Gramma Camp – Week 34.2

I tried to make the dashcam video better, but I didn't do very well. When Grampa and Josephine went to the store on Tuesday, they saw the doe and a fawn on the front lawn. They are on the left. Maybe for my birthday we'll get a new dashcam! fawn 

It was the first time we've seen the fawns in the daylight up here. We'll see them more often in August, when they are a little less vulnerable, and a little more streetwise!

 We'd planned on going to the Perth Wildlife Centre Tuesday, but it is cool and rainy! I spotted an ad for volunteers to help with their butterfly gardens, which reminded me of it. 

On Tuesday, Isabelle announced that she was going to the Muskoka Room. With lots of rain on the way today, she might end up there to draw and listen to music, again. Notice the water bottle, Momma! 

Off we went Thursday at 10 a.m. We packed water, bug spray, cameras. 

Not quite sure what they were up to...

We made it. We have an annual pass to the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority (RVCA) parks.

A swallowtail was doing something in the mud in the parking lot. One car left as we arrived, and there was one other there. It was quite peaceful.

It was a lovely walk through the forest, along the paths. Lots of birds, but the bugs were so bad we didn't stop.

We made it to the river. The girls hunkered down on the dock and talked, while Grampa and I climbed the viewing lookout. I took a selfie with my phone, and sent it to Momma, who is working from home.

We climbed. I didn't take a photo, this is from our visit in 2018.

From the lookout, there were birds snatching bugs.

There were a pair of ducks but even with the zoom lens, which I dragged along in my backpack, I couldn't attempt to ID it. They were diving for food. 

duck  

The girls were still on the dock when they saw kayakers. They decided to make turkey sounds??? Tay River  

 

It's just a lovely, peaceful scene. The Tay winds around the marsh off in the distance. It was a perfect day!

You can see one of the kayaks in the middle of the river.

The girls joined us on the tower. More selfies for Momma!

And we were done, headed back to the car! It was a good walkabout. It was a good hour we were out there. 

We hustled back along the path, and I heard a bird. (It was really buggy!) catbird 

We didn't see any stinkpot or blandings turtles, but they are there!

When you come to a fork in the road...

I'd shown Josephine my October, 2018 blog post of our extended family visit, and she wanted a reprise of the photo! 

The poor trees, LDD damage.

We arrived home, and Isabelle and I tried a reprise of the lily photo, with pollen on her face. I wasn't wearing my reading glasses and couldn't tell it was out of focus. Oh well! Her facial expression is a hoot. They are so much fun.

We all vegged out after this. It was an afternoon of reading, drawing, and, of course, their 3 p.m. video. The three of them watched in the basement: Isabelle, Josephine, and Cinnamon! It was, apparently, a 'cheesy' one. (They picked their own videos!) Grampa and I watched Olympics to catch our breath, and put our feet up. 

After spaghetti and meatballs, with meatball jokes from Grampa, we watched America's Got Talent while Isabelle had her shower. Lights out by 9:30! 

Life and mystery birds

Lots to amuse us. Grampa continues his wall exercises for his torn rotator cuff. I usually count aloud, to try throw him off his count. (What do we have but time?!) Now, I just walk by and he giggles.

We rented some movies to pass the time. We were watching The Kitchen, a pretty vulgar, in parts gruesome, movie with Melissa McCarthy. It was about mobster wives back in the 70s. McCarthy's character was sitting counting money aloud, complained she lost count. Another female lead,   Elisabeth Moss, start spewing random numbers, as I do. We looked at one another and hooted!

COVID–19

COVID–19 reports are better than expected in Canada, although intel tells us that the Canadian government knew about it in January. I think we all expected it wouldn't be as bad as this. It wasn't until March that the kids cancelled their April trip to Thailand, Australia and New Zealand. People, media, somebody, has been demanding forecasts of cases, which include best and worst case scenarios.

Quebec has had horrid issues with long-term care (LTC), although it's all over both provinces in LTC and retirement homes. Workers (primarily personal support workers paid $15/hour) aren't getting PPE, although most have gloves and cheap masks. They don't protect the eyes, and the PSWs go from home-to-home.  

Quebec coroner’s office launches investigation into Montreal long-term-care home, where 31 seniors have died since March 13

B.C. and Alberta have been flattening the curve. Yukon and the NWT are trying hard to keep stupid white people away. 

Ontario and Quebec, not so much. They are still triaging testing, so not everyone has been tested who could have been. They are limiting it to healthcare workers, and people with symptoms. Quebec should have far fewer cases, according to the population. 

Science is really important. It's easier in some countries rather than others. Ours is so large, with very unique provinces and territories. Most of our populations live near the US/Canadian borders.

Iceland's population is about 364,000. The Netherlands is about 17 million. Ontario is about 15 million, so you can see the difference.

Personal grooming

I know they say not to, but I used the electric razor on my hair. It was down over my ears. My right eye is so bad. Having my hair in my face was driving me nuts.

We will manage. Once a week shopping. I'll be happy if cottagers go home. There were parties, we could tell from our local general store. Not in there buying goods, but loading up on booze for the weekend. We've relied on them for odds and sods. Hydro workers are picking up sandwiches, etc., and they just shouldn't take these risks.

It's a warm day, with a front having moved in. Lots of rain! Apparently, high winds will follow. Just what we need, a power outage! OK, gotta live in the present moment.

Josephine showed Grampa how to download on his Kindle. She's been reading books from her library on her iPad. The prices of eBooks on Amazon are atrocious, and they seem to have been raised in the time of COVID–19. The Kindle doesn't work with our library's eBooks. 

I asked about Josee's iPad app. It's called Libby. Caitlin checked, while we were on the phone, and it turns out it worked. I loaded it up for him, and we logged him in. Voila!

I've given up on the chorus frog survey. I'm disappointed, but there was too much driving. The spring peepers continue, as well as the wood frogs. I think I heard a tree frog this morning.

Meantime, ANOTHER mystery bird.

mystery bird from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I've had my fair share of them. Thankfully, I've time to figure them out.

 
mystery bird in the trees from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Consensus is:

mystery bird –purple finch from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

This one was solved by experts, too. I never did see it.

Mystery bird sound - Black-billed Cuckoo from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The birds are coming back!

The rains are here, again. We anticipate 50 mm today, there is a rainfall warning. Texas sent us their bad storms, which have gone from horrific tornadoes to just heavy rain storms. The Tay River is pretty swollen. I drive along there for my physio. The road is full of puddles and mud holes!



With the snow melt, the ticks are back. I checked Daisy, nothing. Annie sported her first one. We removed it and popped it into the jar of rubbing alcohol.
I'm really happy to see the turkeys feeding, as they eat the ticks for us! We have a flock of 13 that hang about.


Some birds don't leave for the winter. Others, like the goldfinch, have changed back from their drab olive winter colours, back to their yellows! The song sparrow and the purple finch returned on Wednesday!

The woodpecker is a hoot. I cannot photograph the process adequately, but she was sticking her tongue into the bird feeder to grab a seed! I just cannot photograph it through the window and the mesh of the feeder.

And, finally, the American Woodcock is back! That mysterious Eeeepp. It took me a long time to figure that one out!