Trees and other chores

 I had another project. Well, two projects. The first was the Catalpa tree. It was leaning over the sidewalk. Not good on a rainy day. It's begun to grow over it you compare last year and this.

I had a helper!

I used and old camera strap and tied it to the tree. Voila!

My next job was to chop down this tree. The spruce is starting to block, and prevent air flow. It is just too close to the house.

Thursday, July 11th, I took some time and took off the lower branches. I wanted to think about my approach.

Back at it Friday. Two hours later, I'd discharged both battery packs for the reciprocal saw, and gave up for the day. I'd missed lunch, felt thirsty and light-headed, and decided to stop. The kids were coming over and I had a plan.

I ended up being really close to just shoving it over. Wrapping a nylon rope around it, Jo and Aster pulled it over for me. They hauled it down the driveway for me, and here we are. People should realize, when planting trees, how big they get near the house.

🐟Aquarium Repairs <= the saga!

I had one more job for them. Jo, Aster and I brought in the fish tank. Next job is putting the gravel back in the bottom. 

Our work done, we are giving my old computer to Jo's friend. They made sure it was wiped clean, and good to go.

Dinner over, we did Close Eyes. I'd bought Jo a macro lens kit for a Smart Phone. I have a small kit, but I got the deluxe kit for them, as I knew they would have a blast with it. It's made by Selvim, and this is how I've been taking my macro photos. Jo had asked for a macro lens for Christmas and I explained that they were about $500. Both of these were $80. 

   

JL, back from a quick trip to Las Vegas, had a nap, then did the BBQ and dinner. It was terrific.

We watched the COPA soccer game, what a game. 

The dock spider was watching from outside. Nutmeg wanted a little ME time.

This is my calendar page for July. We've had much fun over the years. Turns out our 2 grandies are coming back in August for a few days, after their big trip to Vancouver to visit Jesse and his family. We shall have fun.

⛄Snomageddon 2022 Part 2

 What a treat to see the sun! South Ontario continues to clean out all that snow. The girls were going to go to school, but their side street wasn't plowed out at the time. SNOW DAY! 

Of course, I jinxed it. Today, Wednesday, we've another snowstorm. 

I finished off the driveway, there was a lot of drifting after my hard work the day before. Then, there are the snowplows. Happy to see them, but they do mess up the end of the driveway. I'm sore in places that haven't been used on the treadmill!

Back indoors, I changed into dry pants, and accidentally locked Cinnamon in my closet. I couldn't find him anywhere! I looked upstairs, downstair, in the cold storage, and lastly, my closet. Usually, Nutmeg does that. He snuck in behind me, I think during my second clothing change. We're going with that! It was hours. He knocked a few thing off my closet shelves, poor big guy.

I was happy to stay indoors after all this. As I gazed out at the feeders, I spotted a robin at the birdbath! They will overwinter, from time-to-time, and one year we had 13 on the meadow trailcam. They'll eat sumac berries, and should be OK. It looks chubby enough!

Robin drinking:

I set up the zoom to try and get some better photos. Hooray Mr. Sun!

The goldfinches

Mourning dove

We had 5 house finches, which I was happy to see. I think one male, 4 females.

They love a nice drink of water.

Bird fail! It would have been a nice photo. It makes me giggle.

The goldfinches

winter goldfinches from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The mourning doves in sun:

 

Yard work!

 

 First, a non-critter tale. Poor JB had the dropsies last week. He broke two dishes. One was a spoon rest. He ordered a new one from Amazon. It arrived. The box was empty! How weird is that?!

Amazon was no help. He phoned Mikasa. They wanted details of his order, date, order #, etc., which I screen captured for him and sent it in reply. 

Mikasa got back to us the next day and we got our replacement in a week!

LDD moths

I spent some time with my spruce tree. Beginning with the heavy sheers, that was a failure, back to the garage. I tried the long heavy lopers, but they were too heavy and useless, even after sharpening them. 

I tried my dad's old hedge clippers, stopping to sharpen THEM, not strong enough. Finally, I used the long-handled grass clippers. 

Before and after:

The moths are mating, and while I can't scrape eggs off of all the trees on our 16 acres, I could do some. 

After the caterpillar stage, they pupate and change into male and female moths. The females are whiter, and don't fly. The males are a dirty beige colour. 

The females are laying eggs in the crook under the tree branch. Also, on the underside of my spruce. It was awful, really. I fetched some soapy water and scrape it all into the can.

I spotted a monarch chrysalis under a branch of the spruce. Then, I lost it. I kept clipping, and found it again. By now my legs were pretty sore, up and down the ladder. 

Out and about

I saw a cicada on the lower deck. Once, I snapped a photo of a pair mating!

Also, the wood frogs are out of the pond and in the woods.

The goldfish pond now has two green frogs. There are three water lilies, as well. I am so pleased. I even counted all 5 fishies. 

Things are growing!

The trees are wonderful.

Praise be for autofocus! The spruce tree looks amazing.

Then, there is candytuft!

The frog pond looks wonderful, too. We've just one nest box in use by a wood duck.
The greens are growing. We'll need the muskrats back to clean it out.

The goldfish are doing well.

Maggie Magnolia is about to bloom. I just have to remember to go see it. There are a lot of bugs in the front yard!

Nutmeg sitting amongst the periwinkle flowers. She brought in a chipmunk. I let her in as I was certain she'd put it down. She did. In the basement. It ran into the bathroom and the door is closed. I'm just having my coffee until I figure out a strategy. 

The cats worked in tandem to tree a dratted red squirrel. (DRS) I'm not sure who was in the tree. I think Nutmeg. sigh.

Cat trees from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.