Carlos' tale WW#46

This is, indeed a Watery Wednesday. Thunderstorms, more water than we can handle, the lake has risen quite a bit in a few hours.

This is, indeed, a watery tale. I watch my birds by the water every day. They always tell me a story.

My dear visiting goose, Eva, has lost her partner, but every day she looks after her goslings. She is vigilant. She watches their every step, despite their being almost as big as she. She even provides protection the precious little duck, Carlos.

Carlos. Always left out, she still seeks to be part of the group, whether it is with Eva and goslings, or the 9 ducks that gather on our rock. She follows the big geese upwards and onwards; sits on one leg and watches them.

Then, she tries to be part of the duck group. But no dice; one of them chases her off. She is valiant in trying to be a part of the group. Everyday she comes by. She eats well, she hangs out with the big kids, and she doesn't let them scare her away. I admire those who fight the bullies with dignity.





The video is a photo collage of Carlos' story.

Watery Wednesday #45

These days, every day is watery for me. My routine includes checking the waves, which tells me the kind of day it will be. For the second day in a row their was barely a ripple on the water. They have been perfect summer days, despite my traffic complaints (sorry!). I went for another canoe ride, no turtle!

Along my trip I spotted this.
Can you guess what it is?


This poor creature has been harassed all week by boaters who aim for it. I did not think I was such a threat, but off it floated into the air for safety.









A cormorant just taking off. I had seen it yesterday in a dead tree, perched far from the madding crowd.
I kept on moving.

The bird songs were echoing across the lagoon.

The forest was throwing their songs up to the universe.

The bugs dancing on the water getting the fish excited.


A loon popped up 5' from where I sat in a quiet meditation on the velvety liquid.

I was too slow with the camera, but you can picture it, can't you? It dove to escape me, dunno who was more surprised! I caught it when it had swum underwater quite a piece away.

The gentle breeze blew me along while I gazed in awe at nature's creation. It smelled green, moist and fresh. The wind danced amongst the leaves.

I made my way home to chores; scraping paint, sanding in preparation for painting the cottage, and brought in my laundry.

I thought I might post a video for contrast: the way the water looked in April, when Eddie (R.I.P.) was courting Eva and the ice was on the lake. They were joined by Anne & Gilbert, another pair of geese who always arrive later, getting the males 'all sexed up', as my late mother used to say! The men insisted the women stay away from each other. The ritual was a hoot.
I had fun with this, my son was in the musical company in PEI when the CD was taped.

Sounds of silence

There was a big accident Saturday morning. OPP helicopter, three sirens. I shudder when I hear them. Our First Responders do such a good job, but it must be difficult.

Across the province things are happening:
Kanata hit-and-run leaves five cyclists in serious to critical condition (Ottawa)

-posted at Education For The Driving Masses.

Then we heard a Military Helicopter. Rehearsal for G8?

The lake, our local transportation route, was a busy one this weekend. Some view it as an Autobahn, with no speed limit. Poor Eva & crew suffered from a crossing lake interuptus. She was not amused, nor was I. An oversized, speeding boat, screaming across the lake at warp 1, suddenly spotted them in front. I only exaggerate a little. She hustled her non-flying brood to our sheltered bay. It kept the brood on their toes, literally, as they ran across the top of the water. Their wings are developing, and they have been practicing with them, but they cannot fly and escape.

The craft slowed when they noticed the goose and goslings, but she is a big girl, do they not watch where they are going? I know that this is how accidents happen, when a PWC comes screaming around a corner and suddenly encounters another craft, for example. It is so reckless. Why do these machines need to go so fast?
Drive carefully and safely, somebody out there loves you.






This is the time when violence is not strength, compassion is not weakness.
--King Arthur, Camelot


Wee goslings - feeding by the lake on a rainy day.

Muskoka goslings grow

Eddie and Eva in March, buried in snow on our dock, snoring gently, methinks.

With gratitude we have watched our geese (Eva & Eddie) arrive, on an icy lake that slowly melted. As the time passed, they disappeared, nesting. One late May afternoon Eva showed up with her goslings, but no Eddie. They mate for life and we shall never know what happened.

Here is a slideshow of the goslings as they have grown. I hope they last the tourist season. One seems less healthy than the others. It remains by her side more often than not, hesitates to eat as the others do.

The music is Denise Williams; Wade in the Water. We are both Jarvis choir alumni; she, of course, gave up her day job. I became a teacher! (Those who can't do; teach!) We sang at the Jarvis 200th Anniversary Alumni choir concert in 2007.

First ducklings appear

How the goslings grow. Oliver ambled down to the beach. He insisted on eating grass at the shoreline. Eva was not amused but, despite hissing at him several times, he did not budge.

The babies they grow so quickly. My human 'baby' turns 30 this summer. How time passes.



