Rain, and pumpkins!

 We had a windy day on Saturday, and a storm rolled in. Sunday morning it was 17 C., when highs are usually just under 10 C. and it is surreal. Our Ottawa family ate dinner out in their solarium! Highly unusual for November.

☔Ontario

Sunday morning grand total of 5 mm.

The winds did some damages to hydro wires. 

British Columbia

British Columbia had another atmospheric river, not as bad as the one that hit last year. You can see where they had snow in the mountains.

It's interesting that B.C. Hydro doesn't list a total of outages. The CBC news stated 330,000 without power. Jesse's in-laws in Surrey were out, which they posted on Facebook Saturday afternoon. 

We carried on. I did some work in the yard. I think my gardens are done. I put out red ribbons and my Remembrance Day wreath. Cyclists, and motorcycles were out all day, roaring by. The Canada flag, designed by the late Curtis Wilson, has been hung.

I don't mind 🍁fall chores, but when I have to redo them... The wind uncovered JB's water fountain. I had to use a towel to get the water out, and realign the tarp.

It's been so warm (for November!) that the bugs are out again. They were feasting on the pumpkins.

The clouds rolled in.

It was fun down at the trailcam. I took two big pumpkins down there over two days, and split them open. By the next day ALL of the seeds were gone! 

I know who was responsible!

 

squirrel blue jay from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

🕰 I hope you coped with time change, if you had to go through that ordeal! I woke at 3 a.m., feeling as if it was 4, and didn't get back to sleep on Sunday. I tried to have a nap, but that didn't happen. We had to turn clocks back an hour.

The cats were quite happy in the Muskoka Room. It was 24 C.

Monday morning I slept until 3 a.m., thought I'd get up and get a drink of water to try reset myself. Standing up, I could see the motion detector light was on down below. A fine looking coyote was right out back. They are beautiful animals. It was looking for frogs or mice friends in the grass. I held my breath. Nutmeg was hunkered down watching. Cinnamon jumped off of the table onto the Muskoka Room floor, and landed with a loud thump. Off went Coyote! Despite the excitement, I did manage to sleep in until 5:30! 

Nature and nurture

 The good news this week was JB's PSA test. It's been level since his treatments. It's a major relief. He has another treatment this month, since the result is good. 💃Happy dance!

Public Order Commission Hearings on the Emergency Act

What has been helping us through is concentrating on certain issues, and focusing on that Circle of Influence. That said, I've been watching the testimony from the Public Commission hearing regarding the Emergency Measures. It's a relief as I have no influence, and is is somewhat remote at this point. There was 2 days of evidence on the impact of the occupation of the city of Ottawa. We've had some indication that while the core group of the convoy were truckers who blamed the Canadian government for vaccine mandates, the US instituted it, and Canada couldn't change that! 

I found the funding of the convoy fascinating. As it all went on, hangers on from every right wing group possible wanted to tap into the money. Look where it came from, lots from south of the border! There was $24 CAD million from various fundraising platforms.

🌲Back to nature

Indoors, the orchid is doing so well. The light is making all the difference. It gets late afternoon sunshine.

The weather has been quite temperate. We've four frogs in the goldfish pond. 

I love the sight of them all. They will sit here until they are all eaten. 

Butch came for a wee bite under the bird feeders.

Saturday's critters

Critters, they are only noticeable by their absence. Not so Butch! They'll hunker down when temperatures get really cold. I haven't seen porcupette, or the big porcupine, or Fred groundhog, either.

Cinnamon has been watching TV with us. He likes music! Or Gwen Stefani?

The coyote trotted along, Oct. 29.

coyotes on driveway from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The turkeys are so funny!

turkey from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The doe is lovely to watch!

doe from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

This is a hoot. Some critters are surprised by the trailcam light, others it doesn't bother them!

doe & coyote from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Butch is putting on the winter insulation! She came and went in the dark.

Butch comes and goes from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

rabbit from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I'm having great fun with the new camera! Both a bat, just before dawn, and a spider web!

bat from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Saturday's Critters # 464 <= visit more critters at Eileen's blog. Thanks for hosting!

Pumpkins, coyotes, bats

I went off to the farm Nov. 1st to buy some more, on sale, pumpkins. They are now closed!

There didn't seem to be enough when I arrived home (left)! (I tried growing them, but failed.) 

Thankfully, we've good farmers around us! I was so happy with my veggie seedlings. 

Here is Cinnamon with my spring seedlings. None of them took. I've a new plan next year.

