Bears, bears, bears.....

August 31, 2024

It wasn't what I'd planned to post about today, but on doing our weekly trail camera SD card pick-up and seeing the bear pictures, plus knowing they've been about, evidenced by the strange dark, seed filled protrusions here and there in the grass around the yard that just appear overnight....

First of all...in the yard..these guys...twins??

One of them heading right for the camera which is mounted on one of the small solar panel poles, but on a different night. Oh Oh!

He must have lost interest, as no damage.

This is got to be with mom...unless mom has grown an extra ear, the second little guy is on her far side.

Bigger bear, different camera.

One of the above, or a different, solo yearling? It is checking out the pile of apples we have raked up from around the two trees that are closest to the house.

(The time and date stamp on the cameras are mostly wrong, but perhaps the temperature reading is correct!) This is the ATV trailer this morning, two days worth. If we left them, we'd be knee deep in windfalls and wasps.

These two are frequenting the yard regularly, Scruffy and her buddy. Scruffy, because she doesn't seem to be able to shed her winter coat. All the other deer are sleek and fawn coloured. We've noticed her on the trail camera pictures since spring. Click on the pictures to get a better look.

They are under the crab apple tree, just about 30 feet from the window through which this picture was taken.
Garden harvesting continues... A bowl of broccoli...

Apples and sunflowers...

My first beautiful pumpkin, of which there are many more...

And I'll stop with this absolutely beautiful girl...I think it is a female, Common Green Darner. I noticed a glimmering, gold coloured shimmer in the grass when I was doing my morning garden walk-about Thursday. What on earth??? Her wings are golden gossamer. She stayed long enough for me to get the camera, and I took pictures, but she blended into the grass a lot. Next morning, Hubby spotted her resting on the lilac bushes and got a better picture....

I'd say there is nothing 'common' about her!

Has the world gone mad??????

It has been a while since I've driven on anything larger than a two-lane highway. In my previous life, driving to Toronto was not unheard of, but taken with resignation, knowing the traffic and congestion would take lots of patience. Having a large selection of back roads to take meant that things would not get too bad until one was south of the 401. 

Going to Ottawa from here, the most direct and feasible route is Highway 60 to 17, which turns into 417, a divided 4 lane highway at it's northern end, and a highway with several lanes through the city. Anyway, recently a trip to Ottawa was necessary. We left early, and arrived just as the traffic volume on the 417 was building. No issues. South of Renfrew, before the highway divides into four lanes, our headlights picked up a very large wolf along the side of the road, probably it was scavenging road kill.  

On the way home, leaving the city around 6PM, the traffic was stop and go on the 417 heading out of the city. The volume of traffic was no issue...but as the traffic sped up, a motorcyclist zipped by on the shoulder, crossed in front, slid between two lanes of traffic, zagged over and disappeared in the melee. Other driver's that apparently had a death wish, were weaving in and out of traffic, changing lanes constantly, always trying to get in a lane that was moving faster, slipping between cars with a very small margin of space. What a rolling disaster waiting to happen! Do the police vacate the roadways during rush hours? Not a one did we see. And speed limits...they do not exist for so many. I was exceeding the limit by a good 10 Km/hr just to keep up with the slower traffic as the volume of cars thinned down. Even at that, vehicles flew by like I was sitting up on blocks. 

So glad to get back on highway 60 at Renfrew, despite driving through a blinding deluge of wind and rain.... Home safe, and exhausted!

From watching the news, and the inevitable interviewed police officer leading up to a long weekend, warning about dangerous driving,  I know the roads can be crazy. Guess I've been living in the bush too long.....thankfully!

 

Just a bit of everything!

 August 25, 2024

It has been a busy week up in this neck of the woods. A lot of garden produce is ready for picking and processing, as well as wild fruit...apples, blackberries. Last weekend, we received over 3 inches of rain. Lucky us, while communities in other parts of the province had flooding issues. Our grass has never been greener at this point in the year... or needed cutting more! Just another chore on the list! There were a couple of quite cool nights after the weekend rain, as a cold front came through. One morning, we even lit the fire..as the inside temperature was dipping into the coolish mid teens C (high 50's F)..a bit of a shock after the high 20s into 30s C (in the 80's F..plus a humidex reading) we have had for most of the summer.

