School's out for summer!

🕷Thank you for your kind sentiments regarding JB's Lyme Disease. He's still soaking 3 t-shirts a day, headaches, had a nap at 11:30 in the morning. I told him just to do what his body tells him to do. The rash under one armpit is really yucky. (What's with that?!) He's not hungry, but has to eat to take his meds. The blood tests are done, but we can't read them. I was listening to a CBC show about this White Coat Black Art, and in addition to Lyme Disease, there is anaplasmosis, which has up to 500 cases a year in areas with ticks.

🎓 In other news, Aster had her Gr. 8 graduation ceremony in Ottawa, and her report card is wonderful.  There were about 150 kids graduating Bell Middle School! Afterward they had a BBQ. Onward to gr. 9! Jo is done gr. 11 exams. Our Vancouver grandies are off to the cottage, also done school for the year.

 

💰Do you remember we were scammed by some awful people? The Fraud department phoned, and we're getting our money back ($1550). We are so happy. All in all it's been a good week, despite trials and tribulations. Patience, I keep telling myself!

🐠  We had someone in to service our A/C. We moved my fish tank to the back deck. She's a plumber, an HVAC specialist. I really like her! A strong, personable woman. It's a miracle!  We gave her $20. 

 
I have a summer project. Scrape the insides, use rubbing alcohol to clean off the old caulk. I can test it here, to see if I did a good job.

I had to move the reblooming amaryllis. 

I captured a moth and the moon in the same frame. It amuses me.

I worked hard on this garden last year, transplanting day lilies and Tiger Lilies to the garden.

I know. Needs work!

June is just ticking along!

In the smoke, and the need for indoor play, I began doing Sudoku. It is an app, but I have been unable to do the ones on paper. This is great as it tell me if I've made a wrong move. It is exactly what I need right now: success. 

🔥 Canada has been blessed with partners from various parts of the world, recently 1296 firefighters are here or on their way. This totals 5,000 firefighters who have sent to assist from around the world, including South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. We are so grateful. 

• The US has sent 600 firefighters.
• A battalion of 350 firefighters from the EU are headed to Quebec.
• France sent 109 firefighters. 
• Portugal sent 140.
• Spain another 97 firefighters.

Thursday brought more smoke to our area. We saw the sun, after a few days of welcome rain, but I had to close up the house. Friday we have a bit more smoke. It's supposed to get up to 5 on the scale, of 10, but I will be vigilant. The recent rains helped, but we aren't done yet.

🌧 It's now been a few days of rain. I actually washed floors. I'd put it off in the nice, hot weather, preferring to go outdoors. After several days of rain, I had no excuse. JB went into town for a couple of hardware store items. One important one, we didn't have the number of our house on our mailbox. Canada Post had done inspections along our route. He bought us some shiny new numbers, which I put on yesterday. I rubbed off the side of the mailbox with rubbing alcohol to clean it.

Speaking of rubbing alcohol, I found a tick on myself yesterday afternoon. It was plucked off with tweezers, and hastily dropped in the tick jar with rubbing alcohol. I could feel the itch. It is a nymph, a new hatch this year. The bites aren't as bad as the blackflies, honestly, and it wasn't on me long.

We aren't doing too badly with ticks. One year, Daisy brought in 200 that I plucked. The vet's goop we put on them really helps. You have to be aware. I knew the itch was a bad sign.

 

In the meantime, we'll have to clean the gutters. The kids are coming tonight. My SIL, JL, has promised to help, again. Bless his heart!

full rainy gutter from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Also, I'm working on a support for the orchid and the cherry tomatoes. I've been trying to figure out how to support the orchid. There is one bamboo "U" in the planter, but it keeps falling over. Can you count the blossoms? It is looking really healthy since I brought it indoors. 

 

I ordered the green one (below, left) for the orchid, and we may get it June 23rd. Or not!  JB bought me some dowels for a home-made one for the cherry tomatoes. 

This is what I accomplished. I am sure there is a better way to tie them, but I didn't check that out on YouTube! When/if it gets bigger, I can add another row of horizontal dowels. We've a couple of tomatoes near to being ripe!

The cats go out for a run, catch a rodent, and come back in. They don't like the bugs.

The bugs are still keeping them close to home, which is good. They come in hungry, usually. 

 

Cinnamon on the rails from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The cardinals seem to be nesting, again. He is singing at the top of his wee beak. I am hoping phoebe finds another nest location. You can hear them singing. 

 

Phoebe nesting? from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo. 

I'd prepared this prior to going out doors Thursday morning. Thursday afternoon, I found these!

WE HAD RAIN!!!

We did. What a relief. 

Poor Fred on the deck. They were wet!

wet Fred from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

It was a glorious rain. 

rain June 12 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Percy was quite happy.

Percy from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

We'd planned sausages. The rain stopped. The sun peeked out. I fired up the BBQ. Of course it rained again! My late father barbequed in rain, snow, sleet or hail, so I felt right at home. We used to say he'd BBQ lashed to the deck in a blizzard!

I love this Hops Vine. It is up to the roof. 

Out the back 40, things are growing. The aspen grove is growing nicely. The previous owners cut the law here, but I love the trees and our aspen grove is expanding. I was headed to pick up a trailcam card.

Out the back 40, the bear had popped by again at this trailcam. They are curious things. 

 

Bear sniffing June 9 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I think he is moving along the edge of the wetland. He was at the frogpond trailcam, 200m away. They have a large habitat area. Again, I've not seen him near the house, and the mother bear with cubs seem to have gone off into the wetland somewhere.

 

Bear from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Monday comes around, again!