I ordered more that afternoon, and they arrived the next morning. 

 

 I saw him roll up, and we unloaded the wagon.

This is what I use them for, I take them down to the frogpond trailcam one or two at a time. (This is an archive.)

buck Nov 9 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Meanwhile, in the dark of the night... 

coyotes 2 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

↑My mistake was in curating 20 minutes of coyote fun in iMovie. I forgot that the new camera takes square videos, and they were cut off the bottom. 

The new camera picks up bats, as well as the moon, which I zoomed in on!

 

moon shots & bats from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Needless to say, I didn't bother doing a workout that day. That was a good effort. Soon I'll be lifting 40 kg bags of bird seed easily, but I need to work my way into it. 

It's that time of year when we say goodbye to many critters. You just notice them by their absence. I've missed Fred groundhog, and haven't seen porcupette in days. The song birds who eat bugs have gone, too. Farewell! All we've left are those danged invasive Lady Beetles. 

Town walkies, pumpkins and Percy

 Joseph Brian went walkies and saw the Great Blue Heron in the water. There were a pair of mallards, as well. 

He went back Nov. 2nd and the fog was lovely in the sunrise!

National Healing Forest

JB took some close ups of the National Healing Forest memorial to Reconciliation. There are memorials across this country. Four in Ontario.

Read Ottawa Valley's story about the Perth project

• This memorial rock stands as a symbol of our commitment to reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in Canada.
• We mourn the children who died at Residential School or while trying to get home.
• We grieve for the survivors who bear terrible scars.
• We remember the missing and murdered Indigenous women, girl and two-spirit people.
• From the 1870s to 1996, there were 150,000 Indigenous children placed in government-sponsored Residential Schools many suffering physical and sexual abuse.
• We renew our commitment to reconciliation here with this memorial located on the traditional territory Omàmìwininì/Algonquin People.

🎃 🎃 🎃 🎃 🎃 🎃 🎃 🎃 🎃 🎃 🎃 🎃

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I spent an hour cleaning the 60 gallon fish tank. I have to remove the pump, wash it out, replace the filter, scrape the inside of the tank of algae, replace 10% of the water, refill it. The fish water I use on the indoor plants. The fishies were happy to see me, unlike the day I wrestled with them to net them and bring them in for winter! 

Hallowe'en across the country!

It's not a celebration for the faint of heart. Our families, our 4 granddaughters, really got into it. 

I must admit that conspiracy theories abound with famous people amplifying the craziness. 

 

  

🎃Hallowe'en in Ottawa

They bought pumpkins on the weekend and, after homework, carved them. Jos' has braces, just like hers!

Isabelle was a broken doll. Grampa thought that was nearly as scary as a 🤡 clown! The make-up was terrific.

Josephine:  

Hallowe'en with friends! We’re a crime scene: I’m an escaped arsonist, S. is a detective, E. is the caution tape, and V. is the blood! I’m getting handcuffed!

(I blurred Jos' gr. 10 friends' faces, as I don't have permission to post them.)

Jos sent me a photo of her loot!

 🎃Hallowe'en in Vancouver!

Our Vancouver grandies live in a tight-knit co-op community. It's a great, safe place to Trick-or-treat.

Putting on make-up is more a challenge of having them sit still enough at their application – rather than skills of their parents. However, if both your parents are trained actors, and your mom does a lot of design work, you are home free!

Such fun! I taught for 25 years, and had Hallowe'en up to my eye balls. 

Monday is garbage day!

Sunday was a surprise. We were watching a show, Signorina Volpe, set in Italy. JB needs subtitles anyway, but only part of the dialogue is in Italian. We play with the cats, and brush them as we watch. A miracle of miracles, NUTMEG sat on my lap blanket for the second time in a week. We adopted them as rescues in November, 2019. The poor little things found at the side of a road. She's not been a lap cat. JB has been giving her treats to lure her up on his lap, crushing her, and it has worked. Finally!

Mondays are garbage days. To answer your question, Barbara R., I cannot compost. The bear just knock it over. It was silly. 

Off I went. I usually take my videocamera, just in case. We had rain coming in and the sunrise was lovely!

sunrise from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

From there I thought I'd take Cinnamon walkies. We heard gunfire in the distance. Deer Season is Nov. 9 - 20. It is coming. The season for Migratory birds:

He flung himself up the tree. 

morning walkies from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The new camera picked up coyotes. They were there from 1 o'clock and stayed around for about 20 minutes! They are fascinating see who goes there in the night.

coyote s from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.