Life in rural Ontario

It's been a busy week. Into Ottawa to see the doctor, yes, MaryG, we must have been near one another! They are marathons with traffic, and construction. 

 The flowers cheer me! I mowed a path so that Joe could pick up has daily walks. These are Devil's Paintbrush, my mother used to call them. They are delightful, a yellow carpet.

The yellow ones bloom first. 

Next, it'll be the orangey red ones.

Then, there is Goat's Beard! 

Dame's Violet are doing well. I transplanted some, and they thrive.

You can see how the Dame's Violet is doing in the garden↓.  

This photo is supposed to be showing my Itoh peony. You cannot really see it, the yellow in the lower middle of the shot. 

2025↑

You can see the growth between 2025 (above) and 2021 (below)! I am doing something right!

I chose not to grab a new photos this year. The bugs are awful and I didn't want to get in there.

🐀Fred & Family

Of course, the Fred family are thriving. There is one kit bolder than the other. I saw him at the shed (burrow #2), while the sibling was with Momma under the deck (burrow #3). 

While I was looking forward to the kits, they sure keep us all busy.

Freds on deck:  

 Then, at the shed doing 'bear!' They have to be vigilant. They are fairly safe here, since we don't normally see coyotes in the day time. Mind you, we've had a busy week.

 

Now, this might be silly, but they were under the deck, burrow #3. There was a lot of squealing. I think Fred is letting the little ones know that the dairy bar is closed!

 

It is nearly summer!

Sunday, I pickled two bunches of local asparagus. After the strawberry/rhubarb crisp, also using veggies from down the road, JB called me Susie Homemaker! I was so proud of myself. I haven't been doing too much in the kitchen lately.

I have a ritual Mondays, garbage day. Usually Cinnamon and I would go walkies after garbage was out, since I was up, dressed, and would use bug spray. He disappeared. AND I forgot to turn on the coffee machine before I left. Terrible mistake! He did not come back in until the afternoon. He must have found his own breakfast.

It looked like a lovely day, and as I hauled the garbage and recycling down to the highway, I spotted a doe.

Look closer! She didn't stay very long.

Going out the back 40, I found a couple of Red Hawkweed, Devil's Paintbrushes as my mom called them, the orangey/red ones. The yellows are nearly done.

 

The catalpa tree is setting blossoms. This is the healthy one. 

Everything is growing like mad. The second catalpa tree (below, left) has sent up shoots and is growing again. This was winter kill, sadly. 

The hops vine has reached the soffat. 

 

Monday I had a rude awakening. Outside the Muskoka Room was Pepper, our infrequent visiting cat, yowling. I suppose I jinxed it, as I thought about how I hadn't seen him in a while. Grabbing the video camera (I knew photos would be tough), I captured him leaving quick and sprightly. I had to look at the time, it was 5:30 a.m. The week had begun.

Everything is coming up daisies!

I have refrained from cutting the 'grass' as the daisies are blooming, although the Devil's Paintbrush have just finished. 

There is one little spot, under the white pine tree, where there are a few devil's paintbrush still blooming. I mowed around it!

Daisy was being silly.


I love this piece of sumac root. It looks like the head of a Dr. Seuss character!
If you look closely...

Trailcam and meadow tails

Lots of milkweed, as well as grass!

Our meadow, down the hill, is a peaceful spot. I went down with my granddaughter last week and she asked, "Why don't you cut the grass, Gramma?"

Pretty tall grass!

This is why: lovely devil's paintbrush, lots of long grass for the deer, milkweed knee-high, and it looks pretty. No trimmed, city-like park for us! Beside our meadow the raspberry canes are blossoming. Our bear will be happy!

Generally, once the pretty flowers are done, I do cut it. Lately, I've been doing one run through, just to give me a path.

We went down a couple of times to fetch the SD card from the trail cam. Her big sister didn't feel like going. It was a nice time for the two of us!

This is a wet spot, when it rains the water collects here, and then runs down into the frog pond. One year I cut the grass too early, after an early melt, and the lawn tractor got a bit bogged down in mud!
 



Trailcam tails from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.
First, our regular doe, a deer. Then, porcupine. At 3:00 a.m. a buck came for a snack. Finally, doe took a walk up the hill to the driveway.