Farewell summer...

 It is a poignant time of year for me. We always came home from the cottage the week before school started. Mom would do a massive house clean while playing Christmas music at full blast. She didn't start work until September. Dad escaped to the office!

We haven't gone anywhere or done anything, since we've been so ill. Joe has been great about figuring out meals. We've a couple of things coming up and I will look forward to getting out of the house. The Perth Fair (the heavy horses), the Sundance Artisan Show, are two things we shall try for. 

The garden is wearing down. I am very behind in weeding. I filled a large garbage can yesterday. Once the seeds disperse one is doomed. My one pumpkin and one zucchini look good 😣, thankfully we've lots and lots of cherry tomatoes. 

It is joyful reading about all the people preparing preserves for winter. 

The thunder storms will stop. I figured out how to do a live screen capture of the recent August storm on LightningMaps.org.

 

 The hummingbirds were still here as of Friday, visiting the petunias and various wildflowers. Soon they will be gone. I spotted one the other day on the petunias.

The Woodland Sunflowers are still in bloom, but some are losing leaves and petals. I'm not ready! The butterflies are disappearing. The large ones don't last too long. The season is so short.

Bees, wasps...

Our Ottawa kids are canoe camping in Algonquin Park this week. They rent a canoe, and have it dropped off at their launching point. Then they canoe along the lake, portage, and find their camp site. 

Then school begins. 

Caitlin bought a canoe on Kijiji for less that the cost of renting a second canoe. They tried it out at the beach! Aster and Jo sure are growing.

Saturday was a let down! We'd watched the DNC speeches. VP Harris is amazing. Driven, positive, determined to improve the lives of all Americans in terms of housing, healthcare, human rights. It's a lot to hope for, but all the people around her have changed the tone of the election. 

The dawn has arrived.

Flower power!

 UPDATE: 🎂 Caitlin's flowers arrived Friday! Happy Momma! What do you give the woman who has everything? We haven't been out anywhere to shop. 

Caitlin had a surprise. She told me they were all going out to dinner. JL fooled her. He'd invited one of her good friends and her family for dinner and cake! Jo made the upside down pineapple cake. 

 

I'm still fatigued and babying my vocal cords. Joe is doing better, but a residual cough. 

I was down at the trailcams and the mushrooms are beginning to emerge. I haven't decided what to do with my tree trunk. It was encroaching on the goldfish pond. 

 

Hibiscus and roses!

Cinnamon's favourite place is the garage. I know there are mice friends in there. We don't want them in the house. They get into the garbage cans and can't get out. He prefers the top of the car as a vantage point.

My ONE pumpkin is doing well.

The cherry tomatoes are still bearing fruit. In the sunrise, I spotted a strange double spider web. It almost looks like an owl.

I've only seen two Monarch caterpillars. This is #2. I'm sure we have more. 

Katydid, I think, on the pumpkin leaf:

I was sitting on the back deck, reading, when I heard a bird. Merlin told me it was Osprey. The thumbnail is from their nest which is just down the road. If you run the video you can hear them talking to one another.

osprey pair Aug 16 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The garden is out of control!

I am 5'4" (was? I know we shrink as we age), so you can see how tall these are!

Do you like Tiger Lilies? Normally, I put up a few stakes with string to hold them back. Ain't gonna happen this year.

The plants are eye level to me. Their pollen is quite something. It is blood red. 

The pumpkin, or maybe it is squash. Anyone recognize it? I planted both here and I'm that kind of gardener. The banana is for scale!

The woodland sunflowers have to be 6' tall. They are native.

And my precious second lily plant is in bloom.

I ordered myself a new sprinkler. I am tired of losing plants to dry spells! It saves me standing there, and gives it a good, long soak, for which I've little patience. Cinnamon helped. I mixed up the settings for the trip pin. I had to change out of soaking wet jammies. 

August is normally dry. I hate seeing the crackly plants as they wilt. This makes me happy. I haven't bought a sprinkler since we moved here (2010) so I feel justified! 

 

The Tiger Lilies host lots of critters. I photographed a Bumble Bee, and a Katydid. Also, hummingbirds like it.

 

😷 COVID UPDATE – Tuesday/Wednesday, July 30/31

Thanks for your support during our health issues. I hope none of you get this. We are slowly getting better, but giving ourselves permission to be couch potatoes. It is difficult, as you know. Today I shall venture down to the trailcams. That is my goal. The doctor said he couldn't do anything for me, so I'm treating symptoms. Otrivin at bedtime, saline nasal spray for sinusitis, Ventolin puffer, Subicort puffer, cough drops, orange juice. I slept from 12:30 until 5:45. This is good.

