Mushrooms and Barry Beaver

 Let's begin with the fun stuff: fungi!

This one is lovely! I am sure someone knows what it is. 

Cool nights and humid days, it create ideal conditions... the colours are so striking.

Barry Beaver

This is a screen shot from a video earlier in the summer. He does exist! 

I have evidence of Barry Beaver. I don't know how, but he wasn't on the trailcam right in front of these branches. He chewed them, obviously, but just no Barry. 

The duckweed and frog bit is disturbed. The wetland is lush and green. It is a beautiful place to be. Not exactly Forest Bathing (it's a thing) and I shall have to think of another phrase for it! Wetland Wanders?

I thought the new school year would bring some peace and quiet! Not so. Gun fire.

 

Have a great week. 

Air Traffic

We get a lot of air traffic 📹. Not as much as some, but I watch while outdoors. I can hear them coming.

Sikorsky UH-60A Black Hawk Saturday, September 12th, 9:00 a.m.

Helicopter Transport Service Canada (HTSC)

You can lease them! We know the RCMP has been doing this on the border out west. Little did I know that they were here! Yes, 9 a.m. on a Saturday morning. 

Right over our house, just west of Smiths Falls. 
Flying at 403.9 m (1325')

we had a Sikorsky helicopter go over. You can lease them, apparently. Who knew?

  

An article in the TorStar questioning the legality of them licenced in Canada. 

Here's one of the local Black Hawks flying around Ottawa earlier this year:  

   

🚁 🚁 🚁 🚁 🚁 🚁 🚁 🚁 🚁 

I was sitting on the back deck (those days are numbered), and spotted this:

Some research led to an ID: 🇨🇦 RCAF TIGR613.  

Helicopter & Martin Mars

 I've no motivation to travel. I do like watching the skies, though. From my back deck:

I watched it go by!

 

August 10th

First, N97BP flew from Montreal to Oakville. It's a Bell 429 Global Ranger. 

• Cruise speed: 150 kn (170 mph, 280 km/h)
• Range: 390 nmi (450 mi, 720 km)

From Oakville (maybe a refuel?) it went to Detroit. 

The helicopter can carry 7 passengers. Wiki Photo By Jim Duell from Warsaw, NY, USA - 8-19-11 NEW 2010 MERCY FLIGHT 5 AT WCCH 027, CC BY-SA 2.0.

Wiki Photo By Julian Herzog, CC BY 4.0:

The next day...  August 11th, they flew to Arkansas. It's gotta be a long trip by helicopter!

That's something like 2500m!

🛫🛫🛫🛫🛫🛫🛫🛫🛫🛫🛫🛫🛫🛫

Martin Mars water bomber to be 'centrepiece' in museum exhibit

The Hawaii Mars was one of six prototypes produced by the U.S. navy in the 1940s. This one was based in British Columbia at the end of its life. It was converted to a water bomber. 

The Martin Mars retired! 

Earlier this year, Coulson Aviation, the company that purchased the Hawaii Martin Mars in 2007, announced it is donating the aircraft to the B.C. Aviation Museum, calling it a "grand ending to a great history."

The Hawaii #MartinMars has made it to Greater Victoria! CHEK News video captured around 6:15 p.m. Sunday shows the moments the Hawaii water bomber flies over Patricia Bay in formation with the #Snowbirds. ✈️ @CHEK_News pic.twitter.com/Do1vQq8BJj

— Ethan Morneau (@EthanMorneau) August 12, 2024

Hops Vine, Raptor

Cinnamon and I headed down to the forest on Sunday. After collecting the memory cards, I noticed a broken tree.

I'm wondering if Papa Bear chased Booboo bear up the tree. I think Booboo bear climbed it. You can hear the bullfrogs in the frog pond. 

broken tree trunk from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The katydids are out! Katy was sitting on the Basil, beside the Russian Basil.

🐛 I think these are Eastern Comma caterpillars. 

The Hops Vine has another guest. I noticed them, and each night they'd eat a section and move on as a group.

I was videotaping a helicopter, just for fun. I heard it coming over the treetops. You can see something below it. After the helicopter moved on, the other object came towards me. It was our local hawk, with what looked like a snake in its talons. 

 

 

helicopter from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The helicopter looks like a toy!

Don't ask which kind of raptor, they fly by all the time REALLY, REALLY fast! They seldom land. I have to be lucky and ready. This little one visited us in August, 2023.

The cats are doing their indoor duty. 

Beryl dumped a ton of rain on us. It is hard to fathom, this massive storm rolling up the continent carrying so much rain. More rain today. Floors are washed. Let's see what I can get up to today!

The fliers!

Firstly, Lake Effect Snow is flying!

Snow flying 

Well, we aren't getting much snow here, just a skiff on Tuesday night. However, the Lake Effect Snow squalls in Muskoka resulted in school bus cancellations on Wednesday. Back in January, 2010, when we lived by the lake, you could see the wind picking up the snow. 

Dishes flying

We were happy to relax on Tuesday, after our medical trip the day prior (PART CXI – Bone density scan #8). Tuesday night, reaching for a cereal bowl, I grabbed the top one, but rather than lifting it up and out, I dragged the whole pile towards me, and 3 or 4 fell onto my newly cleaned kitchen floor! I counted, and we still have 4 more left. I'd bought them just after my 1995 divorce. They are blue iris corelle ware. The bowls are fairly generic. We'll pick up a few at the thrift store. 

Just for fun, a helicopter screamed overhead. 

But the other day, it was a military helicopter. They don't tend to show their call signs. The sound is quite specific as it roars overhead.

military helicopter from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

What else is flying?

 

morning doves from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

😼 Cat visitors

Then there are the jumpers. We've a new strange cat visitor. Dec. 11th.

 

strange cat from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

What isn't flying are the cats. Fur might be flying, and we are brushing them frequently. Nutmeg is happy to rest in her turtle pose.