Flower power!

 UPDATE: 🎂 Caitlin's flowers arrived Friday! Happy Momma! What do you give the woman who has everything? We haven't been out anywhere to shop. 

Caitlin had a surprise. She told me they were all going out to dinner. JL fooled her. He'd invited one of her good friends and her family for dinner and cake! Jo made the upside down pineapple cake. 

 

I'm still fatigued and babying my vocal cords. Joe is doing better, but a residual cough. 

I was down at the trailcams and the mushrooms are beginning to emerge. I haven't decided what to do with my tree trunk. It was encroaching on the goldfish pond. 

 

Hibiscus and roses!

Cinnamon's favourite place is the garage. I know there are mice friends in there. We don't want them in the house. They get into the garbage cans and can't get out. He prefers the top of the car as a vantage point.

My ONE pumpkin is doing well.

The cherry tomatoes are still bearing fruit. In the sunrise, I spotted a strange double spider web. It almost looks like an owl.

I've only seen two Monarch caterpillars. This is #2. I'm sure we have more. 

Katydid, I think, on the pumpkin leaf:

I was sitting on the back deck, reading, when I heard a bird. Merlin told me it was Osprey. The thumbnail is from their nest which is just down the road. If you run the video you can hear them talking to one another.

osprey pair Aug 16 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Life unfolds as it should

I woke at 3 on Tuesday and didn't get back to sleep until 5. When I awoke at 7 a.m., it was from a nightmare where I couldn't insert my card into the bank machine to get my money out. So silly. Coffee helped. We had an appointment at the bank! Our brains work in mysterious ways.

We had a good day. We opened up our new savings account, went to the government office to change my CPP to my new account, fueled up the car, and headed to the Cafe to scavenge salads and a piece of quiche for dinner. Joe is getting his energy back and he went in to fetch the food. He continues to take his 100mg Doxycycline twice a day. Fever and chills are gone. We are pleased with his progress. He is still tired and I am keeping a close eye on him!

Lunch over, I did the lawns. I leave the plants growing in spots for the frogs and snakes and critters. The hummingbirds like the Bugloss. 

With the storm on the way, it was good timing to do it beforehand. We've expect 30 - 50 mm rain. An inch to two inches. We shall see. I may have to do indoor play. Floors need doing. We're on the edges of the 60 - 80 mm point, it seems to follow highway #7. 

There was a pop-up storm Tuesday afternoon, it didn't last long. My work was done on the tractor. It was so hot.  

 

🐟Aquarium Repairs <= the saga!

July 7th

After filling it, I noticed the same side leaking as before on July 3rd. I redid that corner. It's not a tidy job, but the fish won't complain. The goldfish pond freezes solid in winter. 

July 8th 

I refilled it. Checking it every hour, it seems to be holding. It is a miracle! 

 

I emptied the aquarium, and tipped it over, anticipating the storm. The kids are coming over on the weekend. They will help me lift it back indoors and onto the stand. 

I am happily cooking with and eating up my cherry tomatoes. Oh, yay fresh produce. It is wonderful hustling out the front door and grabbing handful of them. 

 

The bullfrog in the goldfish pond is doing well. He doesn't seem to mind the heat. I warned him about today's rain. He looked glum. 

A lovely spider web. They are difficult to photograph! The light has to be just right. You'll have to biggify it! 

I like seeing livecams! Here is one that shows them fixing the Blakeney Bridge! You can see the water flowing under the bridge at times. 

Phoebe, cherry tomatoes, Fred, et al

 Joe Brian looked at my images of the bombers from Canada Day. His uncle flew a Lancaster in WW II. He did not come back from the war. Aster took some great photos!

Happy July 4th to my American friends. 

Phoebe's 2nd brood hatched July 2nd. This is from a brood in the shed in another year. 

I watered the garden, as it is pretty dry. Watering the hanging planters is a daily task. Look at the cherry tomatoes!

The milkweed plants are so tall. It is a good year for them. I ordered some seeds online, but they haven't come yet. I'll have to wait for next year to sow those. 

