Wetland walkies and a Labbit

Note to self: after a fresh snow, it's probably best to wear taller winter boots or my snowshoes! The snow snuck in the back under my pants. It's cold. It's bracing!

I'm not sure what these tracks are from. There are no claws, which eliminates some critters. It could have been Red Fox! 

I found a trailcam. I couldn't remember where it was. Searching down the hill in the forest, I was not successful. Turns out I'd put it on the driveway! Hah! But I'm not failing! 

I've put a bird feeder out under the deck. We've had birds visit, but mostly Labbit.

Sure enough, Labbit!

Here she is during a snowstorm, Feb. 6th.

I've been tracking Labbit. I've found she is staying in Fred's garden burrow! This is Fred, he's gone to another burrow, sleeping for winter. Behind him is the flag garden, where he's dug a big burrow under my rhododendron. 

Labbit sits around nibbling on lilac tree shoots and providing fertilizer. It's win-win, actually! It's the cutest little bunny poop!

She runs from the garden to the lilac shrub, and then under the deck to visit the feeder.

After searching her tracks. I found her on the Wingscapes camera, but tracks lead to another burrow. She's a tricky one! You can see the large hind feet and the little cotton tail!

Another snowy day!

 The cats were to go in for their annual exams and shots. We deferred it to a day without 7 cm snow. 

It was quite a snowy day. 

I noticed a rock I that wasn't very snow covered. Turns out it was Labbit chewing dead weeds and plants.

 

I posted photos of little Nutmeg the other day. This is her quiet spot. She didn't get the memo that I was washing sheets!

This is their daytime spot, in the sunshine. 

The cats get pretty tired squirrel and bird watching! I had 4 house finches, amongst others. 

chickadee

There are two pairs of cardinals!

The two males at the same time!

We finished off 🎥 Darby and Joan (AU) this week. The new one is a 6-show series: Protection (UK 2024 - miniseries) 6 episodes. I was quite happy to have a hot shower and put my feet up having done the driveway and refilled bird feeders.

Crumbly Acres

 Every time we put on the news we are hopeful for good news. So far, not so good. In our old age we find it difficult getting used to new norms, new societal values, the increase in previously socially unacceptable language in the media, you know how it is. Then there is technology. 

I heard a story about a teacher who had to argue with her student. He'd submitted an essay, full of errors, conspiracy theories, and mistakes. She talked to the kid, and asked him where he sourced his information. He showed her how he'd used AI to write it for him. It combined information from biased sources, and had incongruities. AI doesn't check sources! 

🦉  🐇  🦌  🐻  🐿️  😼

Our critters keep me distracted. I'd put the Wingscapes camera on the side walk. We lost a bunny on the highway last month. I was hopeful. 

 

These are the critters that visited the peanuts I put on the sidewalk. It's been so cold. I think the critter in the thumbnail is the bunny, also visiting: junco, deermouse, red squirrel, tree sparrow.

It snowed Sunday night. I went to the Crumbly Acres camera. I could see unbroken snow cover on the sidewalk in the first image. In the next, bunny tracks! The cotton tail was too fast for the camera. I think. I'll have to check the settings. Again. 

I was sitting in my easy chair, and spotted Cinnamon in the bathroom window. He was intense. He was nearly getting whiplash!

I grabbed the video camera and found Labbit! Happy dance!

Meantime, we had snow yesterday. It was around 0℃, and 7cm of snow is sticking to everything. I'll have some shovelling work to do, once I have my morning coffee! This was last night at dinner time. 

Deer and bunny

 Here we go! It's a chilly one, again. Yes, -14℃! 

That said, knowing the importance of outdoor play, I toddled down to the trailcam. I had my booklet with me, as the settings were quite wrong! I had over 800 images. Either it both too quick a trigger, plus a 1-minute delay in the trigger. 

This just makes me laugh! It could have been a great photo.

Indoor play, I redid my sun. 

The amaryllis and paperwhites have been planted. 

The sunset was glorious from the front deck. Now, I could have run down the driveway, except it was pretty cold.  There are days when I wish we had a second floor, or a tower!

