Painting the decks, back to school, trailcams

 Is my back ever sore, but it is all repainted! I had to lay down a second coat, as recommended. I'll leave this here, in order to remember what I used. I was quite pleased with it.

One is supposed to not replace furniture for three hours, but I don't have that option. I moved it all to the side, painted the inner portion, and moved it back carefully, painted the outside section.

I managed to get the top off of the swing, preparation for winter, standing on the now dry deck. Progress.

I saved enough stain for my chair.

JB went for a walk, as he does several times a day. He said, "It's raining, but I have all this rain gear I ought to go for a walk!"

I found some invasive gypsy moth eggs on a conifer in the front yard. 

Tired and colder in the cooler weather, they've hunkered down.

Our sumac aren't doing well. We've had a couple years of dry Augusts, but there are some leaves.

A little Isabella caterpillar...

Our granddaughters online classes begin today, Friday morning. They have mixed emotions. 

I caught myself on the trailcam! Soon I will be mulching leaves.

Nutmeg grabbed a shrew in the forest.

Our coyote was back, three days later. He was snuffling in the bushes. The cats may have left the shrew there. He's a good clean-up crew. I've not seen him in the daytime. 

 Butch

Butch from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Wednesday afternoon at Gramma Camp

Wednesday morning, Jos was in charge while we went into the city for my follow-up [Cataracts Part VII]. After lunch we had a mission. It was to deliver some snake skeletons to RVCA staff to use as educational devices. We found those in our defunct air conditioner.
I included a dead cicada I'd found, 

as well as a porcupine jaw and tooth. These can be used in their Interpretation Centre.



Arrival

Sadly, the centres are closed, but Rebecca, the area supervisor and educator, told me where to leave them. I love how they have taken the old log homes and repurposed them.

Firstly, they wanted to see the lake.

It was peaceful, with the wind and the water.

I was puffing by the time I made it back to the top!

Isabelle wanted to take a photo of the mushroom.

There was an interpretive walk... I don't remember the book The Gruffalo, very much. The girls did. Iz took photos of all of the displays. They connected the story to the forest flora and fauna.

We went to the Foley Mountain lookout, still in Foley Mountain Park. You can see Westport from the lookout.

This is as far as I let the girls go.

There were 4 young people there. One was smoking. Seriously. Second hand smoke, the smell of it, reminds us how air borne illnesses travel.

I spotted a caterpillar hanging from a tree. Sadly, Gypsy Moth... I couldn't focus the 2nd photo, but you can see the eggs on the tree. I showed the girls.

After our hike, Grampa took us for ice cream. He was the only one with a mask, so we lined up with him, then waited at the exit door, while the woman in purple dropped the "F" bomb in conversation. Really, people...

We went down to Westport Harbour to eat our ice cream. From there, we went to the marina. The natural spring water was cold, and we rinsed our fingers there.

On the drive home, we started talking about telling people the same thing several times. My late mother used to tell me things 3 times. We'd ask, "How many times have I told you?"

JB says,  "Have I said this in my outside voice?"

Grampa told us the story about when they had to make puppets in school. He was 8 years old. His grandmother (he and his mother lived with his grandparents), made him a papier-mâché puppet. He held the puppet and sang a song for his performance: "♩♪♫ Hang down your head, Tom Dooley..." He regaled us with a few verses. We giggled. It's a pretty gruesome song for an 8-year-old!

Someone asked how long ago that would have been. He figured out it was 63 years ago. I've never been told that story!