The coughing during the day is like a bad cold I used to have in the old days. Colds such as I haven't had a serious one since I retired (2006). I have a bit of a voice back, but it is clearly an Alto voice. Kinda weird. 

The best thing is to clear my lungs to avoid pneumonia, but sleep is such a blessing, dontcha know.

Saturday's Critters

 We've settled into the beginnings of winter. 🍁Fall chores 2023 are done! Nov. 21st I had to shovel snow. The next things I have to think about, is where to set the trailcam that sits on a tripod. Once the ground freezes, there is no moving it. 

It is fun seeing tracks in the snow and on the frozen ground. 

I may have been wrong about Pickles. I have seen a doe around him, who is likely his mother. That makes me happy. He was happy I split the pumpkins for him.

The cardinal is still fighting that strange one he sees in the window.

 

cardinal from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

A/C, ever on the watch, wrote about having bird baths out, and the birds are susceptible to the cold when wet. I must say that I don't see them bathing in winter. They don't have the problems with dust and mites. They sure love to have a drink, though.

 

cardinal 2 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The fisher was happy to take one of the three apples JB threw out.

 

fisher 1 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I've moved the trailcam away from the neglected deer scrape, but the turkeys ambled to and fro.

 

Turkeys in the forest from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The beauty of having two cameras along a trail. I caught him twice. He wasn't interested in the pumpkin.

Bear Nov. 17 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The doe was more interested in the camera than the deer scrape. This is why I moved the camera.

deer scrape from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I harvested the pumpkin seeds, then took the pumpkin shell down to the trailcam. It was interesting that few of the critters liked it. The bear just waltzed past a sniff. It'll be another story when the snow falls!

While the bear eschewed the pumpkin, Butch did, but the deer like it. Coyote decided to pee near it.

 

pumpkin time from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

We are saying farewell to the ducks, geese, and feathered friends, as they gather in flocks to fly south.

geese ducks Rideau Ferry from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Thanks to Eileen who hosts: Saturday Critters # 519 !

Pumpkins and deer

 We have had some cold temperatures, and some snow. A lot melted the other day, and walking in the forest smells like fall, again. The pumpkins are quite popular. 

I was on my way to grab the SD cards, and Clover and her fawn were in the forest watching me keenly, ready to roar away. It was a quick trip, and I didn't take my camera with me. I knew they'd be on the trailcam! 

They wisely kept their distance. Unfortunately, they kept heading in the direction I was going. It's a highly traveled path that they all follow. The best place for a trailcam. It's properly called a camera trap, since we are trapping their images, I've refrained from using that word. It is good that they fear someone in the forest. 

The deer scrape was uncovered, again, as the buck marks his territory and propriety over the doe hanging about. We had a doe grazing on the grass behind the house. Another in the front. I put a camera there, but didn't get any action yet. 

I love their leaps and bounds. 

 

deer flee from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

These are a bit of a glitch, I think my batteries were low!

buck from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

This is only a few short clips, in slow motion, the batteries were low. 

coyote from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

😷We are all trying to keep healthy. Caitlin is managing COVID symptoms. Her brain fog is gone, she has some chills, and she is achy, sneezy and coughing. Thankfully she can work from home, sleep in their basement guest room, and recover. She had a positive RAT Sunday, another yesterday, but she is feeling better. 

Two cats, a doe and a buck

 It was a funny incident. It's cold, and the cats go out for an hour, then pop up in the window to come in for breakfast. I saw a doe out the front window, too. She was watching Cinnamon like mad. Cinnamon sits between the decorations. The doe watches him, just in case. 

I let the cats in, and saw movement beyond the driveway. young buck from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

It's rutting season. The males scrape a hole in the ground, pee on their tarsal glands, and sniff at the branches. This is all to leave a scent telling the other males they are around. Here is the first one. You can see the print in the mud.

The bucks hang around waiting for the doe to go into heat. They mate in the fall, the doe will give birth in April or May. 

The coyote is a regular visitor. Never near the house in the day time. coyote nov 8 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo. 

The coyote came back Nov. 13, but eschewed the pumpkins.

The bunny was back. Not so afraid of the camera light. JB found a rabbit hind leg in the forest last week. 

I've since moved this camera. bunny from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The doe likes the pumpkins, the fawn insisted on eating the same one she was eating. It was rather funny, and so typical of youngsters. doe pumpkin fawn from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Finally, there was a woodland jumping mouse. Sadly, the cats nabbed one a few years ago, but this is what they look like. Long legs and tail.

Even you will have to watch this one, Anvilcloud! It's hilarious! woodland jumping mouse from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

For more critters, visit Eileen's blog! 

Saturday's Critters # 361