Here come the bucks and the cottontail!

 I went into the hardware store in town for supplies to work on my new bird feeder tray and the door jam, which is leaking cold air. In the store Friday, I picked up some sale items, as well as new weatherstripping. I was hoping to get that done before the cold weather came back, but that didn't happen. The front door leaks air. 

I wandered, looking for sale. Someone either broke, or stole one wine glass out of the 6, hence the discount. I don't have 6 friends, wo this is perfect! Also, a flag for the mailbox for the summer. We have to look forward.

My new, green bird seed catcher, intended to reduce waste seed, had 3 holes but it didn't hang well. It really needed 4 chains for balance. The mourning doves really like it. 

Action!

Darkness fell,  and look who appeared! We need a name for Labbit. 

cottontail from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I'd set up the camera with the zoom and tripod to snap feeder photos.  

I never have time to figure out the proper settings in the dark. By the time I'd research it, I forget again for next time.

My amaryllis had a problem. OK, it wasn't a problem. It was assaulted. By me. I lifted it out to better see it on the window sill, and broke off one of the 3 blossoms. I feel so badly! You can see Nutmeg, peeking up behind it, wanting in for breakfast.

Anyway, a new week begins. JB kicked me out of bed to put the garbage out. He has one bad arm, and that is my job. I was awake from 4 - 5 a.m., and managed to get back to sleep. We'll see what trouble I can get into today! 

The deer have been around, we've King Charles, Princes William and Harry! William is a 6-point buck, Harry is younger, maybe 2-years-old, with single point pickle stabber antlers. You count all the points on both antlers, even the brow tines. Sometimes they have a different number on the second antler.

 

doe a deer from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The wee twins are so fuzzy! King Charles wanders about. He is a 10-point buck.

 

fawns and buck from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Let us see what the week will bring.

Saturday's Critters

We've a few winter critters.  Plus indoor entertainment for us all. This is Joseph Brian's train set. I found more candles in the basement. He was fascinated.

Dec. 12th – 4 deer: I love the eyes in the dark!

  

4 deer from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

He is our largest buck this year. We've had bigger.

King Charles IV from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

doe and twins from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The fawn likes to push its luck! 

 

Deer kisses from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Our little cottontail turned up!

 

cottontail from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

This was a hoot. I don't know what spooked it. Maybe the lights.

Jumping coyote from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Saturday Critters # 523  <= Thanks to Eileen for hosting! 

Saturday's Critters

 It is the sword of Damocles hanging over our heads. It has been cold (below 0 C), after ice rain, then snow. It has snowed every day all week. Today we get a Colorado Low, and all will melt with 9 C. temperatures. The tree are bending with the with of more than one snowflake.

The fisher is an infrequently irregular visitor.

fisher from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The buck is after the pumpkin. I sped it up as he worked on it a long time! 

King Charles IV from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Eventually, I moved the last pumpkin.

Charles & Pumpkin from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

JB went out to the car, King Charles moved reluctantly. When JB opened the front door, the birds scattered. The buck watched. If you view the video, and listen, you can hear their conversation.

Buck from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

King Charles from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Saturday Critters # 521 <= visit more critters at Eileen's blog.

It is still snowing!

 It is a cold one this morning. I had trouble thinking about getting out of bed. Cinnamon snuggled beside me over night. Predawn he gets up and gets ready for the birds to wake up.

By Tuesday, our trees weren't any worse, but they weren't any better, either. It has snowed since the Monday/Tuesday rain, ice rain, and then 8 cm snow. In fact, it has been snowing for days. Not a lot, but, as AC said, it wasn't the day we'd hoped for. They are threatening rain on the weekend. It'll be a mess.

I wandered out, after I'd had my coffee and filled the feeders. The colours were interesting.

It was lovely, but I am still worried about the trees. 

after the storm from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

King Charles IV is a frequent flyer. 

