Saturday's Critters

 As I have said, it is deer shed season. The bucks' testosterone lowers in the cold and without nourishing food. They don't need the antlers to fight much, since they have already established themselves as boss. 

I moved the trailcam out the kitchen window to see if I could capture the coyotes on the lawn. Silly me. Look what happened!

JB yelled at me from the kitchen, 'You're going to want to see this. Bring your camera!'

Here is King Frederick. He was down to one antler. He shook his head, and off it popped right before my very eyes! I wish I'd had my videocamera!

Good hubby went out to fetch it for us! At this point, the driveway was sheer ice.

I ran out to the garage to watch!

I thought this side was a 7-point, but on closer inspection, there are 8 points.

My friend, Justin Hoffman, a professional photographer and wildlife writer, has taught me a lot about finding deer sheds. He has a massive collection. He wanted a photo of my antler to show his buds, and sent me a photo of his collection! He makes epic videos, as well. He has given me much advice on setting up trailcams.

Lest you think I ignore the females, Jan. 23rd I noticed the doe out front under the feeders. She walked right by me on the sidewalk. 

 

Doe on the sidewalk! from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I even got her on the Crumbly Acres camera!

doe walkies from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

After this I headed out to the back 40 to look for the other antler, but it was way too icy and a horrible walk. I gave up. The trees were covered in ice, branches droopy.

 Heading down the driveway to check for mail, wearing my boots with ice pics, I fell! It was funny and harmless as I fell in the snow bank.

Here they are with the last videos of them with antlers!

morning munchies from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Jan. 18 deer crew from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Wood duck, lost egg, clouds, young buck

June 8th – the wood ducks have hatched and flown. No dud eggs, either. I am happy for that. It means they have safely made it to the wetland or the lake. I've tried to check only every 2nd or 3rd day. This was my last view of her, Sunday, June 5th. By Wednesday they were all gone. They only stay in the nest for 24 hours after hatching, then take off in the afternoon, bouncing out of the nest. You can see that the native phragmites have grown over the pond. 

wood duck from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

  This is from 2017, when I thought they had all gone and I was prepared to clean out the nest! I scared us all!

We went into town for gas for the lawn tractor. I noticed the invasive phragmites had been mown by the county, at the side of the road. It's only mown as far as the county owns, and there is a large patch beyond it to the creek. They are working on this stuff. They are making progress, around the county with little robot tractors. 

I noticed something white on the last slab at the end of the sidewalk. It looks like a phoebe egg taken from the nest. I wonder the story there?!

There was yolk. I don't know. It could be nest theft. It was peculiar.

It's sad to document damage, but noticed this lovely lily, lower left, and a bug of some sort had rolled the leaf and snapped off the flower bud to make a home. The one beyond, and on the right are still intact. I cross my fingers. I've wrapped my chicken wire around it, and hope to actually get a bloom. 

Bambi ate them several years in a row until I figured out the idea of putting up a fence! 

During Tuesday's rough weather, Caitlin went to Toronto for a two-day leadership conference. I live vicariously through my children, and I watched the plane online. I checked the radar and, sure enough, more storm clouds. It had to veer around the storm. This was the 23 mm rain day! 

It was funny that JB having traveled a lot for work (i.e., Montreal once a week, Frankfurt quarterly, etc.), just commented that he didn't miss the travel, but sure loved seeing clouds. I know he'll like to see these, Caitlin's photos! Her iPhone takes snappy photos.

The Devil's Paintbrush are starting up. This is why I don't mow too much. 

I managed to capture 17 videos on the trailcam, after hauling myself down there with bugs flying madly. There were 15 videos of crows, one of a blue jay, and one of the young buck.

young buck 2 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

What a range of precipitation!

 May I complain about the weather? I suppose it is preferable to a rant about all the horrors in the world. That said, I cannot complain. I managed to get the garbage out at 6:30 a.m. and it was almost warmish. Almost! The rainy snow didn't start until later. For that I was grateful. 

Our deer were nowhere to be seen. They were hunkered down in the forest, I am sure. We had warnings of freezing rain, etc. It just snowed, then rained. 

I put some bird seed down on the sidewalk. Of course, You Two came along for a visit.

There was some sun. Cinnamon was babysitting the veggie seeds!

The sun did its thing. Lots of melt. It was warm for March, which was very joyful.

By the evening it was snowing on my pristine, and lovely, clean sidewalk!  

I let the cats out after dinner. Just for fresh air. Nutmeg thought she'd look for the red squirrel. DRS was in bed by this time.

Mice friends have been at the back door. Squirrels, too, but I only put the camera out at night.

mice friends from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Cinnamon was a busy boy!

Cinnamon from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

⛄Winter wonderland!❄

 I know some of you wonder about our grandkids. Isabelle (gr. 6) is a social girl, and she's happy back in school. It is a new semester for Josephine (gr. 9): science (in French), gym, math, geography (in French). She finally gets a locker, too. They've had to carry their coats and stuff with them everywhere in the school. 

We talk lots. Thursday morning we compared our Wordle scores. That was fun!

❆The snow was quite something (5 cm). It rained first, and then snowed on top of that. The snow stuck to the tree branches. First job was doing the sidewalk. The trick is to wear layers as you warm up quickly. It's great exercise and I enjoy it.

The sun was peeking through the clouds. We've more snow overnight, I'll have to get out and do it all over again. 

JB took me for a drive after chores. I was quite excited to see a flock of starlings. Maybe they know spring is coming soon? 

There are ice fishing huts on the lake.

The farm is quiet.

The birds have been active, especially with the snow storm. This was a photo fail. They are so fast. I laughed. 

To answer your questions...

1. I'd forgotten about gators, Jean. JB has a pair and he dug them out for me! We've more snow overnight. I'll probably shovel, rather than snowshoe. 
2. No raccoons right now, RedPat. They sleep in the depths of winter, rousing if the temperatures rise. It's more a torpor than hibernation. I haven't seen one since mid-December. 
3. I do get Louise Penny's newsletter, Jeannie! 

While I was using the snowblower, I discovered that there is a button to flip which heats the handles. Who knew?! We've had it since 2015. Seriously!