The Freds and flowers

Firstly, to answer Jeanie's excellent question. 

Q. "Was this a tornado or just a major wind/lightning storm?"

It was just a thunder storm, with big winds. Down drafts, perhaps. It went for several km up the highway. It could have been a lot worse.

FRED Report!

OK, while we have tree damage, I do have flowers in bloom. Oh, yes, and views of Fred. I think we have Auntie Fred at the shed. Then a kit under the septic bed. One keeps running up and down the driveway. The grass is greener there! This is July 3

Then July 5th

July 3rd they were on the wood pile.  

 The coyote appeared on the camera in the forest. It looks more like a rabbit than a groundhog.

 

Now, for the flowers. Such a short season we have.

This is a heavy planter. The other one was balanced on an upside down pot. Whoopsie, Butch raccoon! My zucchini plant! 

I moved it, drained the bird bath, and will try this.

I am happy to say the planter Fred decimated, has come back. They haven't been running around the front yard garden. Thankfully!

I rather think these are fireflies! We have hundreds.

Bats in the belfry, or wasps in the flagpole topper. Live and let live!

It's still winter!

  Fisher  I've seen the fisher live once. In the forest. Metres away. It ran like heck away from me. 

This is a screen shot of photos that fascinated me. It's a nice account to follow. 

Soon the bears will wake up, and the feeders will have to go away. 

This photo took a bit of patience. The male cardinal on the tray feeder, the female on the tubular feeder.

I was watching them and she was on the left of the tublar feeder, he landed on the right of the feeder. He poked his head around at her, and flew off.

Two red squirrels.

I think it was staring at the mourning doves in the sun in front of the house.

Joe Brian is managing symptoms. Thanks for your empathy. He's getting sleep, and then wakes with that 100 day cough. Caitlin sent me some flowers to cheer me up! She is kind. 

Things are still blooming!

 The doe has been busy. She chomped on one Hosta, leaving me another! For now. 

My new plants. Cross your fingers for me! 

The horse chestnuts are nearly ready.

Soon we'll say farewell to our critters.

I told one of our grandies I hadn't been swimming all summer. She was shocked! 

 I suppose it is better late than never. I found some seed packages from a couple of years ago. 

And fun news. Jo decided to get himself a nose ring. He was babysitting, but asked for a Facetime video afterwards. I dressed for the reveal! His is real. Mine is a split ring I found in a drawer. They laughed with me!

That was a long haul, up at 6 a.m. Sunday to prepare the coffee, and Hydro working on our poles from 7 a.m. until noon! More on that later.

Monday report: rain, Butch, hummers

  The day dawned. I woke with NO chills, NO headache, and I was so relieved. A bagel! I ate a bagel! It went right through me, but what can one do? 

The day wasn't perfect. As I sat here, trying to help JB find lightningmaps.org, I spilled my entire cup of coffee on my side table. You may giggle. It's OK. I swore. I did. I'm going to have to use some carpet cleaner on it, but not today. 

The only casualty was my fan. Now, we bought this fan on our 4th date in Cuba. I've broken one part of it, but otherwise it is good. It's a wonderful tool, for someone with power surges. I rinsed it off, but may have to do something else with it. Cinnamon inspected it, where it was drying in the bathtub. It smells like coffee!

We took off for a couple of days on Dec. 26, 2002, my birthday, while Caitlin looked after her brothers. They were due to stay with their father later that day. She drove us to the airport, in the minivan. 

Back to the present, I spotted a monarch sipping nectar from a clover blossom on Sunday. So lovely. You'll have to picture it in your mind, as I did not capture it.

We've had some nice summer heat, but today the call was for rain. I made JB go and bring my bench cushions in. Northern Ontario is getting a big storm. 

I decided to read on the back deck. Hoping to jinx it for some rain, I did! Coming indoors, however, it stopped. We are the stone in the river. The precipitation flows around us, breaking up over the land. I made JB put the cushions back out on the bench for me. It was lovely, in the wind, only two mosquitoes, sent to their demise. I still can't sit up for long. 

Having made some new hummingbird food in the morning, I cleaned and refilled the feeders in the afternoon. I'm taking small steps. Well, maybe not for the hummers. It's a big deal! My late mom's hummers used to peer in the window at me, after she died, if I didn't refill her feeders in good time.

My dear friend sent me a surprise. Bless your heart, Nat! She lives in Timmins. What a thoughtful thing to do. You see, I have friends, they are just far away. Bless her!

As I read on my bench I looked up, and there was Blond Butch, and Nutmeg. Cats have always had a peculiar relationship with Butch. surprise! 

 

Up top, on the deck, I'd noticed the cedar waxwings. They nested in one of the big pines one year. What I love seeing is that once the babies have fledged, they fly like a little squadron from large pine to large pine. This one landed in the lilac with another one. cedar waxwing  

We're watching another Britbox series, Bancroft, It's very dark, much like House of Cards, dark. It's a distraction, but it is cleverly written. It's almost like doomscrolling, as things go from bad to worse. Ya gotta love hating the evil female character! As we sat there watching, the heavens dumped rain.

We had 7.6 mm rain in about 10 minutes. Just a little pop-up cell. It was quite something. Today our high temperature is 12 C.  What's with this? 

 Unfortunately, this little storm went on to Mascouche, Quebec, and caused some havok, downing trees, damaging homes, and displacing 50 -100 people. The Red Cross was called in. Hooray for the first responders, too. Smashed windows, crushed rooves, and cars. A two-story house undergoing renos pushed off its foundations. We are grateful to be safe here. One dude opened his window to look, and couldn't get it shut, with debris flying into his house. Whoopsie. Lesson learned.

🍕JB hauled home a Hawaiian pizza for me for dinner. After food turning my stomach for a week, I had a craving. I'm sure there are protocols for those reintroducing their stomach to real food. I didn't follow them.  I was awake until 12:30 with cramps. Small steps! 

Today, with much relief, JB gets his quarterly cancer treatment injection. It's a process. He had a good PSA test last week, no change. He had his 2nd vaccine two weeks ago and, on the recommendation of our GP, and the pharmacist, after phone consults, he can now have his Lupron after this wait. Thankfully, he only has to go to out local GP's office in town, not Ottawa. It's complicated! 

We've no girls this week, as I recover. They had fun on Father's Day. They went strawberry picking, after doing up Papa's hair! Hooray for the photostream where we live vicariously. He's a good sport. They have so much fun.