window. Any garbage is susceptible to the critters: skunks, raccoons, coyotes, crows. They all go after it. 

I think, based on what I found, it was a trucker. There were several fast food containers and receipts. A cash receipt from a hardware store, as well. There was a blue and white medical pad you place under incontinent persons – right under our mailbox. Also, lots of unused paper napkins. Some people are pigs.

OK, back to nature. Seeing as it is the end of the growing season, for the most part, here were the Angel's Trumpet July 17th compared to Aug. 25th.

This is so pretty!

The potato ivy was a lovely deep purple last week. This week, it is more green.

The dinner plate hibiscus I had to tie up. They were waving back and forth in the wind,  and it seemed prudent. They are as tall as me, well, that is average, but you know what I mean! I was so proud of gathering the energy to do some work. 

We had 16 mm rain in the early hours today. There was a thunder storm around 1:30 a.m., and Cinnamon didn't like it. He came into bed with me, watching the lightning flashes out the window. It has been a rainy month, for the most part. Not a lot, but a little over many days. I even watered the day before!

No good deed goes unpunished. It was a foggy morning and the hibiscus were leaning drunkenly.

It was a pretty touch.