Surprise! Roses!

In the winter, Casey and I like to walk around the large field behind our house, bordering on a deep forest. At that time, we have to be careful because of all the sharp thorn bushes that are growing sporadically throughout the field. By the time it gets to be mid-summer, we never get out that way because there's so many spiders and such, it's not really fun to go walking there. But it was SO hot today (over 30 deg. C) I thought it might be better to go for a shady walk in the woods.

And what a pleasant surprise when we went there! 75% of those thorn bushes turned out to be rose bushes! The rest were raspberry bushes. As I mentioned earlier, we have a type of rose that grows wild all over the province of Nova Scotia.

How gorgeous! They were all over the place, but especially clustered around the very old (probably over 100 years old) apple tree, which is likely left over from when settlers attempted to farm in the area.

See all the pink dots in the lower half of the pic? All roses!

Beautiful! And the perfume is heavenly!

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All done! Peepers is fixed

The surgery went well, no problems to report, and now Peepers is back home, safe and sound, if a little lighter. :) Having him neutered at this stage will head off any potential future issues with developing spraying (marking his territory - our house - with urine) and also possibly impregnating other cats, creating more unwanted kitties. It's an important thing to do - we think of it as a social duty, a duty to society and animal welfare in general, not just for us).

Now, he can rest up in our bedroom for a couple of days, then he will be given full reign of the house for the first time, and can have some fun exploring. :)

Adding StumbleUpon, DiggIt! and Del.icio.us links to your blog posts

I wanted to add a bunch of the popular bookmarking sites to my blog posts. When I went to look for info, I found a little bit of info all over the place. :)

Check out TechWrap and the Dummies Guide to Google Blogger Beta, where I got the basis of the information that I built upon below.

The instructions below work with the new blogger beta, using the new layouts feature, not templates (even though it may still be called "template" in the menu). Go to Template/Edit HTML, and be sure you have the "Expand Widget Templates" box checked.

Find this line in the HTML:
<p class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-3'/>

Alternately, it may appear as
<p class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-3'>

Underneath it, add the following lines of code:
<a expr:href='"http://www.stumbleupon.com/submit?url="+ data:post.url + "&amp;title=" + data:post.title' target='_blank'>StumbleUpon</a> |
<a expr:href='"http://digg.com/submit?phase=3&amp;url="+ data:post.url + "&amp;title=" + data:post.title' target='_blank'>DiggIt!</a> |
<a expr:href='"http://del.icio.us/post?url="+ data:post.url + "&amp;title=" + data:post.title' Title='Del.icio.us' target='_blank'>del.icio.us</a>

That will add three of the most popular bookmarking sites to the bottom of your Blogger posts! Enjoy!

I've tested it, and it looks to work properly - if you notice it doesn't though, let me know!

The Gulf Between

Oh well, at least Molly doesn't growl and hiss at him as much. An uneasy truce is better than nothing! Hopefully, things will continue to improve. Peepers goes in for his neutering tomorrow morning (I'm glad he doesn't know what's coming!), and then we can let him explore the house more freely. He's getting more daring though, he went all the way down to the basement this morning. Very cautiously, though!

Baby Boy won't go near him, he still acts like he's scared of this kitten that's half his size. Good grief. Between that, and Baby's refusing to make eye contact with me anymore, because he's too busy pouting, it's been a tough week. Well, that, and Peepers has had to sleep in our room, and is keeping Dave up all night by sleeping on various parts of his head and neck, and meowing. It'd be really funny if we weren't so tired! :)

"Treachery!" Peepers says - Peepers and the Vet

Monday was time for Peeper's big visit to the vet. We had a plan, and the first part went pretty well. Dave goes outside as usual to pet Peepers, I wait inside by the door. Dave grabs Peepers, I open the door, he rushes inside, I slam the door behind him. He tosses Peepers in the carrier, I slam the carrier door shut behind him. Perfect!

