Reflections from Crumbly Acres: crumbly acres

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Monday, 10 April 2023

Walkies in the forest

I left off yesterday, with the kids visiting Crumbly Acres. (How fitting, YAM!) They went home, happy to have power at their house. Saturday afternoon, April 8th, our Aussie Tree Care people came for another quote. We assured them that we aren't in danger, we could be patient, and to service customers with emergency tree issues from the storm. There are hangers, branches having fallen from the top of the tree, dangling and caught on another branch. We just have to be careful. Other people have trees down everywhere.

I'm still trying to process it all. I took a trek down to the meadow during the storm, April 5th. It was not pretty. JB wants to go down and see the damage, but I won't let him. It is wet and slippery, walking on the soaking wet leaves.

ice storm '23 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I went walkies April 6th, through the forest to assess the damage. Most of the trees had stopped dropping the big branches. As I set off, a huge flock of geese flew northish!

geese from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

After hearing this, I hustled up to the house.

branches crash behind the frog pond from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The next day, I found what lots of fallen trees and branches on our 3rd lot.

The damage isn't nearly as bad deep in the forest, where it has integrity, and the trees support each other.

The meadow looked like a pond, with leaning branches everywhere.

We'd just had this tree cleaned up April 3rd, from the December storm. I shook off the branches I could.

The wetland is really wet, and the water high. We've flood warnings on the nearby lakes. They mentioned Skootamata, which I'm sure is flowing at high speed.

I made it down to the frog pond.

ice storm '23 the melt from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The water is up to the dock, but it is draining into the wetland, as you can see in the photo above.

On a fallen log, a little bit of colour. We know spring is here.

Sunday, 8 January 2023

Crumbly Acres Vegetation Management

I had a nice hair cut on Friday. It was the first time in ages I didn't have anxiety. Such a relief. I slept in until 8 a.m. today. A miracle. I am not as crumbly as I was. JB is managing a cold.

It's been a month since we've had a full day with sunshine. I just heard that on the weather report. It occurs to me that it is true. We've a light snow falling now.

Word of the day has to be apricity: the warmth of the sun on a winter’s day - and perhaps, by extension, a glimpse of sunshine after a long, hard chill. – Susie Dent

Vegetation Management continues on Crumbly Acres (<= the back story). It's been a long haul since the December snow storm.

I am making progress, although it is slow. It is a bit more evident. Thankfully. It is discouraging. I decided to fill containers with the cut up pieces. They will make fine kindling once they dry out.

Funny story: I was taking an older container of kindling to the house, in another garbage can. After I bonked it on the wagon, a deermouse fly out, and around the shed. I laughed out loud!

I cannot do the biggest trunks, and I shall have to wait patiently until we get that done. Patience has been thin these days. This is such a limb. It takes too much juice out of the reciprocal saw, which only lasted a feeble half hour Friday. The smell of the pine sap is amazing, however. It's on my gloves, my saw, and my work coat. It's a hoot, the sweet smell, and the hard work.

There is so much to do. We've since had a skiff of snow, and the deer were scarce in the warmer temperatures. The grass was green in spots, and there was more food available.

Who else would be sawing up wood in the rain? Moi. This is where Labbit seems to be hiding out. It is peculiar weather. This morning it is -8 C., whereas this was Friday, and it was above zero. I decided to take the weekend off!

Finally there is proof! Jan. 6, a skiff of snow; Labbit and a red fox. We'll see how long Labbit lasts. I am happy to host her under the deck. I never see her in the daytime.

run, bunny! from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Sunset was lovely.

I'll leave you with a January photo of Tigger. This is what a 'normal' January looks like.

Sunday, 18 December 2022

Recovery at Snowy Crumbly Acres – Part 1!

Crumbly Acres!

I had this post all ready to go, then we had more snow all day Friday, after snow Thursday night.

My lines are a bit wobbly. I can explain that! The trees look amazing, and I was distracted!

I cleaned out the bird bath, water fountain, I suppose, and popped some fresh snow on top to melt.

The trees looked so sad on Friday. I went around and shook off the snow.

Laden branches everywhere.

Friday, I watched the power outage map. It got worse over the day as it warmed up a degree or two.

Saturday morning... that's a whole other story.

Friday, 16 December 2022

Snowy Crumbly Acres!

Crumbly Acres!

We had an uneventful Thursday evening, watching the buck trio hanging about in the front yard. They can smell the bird seed. They took turns, play fighting with one another. Their antlers seem about the same size, they could be siblings. We've a doe with triplets hanging about.

This first photo was from last night at sunset.

At bedtime I took this photo – you can see the heavy snowfall.

This morning we awoke to exactly what they forecast. Busses are canceled in Ottawa. Wet snow, as the temperature is hovering at zero C. The rain switched over to snow around Toronto. We knew it was coming, and we were prepared. I went out just before 6 a.m., and the cats were staring in awe. We all jumped when a tree branch broke in the forest, and crashed to the ground. I'll stay out of the forest until this settles out. We've colder weather on the way, and winds.