Crumbly Acres Chores

What a spring it has been. Apparently, allergens abound. I heard an expert explaining that some early trees were delayed with the cool weather. They now are in bloom, and the other trees are blossoming at the same time. It doesn't help allergy sufferers, but it does explain the severity.

Maggie Magnolia is in full bloom. She is so pretty. I tried a drive by shooting from my lawn tractor, and it didn't go well in the close-up! Ah well, a record of the tree.

Cinnamon was supervising his goldfish.

More rain! The problem is the little pieces of the tree blossoms. 

We've had winds, and the dead leaves and blossoms are blocking the gutter. At 6 a.m. (after putting garbage out!) I was up the ladder, inserting my old hose to syphon it out. 

After the syphoning, I realized I had to climb up and clean it. There wasn't a lot of debris, just enough to blog the drain spout.

It was mucky, smelly stuff! Splatted on my face. 😒

It didn't take long. I took a panoramic from the roof. This is the back.

Here is the front yard! We don't have to hire someone this time!

Joe Brian fetched the makings for meatloaf. I thought it'd be nice to heat the house baking. It turned out to be a 24 ℃ day. It was a good idea at the time!

The clouds moved away, the sun came out, and I worked on a couple of other things. I went down well.

Git yerself outta the gutter!

 I needed to clean out the shed eavestrough. An annual chore. 

The easy part was getting the ladder out and up. Next, I waited for Joe to come home. 

ladder up

Up I went. I have bad knees, and once I made it to the top, I couldn't step-up knee-up! I thought I might just turn around and sit, then stand up. I got stuck. My big butt! I laughed so hard, as my attempts increased. 

Joe could barely look, fretting, but he was moral support. Bless him, he was too worried to laugh with me. I was roaring. 😆😜😹 Picture me, my butt stuck between the ladder prongs. I had to turn around and back up the top rung. It was filled with dead leaves and pine needles. My gloves were a mess. 

The Aspen trees still have some leaves. Poor Joe was cold. I was tromping around and heated up.

I need to reshingle the wood shed part of the roof. (Non-mental note.) 

The previous owners seem to have reshingled the top roof. Not the lower one. It's falling apart. 

ladder down

I was a bit stiff by the time the ladder was put away. Walkies were a good idea. The frog pond is good with several inches of water.

We've more rain on the way. I'm glad the shed is done. 

It'll be indoor play today. At least I think it's rain. Could be snow. Snow tires go on next week! It is November, and this is the way it goes.

Spring on Crumbly Acres

 I really like our seasonal changes. They are a little more extreme than they used to be, but I like 4 seasons. We had 25mm rain Sunday, and then a skiff of snow in the wee hours, just to add to the whole deal. My hard work paid off with the eavestrough. It doesn't take much to block the down spouts.

The leaves fill it up in the fall. Now, the oak leaves are falling and cluttering things up. The back deck last week:

The front is cleaned and draining well.

Our visitors change over the seasons. We don't get many humans. March 7th brought out Jehovah's Witnesses. These visits do bother me. Bible thumpers aren't welcome here. My spirituality is none of your business. 

I remember, sitting pregnant in my foyer in Ottawa (1985), amongst several boxes of Sunday School curriculum. I was the Sunday School superintendent at the time. They came to our door more frequently in the city. I spent time arguing with this woman about how my program was not delivering the Bible education she thought I should be delivering. Since then I've been pretty short with them at the door. Joe is always a gentleman. I yelled across the foyer, through Joe, and told her we weren't interested. I loathe arguing with them. Who do they thinks they are? I don't need a right fight with strangers on my doorstep.

   

 I haven't seen as much of Labbit, although she ran across the yard in between rain storms. That's what I wrote preparing this post. I've held on to these since I knew she'd be gone soon.  Then, I saw her briefly out in the back yard. The snow has since gone.

   

 Look who showed up out front!

Crumbly Acres

We've had a major melt here. About 3' of ground cover, the snow is down by half. No wonder. It was about 16 ℃. on the front deck. I sat out and read my book in the sunshine. 

The gutters were overflowing. I shoved the goldfish pond hose along it, drained it, and found debris at the far end. There is no way I can get up there right now. 

It drained well, then we had a refreeze. I pulled the hose out before bed, in the dark. It was freezing in the gutter.

Bird songs have changed. The starling is having some fun.

A foreshadowing of Spring. The red-winged blackbirds are here. Perhaps 2?

Ah, dratted gray squirrel!

Out back we've had Butch Raccoon. They snooze in the depths of winter, waking if it warms. Not a true hibernation. The newest trailcam, which took 1000s of photos, the pooched out, then began working again (?), did not capture the action. I have a new bush under the protective cover. I sorta forget what it is. I shall have to look it up!

It is lovely indoors. We woke up to - 8℃ or some such. Fetching the mail, my hand froze in my gloves. Then my arthritis kicked in. Ah, old age. 

Orchid Cactus, and my white orchid plant. Both were gifts.

Warm days!

 

Wednesday began with the threat of rain, but it was gorgeous. This storm covers the continent. It's like the political storm we are facing. 

(This morning it is 7 ℃. and I'm putting the heat back on.) 

 It wasn't raining! I wanted to cry, with the election news, but it wasn't raining.

"We are already walking down the same road as our [US] neighbours. Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, BC Cons, Federal Cons. NS is going to re-elect a man who tries to deny he’s not like Pierre, but uses the same slogans and fights the same fights."

 We've been trying to come to terms with the shock of it all. 

Even the Canadian media are giving us some notions of how to get through this... 

🐸 🐸 🐸 🐸 🐸 🐸 🐸 🐸 🐸

🐸  Moving the froggies <= I've kept track of the data. We've surpassed 2023's count.  Grand total is 146 frogs! The keep emerging from the muck in the pond. The new ones that have moved in are much brighter green. Also, I imagine I'm getting some from around the property, looking for winter habitat.

OK, this was our stress reliever: Nov. 6 – Moved 5 + 6 + 5 + 2 (saw the Barred owl on 2nd trip) = 18  Wednesday. 

There was one large one, who was tapping on the lid as he jumped. He made it down to the wetland, though. Cinnamon helped on a trip! 

I didn't find any new owl pellets, but the three I found are nearly dry. I shall report on them shortly.

I did manage to get up on the roof (in the warmth) to clean out the last of the leaves in the eaves.  If you can see, in the middle of the photo, in the background, my other project. Moving that wood from the dead elm trees in the upper meadow. 

A lovely, sunny day.