Crumbly Acres

There were frost warnings, again. I covered the ivy, but left the rest of the plants, like the eaten pansies! Last night I brought the baskets in and covered the larger planters. They predicted a low of 6 C., I watched as the outdoor temperature kept getting lower and lower. Yep, out in housecoat and jammies to cover them up!

We went to the city for a marathon appointment, again. More on that tomorrow.

 The new aspen saplings (decimated by the LDD spongy moth caterpillars in June, 2021), have done well, and recovered with new leaves. They are twice as tall. The previous owners kept this as meadow, and kept mowing it. I stopped, loving the quaking aspen leaves.

On the deck, a couple of fireflies doing what fireflies do in spring. I keep forgetting to check for them at night. Ain't old age grand?!

These aren't our nighttime fireflies. 

Fred has been a challenge. I put Emily up on a stand. That worked well. 

He is staying away from the deck, lately. This was a few days ago.

Fred May 19 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

He hasn't been under the deck, grinding his teeth on the wood. I did discover he'd dug a den under the woodshed behind the wood, under the slats. The pile of dirt was a giveaway.

JB came home from shopping on Tuesday and saw a dead groundhog on the highway. He asked me to come help get the carcass off the highway. By the time we did so, it was gone. Our County crews are pretty good at this. We were worried it was Fred. It was bittersweet. I saw Fred that afternoon, and was quite relieved. 

April 15th I took this photo of the empty lot across the street. It must have been this one that was hit crossing the highway. 

I was looking to have a new cover made for my bench swing. The old one has a hole, and it leaks when it rains. I've been rethinking it, and maybe I just need a box in which to store the pillows out of the rain. I tried to waterproof it, but the material is flimsy. I was going to ask our local seamstress to make us a waterproof one, but she was terribly busy with weddings!

May, 2021

I was searching online and found some plastic/vinyl ones. The comments were tragic, with shoddy designs. Not only that, but they are sold out everywhere!

Someone wrote:

"This box is super flimsy… we will probably be replacing ours this summer and we’ve only used it one summer. "

The deer remain only on the trailcams out by the frogpond.

doe may 17 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Phoebe has two eggs left of 4, and one has hatched.

phoebe nest shed from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Bear was back, and still itchy. We haven't seen him, except on the trailcam. He's a good bear.

Bear 5 pm may 21 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Made it to Thursday!

 'Spring' unfolds as it should. It is a tad chilly. The spring bulbs will be fine. Can you see the daffodils?! 

It snowed, not enough to accumulate, which is good. We expect heavy snow in three provinces today!

In our hot weather, I took away the heated bird bath topper (thank you, AC!), and filled the cement bird bath. As we watched the forecast, I realized that it was going to freeze. I ran out in the cold and the dark and drained it. Me bad.

 The snow blower is put away! The battery is shot in the lawn tractor, and our repairman is picking it up on Friday. I think it is the battery. I recharged it three times, and finally noticed a message: F03, which means it has leaked inside it. 

battery recharger

Bob will take care of it for us. He'll load the lawn tractor up on his trailer, after pushing it past all the tree debris, and have his dude in the shop work on it. He's not a young man, and I feel badly, I usually try to have it nearer the driveway.

Our arborists cancelled for yesterday. There are staffing issues, they've been working double shifts. The branches aren't going anywhere! I texted Caitlin: 

I summoned some energy, and toottled on down to the frogpond. I still hadn't remembered to check for the tool I might need to rescue the dead tree from the raccoon baffle. I took ANOTHER photo to remind me. When I upload the photos, it is my non-mental note, which doesn't work well these days! Anyway, I was sure I had stapled it to the tree, but I'd used roofing nails. The metal of both from a stove pipe, and the red bit from old eavestrough, were well stuck on the tree. 

Off I went up to the house, pleased with myself. When I arrived, I figured if not now, when? Back down I went, with my late father's red hammer, and ripped it all off. It looks so much better not being there. Incongruous, I thought. In hindsight, I should have taken gloves!

No more action on the part of the phoebes. The nest looks lovely. After I wrote this, I noticed them out back. This is where the lawn tractor is stored, as well as the snow blower.

phoebe nest from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I found another partial nest under the deck. I wondered if it was a new pair or he was giving her a choice. It was somewhat chilly these last few days. 

They are lovely little nests, made of moss and mud and twigs. 

One of the goldfish is on its last legs. We haven't gotten around to a field trip to look for more. We've 5 left, and numbers are dwindling.

Pepper hasn't come back since April 12th. 

 

Pepper from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

We shall see what today brings! I hope you have a good one.

Frogs, snakes, diving beetles, bat

Spring unfolds... I heard a gray tree frog sing on Sunday, April 16th.

Ditch diving, I spotted a leopard frog.

I submitted my water beetle photo to iNaturalist. Someone kindly identified it for me. 