Hubby has been busy making shelves in the root cellar....this winter will be it's maiden run. The humidity levels in there are good, we just need the temperature to come down. It was lovely and cool in there on the hot days, but still not cool enough for proper storage. The potatoes will stay in the ground safely for a while. I planted my rutabagas late, planning on them getting hit by some September frosts, but with all the rain, they are getting huge already! Hubby has built the stand and mounted the new water tank by the barn, near garden beds we plan to expand, and the hot frame down there. It is ready for filling come spring.

I only planted a few cabbages, and staggered their start dates so they would grow on into cooler fall temperatures. Two are ready now. One was picked and processed into sauerkraut, the next is slated for canned coleslaw.

The others, just starting to head up now, are for storage fresh, in the root cellar once heavy frost comes. The row cover kept off the Cabbage whites, and the heads are beautiful. 

Visitors entertaining us in the new front flower bed.... One of the warring Hummers, taking a rest on the beak of it's decorative namesake...

A butterfly...possibly a Great spangled fritillary.

And one of many dragon flies that are zipping around, taking a rest on a lavender flower spike.

If one could only catch the light just right, to see how their wings  glisten and shimmer.

These two are so bold...visiting under the apple trees in daylight..and after dark. This picture, taken through the bird 'anti-collision' dots on the window, mid-afternoon.

So far the apples have kept them occupied, although there has been a bit of nibbling on the rutabaga leaves of late. All the deer and bear showing up on the trail cameras are looking well fed and healthy. This fellow is too smart to show up in daylight.

A couple more denizens of the night....

A Barred owl on 'Bird Cam.' We hear the owls at night, and are still hearing Whip-poor-wills as well. 

This fellow is a flying squirrel. I call them the 'Big-Eyed squirrels.'

You can see his flattish tail, and the curve of furry skin between the front and back legs that stretches out when they glide from tree to tree.
Also on 'Bird Cam.' was this bird, a new one for me. It took some looking to figure out it must be a Red-naped Sapsucker.

On our weekly trail camera SD card pick-up, we carry pruners and have been clearing back the edges of our trails, which the trees and bushes have been trying to reclaim, reaching for that bit of extra light. We discovered this along the trail..

A pretty little cup-nest, placed perfectly in the crotch of a young tree. Working lower down, a movement caught my eye...such a tiny guy. I poked the camera down and zoomed...Now I can see the X on his back...a tiny Spring Peeper.

There is so much more going on, getting ready for winter and taking time to enjoy our surroundings as well, but this is far and away enough to bore you with now!

 

Busy Mid-August

August 17, 2024

Growing..

Waiting for Red...

Protecting ...

From....

Preparing...

Planted...

Working on...

 

Almost there...

 A summer project...from this...

To this...

Finished...and ready to lift and fix other things...

Winding down....

It's a rainy morning, and most of the pictures are from today. Mother Nature is coming through again with her weekly inch! What a superb summer it has been for growing! 

One can see the verdant green tree leaves of spring and summer subtly lightning now as the days shorten.

A very rainy day...

 August 9, 2024

Debby has arrived in Renfrew county. It rained a bit in the night, then got going in earnest early this morning. Presently we are enjoying the view of my new flower bed through a substantial curtain of rain. The Hummers were active earlier, but have now retreated to the shelter of the lilac bushes. Before the rain got too serious, one was sitting on a stake in the garden and periodically fluffing himself and giving a shake to dislodge the rain drops.

Recent garden endeavours involved digging the garlic out,

and pulling the storage onions.

Both are drying now in the barn, laid out on old screen doors suspended from the ceiling. 

A Great Blue Heron was fishing in the pond last week.

I startled it up on my morning walk to the garden shed. It flew a circle around me just below tree-top level, cruised around behind the barn, and returned to the pond. That was unusual, as when startled out of the pond, they usually leave and don't return until another day. I was able to return to the house and get the camera.

In the big milkweed plant, I discovered a Milkweed Tussock Moth caterpillar,

but have searched fruitlessly for a Monarch chrysalis. I know they travel a bit when preparing to pupate, so they could be anywhere, but hopefully still in the garden somewhere.

The side shoots growing on the broccoli plants after harvesting the main heads, are large and some are pretty much a meal's worth for two. Must be the consistent rain we've had this summer.

In the fruit department, blackberries are ripening. The canes are heavily laden with fruit.

A bear has been through the patch, pushing a lot of canes down in a tangled swathe. I expect it will be back, as apples are ripening as well.