First snow!

 The snow was a bit of a shock. I knew it was coming. It does signal that we are in that part of the season. It isn't unexpected, but it was still a shock! This was the view out the back deck!

Once the sun came up, it was pretty.

Monday is garbage day. Off I went. Happily, the sun came out and it melted. I didn't have to shovel anything.

These are the sumacs my arborists were going to down Monday. More on that tomorrow.

After taking the garbage out, coming back into the house for a hot cup of coffee, and snuggling under my blanket, is a treat.

The poor rhododendron! I shall have to wrap them soon. That's on my To Do List.

In the meantime, the kids in Ottawa are having fun. Aster's Pathfinder group went down to Parliament Hill. Can you see her?! She told us she was at 9:00 o'clock, and closest to the fire, in the image from the live cam on the hill.

Another Pathfinder adventure, they all went to the Hamilton Ticat football game against the Ottawa Redblacks. This was Caitlin's father's team. JL and Aster on either side of her. The Pathfinders slept in tents on the field overnight. I'm just happy for my warm bed!

The kids in Vancouver are having fun, as well! They went to a community Hallowe'en Party! 

Crumbly Acres

 Sunday afternoon, Oct. 20, I could hear an ambulance roaring by. It caught my attention, since the lights were flashing, then the siren began. Still people didn't pull over. They were honking their horn to get stupid people out of their way. It turns out a man and toddler were out canoeing and fell out of the canoe. He got them to an island, but the canoe blew away in the wind. NO lifejackets. The OPP used the canoe to rescue them. Oh, city people.  

In other news, a 16-year-old girl was arrested for the murder of a 15-year-old in Perth, ON, on Friday afternoon, Oct. 25th. It has been a shock to many of us. The town population is about 6500, and lots of people know one another. We live 5 km out of town, but it still hits hard. 

UPDATE: Murder of Reese Stanzel

A 16-year-old has pled guilty to murdering the 15-year-old in 2024. This is a relief for many, I am sure. The small community is still shaken. 

 Back to nature...

The milkweed seeds are good to go!  

 We had a fisher come by.

   

The cottontail is adorable!

  

 The blue jays are happy with the feeder.  

 The mice friends are regular visitors, as well.  

Talking to a friend, she mentioned her issue with mice. It was in 2014 that Dorah would watch for deermice here. I ended up trapping some. I put them in the cat carrier so she wouldn't get into the traps. 

And we knew it was coming... It's melted this morning. This is a good thing. 

This morning we have people coming to cut down some dead sumac and elm trees cluttering the yard. We'll see how they do. I'll have some wood to stack. Thank goodness for the lawn tractor and trailer.

Happy Hallowe'en!

Cinnamon was happy to get warm on top of Percy's fish tank. We had snow Monday morning, it was chilly, damp and cold.

I had to get dressed and put out the garbage Monday morning in the snow. 

🎃 Having spent many years in education, and having had 3 kids, I've done my time doing Hallowe'en. Being rural, we don't have any little kids around us, anyway. Frosty's Great Pumpkin costume is worn out and faded, but I have photos!

 

We have modest decorations. Bear is doing well with his orange toque and ...

I live vicariously through the kids. Caitlin created a fabulous costume! You have to know Ottawa to understand it. They replaced the Percy St. bridge, and highway #417 was closed for days. It crosses the city and people had to detour. 

Pumpkin carving was on tap on the weekend. They put down newspapers to protect the new kitchen! I have to harvest some pumpkins seeds. Maybe when it warms up. It is -4 C. this morning.

On the way to school and work.

In the meantime, our Vancouver family had a celebration!

I created a Hallowe'en puzzle. You can visit it here.

First snow: Nov 7th

We knew it was coming. At first they predicted more rain than snow, but that switched over as the day progressed.

I thought this would be a good time to do a black and white. AC always does a good job on that, but my wee petunias... We have a bit of a microclimate on the front porch. It faces south. They are hanging in.



Off JB went for his daily walkies. You see our shed on the right? That's where the shovels lie. It's not sticking, so this is just a warm up. I knew I should have made a list of things to do.



On Lot #2, the grasses fell over in disgust.



The meadow. It was wet snow, and the branches are heavily laden.



The frog pond was frozen, just a tad.



Back on up to the house. I am reminded about that story about the weight of snowflake.s..



These berries are gone. (Happy birdies!)



These berries are waiting for unsuspecting raccoons.

It was fun in Ottawa. Drivers fail to respect driving conditions. The poor cops!

And so another winter driving season begins...sigh... I can’t stress this enough: SLOW DOWN. There is no reason for you to end up in the ditch like this. Please, please adjust your driving for this kind of weather. 🚔🚔 @OPP_ER @OPP_COMM_ER @OttawaPolice @Ottawa_Traffic pic.twitter.com/Djt4bt65jo

— QueenswayCop (@QueenswayCop) November 7, 2019