Stay "healthy, active and engaged!"

I am a senior. I don't know when that happened. It seems others should be aware. Apparently, others must look after me, to ensure I stay "healthy, active and engaged!" I can't believe how people talk about us as if we aren't in the room. 

OK, rant over! Here I am being engaged in looking at nature. Peony, Allium with a Swallowtail, and the first roses.

After the first, there were more!

This is one of the Eastern Comma and Question Mark butterflies. They are very similar. They both like the Hops Vine.

Phoebe is nesting under the deck. She was quite keen on the Eastern Comma butterfly who wants to lay eggs in the Hops vine. The butterfly got away! 

butterfly attacked from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Another mystery. There was a small critter  on the sidewalk, I put the camera out there. Look who I found!

Hare tails from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

To quote Barb: "– after 2 days of forecasts that were fabrications..."  <= We had that as well. 

Finally, we had rain! A grand total of 3 storms flying by 45mm, AKA 1.75". 

Our doe still looks pregnant.

Pregnant doe from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

So does Fred! May 31st, Fred was still nest building📹.  May 28, Fred was caught in the rain📹. 

 

Fred June 2 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Monday began with frost

 That was a shock: frost. The poor daffodils! When I put garbage out at 7:30, they were droopy!

I went back out for a walk after things warmed up. Look at them holding up their little heads!

They are so droopy! Poor little tulips.

The peony were falling over! Later in the day they perked up. Whew! 

Grecian Windflower

The Lenten Rose is tricky to photograph. I used the iPhone. If you could picture me bending over, trying to get them in focus! You can see my blue sleeve in the top left corner of the first photo below.

I tried again on Monday... We've rain on the way, I was happy to see the sun.

Grape hyacinth

We had deer visit. They are happy grazing.

There was a trio of bucks. 

We'll see what today brings!

Happy summer solstice!

🚁It's been a sad week for our armed forces. A CH-147F Chinook helicopter went down near the Garrison Petawawa base during a training exercise. just after midnight. Two soldiers were taken to hospital, but two are missing. There were military members, OPP, and local firefighters looking for survivors. 

They took the two survivors to hospital by air ambulance with non-life threatening injuries.

They were worried about pollution in the water, and the town of Petawawa has stopped taking water from the river, while they are taking water from Pembroke. 

It is peony season. I cut some and decided, with the ants on them, I'd keep them on the back deck. The bugs have lessened enough to sit out here. Sadly, we've blackflies, mosquitoes, and now: deerflies. They are early. 

 The durn orchid kept falling over. It has grown over a few years. From Jan., 2020, I repotted it. 

I am doing something right! So many flowers. Basically, I use goldfish tank water to water them, and it sits under a plant light. You can see the burned leaf from last year out on the back deck. Me bad.

My orchid stand arrived.  It is a simple design, but flexible. There are two sets of cross bars, I only used one set. It is brilliant. 

It is back indoors, now. The sun is too much for it. It is much less tipsy! 

The first milkweed plant to bloom. 

The Catalpa tree is in bloom! They just popped. I was out refilling the water fountain and took photos with the iPhone.

Hooray spring!

On the back lawn, the wild strawberries are out! Our local farm is open for picking. I might send JB for another basket! My first rhubarb crisp of the season was great.

We are watching: Striking Out, about Dublin lawyers, after our day is done. I quite like it. 

VIMEO is having issues with their pages. I hope they fix it soon. I've a bear video, as well. I hope this is the goldfinch. Let me know if you can view it. UPDATE: it is still broken, so I removed it. Thanks for letting me know. How disappointing. 

This morning's sunrise.

Where did the weekend go?

Goodbye to the old licence plate. We decided to go for a generic one. My name has been in the paper a couple of time. Just because you are paranoid it doesn't mean they aren't out to get you!

I filled up the fountain, we snacked for dinner after our late lunch. Then I built a strawberry rhubarb crisp. The strawberries and rhubarb are from Miller's Bay farm nearby. I covered it up with the bee's wax cover. (It was a gift, Lee Valley Tools!) We will have this for dessert for a few days, although we don't normally have a dessert.

We watched our most recent online show, Dalgliesh, and I konked out by 9 p.m. 

Sunday morning, for Father's Day, Nutmeg nuked some veggies sausages for her daddy. I helped, of course. He is a wonderful step-father, and a terrific grandfather, and we love him!

It's a beautiful time of year, aside from the bugs. We await the monarch butterflies. The milkweed plants in the front are just about to bloom. The smell will be incredible.

 

Clematis and allium. 

The Bartzella peony have set 4 blossoms. I've pink and white peonies, as well. Only the white have an aroma.

We cannot ignore the simple whites.

I cleaned out the pond pump. Percy is still alone in the pond. I've not decided what to do with Percy and his yummy friends. Normally, I get a break shutting down the indoor 60 gallon aquarium. 

I nearly stepped on the spider. It appears to have eggs on its back. This is just with the iPhone. 

Fred is obviously pregnant, the poor thing looks like how I felt when I was 9 months pregnant!

Fred yawns from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.