Friday on Crumbly Acres

 The yard is so busy! For a person who grew up in inner city Toronto, it is wonderful living here. Lots of critters, especially in Spring. 

I spotted two garter snakes on the lawn, on top of the septic bed. I'm not sure why they hang out there. Maybe their winter hibernaculum is near by. It is warm in the sunshine, too. For those not appreciative of snakes, I wanted to show their behaviour. They are so quick and anxious to get away. 

First daffodil in bloom. There will be more! Yippee!

There were a pair of  Yellow-bellied sapsucker 📹 playing the mating game. Up a tree, follow me! These are the birds who bang on something metal to woo their loved one! You can hear and see it in the video.

A pair of flickers are trying to avoid Blue Jays. I think they will nest in the dead Elm tree. The flickers have been singing about their territory for several days.

xxx

🐸The pond pump is working well. All I need is warmer temperatures in order to put the goldfish outdoors. I removed about 14 smelly dead frog bodies. 😞 There is a healthy frog in it as of April 25th. It's unusual, as they usually flock to the pond when the vernal ponds and wetlands dry up. Welcome, little froggy!

🐦Phoebe seems to have chosen the traditional spot under the deck. If you look closely, you can see a carefully positioned circle of mosses on the green shelf. I'll keep you posted. It is an old shelf, perhaps one built by the previous home owners. He was a carpenter. I repurposed it knowing Phoebe wanted to nest there. I rigged up a paint roller with my late parents mirror visor. 

 

🥀Spring Cleaning: Much yard work was done. Tarps away, empty kindling containers to shed. I ache, in a good way. I didn't suffer too much from ditch diving.

We did a walkabout out back. Cinnamon was disappointed that we didn't go down to the frog pond.

😩Measles cases are up in 2025. Canada has hit 1000. We know why: antivaxxers with their conspiracy theories. 

😡We can blame 💉antivaxxers, like our neighbour, and former MPP Hillier. He went into the city and was out targeting the LGBTQ+ community in Ottawa along with Bernier. I apologize for this. 

 🇨🇦  Election: April 28th, we are on the edge of our seats.

There are attacks on many people. People vote from such a myopic point of view, self-centred, one-issue voters. There are so many programs at stake. My American readers understand. The lies and invented claims about PM Carney abound. The anger and hate is terrible. The Cons are importing the US president's Project 2025 issues: DEI, race, immigration, gender issues, LGBTQ+ issues, healthcare, all things the rich have no problems with: securing food, shelter, clothing, healthcare, and safety. 

Gotta love these messages:

Drugs, measles, airline safety...

 🔥I posted an piece in 2016 about the Great Fire of 1870 that hit Ottawa, and came as far south as us here. Barb Hicks wrote an article (PDF) for the local lake association, which tells about the history of how people coped here in cottage country. This fire was a result of the lumber barons harvesting wood from the area near Ottawa. Many people were devastated financially and emotionally. There was little social security in those days. People lost everything.

We continue to view the carnage to the south. The claim that Canada is allowing drugs to flow south is just plain wrong. It's a trickle Most of the drugs and guns in Canada come from the USA.

Canada Border Agency Seizes Drugs

🛫Airline safety is a concern for all of us.

Canadians, with so many friends or relatives living or working across the border, can separate out the US Administration from its people. We must fight ignorance, though. This is a sentiment on both sides of our border, that people are lazy. This from the neighbour with dual citizenship, extensive properties on both sides of the border, and a white trash attitude. 

This is the same attitude as our newly re-elected premier. Those living on disability in Ontario (it's a provincial mandate) haven't had an increase in benefits in years. And he's removed rent controls for his rich landlord/developer buddies to earn more profits. They are using AI-generated rental increases. He isn't building much housing, either, and with disability (ODSP) income get a measly $1368 a month. You need first and last month's rent, as people know. 

💉MEASLES

Yes, it is coming back. The ignorant blame immigrants, of course. Not themselves, those who failed to get a measles vaccine, or those who travel. For those to whom much is given, much is required. 

Canada faces shortage of measles vaccines amid rise in cases, demand ... 

In a fair amount of irony! Mexico is warning its citizens:

This is the US-born coach of the Canadian men's soccer team. Very few powerful Americans are speaking out, afraid of the administration.

This is, of course, what the administration and the oligarch tech barons want from us 'raw earth' as the US orange felon calls them. He's so ignorant! 

Rare Earth Mineral Deposits in Canada

I'll leave you with our wee friends. 

I had to refill it. Sweet food source for it.

Of course, we stand with Ukraine.

News and March decor!

Fair warning: have you heard of this? Dr. Drummond's wife was robbed in Carleton Place. People are warning that similar scams are happening in parking lots across the province: Smiths Falls, Barrhaven, Merrickville, et al. Protect yourself.

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Also, in news: Excellent piece regarding measles! 

World-wide, we've gone from 941 measles cases in 2022, to 40 WHO member states reporting 30,000 cases. Lots of news outlets are reporting on this.  There are suggestions about how to find out if you've been vaccinated. 

1. Some kids were vaccinated at school. They suggest contacting the health unit who would have been responsible, however, I graduated high school in 1975!​ 

2. They say to contact your doctor who would have given you the vaccine. "For adult patients, health-care providers are required to retain records for 10 years after the last entry in the record."   JB​ giggled. Not only is his doctor deceased, but so is his doctor's son, who took up his practice after he died! 

I think it won't hurt to get a jab, and may protect us since some people think they are injecting monitoring devices into us with vaccines!

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⚘I was out working on the decor for March and I spotted the green sprouts (daffodils) for April!

I hung out a green Angry Bird! 

Green ribbons on the fence:

This wreath Isabelle and I made one year. She was at a Pathfinders day yesterday, earning her Canada Cord. 

Somebody was looking for decor and was inspired by what he found in the basement. 

The place is going green!

We haven't done 🐻Snuggle Bears🧸in months!