Understriped Diving BeetleDytiscus fasciventris

 🐣PHOEBE  has returned for nesting season.

I noticed action down by the shed. (You'll note the tree branches which still have to be cleaned up.)

Phoebe has begun a nest. Unfortunately it is on a cross beam, which critters can climb. 

They are not the tidiest pair! They've splattered mud on the roof of the shed!

I put a baffle around the post beneath the nest. I thought it safe, as there are many climbing predators.

 

I was checking on the phoebe nest, when I nearly stepped on a garter snake in the doorway. I know who was to blame. He likes to bring them up out of the woods. He was duly scolded. 

Cinnamon was rolling around on the sand pile Fred Groundhog dug one year. I moved the snake before I scared Cinn out of the shed, took him walkies, which tired him out, and I threw him in the house.

He has been watched carefully. The birds are just too fast for them. On our large lawn they see him coming a mile away. Mostly he releases the reptiles. 

We try to let the cats out for a good run in the early morning. Then, having not fed them, they hustle in for breakfast. It works pretty well. Now, Cinnamon is such a sweet boy. He is scared to death of Pepper, our newest visitor cat. Three times over the last 4 days, he waits by the door for JB to come back in after his walk, dekes out the door faster that a speeding bullet. At that point, he is out until he is hungry again. 

Cinnamon & snake from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I moved the trailcam back to the end of the pond. Something has been chewing on the strap! There was a snake at the base of the tree. I don't think the snake is to blame.

This is a garter snake protecting the trailcam, frozen at the base of the tree! It was hoping I wouldn't notice it sitting there. 

I spotted Fred groundhog across the highway!

In the evening, we were sitting watching Endeavour, when a bat flew into the room. Happily, it landed on the chimney brick while I fetched the butterfly net. JB was stationed at the door and I hustled it outside. That was an adventure. Josephine would have loved it!

 

Gramma Camp – Week 30

That was a night, Wednesday. The TV refused to work. Long story short, the basement TV worked. Jos brought the basement TV upstairs, we tried it, and the old satellite box. Nope. We tried the basement box and it worked. Then I tried contacting Shaw. She insisted that we reattach the old box, and try again. SIGH. Jos unhooked and rehooked it all up. It worked. Go figure...

The day dawned, Thursday. Phoebe continues to look after its nest. 

Phoebes and the cowbird hatched Monday, May 24th. I took a peak Thursday, they would be 4 days old. They fledge in a couple of weeks. phoebe nest  

The crows are still feeding in the nest. We had a big wind yesterday, clouds, but little rain. (We could use some!) I still could not spot the crow's nest. It's been too cold to sit out, but their behaviour is interesting. One sits in the tree and looks for predators. Crows 🐦

I mentioned forgetting to get a tall plant for the blue planter. Caitlin gifted me a spike for my flower pot. She was shopping for herself, and she thought of me! She is a peach. I love her so much! The water fountain is pretty busy these days. busy birdbath 

Phlox is in bloom, as well as the rhododendron! 

The 11:00 a.m. 'nutrition break' came. I could hear one girl preparing her lunch soup. Ducking out to the kitchen, I looked and just one girl. "That's not like Izzy to miss a meal!" Bless her heart, she was working on school work and lost track of time. Jos ate her hot soup outside. Isabelle had leftover tourtière, I told her to nuke it for a minute. That was too long, so she took it outdoors to cool. The roasted carrots disappeared at dinner.

During the afternoon session, I caulked around the window where the ants were coming in. There was a significant gap. Our avocados aren't growing yet. Jos and I planted those. 

I asked Isabelle if she'd ever used a sander. She has not. Jos was still working, but she has, Izzy assured. Turns out, we needed more sandpaper for the sander. I ordered it. In the meantime, Isabelle collected grass seed from the lawn. She made a pile of them. I love seeing her outside playing the way she used to as a wee one.

Hopeful of a volunteer, I grabbed the clippers to do the overgrown grass. (JB's arm isn't well enough to do this.) Isabelle asked if she could help. Of course! 

The jack-in-the-pulpit is growing, and much taller than last year. 

The vine is growing nicely! The day before I poked it up to the deck, and Josephine pulled it up to the railing.

I decided to work on the 6th fairy light that doesn't light up. Isabelle offered help, again. She took it all apart for me, but we couldn't find an obvious fix.

It's been a busy few days. After dinner, Grampa Joe  put on a Dr. What show. Puns and jokes galore! It was much longer, but this is the gist.

Friday, it's a cold one. I brought in my cherry tomato planter overnight. The temperature is 3 C. and we could have some snow, if you look closely. This is unusual in May. 

Both girls discussed their schoolwork. They have a couple of things due today, and then, a weekend. They had a pretty good week, despite the bugs. I went down to the trailcams alone. My arms are covered in blackfly bites, they are bad down in the forest. There was an issue with a tree, to be disclosed later! 

Josephine is working on groundwater, en français.