Snow Recovery at Crumbly Acres – Part 3

Crumbly Acres! (<= YAM named us!) It will take me weeks to clean up the branches, more crumbling. Sunday morning we eased into the day. We watched soccer, while I poked around with plants. The taller 🥀amaryllis doesn't have any roots. The soil is too wet. 

• Dec. 14th – I measured the taller stalk. It was 28 cm (11").
• Dec. 16th – it was up to 30 cm (12").
• Dec. 19th –  It's 32 cm (12.5").

I wiggled them in the pot, and found that all the roots have rotted on the taller one. I pulled them off, and set it back down in the soil. Pulling off the LCBO bags, I set them in the window, hoping for the best. I thought I might dry out the top layer of soil with the hair dryer. What could go wrong? Dirt everywhere. I gave up, after cleaning off the sink, counter, and floor. Yes, you may laugh!

I set it on a pad of vermiculite to help dry out the roots. 

🌲 🌲 🌲 🌲 🌲 🌲 🌲 🌲 🌲 🌲 🌲

These are the climbing trees: Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. 

I won't be able to lift these branches until I cut them up. I tried, JB watching from the back door, and one fell on top of me. Thankfully I was wear both a ball cap and a hoodie. 

You can see the ~(‾▿‾)~ Crow's Nest if you look hard enough. OK, maybe you had to be there. That was an adventure, having the crows around that year, April, 2021.

Perhaps I ought to point it out. Even with all the loss of branches, you are hard pressed to see it.

Not only did the white pines sustain damage, but the sumac beside the shed lost at least two big branches. (Monday, I cut them off, skilsawed them into smaller branches, and set them in the forest.)

Saturday afternoon, as I said the sun came out. The shock had worn off somewhat, by then, although it makes me so sad looking out back. Out front, the sun on the fake tree was lovely, and most of the heavy snow, which bent its branches, has fallen off. 

We've four big white pine trees. They have various amount of damage. The tree that had the hornet's nest is drooping quite a bit. 

 

Out front, this evergreen is looking so dreary, and burdened with snow. I've gone around twice, shaking the lower branches off. This is where the top branches dislodge and dump the snow, breaking them right off.

The blue sky cheered me immensely.

Poor old lilacs!

I wish I could reach them. Hydro trucks were about, as there were a couple of power outages nearby. I could have used their cherry picker.

I came to the conclusion that I cannot whittle away at the dead branches this year. We're going to hire someone. The skilsaw doesn't last very long, even with a back up battery. Yesterday I took a walk in the forest. More damage. Not as serious, though.

~(‾▿‾)~ Crows

The crows have begun a nest in the white pine tree. I was suspicious. They've been around a lot, flying into the girl's climbing tree and back out! Eventually, I saw them taking twigs into the tree. I've begun a page just for the Crows.

I didn't think I could grab a photo of the nest building activity, so I sat on the back deck, partially in the morning sun with a sheepskin lap blanket, holding the video camera. 

They went back and forth, one landing in a nearby tree to keep guard, the other taking the twigs to the nest.

See it?! 

as the crow flies  

You may choose not to watch these, but it was hard work following them. I figured out how to wear my reading glasses, perched on my nose, but still follow them from the distance. crow's nest  

 

From below, this is all I can see, however. It is rather excellent for the crows, although the predators know it is there. The one crow sits in a tree keeping watch, the other takes twigs to the nest.

The crows are active.  So is the kestrel. It was flying around the tree. I was out walking and it flew by three times. This is a screen capture.

I was walking about, looking for the nest, and I could hear it calling. The other birds know the nest is there. It's just taunting the crows.

The blue jays are horrid predators. This one was watching for action at the crow nest.

In this video, the crow and wood duck, the crow was scared off eating the cracked corn on the dock. The durn camera pooched out between clips, it always pauses. You cannot see the actual moment. 

I sat out April 24th. A lovely day. The one crow sat and watched for predators. The other flew to the tree. This behaviour repeated itself all day. It hides in the trees in plain sight. Soon the leaves will be out, and I won't be able to see them at all.

Eventually, I used the zoom lens on the tripod, and did a bit better capturing the nesting materials in their beak.

S/he flew to the other pine tree, on the lookout for predators. They seem to go to great pains to hide their approach to the impending nest. I was fascinated. See it peeking around, looking for predators.

Later on, I folded up the tarps that were drying on the laundry tree. The one crow circled around my head. I cawed at it, and talked to it. We'll see how agitated they get. They used to be around a lot more. There were always three. I did some more reading, and they hang out in family groups. They are known for raiding other nests for food sources, they aren't shy creatures.