My oh my.





They look so ungainly, like teenagers.










The gosling (on the left) is now as big as the duck (on the right).


The ducklings just appeared on the 16th, last week, and they are so adorable...

Zipping around with the new-found energy in their little motor legs. Wings are useless...the goslings have the same problem: huge bodies with no wing power. They hurry, peddling little bikers, flapping their stubby wings in retreat as I walk my shoreline.

The ducklings relieve of us the bugs that harass the bulrushes. Greedy little things, they have to grow and prepare for their fall migration.




Parents keep vigil...



Visit more Camera Critters (#33) here.

Skywatch Friday #48

We have had days of rain, despite a beautifully clear sky today. Soft, gentle rains that bore down on our 4 young goslings backs.

Eva, the mom, ever vigilant despite rainshowers turning to 'cats & dogs', took a turn to munch! She eyed the skies as the crow flew over.

The water is very low in this small lake. The loons continually search for food on the fins.


The clouds paint a picture I wish I were skilled enough to capture without technology!

"No man is an island."

But what a beautiful place to try to be one! The soft, gray sky shared more life-renewing moisture and nourished the plants, trees and seedlings. Spring unfolds as it should. My late aunt would have called this a "soft, gray day."

CLick on the Skywatch badge to visit more virtual skies.

Our precious wild young 'uns

It is important to respect nature and do no harm. Creatures in Muskoka are not well-respected, since many have some sense of entitlement to exploiting their cottage country property.

There are those who burn leaves (this is a no-no to environmentally-friendly citizens).
There are those who interfere with the ecosystem and the biome*, and mess with the shoreline, drive too fast near shore, do not understand the do's and don'ts of country/lake life, and those who refuse to let nature take its course.

Wise Muskokans do not interfere,
with flora or fauna, including the deer.

(Can't help it. It just rhymed when I wrote it!)
At the right you can see our friend the dragonfly and the spider. I think it was a meeting...discussing bug patrol!

Unfortunately, how do you convince a domesticated animal, such as cats, that this is our family policy? The cats have developed an understanding of the raccoons.

Sady half-heartedly chases flea-infected Rocky (daughter of Butch, another the lactating momma) off the deck when she knows we are watching.
Rocky just sticks her tongue out at me. She knows who is boss. I let her have a bit of sunflower seeds, it means she stays out of my gardens, and then I bring the feeder in for the night.

One night I saw her hauling up the chain for the finch feeder, just like a fisher bringing in her nets. It needs a chain as it breaks with her weight.

Two years ago, Sady treed a fisher. That wasn't so bad, since our large and small fishers, who swim like fish, like to rip the ducklings and goslings away from maternal ducks and geese. There is plenty of food else where. We just didn't want to witness the cycle of life on our door step!

Then there is Oliver.


I have tried to convince him that we do not own the land, we only borrow it from our children, but since he is 'fixed' he seems to want to party, dude, all day long.


He ran over to join me as I took photos of our turtle (who seems better with warmer temperatures), and frogs.

Our critters give us much enjoyment, but Oliver, is on his irregular power trip, just like those who disrespect the cycle of life, he feels a sense of entitlement controlling things around him. Even though his name is not on the deed for the land, he feels the need to harass the land and sea creatures. Little twerp!
Here is his latest adventure.

Eva and her goslings conveniently crop our clover. Eva watches for predators carefully.

She took her babies over for some cracked corn, but Ollie decided to run at her - he's only 1/3 her size! And you know what they say about mamas protecting their young...

Good old Eva gave Oliver a raspberry, tongue and all. That'll show him.


Funny how the one gosling sticks near to mom.
The others sat in a wee group of three.

She rose up and flapped her wings, showing him who is boss.











Content to sit and watch, Eva watches Ollie carefully. The goslings stayed on the other side of mom. Mr. Oliver sat under the shade of the rock, out of the sun.

