The Battle of the Burrs

 Yes, burrs. I removed two thistle plants leftover from last year, and two burdock plants from the back lawn. I should have done it before the snow melted around them. The thistle is in the near middle of the photo to the left of the water fountain, which is still wrapped for winter. I did remove the Christmas lights from it last week. It was time!

Burrs are an effective means by which plants are dispersed. There are two types of dispersal: endozoochory and epizoochory. The first is when animals swallow fruit and seeds, and secrete the seeds out the other end. The last type is what the burdock burrs do: they use little hooks and barbs to stick to the outside of the critters, and the animals transport them on their coats.

The burrs stick to everyone!

You can see the burdock plant skeleton in the lawn. This was when we had more snow. 

My scarf is a bit of a mess.My coat looks pretty bad, too! I am waiting for some sunshine to sit on the front deck and remove them. 

It is an invasive species, sadly. 

"Arctium is a genus of biennial plants commonly known as burdock, family Asteraceae. Native to Europe and Asia, several species have been widely introduced worldwide." Wikipedia

By Prosthetic Head - Own work, 
CC BY-SA 4.0, Link

This is where the daffodils will come up! This is from April 21st, last year. We had some late snow, but the daffies survived. 

Unfortunately, aside from the burrs that stuck to me, there are a ton of burrs on the ground. This is where I intend to plant my veggies.

Not too long until I remove the tarp and get the water fountain going.

🍃seeds grow

In the bathroom I've got some coleus, strawflowers, pansies, and lupin. 

coleus

The zinnia I removed as they were becoming too long and falling over. I'm out of practice with this, but it did me good to plant them!

Deer, pileated woodpecker, rabbit

Another couple of video opportunities. Daisy and I went down to exchange the SD Card in the videocam. (I find this easier than anything else, bringing it back up to the house to process the photos and videos.) We found a pileated woodpecker whilst gazing at the deer. You can spot it hiding behind the tree in the first photo.



It totally ignored us, including Daisy, who had to fling herself up the tree.

pileated peeker from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.
When you go down to the woods today...

And on the trailcam:
 
Cam tails from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.
That was a funny 24 hours with the trailcam. First critter: Daisy, who helped me set it up. Then, deer eating the cedar boughs, a few turkeys after the cracked corn, a mouse, red squirrels, and a hare in the dark.

Then, more fun, Bambi has been playing in the burr patch again! I found the clump on the snow the next day!

A lovely day for sunshine, cats outdoors, deer burrs, trailcam

What a beautiful day it was, Tuesday, January 20th! I did a workout, fetched trailcam photos, fed the birds, and vacuumed.

I managed a snowshoe hare photo on the trail cam.

By Wed., Jan. 21st, it was only 13 C. in the family room downstairs, as it was -24 C. outside. Daisy and I built a fire. She had a nap in her cat bed. Buster and Dorah are upstairs watching the birds in the dawn. The room is now up to a more comfortable temperature! I'm blogging and processing my photos and videos. It's a good life!

I moved the trailcam, and capured the coyote, again at dinner time, and a dancing deer! Check out the change in temperature from Tuesday, the 20th, to the 23rd. I put down some cedar boughs, as Justin suggested, and they were gone within the hour (3:00 p.m)

I took off to my hair appointment. Buster and Daisy were guarding the front porch. (Those dratted red squirrels. ) The sunshine was lovely. We're on the upturn, with the sunshine warming up the car.

Out in the yard, I could tell that the deer were into the burrs! They got them off quickly after breakfast, although it'd be nice to give them a good brush! Our wee Annabelle doesn't seem to like brushing much. I'm working on this. A little each day.

We dodged a bullet Tuesday night, as there was a big power outage in our area. Thankfully, hubby's tennis was still on, since we didn't lost our power. We had TV, water pressure and our propane heat!
There was a car incident, with a hydro pole taken out. Thank goodness for local news radio. We'd never hear what was going on!

Cold night for some – accident leaves thousands without power, some through most of the night |...

We’re still waiting for details about the accident that left more than 8,000 Hydro One customers without power last night.

LAKE88.CA

Posted Wed.: More than 8,700 residences in Lanark County lost power for several hours last night due to a car crash in Lanark Highlands Township just before 6 p.m. Hydro One said power had been restored to all homes, including the last 407, at 4:30 a.m. this morning. Many residents had power back shortly after 6 p.m., except for those in Lavant, Dalhousie and Darling wards in Lanark Highlands.

Critters #58

How to treat bug bites

lady beetle

A few days ago, I wrote about some techniques for avoiding and preventing bug bites. Once you have a bite, relief is a beautiful thing. Most bug bites are simply an irritation.

Bugs are everywhere in nature. Where we live, in rural Ontario, and regularly walk in the forest, they live and breathe and attack in that quest for survival. I've even been bitten by lady beetles!
Yesterday, while checking my cat for burrs I spotted a tick. He was bringing home 2 or 3 burrs each time he went outside, each time he went out into Oliver's Field. The tick was teeny, and looking for a home!

Hubby's black fly bite! Huge rash.

While prevention is the best way, sometimes you have to treat bug bites. The danger, for dogs and cats, is getting heartworm from mosquitoes. There are many once-a-year preventative chemicals that your vet can recommend. Truly, the danger to us is that your pets will bring these critters into your home. Now, mosquitoes are a pain in the house. They'll buzz you all night. Black flies are better, to my mind, as they don't like being in your house and won't bother you!

Of course, once bitten, you are likely itchy.

There are several products, like After Bite, which relieve the itch. If you apply it early, it'll lessen the effects.

Wash off the bite sight, then apply them. Some are far better than others. The alcohol kills any bacteria. A local pharmacist (Perth) makes his own itch relief. Rural living!

If you are bitten by a tick, there are ways to remove it properly.

snow flea

Taking tweezers, pull it up from the bottom.
This is what we had to do for our cat.Brown Dog Tick (Rhipicephalus sanguineus) and American Dog ticks Dermacentor variabilis). The black-legged tick is the one that carries Lyme Disease.

Sady has a Dog Tick which we removed.

Creepy little thing that hangs on.
They have eight legs.

I think this is the Brown Dog Tick, ironic, that, seeing as it planted itself on hubby's cat! It was fully engorged and 3 times its disengorged size. Poor old Sadie was more upset with us trying to remove it than with the tick itself! The vet has publications, mostly published by companies that sell tick prevention chemicals. Good photos, nonetheless. Pick up a brochure, they'll show you what you need to identify.

Mosquito!

Butch, our raccoon, has fleas!

This is a beetle that lives in the water,
or flies about! About 3" long at my back door