Crumbly Acres & Fred

First, world issues... Since you must stand up to a bully, things are hopping in Moscow, where Putin is having his military parade. (Sound familiar, USA?) he wants a cease fire. Hah! 

 Talk about bullies! Our PM had an interesting meeting in the USA. We were fascinated. In the 34 minute meeting the president spoke for 30 of them, PM Carney spoke for 4 minutes! 

It's going to be domestic political pressure that will move US policy, as store shelves empty, job losses. the automotive industry shuts down, and the US is starved for our steel and aluminum. The heads of Target and Walmart met with the president to give him warnings. This won't bring manufacturing back to the US, where cheap good and cheap labour can produce cheap goods. Maura Healey (Gov Mass) says that 35 states have Canada as their largest trading partner. Especially the north east states.

Canada is working at sourcing goods and reducing trade barriers between provinces and territories. (It is We are talking to the EU to find new sources. Small Canadian producers are ramping up production, as well. The big box stores haven't bothered with these producers before. It's time for that to change.

Everything is turning green! The leaves are bursting, the critters, too. We had 16mm (0.62") rain and an amazing thunderstorm at bedtime. I should mow, but it is soaking wet. 

Oh, Fred! I have always called him 'him.' It's sorta like determining a fetus's sex, if you don't see a penis...! Aw, gender can be a continuum. What do you think?

A busy critter. Apparently, even with acres of grass, he's in my front garden.

It's quite the hole.

This is the shed: the lawn tractor is sheltered in here, I back it out when I do the lawn. Fred lives under the wood shed at the side. He's lived under here since, I think, 2022. I've tracked him over the years, since 2019.  I think. The only way to ID them is to watch their behaviour. They won't wear name tags.

"In the wild, groundhogs can live up to six years with two or three being the average life expectancy. In captivity, groundhogs reportedly live up to 14 years."

May, 2023
We had trees down from a storm, and deer visiting.

The wood shed seems to be his place of choice. 

I've switched around trailcams. Fred bears watching!

I have rethought this burrow exit – directly in front of the shed. If you give him an inch, he'll take a mile and move a mountain. 

I was sitting on the back deck, and he inspected his former exit. I could imagine thought bubbles above his head. They included swearing!

There was a secondary exit under the wood pile. He began excavating there. The wood is piled on one of those industrial wooden flats. This is where the other tunnel exited. I am going to encourage him to excavate here. We don't use the wood shed in summer. 

Crumbly Acres Bat & Birds

Even the wee Grecian windflowers are a delight in Spring.

The horse chestnut buds are bursting!

Nope, not going to look at the camera! I was indoors, with the camera on the tripod. Swearing at the durn thing. 😧

Do you see it?! It had the right idea. 

Yes, another bat. I let it sleep there the whole day, until late afternoon. The fish net accepted the little thing, and I set the net outside on the back railing. When I went back it was gone. 

 

I took a photo from the front deck, the outside.

The daffodils are wonderful. Fred was trimming in between the flowers. He's so helpful.

Now, groundhogs like having at least two entrance/exits. I piled up the wood in the shed over one of his entrances. This one I left open, although I filled in the hole. Fred's been digging out. 

Apparently, he's been using the end of the broom! 

He's been digging. And digging. What I didn't realize, is that he's digging a new exit. The mounds of dirt seen above↑, has been moved from the front of the shed, along the tunnel, and shoved out of the other hole.

Putting the cleaned bird feeders away in the shed, I noticed said hole. Stepping into the shed, I turned around, and there he was.

We don't have horses, which could hurt them, stepping in a hole. I guess I'll leave it. Determined little twerper!

 

Fred on Crumbly Acres

Fred Groundhog has been a challenge. We adore him. These are last year's photos.

I caught him in the act, in 2023, eating the pansies Emily was holding. 

This is the camera on the wrong setting. He is so fast, running to the shed. 

Fred has a series of burrows. Some I have blocked, like #1 under the propane tanks. (What could go wrong?!) #3 is under the deck and has water due to snow melt. 

Last year Fred dug out under the shed (location #2). I've since stacked the wood we had cut up from dead fall.

Last year vs. this year!

 

He's been chewing on the pallet. 

There are 4 entrances and/or exits under the deck. (Location #3)

We've warnings of another ice storm Wednesday. It's stressing me out! Deep breath. Our trees have lifted as the snow and ice melted. What a relief.   

Ontario still has about 280,000 homes without hydro. Broken trees on the wires, and brought down by ice.

Midland, Ontario

In the meantime. The water barrels were full. Well, one was. Sadly, Ms. Maintenance forgot to close the valve at the base of the other one. With cold temperatures, below zero overnight, I emptied this one to drain it, and tipped it over. Breaking the hose. Argh! 

The saga of the wood

I've stacked some new wood. This is what I have stacked so far. I moved most of the smaller stuff.

This was a bit much. It needed to be split. My newest wood pile was waiting to be stacked. A friend offered to help, but Joe was worried the two of us couldn't handle it. The logs were big.

The Aussie came and split it for me on Thursday, Nov. 14th. They'd moved it to the shed Nov. 13. 

I'm whittling away at it... 😏 This I stacked while he was splitting it.

This was Thursday afternoon.

A beautiful day to be outdoors. 

I went back at it Friday morning, but took breaks, and photos. But first I found the heavy metal wheelbarrow wobbly. 

Note To Self: check your equipment. The tire was flat. Hah!

Joe was out walking, and brought me some water. He cannot lift the wood. I'm happier if he doesn't. He has terrible back issues. He certainly helped my dad stack wood back in the day in Muskoka.

The dead elms were hosts to termites. This is amazing. 

We had termites in Muskoka. They are creepy little things, and strong!

After some time I realized I should brought me a chair from the house.  Then I really looked around... DUH! It is both decorative and useful.

I kept at it. Progress Friday afternoon! We decided to go out to Merrickville for lunch. It was Joe's birthday. (More on that later!) I needed the break. 

 

The moon rose over the wood pile. I couldn't manage a decent photo. I couldn't remember the settings, nor find them. You get the picture, though. We bloggers are nothing if not imaginative!

Another look at bug patterns. Very interesting. (Joe said to take breaks!)

Saturday I kept at it, and we are done!