Happy Thanksgiving!

It's holiday Monday in Canada. Happy Thanksgiving! The news is overwhelming, around the world. I just cringe. I am thankful for all we have.

I finished this felted piece. I couldn't manage their design, so I made it up myself. My crafty grandies approved. It is a bright spot of colour.

We have sent it to my D-I-L in Vancouver. They had to put down her 16-year-old cat, and I know how that feels. What a blessing these pets are in our lives. Her FB post was poignant, and reflects the gratitude she felt beginning as a single woman in her partnership with Dora, and being her partner through all those years.

We woke to the possibility of storms in Ontario. Yes, that came to fruition. Northern Ontario has snow. Thanksfully (new word, A/C, these typos can be creative), we only had rain. The blue is snow. The remnants of hurricane Philippe sent the storm into a counter clockwise direction. Then the part on the left is going south. 

🐸 Now, I know this is a gray tree frog. They do change colour, just to fool amateurs. I encouraged it to get off the deck, and head for the foliage where it will seek shelter over winter. The temperatures are going down, and it is time to nestle. This morning it is 7 C., and I think that is the last we will see or hear of them for the winter. 

🐍 I submitted both spider and snake sightings to iNaturalist. I had the snakes wrong, they are Northern Ribbon Snake (Thamnophis saurita ssp. septentrionalis), not 'eastern.'

I was given the correct species! It's a crap shoot some days!

🕷Marbled Orbweaver (Araneus marmoreus) AKA Charlie! She has decided she likes the corner and the little shelf the previous owners made for the tree frog.

I tried several times to photograph this spider. It could well be the same species. There are lots of cobwebs on the front deck. I went out at 6 a.m., to check on the rain situation. I figure I might as well let them eat, and once we get frost, and they seek shelter, I'll sweep all these cobwebs away at that time. 

I liked the pop of colour on a cool, rainy morning. 

Creeping bellflower. I thought I'd pulled it all, but I missed some. They are terribly invasive. I am mostly done with the garden. 

I wandered about with the zoom lens, and I think this a worthwhile shot. Most of my shots aren't that great, but I do like to document my days, to realize how much fun I had. 

We are up to 14 frogs in the goldfish pond. Since we are getting rain, I'll move them to the frog pond (filling as I write) after the weekend. They will be much happier there, since the shallow, hand dug pond freezes in winter. Well, with climate change it freezes and thaws, which truly isn't good for frogs or fishes.

Charlie spider & Susie snake

 🕷️Just for fun, Charlie was on the move. I was worried about her. Her 🕸️ web was damaged, and she disappeared from above the hanging tomato planter. I spotted her above the steps!

It was a tricky spot to navigate. This is what iPhotos says she is: Araneus.

I didn't think that a good spot↑. She was right over the step and on the metal, having trouble negotiating it. I was able to just reach her with the bug catcher, and move her to the tree frog ledge up in the corner. (Installed by the previous home owners, I might add!)  She didn't like it, and moved to above the door.

She was still there, Sat., Sept. 23, and this morning. 

It is a busy spot, the front deck. My Mother's day hanging basket is still doing well. There was a moth beside it. 

Joseph Brian is doing morning walkies outside, around the house, and was looking for a replacement battery for the stop watch↓. He visited several stores in town, but none had it. One young man in a hardware store asked if he had a computer at home. Then, he asked if Joe had heard of Amazon. What a little turd! 

The wooly bear caterpillars are looking for winter shelter. There were several on the driveway.

I was looking at more dead trees I have to chop up and move off the path near the shed. I found a snake. Now, it could be a black snake, but I think it was a more aggressive water snake as it tried to attack me several times. It's difficult to snap a photo when you are laughing. 

It would coil up and launch itself at me. Bold little thing, uncomfortable on land methinks. It'll be looking for winter shelter, as well.

This is our new little aspen grove at the back of the property. It is coming along nicely. The previous owners kept mowing this area, but I've been leaving it. 

The house, from the back 40, nestled in the sunshine.

We sat out with Cinnamon and Nutmeg. They didn't go far. 

