Winter play!

 Well, it is a tad nippy out there! Saturday was the warmer day! Nutmeg went out for a run in the dark, before the birds come out. Cinnamon chose to chase mice in the garage. The windchill is -27 C.!

The good news is that the Rideau Canal Skateway is open today. Not all of it, but some! This bodes well for the Winterlude Festival. The water didn't freeze enough last year for skating (yay, Climate Change), Ottawans and tourists are happy to get out there this year.

Our Ottawa family went to the Senator's hockey game!

Outside, the bucks are having fun. They are still play fighting. This is good since they might loosen their antlers and I'll get to find one. Normally, the bucks hang out elsewhere in the area. We usually only have the females. This has been unusual, as it is very cold.

Out front, this dude, AKA Prince Harry, was using the driveway. It is horrid walking in the forest for them in knee-deep snow, and a 5 cm icy crust on top. 

I don't normally work out on Saturday and Sunday, usually doing 20 minutes on my elliptical in the basement. However the snow was too tempting, and I decided not to be a couch potato. 

I had fun seeing where the critters used my previous snowshoe tracks. 

What was really fun was as I approached my eldest trailcam, I spotted a deer bed! And it was right in front of the camera. (The camera is on the large tree trunk. )There were three deer beds here in the Cedar Corridor. 

What they do is scrape the snow away to build a sort of nest. They don't seem to reuse them, since they cannot be predictable with coyotes about. Coyotes cannot take down a healthy deer, but if a deer is asleep...

I was happy to see the young buck hunkering down in a deer bed in our forest. I was miffed the old camera did not pick up the buck making his bed!

deer bed cedar corridor from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

They use my snowshoe tracks as a pathway. Deer, coyotes, and Fuzzy Fawn:

Cedar corridor action from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Up at the house... One of our young bucks has lost one antler. They are play fighting in the yard, and I am hopeful to find one. The year I found 5 was amazing! I put them on the plain chandelier!

Tom Turkey (we've just one visiting), King Frederick, Fuzzy Fawn, et al:

Turkey Jan 18 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Snowshoe and skiing adventures

 It was a cold – but sunny day. The blue sky makes such a difference, even in the wetland.

I went down to the point, where I spotted snowshoe hare tracks.

I've gotten snowshoe hares on trailcams, this in 2015. I once spotted one snowshoeing on the wetland, but they are so fast, I didn't have time for a photo!

The quiet meadow! Summer and winter...

See her ↷?

A deer bed on lot #2. This is our lot beside the highway. You can see a passing car in the background.

We've lots of old trees... the white pine is finally done.

Frog pond... summer, spring, winter

More fun from the kids out west. Cluny and Bryony are getting bigger! They have so much fun. They will be 5 and 8 this year.

Jesse is part of the ski club at Whistler Olympic Park, and volunteer teaches some littles once a week in British Columbia. The girls also have lessons. It is a great program. 

Jess wrote:

"Hollyburn Cross Country Ski Club and the Payak Loppet. Cluny is nearing the end of her second year in the club and just yesterday did her 2nd Mini Payak at 5 km. Hollyburn is such a great program and the Payak is a great challenge for young legs."

 And while you can laud the little kids skiing, here is Jess taking cell phone videos alongside Bryony, Feb. 12! He's a tad slow to upload his many images!

Cluny skiing from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Garbage is out, birds fed, the week begins anew.

We had a party!

The kids came over for my birthday, on the 26th! Grampa had a surprise in the basement, he took us down in the dark. There was treasure...


We had spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. Everyone had a hand in it.
So many candles, I needed helpers!

Josee adores our Hooper. He loved the company after being shy for about 5 minutes.


After lunch, three of us went for walkies in the snow. Izzy wore her hat from Topsy Farm.


We found 8 deer beds!


This requires explanation... I kneeled on the chair, leaned forward to better view the birds, and the chair flattened right out. Caitlin and I laughed so hard...

Lovely scarves from Topsy Farms! We took a trip there: Amherst Island, Topsy Farms, where we bought these presents.