Saturday's Critters

 I've removed the deer fences around the garden, since our little doe, Clover, no longer hangs about all year. I suspect she succumbed to something. She loved my front garden flowers! I tried chicken wire, and that worked fairly well, with flags across the top. 

The deer fence from Lee Valley Tools was amazing. You can see through it, the black mesh I stapled to 1 x 1" posts. 

It was time to take it down, though.

Farewell to summer.

The doe was being tracked by the coyotes! She ran away.

 

doe & buck from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Lest we forget the little critters. One insists on putting a web across the security camera!

 

spider from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I moved my trailcam. This is who I found!

 

doe from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Bears

They haven't been a problem this year. People have learned to put feeders away in summer. The birds don't need it, and it is selfish to want to see the birds, which risks all of them. I sure learned my lesson in May, 2017, in our early days here! 

There was excitement, as I viewed this raw footage. I spliced two clips, and now you can count the bear cubs. I must say I haven't seen any bears anywhere near the house, only on trailcams. 

 

Bear and cubs from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Saturday's Critters # 508 <= Thanks to Eileen for hosting!

Daylilies, and Clover!

The birds continue to devour the serviceberries. It is so much fun hearing them twitter away in the bushes. 

I'd spent the morning transplanting daylilies into the backyard. It wasn't quite as hot as the day before, which was a good thing. I should wait until fall, or after they bloom. I should put down a wee jag of topsoil, and turn over the soil, but that isn't going to happen with my foot issues. I needed some garden therapy. 

I wanted to do something with the back, and daylilies are a hardy, drought resistant plant. We've only had 4 mm rain this month. I've paler ones out front. 

The brighter orange ones are out back. I'll move some of these later!

JB brought some garden soil, which I tucked in and around the transplants. I was careful to avoid the spent daffodils. 

My lilies are doing so well. I am pleased with my netting. Thing is, Clover deer must have gone over the rainbow bridge, as she was the one who munched them in the past. She hasn't touched the hostas, either. 

July 2021

It is deerly season

October, 2022, Clover and her male fawn in the yard.  

clover & fawn from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

 My lonely hibiscus was droopy, and I had to water it. Even the rose stem was drooping. Afterwards, it perked right up. We had 3 mm rain in the evening, which is most welcome.  

Saturday's Critters

Back to your regularly broadcast program, critters. Saturday's Critters # 486 I am late, but there were distractions!

We still have mice friends.

 

deermouse from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Single Tom Turkey seems to have found a buddy. The group of six, I have not seen for awhile.

turkeys from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

We are on our last bag of deer food. This is it for the winter feed. Most of them have dispersed into the deeper forest, with dead grass and budding shoots to feed them. Clover will probably come back when my lilies bloom! I shall begin putting up my fence around the garden soon.

 

Joe & doe from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

This is why we stop now, before Clover tramples all my plants.

 

Clover from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Butch Raccoon has been active. They are funny to watch.

 

Butch appears from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

These are all prior to our ice storm. I have been distracted. This snow has nearly gone!

 

coyote from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Clover and friends

I was looking at the conditions on the frogpond. It has melted, thawed, then refrozen. Today it is - 13˚ C., with possible freezing rain, and 10 - 15 cm predicted. I shoveled the sidewalk, after 3 cm yesterday. We shall see what happens! I gave the birds extra rations, as they usually know a storm is coming. I found a mice friend in the sunflower seed bin! 

As always, you need not watch the whole clip, I try to choose the best thumbnail, but the behaviour always fascinates me and JB likes to see them!

forest mouse from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Busted! I took him out of the garage, and hoped for the best.

This is the pond, which has since frozen, and been covered in that snow.

There was a doe on the pond. It had to be Clover. The others would hightail it.

Along she came, as I headed back up to the house. She is the only one who sticks around all summer. You can clearly spot the bare skin on her back. Perhaps a difficult meeting with fence wire. 

This was from the frogpond, just after our melt.

 

deer in the wetland from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Feb 15, 23. This was Clover and another doe. It's not her fawn, I don't think, as it was aggressive.

clover from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

She walked parallel to me, across the meadow. This is where I've put the frogpond trailcam, which hasn't had much action. She waited for me and watched me check it. 

