Saturday's Critters

We are ready for Monarch butterflies. The milkweed is in bloom. It smells glorious, by the way. 

 I headed down to the frog pond, having doused myself in bug spray. The deer are scarce, as we've a ton of deerflies after them. Look at the poor doe's neck.

 

bugged doe from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The bullfrog tadpoles are big. They live as tadpoles for two years. 

 

The pond is alive with critters. I spotted a turtle in the middle of the pond.

We had what looked like a young coyote!

 

coyote from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I caught him on three cameras! Two cameras by the house, Skunk peering into Fred's burrow, and down on the dock, inspecting Muskrat's work. 

skunk June 24 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I enjoyed seeing the bears out and about. They haven't been by the house lately. Never in daylight. Down by the frogpond, Booboo bear! (I think!)

 

bear June 21 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

This looks like the older bear!

 

June 25 bear from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

We're expecting thunderstorms, which will spoil the weekend for some. I've a grocery order to fetch, having ordered online. I should wash some floors, too. There is no end to the fun!

🕷Heard from a tick specialist: if you see a freckle with legs, it's a tick. Joseph Brian's Lyme Disease symptoms (headaches, chills and sweats) are lessening slowly.  This is a good sign.

Saturday's Critters # 550 <= visits Eileen's meme.

An afternoon in Westport

 That was a long day! I toodled off to Westport for a funeral. On the way there was some excitement.

incident Westport from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

They were still there on the way home!

It's a lovely church, rebuilt after a fire back in the day of wood stoves and all.

A lovely Celebration of Life for a man of deep faith, followed by a Legion ceremony. A man who served as a teacher, police auxiliary inspector, active member of the Legion, and a town  councillor. It was moving. 

We all drove behind the hearse to the cemetery. Do you know how easy it is to turn on your flashers accidentally? I have done so. It took me a moment to find them for this. 

A beautiful day.

For some respite (the town was busy), I drove home through empty, quiet backroads, stopping for photos. 

Even met a ruffed grouse!

The park has new signage. Well, new to me?! "CAUTION ENDANGERED SPECIES AREA"

Sure enough, an actual example of an endangered species! I'd just passed the park, and there was traffic coming and going. I thought it best to get out and usher it across the busy road.

Here I am on the dashcam. 

turtle guarding from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Crumbly Acres has birds galore!

A new bird for me: a chestnut-sided warbler. 

I went out in the heat to fill the water fountain. This bird was up in the birch tree, singing. It landed in the lilac, and moved to the electrical cord. Sitting right near me, I was quite excited.

chestnut-sided warbler from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Fred is providing much fodder for my blog.  Fred bopped off to the shed, where he has another burrow.

Fred May 31 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

You'll recall we were worried about bumble bees moving into his burrow. I hadn't seen him for days, and got up at 5 a.m. in the dawn to throw dirt on the opening. I was sitting on the back deck, and spotted him coming up from the meadow. First, he went to the shed, then I found he'd been digging. 

Sadly, the overnight clouds did not amount to rain. They were moving south east, but nada. We are quite dry. 

Watering is tricky, as you should not over water, but I do check daily.!

I've planted two basil plants in the planter. They are coming along.

The horse chestnut tree is in bloom.

The hops vine is up above the deck!

 JB found two near our house, on the highway. Victims. One was alive, and he took it to our vet, who accepts them. There was paperwork, and he had to phone it in. Turtles Kingston wants to know if you find a turtle. He did so, and they asked him to take the dead one in, as well, as they might be able to harvest eggs. "Please report any and all sightings, dead or alive to our website." 

Our turtle populations are at risk. A Midland Painted turtle. RIP.

The pansies have come back after Fred ate the flowers!

We have a cardinal nest in the lilac tree. I knew something was up! I had to look the eggs up. No wonder the dang tree was so busy, and the female cardinal chased the robin just trying to feed her family.

This is the last video of the robins. They have fledged! May 31st

Baby robins from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

We made it to Friday. Happy weekend!!!

It's that time of year!

 When the kids were here last, they went out for a walk. I just upgraded my OS and this showed up in my photostream.  This is another favourite climbing tree for cats, as well as humans!

The bird feeders out and the birds have been busy. It's a bit tilted because of the bear bending it a few years ago!

These mechanical fish have been a hit. The clown pants continue to be fun.

Nutmeg turtles, Cinnamon snuggles!

The goldfish are doing well. The white one continues to hang in. It feeds well, so I think it'll last a little bit longer! The big guy is doing well, AKA Percy Piranha, and eating up a storm. I have both small and large pellets for a well-balanced meal. 

We had a massive dump of rain yesterday: 36 mm (1.43"), massive for us, I guess. 

🐻SNUGGLE Bears

We've been racking our brains for new Snuggle Bear ideas. Somebody in my house is learning meditation for relaxation – using guided meditation podcasts. It's really difficult. I took several in-person courses and it never really took! I find my walking meditations, forest bathing works for me. 

Turtle rescue & phoebe

I'd been lazing about in the back, watching the pumpkin plants growing. There is squash and zucchini, as well.


I noticed the phoebes would try to land in the half-barrel of pumpkin plants. I added a stick. They like it. They are feeding four little beaks right now. They hatched July 1st.

He wasn't sure about me, but didn't want to drop the bug, either.

I harvested my first zucchini!

JB bought some fresh flowers from the market.


Down at the frog pond, it's miserable with bugs!


Sunday night, JB was bringing me pizza for dinner. A special treat. He found a wounded turtle on the road. I inhaled some pizza, he had some of his chicken bites, and off we went to take it to the Rideau Valley Wildlife Rehabilitation.



They didn't have much hope for it, but they would put it on pain killers.

You can't get there from here! Nearly an hour, and 55 km each way.


The trick with traveling through the Marlborough forest is watching for wildlife! It's amazing habitat.

Then home.

I keep track of the OPP traffic incident reports. Summer brings the tourists, and an increase of incidents.

I went canoodling!

It was a nice day, but it clouded over. That was alright, as the bugs were not bad on the water. I haven't been for a canoe for two summers. It was a crazy year last year. Taking it easy, I did about 45 minutes on the water. Too long and my back seizes up.

In previous years, I worked my way up to several hours, going up Jebbs Creek. It's a prettier canoe, in the shallows, with much wildlife. I'll try go more regularly. The lake was pretty quiet, on a weekday. There have been complaints about yahoos using the lake as a Nascar track, disturbing swimmers and those in canoes and kayaks.

This is why I don't usually canoe on weekends. Also, if there is a wind, I have to plan my track. We are grateful to a neighbour who lets me park my canoe in their unused bay.

The water was covered in pollen. No breeze, at least not much. Lots of fish. The lake residents have worked hard to convince others to get rid of lawns, and to soften the shorelines with natural plants.


Fake!


Turtle basking.


Fishie or turtle??!!


A huge bullfrog! They were singing, you can hear them in the video below.


You can hear the bullfrogs, as well as the birds and the wind. The turtle just quietly slipped into the water. I don't know what stirred the water at the end of the video, fish or turtle.
Canoe ride from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

On the way home, a doe was on the road.
doe a deer from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.