But then, Peepers had a Level 1 FreakOut. He smashed his face and paws repeatedly into the side of the carrier to the point that he cut his nose and started bleeding. I ran off to call the vet and see if they could take him early - they could, so we were off quick as a wink. He was meowing plaintively, and trying to tear apart the carrier. Once we got to the vet's, they took him to the back room to do his blood test. And then we heard the noise. Things crashing and banging, and people yelling. We said, "Oh crap, that's Peepers". After about 10 minutes, during which we heard things being yelled from the back room like "Can you come in here!" (to yet another veterinary assistant - at least 3 people were needed!), we were called in to the exam room, where we found the vet holding a towel-wrapped Peepers. She said she had to sedate him, and was still waiting for it to take affect. Apparently, he had gotten free in the back area, and had tore all around the room, eventually getting to the ceiling, running around the highest shelves, stocked with food and equipment, that he knocked down. *sigh* Eventually, the sedation took affect, blood was taken, vaccinations given, and he was let go. Poor little guy, he was still so very scared and trying to run, but couldn't take a step without falling over on his side. We tucked him away in his carrier, and waited for a while in the office. Because he was so over excited, they needed to keep an eye on him, in case he had a bad reaction with his heart to the sedation.

But, on the plus side, his tests came back negative, so he can come and live with us and the other cats! Hurray! We're so blessed!

But it has been exhausting, though. He spent the whole first night under the bed, and wouldn't come out for love or money (or food or water for that matter). The next morning, he came out for short visits, and finally on Tuesday night, went to the kitty litter box (we were prepared for him to not go for a while because of our previous experience with totally freaked out/feral cats - they don't eat or drink or go to the bathroom for a long time, sometimes for days - I've actually heard that a terrified cat could actually stay in one place long enough to starve to death).

His first meetings with Baby and Molly haven't gone very well - he wanted to be friendly with molly, but she growled and hissed at him - Baby kept his distance, hissed, then pouted the rest of the day like "But I'M THE BABY!! NOT THIS OTHER GUY!"

But Casey...well, Casey is Casey. She was grooming him right away, and he loved it. Adorable.



*sigh*. Looking forward to getting Peepers neutered next week, and finishing the deworming, so he can have the run of the house, and they can work things out amongst themselves.

I think he's a lot younger than we thought at first. Outdoors, he was very affectionate, but seemed very sure of himself, and larger. Now that he's inside, he's reverted to total kitten behaviour, and even acted to Molly like she was a mommy cat (too bad, she grew up with ferrets and dogs, not other cats, so she's scared of cats! We have a house full of dysfunctional cats). :) Now that we've had a better look at his fur, you can see that he has two types of fur on his back, a soft downy part and a more adult, sleek type fur. The vet couldn't tell us how young he was without looking at his teeth (and that wasn't going to happen!!), so she'll check him when he's unconscious for his neutering surgery.

I'll keep everyone posted on his progress. :)

BeanDreams: When the heck did THIS happen???!!

Last I saw, I had a lot of flowers on my sugar peas, but all of a sudden, BOOM! It's covered in peas! I've been totally absorbed the last week dealing with Peepers (more to come on that) and in researching my genealogy that I haven't gotten out to the garden. Apparently it was a good week for it!

More to come...

[EDIT, July 18th - added my update to BeanDreams, with new pics!]

Bleargh, update

Called the vet hospital a little while ago, looks like we'll have to wait until next week to catch Peepers & bring him in anyway, as they are booked solid with surgeries and appointments. So we'll just have to double our vigilance and hope that nothing else gets hurt on our watch (what he does at night in the swamp, we have no control over).

Poor little squirrel, we'll be burying him tomorrow.

*sigh*

Bleargh

We try to discourage the squirrel and such from coming to the feeder and the deck when Peepers is around (we've put the food high up)...but today, we weren't quite fast enough, and Peepers got hold of a young squirrel. Before we could save him, he was mortally wounded. I wasn't home at the time, but Dave put the little squirrel in an old bird feeder lined with soft grass, hung it in a tree in the woods, and hoped he would get better - he was still breathing at that time. But when I got home, Dave told me about it, and when I went out to check on the squirrel, I saw that he had passed away.

*sigh* We feel so bad for the little squirrel, we'll probably hasten our getting Peepers indoors now (likely tomorrow). We were hoping to get another week of gaining his trust, but now, it seems more important to get him indoors. He had never shown any interest in the birds for the longest time, it's just been the last few days that he's looked at them more closely.

