Sunday, 9 June 2024

The garden grows...


 Friday was a hoot. We lost power for a half hour. I did some vacuuming later – after the power came back! Then the storms rolled in after I squeezed in some weeding. A massive storm with much thunder and lightning. 

🎾We sat down to TV, after JB brought home groceries, and the TV satellite went down. So much for tennis! 

The rain gauge over flowed as the tube holds 1". We had 1.75" and the goldfish pond overflowed. 

We have veggies! Not ripe yet, but you can see them growing. Cheery cherry tomatoes. With all our critters, this is the safest way to grow them. I water them daily, which is handy, as well.



The horse chestnut tree has finished blooming. Little chestnuts are forming. 
The Clematis looks amazing behind the deer fence.


This was a find, this plant. An Itoh Peony (Paeonia 'Bartzella' ). It was too hot beside the dark brown walls of the house. I transplanted it and it is thriving. I think I counted 9 buds!


They are tricky to photograph! They keel over with the weight of the large blooms. The plant has doubled in size since I moved it.
 



The pink peony blossoms after the more fragrant white:



The milkweed are more than knee-high, waiting for Monarchs. I either saw one, or spotted a Viceroy. Too far way to tell. Either way, we are ready. 



Heading down to the trailcam, it scurried up the tree in fright.


A sweet little sapling in the sun.

Fred continues to build a nest in the burrow. 


Saturday, 8 June 2024

Saturday's Critters

 Around here - most days are critter days. I love our wildlife. 

I toddled down to the frogpond. Muskrat has been renovating. I have to warn them that this is a vernal pond, and may dry up if we don't get a lot of rain. It's been working so hard under the dock.



You can see its well-travelled path, the water in the frog pond. I can see the water moving after it swims under the dock when I arrive. I haven't seen Muskrat since May 1st. 


Phoebe babies are getting close to fledging. In the meantime we watch them flit about feeding 5 little ones!

phoebe from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Fred sits and yawns, stretches. Thing is, phoebe keeps dive bombing, looking for bugs. It doesn't seem to bother Fred.

Fred phoebe yawn from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

We've still two Freds. I was surprised to see both Freds out at the same time. They change mates from year-to-year. They don't live together. They keep a good lookout for predators.

 

2 Freds! from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Speaking of predators...
 

coyote June2 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

May 31st there was a visitor. I hadn't gone down to the trailcam in awhile. Bear was having a wash up. If you watch the video you can see the bugs flying around him.

 

Bear wash ups from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Saturday's Critters # 547 For more critters visit Eileen's page.

Friday, 7 June 2024

Stay "healthy, active and engaged!"

I am a senior. I don't know when that happened. It seems others should be aware. Apparently, others must look after me, to ensure I stay "healthy, active and engaged!" I can't believe how people talk about us as if we aren't in the room. 

OK, rant over! Here I am being engaged in looking at nature. Peony, Allium with a Swallowtail, and the first roses.



After the first, there were more!



This is one of the Eastern Comma and Question Mark butterflies. They are very similar. They both like the Hops Vine.

Phoebe is nesting under the deck. She was quite keen on the Eastern Comma butterfly who wants to lay eggs in the Hops vine. The butterfly got away! 


butterfly attacked from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Another mystery. There was a small critter  on the sidewalk, I put the camera out there. Look who I found!

Hare tails from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.


To quote Barb: "– after 2 days of forecasts that were fabrications..."  <= We had that as well. 

Finally, we had rain! A grand total of 3 storms flying by 45mm, AKA 1.75". 



Our doe still looks pregnant.

Pregnant doe from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

So does Fred! May 31st, Fred was still nest building📹.  May 28, Fred was caught in the rain📹. 

Thursday, 6 June 2024

Decorum - where has it gone?

 Let me begin with an amazing message. I've been hearing garbage spewing forth from politicians. Marjorie Taylor Greene is a fine example. She refused to call Dr. Fauci 'doctor' during the hearings into COVID responses. The lack of decorum is and basic manners you would expect to see in parliament. It just shocks me. Chrystia Freeland is Canada's deputy minister and whether you agree with her party or not, it is time to get back to basic manners and societal values.

I continue to go out on the back deck in the early morning to listen to birds. 

There are too many bugs, and I've too much work to do in the yard to explore much. 


I learned about the birds around here from spotting one and researching it. Everyone has birds that are common to their region.  

common yellowthroat from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.


The birds have learned to tenderize their food. 

Yellowthroat & caterpillar from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

 I've a mystery critter! You can see it on the sidewalk. Too small for a cat. Too small for Fred, and Fred doesn't come out in the dark. I've put out a trailcam on the sidewalk to see if I can capture it.

critter from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo






Wednesday, 5 June 2024

Slow down, peeps!

What a mess out there. Are people driving faster, and not giving a damn? There is so much passing, and dangerous driving. 

I'm thinking about the wonderful First Responders who take care of victims. There was a terrible incident.





 

Outdoor joys, things are ticking along

The garden is popping. (Get it?!) 

Banana Man is back. He (or so I assume it is a dude on his way to work) chucks a banana onto our driveway many weekday mornings. I found it when I put the garbage out Monday. Such a dork!

Our Pride Flag was stolen last month. I replaced it and put it here on the arbor. It fell off! It is tricky screwing into cedar. I had to rejig it, screwing it to a 2 x 4 and strapping it to the pole. A drive-by theft can still occur, but it requires them to trespass to do so. I wore my thick t-shirt, and still got bitten in the middle of my back. JB put on anti-itch goop. 

The tree frogs are out and about. Once mating season is over, they will be working the Hops vine for bugs. 


Speaking of which, the Hops vine is growing rapidly. It is just about up to the roof. The second photo is from May 31!



Indoors, Nutmeg's favourite spot. She'll pick a toy out of the cat toy basket beside her. Cinnamon does the same, as well. Honestly, so many people have lovely living rooms, but this is a functional room for us! When the kids visit, I chuck the blankets behind the sofa. Caitlin is allergic to cats! 

I went out on the front deck, and a red-eyed vireo was sitting there looking up at me! I guess it hit the window. It flew away, thankfully. These are photos from 2015.



The birds are wonderful, singing for love and claiming their territory. 

Bats and birds from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I love seeing the bats eating all those danged bugs! The second part of the video show predawn when the audio has the birds singing. It is lovely! 

I am so happy with both my new flag and my repair. It is June Pride Month!

 

phoebe May 30 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I've a lot to do. Lots of watering, we are so dry. The durn lawn tractor doesn't want to keep its charge. The weeds have been awful. Then there are the ticks. JB had two yesterday. It was an adult crawling on his arm, and another stuck in his back. Duly removed and popped into rubbing alcohol. 
You can compare the adult with the nymph.