Autumn sights

 I've been hanging on to videos of the now-slumbering Freds. He was fairly lethargic, and not inclined to eat much more. In the third segment of the clips, he runs along the sidewalk to safety. We miss him!

Too soon we'll be in the cold. In the meantime, embrace the colours!

I went forest bathing:

There are pops of colour all over.

The milkweed are sending seeds up into the sky, hoping for a good landing. They are nestled in with wild aster.

 

I put the garbage out at 6:s0 Monday morning and noticed the full moon!

Deer, barred owl, goldfish...

It looks pretty, especially when the sun comes out! The doe was on the sidewalk. 

The doe was eating my Candytuft plant↑. They do this every year! Often they eat the buds waiting for spring. Little twerps. The bud don't come back. This is why I like the snow cover.

candytuft in Spring

  There is lots of action. Three black squirrels were roaring around. Spring fever and they are twitterpated.

 

Sitting in my easy chair, I spotted some commotion at the chestnut tree. If squirrels had 9 lives, #75 would be down one. Or we'd be down one squirrel. The barred owl was chasing 75 up the tree. It's a tricky proposition. Not so easy with a great big wing span. The owl flew off to this tree. Talk about camouflage! 

Happily I've lots of archived photos. 

 

She sat for a period of time. The birds and squirrels disappeared. Joe Brian was napping, but I was tempted to wake him up. His meds are helping him sleep.

I was a bit shaky. Tired, and my arm was falling asleep, but you get the picture!.

   

I leaned on the camera tripod, but it didn't help. Eventually the wee birds came back. We are down a chickadee, I think. I wrote about that adventure on Saturday. The kestrel came by.

 

In the meantime, not to neglect the fish. I cleaned the tank and the filter on Sunday. It should be done monthly. They'll go outdoors into the goldfish pond in May when we warm up. 

Warm up may be awhile! It was -24 ℃ Monday morning. I made a fire to warm us up. I plan to drive the garbage down to the road. It'd be good to get the car going. 

The moon was amazing. Clear skies for once. I should have gotten a proper photo, but this will do.

Have a good week. Stay safe. Stay warm. 

Moon over Crumbly Acres

 Monday morning garbage day: 

I fed the deer.

The moon was lovely. It was way too cold to fetch the tripod and do it properly. The iPhone did fine.

Moony me and the lunar eclipse

I grabbed my camera and tripod, and a flashlight. My hands were really sore from my cat rescue attempt (the saga is here), and the loss of my client. Then there is the anti-Muslim sentiment by those running PM Harper's campaign. It is a sad perspective on the world.
Happily Buster is home and safe this morning, after chasing the moon shine. Dweeb.
 The tripod wouldn't set up properly. I was rising to the challenge, when the clouds rolled in. I gave up. Fiddling around with the settings...it was too frustrating.
I am appreciating the wonderful photos people have taken around the world, they are everywhere! This is an explanation of the event.

The next super moon will be in 2033. I can see hauling myself and my walker outdoors to grab a shot. As if!

Today it will rain, and I will finish my sewing projects. I did house cleaning yesterday, such as it was. There is a saying for that: 'a lick and a promise'? Is that it?!

Daffy, catty, moon

With subzero night time temperatures, and only 2 C. predicted for today, I think my daffys ought to go back to sleep!

Oliver chose sleep, after we gave him his room back- once my brother left town again.

A whirlwind visit from him, Robin lives in B.C. and works in Northern Ontario. Tigger came out to greet him.

What cat bed?

Last night, Oliver konked out after a day mousing.

Oliver, meantime, is out hunting. He's getting a mouse a day.

The moon was amazing early this morning.

Cats were climbing on the night table, anxious to go out and visit mice friends.

I let them out onto the enclosed porch at 5:30 a.m.

Moon madness: March 19, 2011

No, really. Madness. Oliver-the-brave, who terrorizes wild turkey and deer, cringed on the front porch beside me. Something out there was scaring him in the dark.


The moon was coming up through the trees. The setting was perfect.

The neighbour's dogs were howling at the wolves.

How creepy is this?

Soon, the moon was a little above the tree line.

I was frackin' freezing. My baby fingers were starting to freeze, and no, I didn't remember gloves.
I had the tripod, the flashlight (to better see the camera settings), and the videocam.
Which was useless. I was so cold I was shaking!

I thought I'd get the sound of the wolves. The traffic was pretty heavy, fast and loud. No video success at all.

Instead, photos caught, we came indoors, checked out a pretty cold, tired little cat, who had been out in the sun all afternoon huntin', and watched a Midsomer Murder mystery!
Why is the cat so tired, we might ask.
The little cat caught the dang chipmunk, but evidently he now ascribes to the catch and release program. He caught it, let it run away and caught it again.

I threw on coat and boots, and ran like a madwoman, while Oliver stared at me.


Said chippie is safe dreaming dreams of nuts and berries. At least tonight.

Moonlight perigee

Last night Ian Black, our intrepid Ottawa weather forecaster, visitor to many a grade 5 classroom (it's in the gr. 5 Ontario curriculum!), sent a tweet:
'Full moon will be largest in nearly 20 years tonight. Moonrise is at 7:38 pm.'
@BlacksWeather

This is due to apogee and perigee.


SUPER MOON: Watch out for the Moon on Saturday night. It's the biggest full Moon in 18 years. Astronomers call it a "perigee Moon," and it raises extra-high perigean tides. Contrary to some reports, however, this event will not trigger any natural disasters. Science@NASA has the full story.

You can tell what an amateur I am. Mind you, in the dark, with freezing temps! It was much easier to take a good shot in the summer...

The moon is, on average, 384,399.86 km from Earth. The moon's orbit around Earth -- which causes it to go through all its phases once every 29.5 days -- is not a perfect circle, but rather an ellipse.

One side of the orbit is 50,002 km closer than the other.

The moon reaches this closest point to us, called perigee. Once or twice a year, perigee coincides with a full moon, as it did last night, making the moon appear bigger and brighter than any other full moons during the year.

I've been trying to capture the moon. It is darned tricky. Now, with my tripod, it makes life much easier. I won't bother to tell you how, as there are many pros out there who can give you better guidelines than I.

However, do remember to bracket your exposures, use a tripod, and if you don't have a cable, use the timer setting. That way you don't risk jostling the camera as you press the button!








At the old house, the moonlight on the water was the best part of the scene.

Each month brings another full moon name.

The moon does have an effect on our planet, aside from normal tides. 

 Moon facts :

*  The moon is moving away,  4 cm per year. 

*  A full moon at perigee brings higher ocean tides.

*  This creates tides in the planet's crust, not just in the oceans.

*  Beaches are more polluted during full moon, owing to the higher tides.

Even stars are hard to capture!