This was through the bathroom window, including the screen! And the satellite antenna. Not so bad.

We had Labbit the cottontail visit. They have to be cold and hungry!

   

 We had deer visit, as well. They nibble on dead garden plants.

 

The big news in Ottawa is that the Rideau Canal will be open for skating on Saturday. This is early, even for a 'normal' year. That's how cold it's been. It didn't open long (10 days?) last year. The year before it did not open at all. We've been calling it Waterlude, rather than the February Winterlude Festival. 

Saturday's Critters

We'll start with a skunk and a mouse! Our Vancouver grandies are in a Panto for December. They posted a photo for us. They are in rehearsal. Both their parents are trained actors, so it makes sense.

Coyote in the forest, listening to something!

 

Bunny in the back yard

 

Fisher in the dark

 

Grouse

 

Turkey time!

 

Saturday's Critters # 570 <= visit the page Eileen hosts!

Crumbly Acres

 💉This was a week for needles! Monday, I had COVID and Flu shots. They have a small, private room set aside in the pharmacy. I peeked in and the pharmacist was listening to someone and motioned, just a minute. When he was ready for me, he apoligized for the delay I said to the pharmacist, 'your mother must be proud.' We need more kindness. Listening is important. 

There was no reaction to the shots, other than a mild headache, but that may be due to stress and clenching my teeth!

Cancer Treatment 

PART CXV – Nov. 6th PSA test, hemolyzed blood sample, had to do it again. It was good.

PART CXVI – Nov. 12th Lupron injection.

Joe had his Lupron injection Tuesday. He's good for another 3 months. He can have his COVID and Flu shots in two weeks.

😷Our LGL Health Unit is showing some respiratory viruses circulating.

🚘 One winter tire has had a slow leak. Joe checked it, and it was looking bad. He took it in for repairs. They patched it for him, no charge. That was a bright light in the day.

 Just when I think I have a handle on things, I readjusted the Crumbly Acres camera. This is where it sat late summer.

I moved it to cover the driveway where critters run. Here's Joe bringing in the empty recycling bin! 

Once it was all reset, I found that it wasn't saving videos to the MicroSD card. It was saving directly to the computer if the application was on and running. Sigh. Get out the ladder. (My SIL installed it for me, I'm not sure how he did it!)  

I opened up the back of it, which requires removing these two wee screws. I dropped screw #1 and swore.  Un-inserting the Micro card, I reinserted it. This worked last time. Tried it, no difference. I decided to look for screw #1, found it. I thought about it a bit. Rather buying a new Micro card, why not switch it with another. The dashcam! Did so, dropped the other screw. Found that screw. Still no luck with it working. 

I went back to it after lunch. 
(#1) The aluminum case had unscrewed from the base. I couldn't reattach it. 
(#2) The power cable runs through the wall to the garage. It pulled off. No power. No luck. 
I'll have to figure out how to get the cable in the garage through the wall back out to the power cable to reattach it. Maybe tape it to a thin dowel? 

Either way, I gave up for the day when the sun began to get low and it was really getting cold. 

Here we were Wednesday morning. 

After my workout, I put on warm clothes and went to it, again. First task, lay down a towel, just in case I lose more screws. <Insert screw loose joke here!>

Houston, we have a problem.

I put the AC plug back in the hole through the garage wall. It had pulled free. That I could manage.

My conclusion is that the wires from the lens, to the plug into the mother board, have been pulled out. 

The problem stemmed from the fact that this piece no longer rotated and I tried to tighten it, it just pulled the wires out. 

I ordered a new one. There are Black Friday sales (which many Canadian businesses have copied from the US), and it wasn't very expensive. In fact, cheaper than some trailcams and works better! 

Our cottontail needs a name! It's as if Fred Groundhog moved off (Aug.) and Bunny moved in!

I captured the cottontail on the Crumbly Acres camera before all this happened. Their behaviour is interesting. First – they freeze. It is quite camouflaged. I didn't realize it was there till it moved. I chased it away as the cats were out for their morning romp. It isn't often here in the daytime!