The arthropod and the gutter!

 We had one lay eggs in November, 2022. They hatched into little teeny caterpillars in June, 2023. 

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They lay their eggs on the white-marked tussock moth cocoon. 

 

arthropod from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

☔The Aug. 11th rainstorm was heavy at times. I took a video of the rainfall, to remind myself to clean it.

rainstorm from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

We've a storm arriving on Saturday, so Wednesday I took the ladder out, set it up, but had to rest. Back at it, up I went. There wasn't much debris, but the Catalpa tree leaves sure blocked it. I chopped off some of the end of the branches. I'll cut off some more limbs, as they'll fall in there again, once Autumn arrives. 

I sat myself back down, and had a bit of a coughing spell afterwards. This danged disease. 

After I was done, I noticed my supervisor sitting on top of the air conditioner (Cinnamon). Joe's not allowed outside when I'm climbing the ladder. He makes me nervous! I do tell him I'm going up, and report back when I'm done!

😷We continue to recover from our COVID symptoms. Our semi-local hospital, Smiths Falls, has put out a mask mandate due to a COVID-19 outbreak in the surgical ward. Of course, we don't know how many cases we have in our health unit, since our Premier shut all that tracking down. We used the data to gauge our risk and public activities. He is busy trying to privatize healthcare in a country where universal healthcare is a priority.

I went for a bit of me time, a pedicure. I wore an N95 mask. The esthetician told me she'd had COVID twice. Since she has asthma, it took her a long time to recover. I think she said 6 weeks. I'm coming at 31 days. Since I usually get viral-induced asthma, I was not surprised that I coughed after coming home. Thank goodness for the puffer. I cancelled my haircut that I'd booked for today. 

We'd some leftover turkey breast, and I made tacos for dinner. Joe helped me. Then we went back to watching Grantchester. My cough settled down.

Trees and other chores

 I had another project. Well, two projects. The first was the Catalpa tree. It was leaning over the sidewalk. Not good on a rainy day. It's begun to grow over it you compare last year and this.

I had a helper!

I used and old camera strap and tied it to the tree. Voila!

My next job was to chop down this tree. The spruce is starting to block, and prevent air flow. It is just too close to the house.

Thursday, July 11th, I took some time and took off the lower branches. I wanted to think about my approach.

Back at it Friday. Two hours later, I'd discharged both battery packs for the reciprocal saw, and gave up for the day. I'd missed lunch, felt thirsty and light-headed, and decided to stop. The kids were coming over and I had a plan.

I ended up being really close to just shoving it over. Wrapping a nylon rope around it, Jo and Aster pulled it over for me. They hauled it down the driveway for me, and here we are. People should realize, when planting trees, how big they get near the house.

🐟Aquarium Repairs <= the saga!

I had one more job for them. Jo, Aster and I brought in the fish tank. Next job is putting the gravel back in the bottom. 

Our work done, we are giving my old computer to Jo's friend. They made sure it was wiped clean, and good to go.

Dinner over, we did Close Eyes. I'd bought Jo a macro lens kit for a Smart Phone. I have a small kit, but I got the deluxe kit for them, as I knew they would have a blast with it. It's made by Selvim, and this is how I've been taking my macro photos. Jo had asked for a macro lens for Christmas and I explained that they were about $500. Both of these were $80. 

   

JL, back from a quick trip to Las Vegas, had a nap, then did the BBQ and dinner. It was terrific.

We watched the COPA soccer game, what a game. 

The dock spider was watching from outside. Nutmeg wanted a little ME time.

This is my calendar page for July. We've had much fun over the years. Turns out our 2 grandies are coming back in August for a few days, after their big trip to Vancouver to visit Jesse and his family. We shall have fun.

Another storm!

 That was a storm. Joe Brian and I were sitting on the back deck reading. I was butterfly and bird watching, and then getting back to my novel: by Ruth Ware: Zero Days. Note to others, don't read the dust jacket for the plot summary, just dive into it. 

I found another caterpillar. It is an Orgyia definita, or Definite-marked Tussock Moth!

Leaf hopper!

The clouds rolled in. To the west storm clouds, to the east blue sky, which slowly clouded over.

The Phoebe nest is right under the deck. Cinnamon likes to watch them from above. He is so funny. 

Eventually, he gets tired. He can't reach the nest, but it's like watching TV through slats.

It began to rain, but Cinnamon headed down onto Fred's deck. Then, it really rained. And hailed! Now, see the plants on the bench ↑? This is where Cinnamon ran to during the storm. He was howling, as the rain was pouring off the eaves. I had to go out and bring him in. Then I had to change out of my wet dress.

I recaulked the aquarium. It seemed better just to add more caulking on the one corner. Here it is in the rain. And Hail.

We ended up with 38mm (about 1.5") and it was a lot. Nothing like the sound of a good rain. Hail is a different story. I had to pull the camera over and under the eaves. 

 

July 6 storm from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The poor Catalpa tree's leaves don't look too happy. The Brown-eyed Susans gave up and bent with the rain.

The other Catalpa tree looks fine.

Back in to watch Wimbledon Tennis. There are 18 courts, and it is impressive. What an infrastructure. Unfortunately, tennis is limited by the heavy rainfall, like ours! 

Look at all the courts they had to cover. Only courts 1 and 2 have a roof. 

After we visit the bank to sort out more of the bank account fraud issues, I'll have to do the lawn. I could have yesterday afternoon but resisted the urge! It looks like Beryl will bring us some rain.

Catalpa tree pruning

The trees sure have grown.

2011

We've two big Catalpas out front. This one is doing well. The leaves are huge. The buds and flowers are wonderful.

The other tree didn't start well or end well that year. My theory is that the sun bouncing off of the house heated the tree and killed off the cambium layer. 

Dead branches little the sidewalk. 

We managed to trim the second last branch of the catalpa tree during Week 37 of Gramma Camp with my helpers.

Finally, Sept. 24th I managed the last big dead branch. There are new branches growing up from the base of the trunk. We'll see what happens next year.