Pooter, lady slippers, & pulpits

 I had to get my pooter out of the cupboard. I only need it when the red lily bugs come out. Okay, not true, I use it in the fall when lady beetles try to come in the house! 

pooter  Wiki

One sucks on the short end, which had a trap (gauze) on the other end. The long tube you set by the bug and by sucking on it, the bug ends up in the jar. 

Everything is greening up!

Primula veris, the cowslip, common cowslip, or cowslip primrose

Trillium are scattered throughout the forest:

We have ladyslippers in our wetland. They are beyond the frog pond, on our furthest lot. Sometimes I forget to go find them! I found only two plants, We'll see. 

Here is one from May, 2020. The problem with May is the bugs come out. I think we already have blackflies. That's why I forget to go find if they are blooming!

Fred is being very careful, wary. She lost 3/4 kits to coyotes last year.

This was a big surprise. I was down in the forest, doing a walkabout. This is a jack-in-the-pulpit. I wonder if a bird took a seed down. 

I have them in my garden behind the house. 

Trillium and lady slippers!

The heat has been atrocious. 

We've a female red squirrel. She was pretty hot, running around. She lay down on the branch in the shade until I apparently disturbed her! She was watching me clean the goldfish pond. 

Even Cinnamon took it easy! Here he is in the Muskoka Room. He prefers it to the A/C! 

First trillium!

Someone posted photos of their ladyslipper. That inspired me to go check our little nook. They are coming along. I've snapped photos, so if I forget to go back amongst the 6 billion mosquitoes, I'll have proof. They are late this year.

Chores take a lot of energy. Some we are happier doing, especially involving water! JB is filling his water fountain, it was a surprise gift for him a number of years ago! 

It's taken me three days to get it all done. Fishies out (day 1), fish tank drained (day 2), equipment cleaned (day 3). Finally, day 4, I reassembled them, now that they are dry, and get the tank ready for October!

Jack-in-the-pulpit!

 The season is well on its way. I had to get the anti-itch cream out. Blackflies and mosquitoes. There was a mosquito in the house while we were watching Vera!  If you look closely in this photo, you can see even the mosquitoes were hiding from the heat in the shade. (No, not that much dirt on my camera lens!) I've been cleaning up, placed the cans in there, slowly backing away from the horde. 

My Aspen grove is doing well, despite the spongy moth attack last year.

The big news is that two of the robins have hatched! I'll bet the third is out, as well. But I try to avoid the area. This is an image from June 2020. We had a drought, and I didn't realize that even as young as this, the parents will follow and feed them. 

We're up to around 11 eggs in the wood duck nesting box.

11 wood duck eggs from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Hubby went out, I played at home!

There was a big Bluegrass festival last Friday. They began setting up on Tuesday, when I drove by. Lots of campers. 

Eastern Ontario Bluegrass Festival

Off he went. I wasn't in the mood. Apparently, they moved it from the main building to the barn, which leaks. It was pouring rain. Also, people were to supply their own chairs. He sat in a chair, just borrowing it until its owner returned.


I stayed home and did walkies, too. I spotted some fungus.


I fetched the trailcam photos. Daisy, wild turkeys, a pair of juvie males, Butch raccoon, and a porcupine!



Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I counted the goldfish. We are down to 5, from 6.


I don't know if this is related, but there was a garter snake in the goldfish pond. Daisy and I watched it, then encouraged it to take off. Last year, they were picking off the froggies one-by-one. We only have one froggie in the pond!




Fred groundhog has been showing up in the afternoons.


The bleeding hearts are blooming under Bob V.

Then, there is the jack-in-the-pulpit. We drove to Native and rare plants, back in 2015 to pick these up. I'm happy to see them. I'd forgotten about them!