Saturday's Critters

 We have critters on the move! During the drought, things were pretty quiet out there. I am happy to report lots of them are on the trailcam. Some both come and go, maybe a day or two apart, others rush by headed for somewhere!

Cinnamon and I went down to fetch the memory cards. Just for fun, I videotaped Cinnamon as I asked him about going 'walkies!' He also knows the word, 'dinner!'

   

 I found our porcupine. 

   

 We haven't seen the fawn since I spotted it on the Crumbly Acres camera, just after it was born out front.  Here they are in the forest at the frog pond trailcam.

 

Fisher Otter Aug. 16  I think Jim is right! 

   

 3 turkeys

 

Then there is the skunk!I love that bushy tail.

 

Saturday's Critters # 611 <= for more critters, visit Eileen. 

Saturday's Critters

 I have moved a trailcam. A doe went leaping by.

This is a lovely silk scarf, in the heat of the day it keeps the bugs off of my shoulders. 

My cap captures the deerflies. 

Cinnamon sticks to the back deck. Ain't no flies on us! Ne nestled himself in beside the goldfish plant. 

Cat on Deck! This isn't our cat. It's been an infrequent visitor. Thankfully.

 

Porcupine is back! July 13

 

  Black squirrel! (Not #75, I don't think!)

   

  Fred munches!

   

  Fred runs! Fred was caught on video running up the driveway. I turned the camera the other way to try see where she is going. Pffft. I turned it some more yesterday. I still don't know where she is going.

   

  Bear July 15th, he even rattles the camera. You can hear him snuffle.

 

Saturday's Critters # 605 <= visit more critters at Eileen's meme.

Saturday's Critters

Update on our Freds, I noticed a miniFred in the borrow under the shed. We had a chat. I told her to watch out for predators. 

Meantime, A/C's Sue had a question. I have a frogpond trailcam. One needs to set up a 'camera trap' on a path that is restricted by, for example, bodies of water. This track has the frogpond on the one side, and the wetland on the other. It's about 100m to the camera, but it is down a hill, through the forest, and well out of sight of the house. 

I do like porcupines! They just waddle on through the critter path.

 

The coyote with the bad leg still has a bad leg.

   

 I give you bear!

   

 This is funny. Couldn't the flicker have been fully in frame? I'll have to had a word with it.

 

Another great place for a camera trap is the driveway. The doe on the driveway didn't seem thrilled with the heavy rain. We've had some spotty storms running through.

   

 The fox has been back, on the driveway, just trotting in. You can see the camera lights on the house.

 

Saturday's Critters # 604 visit Eileen's critter meme.

Camera Critters

I arrived home Thursday from Ottawa. Mini-Freds have been digging and I have to deal with that. 

It is finally Spring, the 8 fishies are out in the pond. The pond lilies aren't growing yet, but they'll hid under the leaves. I think there is a hole in the goldfish pond. Plus we've not had much rain, it's not filling itself up from the rain barrel. 

Anyway, critters... I've been focusing on Fred and mini-Freds 1 & 2. I've neglected the other critters. The spring peeper tadpoles!

   

 The red-eyed vireos are seemingly in full nesting mode. Singing away! 

   

 The coyotes have been very active in May. They took two groundhog kits, which is why groundhogs have 2 - 9 kits!

 

They like the driveway as a travel path! This one crossed the yard.

   

 The porcupine has appeared twice on the trailcams lately.

 

More chores today. We'll see what trouble the groundhogs get into. I've 3 blackfly bites from yard work. I should have put on bug spray and sunscreen. sigh. 

Crumbly Acres Critters

Big day today! Garbage is out. I phoned the grandies, no answer! I texted both, and the 15-year-old is "working on it" – getting the 17-year-old up and out of bed! 

It's a cold one. Fred was busy rebuilding her next under the lower deck. She does this every year. I haven't seen any kits. 

The people in my trailcam camera group think this is a groundhog not a muskrat. Others complained, some that groundhogs ruined their veggie garden, or chewed on stuff. We can share our 16 acres with the critters!  

The frogpond trailcam has seen some action. Sadly, it looks like one of our raccoons has mange. 

 

 There is a buck who makes frequent appearances.

 

Maybe it is the same buck?! They won't wear name tags.

 

Coyote has been frequent, as well.

 

Then, there is porcupine. A regularly irregular visitor.

 

Someone on the lake spotted one in daylight a couple of km away, which is highly unusual. Several people around the lake have seen them on trailcams. We have long believed that we spotted a bobcat in our backyard. Confirmation came in 2023, a bobcat on our frogpond trailcam: Nov. 2023. 

 The deer fence has been wonderful!

 

Have a great week, all! 

Crumbly Acres Blossoms

Wow, what a change in temperatures. It is just 2 ℃ Wednesday morning.  It was up to 24℃ Wednesday afternoon. Today (Thursday) it was below zero and the bird bath froze. (Yes, I unplugged the heater!) I'm almost afraid to go out and check them.

Lenten Lily

daffodils

A porcupine ambled across the backyard, coming up from the gully to feed on weeds.

Tuesday, April 29th, the storm passed over.

We did some good work, cleaning out the garage. The oak leaves were everywhere. It rather overwhelmed me mentally, but I asked Joe for help. It's such a big job. I decided to give myself permission to just do one side, in a manageable goal. We have a pile ready to go to the dump. I think we should wait until I clean out the shed. 

periwinkle

The trees are in blossom. The grass is very green.

