The back yard garden and a Labbit tale

I really enjoy the lilacs. It is lovely and green in spring.

Our grandies back in the day!

But, here is the tail. Fred dug a burrow in the garden.  You can see where it is at #5, under the rhododendron.

Cinnamon inspected Fred's hole at one point!

Here is Fred in her burrow #5. We had a good relationship. She is sleeping and won't emerge until March or so.

It looks different in winter. The lilac tree sits dormant. The deer wander around.

April, 2025

Labbit is in burrow #5:

You can see some rabbit droppings!

These are Labbit's tracks. She's moved from burrow #4 to #5. It's tough leaping through the snow!

In the past, she's been eating the tender new shoots of the lilac tree. Fertilizing as she went. It's been quite a winter. I do enjoy seeing tracks in the snow. This wee furry critter is managing to get through the storms. It's something we all have to try to do. As best we can.

"We are in an era when the strong do what they will, the weak suffer what they must."

                     – Greek historian Thucydides, as quoted by PM Carney

Frigid temps on Crumbly Acres

There's been much excitement lately. Joseph Brian's birthday the 15th, our 8-hour power outage the 16th, the birthday party during said time. Monday the 17th, the vote in parliament to accept the Liberal budget. No December election! WHEW! 

⏼⏻After a few comments about our long power outage, I have to explain that they are upgrading and replacing the poles in the area. Wooden poles don't last forever. They've been doing a few in a row over the past few years. 

On the day in question there were power outages from freezing rain, it was freezing cold, and snowy. We want them to work safely out there. Joe's father died doing this work in Ottawa and lost his life working too quickly for Ottawa Hydro. We want them to be safe. The time didn't matter to us. It was a grand adventure. I hope my tone reflected that!

It was a lovely morning Tuesday, with three deer in the back yard. 

I'd fully charged all our devices and finally made it outside to collect the memory cards. It's been cold, though. Our critters are settling in, getting acclimatized to winter temperatures, albeit early for November!

The coyotes love this spot. I had a few clips of them. They sure mark territory! Last clip, the coyote with the sore leg.

   

 I featured this buck last week. It was marking the deer scrape. I caught it, again, on this trailcam.

 

Another time, it roared along the path. Maybe being chased, I don't know. You can see how fast this big buck can run!

   

 It is striking to compare the size of the young buck, who ambled up the driveway.

 

Leafing things here

It's been beautiful, seeing our leaves turn. I knew rain was on the way, there was mulching to do.

It looks wonderful. Well, it did. Most of these leaves are gone.

Non-mental note: clean out the leaves in the eaves!

The garden is slowly getting cleaned up.

We had a huge dump of rain, Wed., OCt. 22nd. I'm glad I didn't put away this rain barrel. The goldfish pond is full.

Last of the summer plants.

We were expecting rain. I zipped around doing a leaf mulch. This is the day after. They fell again! 

Once it dries up, I'll have to do it all again. Good thing I like to roar around on the lawn tractor!

The saga of the wood

I've stacked some new wood. This is what I have stacked so far. I moved most of the smaller stuff.

This was a bit much. It needed to be split. My newest wood pile was waiting to be stacked. A friend offered to help, but Joe was worried the two of us couldn't handle it. The logs were big.

The Aussie came and split it for me on Thursday, Nov. 14th. They'd moved it to the shed Nov. 13. 

I'm whittling away at it... 😏 This I stacked while he was splitting it.

This was Thursday afternoon.

A beautiful day to be outdoors. 

I went back at it Friday morning, but took breaks, and photos. But first I found the heavy metal wheelbarrow wobbly. 

Note To Self: check your equipment. The tire was flat. Hah!

Joe was out walking, and brought me some water. He cannot lift the wood. I'm happier if he doesn't. He has terrible back issues. He certainly helped my dad stack wood back in the day in Muskoka.

The dead elms were hosts to termites. This is amazing. 

We had termites in Muskoka. They are creepy little things, and strong!

After some time I realized I should brought me a chair from the house.  Then I really looked around... DUH! It is both decorative and useful.

I kept at it. Progress Friday afternoon! We decided to go out to Merrickville for lunch. It was Joe's birthday. (More on that later!) I needed the break. 

 

The moon rose over the wood pile. I couldn't manage a decent photo. I couldn't remember the settings, nor find them. You get the picture, though. We bloggers are nothing if not imaginative!

Another look at bug patterns. Very interesting. (Joe said to take breaks!)

Saturday I kept at it, and we are done!