Timber, Barry beaver!

We sure have had rain. I still have to put the water barrel away, this gets water from the eavestrough to refill the goldfish pond.

This is quite the storm. After 36mm (1.4"), more is coming. Jean-Luc and buddies are camping in northern Ontario this weekend. I hope he is warm enough. Norther Ontario and Quebec have snow.

 This gutter was overflowing. Just a handful of leaves blocking it. I climbed the ladder and chucked them overboard. That was satisfying, that swirling the drain noise as the gutter drained! 

Oh, Barry. I'm glad we have 16 acres... Thankfully trees are a renewable resource! This is the before:

And the after... I counted 13 saplings gone. This is all new growth. The previous owners cut the grass here. I've let it fill in. Until Barry! 

You can see the trailcams. 

Barry is hustling, winter approaches. His survival depends upon him being safe in his lodge, waking periodically to eat from his food cache, and konking out again.  

Here is his 2026 lodge from across the wetland inlet.

Cinnamon was admiring the work. 

Two days apart... this is an oak tree.

He went after a small birch tree. It is stuck on another tree. We'll see what happens. I couldn't budge it. 

I noticed that trail, under the tree, and crossed my fingers until I processed the footage. He's been dragging the trees under this tree he felled in August. Or was it July?! 

I had one trailcam video that had no motion, only this noise! Now I have confirmation.

This is quite the footage! I was amazed. You can hear him chewing on the tree, until it falls. Then he hauls it away. 

Storm damage from July 1st & 2nd

 Not to bore you with all the photos, but I do want to record the damage. It helps me to process it, and figure out a plan of attack. We'll have to get someone in, and I need to figure out what I want done. 

I'm feeling a little better today. It's a bit of a shock, and to see those majestic poor white pines... The sun brings a new day. It was a nice view at 5:30!

Tree House White Pine Tree

We spotted the fallen pine tree branches from the house, the next day, July 2nd, another big fall. These beautiful old white pine trees are susceptible to the wind. This is the tree with the tree house. It whipped off the top in two spots.

Before and after...

Pine Tree at the Frogpond

We've lost the top of one beautiful old pine, in the forest just along the path to the pond. 

Down the hill to the meadow a small job.

Deal Elm out front

That is not all. I didn't explore here until the next day. Our rescue squirrel tree is down. The 3 squirrels have moved on and out, which is good. It was an old Elm, ravaged by Dutch Elm disease. It was a perfect spot for the squirrel nest box.

2012 – the sumacs have since died, shallow soil, climate change,
lack of moisture... the original owners mowed all of this. 
The integrity of the Sumac grove was compromised.

2026 the squirrel nest box

The path down to the meadow is blocked. Glad I mowed prior to the storm. 

No one was home. 

The Five Sisters

One trunk fell a number of years ago. When a tree falls in the forest – 2016. We are sort of down to 3 sisters, plus two half sisters.

Barry's Aspen Grove out back

Barry Beaver's Aspen trees are down. In the spring photo you can see all the older Aspen trees on the right, reflecting the sunshine. They are all down. 

All gone.

The path is quite blocked. 

I think we need to wait to see how much Barry eats and/or moves. In the fall we can call in our people to harvest the wood. Burning Aspen isn't as good as other hardwoods, the BTU is very low in comparison. This is why Barry prefers Aspen and Willow. 

Barry has continued to work on it... the doe did an inspection.

From there I went on down to the point. (Maybe that's where I got my tick, a nymph!) The edge of the wetland is chaotic.

What else in the neighbourhood?

We drove to the village to get gas for my lawn tractor. We passed this sweet little church. They lost a big Maple tree which appears on Google maps from Autumn.

Looks like lots of people to help. I heard chain saws for several days from a couple km away.