Friday on Crumbly Acres

 The yard is so busy! For a person who grew up in inner city Toronto, it is wonderful living here. Lots of critters, especially in Spring. 

I spotted two garter snakes on the lawn, on top of the septic bed. I'm not sure why they hang out there. Maybe their winter hibernaculum is near by. It is warm in the sunshine, too. For those not appreciative of snakes, I wanted to show their behaviour. They are so quick and anxious to get away. 

First daffodil in bloom. There will be more! Yippee!

There were a pair of  Yellow-bellied sapsucker 📹 playing the mating game. Up a tree, follow me! These are the birds who bang on something metal to woo their loved one! You can hear and see it in the video.

A pair of flickers are trying to avoid Blue Jays. I think they will nest in the dead Elm tree. The flickers have been singing about their territory for several days.

xxx

🐸The pond pump is working well. All I need is warmer temperatures in order to put the goldfish outdoors. I removed about 14 smelly dead frog bodies. 😞 There is a healthy frog in it as of April 25th. It's unusual, as they usually flock to the pond when the vernal ponds and wetlands dry up. Welcome, little froggy!

🐦Phoebe seems to have chosen the traditional spot under the deck. If you look closely, you can see a carefully positioned circle of mosses on the green shelf. I'll keep you posted. It is an old shelf, perhaps one built by the previous home owners. He was a carpenter. I repurposed it knowing Phoebe wanted to nest there. I rigged up a paint roller with my late parents mirror visor. 

 

🥀Spring Cleaning: Much yard work was done. Tarps away, empty kindling containers to shed. I ache, in a good way. I didn't suffer too much from ditch diving.

We did a walkabout out back. Cinnamon was disappointed that we didn't go down to the frog pond.

😩Measles cases are up in 2025. Canada has hit 1000. We know why: antivaxxers with their conspiracy theories. 

😡We can blame 💉antivaxxers, like our neighbour, and former MPP Hillier. He went into the city and was out targeting the LGBTQ+ community in Ottawa along with Bernier. I apologize for this. 

 🇨🇦  Election: April 28th, we are on the edge of our seats.

There are attacks on many people. People vote from such a myopic point of view, self-centred, one-issue voters. There are so many programs at stake. My American readers understand. The lies and invented claims about PM Carney abound. The anger and hate is terrible. The Cons are importing the US president's Project 2025 issues: DEI, race, immigration, gender issues, LGBTQ+ issues, healthcare, all things the rich have no problems with: securing food, shelter, clothing, healthcare, and safety. 

Gotta love these messages:

Just when you think...

 I am anxious to have this election done. The hate and loathing has been transferred from PM Trudeau to an upstanding business man and respected international economist, PM Carney. Trudeau stepped down, Carney stepped up. Then called a Canadian election for April 28th. 

There isn't any comparison between Liberal PM Carney and Conservative Poilievre. One is a highly respected economist, the other was elected to parliament, and has not held any other job. 

The far-right is digging up dirt. No, that is wrong. They are creating conspiracy theories, using old photos, where none exist.

Conspiracy theories abound

Whereas, some people are more or less impressed!

PM Carney is respected internationally, and by prominent Conservatives!

🍷After a big day frogging (Western Chorus Frog Hunting), we had our regular Thursday date night, dinner out. On Tuesday. What the heck! It's a short week with a holiday Friday and Monday.

Off we went. These clouds impressed me. 

It has been very wet. Lots of puddles.

The golf club is getting ready. We drove by while they were putting up the signage banners:

The snowmachine trail is now closed. 

It was Boston Pizza. The franchise is owned by Jim Treliving, who is a former RCMP Member and Canadian. 

Who knew there was a half price special on Tuesdays. Well, all of these families, I guess! 

Hooray for leftovers. We both ate half and took it home for the next night. 

Melted snow, almost.

Joe sat out back watching his deer friends. 

📬Wednesday I recreated a new mail box flag. It lets us know where to turn for our driveway. All these mailboxes look alike!

Labbit and building stuff

Let me get this off my chest. Sadly, Conservatives and Doug Ford were re-elected here in 🇧🇲 Ontario for the third time. In his speech he claims a mandate to build over Ontario, cutting bike lanes, etc. It is his third majority government. 

"We asked the people for a mandate to build Highway 413, the Bradford bypass. Highway 4, Highway 7, Highway 11, Highway 69 to bring sanity back to bike lanes, to tunnel the 401, to upload Ottawa LRT and build the future of GO Transit across Greater Toronto Area. The people said, yes."

Unfortunately, while he is determined to build stuff, and please rich developers buddies, he is neglecting the vulnerable: the sick, the homeless, high rents, the lack of government housing, a living wage, fair wages, underfunded disability, and all the other provincial issues we face. He's a person who believe all of these people should simply 'pull up their bootstraps' and they will be fine. Meantime, we are short people to work in the trades, education, and healthcare, which he's been privatizing. 

 

🇨🇦 In Canada, while most of us loathe the orange felon, we still appreciate our American friends. Apparently we are appreciated, as well.

What a kind gesture!

