Spring unfolds

I've begun a post on my Spring Chores, but I'm not quite ready to post it. I keep finding more chores to add to the list! You know how that goes. 

You can see the leaks in the bird bath. I checked and even though it has begun raining, I think the mend is holding. It cracked up around the base, as the snow got in after the heater busted. 

It's been chilly. They ended up sleeping in the same bed two days in a row!

The hosta has survived, and is beginning to grow. We'll see if their days are numbered, though. 

This may be the only evidence of my tulips, and please don't tell the deer they are here. 

Then, there are the lily bugs. I have my neem oil spray.

The horse chestnut buds are amazing.

tulips raise faces to the sun
leaf buds burst with sweet sap
-deer snap off a snack

The backyard daffodils are coming along. Don't blink! The season seems so short. The deer don't like the daffies. Isabelle helped me plant them, such a wonderful memory!

Trailcams

I've been thinking about the camera placement, screwed into the tree. I think it is a mistake. I'm sure the raccoons could use it as a stepping stool. I have a video of them trying to get into this nest box – not that I can find it! If ducks lay eggs in this box (they didn't last year) I'll have to move it. 

I managed to capture the deer at the pond. It attracts a lot of wildlife.

 

deer on pond from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

 The wood ducks I finally have on video. Almost. All I have to do is turn the camera a touch. 

You can see what I mean, he's just about in frame, though. I've begun reporting them on Project Nestwatch. Those, and the 🐣ROBIN  (3 eggs), as well as 🐣PHOEBE  who seems serious about nesting. 

wood duck from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Things are hopping in the pond. The fairy shrimp and mosquito larvae are quite active. The irony is that the Wordle of the day was 'larva' but I did not get it. I'd just processed this video!

 

fairy shrimp & mosquito larvae from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

🐻SNUGGLE Bears – Blues Bears Band!

JB is so creative! It's lots of fun.

A solemn day for many: Remembrance Day 2013

Little specks of snow
Cats sleep
Victims wail overseas

Cannons fire in remembrance

Veterans weep

Children squirm in line

Remembrance Day Reflections

Statues frozen in time
Soldiers stand in line
Children mourn soldiers lost
War is waged
At what cost?

Veterans old and young
Live on, their songs unsung
Young outweigh the old
Standing in the cold
Young outrank the old
Suffering untold

Hearts and minds in tatters
Reality starkly shatters
For scars remain, untreated
Veterans they're cheated
Lead us not into temptation
Meet their needs, our nation


"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them." 

~ John F. Kennedy 

Perth, 2012

It's been a week of loss. Thousands are presumed dead by Typhoon Haiyan, in the Phillipines. Without infrastructure there is looting by those in poverty, without water, food, shelter. They are in the dark, without power, in the rain. Roads are blocked, bodies lie in the street. No body bags, no place to store the bodies.

At the very least, the Philippine delegate to the UN, speaking on climate change, calls for a stop to this madness. He received a standing ovation. “It's time to stop this madness” – Philippines plea at UN climate talks.

On the other hand, Remembrance Day Ceremonies tell us of lives lost. Lives changed by war, seen and unseen. Those who face PTSD have been abandoned by our government. Discharged for being unable to serve due to physical and psychosocial issues, we should be ashamed.

I put my heart into these poems, since the smiling powers-that-be gather on the hill to honour: Lest We Forget. Yet they forget the veterans of the present day wars. Wars on terror; Afghanistan veterans who suffer PTSD, limb loss and livelihood. 

Spring flowers, horse chestnut leaf bud, snake, frogs

A glorious day in the sunshine. Summer-like weather with a 20 C. temperature. 

horse chestnut leaf bud

Tulips raise faces to sun
Leaf buds burst with sweet sap
-Deer snap off a snack

green grass and goldfish pond

Lots of wildlife. The frogs were singing. I worked on the fish pond.

green growth in the wetland

Woodpecker insists on banging on the tower!

nesting!

budding

Tobi Kiesewalter, the Park’s Natural History Education Leader, tells us the black rat snakes are awake in Murphy's Point Park .

Spring peepers, wood frogs, tree frogs; all are singing. 

salamanders predict danger in an ecosystem,
blue-spotted salamander

Our in the wetland the wood frogs are waking and croaking for love! It didn't seem to worry that I was there. He croaked off and on for hours!
I was cleaning out the veggie garden and spotted a blue spotted salamander. She dug herself back in! Didn't know I had to share the garden with her, too! 
The bad news?
Black fly - warning, they are out and about!

black fly

My Muskoka

snowflakes fall one by one
broken branch sheds its burden
cold scarf adorns its victim

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fog dances on the open water;
sun rises in diurnal triumph.

haiku or pseudoku

pseudoku!

wewritepoems.wordpress.com

So many anglophones have murdered haiku. There are specific 'rules' around it. I loath the murder of it, and try to follow the style. Forgive me for my sins!
No titles, they must contain nature images, seasonal references, and a twist at the end.
And on that note...

 

I know they are crows... but...

ravens land in skeletal trees

a chill foreshadows winter

wolves howl in the distance

yellow and black stripes

slither from under my feet

hawk flies above

forest calls in gentle dusk

Bambi's mother nibbles

wolves howl in the distance

After the fall

snowflakes fell all the dark day
all the dark night
one more flake
two at a time
three, four, fourteen, forty

woodpecker in the forest
keeping rhythm to my work
passing under the tree
snow falls on my head
like chicken little
doing a snow plant

the shovel lovingly thrown in the garage
until the next deluge
for joy
rain falls

~~~~~~~~
bugs awake from sleep

woodpecker drums in the forest
weary shovels keep time

here comes the sun

mergansers bob for dinner

cold lake dissuades them not
 --fisher eyes them from the bush


black clouds
winter whispers my name
sun arises
morning sun dances like tinker bell
--snow drips from branches

 sumac with snow hat

 raccoons dream dreams of spring

--flowers bow their heads in prayer



blue jays steal peanuts
cat awaits with patience
--under snowy bird feeder

Visit more haiku & tanka
4 Seasons Haiku

Autumn haiku

crows become restless
gathering in murder
--in a moment they are gone

overhead the cacophony of sound
together they fly in formation
--only the swift and strong shall return

OR... to put it into Tanka:


restless crows
gathering in murder
and cacophony of sound

together they fly in formation
only the quick and strong return

time of the season

coolness lingers on a dewy day
loon mourning in the lake
--one red leaf falls

OR:
to:

coolness lingers
on a dewy day
the loon mourns

in the lake
one red leaf falls

Visit more Autumn haiku

flora and fauna

bowing to the wind and rain--
Robespierre muskrat chops off her head

and then there is the gopher!

Skywatch Friday

massive skies in rainbow colours
angels light their lamps --
solitary lifeboat
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The skies are massive; the clouds phenomenal in Lake Superior's bays. The music is by Ian Tamblyn: Days of Sun & Wind. It is bittersweet knowing the Edmund Fitzgerald sank an hour off shore. I spoke to the daughter of a captain of the day. Her father knew the cap't of this ship. It was a terrible tragedy.

1958	On June 7, 1958, the 729-foot Great Lakes ore carrier Edmund Fitzgerald was side-launched into the harbor —signifying the birth of the ship. www.chroniclet.com
1975	On November 10, 1975, in the most famous shipwreck in Great Lakes history, the Edmund Fitzgerald sank in a treacherous storm on Lake Superior.

Visit more Skywatchers by clicking on the badge for the meme.