Incidents, rain, subnivean zone

The March OPP report tells of a wolf hit by a vehicle. I've been doing a graph (🚓LOCAL COLLISIONS). It amuses me, and keep up my Excel skills, such as they are. I'm still having some trouble with it! 



I've been preparing this piece and with the recent rains, I figured it might be time to post it, even though our snow is still around. First, the precipitation...

Normally, remember 'normal,' we'd have a nice snow cover to protect the flora and fauna. In spring, it melts and the trails show themselves. (The Latin is for you, JB!)

The subnivean zone is the area between the surface of the ground and the bottom of the snowpack. The word subnivean comes from the Latin “sub” (under) and “nives” (snow). Mice, voles, and shrews retreat here for protection from cold temperatures, bitter winds, and hungry predators. Food is right at hand: grass, leaves, bark, seeds, and insects are free and unfrozen.  Under the snow, these tiny mammals create long tunnel systems complete with air shafts to the surface above. [Read more...]

Once the temperature rises, you can see the tunnels in the snow.



How do wildlife cope outside in the lingering cold during the winter months? 

This Subnivean zone protect critters from the cold and predators. Some predators need the snow cover: voles, deer mice, weasels, ermines.

deer mice in the bird seed 

This is a great example. Here is the sidewalk, with the bird feeder directly above the hole on the lower left!

The red squirrel loves to dig holes, and pop out when and where it is safe.

Daisy sat, watched and listened for a long time, until she plucked this vole out of the snow.

Then, there are the mouse tunnels, previously under the snow, exposed to the elements.

March brings rain, snow

March 2

It's such a range of weather... March 1st, -16 C., then 2 C. March 2nd! I love the changes. I love the snow, but it is time...

We had a couple of cm of snow overnight, but I'm not bothering to shovel it. We are getting rain...

Health

Poor JB picked up his report from the GP's office. It's telling us he has a 5 x 2 x 5mm tear. He went to physio for a diagnostic assessment. No ultrasound or lasers for people with cancer, so that will slow recovery and healing. It could be months.

He bought himself a posture support duhickey. The physiotherapist said it was OK to use.


After that, he brought me a spinach salad for lunch, then he took a pain pill. He's continuing to take anti-inflammatories.

Pillow prop him up! Cinnamon is in the cat bed on the left!


He has a friend, who wants his bologna sandwich.

We ended up with 2.54 mm rain (about a tenth of an inch). I'm glad I didn't shovel! It's really wet snow. The driveway, of course, is a skating rink March 3rd.



Winter walkies, there is always something new to see. The evergreens have lots of holes, critters looking for bugs, but still they grow.

The dock is there. Honestly. The rivers are full. We'll see if we get spring floods this year...
This summer photo is from my post: Dock on the frog pond, where I showed how I built it (Jul., 2015).

🍀We made it to March!

I like March. The sun is warming us up. We had snow the other day, and the icicles melt as the trees bask in the sun's glory.



My goal was to change up the decor to green for March. It required snowshoes, as we still have snowcover. They are forecasting rain this afternoon. Yuck.

Frosty is all dressed up. JB bought him a green mustache. Next, I put green ribbons along the fence. It's a nice bright spot. I know people notice it. Some mock me, saying I have too much time on my hands. Others say their kids look to see what Frosty is wearing.



I worked on bear, as well. He's got some issues. The woodpeckers have been after the bugs attracted to the rotting wood. I've been trying to figure out how old he is. I babysat a grandie in Muskoka, while they went to the market. Then sat him outside the door, rang the bell and ran away. It was about 2009.



I noticed coyote tracks making their way along the driveway. You can see them where they come from the forest, onto the nicely snowblown path. He managed to avoid both trailcams...




I can imagine him in the dark! Here he was last March, trotting along the trail., and January, 2015.

I love the turkeys. They are so funny to watch. We have about 16 on a regular basis.

How are you?

I told my 40-year-old daughter about our aches and pains. "It's all downhill after 40," I said cheerily. Bursitis in my hip, cataracts. JB has had arm pain for a month. At least we have nearly kicked our November/December colds and coughs. My client has it again, it's going in circles.

We're watching a lot of TV. Poor JB is in pain. He stands. He sits. He's figured out the triggers: sitting too long. It's winter, it's tough walking. He's been going out to the arena, to get back on track with his exercise routines. Driving doesn't hurt it.

JB's been to the doctor several times for various medications, as well as a prescription for massage and physio. Massage hasn't done too much in terms of repair. Last week he went for an ultrasound.
We finally have a diagnosis. JB's ultrasound shows that he has a rotator cuff tendon tear, AKA supraspinatus tendon. Physio is on Monday.

In the meantime, he has wrestled with this for weeks, changing chairs, buying a back brace, several heating pads, and finally turned to pain killers.

File:Shoulder joint.svg - Wikimedia Commons

Happily, hubby can still shop. He went out to fetch more cat food (EMERGENCY!!!) and brought me home a subway for lunch. The bun was a bit stale, which has happened before. My stomach was growling, so I ate it. 

Indoors, Nutmeggie snuggles in... one of her favourite spots.

"If I fits, I sits!"

We're a bit cold, so I shall clean the heater in the next couple of days.


Outside, I scrubbed and refilled the bird bath, and refilled feeders. It was good to get some fresh air. The first robins have appeared.



The crows flew overhead. There seemed to be an event of some sort. I don't know what they are up to. They are clever creatures. I caw back at them, but they aren't inclined to respond. Someone online suggested I said something bad!

Down at the trailcam, in the cedar forest...