Cardinals, scarlet tanager, doe, cats, finches!

 Glad I took a 'before' photo!

It's my own fault. They smell something in the soil, and hope for food. Or they are curious!

It wasn't Cinnamon!

Nor Auntie Fred.

I blame Butch racoon!

🔥 I am grateful to those working these fires. in Northern Ontario. They are awful. Sadly, our Ontario budget for fighting fires has been diminished.

We are on fire

That July 1st storm was awful. Here is the doe in that storm!  

 They are the silliest cats! 

   

 I daresay the Cardinals are raising another brood! 

   

 I guess it is birding week!

   

 Finches! 

 

Circle of influence on Crumbly Acres

 Our circle of influence is small here. We are retired, don't socialize much, but we watch and discuss the horrific news. 

With the heat wave, going out is quite something. This isn't normal for June for us.

I sent Joe out for an early morning walk. It's good to keep moving. MiniFred kept an eye out!

The deerflies are out in full force. Cinnamon is not happy. He hunkers down in the garden.

Poor Cinnamon had a deerfly bite, I believe. I parked him on the table to have a look at eye level. He was fine the next day! 

Then, there are the poor deer! They really suffer.

 

I finally snagged a half-decent photo of the Scarlet Tanager! It took perseverance. He kept bathing in the water fountain, but the moment I stood up, off he flew!

We had a goodly dump of rain. It filled the goldfish pond. The fishies were happy. The water is collected in the water barrel, and drains into the pond. When we have rain!

Froggy seems happy.

Others didn't quite make it through the storm unscathed.Despite evacuations from campsites, there were three incidents I heard of where campers had trees blown on tents or trailers. Thank goodness for emergency responders. There was one death, another where a camper van was struck by trees and the man had his leg broken:

• Storm downs trees, knocks out power in Mattawa, Ont., area

a third remote rescue where

• Rescuers saw, paddle their way to badly hurt boy in Algonquin Park.

I do like this hanging basket. 

You may think me silly, but I left the Bugloss to bloom on the lawn. The Monarchs, when they fly south, like it. 

Look at the milkweed! The purple petunias are doing well, and smell wonderful.

Still no House Wren eggs yet. 

Cinnamon walkies, birds, flowers

Cinnamon and the House Wrens have an understanding. They yell at him from the tree, or the lilac bush, or the hops vine, and they follow him to where he sits in the shade. He just ignores them. I know when he is out and about, and I tucked him back into the house. He knows he hasn't a hope of catching them.

Cinnamon walkies from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

House wrens and Cinn:

house wrens from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Last week, Cinnamon and I went walkies in the back 40, prior to the rain. The ground was so cracked and dry. 

House wren chicks beg for food. I cannot see them. It is a joy to hear them.

house wrens from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

In they come, chicks yell, out they come to forage for some more moths. 

house wren feeding babies from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I took the opportunity to photograph some birds. I could see the Baltimore Oriole Scarlet Tanager from the deck. I don't know why I always mix that up. He wasn't too cooperative! I'm too slow. I even wore my reading glasses. 

The cedar waxwings were too flighty for me!

The ubiquitous robins! They've had a busy year. Lots of bugs, and lots of babies.

The goldfinches like the Viper's Bugloss seeds.

goldfinch on bugloss from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Out front the hummingbirds are happy with both the fuschia and the petunias out front. You'll have to trust me with the petunias. This is right out the front window and you cannot move or they fly off. 

Also out front, I decided to get into the goldfish pond to fetch the pond pump cage top. Removing my sundress, I just popped on a long top so I wouldn't get my clothes wet. Climbing right in, barefoot, I had to feel around, hoping the two parcels we were expecting wouldn't arrive at that moment. Success! 

Sunday was a really hot one, after a cool night. Perfect summertime day. Having done the lawn, worked on a garden, I read in the pool for an hour.

I shall leave you with my miraculous Asiatic Lilies. The miracle is that they weren't chomped up by the deer. Hooray for chicken wire. 

Flyers and critters large and small

 We had the nicest young man come to inspect our furnace and A/C. With backwards ball cap, long hair to his shoulders, he complimented us on the gardens; the biodiversity and our ornaments. It was so sweet! 

OK, the flyers. The eastern comma and question mark butterflies are doing their thing. There are caterpillars on the hops vine. 

They are such amazing butterflies, with camouflage when wings are closed, and lovely colours when they are open.

The scarlet tanager was dancing, doing water ballet in the fountain.  It attracts a lot of birds I wouldn't normally see.

The doe and fawn amble in the dappled forest.

doe and fawn from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The young buck wandered along, as well:

buck in the forest from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I put a dead sparrow down by the trailcam. Nutmeg brought it to us. Normally we try let her out at 5:30, and bring her in for the day. Cinnamon just sits on the deck escaping the deerflies. We are part of the circle of life. 

I put the little body down in the forest. The barred owl took it. I was amazed. 

BARRED OWL from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Athens

The kids, now in Athens, are enjoying their trip. They have another day there and then take an overnight ferry to Heraklion.

Their room has a built in sauna! The water and the architecture amaze us all. JL snapped his fingers, and the kids up in the theatre seats could hear him, he writes on the family photostream.

Josephine's camera was fixed, she's a happy girl.

This is an amazing photo, with the rainbow. The ancient civilisations trod here.

Lions Gate, c. 1240 BCE