Things are growing!

The trees are wonderful.

Praise be for autofocus! The spruce tree looks amazing.

Then, there is candytuft!

The frog pond looks wonderful, too. We've just one nest box in use by a wood duck.
The greens are growing. We'll need the muskrats back to clean it out.

The goldfish are doing well.

Maggie Magnolia is about to bloom. I just have to remember to go see it. There are a lot of bugs in the front yard!

Nutmeg sitting amongst the periwinkle flowers. She brought in a chipmunk. I let her in as I was certain she'd put it down. She did. In the basement. It ran into the bathroom and the door is closed. I'm just having my coffee until I figure out a strategy. 

The cats worked in tandem to tree a dratted red squirrel. (DRS) I'm not sure who was in the tree. I think Nutmeg. sigh.

Cat trees from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Progress is being made... duck box baffle, flowers, goldfish pond

garter snake

It was early to bed last night.
I've been barely able to focus on the computer, feeling bone weary. I keep the requests for free advertising (on my blog) in a file. Yesterday, the total files have now reached 1000. There are quite a few people who think I would want to place free ads for them. Sigh. It is time consuming to weed through it all.

Things are coming along outside. The wood will get stacked. I don't want it to sit on the ground and rot. My priority, yesterday, was the goldfish pond. I was about to give up, then I made progress.

With any luck, the nearest side is done!

Hubby raked some more branches, then he began to paint the veggie garden fence. I can see the rhubarb beginning to sprout. I didn't do veggies last year. The critters get into it too much.

 Everything is waking up, including the bugs these garter snakes eat for us. It's a wonderful time of year. Few bugs, and the warmth of the sun. It's cool in the morning, and hauling wood is good at this time of year.

My first job, yesterday, was putting up a baffle around Wood duck box #3. I went into town and

Wood duck box #2
with baffle

bought the baffle, and ordered prescription sun glasses. My new glasses are great, but it's been quite sunny!
There are signs of a duck being in the box, but no feathers for a nest. I'd hate to lose it to critters if she does lay.

Daisy was a bit nervous. Too much noise all around.

She hid on the piled wood

I took a break to 'smell the roses', although they aren't anywhere NEAR time to bloom! This periwinkle, a groundcover flower, poisonous if ingested. And my feeble forsythia (year two). Bambi likes it, apparently...

Daisy and I went down to the frog pond to put a baffle on the new Wood duck house. She isn't happy with me using the noisy tractor. The OPP are recertifying and the gunfire is awful. In the meantime, I spotted a Hermit Thrush, the Mourning Dove nest, and a woodpecker. Ms. duck turned up, but flew off when she saw me.

Frog pond from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I'm thinking about the next project... the well cover had to be removed in the winter, when our pump failed and was replaced. I'm trying to figure out a snappy new cover. The wood around it is beginning to rot, and I cannot even lift the roof all alone. It sits, sawed off and tipped over. Any clever ideas, peeps?

Well cover tips