Not that we're not terribly impressed with with Peepers right now, but we are reminding ourselves that he is a cat, it's not his fault. It's what people kept cats around for, for millennia. We can't expect him to just "turn it off" whenever he wants.

Bleargh.

BeanDreams - comin' along!

The garden's been doing really well so far--most of the plants I'm growing are really thriving with the cooler temps we've been experiencing this summer so far. The bok choy has been growing so wonderfully, we've had it for supper several times already this summer. Crispy, lightly spicy flavoring, really excellent!

Read the full report on my BeanDreams 2007 page.

Love ME, TOO!!!!

Dave, getting some double-barreled furrying action here. Peepers needs regular petting (if he hears us in the kitchen, he gets up and comes to the door, meowing - then he gets a pettums and some food). But Casey was really curious about the little guy, and cried and cried on the other side of the door. She got Dave's other hand. :D

Dave has to be careful, as we haven't had Peepers in for his appointment yet, so we don't know if he has FIV or any other transmissible disease, so he washes up thoroughly after each visit. But Peepers has finally gotten his flea/worm control medicine, so we're one step closer to capturing him, and getting him checked out at a vet!

Rainbow!

A pretty little rainbow to brighten up the skies this evening...we're due for a week of rain, so the sunlight streaming through the clouds now might be the last we'll see for a while...what a way to go! :)



EDIT UPDATE: A few minutes later, I went back outside, and got another one! :)

Happy Canada Day!

Hope everyone's having a great Canada Day! Today's the day we Canadians celebrate all things Canadian. We do this by having fun! Relaxing, having barbeques, drinking strong Canadian beer, fireworks, and taking fun online quizzes to see "how much you really know about Canada". :) There's a huge party and music/entertainment concert in Ottawa, our nation's Capital (televised nationwide), and lots of similar (but smaller) celebrations around the country. It's really one big party!

We gained our independence from Britain peacefully, so we don't have the military/war focus that can sometimes dominate the American celebrations on the fourth of July (except in Newfoundland, where on this day they commemorate heavy losses during the Battle of the Somme). We don't focus so much on gaining our independence, we pretty much just enjoy ourselves and celebrate all the things that Canada has contributed to the world (like good beer, poutine, ketchup chips, and insulin). :)

See Wikipedia's listing on Canada Day for interesting info on our holiday.

Fireflies!

I usually don't see the first fireflies until mid-July (or a little earlier), but last night, I saw the first ones of the season! They're so pretty, bobbing along in the mists around the swamp. Such a lovely scene. :)

Cats - with us for 130,000 years???!!!

Woah! The last I heard, it was believed the cat had been domesticated for about 9,500 years, but now, scientists have traced the modern cats' genetic lineage, and it looks like it broke off from its wild ancestors about 130,000 years ago! That's crazy! Wow. And, it turns out that the pet cat comes from the Middle East - not from wild cats in other regions, as was also believed. Neat-o! What they can't do with genetics testing these days - it's a really interesting time to be alive! We're learning so much, about where we came from, and where we're going. :)

Read the full article here, on the BBC.

Red Admiral

This little butterfly was sitting on the side of the road during Casey's walk today - I think he maybe was recently born, because he was just sitting there, airing out his wings. As we passed, he flew away - to the other side of the road, where we passed him again on our way back. :) Pretty little guy!

Read more about the Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) here.

Peepers again...

I guess the trust level with him and Casey is doin' just fine...

I seem to be the only one able to go into the backyard without scaring Peepers, as long as I stay in the garden area, and don't try to approach him. While I was weeding my garden, I heard this plaintive little "mew"...then nothing...then a few more little "mews". Turns out Peepers has an adorable little kitten meow--he was moving towards the back door, mewing at whoever was on the other side of the glass. I assumed it was Dave, but when I came back into the house (around the front way) I saw no one in the kitchen but Casey. She had been by the back door, watching for me, and keeping an eye on Peepers. So Peepers was meowing at Casey, in a very friendly, "Hi, how are you, I like you" sort of way. So they're just fine. Peepers forgives Casey for barking at him, and trying to herd him yesterday.

How sweet!

