We saw this little guy while playing tourist, a few days ago.
So cute!
I tried to identify it, and the closest to it seems to be the banded tussock moth.
The Re-Farmer
Hiking for snakes
We got to play tourist again, today, this time heading out to visit the snake dens. It turned out to be a fairly cool day, so I wasn’t expecting to see very many. We did see quite a few, though nothing at all like when they first emerge in the spring.
We saw many along the paths, including some we only saw because they moved when we got too close for their comfort. More than a few times, we would look ahead and wonder; were we looking at a bunch of snakes up ahead? Or a bunch of twigs? Sometimes, it would be both. Other times, we would see a big branch on the path ahead, only to have it move and turn out to be a huge female (female garter snakes are MUCH bigger than the males).
The dens were filled with huge burdock and nettles, and one of them had snakes draped all over the place!
A few were climbing trees, too.
I’m glad we were able to make the trip while the weather is still holding. While going in the spring is much more dramatic, I rather like that we had the entire area, all to ourselves! It made the hike much more enjoyable.
Hmm… I think living in the city for so long has really peopled me out. :-D
The Re-Farmer
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I see you!
While walking around the yard this morning, picking up branches fallen after last night’s high winds and a bit of a storm, something caught my eye.
I ended up having to grab a stool to get any photos, since standing in my tip-toes, stretching as high as I could and using voice commands to take pictures, wasn’t quite cutting it. ;-)
These pretty little mushrooms are tucked into the V split of the large maple that is causing me so much concern about the power lines.
I love finding these little, hidden surprises. :-)
The Re-Farmer
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Brightness
Some wildflowers in the native plant garden we visited a few days ago.
Such cheery flowers!
The Re-Farmer
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Crowded beach
My daughter and her friend decided to make today their hang out at the beach day. It’s the last long weekend of the summer, so they were intending to go a couple days from now, to avoid crowds. Weather forecasts changed their plans.
The beach was certainly crowded, though not in the way I expected. :-D
The Re-Farmer
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Hidden in stone
Some other photos from when we were playing tourist.
One of the perks of living on the bottom of an ancient lake bed is that the local sedimentary rock is sometimes filled with fossils.
The fossil above is one of many scattered about some limestone columns we passed by.
There is also a fair amount of granite in the area, and sometimes you can really see the mica bits in sections of layers.
This picture is from a big, decorative rock sitting in a park.
I’ve always loved rocks. They often have the most interesting things hidden in them.
The Re-Farmer
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Morning kittens
I hung out after putting kibble out for the outside cats, hoping to lure some kittens.
No such luck. Going past where I was sitting to get to the food bowls was the most two of them would allow. Beep Beep came over for pets, as usual, and her tuxedo came with her, though he wouldn’t let me touch him. The little bobble headed orange tabby came close enough to play with the end of a stick. No sight of the calicos at all.
That grey tabby is getting to be a really big tom! He’s definitely heftier than his mother (though that doesn’t take much, really), though still not fully grown.
I can’t get over the size difference between the teeny tabby and all the others. It’s quite noticeable when he’s with his brother. Hard to believe they’re from the same litter! It’s good to see that he’s very active and playful, and has a very hearty appetite. He just looks sickly and half starved. :-(
The Re-Farmer
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Pollinators
A couple of photos from when we were exploring the native plants garden.
This bee photo was pure serendipity. It was the first of several I took, in quick succession, and the only good one of the bee!
This was in a structure near the native plants garden that I think is actually there to disguise and protect some infrastructure equipment. There were several wasps nests in varying stages of construction, all on the shadow side of these support beams.
I didn’t see the spiders until I uploaded the photos, though.
I’ve seen many wasp nests in varying stages of construction before, but never have I seen the cells exposed like this, at this size. The little ones on the left of the photo is usually about as big as they get, before they get covered over. I think the high level of protection they have in these locations may have something to do with it.
The Re-Farmer
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A long, but good, day
Today we made a trip into the city to play tourist, run a few errands, then pick up some stuff for my husband’s birthday.
It made for a very long, but enjoyable, day.
