Bark butter, and other chores

 Are you tired of my wee goldfinches? I'm not. We're still in chaos here in Ontario. Six of our automotive plants are shut due to the occupiers. It is defeating. They have gathered at the borders, Sarnia, Windsor/Detroit, shutting down the supply chain.

Our premier, who is the one with the authority to bring in SWAT teams (the feds do not), has been silent. He is up for re-election June 2nd. No one is happy with him digging in his heels. The crazy people, who don't listen to scientists, and entertain conspiracy theories, are getting air time. They aren't even making logical sense. OK, back to nature, and my goldfinches. 

I keep watching them for signs of their spring/summer colours. Below: now and Aug., 2015.

This is a photo fail! It wouldn't look at me! American tree sparrow. I kept waiting with baited breath!

The male house finches have arrived. I thought they might be purple finches.

Things have been treacherous here indoors. I had a bit of an argument with a sardine can. Nurse JB fetched a bandage, and went to buy more finger bandages later on. It's like a thick paper cut. Yowzers. 

Sewing a hem on my pants, after months of having it on the To Do list, I was making progress. Sadly, the pins were on the arm of my chair. They began to slip, and I caught them, and caught a needle in my thumb. My nurse wasn't home, but the finger bandages came in handy.

The front walk was slippy, I chucked some sunflower seeds on it. The birds eat the seeds, leave the hulls, and a little bit of traction. The freeze and thaw is difficult on walking. We're at 2 C., this a.m., with maybe rain and/or snow ahead. 

Cinnamon had gone back to bed, and didn't even venture outdoors. Clever lad!

I learned a word, or maybe I'd forgotten it: pareidolia. Where you perceive a face in objects. What better than a pansy face? It's a bright spot of colour for us. I'm happy visiting my blogger friends with lots of greenery and many colours, far to the south. We are getting there!

I made bark butter for my Fat Head, inserting it in the holes. This is great stuff. There are lots of recipes, a small batch recipe, or another. Cornmeal, lard, flour and peanut butter. I put it up at 4:30 Wednesday afternoon. We'll see what happens today. I may have to move it away from the underhang. Those raccoons will be awake soon. It's a dreadful photo, but you get the picture. I'll do more when the sun rises.

Sore thumb, Percy goldfish, Cinnamon cat

 What a start to the weekend. Two weeks ago I was chopping veggies and made contact with my thumb. No blood! I've been watching too many cooking shows and was careless. Friday I was poking holes in a cooking bag with a fork and hit my thumb. (Freezer dinner!) I hit it hard. I screamed, and someone who doesn't hear very well heard me from the basement, where he was watching a football game beside a cozy fire. There was a lot of blood in the sink. JB brought me a nice fat bandaid and we carried on. 

Thankfully I'd already wrapped my present from JB! The one with black tape shows the time someone couldn't find the regular tape! More tape has since been bought!

I was taking out my frustrations with the fork, methinks. It was a frustrating week. I had an appointment for a haircut, and he was 20 minutes late taking me. I sat there, trying to cool my jets, but anxiety kicked in. It was awful. You go there to relax. I think he fit in a spouse, while he had his hair cut, she slept in the chair. I had to go ask for water, they used to provide that. They had a bottle of warm Perrier. 

Still no booster vaccine booked: Funny COVID–19 vaccine story. I still haven't sorted out our taxes:  Canada Revenue Agency (CRA)😓. The bank hasn't reversed the mistake I made, and I requested the correction a week ago Wednesday. Ah, well. It's only money. Interest rates are pretty low right now, so there is that.

The news is awful. Of course that is the nature of the news cycle. If it bleeds, it leads (see above 😏)! There is Hope from B.C. They'll have a long recovery.

🌦British Columbia's Storm Damage

British Columbia's rain has finally stopped. They had a good update regarding agriculture:

UPDATE: 

 Poultry: chickens; 61 poultry farms in the evacuation zone. Good news: 97% of laying chicken survived. Also, 98% of the turkeys survived. 

 Dairy farms: 98% of the cows from Sumas Prairie survived the flood. The rugby association players cleaned up 100s of stalls, removed stuff from basement. Also, the hockey team has been working like this. People helping people. 

Sadly 110 beehives were destroyed, but they can be rebuilt.

The damage doesn't affect most of the ski resorts, Jean. This damage is in the mountain passes. Jesse and Cluny are signed up for ski lessons. They just have to hope for colder temperatures in order for the ski hill to lay down some snow.

My Cinnamon baffle on the fishtank is working to keep him out. Sadly, it was too cold for him to go out for a pee Saturday morning (or so he said), and he began working on the styrofoam, picking at pieces with his claws and tearing it off. Little dweeb! I put another book on top. That solved it. 

The silly thing is that I've always fed them from that corner. Percy goldfish keeps going to that spot every day. The smaller, younger ones get it, but he's been fed in this corner every winter for several years. I'm having to clean the tank more often, as he is so huge.

I've been playing outside in the sunshine. This is the BEFORE and AFTER! 

We shall keep on carrying on!