Early Summer in the Swampland

Another lovely flower season is opening in the wetlands...


This wild iris blooms all over the place here, such a lovely and unusual flower to see growing wild.



And daisies, daisies, daises everywhere! So bright and fresh looking!

These roses grow wild all over Nova Scotia (and the rosehips from it were an important source of Vitamin C for early settlers - maybe they learned that from the Natives, I'm not sure...they probably did though). They smell lovely, and vary slightly from lighter to darker pink. I took a big whiff of this rose, and when I pulled back, I noticed the little white spider sitting there - *shudder*. Worst yet, he started to move his front pincers at me, like I had been threatening him with my nose. Don't worry dude, if I had known you were there, I would seriously have not gone near you! :D

Peepers update

Thank goodness, Peepers came back this morning - it seems Casey's goofiness wasn't enough to keep him away. (We're paranoid about this sort of thing, ever since Mr. Black snuck outside, panicked, and took off into the woods, never to be seen again. Dear Mr. Black... *sigh*).

Anyway, Peepers is back. Now we can work on getting the trust level with him higher.

Lots of doin's a goin'...

We went out to do our laundry at the laundrymat (we have a dryer, but no washer) and boy, did we see a lot of cool stuff!

There were horses in the horse field (with a big sign that says not to feed them) - I've seen the field many times, but rarely see horses in it. There was even a baby horse (a foal) there, a pretty palamino patterned one. So cute! I wonder if his or her's birth was on MareStare (warning: a highly addictive site! Lots of fun, very educational - but can be sad when things go wrong. More often though, things go right, and it's really special and wonderful.)

Then, we saw a hedgehog poke his head out of the tall grasses lining the highway - he took one look at our car, freaked out and started to turn around back into the woods. Good move, little guy! I've seen far, far too many of his kind end up as roadkill, sadly - I've never actually seen a live one in person before. He had really sweet, tiny black glittering eyes, and was dark brown/almost black. Small too, he must be young. What a cutie!

On the way back, we saw a white stretch limo driving by - I said, "Oh, must be prom night!" And, as if to prove the point, we saw a young man in a tux driving a very expensive car, picking up a couple of lovely young ladies dressed in beautiful ball gowns outside of the grocery store. Definitely prom! I guess pouffy is back in, I think the fashion had been long, slinky dresses for a time, but pretty ball gowns with big pouffy skirts seem to be back. Very cute! We saw another young man in a tux inside the grocery store, looking VERY nervous, and pacing around - must have been waiting for his date to arrive. CUTE!

The only not-cute part came at the end of our outing, while I was hanging some towels outside to dry. Our little grey outdoor cat (Peepers) got the fright of his life as Casey came barrelling around the corner - Casey was so excited to see the little guy close up that she tried to herd him, and he took off, and she ran after him. She refused to come back when called, so she's in the doghouse (figuratively speaking) right now. Hopefully the little guy comes back, we've tried so hard to get his trust, but Casey got outside while we were bringing laundry in from the car. *sigh*. Hope he comes back soon.

Otherwise, lots of interesting things to see out there today!

Songbird Decline

Sad news on the environmental front I read this morning: I had heard that the songbird population is declining, in no small part due to massive use of pesticides by modern mass-agriculture techniques, loss of habitat, and, I've heard, urban noise (drowning out the mating songs of birds) - but I had no idea that some species of birds have dropped off by over 70% over the last 40 years. Really shocking! Songbirds are important sources of bug control, and of course, are a beautiful addition to the background soundtrack of life. :)

While most of us don't run mega-farms, there are things you can do.

Choose gardens over backyard patios: The article I read today says that backyard patios replacing gardens has actually affected bird populations. So, if you do have a choice, choose to have a garden, to provide seeds and places for bugs to live. (Eg: we have a lot of Jerusalem Artichoke around the property, and bugs LOVE it! All types of bugs, none of which I could actually identify, none of which bite people (which is good) - they don't eat the plant, they just love to sit on it in the sun. It's like a bird smorgasbord!). Perennial gardens (plants that survive the winters and come back every spring) don't take too much work - the plants need to be divided every few years, but that's about it.

