Crumbly Acres bird song

Monday morning, I took out the garbage. It is a nice view.

I was greeted by a squadron of Cedar Waxwings.

This is what they love: the serviceberries.

These elms are fighting Dutch Elm Disease. The birds filled them.

Sound up for their chatter.

Joe went in to the 1st Anniversary of Perth General Store on Sunday. He brought me home some free lunch! 

On my way to check for storm damage, our doe.

I found myself another tick. 

 I hadn't seen The Freds since July 5th. This was my opportunity. July 6th I stained the middle deck. All went well. I didn't see any of them until July 7th. 

They have dispersed somewhat. They are solitary critters.

 I think I spotted Auntie Fred July 5th! I imagine them all out there digging burrows.

Cinnamon patrolled. The deerflies are bad. 

The Muskoka Room is the safest spot.

All Voices Community Choir

Caitlin is on her way home. The choir trip is over. She boarded in Zurich Wednesday morning our time, headed for Montreal. That's 8 hours! Then another flight to Ottawa. 

It was a wonderful trip, from all I have seen.

This is a video of their last concert! They performed with The Garfunkels at the Church of St. Catherine in Vilnius, Lithuania.

The best part was when the Canadian Ambassador to Lithuania announced herself as an alto with The Garfunkels! She later said that many diplomats end up joining choirs in Europe as it is a great way to make friends. Music really does bring people together!

All Voices Community Choir

Are you smarter than a 5th grader?!

I am. For sure. I taught gr. 5 for many years, from JK to gr. 8 all told. I am not smarter than Fred Groundhog, though. 

 What did I expect? Petunias are the flower of choice! This is a wooden planter, and Fred can climb. The flowers have been eaten, including the pansies. I put an upside down tomato cage, wrapped in chicken wire. Weighed down by rocks! Fingers crossed. I have to laugh. They provide much entertainment. 

 

I am hoping I've barricaded my zucchini plant. Fred has nibbled 3 blossoms. Don't tell them, but there is another plant on the other side of the sidewalk. Shhhhh! 

 

I have an antique school bell. I managed to refit it with a new stand. It's an old bed post. Perfect size to fit into the cement brick stand. I have a chain on it! The grandies used to ring it.

My hops vine has worn it self out. It used to host Eastern Comma and Question mark butterflies. This was July, 2023. Well, a lot of us are past our prime. As Joe said in the grocery store, to a fellow shopper, "The first 60 years were easy!"

July 2023

It's a shady spot. I'll have to figure out what to put here. The vine climbed up and it was pretty. I pulled it all out as it was rotten. There are lots of Bleeding Hearts self seeding. 

The frog pond! 

I ventured down to check out Barry Beaver's spot. I think he has moved back into the wetland, but still working here to deepen the little canals. I heard a Veery here. The trills were wonderful. 

Back out front, the Cedar Waxwings are eating bugs from the Spruce Tree! You can hear the goldfinch singing in the chestnut tree beside it. Our little Cedar Waxwing squadron is happily waiting for the Serviceberries to ripen.

Have a great week, all! You know what I'll be doing...

Bird nests galore!

 Phoebe seems to be thinking about another brood. They are hanging around eating bugs and singing love songs! 'Tis lovely. They don't seem to mind the heat wave. It is awful out there.

The House Wrens have filled the Bluebird nest box. They seem good to go. Soon they'll likely start filling the empty ones to stop neighbours moving in. I kinda like that!

Guinivere is guarding the Foxglove. I just spotted it.

🪺This is my non-mental note, there are two nests in the tree. I found the Red-eyed Vireo nest when I accidentally flushed momma from the nest. Next, I could hear the baby Robins shrieking for food. 

If you enlarge it, you may be able to see the little baby Robin's heads from time-to-time, but take my word for it.  

I realized this was last year's nest recycled. I should have looked for it. In past years the Robins have nested under the deck. 

Red-eyed Vireo eggs

The Cedar Waxwings have hatched, and they fly all around us. I quite like their little bandit masks! First up, a bath in the water fountain. 

I just wish Fred did a better job trimming the grass. 😆

After the bath, much grooming.

Grandies near and far!

 A year ago,  the two grandies from Vancouver visited us! They've a cottage in B.C., and are happily playing there on weekends. There is a shared pool, but the beach is close by for a change of scenery. They are having much fun! 

Here are Jesse and Cluny in the water!

This is my July calendar! I celebrated their visit.

We said goodbye to the Ottawa grandkids, who went home Friday. I still have a couple of things to share about their visit. Isabelle did a picture.

I left the playing cards here on the coffee table. Isabelle and I had some rousing games. I left the cards there for a couple of days just so I would smile when I saw them. We laughed so hard! She ended up winning 8 games to 6 on Friday. The other day it was 10 games to 2, so I did better!

The very last thing we did was an experiment we saw on TV.

science experiment from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I was very glad of the distraction of teenagers last week. My floaters are really uncomfortable. There is a spider web of them in my left eye, still. The fact that they float into place as I move my eye to refocus on something is really nauseating. I had several tests at the opthamologist, and I am confident I'll get over this. They should just dissipate, but in the meantime... 

The robins and phoebes are still feeding their nestlings. There are lots of birds about, especially in the serviceberry bushes. Cedar waxwings are frequent visitors, as well as the robins.

 

I spotted a pair of goldfinches eating the seeds off of the Goat's beard! It was delightful. (This is an old photo.) 

Garbage is out for the week. Only 3 bug bites. It is time for coffee!