Happy Spring!

🥚 🇨🇦 Canada has plenty of eggs. 🇺🇸 This is why the U.S. doesn't. They've lost 10s of millions of birds to flu. We have smaller farms, with fewer wild birds to mix with birds, our domestic chickens in barns in winter, and barns are tightly sealed for heat. Also, Canada has a supply management system, which looks after smaller farms.

Sadly, you cannot take eggs across our border. Americans are having them confiscated, seized at the border for this reason.

• The US Is Importing A Huge Amount Of Eggs From Turkey Due To Bird Flu

• America finding out it’s very difficult to import eggs

• U.S. officials cracking down on people trying to bring valuable eggs across the border

"Egg interceptions up 116% so far this year, while seizures of fentanyl down 32%."

🌿 Here we are, the first day of Spring. We've gone from 16 deer in the morning to zero. Once food is available, dead weeds and grasses, they are good to go. Wednesday we had 3 deer and 3 turkeys. Whilst cleaning the eaves, atop the ladder the other day, I noticed 2 turkey vultures circling. "Look alive" I said to myself. This is another sign of spring.

We've flood warnings. It's not unusual. We are good, atop the hill in the wetland. We've had a quick melt and the ground isn't thawed.

Flood Watch expanded to entire Rideau Valley
 due to lingering ice coverage

📙I am happily spending some time in the afternoons reading on the front deck in the sunshine. I've been working my way through the Hamish Macbeth novels by M.C. Beaton. They are short and sweet, and paint an interesting picture of life in YAM's part of the world! Yesterday it was 21℃. We had a plumbing emergency yesterday (story to come) and I was happy to escape the world's woes.

🦋 Good news for beleaguered Asheville and North American monarchs! Barb has been telling us about her part of the world. Poor Asheville was wrecked by flooding. This is the map showing the first Monarch appearance this year! 

Our big foreshadowing of Spring is when Butch Raccoon wakes up.

I found her on the front camera.

I had another camera out on the sidewalk.  

 I love watch them as they waddle along. They really are a pain in the butt for some people. Soon we'll put the bird feeders away, and they will be scarce.

 

A day for good deeds!

April 25
The flooding is awful and about to get worse. We anticipate 10 - 20 mm more rain from this storm.

The city of Ottawa has declared an emergency, as has Bracebridge: see my map here:  Flooding in Ontario. There is flooding in Quebec, and they are worried that the dam might burst. They've released a video of the dam, and evacuated 50 people.

Le débit traversant le #barrage de la Chute-Bell est fort important, soit 980m3/s et pourrait augmenter de 30% dans les prochains jours.

Nous avons confiance que les installations pourront résister, mais l’évacuation du secteur a été recommandée par mesure de précaution. pic.twitter.com/msgXSqQi7D

— Hydro-Québec (@hydroquebec) April 25, 2019

Aylmer

Aylmer marina this morning... the river has risen since yesterday, but not as bad as 2yrs ago- yet! Waiting for the rain ☔️ #OttawaRiver #Aylmer #marina #Flood2019 pic.twitter.com/X2IlmzKmBy

— scotty (@Ottawaroofer) April 26, 2019

1. Flooding victims

I had to do something. First stop, the grocery store. Barnabe's YIG in Perth has been really good to citizens. I thought they might help. I chose some food, and went to the Customer Service Departments. I asked if they could discount the muffins and water for me. They graciously donated it all! 

I felt so badly with the people filling and/or grabbing sand bags to shore up their shore lines. Our backs preclude this lifting.

Several local roads providing access to homes around Mississippi Lake continue to be either partially or completely flooded. Residents should not attempt to drive down these roads and should exercise caution when approaching all flooded areas. Private roads in the following areas are currently affected:

• Grasshopper Point
• McCollough’s Landing Road
• Flintoff Bay Road
• Craig’s Shore
• Pretties Island
• Ebbs Bay Drive

The young, pretty one on the left, had the day off. She lived up the road where she wasn't affected by the risen water. She came to fill bags for her neighbours.





What else could I do? I keep reading the reports, and they are terrible.

MISSISSIPPI LAKE FLOODING – THURSDAY UPDATE

Flooding continues to affect properties along the shores of the Mississippi River and Mississippi Lake. The Township of Drummond/North Elmsley is estimating that at least 50 full-time residences and seasonal cottages have been impacted.

The latest flood warning information from Mississippi Valley Conservation Authority (MVCA) has indicated that water levels have stabilized at 135.66 m (slightly below those reached in 1998), though wind activity may cause wave run-up and erosion. More rain is predicted for Friday and the impact on flood levels will depend on the amount and vicinity of the rainfall. Further water level and flooding information can be found on the MVCA website.

Approximately 20,000 sandbags have been deployed and supplies are being replenished as needed. Township staff and volunteers have concentrated their efforts at the Drummond public works garage and are now assisting residents in filling sandbags. Residents and volunteers are being asked to visit the garage, located at 1920 Drummond Concession 7 to pick up supplies or provide assistance.