🐿️  🐦  🐇

The Shrike appeared again, perching pertly on the bird feeder looking for prey! Sadly, I didn't have my reading glasses on to be able to focus the shot, but all this is proof of visitation!

Snow! This is Monday a week ago, last Monday, and Tuesday! Just when things were thawing, we're back down to -10 ℃. and had 4 cm snow.

Labbit is happy on the sidewalk to go to the front feeder.

🐇 I thought there were two Labbits. Methinks there is only one. It's been staying under the middle deck, rather than going back to Fred's burrow. 

I did notice more weasel or mink tracks. 

Nutmeg wasn't happy in the carrier. I wrote about their trip to the vet yesterday. This was really funny! She is feisty.

 

Appointment #LXIX

📋THE PROCESS OF CANCER TREATMENT💉 Yep, #69. (I had such fun teaching Roman Numerals.) We were off for our quarterly injection. JB has to order it in at the pharmacy, it takes about a week. Then he pops in to pick it up and we take it into the hospital for our appointment. As a senior, he gets a discount and pays a minimum amount, although the injections are around $1500 each.

JB went into town to fetch us a hot substantial breakfast. We were fueled and ready to go on our marathon.

10:25 we left the house

We were in good time for our 12:30 appointment. They like us there 15 minutes early. It's about a 90-minute drive. You never know with traffic, though. I popped into our local store, Coutts, to order our Thanksgiving turkey.

Our drive into the city demonstrates that we are in the middle of ✅ELECTION43📈! It's interesting seeing the various signs. Some really are over the top, like McGuinty's.

12:02 Ottawa Hospital

After an hour and 24 minutes, 92 km, we made it. We passed the eye institute. I would have been grateful to have my right eye done. The cataract is awful. My vision is cloudy, it is irritating and gives me a headache when I drive a long distance. Wait times in the city are longer than out here, though. I was feeling irritable, which doesn't help.


We were early, but they took us in, thankfully, as the guy in the seat across from us was telling an acquaintance about how he gets chemo tomorrow, and it put him out of commission for a day, but then someone else was in the wrong module, and was sent in their wheelchair off to another spot.

They have a new computer system and all of the information we've given them, meds, and the like, dates, etc. are gone, or the nurse couldn't find them. How frustrating. We had new data for them, a recent bone density test. What we are doing (Dr. Jenn, our naturopath) with supplements: calcium, vitamin D, iron, etc., are doing their work. We've gotten more things to assist in the side effects of the supplement (the iron causes constipation) and it isn't simple.

He had it in his left side, they try to change hips.
Ventrogluterally

After the nurse left, she couldn't just give JB the needle yet, as she needed orders on the computer. Also, with the new regulations they needed two nurses to sign off on the meds, even though WE bought it and brought it to the hospital. It's a dual sign off in the new protocols.

In came the intern, Dr. C often has them. They take down details, changes, test results, any symptoms. JB asked about his sore head. He and our GP thinks he's bumped it. It's getting better, although he still has some pain. Our GP didn't want to order any more tests until we determined which tests Dr. C might order.

They figure that brain metastasis is unlikely, as his PSA tests are good. Typically, prostate cancer metastasizes to the lymph nodes (which is the case for JB), then the bones and outer organs. His PSA test of 0.08 indicates that the Lupron is keeping the cancerous cells from growing, and he is stable for now. You can see where the PSA tests rose postsurgery in 2013, until the 2017 Lupron injections began.

The next injection will be in January. We will have that done my our GP's office, and the nurse practitioner in Perth. Then back to Ottawa for April's injection. Dr. C has no intention of ordering any more scans while JB's number is so low. The bone mineral density test altitude was better than the last test! This is good.

13:00 we were done

I remember when they built this building. That's how long we've been going, after surgery in 2013. It seems to be a Bell building. We made appointments for the spring and we were off.


These folks were doing selfies!

13:35 on the road again

We managed to find parking, although earlier in the day they do get full. 

Back through Ottawa, I like this newer home. We drove along through Elizabeth Park, a nice residential area, better than driving on the busier roads.


We saw the signs, and the train tracks. I realized this is the new light rail transit (LRT) in Ottawa. It opened in September.


Elizabeth Park signage.


I got us out of the city. At The Swan JB took over driving. We decided to head for Smiths Falls for lunch.


They are building something in Kars next to the funeral home, where my ex-husband's visitation took place. I used to teach gr. 6 in Kars, at Rideau Valley Middle School.


Look at the pumpkins!!!


And the trees still delight!


More signage.

14:55 Smiths Falls

We went into the Axe and Arrow and had a nice 'lunch', happy our trip was nearly over. I had wine. Seriously.
They play old movies on the TV screen!

16:14 home again

We hunkered down at home with the cats. Annabelle, I think, gave me a tick. JB ran and fetched some tape, and I stuck it to it! They are down this year. See my data here: 🕷️TICKS 2019.

In other news, 🏤LANARK LIFESTYLES was open on October 1st.  I've been photographing it during the build!

🛠️BALA HYDRO DAM is being tested, finally!