Cleaning up the yard

 I split Wednesday's activities in two parts. I brought in Percy, while puttering around the yard whilst waiting for the pond to drain. Next job was to remove the topper on the bench swing. There was a little tree frog under the canopy. Can you see him? They've been calling in the forest, but it's likely the last I'll see of gray tree frogs for winter.

 Top safely off (with JB's help), froggie was too hot in the sun, and moved around to the other side! I thought that was so cute!

I had to removed the rest of the vines, sweep it, and chuck the vines elsewhere. 

 

Along the driveway I went, another two ribbon snakes! They are such gentle things. Minding their business, freezing in fear, or running away when I approach. They are after insects, nestled in the leaves.

This second one was hiding in the leaves. It is nicely camouflaged! Look hard!

Back up the driveway. I'll bet this is the last of our colours. 

The leaves are blowing in the wind. You can see them on the driveway, under the trees.

The horse chestnuts are beginning to fall! There aren't too many this year. The squirrels are getting into them. They don't usually bother with them, but they seem hungry

We've rainstorm warnings. The skies were amazing: 'red sky in the morning.'

♩♪♫♬ 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. 

Did I tell you how bad the bugs are?!

OK, the bugs are REALLY bad this year! Here's JB in his walking outfit. Cinnamon gave him a bit of a glare. He tensed for fight or flight, and I told him who it was, so he calmed down! 

It's a long weekend here, Monday. What difference this makes, I don't know. We're still supposed to be in lockdown. 

March 4th, I had a real haircut. By May it was shaggy! My hair has bugged me. I went at it!!! 

The horse chestnut tree is in bloom, as well as lilacs. I love seeing the bumble bees around the blossoms. 

If you look closely, you can see the caterpillar webs of the gypsy moth larvae, on the top of the spruce tree.

Also, on the stuff I have hanging.

The bleeding hearts are in bloom, too.

Down in the forest, this little evergreen has been chewed by the deer and isn't all green anymore.

We've ants coming in the corner here. I'm not sure what to put in there. It's a teeny hole. We are usually invaded by ants in the spring, and I just spray some Raid outside, or behind the dishwasher, and into the outlets. Maybe just some tape?

I have little teeny cherry tomatoes! The leaves don't look very good. I think I overwatered it. I shall hold back.

I saw a great blue heron fly over the yard.

I've been watering. We anticipated rain Saturday, but only 0.76 mm fell from the skies.

The pop of colour is heartwarming! I'll leave you with these!