Eric Whitacre: Sing Gently

🌴It's been a time around here. Caitlin is home from Punta Cana. It was a shock coming back to cold and snow, methinks. It was a grand trip, and she had a great time with her University friend in the warmth and sun. Between them, the two women have 5 kids, so it was a well-deserved rest. My SIL, JL, picked her up at the airport near midnight!

It's been really cold, snowy, and windy, to add to the fun. I managed to resist washing floors but I may have to do it today. It was -11 C. last night. We kept warm watching three episodes of Harry Wild, with Jane Seymour. It is fun, a murder mystery, and light. It hit the spot.

📬Regarding the gun club proposal, I'm up to 98 emails, JB has had 144 emails, with numerous back and forths. I thought I could handle an online committee, but I'm tired. I gave that over to JB. Signage has gone out around the area. Hard-working people have also collected 450+ signatures against the range. People have sent over 200 letters to our Township Planner.  

😴Many of my peers have sleepless nights. Lord knows why... I wake in the wee hours and listen to podcasts. This was a very interesting one for those who enjoy music. 

♩Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir 6: Sing Gently

17,572 singers from 129 countries come together to perform Eric Whitacre's "Sing Gently".

This is the video, which might inspire. Although, I'd suggest you listen to the podcast first [The Digital Human series], as it is remarkable: it demonstrates Whitacre's creative process. It answers the question, how does an artist write music? The series explores different aspects of living in the digital world and the theme of this episode is Joy. 

The song itself is about 3 minutes long, the credits take up the rest of the time! (You know, a cast of thousands!)

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.

Snow, ice, and the beach

 That was a snowy adventure. The bird bath is holding up well. Thanks, John. There was snow to brush off. The trick is, when doing the bird feeders, that you don't get the snow in your sleeves!

The frozen goldfish pond with a layer of slush.

🍁Fall Chores

Waking up to snowfall, I began going through my chore list. Tuesday, knowing a storm was coming, I'd put the snow blower in the garage, and put the shovels there, for handy access. It's a heavy snowblower, but it is a delight when I've a ton of snow to move along a 100 m driveway. We only had about 5 cm, and I shoveled the sidewalk, but the driveway melted over the day. The ground is quite warm.

Here was my morning project. I'd totally forgotten to detach and drain the 2nd water barrel. My bad.

Managing to get the top off, there was a layer of ice! 

Draining it with a hose as syphon (the spigot was frozen), I'll have to go back out today and remove it, tip it over, and lay it beside the house. I'll have to go and buy a new drain spout, non-mental note. This one has cracked, and broken where it should attach to the drain pipe below.

I tried to find a nice snow photo, but my heart wasn't in it. 

I should have posted this prior to the snowfall! Butch and Peter are loving the pumpkins.

Butch raccoon from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Peter from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I was busy enough yesterday that I din't check the trailcameras at all.

We'll leave you with this. I am warmed by Caitlin's beach photos! She is enjoying her Punta Cana trip with her friend. It's a relatively quiet and a smaller resort, unlike the one we went to together in 2017. People would 'reserve' beach loungers all day, coming back after meals. They weren't supposed to, but they would hoard their spot. Caitlin is enjoying her time there.

"I do love a beach! The waves are lovely, very little seaweed, it’s warm… Heaven!"

Pumpkins, bridge closure, Punta Cana

 Well, nothing like Red, out west, but we did have a touch of snow Sunday. 'Tis the season! Cinnamon and I went walkies on Saturday. 

The Rideau Ferry bridge will be closed on Tuesday. It's been one lane for months, and Nov. 25th it will be closed for the day. There are warnings. 

It's an important bridge, and they have to redo the bearings, I read. It'll be closed from 8 to 5. They will have to close it next week, as well. The work has been delayed due to material and labour shortages. 

🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴

In the meantime, Caitlin and her friend are enjoying a vacation in Punta Cana (Dominican Republic) sans kids! The photos are lovely.

You can just see Caitlin's orange toenails in this photo:

They had a day on the beach, then hit the nightlife. It's a hoot. Everyone has a headset. You can tune to one of three channels (red, green and blue) and dance to whichever channel you choose. It is otherwise silent, so you can, at least, talk to your friends!

The rhododendrons are wrapped, more for protection from the deer than the cold! The leaves are keeping the insects cozy. Cinnamon had a tick Sunday. Soon they will be frozen under the snow!

This morning it is -3 C., and I must get dressed and go put the garbage out. Have a great week!

Intrepid Traveler, cats, rain!

 That was a big rain: 28mm (over an inch). It all came from hurricane Nicole that hit Florida. 

It was a lovely Remembrance Day ceremony in Ottawa. It's always broadcast. It was a warm day, unlike many years where those frail veterans just freeze. It is a beautiful monument. Our Vancouver kids visited in July, taking Isabelle with them.

There are repairs and renovations being done on these old buildings in Ottawa. You can in the photo behind them. Jesse and family visited from Vancouver. Below are Isabelle, DIL Stacie, Cluny and Bryony!

Speaking of travel, Caitlin is off with her Toronto girlfriend to see and experience sunny skies and beaches. They are meeting in Punta Cana! It is on the east side of the island. 

Caitlin, Josephine, Isabelle and I went to the Dominican Republic, Samana, in Nov. 2017! Great memories of our girls' week.

Caitlin had a mani-pedi in preparation! Isn't that cute?! She's doing carry on, as she is a seasoned traveler, unlike her mother. I'm always afraid of not taking something important! She did precheck-in, and just carries a backpack, which is easy peasy.

I was watching her flight Saturday morning at 5:30. We both posted our Wordle and Canuckle scores on the family chat message while she was in the waiting area. I failed to do the Wordle one, I did get the Canuckle! 

Caitlin has to go from Ottawa (YOW) to Montreal (YUL), and then snag a flight to Punta Cana (PUJ). They took off from YOW, and I wondered which direction they were going! Fortunately, I realized they had to do a turnabout.

You can see where they were on the edge of the storm that just passed over us. It's a 45-minute flight, and no sooner do you gain altitude than you have to go back on down. 

I managed to go out after the rain. I wrapped my rhododendron bushes. Bambi quite likes nibbling on them when food gets scarce.

The frogs were out in the morning. It was 13 C. at that time. It's cooled off considerably (1 C. now), and they'll soon dig down into the mud to sleep. 

My present to me. I think I've found a trailcam I like, although I argued with it yesterday and lost. Standing, bent over, I couldn't figure out how to reset the time. It's a Cabela product. We'll see if I feel like chucking it into the nearby frog pond!

The cats adore the sunshine. They had a moment on my Nanny's quilt!

We had icy rain last night. I picked it up on the new videocamera!