That was a wind!

HydroOne Power Outages

We were relatively unscathed by the wind storm Sat., Dec. 11th. 

The bears tipped a bit, but they are tied to the railing. I stood Momma Bear up.  No damage.

Cinnamon and I took off. First he spotted the black squirrel, and that kept his attention for a bit. 

I wandered down to the fencing, dropping my trailcam memory cards, to check out my new ribbons. They are fraying. I wonder what I can do about that. They were all there, though, that is a bonus.

Two dead sumacs went over. I cut them up in order to be able to lift them, and threw them onto the long grass. They are suffering.

The poor elm lost another branch.  It was a beautiful tree [Ode to an elm], and housed several bird families. Branches are falling off one-by-one. It landed on the grassy field, and I need not worry about it.

There are quite a few branches down, and Cinnamon and I did an inspection. The 12.5 mm of rain sat on the top of the frog pond ice, and will melt at some point. This is to be a milder week. Cinnamon knew not to walk on it!

Cinn likes the leaning tree branches!

 The force of the wind is amazing. This horizontal birch tree trunk has dirt on the end. It must have bounced up. The other one does, as well. I went back and cut up enough that I could move it off the trail. 

We kept inspecting!

I took my skilsaw down to the forest. I did some work, but the wind was still bad, and I thought I'd stop. This is a non-mental note to cut up this tree on the point. (Taken care of Monday afternoon, after a hearty lunch!)

I might just leave this fallen tree. It's not on a trail. The piece that remained is pretty interesting. 

Heading back to the house, Cinnamon was tired. The bear, upper left in the photo, was blown right off the cupboard, as well as the tree man, on the step beside Cinn.

There are a few outages nearby. We were close! For those of us getting up in the night, we like our night lights! From 195,956 without power in Ontario, they have made major repairs, and only have 77,000 more households to go as I write this Monday morning. This morning, Tuesday, only 26,459 to go. The rural areas take the longest. 

Hydro-Quebec restored service to about 330,000 customers, with 80% of customers affected by the storm.

This doesn't compare to the horrific tornadoes in the US. Such a disaster. In B.C. they are slowly rebuilding highways from the flooding. 

         

It just poured rain on Saturday, followed by wind. 

Ode to an elm

There were some elms

Down in the forest

They sheltered us all

Lauded by chorus

Flora and fauna
They die and they fall
Having lived their lives
Across nature sprawl

Elms provide perches
To varieties of creatures
Some just alight
They've lots to teach her

Providing habitat

Big and gracious

Birds of prey

In canopy spacious

A hawk it perches
Surveying territory
Flicker dug deep
Building the story

The osprey was rudest
As I stood below
It sat on the branch
And then just let go

Even the dead elms, which we've cut down for safety, provide a perch.

 

There is fungus growing on the old roots of the dead elm.
Little Isabelle gave them a close examination!

Once, the osprey landed in the dead elm. It was strange, as there were no fish in sight. 



Another time, a flicker built a nest.

Flicker from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.


Flicker from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Saturday's Critters #332

I've been rocking!

It was a busy Sunday. There was a helicopter go by twice. It was NOT an emergency helicopter.

helicopter 1 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.


Off down to the meadow to do my project. I met some turkeys on the way. This video is a mix of my hand held video camera, and trailcam, where I was headed.

turkeys from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Rocking

Down I went to fetch a rock. It was in the middle of the path and the earth was sinking around it. It was harder than I'd thought. Having begun the day before, I needed the crowbar and a hatchet, as the roots were thick. The plan was to heave it up into the lawn tractor trailer. That took a bit of practice and several tries. I used my legs to lift.



Can I tell you how heavy it is? More than 50 lbs, I imagine. TA DA!



Then, I spotted this tree down on the edge of the wetland.

This is what the tree looked like last winter, as a pileated woodpecker went after it.
 

Back up at the house, I placed my rock, found some more, and planted some spring bulbs in my new garden. A couple dozen daffodils, which the deer do not like, as well as two hostas I'd divided.

I also transplanted a few periwinkle plants. They'll be sweet in spring.

It was rather a dumb thing, as it warmed up later, and the rain stopped after I'd finished my outdoor work. Yet, I spent that time indoors, cleaning the fish tank pump.

November is here!

We had winds and hail Friday morning! It's been terrible across both Ontario and Quebec. The leaves of the catalpa tree covers the goldfish pond. It's a lovely sound. We put on the snow tires, so we're good.

NOV. hail from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

It was a storm.

 The winds caused power outages right across Ontario.

Ottawa Hydro outages

Meantime, do you remember the northern flicker nest cavity? I knew it would be trouble later. Creating a nesting cavity weakens the dead elm tree trunk. Funny story, I was looking for a long time to find an image of the cavity. I'd remember the tenant as a cedar waxwing. Wrong! A flicker.

Flicker from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Sure enough...



Then, the poor sumac. I'm going to have to work at this. They are too heavy to move without cutting them up. I'll use the reciprocal saw. I'll need the wagon or wheelbarrow. I'm still pretty sore from going up and down the ladder yesterday. sigh.


The frog pond filled nicely with the rain.



Another branch off in the meadow.



This was a task! The large catalpa leaves ended up in the eavestrough. It was cold, and I wore gloves, but getting the muck out of the eaves was messy and I had to remove them. The metal ladder is frigid. I knew it'd be colder today, though. I'm glad it is done. They aren't usually this bad but the wind just ripped them off the tree.


Little teeny hail!



As I was exploring the damage, I heard something in the forest. The trailcam captured the action. It was a buck who ran off.

bucks & doe from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I still have dirt to move, too!



Also, on my walk, likely the last of these. The eat insects, who will be sleeping soon!
brown creeper from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

In case you couldn't see it! They will be back in late March (Spring approaches!).

April 3, 2014

For more critters:

Saturday's Critters # 307