Friday windstorm!

Saturday morning we awoke to some storm damage from heavy winds. As I explored our damage, I could hear chain saws in the distance. 

That was a storm! We lost power, but it came on just before midnight. The rain poured down, and the wind blew at the frog pond. I'm still not picking up any ducks. Back to square one!

frog pond from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The winds blew the dead leaves around. I love the wind. It got a little more extreme during the evening, though.

windy day frontyard from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Windy day in the backyard: 

windy day backyard from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

It was a quite the wind.  The storm knocked over the lawn ornament (see above), it spins so nicely in the wind. I spent some time repairing it.

It even knocked over my bench.

There were a couple of dead elm trees knocked over, as well as the birch tree branches. It is weird seeing them horizontal.

We lost some more sumacs right beside the arbour. JB was out walking, and he fetched the skilsaw for me. I cut them up and threw them off the path. This used to be an wonderful, intact sumac grove. The people that built the house need lawn, apparently. I'm letting it grow in, but it doesn't seem to be helping the integrity of the grove. The soil is very shallow here, as is the way in Lanark County.

Another dead elm blew over near the 5 sisters, near the meadow. The 5 sisters only lost a few branches.

Down at the frog pond, I thought this tree would go down in the storm. It had some cracks, and has been dead awhile. I knew there was a storm coming and expected it to go over sometime. Happily I didn't put the trailcam on it, but on the tree to the left. The camera seems too far to capture the ducks on the pond. I'll have to go at it again.

On the way back to the house I found another snake, this time a garter snake. Bless their little hearts as they eat their share of crawly critters!

There was a deer in pond. I knew what she was after. I'd put some cracked corn out for the ducks. There are more nesting boxes on the lake, and my pond isn't looking very lakey, so I want to encourage them. I have three boxes, and only had one filled last year.

deer in pond from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Down at the pond, last but not least, I spotted a brown creeper! They have just arrived, migrating to follow the bug population, just like the phoebes, a sure sign of spring. There were 3 phoebies in the backyard lilac tree, as they are deciding upon a nesting site. I slowed down several clips, as it is so fast for me.

brown creeper from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

What a week!

October ended with an horrific crash between Barrie and Toronto, on highway 400. Another incident with a tanker truck, which involved another tanker, 14 vehicles total. They are bringing cadaver dogs to search for bodies in the debris. This is becoming common.

Back to nature... last night we were treated to coyotes howling in the back 40. They must have caught something.
The week began with 3 days of rain over the weekend (100+ mm/4").
The goldfish pond is green and full beside the house. I have to drain the water barrel, which drains into it. It'll freeze soon.
 The frog pond, down beyond the meadow, is full of lovely water for the critters. The swamp grass is green!

Tuesday, Oct. 31st

I visited with my client, on the way home I had to stop, climb the bridge, and photograph the clouds and the rainbow. By the time I climbed up to the top of the bridge, the rainbow was much less visible.


I left hubby waiting for Scott, who does trees for us. This one had fallen over the house. By the time I returned home, they'd done the deed. It was quite a production, they covered the windows, and the air conditioner. JB put towels on the windows, just in case, and they covered the old air conditioner.



All went well. I have more clean-up to do except it's pouring rain today.

We had a wind storm!

Our Ontario Hydro posts outages. This was after the Sunday storm.


As I wrote this (Monday, 2:30 p.m.), Ontario Hydro reported:

Crews restored power to 54,000 customers since yesterday’s storm & 6,600 remain without power. Visit our app for the latest updates #ONstorm pic.twitter.com/enRMuOJJPO

— Hydro One (@HydroOne) October 16, 2017

Toronto was hit pretty hard.

UPDATED: Many will be without power overnight, Hydro One says, citing 'significant damage' to distribution system https://t.co/Ck9QTyhsTq pic.twitter.com/pqWqHbqixq

— CBC Toronto (@CBCToronto) October 16, 2017

We didn't have much damage. Easily tidied. It was a nice vase, though! The fish gravel has some glass in it. Dang. It was supposed to anchor it all. I should have known.


Just found a photo of my lovely vase!

Before: the sumac are barely hanging in. The drought of 2012 nearly did them in. Also the previous owners used to cut the field beside it.

After: timber!
I cut it apart, as it was too heavy to lift, and chucked it onto the grasses behind it.

You can see the odd tree down. My rainbow wind sock konked over.

The forest didn't do so badly. The forest has integrity, thick and deep, and only a few went over. Mostly it was the dead elms.



This was during. I just loved the skies.
windy weather from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Damage in Lanark County

Obviously, compared to the US, the damage is much less severe. But when you look at the trees that are down, you shudder.

I didn't realize the damage until I drove into town.

Here I was, on my way to do some friendly visiting in the local long-term care.

The news says: 30 - 40 lights out in downtown Ottawa.

ottawahealth Ottawa Public Health 

We are distributing free bottled water at the Munster Community Centre (58 Dogwood Drive) until 10 p.m. tonight

In Perth, highway #511 is closed. Just closed!

 This poor woman ended up off the road, just nudged the tree. I drove by, then realized it wasn't a parking spot. She told me she'd called CAA, and they were on their way. I asked if she wanted me to stay with her till they arrived (my friendly seniors could wait for me!), but she said she was much better than 15 minutes ago, and better all around!

 This is a field, on which these trusses have sat all winter. They've truly been destroyed.

Two of them have a tractor that must be weighing them down, to prevent further damage.
 My heart goes out to this business.

Then, I went up to Sunset Blvd., they had issues, too. This huge tree was directly across the hydro wire. By the time I visited my senior friends, it had been but into pieces. Go, Lanark!

A little farther down the road, a light standard looked somewhat tipsy!

I was quite happy to relax and visit in the long-term care.

The rescue cats were ambling about.
I played my recorder for a few people. I felt much more relaxed when I returned home!