Don't use pesticides. That includes stuff like Round-Up, etc. Anything that says it'll kill weeds with one application, that sort of thing. Keep in mind: it is poison, and after it poisons the weed, where does the poison go? It doesn't just disappear. It might not seem bad ("I only used a little") but if EVERYONE does it, that all adds up to a LOT of poisons. Use as little as possible - or don't use them at all.

Buy local produce. Support local farmers when you can, especially those that grow food organically (without pesticides). Small farms are dwindling in number, as the much larger, mega-farms take over (which tend to use mega-quantities of pesticides). Purchasing your veggies and meats from local, smaller sources help keep them in business, to help them survive in what is a very tough line of work. Organic farming is even tougher, as it has very stringent requirements to get to use the name "organic", which are expensive to implement and maintain. Plus, natural fertilizers and pest deterrents tend to be more expensive (especially to use on land the size of a farm). But they're worth it! A few extra cents at the grocery store is all we have to pay to help these farmers to survive and help the planet stay healthy.

Remember, every little bit helps. It truly does!

Read the article on the CBC here.

Images of the 10 most at risk are here.

My head hurts...

Oh man. I learned a LOT, but my head hurts. I think I'm mostly done messing with the look of the blog for now. I think. :) It's an easy enough changeover if you don't want to do anything fancy, but if you want to really personalize it, it requires a lot of tweaking.

I may still mess around with it a bit, but I should take a break from this...

Upgrading this blog

I'm going to update my version of Blogger, to the "latest and greatest". :) This might make things look funky here for a bit, but I will be working on it 'till it gets fixed.

Wish me luck!

Dandelions

Apparently, I'm not the only one who says we have to give up on fighting weeds with pesticides. In fact, we might learn to like some weeds! Sabrina Saccoccio wrote a great article on dandelions, the hard-to-kill flowers that brighten up yards all over North America...whether we want them to or not! The article gives lots of interesting info on the history of this plant, ideas for using the dandelion as foodstuff (tea, salads, even as a pickle!), and links to environmentally safe ways to get rid of weeds. An engaging read!

While I do let the dandelions run free in our yard, I'm still working diligently to rip them and other weeds out of my vegetable garden - and getting bitten to death by the bugs while I'm at it! :)

Swallowtail butterfly?

I see this little guy around occasionally, but I haven't been able to get a pic of him until today - really pretty, isn't he? Enjoying the intermittent sunshine and getting some pollen from our dandelions...

I believe it's a swallowtail butterfly, but I'm no expert on butterflies. :D

EDIT: According to "The Butterflies of Nova Scotia", it is the Canadian Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio canadensis) - apparently we have our own subspecies of Swallowtail. Neat!

Baby Raccoon - or at least a young one!

He's not teeny-tiny, but he is pretty small compared to the guys we get late at night! He was the size of a large housecat, but much much rounder!





What a cute little guy, with his cute little mask! He's out awfully early -- they're rarely seen out in daylight -- I guess he wanted to make sure he got some food before the adults came and ate it all! The fact that the food is meant for the birds seems to be lost on them entirely! :D We do put out a little more bread now that we know the raccoons come, though... Just a little!

Lovely day on the Passage

It was a lovely day at Eastern Passage, part of Halifax Harbour. This section turns into a sort of mud flats during low tide, and lots of people were out and about enjoying the brief sunshine, and the lovely smell of the sea (*not* the smell of the Harbour, which is unfortunately very polluted. We're working on cleaning it up though!) :D




The back deck of Boondocks (where we had my Dad's Father's Day dinner), looking out over the Passage.

Did I have a good time! You bet!

Happy Father's Day to all Dads out there!

Lilacs & BeanDreams

Some lovely white lilacs growing nearby - aside from Mayflowers, I think Lilacs are my favorite scent! Such a heady perfume!





I'm also glad to report that my second planting of beans is starting to come up today (I had to replant because of such a rainy spring rotting the first batch). Everybody needs more sun though, they're a little behind where they ought to be...

Read more on my BeanDreams 2007 page...

Lily of the Valley

I got a few of these plants almost 10 years ago from my best friend, and they have since grown and spread all over, making a gorgeous display in the late spring. They're so beautiful and delicate! And I wish I could share the scent with you all, it is SO pretty - a lovely perfume, as only spring-blooming flowers seem to have.