From the bird feeders, he went over to the dried goldenrod and at a bit of food. They fill their bellies with any flora they can find. 

After my morning work, I spent hours cleaning the grout. A brush, and Vim seemed to work. I cramped up more quickly the longer I worked on it over the two days, and took breaks from sitting on my foot stool. You can compare the ↙before and after ↘. My body is sore, but it is done.

Wednesday morning it wasn't any worse, the ice. Mind you, the wind had started up, and the clacking of the icy branches reminded me of Ice Storm '98. I've had the hee bee jeebies all week, after last winter's storm damage. 

We are lucky we have Internet! The TV satellite has been iffy, as well! 

Wednesday we had COVID/flu shots. Then, we went to the Telus store. I'd tried to transfer my Christmas music to iTunes and I ended up killing my phone! I had a message that there wasn't room for all my music. Next the phone ended up in a loop and wouldn't start or shut off. I Googled it and found what to do, but it didn't work. 

The wonderful young lady at the store rebooted it, transferred my data from iCloud, and all was well. WHEW!!! JB had gone next door and grabbed us Subway sandwiches for lunch. We went home and put up our feet.

Winter is on its way

 I avoided washing the kitchen floor for a couple of days. I did so, then realized that the grout needed its own scrub. I managed to do about half the floor, crumpled on a step stool, using a scouring brush. I will get to it another day.  

I am much happier in the forest.

Some days... you know how it goes, you wonder what you'll write about. Then I check the cameras. It is far more interesting than housework. Here is a screen grab from the frog pond trailcam, down in the forest. 

I moved the oldest trailcam to the driveway. It doesn't work all that well. I captured coyotes and deer trotting along the drive, however. Proof of life, I guess. The deer amble there, as well.

two coyotes from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The snow has since fallen, but Pickles, the young buck with pickle stabber antlers, has been cleaning up. This was a big pumpkin, reduced to nothing.

 

deer from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I let Nutmeg out for her morning run, and she looked to one side. I noticed a buck going at my last large pumpkin!

buck from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The buck was going at a pumpkin, just off camera. I moved the pumpkin, in the rain. I included that in the video as proof.  He came back shortly thereafter. Hubby coming home in the car in the dusk sent him away. It took Charles all that day and night, the pumpkin was gone the next day!

King Charles IV buck from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The snow fell. Gravenhurst had 42 cm (16") of Lake Effect Snow. 

Today they are warning us about another 10 -20 cm snow. Maybe freezing rain. We shall see. I shall have to ensure we have gas for the snowblower!This is me, in Bala, Muskoka, Dec., 2009. We had 60 cm snow, but other places a bit more north, had 120 cm.

We had about 2.5 cm of snow. A different buck came along. A little older than Pickles. He was looking for food under the bird feeder.

 

teenaged buck from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Saturday's Critters

Our morning began with my waking someone up to come and see the buck out front! I shall call him King Charles IV! He was after the pumpkins, but came back after I went back indoors.

I know that coyotes are our frequent visitors. Well, on the trailcams. We very seldom see them around the house.

  

coyotes startle from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The new placement of camera #2 has been great. This is the hill leading up from the meadow to the driveway.

doe from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

coyote on the hill from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

deer doing selfies from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I took Cinnamon for a walk. He loves them. Heading out to the little islands in the wetland, I was sure he'd jump across the ice.

cinnamon from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The deer have been enjoying the last of the pumpkins.

deer feeding from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Saturday Critters # 520 <= Thanks to Eileen for hosting! 

Book Review: Spare; and the new king

We are going to watch the coronation tomorrow. JB loves the horses, especially. I thought, leading up to the big event Saturday, May 5th, I would post my review of this book. Lots have been talking about it. There is a lot of coverage on Canadian channels. Lots of interviews, too. One expert commented on the book:

"He's writing specifically to his family: this is what I went through, this is what you aren't paying attention to, and these are the consequences of your actions."  – Afua Hagan, UK commentator, and leading voice on diversity.