Here we are, Monday, although it is the dread I used to feel. No pressure to get up, dressed, and try to entertain educate kids all day. Time means something different these days. We get snow tires on – on Thursday. 

 Caitlin is still testing positive for COVID. She is feeling better, now, however. She has sniffles. Happily she is able to work from home. 

🎾 We spent Sunday watching the Davis Cup tennis, the last game. I didn't know it was on TV until the final game. Felix Auger Aliassime was playing for Team Canada. Denis Shapovalov had just won his game. Then, the TSN satellite feed from Spain pooched out. I had to quickly pull up the real time scores. They won the cup. 

⚽ From there we watched World Soccer, and the Canadian men's team lost 4 - 1. They are out of the tournament. The announcer said that this is "the greatest moment in Canadian soccer history." Janine Beckie gave him skank eye after he said that. She was on the women's Olympic soccer team when they won gold. He then corrected himself and said it was "on the same level" as the women's win. 😳

Women have fought so hard for equal funding!
And to sit at the anchor desk.

🌦I did my chores prior to the rainfall. We had about 9 mm Sunday. I set up the water barrel, again, as I said I would. The goldfish pond is full. 

I'll have to dress warmly, as I have to put the garbage out. It is chilly, but tonight it's going to -6 C., so I have to think about draining the water barrel. We expect another 15 - 20 mm on Wednesday. Decision, decisions! 

We haven't had as much snow this November as in other years. (Blue is rain, gray is snow.)

We have many dead elms. I'm inclined to leave this one here. I ought to gather some kindling from it, I suppose.

Polar bear is having a grand time hanging out with goldfish.

Oregano was back.

 

Oregano from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Butch

 

Butch treed from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The best protection for raccoons is to climb a tree. They seem to be traveling in a flock, now! Or would that be a herd?! Nope, looked it up. I think the best collective noun is a committee. They argue and snarl over food and disagreements abound.  

butch from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

OK, garbage detail calls. I might not get dressed, but just put my winter coat over my housecoat and jammies! 

Porcupine, Oregano, Coyotes

Here we are settling into Autumn. I'm making progress on 🍂Fall Chores. I am getting old and forgetful, so a list was crucial! I am comforted by all those with similar issues with insomnia. We are not unique, and being retired we have realized that it's not so bad as we can sleep in. No alarm clock to worry about, or having to be nearly human for a work day.

Well, we had snow in Ontario on Monday! We only had rain. I am glad I mulched the leaves the day before. The water fountain is cleaned and once it dries out I will cover it. 

We've had frost. Once it warmed up I did some garden work. Bye bye flowers!

I gazed out back, and spotted a critter on a rock. It turned out to be Cinnamon. He was looking for mice friends. He came in shortly after.

It was necessary to take leaves out of the rain gauge, in preparation for the incoming precipitation. We had a total of 21 mm (0.83"). It was a long, rainy day. 

I've taken the top off of the swing bench. Yesterday, I covered the bench and furniture with a tarp and put away the table and chairs. During COVID you know store shelves had issues. JB had brought me a 6 x 8 m white one (20 x 28'). I was so tired after wrestling with I had to go indoors and rest! 

The leaves are quickly falling. Enjoy them while you can!

There was graupel in south eastern Ontario. Actual snow up in northern Ontario. Us, just rain. 

Just before the rain, a young porcupine!

porcupine from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

In the night, strange cat 😼Oregano popped by the trailcam. I thought he might be feral, but I really don't know. There is lots to eat here: shrews, field mice, forest mice, voles, moles.  Our cats were safely tucked in bed. We don't know where he is from, but he is an intact male who likes to visit. I called him Oregano, since we have twins Nutmeg and Cinnamon, also tabby cats. I found the name following Janis Irwin, a very cool Edmonton MLA with a cat named Oregano. 

 

Oregano from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Not to be outdone, Coyotes appeared!

coyotes from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

There were two coyotes for sure, but I think another was trailing after them. What do you think? They are healthy pups. We never see them in the day, thankfully! They know lots of humans around here have guns, with lots of farms and farm animals who need protection. 

It's a lovely mixed community, with landowners (some with 600 acre 150-year-old farms) who have cows, sheep, chickens, goats, and two horse farms, including Ian Millar's. The nearby lake has cottages, a mixture of seasonal and full time residences, as well as AirBnBs and rentals. Some people commute into Ottawa to work. I've found a couple of people who have moved here for the peace and quiet, like us. 

Stormy, cloudy, and sunny skies!

July 12th – That was a most peculiar day, with rain on and off. Clouds would roll in, I'd retreat into the house and then head back out.

I am reminded of my favourite cloud photo, this was over Bracebridge quite a few years ago.

Rolf wrote in Twitter:

The YOW airport reported a wind gust of 141 km/h at 1:52pm today. That would be the fastest wind ever recorded at the airport. I'm not convinced that it's accurate; but there are power outages in the area so ...

 Ottawa had some power outages!

Kingston got it bad, lots of lightning strikes. We only had a few, but lots of rain.

I love a good storm!

clouds from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

storm from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Later, a plane went overhead. I wondered where it was headed and if it missed the storms.

It was a relief to get rain. It's been a bit spotty. I haven't had to water, though.

The skies are horrific in Ukraine. 

I've been watching the skies over Ukraine, and the Black Sea. The US, and NATO are patrolling overhead. This is comforting, although Ukrainians are suffering so much, I don't know what can be done. 

The kids, now in Athens, are doing the tourist thing! Their photos are amazing. I picked a couple from the family photo stream that fit my theme of skies.