Trip to Carleton Place

 The good news is that JB's PSA test shows no change. While not cured, it is being held at bay by the Lupron he takes quarterly. Happy dance! 

We anxiously await a plumber Friday. Monday, the arborists. I cross my fingers here on Crumbly Acres. The money pit!

On Wednesday, another rainy day, I had to go to the dentist. JB offered to drive, in order for me to take photos, and for the company. The flooding in Quebec has been horrid. Two volunteer firefighters have lost their lives. It is awful. There are so many out there working in the rain. 

The fields are ponds. 

The rivers overflowing.

We've still damage from the ice rain storm.

We were terribly early, and took a drive about Carleton Place. The river is quite high.

The boardwalk, where we've walked many times, is nearly flooded.

The grass is quite green, however, and it is looking very spring-like. We watched them building these residences.

We drove by when they were building this pond, May, 2019. I was curious. Now, the buildings are completed. Unbelievably, I found the blog post. 

Finally, it was time. JB sat and read. This photo was with my camera. 

I took all of these photos with the new phone. It is tricky for me. With my old phone I could say 'cheese' and it would take a photo. I keep having trouble holding it and not covering up the lens! 

Next, we went to a restaurant, indoors, for dinner! It was a tad early, but we'd had early lunches, anticipating eating at 4 p.m., and it was quite quiet. They make a smashing virgin caesar! 

Normally, the patio is our favourite spot. It's been raining for days!

I have dinner leftovers for tomorrow! It was a lovely meal. We haven't eaten IN a restaurant for months. 

We made it home, and the daffodils are still in bloom. The rain is still falling. 

We were happy to put our feet up, and watch the new series we've found. JB has been doing some research, and happened upon it. We watched Season 6, and decided to go back to Season 1, we liked the twists and turns so much. Now, we are up to Season 3, and enjoying it.

Rainy Crumbly Acres

💉JB took off for his quarterly PSA blood test. The poor man had to come home. They did not have a butterfly needle. He schedules the appointment first thing in the morning to get it over with.

He was told to come back after lunch. At 13:00 hours, off he went. He had to stand in line, along with drop ins and people with appointments. His leg was getting sore.  They should have had 3 staff working, and there was only one. One nurse was on lunch. The one nurse would do intake for a couple of people, and then do the lab work, and see to another two people. Slow as molasses. At least it is free for us, despite the company being a for-profit. 

Yes, Red, I heard gunshots. It sounded like someone practicing. This is what I thought. This is the country, and it is what some people do. I loathe it, but there you go!

☔While I complain about the rain, it cleared up Tuesday morning, and I did some weeding. I put the bird feeders away. I don't want to risk bear coming back. We are back to rain today, Wednesday. The Ottawa River is quite high, and we could do with some sunshine! 

The storm is still moving counterclockwise!

You can't even see us on the radar today!

The Periwinkle is blooming!

Cinnamon must miss Percy! This is a fish with batteries. He slept there for a couple of hours and every time he rolled over, the fish would wiggle.

Three 🐣ROBIN eggs, and 3 🐣PHOEBE  eggs in the shed! This is my handy paint roller/mirror I Macgyvered to watch over the eggs. 

The phoebe nest looks great. I just cannot quite see into it. The eggs are teeny. This egg is from 2013.

We seem to just have one red squirrel, but barring name tags... The little twerp was eating the new leaf shoots on the horse chestnut tree. Next, he is cleaning up under the bird feeder.

Ah, bright yellow tulips!

Monday, I needed to get out and during a break in the rain, off I went. I fetched the SD Cards, and wondered what was dropping onto the surface of the frogpond. Yes, you may laugh. Yes, it was rain. How could I be so slow?!

Across the pond, you can see the trees beginning to grow leaves.

The large white pine at the other end of the meadow. There is a puddle in the middle of the meadow. 

It is beginning to go green.

The water is quite high, nearly up to the dock.

You can see the height of the water just 4 days ago.

Butch from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Goldfish pond, clouds, and indoor play

🎣Yes, goldfish eat anything moving. Sometimes they try for their, or their tank-mate's poop. That they spit out. I've never had such a large goldfish. I didn't realize how aggressively they ate the smaller fishies! 

Percy is still in the dog house! We've had 73 mm (~3") from Saturday to Monday. The water barrel is gathering the eavestrough rainwater, and filling the goldfish pond. You can see Percy, bright orange on the left end of the pond. Happily, this is the only flooding we have. Other areas of the province are flooding. 

The clouds were pretty out front. I ran in to see what the radar looked like.

The radar showed snow in Northern Ontario, with little pop-up clouds here as the system slowly turned counter clockwise.

It was time to buy a new computer. There goes the family fortune! My old one is so old they wouldn't take it as a trade in, and I had trouble closing it up. The man delivered it in the rain. It was great to have something to do rather than housework!

The transfer of information from old to new was a piece of cake. I Googled it! 

The new one I turn on with my fingerprint! 

After seeing lots of people with Lenten Rose Helleborus blooming, I went out after the rain paused, and gave it another go. I noticed they were all standing erect! That made it much easier...

The one tulip is nearly ready to bloom for the first time. Taking a photo seemed prudent, although the deer have disappeared into the forest. I've several yellow ones, as well.

For some reason, a spider keeps on crafting a web across the camera!

morning bird song from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I heard gunfire in the forest, shortly thereafter I heard the barred owl. As I watched for the owl, 7 vultures showed up, as well. 

Barred owl & vultures from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

We've one turkey hen wandering about. They eat ticks, bless their hearts. 

backyard turkey hen from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

🥀 YAY SPRING!!!!

Crumbly Acres Critters

First, things are getting complicated over and near the Black Sea. Poland and the USA's FORTE 12 and navy planes were snooping around. People are watching them and it is good to know they have eyes on the activity. 

It is awful, the bombings in Ukraine, and now Sudan has a civil war. My only problem today is getting the garbage out in the pouring rain. I cannot complain.

Back to Crumbly Acres

Josephine named the baby porcupine (porcupette) Charlie! I don't know if you remember him from last year. I spotted it on a warmish winter day in February, but s/he looked so wee last year. They really are interesting creatures. Spending hours foraging for grass.

 

Charlie has grown a tad.

Porcupine from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The Northern Flickers are still nesting. And toodling around the yard. This is the dead elm where they are nesting. I've heard the banging around the yard. I didn't realize it was the Northern Flicker! The Yellow-bellied sapsuckers do this, as well, but bang on the satellite tower.

flicker from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

This is the flicker's nesting tree. Soon we'll have sun and leaves, and they'll have little flickers flying about!

  

Our 'visitor' cat, Pepper, prowls in the night.

Pepper Apr. 27th from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I had some doubts about this critter↓. I posted it to the trailcam Facebook group, and the consensus is FOX!  It's black socks don't show up in the dark. At first I thought it a weasel.

fox & raccoon from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

We found a dock spider a couple of weeks ago, and we put it outdoors. There was another one in the house! Go at it, buddy! I couldn't catch it as it roared behind the TV stand. 

The first Robin's egg of the year has been laid! I'm still using my late father's car visor mirror, attached to the paint handle, to verify them. Momma was off foraging, and I peeked.

Horse chestnut tree is budding and leafing! This is what they look like in the sun. We've had two days of rain, and photos would be awful, hence another couple of archive photos! So far, since Saturday, 60mm (2.5") rain, and still falling. I'll need a raincoat today, to put out the garbage...

  

And still the rain falls. The storm is moving counter clockwise, and seems endless. What a way to begin the month of MAY! We have five tulips, and we'll see how they do.