♩♪♫♬ A Sunshiny Day!

It was a tough day, yesterday. I don't know why. I felt unmotivated and sad. A walk was just the thing.

I let Cinnamon out for his afternoon ablutions, he waited impatiently for me for walkies. He kept peering in at me!

     "Mummy. Mummy. Mummy..."

Off we went. Cinnamon was concerned with this man. Turns out it was JB who had fetched the mail after his walkabout the property! 

Cinnamon was happy as a clam. He'd stop, roll on his back waiting for a belly rub, make dough in the leaves. Later, down in the forest, Cinnamon stopped at this tree for a pee.

While I waited for Cinnamon to cover up his business, I noticed this on the branch of the tree.

tree fungus from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I saw a dark something on the far side of the pond. Thank goodness for the zoom on the videocamera!

ducks on pond from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I had an idea, to snap a photo every hour of the horse chestnut leaf buds. (I thought I'd make a movie.) I set it on timer, so as not to jiggle the camera. JB helped out, too. It was a failure. There are too many photos to take during the day, requiring taking the camera off the tripod! 

The horse chestnut leaf buds are so beautiful.

The hosta is coming back. It's not in a good spot, as it gets too hot and sees too much sun in summer. I suppose I could move it. Somewhere!

Great Leopard Moth Caterpillar

I found this little guy under the lip of the doorstep. I realized I'd seen quite a few over the years, but never the actual adult moth. Wiki had one for me to see. For me, capturing moths requires more night work than I like. (Remember those mosquito larvae in the frog pond?!)

By Jeremy Johnson - CC BY-SA 4.0, Link

I found one in October, 2020. My research told me it was a giant leopard moth caterpillar. It is beautiful, as it walks you can see glimpses of the underlying red colour📹.

Hypercompe scribonia
Great Leopard Moth

Putting it in the aquarium, I'll see if I can get it to metamorphose.

LDD Moths

Then, there are the LDD moths, now called 'spongy moths.' I've scraped some of the spongy egg masses off of the tree. You can see the eggs in the spongy masses. I've read that they don't survive if the eggs are laid above the snow line, we had -25 C. at one point. See what I've found – they seem viable. I hope not.

The primrose are smiling in the sunshine.

I am a bit late with the celebration of SPRING, but I'd lost the "R" and found it yesterday. It was in a different drawer from S-P-I-N-G. 

Caterpillars and the fisher

I still have to clean off the hops vine, but I'll wait until the critters are all gone. This was a couple of days ago, and this morning it is 1 C., so the hops will go soon.

The frogpond trees are lovely!

This caterpillar keeps hanging around. It's a giant leopard moth caterpillar. I spotted it September 19, then again on the step on Oct. 3rd. 

They are big moths, white with black circles on it. I have no photos of any I've seen. 

There have been a ton of wooly bears!

 It's fun to watch, as while its sharp spikes are black, it has a red body. You can see it when it moves.

caterpillar from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I looked high and low and couldn't find my caterpillar, which would be distinct with a black pupa shell.  Well it was good exercise, bending over, searching high and low for the little thing.

Our big excitement has been the regular visits of the fisher. JB came in, quite upset, as he had heard, then seen the fisher. He was on his regular walkies around the property. It's good exercise, and relieves stress. He's still in pain with his shoulder. He came to tell me he saw the fisher, and we needed to find Cinnamon. Nutmeg is still at the vet. 

As a result, I've collated sightings, just to get an idea. 📹Fisher We hadn't seen it since March. 

At 15 seconds in, it hears JB and take off up the tree. You can hear his footsteps as he approaches the trailcam at the very end. The little beggars are fast. And dangerous.

fisher 3 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

And it was back, playing with the box, which scared it! 

Fisher Oct. 6 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

We've kept Nutmeg indoors, as she is still recovering, Cinnamon we let out in the morning, and then hustle him in after an hour. This way Nutmeg is calm while we get her medications into her. She is much better, sleeping quite a bit. But she wants out, which is a good sign. 

He has been playing fish... they play along, thinking he might feed them. I have put up another barrier to cover the opening. What a cat!

Frosty and bear

 Things are winding down for the summer. Here is a caterpillar, it is a giant leopard moth caterpillar. They are quite pokey and you shouldn't pick them up with bare hands!

The mushrooms continue to sprout. We've frost warnings, so their time may be short.

The firebush looks wonderful!

I put Frosty into his pumpkin costume. Frost is on his last legs. His hat is about to go, rotting through. Here is Frosty and Josephine, in 2010. He's seen better days.

Ta da!

JB, on his regular walkies, noticed bear has lost an eye. He bought some marbles, and I fixed him up with a lovely blue one.

The sumac has had some tough years, but some of it is turning colour. I think they cut them down when they built the house, but I've let it grow back. 

We had visitors, who didn't stop in. I'm still trying to figure out who they were. We didn't have any deliveries.

Here are are: October!

There are so many things to do.
First up, trying to get the pump working on the aquarium. It's leaking. It's done that before. I gave up last night in frustration after trying to reset it twice. After breakfast and coffee it is on my To Do List.

 I cut my thumb working on the fake plant in the centre, yesterday. I bought it from Big Al's, but the slate it was connected to wasn't heavy enough to stop it from floating. Glueing it to a piece of thick bathroom tile last year, it gave away this year. Removing the slate (hammer!), I tied it to a brick. Simple solution! There is height in the tank.

Goldfish pond full

catch me if you can!

Just have to get the pump seal working, then I have to catch the goldfish! This is a production. The ones who didn't want to come in last year died. I have to drain the pond somewhat, sad since we just had 25mm (1") of rain over Sept. 28/29.

fuschia

I have to remember, once all the above is taken care of, to drain and store the hoses. (Non-mental note!) One of the taps is broken and won't turn off. I have to remove the hose and turn it off inside the house, as there is another tap.

Next thing, was dragging the plants in. My problem is my green thumb. They grow so big I cannot lift them. This one is close to being too big, but the hummingbirds love it.

I once had a 15-year jade plant I simply had to leave outside. It was 3' wide. I gave away another tall plant to my hair dresser for her new studio. She gave me a free haircut in return!

My beekeeper friends have been writing about preparing their hives for winter. 

I'm still watching my outdoor aquarium, with the cocoons.
This one is still in its cocoon.



The silly Hypercompe scribonia Great Leopard Moth,keeps on visiting the others. It was moving pretty slowly this morning, though, as it was only about 3 C. on the back deck, where the aquarium sits.

I found a cut worm of some sort. I popped that in, too.  Wooly bear #3 hasn't cocooned yet. One of the lady beetles morphed into its adulthood. It was beginning to attack the cocoon (seen above) and I released it.


Pickles is back around, haven't seen him for a few weeks. I don't know if he is with a cottager or what. It's very unusual to see a male cat that hasn't been fixed.

The cats are irritable.
Buster was having a drink at the cat fountain, Annabelle was watching him from behind the garbage can. She peeked behind it, peeked on the other side, reached out a paw to play, and then stood on her two hind feet and pushed the plastic can over onto him. They both ran!

What do you have to do to prepare for winter?