What a month it has been!

JB went to the dump, taking our old laundry umbrella and the mouse-eaten kiddie pool. There were vultures keeping a close eye on him! (Not to mention the ubiquitous gulls!)

A Good Giggle

This was really funny. I watch Your Morning in the morning, whilst sipping coffee. Anne-Marie, in the middle, abruptly finished her piece about wine and book clubs, and then dumped her coffee. Now, I cannot imagine what it is like, getting up at 4 a.m., or whatever hour, for a 6 a.m. start to their day, but I'm sure she thought the cup empty!!!

#Mondays... am i right??! @AnneMarieAMK... you've lost all mug privileges. 😩😩😩☕️🍼 pic.twitter.com/3rPQxEwl8f

— Your Morning (@YourMorning) July 22, 2019

What was peculiar, is that the incident (can we call it an accident?!) was followed closely by a paper towel commercial!


The heat wave, with the humidity, is over for now.


That said, my topsoil pile isn't getting any smaller.


Perhaps, that is due to someone spending her time in the kiddie pool?! Even the lilac leaves are wilting in the heat.


Down at the frogpond, there is poisonous blue-green algae. It develops in the heat. There are issues with it and dogs, for example. You have to avoid it.


The bugs aren't as bad as they've been. Ten on a trek to the frogpond, compared to 35!


 Happy goldfish after I feed them the bugs.
goldfish from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

From my deck chair, a chrysalis.


They love the hops vine, and I watch them every summer! Both comma and question mark butterflies.


What floats my boat is playing Angry Birds. Sadly, I seem to be better at 2nd place and 3rd! My competitors, daughter Caitlin, and acquaintance Tom, are much faster and more clever than I am. It takes my mind off things.


The trailcam revealed a coyote, raccoon, and, I think, a flying squirrel.


This is a bit of fun. First a coyote roars by. Then, watch the upper left corner!
Trailcam from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

It's a new day; a new dawn...

Her new owner has picked up Daisy. I'm recovering. Happily, her driver was JB's cousin. Small world. Her new life, with her new mommy, begins. Our stress is over, trying to protect Hooper from Daisy's jealousy.

In the evening, Hooper came into the room, carefully eyeing the spot where Daisy's dog crate had been sitting. He sat on my lap. Later, getting down, he went over to sniff the spot.

This morning, it snows. It's cold, and I made a fire. Usually, Daisy would assist me. Instead,
the other two cats, Annie and Hooper, were playing happily in the basement. Life unfolds as it should.
I know I did the right thing, as difficult and emotional as it is.

Hooper, funnily enough, seems to know he is free to explore. He took over Daisy's favourite spot on top of the fish tank light.

In the meantime, our phone is still out. I contacted hubby's cousin on Facebook to make arrangements for her to escort Daisy's new mom. Weird that. Such a coincidence. There were many hugs and my tears. It was comforting to know she is in good hands.

The phone has been out since Tuesday, will be out, they predict, until Jan. 31st. How do I know? I couldn't find any info online, until I went to Twitter. You see, online there is an option for a Live Chat, but they never have someone on that. Instead, I spotted a @Bell_Support Twitter handle and copied them on my message.
That got the attention of Bell.
They asked me to direct message them, and they asked for my information.

I've got carpal tunnel from killing Angry Birds. Caitlin and Tom are amazing at it, my two buddies. I saw this on Twitter regarding Angry BIrds: stupidity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. I have to change my strategies!

I tend to finish 2nd, for some reason. I used 1500 gold coins (which you earn during the games) and still didn't win last time around. It was great to really concentrate on something else, rather than rehearsing Daisy's transfer. 

I tried going for a nice walk in the sun, yesterday. Wearing my snappy boots with the cleats, I'd forgotten that there was ice in our little ditch. Boom. I came indoors. 

I think I'm over the hump. I've been waiting to watch This Is Us. A tear jerker series, which takes me away. I made  it through. The tears heal, and wash away the sorrow. 

I hope you can appreciate the texture of the buck's coat. It's thick and lush. 

It's a new day; a new dawn... not that I can see the sun. Another snow storm. Well, good exercise!

Interactions occurring at feeders

I watch my feeders pretty closely. It's a dog-eat-dog world out there! I blogged a birding list in 2012; this is my May update. With the spring migrations of birds, song birds, and birds moving north to breed, we get waves of bird species that come and go.

Cornell University, Feederwatch.org does good work. They've upped the traditional bird and backyard feeder counts to add three types of behaviour, which I've often thought about!

I have only witnessed behaviour #1, displacement. The sweet chickadees flee quickly when the bigger birds arrive. Then, the changeover in spring, when the song birds and insect-eaters arrive results in more topsy-turvy displacement. Purple finches, pine siskin. The birds wait in the evergreen until it is there turn.


Mr Rose-breasted grosbeak is back. He was perched on the Catalpa tree. At one point he yawned! I don't know if he was looking for competition, predators or the Mrs., but he was fun to watch. He just arrived back this week.


Behaviour #2, mobbing, not so much. The red-wings seem to tolerate the grackles and cowbirds. They all scatter when the blue jays arrive! It settles out, I think, by size.



I don't see these guys mobbing, Behaviour#2. They seem to share pretty well, with much seed scattered by the larger birds who don't fit on the feeders well, and throw it all about!


Behaviour #3, predation, I snapped a photo one harsh winter, when I spotted the Sharp-shinned hawk. He's been chasing birds and with killing them, or having them smash into the window: a blue jay, grouse, both hit the window at great speed. Also, the small saw-whet owl had been taken out.

Hawk chased this Grouse into the window

Read more about this exciting new project, and how you can contribute!

  To learn about what interactions are occurring at feeders, we built a behavioral observation input tool to gather data about three types of interactions:
1) displacement, where one bird causes another to relinquish its position near a food source;
2) mobbing, where one or more birds harass another;
3) predation, where one bird attacks and eats another.

I kept meaning to look into this, but I did not pursue it.

I must admit I spend more time of Angry Birds than actual bird behaviour! Cindy, my nemesis, is a whiz, as is my daughter, Caitlin!