Outdoor joys, things are ticking along

The garden is popping. (Get it?!) 

Banana Man is back. He (or so I assume it is a dude on his way to work) chucks a banana onto our driveway many weekday mornings. I found it when I put the garbage out Monday. Such a dork!

Our Pride Flag was stolen last month. I replaced it and put it here on the arbor. It fell off! It is tricky screwing into cedar. I had to rejig it, screwing it to a 2 x 4 and strapping it to the pole. A drive-by theft can still occur, but it requires them to trespass to do so. I wore my thick t-shirt, and still got bitten in the middle of my back. JB put on anti-itch goop. 

flag repairs from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The tree frogs are out and about. Once mating season is over, they will be working the Hops vine for bugs. 

Speaking of which, the Hops vine is growing rapidly. It is just about up to the roof. The second photo is from May 31!

Indoors, Nutmeg's favourite spot. She'll pick a toy out of the cat toy basket beside her. Cinnamon does the same, as well. Honestly, so many people have lovely living rooms, but this is a functional room for us! When the kids visit, I chuck the blankets behind the sofa. Caitlin is allergic to cats! 

I went out on the front deck, and a red-eyed vireo was sitting there looking up at me! I guess it hit the window. It flew away, thankfully. These are photos from 2015.

The birds are wonderful, singing for love and claiming their territory. 

Bats and birds from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I love seeing the bats eating all those danged bugs! The second part of the video show predawn when the audio has the birds singing. It is lovely! 

I am so happy with both my new flag and my repair. It is June Pride Month!

 

phoebe May 30 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I've a lot to do. Lots of watering, we are so dry. The durn lawn tractor doesn't want to keep its charge. The weeds have been awful. Then there are the ticks. JB had two yesterday. It was an adult crawling on his arm, and another stuck in his back. Duly removed and popped into rubbing alcohol. 

You can compare the adult with the nymph. 

My flag, DRS, the deer

 I had a wee issue with my flag. I ended up tying it to the railing. This is Isabelle's wreath from last March Break. It sparkles in the sunshine!

Another cold one. It was -19 when I put out the garbage Monday morning. 

Despite these temperatures, the dratted red squirrel (DRS) has arisen from slumber. The black squirrels, not yet.

Of course, our deer. Zola is hanging in. She dominates the feeder, usually.

On our walkies, Cinnamon and I discovered a clump of deer fur. Somebody had a fight!

I learned, from the research done by Carol, that deer fur is hollow. 

"I knew that deer put on winter overcoats. I didn’t know those hairs are hollow. They insulate, of course. But they also absorb solar heat and transmit it to the undercoat next to the skin."

I love watching them, deer parade, trotting past the tree! We had 25 Monday afternoon.

 

  
The young 'uns are a hoot. The twins are quite playful. deer selfies

 

 

Goat's beard and garden

Paint Party Friday, too!

I love all the green. There are a lot of weeds that flower in my garden, it's sort of eclectic. Also, the milkweed is thriving.

JB doing his twice daily walkies. You can see the path lined with Devil's Paintbrush, as he walks into the Aspen grove!

Milkweed has a frollicking pair. 

I managed to move the table to the middle deck. The previous homeowner made it, I think. I bought the umbrella at a garage sale ($20)!

JB's been faithfully watering his fountain and the blueweed.

I have to remind myself, the flag has come off the bottom fastener in our big winds. (Non-mental note! Those seem to dissappear in my scattered head!)

Finally, some critter video. It was lovely to see a raccoon mama and three kits. I really grossed my grandkid out with a video showing a raccoon pulling up a huge worm! "Eeeeewwww!"

I went down to the frog pond and could see a brown colour in the middle of the green phragmites. Thankfully, my videocamera is much like binoculars for me.