My daughter spotted Big Jim curled up and taking a nap. While taking photos, who should come by but Not-Slick.
They seem not quite sure what to make of each other. :-D
Critter(s) of the Day: just passing through
photo of the day
Clean up: prepping and planting
We’ve got some decent progress around the yard over the past few days.
The haskap bushes have been transplanted.
Getting them in was not without it’s casualties, however.
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Critter of the Day: got ‘im
Taken in late April; the blue jays have been making it very difficult to get their pictures of late. I swear, they can tell when the camera starts to focus on them, and take off. But I got this one!
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Critter of the Day: sweet stuff
April was when we finally started to see the squirrels again, on a regular basis. As things warm up, some of the trees began leaking fresh sap, and this squirrel is enjoying a sweet treat.
Upside down.
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Critter of the Day: Rosencrantz
Or Guildenstern.
Another photo from late April. If this is Rosencrantz, she would be pregnant in this picture.
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Critter of the Day: things are looking up
One last deer picture from late April.
You can really see how the winter fur is shedding away, around the chin and jaw.
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Critter of the Day: a shy blep
I have finally been able to go through photos from our living room camera, and process the last batch from April.
This was taken later in the month, and is among the last deer sightings we’ve had this season. Now that things are getting all green, the deer don’t need to come by here as often.
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Clear
Things have been rather hectic the past couple of days, to the point that I even missed yesterday’s critter of the day photo – I ended up driving my mother to the emergency and staying with her until she got the all clear to go home. She is fine, but she was scared about some chest pains. They never found what caused the pains, but once again, her heart is checking out just fine. They couldn’t identify what was causing the pains, so she had to go a regular doctor to start that process. :-/
In the middle of this, the girls took down a branch from the Chinese Elm in front of the kitchen window. The outside cats are going to miss their last easy access to the roof!
Getting it down took some doing. While one person used the extended pruning saw, the other pulled on a rope that was slung around the branch. This way, when the branch finally fell, it wouldn’t land on the roof, but get pulled away.
It worked. It landed right on my mother’s fancy lilac bush, but when I checked it later, there wasn’t a single broken branch on it! Very flexible branches!
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First ones
Yesterday, the girls needed to pick up stuff not available locally, so we made a trip into the city.
While we were out, a wonderful, long rain came through our region.
We could actually see the difference in the trees between when we drove into the city, and when we drove back!
The only down side is that we had also been getting strong winds. Enough to blow over the bird feeder stand in its summer location. The hanging feeder fell apart, but thankfully, it just pops back together easily. I was needing to refill it, anyhow.
I also finally saw birds using the bird bath, in its now location. So I’m happy. :-)
I had nothing I needed to get in the city myself, but of course I was checking things out. Especially the garden centres. One of our goals is to plant food trees, so I’ve been checking out the varieties of apples – I’d like something other than crab apples! – that can grow in our region, as well as anything else that produces fruit, nut or berry.
I ended up buying our first food trees.
Also known as haskap, these berries were on my list. I’ve never actually had one before, but they can be used like blueberries, raspberries or strawberries. Part of why I included them on my list was due to their extreme hardiness. These babies can withstand -45C temperatures! They are also an early producer, with ripe berries (after the second year) by mid-June.
This is a variety that needs male and female plants to pollinate, and when I saw there was only one of each left, I grabbed them. We won’t expect berries in their first year, but we should have plenty, next year.
What we now have to do is figure out where to plant them. They require sun and shade, can grow 5-10 ft high, and should be planted about 4 feet apart. We thought of taking out more of that spirea by the storage house, and planting them near the grapes, but with the size and spacing needed, I’m moving away from that idea. They could be planted in one of my newly mulched beds in the south yard. They will also be easy to water, there.
Something to figure out over the next couple of days. :-)
I’m really looking forward to seeing how these grow!
The Re-Farmer
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Critter(s) of the Day: the eyes have it
I still haven’t gotten around to processing photos from the DSLR for my critter of the day pictures – partly because, until I can pay to upgrade my WordPress account, and have almost filled my flickr account, I don’t really have anyplace to upload them all. :-/
So once again, I have kitten pictures for you. I hope you don’t mind. ;-)
Check out Beep Beep’s babies!
Yes! All their eyes are open now! Well. Mostly open. :-D
Butterscotch, I am happy to say, has been joining her kittens in the box nest that I made more room in, and so far, she hasn’t tried moving them again.
My heart melts every time I see that little skunk-stripe nose!
The Re-Farmer 