Summer is creeping towards us

I am amazed with plants like the hops vine. It has reached the roof. I continue to pick about 50 LDD caterpillars off of it each day to preserve it. The reptile tongs are terrific, now that the caterpillars have spiny things that can give one a rash.

I put out the kiddie pool, but I have a leak. I'll see if I can find a repair kit. I fill it a little each day, so as not to drain the well. It gives it a chance to warm up, as the well water is about 4 C.

🌩We had lightning last night, moderate temperatures, but no rain. I keep hoping.

Sitting on the back deck, I was watching a pair of red-eyed vireo have been playing in the lilac tree. In and out, chases back and forth from the shrubs to the trees. It is delightful!

red-eyed vireo from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I like their nests. They weave birch through it.

I managed the baby crow noises on tape!

 

In the frontyard, a sparrow pair on the spruce tree. I had a bit if trouble finding it! 

 

sparrow

I'll leave with a laugh. I realized my mistake in putting the trailcam in front of the flags. I was hoping to catch the doe, but I moved it as it'd waste batteries!

flagging from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Gramma Camp – Week 31

Firstly, signage. We white people really have to get together to fight racists, and be allies. Sometimes it is difficult to know what to do. These hateful acts can blatant, or be microaggressions, which we whites never have to face. There were terrible murders last week in London, Ontario, a hateful man attacking Muslims. A family, mother, father, grandmother and daughter gone in an instant, leaving a young 9-year-old boy orphaned.

Our kids gave us two of these signs, and I've had comments from various delivery people who liked it (we don't have visitors here). JB gave one of our Welcome signs to Picnic Cafe in September of 2020. Picnic Cafe has now printed 50 up and people are buying them, the money donated to the orphan. They will be placing them around Perth. There is a Facebook page for Welcome Your Neighbour Canada. 

 

That was a day. With the Internet failure Wednesday, both girls plugged away on their schoolwork on Thursday. Grampa had some footcare, and after our 2nd vaccine dose the day prior, we thought we'd take it easy. We were pretty good. 

I went in to wake Izzy up by opening the blind, and she popped her eyes open, startling me! She had a good giggle about that. Isabelle had breakfast outside, listening to her music.

Isabelle's teachers made up a different sort of plan for Wednesday/Thursday. It is really tricky keeping track of it all. With this schedule, she's right opposite Josephine's schedule. They usually read while they eat, anyway, but it does make the adult's work more difficult, having to keep track of yet a different time to stop and eat.

After our day was done... Grampa brought us an afternoon treat.

MVI_0643 

Spaghetti and meatballs for dinner, with chocolate mint ice cream in parfait dishes, served by Isabelle! 

Lymantria caterpillars (LDD) 

This tree in the back 40 is looking pretty whipped. May 27 and June 10.

The LDD caterpillars are up to 32 mm, and I've been picking off the ones on my roses, rhododendron, and hops vine. It is discouraging.

Phoebe babies are doing well! They should fledge any minute. We've been severely limiting outdoor cat time. We let them out to pee, and feed them later. when they come in. That way they come back in, hungry.

Finally, a lovely visitor. great crested flycatcher  

Gramma Camp – Week 31

 We are here, again. The last day of school is June 25. They've worked hard online, as this pandemic unfolds. Teachers are now writing report cards. 

There is much talk, by those with shrill voices, about how disastrous a year it was for education. I think teachers did a pretty good job, for the most part, in getting them through Virtual School. Kids are being taught how to learn, not to memorize facts. Every year we teachers manage to teach a wide range of kids in one classroom. 

Josephine, being 13, gets her COVID–19 vaccination next week.  We're getting closer to getting people jabbed who want the jab. That'll be good to get past. We'll see if we can book earlier than our scheduled 2nd dose in August. 

Warnings for our girls

This week begins with a warning or three. Firstly, I shall teach them about the 🍃LDD Invasive Caterpillars🐛, gypsy is a pejorative term. Some people are getting rashes from picking up the LDD caterpillars. A lot of hairy caterpillars have poison in their little spiney things. This is what I use to pick them up: reptile feeder tweezers. You can see that each instar is a little hairier than the previous ones.

Poison Oak and Poison Ivy Abound

I'll just leave this here: leaves of three...

