Showing posts with label spring. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spring. Show all posts

Friday, 18 March 2022

Spring!!!

 We aren't quite ready to let go of Christmas.


Cinnamon is a happy walker!


The snow melt has been wonderful. You can see Guinevere. She was buried up to her neck!

St. Patrick's Day and the cats bought Tiberius some festive ears.

🐻SNUGGLE Bears

These were a gift from the girls a number of Valentine's Days ago!

You can see how much snow has melted under the trees. The temperature was heavenly, and the birds were changing their tunes for spring.

The melt began under the trees, but there is still a lot of snow on the middle deck. 

 I wanted to go to Narrow's Lock in the sunshine and see if there are any swans. Someone reported 7 or 8 swans on Otty Lake a week ago. I had a massage in the afternoon, which I really needed!

Instead, I sat on the deck in the sunshine and watched the birds. I spotted the first bug, as well! I think this is a song sparrow, which is an excellent sign of spring.


Just listen to them!!!

song sparrow from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Thursday, 7 May 2020

Hooray, hooray, the month of May



I hid a tulip in a clump of daffodils. The deer haven't spotted it yet!


Our lilies are beginning to grow. I'm trying to find neem oil for them. I'm nearly out. The websites for our local stores are pretty feeble.


I found the new Northern Flicker nest.  In the top of the tree stump!


These are the daffodils Isabelle and I planted last fall.



 Also, happy 10th birthday to Isabelle!

This is one of my favourite photos...Vancouver, 2014! 


They are both growing, or I'm getting shorter!

Monday, 13 April 2020

Life and mystery birds

Lots to amuse us. Grampa continues his wall exercises for his torn rotator cuff. I usually count aloud, to try throw him off his count. (What do we have but time?!) Now, I just walk by and he giggles.

We rented some movies to pass the time. We were watching The Kitchen, a pretty vulgar, in parts gruesome, movie with Melissa McCarthy. It was about mobster wives back in the 70s. McCarthy's character was sitting counting money aloud, complained she lost count. Another female lead,   Elisabeth Moss, start spewing random numbers, as I do. We looked at one another and hooted!

COVID–19

COVID–19 reports are better than expected in Canada, although intel tells us that the Canadian government knew about it in January. I think we all expected it wouldn't be as bad as this. It wasn't until March that the kids cancelled their April trip to Thailand, Australia and New Zealand. People, media, somebody, has been demanding forecasts of cases, which include best and worst case scenarios.


Quebec has had horrid issues with long-term care (LTC), although it's all over both provinces in LTC and retirement homes. Workers (primarily personal support workers paid $15/hour) aren't getting PPE, although most have gloves and cheap masks. They don't protect the eyes, and the PSWs go from home-to-home.  
B.C. and Alberta have been flattening the curve. Yukon and the NWT are trying hard to keep stupid white people away. 

Ontario and Quebec, not so much. They are still triaging testing, so not everyone has been tested who could have been. They are limiting it to healthcare workers, and people with symptoms. Quebec should have far fewer cases, according to the population. 

Science is really important. It's easier in some countries rather than others. Ours is so large, with very unique provinces and territories. Most of our populations live near the US/Canadian borders.

Iceland's population is about 364,000. The Netherlands is about 17 million. Ontario is about 15 million, so you can see the difference.

Personal grooming

I know they say not to, but I used the electric razor on my hair. It was down over my ears. My right eye is so bad. Having my hair in my face was driving me nuts.


We will manage. Once a week shopping. I'll be happy if cottagers go home. There were parties, we could tell from our local general store. Not in there buying goods, but loading up on booze for the weekend. We've relied on them for odds and sods. Hydro workers are picking up sandwiches, etc., and they just shouldn't take these risks.


It's a warm day, with a front having moved in. Lots of rain! Apparently, high winds will follow. Just what we need, a power outage! OK, gotta live in the present moment.



Josephine showed Grampa how to download on his Kindle. She's been reading books from her library on her iPad. The prices of eBooks on Amazon are atrocious, and they seem to have been raised in the time of COVID–19. The Kindle doesn't work with our library's eBooks. 
I asked about Josee's iPad app. It's called Libby. Caitlin checked, while we were on the phone, and it turns out it worked. I loaded it up for him, and we logged him in. Voila!

I've given up on the chorus frog survey. I'm disappointed, but there was too much driving. The spring peepers continue, as well as the wood frogs. I think I heard a tree frog this morning.

Meantime, ANOTHER mystery bird.

mystery bird from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I've had my fair share of them. Thankfully, I've time to figure them out.

 
mystery bird in the trees from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Consensus is:

mystery bird –purple finch from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

This one was solved by experts, too. I never did see it.

Mystery bird sound - Black-billed Cuckoo from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Saturday, 4 May 2013

I had the best day ever!

Foley Mountain Lookout
As seen from The Cove Inn's patio!
This is what our precious granddaughter says when she visits us!

"I had the BEST day ever!"

Thursday, we went for a walkabout. Foley Mountain is part of the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority (RVCA). We've been to the RVCA Rideau Ferry beach and the regatta. It's a great spot for kids! They have a beach, too.
You can download their map from their website: Download Foley Mountain Trail Guide

RVCA has 9 conservation spots to visit, as well as educational programs, but Foley Mountain was one we hadn't been to yet.


Having been a special education for most of my teaching career, I enjoyed the wheelchair-friendly trail.

This is a fabulous time of year to visit lookouts, since the leaves aren't out yet, and you can see these fabulous vistas. I've been to the Dorset Tower Lokout, in Huntsville, and we climbed to the Blueberry Mountain lookout (#4 of the 7 Wonders of Lanark County!), but not this one, near Westport, right in our Rideau Valley watershed!


Here is the view from the lookout.

Westport

 

If a tree falls in the forest...

Poor old tree
We have old pines like this.


Merganser pair

We walked up to the beaver pond.


Turtles!



Found on the road on the drive home!

Camera-Critters #265


We brake for snakes!


ID butterflies here
Mourning Cloak (Nymphalis antiopa)

The spring flowers are amazing!

Spring Beauties
Lots of great trails of varying distances!


Interpretation centre and hard-working crew!
Lots of clean-up to do!

This site can be used to obtain information and start booking processes for education programs, the group camping area, the interpretive centre, and special events.
Don't forget to pay the $6 fees to enjoy the park!
It's only fair (fare)! We have a seasonal pass.

Groups camp site