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.

Monday!

That was a day! Doing my regular routine, I read the news, although it isn't like the old days... I loved newspapers!

Feb., 2012!

It's not too exciting a life. I checked the trailcams in the morning, and there wasn't much going on. I did some reading on the back deck, then washed the kitchen and bathroom floors. That felt good. I refrained from doing the floors just before the kids came, as that takes the pressure off! I don't worry about spills.

We had our vaccines last week, last Wednesday, I hadn't been feeling well Monday. Reading on the lower back deck, I lay out on the bench swing, and read about the KKK in Canada. Seriously. I was achy all over, including a headache, took some Advil and hoped for the best. It was a horrid night, too. JB brought me more Advil at 4:20 a.m. Let's see what I'm like today. 

JB has had a cough. It's been worrisome. I phoned Friday, and he had a COVID–19 test Sunday. The results came online, he's negative. This is a good thing. We think it's allergies. The pollen has been terrible.

We had a massive rain storm, thunder and lightning!  During this time, we had 21+ mm and it was wonderful. It just POURED!

The rains moved in and moved out. Glorious rain!!!!

June 14 rain from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I lay down at 2 p.m. and slept, tucked into my bed, until 3:45. I was cold, despite the heat wave. I seldom have naps. JB nuked me a quick frozen dinner. I took a couple of Advil, and used his Dr. Ho on my neck. 

We still have our robin family under the deck. The cats have been confined to barracks to protect the birds. Here are my baby robins from 2007! They nested on the eavestrough pipe in Bala.

The water fountain has been busy. I noticed a goldfinch bathing, while the hummingbird zipped around finding a drink. I was too tired to fetch a camera, so you'll have to trust me! Here is a bird who loves to bathe!

We went to the beach last week, but Jos thought it a tad cold! I thought I'd fill the kiddie pool, but there is a hole. I put it on the middle deck (plan B), but there was a lot of caterpillar poo in it. Back to plan A.

I emptied it, and will wash it, get a patching kit, and put it on the bottom deck. 

I just wanted to save these photos here. The LDD damage is horrid.

The Aspen Grove: June 6th

June 12th

The poor trees!