Snowy days and critter videos

🎂Thank you for your birthday wishes. I appreciate them! 

This has been quite the stormy time! Our friends in Muskoka have had 3' in < 24 hours. Plans were cancelled, and lots of snowblowers called for. My friend waited all day at the hospital, and ended up going home as the wait was too long. They didn't have power at the hospital. 

Ontario Hydro put out a message yesterday:

Restoration Update: Crews are out in full force and have gained access to Walkerton, Picton, Prince Edward County, Napanee and Trenton. Efforts to reach customers in Bracebridge and Huntsville continue. Conditions in Bracebridge and Parry Sound may worsen with up to 50 cm of additional snow expected. We won’t stop until everyone is restored.

🛫 Flight Aware said there were 17,000 US flight cancellations in the past week.  There is a luggage carousel in Pearson's that broke down. People arrived at their destinations without luggage, or any way of finding it. They mistakenly put their medications in luggage, rather than carry on. Big rookie mistake.

🌨And, the not-so-good news? It is snowing this morning, but they are warning us of rain Friday and Saturday. That will be a lovely mess. 

🦌🦌🦌🦌🦌🦌🦌🦌🦌🦌🦌🦌🦌🦌

We haven't left the property in days, hunkered down with our four-legged friends. Thank goodness for the critters to entertain us. 

The deer were anxious to check out the bird feeders!

deer playtime from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

We had 7 deer Tuesday morning. Under the shelter of the trees, they hunker down. One took a nap in the back.

I took the photo through the glass, I knew if I opened the door, she'd wake up. Sure enough!

The fallen branches are still fallen. Cinnamon helped me outside, shaking snow off the trees.

Cinnamon Walkies from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

🐇 I'd noticed bunny tracks under the lilac tree. I cannot tell a hare from a rabbit, despite being corrected several times, so I'll call it a bunny! Bunny has been nibbling the tips of the shrub's branches. There are lots of bunny pellet poopies there, too. We often get them under the feeders in the front yard!

We've a few about. These tracks led to Fred Gopher's hole – under the lower deck. Fred took off, not to be seen again. Putting a couple of carrots to mark the hole, at dusk I spotted said bunny sniffing the carrots. 

Next morning, the carrots were still there. I'll be watching.

I had fun watching the dratted red squirrel (DRS) who had dug some tunnels for safety.

dratted red squirrel from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The critters are still whacking away at the pumpkins. I have removed the trailcams from the forest, since most of the action is here. I didn't think the rain we had would do them any good. This is from a week ago. 

Pumpkin doe from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Our 3 bucks, they seem to be triplets.  

3 Bucks & Mourning doves from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Let's see what today brings! I'll be using the snowblower, I am sure, but we are safe, warm, and we will manage. 

Snomageddon 2022

I've been watching the power outages. Yes, what else does an old math teacher do but create a graph? What I am looking for is progress. This morning, we (Ontario HydroOne) are down to 555 outages, and 30,000 without power. Progress. They are cleaning up from the storm, trains are still stopped along the Windsor Montreal corridor.

We made BBC news, things are so bad in North America! The drifting was awful all over. DW picked up on the mess in the US, 200 million without power, not realizing the storms covered the middle of the continent, and ignored the geopolitical border! 

Dec. 23 – you can see they were getting a handle on things, then the winds began in earnest. 

Dec. 25th – the wind was still howling.

I shoveled a path to the feeders. The birds have been having quite a time in the snow. 

Our triplet bucks were play fighting. 

This one has lost an antler. I'll have to summon some energy to go snowshoeing and look for it. Maybe.

After being quite excited with three male cardinals and one female, Christmas Day we had 4 males with the female.

This shot turned out nicely. You have to understand this is through the front window. 

This is a 46 cm (18") ruler. I worked hard at this. We might have rain this week, seriously, and the snow gets heavy and wet in the melt. I had to remove it.

I noticed bunny tracks!

I finally got my act together and dug out the sidewalk. This was 56 cm, this is a metre/yard stick.It's just from drifting.

I talked to our Ottawa family in the morning after they had unwrapped presents. Today is my birthday, so they usually end the call with, talk to you tomorrow! 

Caitlin and family were hosting her youngest brother (we are estranged- no conversations with him!), plus her mother-in-law, and brother-in-law for Christmas dinner. 

