Morning walkies

 No, not me! Joseph Brian usually walks in town in the morning. He took his camera – and look what he found! These are from Friday morning.

It turned out to be a frosty foggy day. Water has temperature inertia, and takes longer to lower its temperatures. With the sudden - 4 C. morning, it was the perfect time for fog.

Then, Saturday morning! It's not bad for a little pocket camera.

Just on the ground was a heron. Our heron rookeries we can see from the highway have been deserted. I haven't seen any flying, but this one was right by the river.  It took off in the time it took JB to get his camera turned on!

🍁Fall Cleanup

I finished off cleaning the eavestrough, chopped off some of the dead plants, mulched more leaves. I am endlessly sweeping out the garage, what with the blowing leaves. All of the hanging baskets are done. I've set them in the garden, until I figure out what I'll do with them. 

I still have to figure out how to prepare the canna lily for winter. I think I have to dry it and put it in a paper bag in the basement. I have deferred that project, although I've dug it up for winter. In the back ground, I've cut down the catnip. I should have brought some in and dried it for the cats. Maybe today!

Have yourself a fine day, if you can. 

 

Sphinx, robin, katydid, and the smoke

The garden contains lots of critters.

Tis the season of the nocturnal sphinx! Xylophanes tersa Tersa Sphinx A great, long proboscis!

My lovely balloon flowers!

Katydid

And the monarch caterpillars are doing well.

In the night, Olive the doe set off the camera. You can see Butch running in the background!  Doe in the night 

I shall miss the robins. They took off Monday morning, This is the last video of them in the nest. July 17/18th. Robins  

July 19, I was working in the yard and I could hear a juvenile robin begging for food. If you watch to the end, you'll see its parent shove food in its mouth. It was a serviceberry, and it spit it out. No veggies and fruit for the teenager! baby robin  

We had a hazy day. There are wildfires in northern Ontario, as well as nearly 300 fires British Columbia. 

The smoke is drifting a long, long way. It's over 4000 km and six of the provinces have smoke.

I am hoping for rain to clear us out. 

This is predicted for this morning.
We shall see!

Underneath all this smoke are 5 Great Lakes. pic.twitter.com/eDm7ufZLY9

— Anthony Farnell (@AnthonyFarnell) July 19, 2021

Ontario Fire info maps

  

Fire Smoke Canada

This website shows the current smoke across the continent.  It's an amazing interactive map.

Dry Stone Legacy Bridge in Perth

more photos:
Canadian Dry Stone Festival

This project is  a bit different, as this is DRY STONE WORK. There is no cement involved! It is a massive project. As part of Perth, Ontario's 200th Anniversary, they are reimagining the old swimming pool and building the Dry Stone bridge. They began July 22nd.

Perth, Ontario, was founded in 1816, after the ware of 1812 was done, by the Scottish settlers, immigrants with a bit of coin, who imported Scottish stone masons. Their work can be seen throughout the city. You can see them working to repair the old Perth Museum stone wall.

I noticed the stones in the parking lot whilst visiting the park during Stewart Park Music Festival , then realized the plan. A bit of research was easy.

The Beginning July 16th

For the Canadian Dry Stone Festival, Perth hosted 40 professional dry stone masons, from across Canada, the UK, and the US, who do this kind of work. Dry Stone Canada is one of the sponsors of the project. Students of the Heritage Masonry Program at the Algonquin College Heritage Institute are the participants. This the Facebook page for Dry Stone Canada.

stone bridge Perth

The students began in the classroom, at the Algonquin campus. They imported stones from Les Carrières Ducharme (Quarries), from the saw shop in Havelock, Quebec. The students had to shape the geometry of the main project, and create individual templates for each stone. They use only traditional chisels and mallets to cut and dress the stones in the shop.

During the Festival (July 22 - 24), the students worked with the professional wallers. Next, the students boned-in (to true and square) the large stones, and cut out geometric voussoirs of the 12-foot span arch for the bridge.  A voussoir is a wedge-shaped element, typically a stone, used in building an arch or vault.^[1]

July 29th 

I stopped for a peek. These photos are from the other side of the river. Lots of people hard at work.

 Sept. 1st

Hot, hard work!
 

Sept. 2nd

 

 Sept. 9th

 

Sept. 11

It was completed last weekend. On our way to town, Sept. 15th, we popped by.
Town staff were watering it down. There are a few things yet to be done, but it looks amazing.
There is a set of steps down to the pool.