Monday Morning Mish Mash

Look for the helpers, they say. Tragedies all over the place. Lots of people are helping. The flooding in Texas was horrific. 

 Chores have been difficult these days. With the heat outside, and tennis inside in the morning, I'm not getting out in the cool of the morning, that terrific gardening time. I came in from gardening on July 10th and found two ticks on my neck and should. Adults, creepy crawlies, not attached yet. Popped into the tick jar! Dead as doornails. 

tick counts

Our clock radio wasn't bringing in a radio station. Caitlin even tried. I decided it was time to replace it. 

I ordered this and thought it might work. It is just too big. Joe took it back for me. I plugged in the old one, as it is good knowing the time when you are up in the wee hours. Then, thinking I might as well, I tried for a radio station and it worked. I dunno. Joe returned the under mount radio for me.

Snapping a photo of the hydrangea, the deerflies wanted to be in the photo, as well. On the lens, in the upper middle blocking the clouds!

🎾We've been watching tennis. Speaking of heat, it's 30.5 ℃ at Wimbledon Tennis. Thursday, 3 people fainted or had episodes. The players sent a ball kid over with their cold bottled water and hope for the best. It happened again Friday. People just aren't used to this heat. We were 30 ℃ Friday. I wouldn't want to be sitting in the sun watching tennis. If you look at my photo, you can see what they make the camera crews wear. Green camouflage suits!

Meantime, Caitlin and JL went out for date night downtown!

We had an issue with Mr. Bear. I spotted a termite or carpenter ant queen on his cap. Time to take bear off of the front deck.

The carpenter ants are eating him up. I moved him away from the house.

I was on the deck, watching Fred after I'd done the lawn. She seems to know it'll pass. It took about 10 minutes after I was done, sitting on the back deck with my feet up.

I did the lawn, no ticks this time. I did leave some clods on the driveway. They sorta look like poopies! Only the coyotes feel comfortable enough to poop there!

We had visitors!

 I've been limited to the house, which is fine by me, but we were going to look for a new countertop and taps for the bathroom. I am still limping about. The leaky tap is on hold! The trick will be to find another sink counter top that works with this one. 

JB fetched us pizza for dinner. What have I been doing? Not much, I tell ya. 

⚽ I tried taping the women's soccer for JB, but 23 minutes in France was already up 3 - 0 over Morocco, so that wasn't really a game. Columbia and Jamaica spent most of the game diving. No fun for viewers. The US/Sweden game was great. There was little diving for penalty kicks. Canada doesn't dive, either.

🎾 Tennis was exciting, with Milos Raonic coming back after years away with injuries. There was a 20-minute tie breaker, and he managed 229 kph serving. He's gotten married during his time off, she's a cutie. It was a nail biter of a game.

Milos Raonic

⛲ My new water fountain pump arrived, but I cannot fix the fountain with my foot like this. The section I tipped over weighs about 30 lbs. 

Just when I thought the excitement for the morning was done, I went out front to check out the Asiatic Lilies.

I was busily doing photos, gingerly being careful of my foot, and I heard a noise. Way up on the Internet satellite, a hawk. 

 

hawk 1 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I think a sharp-shinned rough-legged hawk, but I don't know. It sat up there, then I dashed out to the back deck to watch. What a surprise! I had so much time that I put the videocamera on the tripod. 

hawk from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

It turns out there are a pair of them! Aug. 8 11:30 a.m.

Look to the skies!

 Our trees are cleaned up, more on that another day. Firstly, tennis!

🎾 We were watching tennis in Spain. They have been having models as ball girls wearing little cropped tops and short skirts. There was fooferaw, and they appeared the next day in skorts.  

 "Was the decorative ball crew not enough objectification?" - Tennis fans scream misogyny at Madrid Open as presence of models as ball girls goes viral

 

A New York based company, IMG, is now in charge of the ball kids, and they introduced ball models for the high profile men's games, says Eliza Wastcoat is a Tik Toc video. The regular ball kids work the outside games in more modest clothing, while the ball models work in t-shirts and skirts.

 River asked, "Why does the deer fence not just stay up all year so you don't have to put it back up each spring?"

Good question! I don't like the look of it in winter. I have been trying to rake and weed the garden before I put up the fence. It's a pain working around it. Also, I need to pluck off the lily bugs. The deer are mostly off in their summer habitats and I haven't seen them. 

🇺🇦 War on Ukraine

✈Today, Russia celebrated Victory Day, an annual holiday marking the defeat of the Nazis, amid mounting anxiety following a series of attacks and over a looming Ukrainian counteroffensive. It was a watered down event. They were busy bombing Ukrainian civilians.

 🛩 The weekend was busy here with air traffic. It keeps me sharp following it all. It's not that bending and weeding, and throwing cement water fountain pieces around wore me out! It was such a nice weekend, people were out and about.

 

It was really busy in the skies May 6 and 7th. I had various levels of success! I nearly tripped in the first clip!

 

weekend air traffic from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

🐦I don't know if this is the kestrel that nests not too far away. It is a bird of prey!

 

hawk from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I've stopped feeding the ducks, now that things are warmer. They are hanging about. They do fly pasts, as well, heading for the pond. When they have ducklings, they aren't overhead much at all.

ducks 1 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

🎾Tennis, and other pasttimes

 🎾Tennis has been challenging to watch. It is the Australian Open, and the time difference is huge: 16 hours ahead of us. They have 9 tennis courts with feeds, and it is a major tournament. 