Fred is looking tubby. They have a reproductive system like the deer. They are impregnated, but the fertilized eggs don't implant right away. They've a one-month gestation, so you'd think you'd notice teats by now. Babies are born hairless, and spend 44 days depending upon momma, but begin eating greens at three weeks. Maybe my research is moot! 

I've been hearing the rose-breasted grosbeak. It landed where the feeder used to be out the front window. This proof of life I snapped from my easy chair, while watching tennis. Thankfully, I've arched photos!

Wed., July 3rd

It began cloudy, but it cleared up. It was the day to test my aquarium fix. Removing most of the gravel, I realized that I should remove it all!  As I rotated the tank, a counter clockwise turn each time, it stuck in the newly laid caulk. I yelled for help from JB. He held the caulking gun each time I'd rotate. It really helped. 

I pulled the hose up from the middle deck, and a gray tree frog popped out of the middle. Filling it half full, we went to the TV to watch Canadians playing tennis. 

  

I left it for an undetermined amount of time, and there was a slow drip out the side that had the original leak. What's with this?! I'm not back to square one, at least the other corners are watertight. I'll need to do some more thinking. 

June is just ticking along!

In the smoke, and the need for indoor play, I began doing Sudoku. It is an app, but I have been unable to do the ones on paper. This is great as it tell me if I've made a wrong move. It is exactly what I need right now: success. 

🔥 Canada has been blessed with partners from various parts of the world, recently 1296 firefighters are here or on their way. This totals 5,000 firefighters who have sent to assist from around the world, including South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. We are so grateful. 

• The US has sent 600 firefighters.
• A battalion of 350 firefighters from the EU are headed to Quebec.
• France sent 109 firefighters. 
• Portugal sent 140.
• Spain another 97 firefighters.

Thursday brought more smoke to our area. We saw the sun, after a few days of welcome rain, but I had to close up the house. Friday we have a bit more smoke. It's supposed to get up to 5 on the scale, of 10, but I will be vigilant. The recent rains helped, but we aren't done yet.

🌧 It's now been a few days of rain. I actually washed floors. I'd put it off in the nice, hot weather, preferring to go outdoors. After several days of rain, I had no excuse. JB went into town for a couple of hardware store items. One important one, we didn't have the number of our house on our mailbox. Canada Post had done inspections along our route. He bought us some shiny new numbers, which I put on yesterday. I rubbed off the side of the mailbox with rubbing alcohol to clean it.

Speaking of rubbing alcohol, I found a tick on myself yesterday afternoon. It was plucked off with tweezers, and hastily dropped in the tick jar with rubbing alcohol. I could feel the itch. It is a nymph, a new hatch this year. The bites aren't as bad as the blackflies, honestly, and it wasn't on me long.

We aren't doing too badly with ticks. One year, Daisy brought in 200 that I plucked. The vet's goop we put on them really helps. You have to be aware. I knew the itch was a bad sign.

 

In the meantime, we'll have to clean the gutters. The kids are coming tonight. My SIL, JL, has promised to help, again. Bless his heart!

full rainy gutter from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Also, I'm working on a support for the orchid and the cherry tomatoes. I've been trying to figure out how to support the orchid. There is one bamboo "U" in the planter, but it keeps falling over. Can you count the blossoms? It is looking really healthy since I brought it indoors. 

 

I ordered the green one (below, left) for the orchid, and we may get it June 23rd. Or not!  JB bought me some dowels for a home-made one for the cherry tomatoes. 

This is what I accomplished. I am sure there is a better way to tie them, but I didn't check that out on YouTube! When/if it gets bigger, I can add another row of horizontal dowels. We've a couple of tomatoes near to being ripe!

The cats go out for a run, catch a rodent, and come back in. They don't like the bugs.

The bugs are still keeping them close to home, which is good. They come in hungry, usually. 

 

Cinnamon on the rails from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The cardinals seem to be nesting, again. He is singing at the top of his wee beak. I am hoping phoebe finds another nest location. You can hear them singing. 

 

Phoebe nesting? from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo. 

I'd prepared this prior to going out doors Thursday morning. Thursday afternoon, I found these!