Back up at the house, where she met me, I gave her a spoonful of food! She is not tame, she just knows that I feed her. When the men came to check out my wonky reclining chair, they didn't like the strange car, and took off. Some sort of situational awareness. 

deer bad leg from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Feb. 18, tough going in the snow.

breakfast deer from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

We buy MNR-recipe feed from our feed store. Clover was waiting for hubby to feed her. In the background (48 sec.), you can see our doe with the sprained leg. Feb.18/23

On the way down to the forest, lots of tracks.

coyote tracks from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The coyotes were busy. We are near, or just past mating season, I've read. Feb. 18/23

Sure enough, there they are. From the night before.

coyotes from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Watch for the first one, way in the back. Feb. 17/23

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

It's a busy yard!

Well, my end-of-season chores are underway. Good question about the chestnuts, Patio Postcards. I don't eat them, I save them as decor and throw them out in winter. They red squirrel drops them, but doesn't eat them after they fall!

Yesterday, I used the kids' power washer on the flag stones. I'll have a new project next spring, (maybe!) lifting the stones and putting sand underneath. They seem to be sinking. 

🐠Today is goldfish day. It is supposed to be sunny, although we're at 2 C. right now. I'll drain the pond a bit, and give it a go. Tomorrow is supposed to be fine, as well, but tomorrow I'm getting my Spikevax shot. I'll assume it'll all go fine, but I will have two days to get fish in. They can be stubborn! 

😷Josephine is managing COVID. We texted yesterday afternoon and she said she was sniffly, cough and a runny nose. Mom says she was throwing up in the evening. Poor kid. This is going around the schools. 

🦌 I learned two new things the other day. We noticed that the fawn has lost its spots. A significant sign of Autumn. Then, I wondered, when do we stop calling it a fawn? I found the answer. They would be a fawn for the first year, and a yearling in year 2. 

I noticed pedicles on our fawn, where the antlers will grow. They are called spikes when a yearling has them. Caitlin calls them pickle stabbers! 

clover & fawn from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

🕷️ TICKS 2022

I had a tick, again. Just crawling on my hand. It's been stuck inside a piece of tape, and gone to tick heaven 😜. We've done pretty well this year, especially since the cats have their meds to keep them away.

Happily the turkeys are around. They eat ticks, bless their hearts. I spotted them out back.

turkeys from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The turkeys and chicks in the forest! 

  

Cinnamon has been out on Oliver's Lot. Nutmeg is still confined to barracks. 

Butch is fattening up for winter. They are omnivores and eat anything!

 

Butch + 3 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Fred groundhog is still around. I think he just shelters under the lower deck. When he hears us open the back door, he'll scramble to seek shelter, then peek his head out. I call, "Hi, Fred!" and he'll recognize me and come back out. 

He's made two holes, one in and one out. I don't think it's a burrow, just an escape plan. His burrow is at the end of the septic bed!

Fred under the deck from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The buck turned up in the dark.

 

buck from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The doe turned up in the daytime. Gotta love that tail! 

 

doe from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

That was some rain!

We had a dump of rain on Monday. It just kept falling and falling. We had a total of 28 mm. 

The eavestrough overflowed, so I contacted our people again. The video shows it.

 

The goldfish pond has two blooms, which I noticed standing in the rain inspecting the eaves.

I went out back to check on the bench swing. A Great Blue Heron flew over! Honest! I've seen them before.

After my request, I had a couple of suggestions for the swing's roof. Divers&Sundry suggested Scotchgard. How brilliant! Sending my personal assistant in, he brought me two cans. I used up the first, and some of the second. You can see where the water collected on the topper where it bulges. I think this might be the way to go. It just needs tweaking.

The pillows were soaked. I just have to put more on top of where the bar goes over. That's where it seemed to accumulate. OK, plan B.

Clover was in the yard. She decided to help herself to the sumac leaves. 

doe & sumac from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

One more video: Cinnamon and I about to embark on our walkies. You can hear the sparrow chipping at us. Also, the cardinal yipping. Finally, the red squirrel gave us a look. July 15th.

forest walkies from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Our Intrepid Travelers

While Jesse's sister is in Crete, Jess posted photos for us from Vancouver! It is fun to look back at their visit this month. Just scroll on if this is too many photos, but I wanted JB to see them as well! Here they are visiting.

Jesse took his Vancouver girls camping on the weekend! I'll have to be honest, I have never camped. Jesse was employed one year leading canoe camping trips in Algonquin Park. He was a great Boy Scout, too. He loves the outdoors.

Meanwhile in Crete

Driving from Heraklion to Chania, they settled into their hotel.

They had a beach day at Chania. Sunset gave an opportunity for photos! The first beach photo was by Isabelle.

Here they are in the water, Caitlin's photo. 

Today is a beach day. They love swimming! We'll take them swimming when they visit in August.