We were headed into town for COVID boosters. This was the windy day. This kind passenger leapt out of the car and moved the recycling bin off the road. Good for her!

The tulips are coming along.

The daffodils have popped up. These were planted in 2023.

YAY SPRING!

Saturday's Critters

I wonder how many critters I miss. Some are so fast. All I have is the skunk's tail! 

I am having trouble with new Vimeo settings. Bear with me!

We've had 3 Monarchs eclose (at least the ones I have seen!) and I imagine that is the last of them.

 

An eagle soars, it is tricky following it, but it keeps me sharp!

It's tricky mowing the lawn! I have to watch for frogs and snakes. The frogs always move in the direction I'm going. 

Porcupine in the dark:

 And a sign of fall! This was Sunday, when the Hydro crew began their work.Saturday's Critters # 562

Saturday's Critters

We are enjoying the last of the critters. Soon they will hunker down. The tree frog likes the camera. This was an unusual spot!

 

Aug. 10th - a buck

Porcupine is so cute!

   

 For some reason it visited the dock!

   

 Then there was a cottontail in the forest.

Butch, on two trailcams, eating grubs.

   

 And the coyote:  

 The turkeys are out in the forest.  

 The fisher came by on both trailcams.

Saturday's Critters # 559 <= I am joining more critter allies!

Saturday's Critters

 I transplanted this sputnik bush. I've had it for years and it isn't doing well. It had a little friend. 

Our buck!

Porcupine

Turkey on both trailcams!  

 The doe was in the forest

 

They move so fast, the coyotes. Porcupine, not so much.

Backyard doe and cottontail

Saturday's Critters # 558 <= visit more critters here.

Porcupine and coyote

 That was a rainy weekend! I had to resort to doing some indoor chores. 😏

Lots of pop-up storms went by. Usually I wait and total them, but that has led to forgetfulness on my part!

I've another arthropod laying eggs. On the back of my Muskoka chair. They are the cutest little fuzzy things. This is a photo using the macro lens on my iPhone. 

Back to the normal lens. The poor thing laid eggs for hours, then dropped off the chair to die. 

The arthropod was the highlight of my day! I finished another couple books, in between storms.

Slowly easing back into regular activities, this bush (Weigela), was encroaching on the path. I trimmed it.

The Great Lobelia is looking... um, great?! The bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds are all attracted to it. Time to put the bench cushions away. 

In the dark, the porcupine ambles around.
 

 The coyote in the forest:

   

  Both on the frogpond trailcam... Coyote seemed to know that porcupines can be dangerous.

 

coyote and porcupine from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Saturday's Critters

It is interesting watching the critters we haven't seen for winter, and others that just hang around. Fred and Freda have been making a nest in the burrow under the deck. The birds have been amazing. The bugs, not so much. The mosquitos and the blackflies are murder. The blackflies are the worst. I get oozing bites after they sneak in like little spy hornets and give it to me. Mostly on my ankles. I forgot bug spray one day! duH! 

We're missing some birds. The wood duck nest was raided. The House Wrens didn't show up. Usually the robins nest under the deck, but they are elsewhere. Happily the phoebe has nested and they have hatched. It's a feeding frenzy! Here she sat and watched me. 

The buck stops here, where he watched Cinnamon!

 

Cinnamon and Buck from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

There was an incident and a chase ensued! Groundhogs are solitary critters, but I think he has a motive!

 

Freda & Fred from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The porcupine had a visit, as well.

 

porcupine May 19 10 pm from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The deer have disappeared for the most part! Just once in awhile they pop up.

 

buck May 17 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

May 20

 

backyard doe from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

It was with great excitement that I noticed the trailcam was askew. Just slightly! We had our first bear of the season! May 20, the little twerp, as is their way, was curious about the camera.

Bear visitation from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

For more critters: Saturday's Critters # 545  ...

School staffing, porcupine

 Here we are, Monday morning again. There was interesting news about our Ottawa school boards. At the end of September every year, the school board reassesses the total school population based on attendance, rather than predicted enrolment. In June they staff schools according to the predictions. They then rejig the staffing levels of each school. I dreaded it every year. Sometime we'd have a surplus teacher, and the one with lowest seniority was placed at a different school. Split-grade classes would be formed. Teachers had spent a month creating a classroom community, setting up seating plans, routines, and expectations. 

Ottawa Carleton (OCDSB) is the Ottawa school board where Josephine and Isabelle attend. The OCDSB overanticipated their 2023/2024 school population. They had planned for an increase of 2.5% at the girls' school board (1119 students). In fact they overestimated by 1600 students.  This didn't change anything for Josephine (gr. 11), but they had to amalgamate and integrate a class for the intermediates in gr. 7/8. Izzy is happy, as she is in a straight gr. 8 class. 

I liked teaching gr.7/8 best! Here was my class 18 years ago. 

The Catholic school board (OCSB) had an unexpected increase of 2252 students. Whoopsie!

🚫 You will recall that we won the vote against the creation of a gun range. The landowner appealed. There was a 'pre-merit' hearing Oct. 13th. The township applied for a dismissal, as the gun range simply doesn't fit in with our township plan. There was a 'written hearing,' which befuddles me. No one was allowed to attend. Apparently, the hearing was conducted, but we await the posting of the results. 

We've a pair of tree sparrows hanging about!

 

tree sparrow from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

An adult porcupine waddles by, as well.

 

Porcupine Oct 9 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.