I lined up some Christmas movies to watch upstairs, and poured the wine. I made a fire in the basement. Our power outage worries are done, it was just for warmth for TV watching. There was football on. The cats really like football.

JB came upstairs while we did Facetime with Vancouver family. Jesse was wearing his Christmas jammies.

When Joseph Brian went back downstairs, two cats were sitting in the two chairs. I had to pull out a third chair. Everyone was happy and cozy. 

Later, I checked the radar, and it looked like more snow on the way. The ribbon of clouds was to the south of us, yet the radar showed it to the north. This morning, we didn't get any more snow.

This morning, I woke to a lovely surprise! We have deferred Christmas and birthdays until our colds are better. It's sad, but last year we did Christmas in February due to COVID. Hopefully, this won't happen this year.

Vegetation Management Crew & storms!

It's a Christmas Miracle! We have power! It was flickering Saturday morning. The wind was howling outside. We are hunkered down. There are power outages all around us. Mysteriously, we still have lights. I cranked up the furnace at 6 a.m., and I've a fire ready to light, just in case. 

cardinals in the storm from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

There was 24 mm rain Dec. 23 (1"), followed by a freeze, and more snow the 24th. It's not just snowing, it's a blizzard, with horrible winds. People are stranded in all sorts of locations. People have been on a train from Ottawa to Toronto for 12 hours, radio peeps are interviewing them as they run out of food and the toilets aren't working. It's just a mess. I cannot complain, snug as a bug here.

These are the Ontario Hydro outages. Quebec is even worse, with 357,000 people without power.

 

I heard a spokeswoman talking about the B.C. storm and deep freeze. She said that they are fully prepared and their Vegetation Management Crews are ready to go! That's what I've been doing for days! I have a title! B.C. has it bad, too. 

The deer have begun to gather. We had eight Thursday morning. We seem to have a winter yard.

There were lots of branches under the pines. I decided to clean them up.

I ran of of energy, both me and my reciprocating saw. I moved the branches aside to be cut up later!

 When we had snowman snow, I could have made one, but felt too tired after shoveling. Since I pulled all the branches down, I felt I had to mark the occasion. Do you know how easy it is to make one? The trick, however, is getting back up without wrecking it! 

Dec. 23 – The temperatures, in Celsius, dropped like a stone. Bombogenesis was here, the jet stream pulling down cold Arctic air. It is still snowing, Dec. 25th. I didn't venture outside at all, other than the deck. 

It is awful everywhere, right across Canada, as well as the US. Someone sat 18 hours on a VIA Rail train trying to get from Ottawa to Toronto. A tree fell on a train, you see. And there is a derailed freight train west of Kingston. That held things up. Flights are cancelled across the continent. This is why.

The train corridor from Quebec City to Windsor is a mess. The media are finding all sorts of people crying, and upset, to feature on TV news. It was pretty sad, but there had to be some clever people who cancelled plans to remain safe and not stress out crews trying to mitigate the damage. Police, fire, ambulance, as well as those clearing and cleaning up the damage, like Hydro crews, are working hard. Bless their hearts.

Dec. 24th, I woke to blowing snow. Baby bear was blown to the ground, and the lovely baskets, purchased at an auction, blown across the bench, the red one on the floor. I've left them there, as the wind is wicked. 

snowfall & wind from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I ventured on the back deck, and shoveled.  We're up to 33 cm (13") there, but that isn't an accurate measure of snow fall. The winds have whipped the snow everywhere. 

Just one more branch down the 24th.

I worked so hard getting rid of the slush. It paid off, as the snow didn't stick. It is accumulating from the merciless wind.

I kept on bird watching from my chair. It was amazing seeing three male and one female cardinal. They were bullying the others away from the feeder, greedy lads. That was some fine entertainment. Today, I MUST refill the feeders!

Yesterday afternoon, I made a fire, as power was a bit worrisome. JB and the cats watched football there in the basement, while I enjoyed a couple of Christmas RomComs upstairs with my wine. Nutmeg plunked herself right in front of the fire. A happy trio. 

Cinnamon looks forlornly out at the blowing snow. I haven't shoveled, so he can't even sit on the deck. 

We shall keep hunkered down. JB is fighting a cold. Season's greetings to one and all.