Heron & Halifax & Labbit

It was a bit of  shock. Three cm of snow. I didn't let it bother me, and I didn't shovel. It is going to melt this week. It was 1 ℃. and the ground isn't very frozen, not much ground frost after our high temps.

I thought I ought to talk about my heron sculpture! It is one of my favourites. 

We bought on a trip to Halifax, Nova Scotia. I remember bringing it home on the plane. They wrapped  it in bubble wrap, I'd bought it in Peggy's Cove. It was funny getting it on the plane. Awkward, I guess. But it made it. I love this bird. The other one, the little one, is a brass sculpture by Siggy Puchta. I bought that one in a Tweed gallery on time payments when I was single. I was so proud of that layaway purchase. 

2003 -ish

 It's been busy! Freezing cold, and I mistakenly left the water barrel full. Our temperatures have ranged from -12 a few days ago to 16 ℃ last week, and it is bizarre. 

The poor goldfish pond! It slowly dripped and froze. 

The skies have been interesting.

😼Cat Visitors

This is really funny. I am having no luck capturing the strange visitor cat. It's been sighted 7 km away, and surely must live somewhere between here and there. My plan was to take it to the vet and see if it had a chip. I've not caught the cat. Despite mice friends who are visiting.

It's been all set up. I've tried several times. I posted this on our local Facebook page and, either the owner has realized that the danged cat has been crossing the highway in the dark at night (dangerous) or... I dunno. I haven't see the cat for about 10 days, when we had warm weather. This is my set-up, the camera in front of the trap, just for evidence.

 

I laughed so hard. 

cat trap from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

What happened? A cottontail. 

I released it while JB filmed it. I knew Labbit would be out of there like a bat outta hell!

catch & release from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Mice friends, and cats

 That was a lovely day day! I eased into it. A short workout, then a long snowshoe. I was looking for a good place to put my old wood duck nesting box. The snow is awful to walk on. 

I love old age. I totally forgot that I had videotaped the cats in their carriers. I told that story Wednesday. You can listen to their wailing and gnashing of teeth! Nutmeg is a beast!

grumpy cats go to the vet from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

As long as we are on the subject of cats, here are their Mice Friends!

 

mice friends from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Every morning they go out for awhile and do Mice Friends Cat patrol! 

cat on watch from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Firstly, a funny story. I began growing new sprouts. As I picked it up to refresh the water, my hand slipped. There were seeds EVERYWHERE: on the counter, the floor, in the sink. Little, teeny, tiny seeds underfoot, crunching as I walked on them. I think I swore. I probably did. 

Our temperatures have been mystifying. It was -30˚ C. last Saturday. Wednesday, it was 7 degrees above C. The sidewalk was nicely melted. No slippy dippies heading towards the car. 

Thursday we had busses cancelled, with an ice rain warning. As we do today, as well. We had a day of rain (23 mm/ 0.9") on top of the snow cover. It is wicked walking, and the temperature is supposed to fall.

I went down to The Point. A Pileated Woodpecker has been looking for insect friends! I was sussing out a new spot for the nest box, and couldn't find one. 

I spotted a brown creeper on a tree. This is an archive photo, since it was on the move creeping up the tree and slipped away.

Then there are the deer beds. It is delightful seeing where they have rested. They chew their cud and watch for coyotes.

If you look closely, you can see the coyote tracks. I was anxious to get the memory cards onto my laptop.

coyote from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Richard Deer, Little Richard, Mice Friends

 I read a book called The Forest. I found it an interesting depiction of how society changed in the life of a UK forest over 900 years. We've been watching an Amazon TV series: Sherwood, set in Scotland in 1984. It is a depiction of the UK Miners' Strike, based on two actual murders, and I looked up some information. The forest is amazing in this series. 

Critters on the trailcams have been scarce, aside from our deer friends.  They were sheltering under the large pines trees when I looked out back at 6 a.m., rain pouring down in the fog. This was Friday, Dec. 30th. It turns out our biggest buck, Richard Deer, has a hurt! It doesn't look infected, so I am hopeful he'll last until another deer hunt next year.

We can identify the bucks by the shapes of their antlers, which remain mostly the same over their lifetimes. Richard has a split on his right antler tip, that is a great identification trick. One of the triplets has lost one antler. The timing all depends upon food sources, and energy demands, which reduce their hormones. They will all lose them soon, and regrow them in spring.

You can see my problem (below)! I was on my tiptoes, trying to focus through the kitchen window, but had forgotten my reading glasses. I am resisting the urge to cut this serviceberry tree down. With the monopod and zoom lens, photos are easier, but the tree is a pain.

It occurred to me that we've two older bucks as I looked out the window. I say older, since their age range is 2 - 5 years. There are lots of hunters around us, lots of roadkill with speeding cars. In captivity, heaven forbid, they can live for 23 years I've read. Each year they add an antler points on each side, more or less.

