Crumbly Acres

 Sunday afternoon, Oct. 20, I could hear an ambulance roaring by. It caught my attention, since the lights were flashing, then the siren began. Still people didn't pull over. They were honking their horn to get stupid people out of their way. It turns out a man and toddler were out canoeing and fell out of the canoe. He got them to an island, but the canoe blew away in the wind. NO lifejackets. The OPP used the canoe to rescue them. Oh, city people.  

In other news, a 16-year-old girl was arrested for the murder of a 15-year-old in Perth, ON, on Friday afternoon, Oct. 25th. It has been a shock to many of us. The town population is about 6500, and lots of people know one another. We live 5 km out of town, but it still hits hard. 

 Back to nature...

The milkweed seeds are good to go!  

 We had a fisher come by.

   

The cottontail is adorable!

  

 The blue jays are happy with the feeder.  

 The mice friends are regular visitors, as well.  

Talking to a friend, she mentioned her issue with mice. It was in 2014 that Dorah would watch for deermice here. I ended up trapping some. I put them in the cat carrier so she wouldn't get into the traps. 

And we knew it was coming... It's melted this morning. This is a good thing. 

This morning we have people coming to cut down some dead sumac and elm trees cluttering the yard. We'll see how they do. I'll have some wood to stack. Thank goodness for the lawn tractor and trailer.

Milkweed, Jeremiah, and the weasel

I managed to do the front lawn while Joe was shopping. It's tricky since I had to wend my way around the Milkweed plants. They are precious.

We've one caterpillar left, that I can spot. It fell off another plant, the plant dying as it is done for the season. I'll have to check it today. This plant is right along the sidewalk. Maybe it wasn't prudent to put it right there. 

Jeremiah Bullfrog is doing well. I will have to move him to the wetland closer to freeze up. In the meantime, he is a welcome sight.

I went down to the frog pond to check things out. There is no sign of Muskrat. I don't blame them for taking off. They had too many visitors. The pond, however, benefitted from their eating up the native phragmites. Mind you, it is not open, it is covered in frog-bit. 

Butch is one visitor.

Butch Aug. 6 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The weasel was there Aug. 8 & 10th.

weasel Aug 8 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Milkweed, fall colours, gladiolas...

 The garden continue to slow up. However, I found two milkweed plants that have just sprouted. They don't have a hope. Soon we'll be into cold temperatures. We had frost early in the spring and took out a lot of milkweed. 

UPDATE: I know there is an app for this, but I hesitate to load up my phone! 

They are groundcherries, genus physalis (AKA bladder), in the nightshade family.

I'm not sure what this is. I tend to think nothing good, but... the flower is pretty.

I just loved these spots of colour!

The pumpkin is a bright spot of colour that will remain until I harvest the seeds. I give the flesh to the critters, but toast the seeds for myself. They really like the pumpkins, when all the other fruit is gone.

I went down the road to two of our local farms and bought some pumpkins, as well as an armload of gladiolas. 

Last year, I took the girls down to the market stand.

The older I get the worse I get at gardening. It was lovely buying them. The red vase was from the online auction last month: The Auction Pickup in Spencerville Part 1. The painting is one Caitlin gave me!

I was up early one morning. You can see the difference in personalities in the two cats. Nutmeg boldly goes off, while Cinnamon looks about.

cats from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

 🐻SNUGGLE Bears

While a new idea for a tableaux is a challenge, JB outdid himself with this one!

Funny tale, it took me 15 minutes to think of the word tableaux! Eventually, I remembered the last syllable. Then, I went to Rhyme Zone, and found it! 

Milkweed tussock moth

EVERYONE is talking about the numbers of monarchs. There are a lot of critters who live off of the milkweed plants. We have hundreds of plants. They are well-past blooming, but the flowers smell amazing.

I think these are wasps, who create little mud pots.


I want to show you the milkweed tussock moth caterpillars. I've submitted one of my photos to BAMONA (the egg mass with hatched caterpillars), where they provide information to civilians. Volunteers will verify your species, if you have a doubt about your bug finding! It's such a wonderful project. You can see mine here on the BAMONA site.

This is truly an update, as the egg mass on the milkweed plant were a mystery to me last month. Now I know for sure! I created a life cycle on my Inspiration App. I have used it for years with my students. Those days are done. Now I have fun!

I haven't been out in the dark to find a real tussock moth. The biting bugs have been horrid. The deerflies are easing off. With the recent bit of rain, the mosquitoes have resurrected themselves.

Doe, a deer, and a buck

In the front yard! She didn't like Hooper staring at her. She has deerflies and ticks on her.



Hooper and I were watching through the front window. Hooper was lobbying for breakfast at the time. She was stomping her feet at him.



Susie snake is back. Daisy loved Susie Snake. My late father always called the snakes 'Susie.'


Usually, they go after the frogs, but we only have one in the pond. There are a lot of insects for the snakes, though.


The water lily has finally bloomed!

I think she is covering the garden. I've come across here several times.


Here she was sunning herself on the bottom step. There was another hanging around the back deck, in the lilac tree. I nearly stepped on her. They can be unexpected!
Susie snake from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I have a milkweed plant climbing through the bench! I don't think it is worth moving the bench. The milkweed are in bloom.

Down that way, a buck!


Here he is in motion. JB was reading on the back deck, by the time I fetched him, the buck was a white tail, bouncing away on Oliver's Lot in the tall grass.

A WASP story!

I met an angry wasp, Saturday. There is a story here!

This is an old bird feeder. It fell apart in the spring winds. The top fell off. The wood rotted. Junior Bear bent the post on the far side, last year. Big dweeb! There wasn't any seed there. I loved that feeder! I even reshingled it.

I could dump a whack of seed on it and leave it. In winter, not when bear are about!

Our annual May bear visitation (2017)

I decided I'd either take it down and fix it, of just remove it. Under the squirrel baffle, wasps... No fixing this month! It is pretty, though.


There. I went back to further push the wind thingie down and zap. I cannot blame it. I'd moved the nest. It was looking for its eggs!

Still a bit swollen a day later.