I thought I'd had my last rose, but another is budding! Yay!

 

I'm still working on 🍁Fall chores, as well as trying to plan a new 🏡 bathroom sink. I created a page to ponder my options.

 Google knows! I was doing my morning Waffle puzzle, and look what came up. Items on my Rona wish list.

Crumbly Acres Critters

First, things are getting complicated over and near the Black Sea. Poland and the USA's FORTE 12 and navy planes were snooping around. People are watching them and it is good to know they have eyes on the activity. 

It is awful, the bombings in Ukraine, and now Sudan has a civil war. My only problem today is getting the garbage out in the pouring rain. I cannot complain.

Back to Crumbly Acres

Josephine named the baby porcupine (porcupette) Charlie! I don't know if you remember him from last year. I spotted it on a warmish winter day in February, but s/he looked so wee last year. They really are interesting creatures. Spending hours foraging for grass.

 

Charlie has grown a tad.

Porcupine from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The Northern Flickers are still nesting. And toodling around the yard. This is the dead elm where they are nesting. I've heard the banging around the yard. I didn't realize it was the Northern Flicker! The Yellow-bellied sapsuckers do this, as well, but bang on the satellite tower.

flicker from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

This is the flicker's nesting tree. Soon we'll have sun and leaves, and they'll have little flickers flying about!

  

Our 'visitor' cat, Pepper, prowls in the night.

Pepper Apr. 27th from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I had some doubts about this critter↓. I posted it to the trailcam Facebook group, and the consensus is FOX!  It's black socks don't show up in the dark. At first I thought it a weasel.

fox & raccoon from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

We found a dock spider a couple of weeks ago, and we put it outdoors. There was another one in the house! Go at it, buddy! I couldn't catch it as it roared behind the TV stand. 

The first Robin's egg of the year has been laid! I'm still using my late father's car visor mirror, attached to the paint handle, to verify them. Momma was off foraging, and I peeked.

Horse chestnut tree is budding and leafing! This is what they look like in the sun. We've had two days of rain, and photos would be awful, hence another couple of archive photos! So far, since Saturday, 60mm (2.5") rain, and still falling. I'll need a raincoat today, to put out the garbage...

  

And still the rain falls. The storm is moving counter clockwise, and seems endless. What a way to begin the month of MAY! We have five tulips, and we'll see how they do.

Saturday's Critters

 When did it get to be Saturday again?! We are taking great joy in watching our critters. I say 'our' as if we own them, but we are happy to watch them, watch over them, and share their antics. 

We've had an uptake in critters on the cameras, as they seek food, look for winter yards, and deer hunting season ramps up. Sadly, hunting season is here. When we lived in Muskoka we would all be very aware of the seasons and avoid walking on Crown Land. Here, I prepare just so I know what the guns are about. Our neighbour hunted, he's since sold, and we could hear it. We had our property properly marked so he'd know his boundary. 

Of course in Muskoka there was moose hunting. We don't get many moose here. We had to make a special trip to Algonquin Park for that.

First you figure out your Wildlife Management Unit on the  WMU map. We are 67. Then you go to the Deer season (Nov. 7 - 20 here). 

🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾

I hope you liked my chipmunk video yesterday. (I've never seen a chippie doggie digging!) Here are Clover and her boy.

 

clover and fawn from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Wait until the end when the fawn bounds into view! We should have a name for the fawn, but once he grows a tad, we may not be able to ID him!

I'm thinking the baby porcupine has taken over Fred groundhog's den. Fred has disappeared, I haven't seen him in a few days or week. (You know how time passes!)  Josephine has named the baby porcupine (porcupette) Charlie! I like that. 

baby porcupine from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

↑ Oct 18 in the backyard. What is fun is that Clover and her fawn come into the yard. The fawn seems interested in the baby, but loses interest, happily! They all go back to grazing. The porcupine just ignores all of us!

↓ Just for comparison, this is the adult porcupine we saw in the front yard Aug. 20!

 

porcupine from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

And the tabby who visits us. 😼Oregano

 

oregano from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Thanks to Eileen for hosting! 

Saturday's Critters # 462