Whipper snippering and Fred

 I used the whipper snipper to get rid of the twitch grass in the garden. I am terribly frustrated with it. I've had nightmares about the weeds growing and squeezing out the other plants. It hurst my back to bend over all that time. I am not getting any younger. Can't tell you the relief I feel. 

This is an spot that has ticks, I have found. The ticks do what is called QUESTING, they climb tall weeds or wee saplings, and fling themselves onto any moving critter. Another solution to the problem. 

Despite heading into a drought (I think), the weeds are profuse. I whacked weed debris in the goldfish pond. Also, all over me and my clothes. I love it when I get ready for a shower and debris falls to the floor. A good day's work! 

A panoramic of the front garden. I've just taken town the feeder, after seeing a bear on the trailcam. I was bringing it in every night, but I'm done. Forage on, birdies.

Jeanie asked what a whipper snipper is, I am sure there are other names. But for a senior with memory issues, and problems retrieving nouns, that's the name I dredged up! Oh, 'weed wacker!' is another name.

Fred Groundhog

For those keeners who have come to enjoy Fred Groundhog, another saga in the tale. I was filming from the deck, and this will give you a giggle. Watch the kit in the background. It falls into the burrow opening!

Monday was the last day for the shed burrow. They followed her here, and stayed a day.  

Fires out west, critter updates

🔥🚒The fires continue out west. Manitoba has declared a state of emergency. The same isn't true for Saskatchewan to its west, there are calls of racism from the tribes profoundly affected. THAT province has a white premier.

There have been 17,000 evacuations, with military flights to move them out.  Manitoba has a population of about 1.5 million people. Wise people are listening to evacuation calls. The media showed someone NOT bemoaning the potential loss of his truck and home, but this wise young man said that it is only things, and he's glad he has the opportunity to flee rather than losing his life. Wab Kinew, the trilingual premier of Manitoba (English, French, Ojibwe), is an amazing man. He has asked the federal government for assistance. He is on line supporting his constituents.

The bigger the circle, the bigger the fire. The smoke has been an issue, as well, drifting east towards other provinces. 

Fire Outage Map

🕷We finally had a break in the rain Wednesday. I managed some outside work, even picking up a tick. It was crawling on my shoulder. I was about to catch it and kill it (futile, I know!), but it dropped off me beside the goldfish pond. 

I did some research. I have noticed that this happens in the forest, not so much in our grassy areas, but where there are saplings, and wee new trees my height. 

Ticks are QUESTING – by Bruce Smith, Otty Lake, xxx Former Professor at Ithaca College, Dept. of Biology:

“What is your quest?” – I couldn’t resist a quote from the movie ‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail’, but ticks have a behaviour called ‘questing’ where they climb up on a plant and extend their legs, waiting for a host. If they make contact with a potential host, or pick up a cue from a possible host (e.g., warmth, carbon dioxide, odours) then they will drop and try to grab onto anything they can – hopefully a host. 

PREGNANT DOE 

I was watching her, but Fred had just moved her kits to this part of the yard, and scared the doe with her high whistle! She was staring down at burrow #4 under the fence. I was walking nearby, and Fred squealed at me. 

I found an April 12th, 2025, photo of Fred's burrow #4. You can see the fence, and the house behind. This is all covered in bracken, and other foliage. It's quite safe, I hope.

This is a young buck on the dock for some reason!

 COYOTE

The coyote visited the frog pond trailcam, peed, and made eye contact with the camera! Such attitude!

They have beautiful colours.

PHOEBE

Phoebe's eggs hatched May 27th. I predicted May 28th. Not far off. I'm giving them some quiet time. 

#75

We haven't seen #75 in several days. I think he's moved on! We have stopped feeding him, as it is encouraging other wildlife.  I noticed a pair of crows landing in his tree Wed., May 28th 7 am.

May 28th I noticed the fireflies are out and about.

I managed a video June, 2014: Firefly from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo. 

The birds, butterflies, and bees are out!

butterfly

We made it up to 29℃ twice this past week. It was lovely, with cooler temperatures overnight. 

Fred got into some bad trouble. I am not amused. More on that later.