Daisy used to like tennis! I'm not sure if her new owner does, as well. 

 The Aussie Open has their challenges with heat and rain. The camera operators film under umbrellas (below, far left). BTW The kids are going to Australia and New Zealand in the summer. Happy world travelers!

We watch on TSN1, 2, 3, 4, or 5, and we have had several Canadians playing: Denis Shapovalov (ranked 20th), Felix Auger-Aliassime (6th), Bianca Andreescu, Laylah Fernandez, Vasek Pospisil, for example. I think 4 played earlier in the week on the same day. Poor JB is hard pressed to figure out which programs to tape. Then, I have to be careful when I watch my morning news show that they don't give the results away. SPOILER ALERT! 

Raonic set the play a few years ago. Our strong, tall player whose aces just fire across the net. He has been off with an injury for a year. This strategy of heavy hitting takes a toll on muscles and bones. Sadly, both Shapo and Felix tend to bash the ball as hard and fast as possible all the time. We'd like them to know when to hold up, and put on a finesse hit. The strong players can hit serves at >200 km/hr. 

It makes for a long game when the men play best of 5. That's another pet peeve. I sit snuggled under my new blanket, a gift from Caitlin for Christmas. Soft as can be and cozy on these winter days. Cinnamon is afraid of it. Seriously! I'm working on that. 

This is my regular blanket! Silly lad! 

We binge watched the other day. It was quite funny. I think there was 5 hours of tape, and we were really careful to get up and take breaks. I had to vary from my normal 9:30 a.m. workout, which is good for the old brain just to switch things up. If I work out during a break, dollars to donuts they will announce the results. 

Funny story... I'd put off my workout, worried about would be on TV to distract me, and headed off downstairs when we finished Felix's game. It was so sad. No new movies. Then, a press conference by the federal health team, followed by the US security dude's presser. I headed off to the local Toronto news channel and they were covering the Toronto Mayor's press conference. It was snowing, so after 15 minutes I vacuumed downstairs, having fixed the clogged vacuum cleaner. Out I went, shoveling snow, which was a fine workout. Only 5 cm (2"), with a layer of ice underneath from the other storms. Yay, snow tires!

Haircuts and pollen!

 Friday we had a mission. We met Caitlin at the Hostage Exchange site at 8:30, where we used to pick up or drop off the girls during COVID and the 35 weeks of Gramma Camp. They'd left some stuff at our place from sheltering with us from the power outage. It was nostalgic! 

✄ Caitlin took Isabelle for a haircut Friday afternoon! What a difference! She has an undercut, and had a ton taken off. She is growing up, our lovely young lady

Josephine had her hair shortened last month. It is a trend! Although, Isabelle loves and respects her older sister, and often emulates her. They have a close bond, after COVID.

📺 Doing my workout in the basement, I had trouble finding something to watch on TV. Three Ontario news shows were going to feature our newly elected premier's speech, and it seemed to me he was smirking. I couldn't watch it. US news was featuring issues around guns, which is heartbreaking. 

Ukraine citizens are in dire straights. FORTE11 is based near them. The 🛫Air Traffic is busy. They came out of Turkey Sunday morning.

I turned to Vancouver morning news, and they were dealing with a couple of stabbings, and a car fire. Crikey! I wasn't feeling 100% so I called it a day after 15 minutes. I went outside to play.

I puttered outside, and tried to get some yard work done, but the bugs drove me indoors.The weeding will get done another day. Or not! I shall have to use proper bug spray, and shower afterwards. 

🎾 Roland Garros Tennis – The French Open

Then, we were watching tennis from Paris and poor Alexander Zverev (Germany) rolled his ankle during the match against Nadal (Spain). That looked painful. I know. I did it on the ice outside my portable in the early 90s.  

JB turned on the men's tennis semifinal, and the Ruud (Sweden) and Čilić (Croatia) match was stopped during the third set. A young woman wrapped a cable around the net, and the necklace she was wearing, tying up the game. She was protesting climate change, "We have 1028 days left." They hustled the players off the court while they dealt with it. The broadcaster didn't show any more of the incident, which is their policy.

In more tennis news, the French Open's 1st female director says women's tennis holds less 'appeal' than men's, which is why she schedules the men during peak night time hours. In 2016 in LA, a male tennis director stepped down when he revealed his gender bias. Djokovic echoed the sentiment at the time, but didn't face any blowback. Sadly, the Paris transportation system was shut down when one men's game ended at 1 a.m., as the men play 5 sets, the women 3. People, it is 2022. 

Our travels to Franktown and back 

The crops are growing. Unlike Ukraine. 

 🏤Lanark Lifestyles <= see all my drive-by photos.  

Lanark Lifestyles is coming along.

Unlike my header, the rhododendron aren't blooming as much as when I first bought it. The spongy moth caterpillars ate it up last year. We shall see how it comes along. I'm not sure what to do about it. Mulch, maybe? I wrapped it in burlap over winter, as the deer like it.

This is the plant that the Spongy Moth caterpillars tore into last year. Thankfully, the caterpillars have died off and moved on. 

The allium

The pine trees are generating a lot of pollen.

pine tree pollen from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.