Baby Falcons!

From the CBC: "Since 1989, a pair of endangered Peregrine Falcons has been nesting on the Radisson Hotel in downtown Winnipeg. In 2006, CBC in Manitoba, Shaw and the Peregrine Falcon Recovery Project (Manitoba) collaborated to provide Manitobans with the opportunity to observe each year’s family of Peregrines on the Falcon Cam."

What a fun webcam! Earlier, the baby falcons were huddled in a pile, sleeping. Except for one guy, he just couldn't get comfortable, and kept moving and stretching, waking the whole pile. :) Just now, mom was by with some food, and fed the little guys. Extremely cute!

Have a watch, it's a good time!

Link: http://www.cbc.ca/manitoba/features/falcon/

It's Environment Week in Canada!

It's a chance to focus (more) on the impact we have on the environment in which we live.

[start rant about pesticides]
It's important to remember: we're not in a competition against nature! It's not about being in a battle against lawn weeds by spraying pesticides on them, so we can have a completely homogeneous green lawn. If you don't spray the weeds, and let them go to seed, you'll see common birds like sparrows and juncos eating those seeds. (Until I paid attention, I didn't know they did that!) I was really glad we hadn't sprayed the lawn or the weeds, as if we had, those poisons would have gone into the birds (and that's only one of the many problems affecting songbirds, check out the book Silence of the Songbirds: How We Are Losing the World's Songbirds and What We Can Do to Save Them for more information).

I just get upset sometimes when I see commercials for pesticide products showing electric green lawns, treating weeds like they're some sort of disease we have to eliminate, at the cost of all the life that lives in our lawns, like earthworms and birds).
[end rant] :)

On to more positive things - as I mentioned, this is Canadian Environment Week, with lots of things to do to try and reduce pollution and such. The Commuter Challenge (June 3-9) hopes to get people thinking of public transportation and other options. Next time you're driving to work, check out how many people on the road with you are driving alone in their vehicle. Chances are, there are a LOT of them. Maybe you're one of them? So maybe you could start a carpool at work - never feel that you're just one person, and you can't make a difference! Every little bit helps!

Check out the website for all the other events, and your local news for any local events!

Link: Canadian Environment Week, June 3-9, 2007

Lovely Day for Flowers

A lot of nice sunshine today - got out and gave some organic fertilizer to my growing plants, hopefully that'll give them a nice little growing boost. Also got out to do some photography, got some nice shots of flowers blooming their way into the summer months.

I love these gorgeous wildflowers - forget-me-nots have such beautiful, delicate little blossoms. They are a purpley-pink when they first open up, and turn this lovely bright blue after a time. So cheerful looking!


Not many apple blossoms out yet, but I found these guys, flowering ahead of their brothers - so pretty!

Nova Scotia's official berry, the blueberry, covered with blossoms - soon to be covered with delicious sweet blueberries! Yum!

Spectral Moon

Got a nice shot of the moon last night - eerie clouds, and a bright star (maybe a planet?) add to the mysterious feeling...

Found Bird's Nest

Casey and I found this bird's nest on the side of the road - whether a kid was taking this empty nest to school for show'n'tell, and lost it, or the high winds blew it out of a tree, it's impossible to say. I looked around and didn't see any eggs, so I assume (I hope) it was already used, and finished with.

You can see the delicate weaving, and the layer of (presumably) dog fur carefully lining the inside of the nest, to protect and soften the nest for the eggs, and eventually, baby birds.

What a sweet little nest.

BeanDreams Update: Cold and Rainy

It has continued to rain, and be very cold for this time of year (still around under 10 deg. C). We had risk of frost for 3 consecutive nights here, even though the last frost was supposed to be around the 6th of May. Between the cold and all the rain, I think the beans I planted have rotted in the soil, I'll have to plant them again. We keep being promised warmer temperatures & sunnier skies "in a few days", but by the time that day comes, the forecast's changed, and it's still cold and damp. Everything that sprouted in the garden hasn't really grown, the cold has stunted its growth (it'll get better once it warms up - but it means that I'm not as far ahead of the game as I would be if the weather cooperated). Hopefully, it won't turn out like last year, with the whole month of June raining. It doesn't usually...but the last few years...

