Monday was a busy day!

It was a cold start to the day. I had the garbage out by 6 a.m.!

1. The goldfish are out in the pond. The fish tank is half cleaned. I have to clean the hoses and the pump. 

2. The released squirrels are still in their box. At least two are. I seldom see 3 at a time. Butch raccoon visited. The camera was askew when I waded through the mosquitoes. Joe fed them, and noticed the box askew, as well.

3. I cleaned out the gutter, which had overflowed in our 21mm rain. No wonder. I shoved the old hose down it, and it seemed to clear. 

4. We have 4 Fred kits, and auntie Fred, from last year's brood. That is my working theory. I thought we were down to 3 kits!

This one was hanging out at the flag pole burrow. Caitlin thought it looked like a great dating profile photo!

5. The garden is coming along. Apparently Fred doesn't like hollyhock. He nipped at my milkweed, though. 

 

Poppies are done! I snapped a photo. Thankfully.

The cedar waxwings have created a platoon.
They fly about, chirping away, eating bugs in the evergreens.

I was on Zoom for a webinar, UNMASKING: Embracing ADHD, Autism, & Being Queer. Thing was, it was on at 6:30 in Edmonton, Alberta, and it was 8:30 here. I set up on the dining room table, prepared to learn something. Just at pre-dusk, as I was trying to absorb all I was hearing and reading, I noticed a bear out back. YIKES! It went into the forest in the back 40, headed for the wetland. 

Why not go out front and see if it was there? There was our pregnant doe. Back to my Webinar, and there was Bear again. I whistled, and let it know we were here. It moved off. I shall have to look for the Marine Horn.

I lasted until about 10 p.m. on the Webinar. I usually go to bed around 9 and read for an hour. 

Wood frogs and spring peepers

There are moments. A robin:

 

A Flicker, with a red-winged blackbird. We have a half-dozen blackbirds, and another half-dozen Grackles. 

I swapped out the green ribbons for March, to yellow for April. 

Our snow is gone. Joe Brian did a bit of a rake.

There are enough outdoor chores with out making more to do inside. Something happened with the coffee machine. The coffee overflowed, and dripped out, down, and under. We had to scrub it all. Great fun. 

Outside it is a mess, wet, muddy, with more rain on the way. We'll be begging for rain in August, I bet. Meantime... there are flood warnings and watches around Simcoe, Sudbury, Muskoka, and Lake of Bays in Ontario. YIKES.

 

The wood frogs are signing. OK, mistyped that, but they are signaling for mates! 

   

 A couple of days later the Spring Peepers chimed in.  

 Down in the pond, the mosquito Larvae are squiggling around.

   

 The yellow-bellied woodpecker is doing its thing. They have learned that banging on the metal towers amplifies their sounds. He is looking for a mate.

 

Springy Acres

 What a beautiful day on Tuesday. I began the day with a moon photo! 

The birds have come back. Grackles (5 of them) and one robin.

The goldfinches are year-round, but they change to an olive colour in winter. I can see tinges of yellow, which is a good sign of Spring!

Merlin the app identified the songs for me. It is always exciting to see them return. 

It was about 15 ℃ on the back deck, but in the front, in the sunshine... facing south, the sun 

Here we were! I texted this photo to Caitlin who was hard at work while we played. She'll be able to return soon, the way things are going! 🕰 Time passing so quickly and all...

All hell broke loose on Wednesday with the ice storm. I watched the power outage map and felt we'd be okay. It was tense, though. Living amongst shallow lakes and snow, RVCA is warning of possible flash flooding. We are OK on a hill above the wetland. 

I went into town to return empties, bought my weekend wine, picked up kitty litter, return library books, and pick up my grocery order. All is well with our world.

I was wondering what was happening here. The taxi driver let an old man with a walker get out of the car.  I met him in the LCBO store buying my wine. She stood around and had a smoke. She didn't bother parking the car, and people had a tricky time getting around her. This is right at the cross walk. 

Happily the day before was wonderful. A bit of a teaser, since winter was back on Thursday (-3℃). Back into the freeze zone. Until the 13 cm snow fell on Saturday! 

The Arctic Winter Games are being held in Whitehorse! This will give you a taste of it:

 

The Waterfront Gastropub has a live webcam! 

Chores!

  I've been puttering. After the big windstorm, I noticed that the water had accumulated in the water fountain. I don't have a big enough tarp. I drained it, using my syphon. Using tent pegs that came with JB's birthday bears, I managed to secure the tarp to the ground. It looks snazzy!

The storm knocked at least two nests out of the old white pine tree. They are so delicate, yet strong!

I spent some time sawing deadfall into kindling. We expect freezing rain, again. No freezing rain, just a bit of snow and 4 mm of rain rain!

It's good to have backup heat. Some families were three days without power in Ontario last weekend. More kindling.

Chores!

Crows 🐦

The winds were really bad again on Sunday. I took the opportunity to try and video the crow's nest. I think you can just get a glimpse. I spent hours watching them raise the three babies.

Chores and playtime!

 I'm still cleaning up around the house, doing outdoor Fall chores. I managed to clean the back deck. Pulling the dead vines off, I scrubbed the railings.

The horse chestnut tree still has a few leaves, but the trees behind it are done..

We've had ice on the goldfish pond, yet this week we are going to be in double-digit temperatures. The fishies are happy, I cleaned their tank Sunday. 

Cinnamon and I went walkies, again.

I find that most of my photos of him show his bum! When I walk with him, he runs to be in front. Nutmeg doesn't often come with us. When JB walks, Nutmeg is in front. 

It is Joseph Brian's birthday on Monday. As he sits in his chair, the afternoon sun shines in on his face. I found a bit of a remedy for it! I washed the window, again.  

I moved another frog to the wetland. Not this one! This one slipped away from my net. When I went back later, he was back on the lily pad, but dove the moment he saw me.  

We moved the pie pumpkins from the fence to the ground. The critters love them! 

JB bought me this planter last year. I threw away the dead pine branches, saved it, and brought it out yesterday. New branches made it look good as new! 

Carl was back in the afternoon. Just sitting there, chewing his cud peacefully.