Junior Bear

We hadn't seen one yet this year. This one was sniffing around for food. Stretched up a tree???? As he left, the dweeb was sniffing around the camera, and fogged up the lens. I laughed. Junior Bear  

🐣PHOEBE  is doing well. They should fledge June 8 or 9th. Twas a lousy video =>📹, but you get the picture!

The Garden

The weigela is doing really well. It gets lots of visitors, including the hummingbird. I tried to photograph a bumblebee, but you can see how well THAT went!

The clematis just bloomed.

I submitted my caterpillar to BAMONA. I found it on the aspen saplings out back, amongst a bazillion LDD caterpillars. It was confirmed as a 

Copper Underwing
Amphipyra pyramidoides

It's not an exciting moth, but we'll watch it this week, in the aquarium, and see what unfolds.

Devil's paintbrush in bloom.  It's not an artsy photo, like some of my nature buffs, but it is so pretty, the carpet of yellow.

Off we went to the hostage exchange. The air conditioner doesn't seem to be working in our car. We opened the windows. Poor Isabelle! After requesting we close the windows, she tied up her hair, and we opened her back up for the air! Doesn't she have beautiful hair?!

The corn is starting to grow in the fields. Recent rains helped, but we need more.

I wonder what happened here! I've a photo of a bear on the dash cam around here. Who knows?!

We arrived home after the hostage exchange and unpacked. Gramma had a wash to hang, indoors, due to the caterpillars. I hung up their bathing suits, as they'd had a swim at home. They'd visited Hogs Back Park, and the locks, for an adventure. It was Papa's birthday, and they'd done cake the day before. 

"Come on, pose, Jos!" Jos wasn't feeling too hot. She's get better slowly. 

Soon, it was dinner time. Poor Jos had braces put on last Thursday. She'll get some TLC. We discussed a menu, and Jos thought we might play it by ear all week. I doubted that would fly! Jos opted for a soft chicken pot pie. She really enjoyed the crust, nice and crispy. I nuked it, while Isabelle helped me unwrap the BBQ, and get the hot dogs going for us. They are such wonderful girls.

After dinner, Jos used the water pic on her teeth and brushed. It's three times a day for a couple of years! She's not as sore as she was, which is good news.

Cinnamon and Nutmeg were put in the Muskoka Room around lunchtime. I'm keeping them away from the nesting robins and the phoebe out back. I let the cats into the house after dinner, as I was in and out BBQing. Jos saw Cinn, and said, "Cinnamon, did you know I got braces?" The cats roared up and down the stairs. 

They listened to an audiobook together in Izzy's room until lights out at 8:30 and 9 for Jos. Gramma and Grampa watched a show, on Grampa's Chromecast through Amazon (it was a gift!), Rebecka Martinsson. It's a Danish murder mystery series, with subtitles, you might like it A/C. We konked out soon after. 

Sunday chores!

In fact, I've been working on these projects all week. I cleaned and painted the base of the globe bird feeder. I even figured out how to put it back together. I'm so proud of myself! I didn't swear but once, I dropped a nut! I had to balance it on the tip of my finger and slide it in under. 

The squirrel will be happy, although the feeders are down for the season! 

Repainting included painting the dolly. Sadly, I picked it up where I'd painted it! I laughed and laughed.

Cherry Tomato planter

I transplanted my cherry tomato plant into a larger container. It's heavy as sin, and I hope it stays up there! 

You may recall the day Butch pulled a feeder right off the rafters. That was a year ago, in June: Houston, we have a problem. Scott came over with a pal, and screwed it all back in. 

Hops vine

The hops vine is getting taller. The first two photos: May 27; then the 30th; the next June 2nd, then two from June 4th. I've tied it up, and it is climbing to the roof! Unfortunately, they have been gathering quite a collection of LDD caterpillars. I've a container of water and I plop them in.

🍃LDD Invasive Moths🐛

The LDD caterpillars are still doing their thing in the front of the house. This is the top of my wee spruce.

I toddled down to the new little aspen forest. I haven't been mowing there, and they are growing quite nicely, except for the LDD caterpillars.

Quite a difference in sizes, depending upon the instar.

JB does his daily walks...