Phoebes, robins, and LDD caterpillars

The bugs are out. We've mosquitoes, blackflies and... Now, it's deerflies! These I took these with my macro lens. I'd lost a lot of my photos, and couldn't figure out why my computer was slow to load, and lacked memory. They were stored somewhere. My SIL, an encryption engineer, figured it out for me! He's a good one!

These are the last photos of the phoebes! 

One egg remained, so we hatched 4, and one cowbird!

I took the girls outside to look at the phoebe babies Friday, after their lunch, and they EXPLODED from the nest! It was great fun. Isabelle is becoming quite the philosopher, "Oh, well," she commented as we returned to the house, "at least we held them last year!" There were phoebes all over the yard! 

The robins are still in the nest. The adults watch us all carefully.

The girls are home, now, but we had fun and watched America's Got Talent one night. These two, Les Beaux Frères from Montréal, were the highlight! They've worked with Cirque du Soleil.

Les Beaux Frères

I ordered two Women in Science t-shirts. Josephine's fit, a women's medium, but Izzy's was a youth medium (whoopsie), and I asked Jos to ask Caitlin (M.Sc.) to give it away somewhere! They are avid and eager scientists, all!

After our COLD swim Monday after school, they hung their suits and towels in the basement. This is major progress! Funnily enough, Isabelle went downstairs to the freezer to get her morning waffles, and thought to bring the bathing suits up to pack, so they don't forget them. 

Jos crossed off our weekly menu.

We had a quiet day, they packed, and off they went. 

Our sumac has been interesting. The previous owners plowed out the field, here, and knowing that trees are all connected (new research), they are dying out. The wild grape vines are climbing up it, however. It's something.

You can see that I've done some work to keep the You Two doe out of my garden. They've eaten a couple of hostas (2nd photo below), and 5 lilies. Maybe the flags will help!

 The only problem with setting up a perimeter, is seeing the 8 blooms on my peony plant! It's a different paeonia, I'm not sure what kind. It could be a peony 'Yellow Crown'.

One of the original Intersectional peonies, raised by Professor Itoh in Japan. Sadly he did not see the result of his labours. 

There were two, beside the house, but with climate change it was too hot for them. I moved one, the other died, but this bloomed first in 2019, after the move.

The 🍃LDD Invasive Moths🐛 are growing, still. They are up to 35 mm. 

The mosquitoes continue to be merciless in the forest. I wear my red hoodie, and spray my back and cuffs. That helps. They aren't so bad in the yard in the sunshine.

Trailcams have been spotty, this young buck circled around our backyard for me. The bugs are terrible, they cover him.

buck from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The fishies are doing well. The big one is...well, big!

The little dweeb. I was trying to get her indoors. It was futile. We are worried about the robins fledging. I tried to sneak up behind her, and I know she heard me. Her ears went back, then she rolled over to keep an eye on me.

JB tried, too, with treats. She was on to us.  She ended up coming after lunch. Today, they are confined to barracks.

The monarchs have been by to check out the milkweed. A good sign. Some of the milkweed had frostbite. These, near the steps, are OK.

To leave you on a sweet note, teeny wild strawberries!