Rainy fall...

Wow. We've been having quite a bit of rain: yesterday 14 mm, and it is raining today. There were thunderboomers, again, and power outages across the province. We escaped. We had power, although we did have to reset the clocks.


I'm glad I was out and about the previous day. The goldfish pond is full, which is a shame, because once my new aquarium filter pump arrives (Friday?), I'll have to bring fishies in. That means draining it a bit at a time, as there is always one stubborn fish. Eleven fish, I have to remember...

I found that the bugs are still on the milkweed, despite the leaves being stripped by monarch caterpillars and milkweed bugs. It was quite a meeting!


I wanted to liberate a stump from the forest. It's a tree that grew on a 'nanny tree,' and the curve in the trunk reflected that. The birch tree is still standing, but as the stump rots the support for the other trees is gone. The photos are from March, 2019.
 
I found meself on the trailcam bringing it back.

The trick was to chop off the rest of the tree branches with the reciprocal saw, which I did. Then I could lift it. I popped it in a garden, it looks rather cool.

While I was at it, I took the wagon down to lot #3 to liberate some rocks from the forest. Whilst there, I found a total of three red efts.
 

In case you are wondering, I did not pick them up. (My hands were clean.) I covered them back up carefully. However, an archive photo, a red eft:

The eastern newt (Notophthalmus viridescens) is a common newt of eastern North America. The red eft (juvenile) stage is a bright orangish-red in color, with darker red spots outlined in black.

a red eft

I brought this triangular-shaped rock back to the garden. The rocks shift as trees grow around it. 

Yay, fall.

Monday and Friday walkies

Daisy and I went walkies. We found a red eft under a rock. I'm not quite sure why I chose to turn this rock over. The one beside it had the baby watersnake.


Then, there was a baby water snake under another rock. I'll bet there is a hibernarium for snakes nearby.


I had to touch it, I needed it to move as I didn't want to smuck it when I replaced the rock.


It's so peaceful here. Daisy loves trees. She chose to stretch out on this tree and have a quick bath. I suggested we keep on going!

Yesterday (Thursday), JB was out doing Meals on Wheels, when Hooper and Annabelle came walkies. They were so much fun. I put Hooper up on this branch. It's an amazing cedar, very old.



Hooper climbed this tree. A good thing. There are lots of predators in the forest. I cannot meditate, but I love my forest bathing. It is so relaxing.
Can you see him in the tree?!


The ivy (Virginia creeper) is prolific, and has begun to die, a sign of fall. It's so dry.


The frog pond is full of wetland grasses. It's growing up between the dock slats.


Their antics are fun. Hooper, a gangly teenager, and Annabelle, a five-year-old lady. She is playing more, with him around. JB calls them the 'two amigos.' They had a great play in the forest.

Things are really hopping!

Yay, Spring. The frog pond is a teeming, busy place. Daisy and I go down and sit. last night the temperature went down to 0 C., mind you. The May sun will warm things up, though.

Before I went down, I watched hubby with 'Lil Orphan Annie', who appears to have a tumour on her face. He could empathise!

As I approached the pond, I spotted a male Wood duck. I told Daisy to slow down to let me grab a photo before she rushed onto her dock. She did! She loves the dock, she lets me know when she sees something. She'll suddenly sit up, and stare. Eagle-eyed Daisy spotted some snakes on the fallen tree.
 

The first adult bullfrog I've seen all year. The lone Chorus frog continues to sing. This water snake sat and watched me carefully.


There were, at least, 3 water snakes. I couldn't help but feel some heebee-jeebies, with the sound track of Jaws running through my mind as this one approached me. I was sitting on the dock, with the zoom lens, HOWEVER!


I spotted a tadpole, and the water striders are out. Then, a red eft in the water. These are the juvenile stage of the Eastern newt.

Red eft, found in a previous year, 2012, in the veggie garden! Red Eft in the garden and pond It is a teenager!

Back up at the house, hubby was back from a 'beer run.'

Bleeding hearts are blooming, as is my Orchid cactus. I can expect a dozen blooms. I put it outside for the hummingbird, which should be here any moment.

For Pete’s sake, I’m ALWAYS on the bottom! pic.twitter.com/HjrZ8mS8Wu

— Jennifer Jilks (@jennjilks) May 7, 2016

And more signs of spring...