After the frost...

It was cold in the morning, but warmed up to 17 ℃ by the afternoon. I was watching carefully!

 Taking advantage of the sunshine, I had a new idea for cleaning up the fountain. This is how it looked before and after during. Usually, the algae dries up over winter and falls off. I've been scrubbing like stink. 

I tried a shower brush, (ineffective), then wire brushes (my dad's, better), and ran out of elbow grease. 

My t-shirt was covered in little green bits.  The videocamera wouldn't fit in my pocket and I figured out why. In another "don't tell the kids" moment, I realized I had my sundress on inside out.

The idea of the handy attachment for the drill popped into my head. I think the drill bits were my dads. There are three of them. I was bad to not clean the fountain before covering it up for winter, but you do the crime...  I bitterly regret not having a backup battery. I used to, but it pooched out on me. I worked until 4 and gave it up for the day. A shower was quite welcome.

I wanted to get an image, a reminder for the fall when I put it away again.

drill from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I went out to work during my second wind, and frightened Fred. He was poking around the wood tarp and scared me! He had an old burrow there, here is #1b, under the wood pile. I filled that one in.

I think they have a burrow in the middle of this garden beside the flag pole.

Can you see in the hole? There is a paver they have dug under, and I hope my hydrangea lasts. Now that we have two, I'll bet there will be more.

The little twerper has created burrow #5 in the garden! It's great and rather hidden. Burrow #3 has dried, it was filled with water, spring melt. 

Back out front, I found the first lily bug of the season. Oops, time to find the Neem Oil.

I thought I'd take a photo of my tulips. You never know who will take a liking to them! Both deer and cottontails like them. 

I tried a snazzy photo of the Lenten Rose, but it wasn't focused properly. It could have been great!

Barbara asked about 'Labbit' but it is just a name  Well, we still use pet names for critters. Back when we'd see a bunny, one of the grandies would call it Labbit. That term stuck. So cottontail or hare, they are all Labbits, but, as I've been told, not all bunnies are rabbits! Now we've two, I am sure we will have more fun.

@tz_garden asked about the deer fence. I ordered netting last year, and JB picked me up some stakes. It worked really well. This is what we can look forward to later in the summer. 

Spring is early

🧸Bear Watch

To answer your question, tz_garden, the bears come out from hibernation in spring. They go to their summer territory, and then the mothers or potential male mates, kick out the two-year-olds to find their own territory. That's when we see them migrating through the area looking for new habitat. I do have to put the bird feeders away at that point. The trailcams help me determine when, as well as community FB pages.

I was outside before breakfast the other day and ran my 🐦Birdnet App as I couldn't identify the songs. A brown creeper! I didn't venture out, though. We had a bit of rain (17 mm) Saturday/Sunday, and I wasn't about to go outdoors on an adventure! 

  

On the day before the storm, our Golden Arch, lovely in the sunset.

We are all set for a green March, which is fitting for St. Patrick's Day. We live in an area with a lot of Kellys, and other people of Irish heritage, like JB. 

Well, the Harlequin Tabby cat hasn't shown up. We do have Mice Friends, though!

mice friends Mar 9 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The official Crumbly Acres camera had a Spider Friend. I cleaned it off, and sprayed some Pam on the top.

 

spider from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The deer are eating moss in the Cedar Corridor. The thumbnail image shows Prince Harry, whose ear has a split. It happened late in the winter., Jan. 21st. This is the only way to tell them apart, aside from their behaviour.

 

deer in the forest from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The tulips are beginning, a tad early. It's going to be below zero ℃ tonight. 

Crumbly Acres – in red

 It is a sweet spot: I'd love to know how the corridor came about. Maybe a path was trod and, of course, the tree branches are acidic, and other saplings didn't survive beneath and around them. Ain't nature grand? We had a big snow storm, and all of this is now under 10 cm of snow cover. I thought I'd post these before any more snow photos!

I love this cedar corridor. I put the oldest trailcam here. You may be able to spot it in the second photo, on the right-hand tree. It's a pretty lane. It's high traffic for critters.

This is the frog pond camera. If you look closely, lower right, you can see a firefly! As of Jan. 2nd, for the previous 34 days, we've had sunshine on only 31 of them, plus warm temperatures. That has since changed. 