Fingers crossed.

How Exciting! We got a CrossBill!

We've never had a crossbill here before, so this is pretty cool! This is a Red Crossbill aka Loxia curvirostra (see the All About Birds listing, including sound recording, here). Such a gorgeous rusty red color! A very pretty boy! Check out the third pic, it shows off the beak really well. I still can't get over the color, it was just so gorgeous, we spent a lot of time staring out the window at him. I think I saw his lady friend sitting in the tree, but with the sun's glare I couldn't get a good look at her. I rushed right downstairs here to blog about him as soon as he left!





Addendum: A whole flock of about 8 crossbills came back later, just before sunset - I only saw one male, there were a LOT of girls there. I'm glad they came back and brought some friends!

Happy Victoria Day!

It's the May long weekend! A kick-off to the start of the warmer weather (hopefully!), and the traditional weekend to plant your garden, as the frost dates have all passed. There's also barbecues, beer, and often, fireworks. Someone was setting off some last night, as the sky had cleared up a bit from all the rain we had been having, but soon after, there was a huge downpour, so no more fireworks. Oops!

Want to learn more about why we celebrate Victoria Day in Canada? Wikipedia has a nice little writeup...

Sun?

It's been so long... I can't be sure...

But I think I've seen the sun this evening. It's been at least a week, probably two, and we haven't had even a peek of sunshine through the clouds.

I got some great shots of sunlight through the raindrops resting on the leaves of this bleeding heart in our garden:


Casey enjoyed the cool grass and sunshine, too:

Who is this sainted man?

I came across this article in the CBC this morning.

WARNING: totally, if you read this, you WILL get grossed out. But it might help explain the perilousness of this particular young woman's situation.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/05/18/kelowna-zanzibar.html

This 18 year old girl from British Columbia was working in Kenya when she got infected with a horrible bacteria that started...BRACE for IT...eating her eyeballs. She was terrified, and unfortunately, after much travel to get to a major hospital, was told she'd have to have her eyes removed. This, of course, made her even more terrified.

Now, here's where the sainted man comes in. Some generous dude, an employee from the Department of Foreign Affairs, helped her get back to Canada. He escorted her on the plane:

"Eight hours to Amsterdam, seven-hour layover, then nine-hour flight to Vancouver, while putting drops in my eyes every half hour. I just met this man and he's sitting there feeding me."

Good Lord!! What a cool guy!! That is seriously going out of your way to help a fellow human being in need. But he's not named in the article! So, I assume he doesn't want to be named. But DUDE! You are awesome! You NEED to be thanked and praised publicly! Too many times we hear of terrible acts perpetrated by people on one another - we need to hear a positive story like this, to remind ourselves that we can be be good to one another! (Except, of course, that it's a pretty gross story)...

As to the girl, she had to have a double corneal transplant, and will need several more surgeries, but should eventually recover her sight. Man. Wow.

That guy deserves some sort of public service medal or something...

It's like "Wild Kingdom" out there!

Wow! There are some serious nature benefits to living out in the country, and letting your backyard "go wild" instead of manicuring it...

We had our cute little girl rabbit with a black nose and adorable pink ears out back nibbling on some grass, and along comes Mr. Pheasant! There were a couple of tense seconds where they sized each other up, and the pheasant did a shake-out of his wings, to get some of the rain off--this nearly sent Ms. Bunny off into the woods, but she stayed, and he continued on his way to his favorite fallen log. He regularly gets up there, sometimes during the day, but always around this time at night - looks around, and does several loud wing-beats and his loud gobbling noise. We think he's doing this near, but not too near, the nest his women have made, to distract any potential predators away from them, and towards himself. He'll have a good advantage, too, being high up on the logs (the logs are still remaining in our backyard from the devastating Hurricane Juan a few years back). As he's getting ready to do some more wing beating, a squirrel runs across the logs to get back and forth to wherever he was going (gathering food or whatever). Between all that, and the birds coming to the feeder and hopping around the weeds, it looked like some kind of nature documentary in our backyard.

We are SO lucky. :) And we'll enjoy it, for as long as we have it.