October evolves

 I shudder at the thought of what is going on around the world. Our world is quite small here. On a community page on FB, we are happy to view photos of the lightning show we had last week, as well as the Northern Lights. It is unusual to see Northern Lights here, this far south.

Our biggest problem has been Pink Eye! Poor man. He got the opthalmic polysporin at a small drug store, after they were all out in Shoppers Drug Mart. Our Premier seems to favour SDM, there is a cozy relationship between his office and the company. They have been the first stores to get in the new Covid booster shots and flu vaccines. The physicians are complaining bitterly. Anyway, drops four times a day. 

Garbage day, Monday, the maple looks so pretty.

It's been cold. I shut down the water fountain and put the heater in the bird bath. The goldfish pond looks pretty good. We had some rain and it refilled. 

Monday, I did not see Jeremiah bullfrog. I may have left it too late to move him to the frog pond, which freezes solid, unlike the gold fish pond freeze and thaws with Climate Change and fluctuating temperatures. He did not appear Tuesday, either. 

The thermometer showed 7 ℃. which isn't very warm. 

I've moved more frogs to the frog pond. I'm up to 16. It's good exercise. 

Somehow, Nutmeg found a ribbon snake in the basement. We know we had one in the garage, but I don't know how one would get in the basement without help. We released it in the garden to find its hibernaculum for winter. They go underground in mouse holes, crevasses and such. 

Dropsies, snakes, sunrise

 I wrote about our visit to the dump. When we arrived home, I got out of the car and dropped the phone. A fitting end to a bad day! Joseph Brian did his research, where we bought it they don't do repairs. We still owe money on buying this phone, which we pay monthly. He took it into our local computer store and they ordered a new cover for us, which could be a quick process. The phone still works, but we shall have to buy a cover. 

I had a hospice client Tuesday, went for a visit, but I wasn't needed. I came home and decided to clean the water fountain in preparation for setting it up for the season. I ended up not finishing, covered in bits of algae. The elbow grease was in short supply, it'll wait a few days as we've rain on the way. It gets grungy by end of season as you can see from a summer photo. The birds love it.

I'd left poor Cinnamon in the garage overnight Monday. Whoopsie. He likes to go out there and check for mice friends. I took him outside to work in the sunshine. He found 4 snakes: one garter snake and 3 ribbon snakes. It is my belief that there is a winter hibernaculum where they overwinter. In these upsy downsy temperatures they aren't wandering far from it. 

Cinnamon began on the top of the septic bed. It was like watching a toddler. I couldn't leave him alone for a minute. He would see a tail twitching and couldn't resist. 

This is a pretty ribbon snake.

And the garter snake.

Cinnamon wandered down the hill to Fred Groundhog's cette. The pile of sand in getting higher. You'll picture his head in the hole, sniffing. I was a bit worried, but he didn't go in any farther! 

Cinnamon headed to the hill where he found another snake. King of the castle! See the tree buds? They are getting ready to burst into leaves. 

The daffodils are up and blooming! 

Wednesday brought us a lovely sunrise. I played around with it, the iPhone images were better than my camera.

I managed another panoramic photo with the broken phone. Not so shabby.

Forest walkies

It was a three-cat walk! Highly unusual, as Daisy is green with jealousy. She wants to be the only cat on a walk. You can see Dorah trailing behind, across the meadow, as the bottom of the hill. Annabelle was higher up the hill. I could hear them calling far behind, as Daisy and I marched on.

We are truly in a drought, the aquifers are low, but we've had recent rains to brighten up the greenery.


Dorah found a hibernacula, where the snakes sleep. Bears sleep in them, as well, hibernacula is Latin, "tent for winter quarters". She definitely heard activity. A large pile of stones, at the base of the tree, deep in the forest. All covered in debris. I didn't uncover any more than 2 stones, and then recovered them.

The wetland island

Daisy came across the bridge with me. We could hear Annie and Dorah, well in the rear. We did a walkabout, and were ready to leave by the time Annie and Dorah caught up.
Since the wetland is horribly dry, it truly isn't an island, but the critters (deer, coyotes) all use it as a regular part of their tracks (you can see the path through the grasses). They use the same regular path, on an irregular basis, and wear a track.
In past years I've set up the trailcam, and they cross here, sometimes using my bridge! Once, I found the deer fur from a kill. No carcass. The bones would have been taken away.

All of us are recovering after a long winter

Look who is back: The rose-breasted grosbeaks. This is a good sign. Phoebe is building a nest, too. 

I'm not sure they've done anything over a few days.
Maybe s/he doesn't like the location after all?

Then, I was examining our winter damage.
I was comforted by the words of a master gardener:

Be patient as garden recuperates from winter

I have two of the issues Mark Cullen wrote about: sunburned Yew, and rabbits eating the tree bark. He says be patient and likely the former will recover as new growth replaces the old needles. The latter issue, chewed off bark, may or may not hurt the tree, depending upon how much of the bark is gone, and it it encircles the tree. I hope this Horse Chestnut tree recovers!


The snakes have emerged from their Hibernacula, deep underground amongst the rocks, below the frost, where they hibernate. I spotted this one, with its head down a mouse hole! I grabbed the camera and snapped it with a piece of dirt on its head!

Dorah was following me, on my way to work down by the frog pond, but she never did notice the snake right under her nose!


I had some damage at my shed. The Red squirrel has been wicked, eating a hole into the garbage can, then eating a hole through my repaired hole in the doorframe!
 

I fixed this once!

Finally, screwed in some metal to cover it

Finally, my goldfish pond has been leaking, due to mice eating through the liner. I installed a water barrel to gather extra water for the pond. This way, I do not have to use pristine well water to refill the pond for the goldfish.