Crumbly Acres

The fireflies are still out and about. They are wonderful to see in the dark. Here is one in the daytime.

My new Pride flag has arrived, as well as the pronoun buttons. I'm sending them to Ottawa as there is a school friend who uses THEY/THEM.  This is why I am practicing using they/them for Fred. It is good practice if you want to live in the present era.

You can see the trailcamera, and Fred is directly behind the table. I paused my workout to watch them.

That was the last time the trailcamera worked. I'll have to think of something else. OK, it was the second last time, but I thought I'd show off JB's shiny new shoes!

I remember being in my 9th month of pregnancy, and just feeling like a whale. Jesse was 10.5 lbs. when he was born. Fred is so ready to be unpregant! I understand how they feel.

 

fred groundhog from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I've been spending many an hour on the back deck. With the solstice, my legs were in the sun and I didn't think about it. I managed to give myself a sunburn for the first time in years. How dumb was that?! 

Under the deck, the phoebe nest has 4 eggs.

 

Doing a walkabout, I found a red-eyed vireo nest on the ground. They have been all around.

🕷While the deerflies have begun, the mosquitos, blackflies and the deerflies aren't visiting me while I sit and stare at the wildlife. I managed to bring in a tick, it was a nymph and embedded in my hand. It was removed and dumped in the tick jar with rubbing alcohol. Serves me right for wandering.

The serviceberries:

June 20, eating the serviceberries! This is from the deck, through the glass. I was afraid to move and scare them off. They are frequent visitors.

cedar waxwings from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Yesterday, the robins joined them. More on that tomorrow!

In town and out

 Our grandies are coming today. We'll have some indoor play. We are ready. The house is fairly clean, but I won't worry, kids are coming! We've a new guest room mattress, sheets and new pillows. Sadly it appears that Omicron, Ba.5, is on the rise. We are being careful. 

Our local ER is still closed. We aren't testing properly. These are the high-risk cases where they qualify for PCR tests.

All we have are the rapid tests, less effective but if it is positive you know you've got it.

I was in town, and spotted this. I have not seen one in my 65 years! 

What I did see was the cedar waxwings chirping away in the bushes – eating the new berries. I think the one in the second photo hit the window. It doesn't happen often. It was fine.

I didn't have the zoom lens that afternoon. They like the sumacs, although those are dying out. Can you see it? 

The yucca plant is in bloom. It doesn't happen every year. This is a new plant. 

Perth put in these terrific strobing crossing lights that make everyone safe. Not that people actually take time to push the buttons! This person was a hoot. The truck didn't bother stopping. She gave it the finger. He was midway to crossing. Oh, people!

I went into town for a relaxing massage. A bit of rain. The drive was typical of summers in cottage country. I don't know why people cross in the middle of the street. They are on vacay, it's a Wednesday afternoon. We need drivers to be predictable, not suddenly brake in the middle of the road.  

driving from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

It's raining today. I am glad. I was going to water if it didn't. 

Chestnuts, Cedar waxwings and Dame's Rocket

The little chestnuts are growing!! Some drop off, as they aren't viable.

I noticed a pair of cedar waxwings in the Horse Chestnut tree. I grabbed a photo of the waxwing, knowing they are flighty, then took out my videocamera. They flew!

 They landed in the backyard later, on a serviceberry bush. This is good for a giggle. Little twerps! 

from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

At that point I put the zoom lens on. It really didn't help much!  

 

When I was a child, my mom and I would walk the road on Windsor Dr. where our cottage was located. She love the Fireweed plants that grew there. I noticed some of these plants across the highway, and brought some plants home. 

They grew well and Guinivere liked them.

On my Facebook friend's post, she named them Dame's Rocket, stating some people mistakenly call them Phlox. Well isn't it interesting to learn something new at age 65! All these years.

Phlox has 5 petals, this 4. Fireweed grows much taller!