 I think we should call this 8-point buck, Little Richard! Little Richard knows his place and defers. The big one, Richard Deer (a 10-point buck), was giving the other one the eye.

Two bucks📹

The rain was ridiculous! We've had another Colorado Low. A skiff of snow Sunday night.

Remember little bunny's hole? It belonged to Fred Groundhog, who scarpered. It appears flooded. Poor thing must have moved somewhere, unless Fred Groundhog dug a proper tunnel.

We have mice friends, no question about it. I posted my earlier video of mice friends in the Facebook group for trailcams, and got a bit of advice. Some pointed out that mice carry disease. Others like the fact that I called them my friends. That arises from the fact that Caitlin invented 'Mice Friends' who lived above the kitchen ceiling tiles, back 35 years ago when we lived in Ottawa. There are few indoors. You can see why.

This went on for hours! The feeder above is great TV for the cats. The mice clean up the mess.

mice friends from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I finally did another picture. I've missed drawing, I just haven't been in the right head space for it.

Richard Deer, and other tails

 It's been a tough few days for many. We are doing well, though. We miss our usual Christmas with the kids, but we are warm and dry and have power. Jesse tried to do a Facetime with me on my birthday, Dec. 26, but they lost power and his cell phone was crackly. Whoopsie. It's the thought that counts, plus we had a good chat on Christmas day. There is lots of wind in Vancouver, causing power outages. He texted later and said they had power back. Whew! 

☏ I remember trying to phone long distance to my parents in Muskoka on Christmas morning every year. Often the lines would be busy and we couldn't get through. You'd either wait, or hang up and redial that rotary phone! 

♪ Funny story, when we chatted with Caitlin and the girls Christmas Day, they told me the girls set an alarm for 7:30 a.m., and regaled them with a Silent Night duet to wake them up. Isabelle played her clarinet, and Josephine sung it in German! I was impressed. 

🐾 Monday morning I put the garbage out a bit late, having forgot, but someone reminded me. It was cold. I should have used the snow blower on the driveway. There is a layer of ice from our rainfall, but the drifts made it difficult to drag the cans. There is slush at the end of the driveway, as well. 

Can you spot the cat tracks in the snow? It has to be Oregano. Our cats haven't left the deck. He avoided all trailcams!

I was about to put the garbage out, and spotted my friends. I fed the deer after doing my chore.

morning crew from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

🦌 We've buck triplets, and one big buck, as has been the way. We had King Henry visited in January, 2022. Big Jake, in 2018. Big Daddy in 2015. There was Tigger and his brother, back in 2013. 

The coffee was ready when I got back in the house. This was our view out the kitchen window. I've removed the screen, and washed the inside of the window. That helps! I posted the photo on the family stream, and Caitlin named him for me: Richard Gere Deer – a handsome fellow. 

There is much action. Richard simply looks at them and they bolt! Alpha male. The fawns seem to tease him. 

In the afternoon, I got myself dressed, and used the snow blower on the driveway. (Yes, I put the garbage out in jammies!) It was a bit icy underneath, with drifts on one side, but I got it done. 

I spilled some bird seed on the deck. There are lots of little mouse and bird tracks. 

I'd given up putting the trailcams down in the forest. With the load of rain and snow, within 24 hours, I knew they wouldn't show me much. They get ice and snow covered, and fog up. This was fun.

deck birds from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

mice friends from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I put a trailcam on the bird feeder for night action. We have triplet bucks. This is one of them. It is the correct time, but the wrong date! Dec. 26th

young buck from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

cats on deck from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Our Christmas Dinner was a very respectable turkey TV dinner. JB did well getting them for us. He tucked away a frozen lasagna for me for my birthday, also very respectable. I supplemented it with pickled asparagus as hors d'oeuvres.  

More snow is on the way, but not as much. We shall see what the week brings.

Snowy, snowy day!

Well, Saturday was a fun day. I'll tell you all about it once I curate the photos. We had so much fun with the kids visiting, finally. 

Rabbit has been busy in the backyard. I love spotting their tracks in the snow. It's such a fun track, with their long back legs.

 We had a big snowstorm on Friday. What a mess. It snowed and snowed, with blowing winds. At one point it was so dark that the bears lit themselves up. They are on a timer that does this once it gets to dusk!

I tried for another window photo. Lots of snow!

The cats keep watching their cat TV. Those squirrels, we've three red squirrels!

I tried for video out front, but set it improperly, again. I had a series of 681 photos of this deer! 

I love watching them! mice friends   

The snow kept falling. We had a robin, as well as the cardinals and many chickadees.

 

snowy bird feeder from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

It's more than gently falling, the snow.

snowy day Feb.25 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I did the driveway, just before the storm ended, it snowed much of the day. We had about 11 cm, and it was a challenge.