Fall is in the air

 We had manager Jamie in from Aussie Tree Care for a quote on taking down our dead elms in the upper meadow (Dutch Elm disease 😑). They are still seeding themselves, but not surviving too long. In the meantime, I worked on trimming this Maple (on the right) on the driveway. The propane delivery people back up the driveway, and I want to make it easier to see. 

I'm not sure one can see a difference! Maybe that is a good thing. I used the reciprocating saw on the branches. It takes ages, since it doesn't hold a charge too long, even with my spare battery. OK, I must be honest, I don't last too long either, with saw dust blowing in my eyes, and holding the heavy tool. 

I threw the branches onto the vacant lot. I am hoping to encourage the sumacs to come back. They are suffering from various periods of drought, on shallow soil. Let's see if this helps. 

Jeremiah seems to be keeping the smaller leopard and green frogs away. Happy dance. I will have to figure out when to move him to the frog pond for winter. 

He is an asset. He'll need time to bury himself in the mud for winter.

It is time for Autumn decor, as many are doing inside and outside their homes. I like the changes in seasons, and changing things up. Maybe it is just that after doing bulletin boards and display cases in school for 25 years, it's in my blood! 

I'm at the point where I forget where I've put things, and find them in a different season. I may run with that some time, just to keep everyone on their toes! 😆 

I took out the Fall flag, and found life imitating art. 

🕷Can you see it?! 

The horse chestnut tree is providing much food for the Dratted Red Squirrel (DRS). They have a little collection under the tree. I've never seen both the black squirrel and red squirrel eating them like they have been this year. 

I've moved Peter to the deck. Last year I put pine cones in his wheelbarrow. 

I thought he could carry the chestnuts in his wheelbarrow until winter, when the critters are desperate. Apparently, they are desperate now! 

All that was left in the wheelbarrow was one chestnut, and a cluster of rose hips. Apparently, they were good eating! Ain't nature grand?!

It is rutting season!

 Here it is, 5:30 a.m., and I actually slept after turning my light out at 9 p.m. last night. Normally, I've a couple of posts ready to go, but this gun range has us going. 

I have 67 emails tagged with 'gun range,' with the subsequent back and forths on it all. JB has 169 emails, of a similar nature. Navigating a leaderless, ad hoc group is quite the challenge. Allright, enough venting. There are a million ideas of what we could do. It's settling into a good plan, and getting people on board, that is the challenge. Two women have managed to get 300 signatures. That is a time-consuming project. Many of us have our adult kids helping, too. There are many people with much expertise in various areas. 

I've fall chores to do. I did an online order for a new drain pipe, which cracked and fall apart. The water barrel is emptied and upside down. Next I must put out some more lights. It cheers us up, despite not having anyone seeing them. Caitlin is still in Punta Cana. Apparently karaoke night was last night! It's proven to be a great spot for their vacation.

This video is a fine selfie by a buck. This was a few days ago. It highlights the pumpkin eaters!

 

Peter, Peter from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The snowfall on the pumpkins is lovely. The driveway melted and the snow evaporated. 

The frogpond looks lovely, sometime I will clean out the nest boxes. Non-mental note, I'd like to clean out the one nesting box before spring. I ought to move the one that hasn't been used in a couple of years. The weasel got those eggs one year, and the box should be moved.

It is rutting season. I suspect that this is a deer scrape. We've two males hanging about. The females go into heat for 24 hours, and the males can smell it. They will follow the female until it is time. 

They stake out their territory, scraping the snow and debris away, then they urinate on their glands on the bare space. They will nudge a hanging branch above, spreading their boy smells! This look like that is what they did at the base of the evergreen. 

If my new camera was working, I've gone through three sets of 8 batteries, beginning with rechargeables, and going to regular batteries, over a few days. 

This is what rutting season looks like! He followers her, and just gets her mad! He looks to be two or three years old, and I think she is a fawn (1-year-old) or a yearling (2-year-old). She just ain't havin' none of it! Oh, I laughed. I think I dated a couple of men like this, between husbands! 

 

buck & doe from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Peter, Peter, pumpkin eater!

 We've a new buddy. JB suggested we call him Peter! 

The dude delivering a parcel sat and watched Peter for 30 seconds! Peter was there for most of the day.

 

buck & pumpkins from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

There was a young buck, as well.

 

BUCK from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

🍓I had to order some groceries. My personal assistant is still laid up. (Hooray Dr. Ho and pain cream.) The grocery stores really developed their technology throughout COVID. I ordered my stuff, selected a time (there were many time slots), and got an email saying they had my order. 

Next morning, both a phone call and an email confirming substitutions. The email had a hotlink, and when I arrived at the proper parking station, I touched the button, it goes to another screen, when I tap in parking spot #4. This means I have to take our house phone shopping. We don't have a landline. I nearly forgot it, too. Sadly, I had forgotten my reading glasses and could barely read the tiny screen prompts! 

Anyway, a young lady brought my loot out to me. And we have more food. 

Birds, no bees

 Just when I don't know what to post... stuff happens that I have to tell my peeps about. The goldfinches are wearing their winter couture. I managed a nice close-up of the pair on the tray feeder, grabbing the zoom lens, but they were blurry. Not so lovely! They moved to the other feeder. That I managed.

Speaking of blurry photos, this is a photo fail. The branch is right across her face! She was stomping at Cinnamon who was rolling around on the sidewalk.

Fall chores

I managed to stack three loads of wood. That was enough. Exercise is good for lots of things that ail us. It takes your mind off things, at the very least. We've been struggling this week with our health. We are being kind to one another. 

While I was in the wood shed, I managed to move a partial row. I'll do more another day. I want to move as much as I can before the snow flies. Then, I have to haul the wood with the sled. 

I found evidence of Fred the groundhog or gopher, or whatever the heck he is, in the shed. Smack dab in the middle of the photo you can see a tunnel under the wood. To the left of it, a nice pile of dirt. I haven't seen Fred in ages (archive photo)!

I saw another toe biter. As I was looking at it, I spotted another frog or two. The crazy frogs just don't know what is best for them. I guess they have water, and find this a good place to be after the normal drought in August. They have no idea that it is a bad place for them in during freeze thaws in the winter!

 There were three here, one just dove for the depths, all you can see is the rings on the water. I caught one, and sent JB to the frogpond with it. As I looked, there were two more on the side of the goldfish pond. My body said to stop and give up for the day. Moving the froggies <= That mean we've moved 38, with at least 4 left. 

JB finished his walk and offered to go with me down to the store for lawn tractor gas and a beer run. He's on meds and cannot drive. He offered to grab me a frozen pizza, as well. I took him up on his offer. I am so achy! 

I am still collecting chestnuts! I have no idea how to roast them, and I've no energy to try. They sure are pretty.

 🐻SNUGGLE Bears – Grampa was creative. I found the castle behind the couch. We used to play with it so much.