 

Who you are, and where you come from, seems to determine where you sit on this situation. My friend's grandparents worked as a millner and horse trainer for the castle. Some long time, die-hard monarchists think the couple has messed up. I've little connection to the monarchy, 

I think I respect the couples very difficult choices. We now have an idea of what went on: the abuse by paparazzi, the racism, the family control, and it must have been horrific. The Firm, AKA the powers-that-be, had a firm hand in keeping the couple down. It's a crazy way to live, with their PR teams doing dirty and sucking up to the press. There are many jobs at stake.

It is a good read. His ghost writer did an excellent job. As with all biographies, you take it with a grain of salt. I know there have been continuing discussions on Harry and Meghan. 

The narrative was witty, funny, angry, and difficult to read in spots. That is the nature of biographies. I think it really helps to understand the mental health issues people face. There is much stigma. 

What a saga. It gives a lot of insight into what PTSD, and social anxiety is like. I sure could empathise. You cannot judge Harry and Meghan, unless you read all that they went through. Even then, who am I to judge? I had quite a time after my father died. I have all sorts of triggers, mostly loud noises. 

King Charles

The story doesn't seem to end, either. I hoped the new king will change things up, and loosen protocols. The monarchy is in bed with the UK media, in order to be painted in excellent light. They leak (fake) stories to media, to bolster up the public image of the monarchy. I think the worst memory I have of the King and Consort is them laughing at Inuit throat singers during a Canadian visit. 

@daddyhope wrote:

The complications of marrying black when in the Royal Family, how the British press haunted Prince Harry and his wife Meghan. He speaks about how he was let down by his own family, something he was not allowed to say too. Press thugs like @piersmorgan continue to insult them. pic.twitter.com/Ng33Ct9FJe — Hopewell Chin’ono, September 11, 2022

"The Sun newspaper reported that Charles started the eviction process on Jan. 11, the day after the publication of Harry’s explosive memoir “Spare.” " – quoted from The Star.

Harry and Meghan Evicted From Frogmore Cottage - TIME

The couple repaid the UK for the renovations they had done before moving in after their marriage. The king changed his mind, however. Shocking, but not surprising. You see, they were originally given until the coronation to move all their personal effects. It turns out they are being told to get out earlier, and The Firm is moving in disgraced Prince Andrew. 

I noticed this on social media: "Remember when Queen Elizabeth evicted Prince Charles from his palatial house after his book calling her and Phillip vile, distant and cold? How she unleashed fire and fury on him via the tabloid media? Me neither."

 He's not a common man, who can deal with taking care of small things like leaky pens, or pen holders. I know he is managing his grief, but the whole monarchy thing just smacks of great wealth, and reminds me of where their wealth came from. 

Ironing his jammies and his shoelaces is what they do for the king. He called the butler, from another room, to pick up a letter that had fallen into the garbage can. It really is so entitled. 

'The Firm' controls everything that goes on. There are many people employed by the monarchy to keep things running.There are similar families, I am sure, especially the higher ups, who need to keep that train running. It is in their own self-interest. 

How much is the new king worth? 

Today, the Duchy of Cornwall owns the landmark cricket ground known as The Oval, lush farmland in the south of England, seaside vacation rentals, office space in London and a suburban supermarket depot. (A duchy is a territory traditionally governed by a duke or duchess.) The 130,000-acre real estate portfolio is nearly the size of Chicago and generates millions of dollars a year in rental income.

The Sunday Times reported that Charles had accepted 3 million euros in cash — including money stuffed in shopping bags and a suitcase (NYT) — from a former Qatari prime minister, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al-Thani. His fixer talks of a meeting.

A Twitter video tells of the horrors of colonialism: 

The Dark Side of British History You Weren't Taught in School @GeorgeMonbiot  — Double Down News (@DoubleDownNews) September 14, 2022.