On my walk, I noticed a lot of owl poop, AKA Mute. This is a clue that an owl pellet may be nearby. They sit on the branch above, poop backwards, and regurgitate the pellet forwards. I did not find one. I'll keep checking this location, though.

A good amount of mute, and near to that, pinecone remnants, in a nice pile. Obviously, Owl was on the watch for a rodent of some sort!

Actual blue sky!

Now for the reds! Indoors, we depend upon our plants for colour. Joseph Brian brought home some tulips.

🥀 The Amaryllis bloom I broke off is doing well in a mug of water. I will have a total of 6 blooms from this one plant. It is heartwarming.

I finally got my butt in gear and made up a one-pan meal. Pork chops, red and yellow peppers, a Spanish onion, rice, broth and spices. I made banana bread, as well. Susie Homemaker, last week.

Our old toaster was a bit of a disaster. I sent hubby in for another. I thought red to go with our designer (2nd hand) curtains by Caitlin! At first I wondered, as there wasn't a 🥯 bagel button like our old toaster, but it works well for my morning bagel.

 Politics – 'lightning from the sky'

I have comforting words for my US blog friends. The crazies are here, as well. You aren't alone. 

Our opposition leader (PP) is a whackadoodle, having supported the Convoy people. After this speech was posted (below, left), we've heard nothing more from him. He is MIA, while his cronies diss our Prime Minister for taking his family to a friend's place in Jamaica. 

Crumbly Acres is bubbling in the spring!

What a glorious day! I got some much garden work done Saturday. But that sunshine! Our plumber arrived Friday, and she fixed our outdoor and the indoor shut off taps. It was great. I've an outdoor tap, again. We've never had a female plumber. She was great. It's been two weeks the tap has leaked. They are so busy. I think it would be a great job.

Cinnamon, for some reason, sat atop the tree house in the morning. Maybe he was watching for the squirrel! He was out an hour and then was ushered indoors for breakfast. Monday the arborists are supposed to come and clean up our debris. 

🥚There was a robin's nest in the shed. I'd left it open too long, and Robin moved in. Bob brought me back my tractor, all tuned up. He backed it in, closed the door. We bought it in 2015: That was a busy day!  I noticed there was bird poop on the seat. There were three eggs in it, but no bird. A bit of a mystery. Bringing the nest out from the ledge, I had the brilliant idea of popping the eggs into the other robin's nest. It was all I could think to do. They may not be viable, having sat in the shed for several days. Robin now has 7 eggs in the nest. I'll keep you posted...

 The tulips are wonderful. So far, just the ones beside the house, warmed and sheltered, are blooming. There is more to come, however! Well, so long as I put up my deer fence. I started that, after weeding.

The lilac buds show the promise of spring!

I worked hard outside in the sun. It was lovely. My metal crow sculpture looks great. I spray painted it black afterwards, as it needed freshening up.

 

The bird bath is looking great, as well as the goldfish pond pump is bubbling nicely. Percy was a little more lively, since it has warmed up. I fed him some goldfish food. He hides under the floating pieces of cedar until the water lilies start growing to provide shelter. 

percy from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

There is a lot of work to restarting the water fountain. I had to take it apart, as the pump wasn't working. The different sections are progressively heavier as you get to the 3rd section. I cleaned out the pump itself, as there was some dried algae blocking it. I have a light dress I wear, as I usually get soaked. In fact, I set the hose down on the edge of the bottom level, and mistakenly set it so that it released the handle. I got a spray of water in my face. You just have to laugh.

 

All cleaned, I began reassembling it. Look who was hiding in the bowl. I yelled but didn't scream!

dock spider from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I took a break for lunch, pondering the issues. There was nothing for it but to take it all apart, again. The hoses get kinked, and there are tricks to it. Finally, all was good. No sign of the spider, although I kept checking! The mosquitoes are out. 

The daffodils out back are doing well. I did a lawn tractor run around the daffies, and evened it all out, mulching as I go. It is wonderful to get outside! The rest of the lawn should soon be covered in wildflowers. 

We had our first hummingbird!