Cinnamon, Fred, the bat

I had a bad day Wednesday. The fight to get the eaves fixed properly is wearing me thin [Our eavestrough replacement]. I remember when we had the new toilet installed, it took 6 tries to get it to stop leaking. Next time we use a real plumber. 

This thing ain't over: 😷COVID-19 We've gone from 4 in hospital July 14th, to 12 reported yesterday. Not a lot, but it is a trend upwards. 

Anyway, JB did chores in town, happily masked. He brought me home a rose! Cinnamon inspected it!

During the day, I spotted Cinnamon sitting on the pile of gravel. That was curious. I found a hole where Fred the groundhog must have dug a home. I videotaped Fred on Sunday, but I haven't seen him since. I'll keep an eye out!

Sad news, the pond pump died. I ordered a new one, after some research. I don't think they need it, they are pretty hardy goldfish, but all I can do is wait for the delivery. Percy seems fine, and there is a goodly amount of water. I'll hope for rain, and hope that the eaves works this time. The water drains from the gutter into the water barrel and into the goldfish pond. Cross your fingers for me!

First Monarch caterpillar of the season!

Serendipity... I took the camera out, with the zoom lens to try and photograph the cedar waxwings on the serviceberry bush. By the time I hooked the camera up on the unipod, and got out there, they were gone. 

What I spotted were caterpillars on the Austrian pine tree. I bought a pair of these, on sale, in the early years here. They haven't exactly thrived, but they are growing slowly. I shall have to research them. They don't seem to have denuded it at all. I'll watch them.

Bat in the Belfry

 That was a really good example of bad sleep hygiene. We had watch the last episode of Murder en provence, and had wound down for the night. We'd had a quiet day, aside from having the chimney cleaned, I had a new library book to read and I'd plowed through 100 pages of my new book, which JB had fetched for me earlier in the day.

Bedtime, with the TV just turned off, I looked up and spotted a bat flying around the living room. Grabbing the butterfly net, I tried to grab it, but it was too fast for me. JB suggested we just open the back door, as it was trying to fly out there, but I didn't want to let the cats out. Batty flew around the kitchen, up and down the hall. It was so stressed. They come in in summer sometimes, through the chimney trying to get back out.

Happily, not for the bat, Cinnamon whacked it out of the air and it lay upside down, in shock. "What the heck?" chittering at us all. I netted it, and it kept on chittering at me complaining loudly. JB guarded the door from the cats, and I let it go outside. It was dark, and it happily flew off. Whew. I went to bed to read, and try to settle into sleep mode. It was tough! 

It wasn't our first bat, and won't be the last. 

Traveling Home!

As I write this, the kids are sitting in the Amsterdam airport waiting for their flight back to Toronto. It will be at least an hour late leaving, and they are waiting patiently in the lounge. They will probably miss their flight from Toronto back to Ottawa, but there are lots of flights on that route.

Happy Anniversary to us!

 Yes, twas the day, lo these many years ago: Aug. 22, 2002.

Our 'post honeymoon' was in Cuba. I think 2003, we went to Cuba for a couple of days.

I bought this fan when I was there. You can see the left side where it is broken, I glued it on the right side! It has finally been laid to rest. JB ordered me a new one! 

JB wanted this sweatshirt. Sadly, the shipping is about the same price as the shirt ($30). It says Grampasaurus. 

I've been working outdoors in spurts, I've finally gotten some energy and motivation. It's been terribly hot. Ten minutes and I'm dripping in sweat. 

Wild grapes!

Grape leaf skeletonizer caterpillar! (Harrisina americana ) As with many caterpillars, once they get furry sticky outie bits, they are poisonous and can give you a rash. 

Wiki tells me that they are widespread "in the eastern half of the US." OK, but we're in eastern Ontario! 

By xpda CC BY-SA 4.0, Link

After I'd done my research, I figured I best go back and see if there are any others. There were! 

I was happy to get back indoors in the A/C. JB watched tennis in the cool of the basement, while I watched a RomCom!

Blackflies, fallen tree, LDD

The blackflies and mosquitoes continue... my arms are a mess. You'll read why. I have blistery boils on both my arms. 

I happened to have taken a photo of this tree in March, down in the wetland. It was quite holey!

Lo, and behold, it finally fell over. I fought the bugs, and hauled it out of the way. We've blackflies, as well as mosquitoes. They are wicked biters. I should have gone back to the house for long sleeves. You don't notice them landing, unlike mosquitoes.

Happily, it did not take out the two lady slippers that are in bloom just beyond (in the sunny spot on the left, below).

Have you ever frozen a milk bag? We had extra milk last time when the girls were here. We put it in the milk container and I noticed it was leaking Thursday. Plan B: the blender. Thing was I had to put it out overnight, as it didn't fit into our fridge. It was still there in the morning. This is the morning. We had frost overnight.

Yes, FROST. I thought to bring the cherry tomatoes, but didn't think to cover the squash. They are a wilted mess.

The goldfish are good. They've been joined by two leopard frogs, who seem fine in the sun.

The monarchs have arrived! I saw my first on Saturday. I was examining this milkweed plant. I'm wondering if I should just remove this plant, as it is right on the sidewalk, and will get smucked eventually!

I looked at said milkweed, and realized there was a Lymantria dispar dispar (LDD) moth caterpillars, otherwise known as European gypsy moth caterpillars, on it. ("Gypsy" is politically incorrect, as it is considered a pejorative term. Gypsies, known as Romani or Roma, were called such, as Europeans thought they came from Egypt.)

Some of them have made it to 15 mm, and a couple more intars to go until they reach 38 – 50 mm. They have reached the stage where they have the red dots, and are clearly identified as LDD. (Not that I had any doubt! They are 'flying' all around and under the trees on their gossamer thread. 

They are on the elm trees in the meadow, we'll see how that goes.

Monarchs reign supreme!

Monarch caterpillars

We're still getting lots of Monarchs. The one all curled up had fallen off the leaf, and was crawling on a different plant. I moved it! It sat, curled up, for some moments until it thought the coast was clear. Some people are taking them in to raise them indoors where it is safe from predators, but I'd rather let nature take its course.


So funny. Two on the same leaf. This is in the back yard. Most of the caterpillars were in the front yard, in the shelter of the house.
The one caterpillar left the leaf, and came right back up again. I'm glad our yard is private. This silly old woman standing videotaping caterpillars!
Two caterpillars from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Sorry if this is too much, but since we have had so few monarchs since the 2012 drought, I'm really happy to see them!
This first one, below, had JUST EMERGED! I was so excited. I had looked for the chrysalis, but hadn't spotted it previously.


This is another one, eating from the echinacea flower. Two in one spot, at the same time!



And still they are laying eggs and hatching. And, yes, I need to have my camera cleaned. There isn't anyone here in town, and city trips are onerous.


Of course, you can't see them, but there are SIX caterpillars on the tall milkweed plant in the middle, under the front deck. There are a couple newly hatched, and some medium-sized. I'll have to continue to hand-water these plants.