A truce was made and all lived happily ever after - or at least until the next day.


~~~~~~~~~~
*Biomes are climatically and geographically defined areas of ecologically similar climatic conditions such as communities of plants, animals, and soil organisms

It's your fault

She said, "Here it is. Only zero degrees. Friggan' blizzard. I told you it was too soon to come.
You wanted to come early. We could have camped in EG with the horses. What were you thinking?"

He said, "I knew all the good nesting spots would be gone if we didn't get here early. You wanted me to do the plan and I did the travel plan. I always plan the trips."

"I knew there'd be snow. There might be global warming, but it's still April. Tennessee has periwinkle. Bankside has leeks. But oh, no, you had to come. Snow everywhere. This was your dumb idea, get the choice spots..."

"But hon..."

"Don't you 'hon' me. Now, its snowing harder. You said the lake would be open, but there's only one little patch. I'm freezing. "

He said, " C'mon out of the water and stop pouting. Spring will come. The ice will melt off the lake and the clover will grow again. Just be patient dear. "

"Don't you tell me to be patient. I keep praying for patience to hurry up and get here but it hasn't. Mother said we were leaving too early. Remember her telling us about Uncle Ross who came out too early? Never heard from him again."

"Yes, dear. Your mother's always right. You sound just like your mother."

"I'm nothing like my mother. You should be more like your brother, Gilbert."

"But look, dear, we've got clover and cracked corn. We'll be fine. Just suck it up. Oscar & Myrtle are here. We can visit."

"I don't care if the ducks are back. What do the ducks know? My feathers are soaked. The water is cold. I'm up to my nether regions in water. I'm just a mess. You're gonna pay for this. I should have married Gilbert, instead."

"Well, dear..."

"You had a big fight with Anne & Gilbert yesterday, too, that wasn't pleasant. That silly woman videotaped it."

"Now baby. Didn't I buy you a fine meal at Grizzled's place? Didn't you enjoy that? That should hold you over."

"Well, it didn't. Yesterday, Oliver chased you back into the water, she took a photo of that, his favourite mice aren't even out. He's taking it out on us."

"Honey bun, I know we shouldn't have moved from Ottawa. Judy's got crocus. But you didn't like it there. Too many politicians in Ottawa - and civil servants."

"I want to visit Cloudia, in Hawaii. Hawaii doesn't have snow. And how are we supposed to start a family in a snow bank? We should have begun nesting at the river. We had a nice lunch there. We would have been ahead of the crowd. "

"Yes, dear. You're right dear. Well, come up on the dock, love. We can have a nap and a snuggle and you'll feel better!"

"That won't help. It's feather-chilling cold and wet. I've preened and preened and I'm still a mess."

"C'mon, love. You look beautiful to me. Have a nice nap. You know what they say, 'Let sleeping geese lie.' "

And they snored happily on the dock, and they lived happily ever after, ready to create a new nest, new family, in a new season.

~~~~~~~~
Today's post was ghost/guest written by Eva & Eddie, a little the worse for wear.

weekends & tourists

It is so peaceful here during the week. We have many visitors.

As the tourists fill up the lakeside, the geese, whom we feed every day, become wary. We have two pair of geese (one pair is Edie and Eva), who keeps the other pair away from the cracked corn we throw out for them. There is one lone goose and a flock of single ducks, as well as a pair of mallards we call Oscar & Myrtle. We have told the neighbours that we are escaping the tourists for the city. We know how many ducks we have and they all better be here when we get back, as we have full counts of our populations. There is a pair of loons, and couple of mergansers, too.

We have a raccoon who visits looking for food, the cat usually trees it or chases it off the property.


We abhor the weekends when the tourists come. When they arrive they seem to have to honk at the top of a driveway, letting the entire peninsula know that they are here. They the shouting and laughing seems jarring after a week of bird calls, squirrels chirping at the cats, and the murmur of the geese and ducks. Not that the laughter is not welcome, but it seems so intrusive as sound can carry across the still lake. A motorboat went by as we sat by the shore, watching our geese preen and primp. The goose watched them pass, as they commented on them. But s/he held fast on our "Flower Rock", as we call it. The geese bobbed up and down, then did a complete flip, soaking their backs, feet up in the air as they soaked their feathers. Then, back upright they used their beaks to preen their beautiful bodies and wings. They did this several times, completely soaking one wing first, then repeating with the other one. Once that was done they stretched their wings to the full 3 or 4 ' width, and flapped very hard lifting themselves slightly off of the water with a deep, drum beat as their wings flapped back and forth to dry. They are so marvellous to watch. We sit in awe.

Everytime they come in for a landing they arrive honking. I am not sure if it is to warn the smaller ducks. Another pair of geese came by, I could see Edie becoming agitated. He honked up a storm warning. He got off the rock, and lowered his body into the water. Then, he stretched his neck out, as if trying to hide himself. Eventually, he rose up to meet the other bird. He was not amused. He flew up as if in a rage, and flew at the duck. It took off about 5 or 6 meters and stopped. He kept at him. And kept him away. Eva just kept up her preening, content to let Eddie do the work.

Yesterday, a lone goose came by. This time, Eddie chased it off about 10 m. then returned to his rock by his mate. The goose repeated the movements towards the shore and the bird seed. It wasn't until the third time the goose came close, perhaps 2 m in front of us, and Eddie accepted the fact and, while he watched him closely, Edie permitted him to feed off the bottom. A veritable soap opera, for sure! I wished I'd had the videocam there.

But everyone settled in, the men next door BBQd their meal, on their "boys only" weekend, promised to watch out for our friends while we escaped to the city to visit Shaw Festival and see our son's performance in The Stepmother.