Flying and critters

We are shocked by the tragic airport incident at LaGuardia. When the helicopter and jet plane collided (Jan., 2025), NTSB did an amazing presentation about who does what, the issues they will examine. If you are interested in the process. People, and media are jumping into the fray, with speculation. We have to wait. 900 flights a day...

The problem with investigating the incident is getting the experts there. The protocols include having many agencies with standing in the investigation. Canada is involved as they were a Canadian plane, Canadian crew, had Canadians on board, and it is a Canadian-built plane. It is a joint effort. With Newark having had an issue, and slow lines in airports, and the administration firing 400 FAA senior officials, the TSA head, and 3,000 air traffic controllers in Jan., 2025, policy choices have consequences.

Back to your regularly scheduled topic. Let the professionals do their jobs. 

Lots of critters out and about.

Butch was back. I finally cleaned up and brought it indoors! Twice bitten, once shy! They are hungry. They do like to explore! Butch on the deck📹, June, 2021. 

 

Yes, I still have my lights. They'll be Easter lights now!

This pair are a hoot. Momma has snow on her head. The fawn has antler nubs, it must be a male.

We've had 6 hanging around.

The birds have been back, out singing in the snow and cold. Complaining, methinks. I wrote a story about Eddie and Eva, geese who seemed to have flown north too early!

 

 I told many stories about Eddie and Eva (e.g., SATURDAY, APRIL 4, 2009 "It's your fault", a story about a snowy day!) This was a pair who returned all 4 years we lived there year-round. (April 2006 - September 2010). They returned with offspring and had happy times. 

Some bird nabbed lunch, March 2025. I've been throwing peanuts out for #75. 

The frog pond was frozen. Now it is frozen again. March 20, 2025: 

Good Bunny Labbit is hopping about!

   

 Butch is on clean up duty! In a snowstorm...

 

Thursday was an amazing day!

  That was a day. A new PVR, – they said it would be seamless. 😆Apparently not. I spent 15 minutes waiting for a person to answer the phone, then signed in online and went online with the chat option, and it took an hour. Shaw satellite TV, bought by Rogers, is going to drive me nuts. (Not a long drive, not even a 🏌short putt.)

JB decided, after all the stress of a new phone and the new PVR, that we should go out for a patio meal. I phoned, and CC's was just opening Thursday for the season, and Sebastian was cleaning off the tables as we spoke! Yippee!

This is my first selfie with the new phone ↗! 

Our back deck made it to 30C.! I unpacked the bench and my Muskoka chair. 

Unwrapping the bench swing, to let the last of the snow melt, and dry out the tarp, it felt so good and hopeful! The daffodils are coming along, too.

There was a bit of a lineup for the bridge crossing, we were turning left into the parking lot, and we popped in for dinner promptly at 4, their opening. This is too late for the lunch crowd, and too early for the sophisticated fashionably late diners.

People parked here and had their brown bag lunch by the water!

The water is high, up over the cement dockage.

The convertibles were out and about! The red one is a Corvette. JB checked, he was quite curious. We aren't in that tax bracket, although many seem to be. We are investing in more tree branch removals this week, double the cost of last time. 

Some places are not opened yet for spring. People will have to turn on the water pumps, drain plumbing with antifreeze in it, clean up mouse droppings, and dust. There are quite a few full-time residents around here, as well. I know there are a lot not on the water.

My bird photos were a little less than stellar! There were ducks and Canada geese about. There are Osprey diving, as well. Soon they will raising little ones.

They did a fly-over! I forgot my reading glasses, so you'll have to bear with me.

I have lots of photos of geese. Remember Eddie and Eva in 2008, in Bala, Muskoka?! 

Back to the Big Rideau. There is lots of floating debris from Ice Storm '23. People would be wise to get rid of it before the water levels fall, and they are more difficult to move up onto shore to cut them up. The tree service companies are slammed. 

This is the island near the restaurant, you can see the high water compared to July 14, 2022. There is a large tree trunk up against the shoreline, and the dock is underwater. 

It was a stormy day, that day, July 14, 2022! 

We went all out. Hamburger & sweet potatoe fries, and I had pasta.

We were the first ones in, and snagged my favourite corner table. We said farewell to our table, hoping to be back sooner rather than later. 

Staff were excited to open up and serve diners outdoors. We were happy dining outdoors again. It will be short-lived, but it was luxurious. Look at the forecast for this week. 

This heat is unusual, and does not bode well for summer. We've a burn ban, as well.

Canada geese

It's that time of year: the goslings are fighting for survival. The parents are vigilant. These are archival photos, from when we lived in Bala, Muskoka, on the lake. I just had a hankering to see some of them again.

Our favourites were Eddie and Eva, they were amazing parents.