We started off with an early lunch, taking advantage of being in the city. It turns out that Le Burger Week started today (I’d never heard of it before), so I tried the burger offering at an Asian fusion type place.
I can’t even remember what it was called, but it was SO good! Even better after I realized it had jalapeño in it, and took it out. I love the flavour, but don’t do spicy well at all, due to damage to my tongue. :-( That spiral cut potato in the background was delicious, too!
It was really hard to choose from the menu, though. I had originally intended to have a bento box, and as good as the burger was, I’m still not sure I made the right choice.
My daughters both ended up choosing a sushi and sashimi bento, while our guest chose the shrimp one I had been eye-balling. The only sushi we have available out here is grocery store sushi. I’ve tried it. It’s pretty… dry.
Choices like this is one of the things we do miss about city living!!!
While playing tourist, one of the places we visited as a prairie garden filled with native plants.
It looks a lot like our outer yard, except with all the varieties in a much smaller space. :-D Mind you, there were a few things I’ve never seen before, but most of it was quite familiar. I’ll post some of the better pictures I got, later on.
As we ran errands before heading out, my darling daughters found, then got, something for me.
Meet my new friend.
I think I will call him Yorick.
Alas, he is too big for my dash. As I write this, he sits on my printer, looking at me.
He is soft and squishy and marvelous.
The Re-Farmer
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Clean up: Spruce grove perimeter, reaching the fence!
It’s been a while, but today I was able to continue working on the perimeter of the spruce grove. I started off at the little maple I had stopped at, last time, and made it to the fence line. :-D
The last time I went through the area, looking ahead to what needed to be done, it was still green. The leaves are completely yellow, now!
Here are the before and after pictures. (click on the images to see them better)
The cluster of trees is made of up 3 poplars and 2 spruces. One of the poplars has lost its top, and I’m pretty sure that’s what’s lying on the ground near the little dead spruces I took out. There is some dogwood at the bottom of this group of trees that I cleaned up a bit, but otherwise left to grow. It’s one of those things that will spread quite handily, given the opportunity.
The next section is an open, mossy area. I’ve been using it to turn around with the riding mower.
Most of the clean up here involved pruning shears instead of saws.
Once that was done, I was at the fence line and had to make some decisions. How far to the north did I want to go?
In the end, I decided I needed to at least clear out a dead tree that had fallen on the fence, so I could access it for repair.
Though the dead tree was a big poplar, the remains of two other trees had also fallen on it.
The poplar itself was growing on the outside of the fence line. There are a few larger trees on the outside that I will have to leave, but I will be taking out any smaller trees on that side, as soon as I am able. I’m not sure about the bylaws in regards to municipal land along the roads, as far as who is responsible for keeping it clear, but I don’t want it to become overgrown with trees like it has on the other side of our gate.
I didn’t do much more in this area, as I want to focus in the other direction, so this section is unfinished. There are a couple of trees that will be taken out, because they are too close to the fence line. Otherwise, it’s mostly undergrowth that will need clearing and cleaning. There seems to be some juniper in there that I intend to leave.
Moving southward, now.
There are some pretty massive spruces here! There isn’t really a lot that needs doing with the trees themselves; a few low hanging branches and dead branches to clear out. I could see that, at some point – long ago – someone had gone through and cleared the lower branches, so they were already pretty good. Again, I spent more time with the pruning shears! There are quite a few poplar on the outside of the fence that I will have to go back to, later.
If you look in the before picture, at the big spruce to the left of centre, you can almost see a potential problem. The top of this tree is broken off, and its top is still there, hanging upside down. I have no idea how long it’s been like this, but at some point, it’s going to fall. Ideally, we’d get it down before it falls on its own and potentially damages something, but for now, it will have to wait.
It’s starting to open up quite nicely.
Though my priority is clearing the fence line, so it can be accessed and repaired as needed, I might have to clear out some of the dead wood further into the grove. There is a large spruce that has come down in the area that I am leaving for next year, but I might have to cut away at least some of the branches, just so I can drag out some of the stuff I know I will be dealing with, further down.
And that is my progress for today! It might be another few days before I can work on it again, so I’m glad I was able to at least get this little corner done.
The Re-Farmer
The Re-Farmer 