Frosty morning

 I rolled out of bed Wednesday, and checked the thermometers. It was 1 C., and I'm glad I brought the hanging baskets in. The Weather Network said we were at 0.  Today we are a cold. There is frost out back in the yard. Out front we are good. I remember the year we had a spring frost which took out a lot of the milkweed. 

Thousands of people were without power in the Ottawa. Ottawa Hydro never seems to give totals, but if I click on each red bubble and total them up it looks like 12,784 homes out of power. They came back up shortly, but not a good morning to be without power.

Then there is out west. Wildfires have displaced tens of thousands of people. Climate Change is real, peeps. 

🐻 What else is happening in Ottawa? Well, Ottawa has a bear in Centrepointe, and twin cubs in Bell's Corners – not too far away, where the kids live. Bears are on the move.  I'm glad I put the feeders away. The girls are playing it safe, avoiding the park going to school. 

Ottawa police put out guidelines. This has worked for me the once I came across a bear in the forest.

I brought the plants in, Cinnamon supervised. I put them out for the day.

Caitlin's wool baby blanket worked! 

I overturned a pot on the impatience. They came out well.

Outside the garage, another overturned pot did the trick. You can see the one leaf that I didn't tuck under, and it was rather wilted. I removed the pot, the sun came out, and it warmed up to 12 C. yesterday.

🐣 I did a walkabout, bundled up, for sure. The robin had 7 eggs, I could see two hatchlings, and only 2 or 3 eggs. I wonder what I will see today...

I think the robins will do OK, though. We have many, some have already fledged. Venturing down to the meadow, I encountered a juvenile robin, and its parents. They yelled at me from the trees, afraid I would hurt their baby.

 

Robin family & bugs from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The other nest under the deck, the phoebe nest with 4 phoebe and one cowbird egg, is still intact.

I'm wondering if a weasel or the fisher has been about. The phoebes nesting in the shed are missing 2 eggs. There were 4. 

 

I tried to recover my saw, embedded in the tree branch I was trying to cut down, but failed. I'll need a larger ladder. Sigh. Another project for the To Do list. 

If a tree falls in the forest...  

 

Nesting, songs, and spring critters

 This is a sure sign of spring. TWO nests: 1) The robin is out at the front. On the beam. 2) The phoebe is refurbishing the old nest from last year. It is located on the shelf I repurposed for them.

Outdoor decor

I was thinking of getting an arbour. There are two places for it. 

The purpose is to have something to dissuade the deer from eating my asiatic lilies. It worked well having a fence last year, but it sure wasn't sturdy. They just ambled right up the sidewalk.  

Any thoughts, creative gardeners?

The flicker is busy finding bugs. I'm not sure where they are nesting, maybe in the old, dead elm tree. This photo I took with the zoom lens on, through the window. It's trickier than it looks! I liked the look on her face! We've a kestrel nesting not far away, and they have to be vigilant.

The daffodils are just beginning to bloom.

The periwinkle is in bloom. 

The birdbath and goldfish pond are ready for summer. It's too cold for fishies, but it will warm up soon!

I used BIRDnet to figure out what was singing around the frog pond. 

I think this is a photo of a house finch, but you get the idea, and can hear his song. 

purple finch from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Our COVID cases have not disappeared. We have to be careful. Many are still masking here.

Reader question

Barbara had a good question. "How do you count the frogs?" There are strict protocols, as it is a scientific study. We have training modules. The strategy is to listen to the frogs, and determine the calling level. There is a section of the form where you give a number for call codes.

Call Codes: 0 - No frogs heard; 1- Calls not overlapping and # of calling frogs can be accurately counted; 2- Some calls overlapping but the number of calling frogs can be reliably counted; 3 - Full chorus with continuous overlapping calls indistinguishable from one another.

There are more pieces of information and codes for various data. We use the Beaufort Wind Scale (0 - 4). This is a screen capture of part of the survey sheet.

NaPoWriMo Day 25 – Anaphora

Prompt
Anaphora is a literary term for the practice of repeating certain words or phrases at the beginning of multiple clauses or, in the case of a poem, multiple lines. The phrase “A time to,” as used in the third Chapter of Ecclesiastes, is a good example of anaphora.

 I take a deep breath, beginning anew...
Glorious time of year as garden wakes
I've spent hours using rakes
Creating sanctuary birds return
Twitterpated, I do discern

I take a deep breath, beginning anew...
Chickadees flutter, preen and cajole
Fluttering above the grassy knoll
Surprises daily in my inherited garden
My skills the plants they duly pardon

Painted Lady, flowers

I take a deep breath, beginning anew...
Successes better a list to keep
For past mistakes I've buried deep
Each trial and error and tribulation
Do not require cogitation

I take a deep breath, beginning anew...

As Phoebe begins their ritual yearly

Females taken cavalierly

Daffodils their heads they raise

Springtime's here, we all do praise