Forest walkies

 Tuesday it poured rain. But no ice rain. Happy dance... some of our friends in Muskoka and northern Ontario have had snow. 

This was Monday morning↓! Pretty cold out west. We warmed up. You can smell the petrichor in the air.

It was a fun walk. 'X' marks the spot! We get lots of saplings falling over.

Down the hill he ran. 

The first stop was to The Point. Cinnamon went island hopping. This is typical wetland here. The critters tend to avoid walking through it. Cinnamon is anxious for it to freeze so we could go walkies out there. He told me so!

 

The next stop was the trailcam. The buck has made a scrape here. Peeing on its glands to mark its territory. Apparently, Cinnamon thought it a great spot to roll around??? We've had rain, and I don't think the buck has been back to this spot. We'll go with that!

 

The cats were grumpy in the rain. Well, not Cinnamon. He hunkers down on the front deck watching for the squirrel. Monday afternoon we needed to get out and about. We went walkies. He sat there on the dock.

We went down to the frog pond. There were bullfrog tadpoles everywhere. Although, I didn't know what they were at the time. Popping up for air. It looked like rain drops falling. 

Bullfrog tadpoles spend two years in this form. Our other frogs, leopard frog, green frogs, etc., are hatched, and morph by summer.

We brought in the garbage cans, and I spotted the Meadow Vole tunnels. They are ubiquitous these critters. And the cats' main prey. 

This is a meadow vole, AKA field mouse!

Days of the feline reunion

Daisy on a 'walk'

Monday, April 4th – Day One of Cat Reunion

Buster had his time out at the 'cat spa.' Dorah had her 8-day time out. Both came back relaxed. My blood pressure is down, as well. This is a good thing!

We're all back together. With the Polar Vortex dumping freezing cold temperatures, it's put us off a bit. Buster has been much calmer. He's been outside for a few hours in the night, and in the afternoon. Dorah sees Buster and growls like mad. He has just about ignored her. This may take time!

We have a plan.

• Both cats (Buster & Dorah) get their meds at dinnertime. 
• When the good weather comes, we encourage Buster (13 lbs.) to go out at night.
• Dinnertime is wet food, anything they want. 
• Forget dieting for Annie (10 lbs,) and Dorah (15 lbs.) 
• Daisy (7 lbs.) eats crunchies whenever. 
• Annabelle goes outside whilst the two eat and get their meds in.
• Separate forest walkies for Buster and Daisy.
• Dorah is a happy house cat. 

Day two Tuesday

Things have been strangely calm. Dorah doesn't like her crunchies, but hopefully we remain firm.  Buster was out in the night, but came in around 2:00 a.m., as it was -10 C., and Dorah remained on the bed.
I took Daisy down to the frog pond for a walk on Tuesday. When I turned around, I found Buster and no Daisy.

He was hungry, it was 5:00 p.m. and I was depressurizing from my afternoon with my client. I spotted two bullfrog tadpoles. Big one, ready to metaporphosize this year! We had a banner year for them last year. The Wood duck nesting box looks good, although I could add more tree shavings!

Back up at the house I sat in the warm sunshine. There were 5 or 6 turkey vultures doing slow circles overhead. And, yes, I must remember to clean my zoom lens! (Non-mental note!)

Days 3 

Things are calm. Dorah spent the day on the bed. The deer were about and a sure sign of spring, one yearling shows signs of sprouting his antlers. See the ground. No snow.


Happily, whilst all relaxed before the snowfall, I went down to see what the trailcam had on it. 

No sign of the muskrat, and there were spots on the pond where the ice had broken. I was curious as to who might have been visiting. I was very excited to see a photo of the male wood duck, as well as both McGregor Muskrat and Wood duck in the same frame!

Day 4 Wednesday

We had 6 cm snow during the course of the afternoon, and into the evening. I trimmed his toe nails, as well as Daisy's, while Dorah had dinner in bed.

Not a good day to get cats outside. Buster was mushy and spent the evening sitting on my lap while we watched American Idol. It was good to sit quietly and BE idle!

The artificiality of the show saddens me, the way they manipulate the performers, the performance and the audience. We see it as a free concert.



The robin looked so sad! City folks can feed them shopped grapes, apples, raisins, blueberries, putting them out on the ground. My robins are very happy with the sumac berries! One pair stayed all winter. Several others turned up when the snow melted.

We are wrestling with this problem, but I think we are making progress. I am giving a concerted effort to have Buster sit with me. I am taking him on solitary walks, too. Dorah, bless her feisty little heart. She's doing OK. I did her toe nails, which made her growly. So far, so good.

Frog pond studies 201

I've been thrilled to bits with my recycled dock. Lots of visitors. The macro photos have been fun.

fairy shrimp

The wood frog eggs have hatched, the tadpoles grown and transformed into frogs.

The bullfrogs were off in the shade, the sun just too hot for them. One was under the dock, in the shade. The cats were happy with it, though.

I took a chair down, and while the morning's peace and beauty is tainted by a kazillion mosquitoes, in the heat of the afternoon sitting under an overhanging branch in the shade, there are no bugs. I couldn't believe it! I haven't grabbed a photo of the chair, but it is there!

salamander larvae

There are a few bullfrog tadpoles in the pond.

What I thought was a pond puppy or water dog, was a salamander larvae. I learned this from Ontario reptiles and amphibians. (I was sort of disappointed!) Both have external gills.
 I'll have to do some more searching. I have neglected my macro lens for awhile.

The pond critters are amazing and varied.

water slaters or water-lice

cyclops, subclass copepoda

There are many blue-striped salamanders in our forest.