2. Good deed #2.

Off to visit my client for three hours. I tried to tell self-deprecating stories; I told her about my ditch diving for garbage [Earth Day 2019], our 🐤WOOD DUCKS, our grandkids' visit. Also, she asked  about JB and I told her that JB was walking down to the pond to see the ducks as I left. She thought he shouldn't be out walking alone! Oh, my. She does worry. 

3. Hitch hiking

On my way home, I saw this pair trying to hitch a ride. I don't pick people up. Never. This pair were a hoot, though. One had a walker. They live at Rideau Ferry Country Home, nearly 2 km up the road. I cleaned out back seat, and the trunk, and put the walker in the back. They had gone for a walk down to the lake, and didn't think they could make it back.

That's three good deeds! My week is done.

Flooding in Ontario

I looked back to June  Lots of action.

Home, home on the range

• 🐣WOOD DUCKS

The wood duck nesting boxes are FULL! Three boxes, three females. Box #3, the one on the left in the photo, has 5, perhaps 6 eggs. I didn't want to mess around in it. The female flew off as she heard me approach.



I figured I might as well peek. I'll use my snake scope a little later. Not today, it is raining.


The frog pond drains into the wetland. Hooper carefully navigated the little stream of water. What a pal.



BARRED OWL

I heard one last night, extensive calling in the dark. Perhaps they are going to nest here, again. They didn't nest here last year, 2018. They did in 2017, when the lone chick was killed by jays. They male didn't hang around. They did in 2016, when they fledged twins, but the male fed them, too.
This is the female just in front of the nesting cavity in an archive photo. 

Yardwork

It's all abuzz on blogs, people getting into gardens, doing work, cleaning up after a long winter. 

I gave myself a non-mental note to move the butterfly, since the tree is dead (Dutch Elm Disease), and has regularly been losing branches. I figured the photo would be my reminder. It didn't work. Over it went. Right on my garden.

It lost some parts, which I popped in.


All cleaned up, repaired, and repainted. I still need to get the tree cut up and moved. I need a lad with a chain saw!

• 🐻BEAR WATCH

I've had word that we had a bear going after bird feeders around the lake [April 18 – Bear trap set up in Otty Lake area. ], they trapped him (a 2-year-old, after he was on a back deck) so we know they are on the move. It was time for me to remove my front yard feeders.


Next thing: to replace the  bird bath, which is about to fall apart.


I've almost got the pump working in the goldfish pond. It needs more work. Long story, best not told!
 A chickadee was having a drink.

Ontario Flooding

There is flooding everywhere in the country. Ontario, into Quebec, for example. Out west and out east. Lanark County has quite a few areas where the roads have been closed.

Lanark village battles early spring flooding along the Clyde https://t.co/ebrDW7qhSQ #ottnews #ottawavalley pic.twitter.com/J0GcDEacQw

— Inside Ottawa Valley (@InOttValley) April 23, 2019

We are up a small hill. For this, we are grateful.

Flooding in Lanark County

We had to go to Carleton Place. I was looking for some paperback books to take on my trip south. This book store is amazing! They are disappearing across Ontario. The owner thinks he may have to sell next year. It's so sad.



On the way home, I noticed that there is much flooding in our area. We've had a ton of rain, including 163 mm in October.

There was a fire last year. Fire at Rideau Valley Marketplace, near Smiths Falls November, 2016. The fire retardant resulted in environmental pollution, and these homes had to have water trucked in. They draw from the container.

Riverside Road/Canal Bank Road Perth

July15th

The road isn't repaired yet.

They are working on the bridge, nearby.

May 12th

The flooding is still an issue in the region. The Ottawa River, and the RVCA watershed are starting to go down, but the water is flowing to other communities.

The gym and physio place is closed for the week. The road washed out, again. There is a wetland/flood plain in the forest, which used to drain into the Tay River. This road is a terrible road. It always floods, there are potholes and washouts all the time. You can imagine it during the freeze and thaws of our winters. First, Canal Bank Rd.

This is Brock St. N.

Wetland that runs beside Riverside Dr.

There have been disagreements about what to do. You can read my previous post for more of the back story: Riverside Dr. and Canal Bank Rd., Perth, ON. It appears that they have decided to build a road to connect Canal Bank Rd. and Evans Road. The problem was that Evans Road is in Drummond/North Elmsley, and Riverside Dr. is in the town of Perth. I think they finally came to a resolution. Connect the roads on the right-of-way.
There are about 4 houses on Evans Rd., there are three on the end of Canal Bank Rd.


This is what they are doing, May 10th. I hope they are making a road to allow the three people on Canal Bank Rd. to get out, as well as the gym and physiotherapy patrons to get in!


This road is ridiculous. Riverside runs through the middle of a wetland, a flood plain, that drains into the Tay River. This is what has happened twice in the past number of weeks.