I'm Excited!

The electricity was off for four hours this morning, (that's not why I'm excited, lol). So, as I couldn't do much inside I decided to take the camera outside and have a look around. I found a couple of large spider webs but the spiders were hiding. On the way back inside, right by the door was this wonderful Moth. That's what has me excited. It's at least two inches across at it's widest part. Took a few pictures and was practically dancing with frustration waiting for the power to come back on to see how they turned out. Not the best shot, but here it is.

Grandson flew back today. He was suppose to get his flight on Friday morning but he thought it was Saturday morning so he missed his flight and his father had to pay full fare to get him back. What a mess! Anyway, he arrived safe and sound.

Yesterday morning was the neighbours yard sale. The forecast called for rain and thunder showers but although it was overcast, there was no sign of rain. We hauled everything out to the driveway area and before we knew it people were arriving. It was great fun talking to people and having a few laughs. Within an hour most of the stuff was sold and by 11:00 not many people were coming by so I came back home. About a half an hour later the thunder started and rain came down in sheets. It rained most of the afternoon but it stayed quite warm. By supper time the rain had stopped, so went out and took a few pictures.






Well, of course, I couldn't resist buying a few things at the yard sale myself.
A basket of apples...they're fake, but look so yummy.


Two lanterns.


And a tea set, piggies! How could I resist, lol.

Himself came home with a goodly length of heavy rope...no picture!

This and that.

A bit chilly here today, in fact I'm going to put the fire in shortly. I found a Moth expert on the internet and emailed him to see if he knew what kind of moth it was in my last blog. I'd never seen one like that before and it was quite large so was curious. He got back to me and said it looked like a Curved Toothed Geometer. I googled for pictures and indeed it looks like that's what it is.

Roger went to visit a friend who's an actor and singer in Trinity where he's doing a one man show and another play. The season there is nearly over so Roger decided to stay overnight, see one of the shows and come back home this morning. I had a lovely day yesterday all by myself and a nice evening as well. I did some work around the garden tying back some of the larger plants that were leaning over into a couple of the walkways. There was a tree that had to be cut down so got the bow saw and started at it. Got half way through the trunk when the saw got stuck and my arm was starting to give out. So...I've left the job for himself. I thought it would be a good opportunity to put new plastic on the chickens green house area but it was just too windy. Myself and the plastic would have been flying in the air.

My neighbour is having another yard sale tomorrow so I went down early this morning to help her get all the stuff moved up to the garage. I'll be going down again tomorrow to help her out. They are hoping to sell their house and move to Ontario before winter sets in so she has to get rid of a lot of stuff. I do enjoy helping her at these yard sales as there is usually a lot of people so lots of chatting, etc.

We went to the Goodwill a couple of days ago as Roger had some things to take in there. I said I'd wait in the car but after a few minutes decided to go inside as well. First thing I saw hanging there was this wonderful black cape. Tail fluttering at me saying "Whoo Hoo, Whoo Hoo, I'm here for you...buy me, buy me." So I did, lol. And, only $3.00.

We're suppose to have a few showers today and maybe tomorrow but really can't complain as it's been lovely.

A few recent pictures.

Wonderful Weekend

The weather on the weekend was superb! Daughter and grandson arrived Saturday afternoon. It was wonderful to see Andrew again. I'm sure every time I see him, he's gotten taller. Now being head and shoulders over his mother and me. And...he has his hair done in dreadlocks. I said to his mother, "Wonder what we would look like with dreads, you know a few beads here and there." lol. So they got settled in and I asked daughter what she had planned for the evening thinking she may be going out to visit friends. Nothing she says, haven't you invited anyone in. Erm, no says I, thought you'd be going out. Well, nothing left but to make a few phone calls. Told people to come at 7:00 and quickly made up some finger food, and got out some wine. Ended up with nine of us outside and had a great time. It was a beautiful evening with clear skies and soft breeze. We were regaling each other with funny stories so had lots of laughs. Andrew had recently gotten back from a trip to Amsterdam so we heard about that as well. Needless to say, I didn't get to bed at my usual early hour.

Yesterday we all just lazed about. Sat outside watching the birds. Friends dropped by after supper with some movies, watched one later in the evening, then off to bed. They headed towards home this morning and are going to stop at a friends for overnight tonight. It was a wonderful few days.

We just went up to the store and saw a sign that said someone had ducks for sale. I was sorely tempted to write down the phone number but I don't have a house for them. Always wanted a few ducks about. And I'd have to do some research into what they eat and what kind of housing they would need.

So, onto a few pictures.

Andrew


I was sitting at the kitchen table looking out the window when I saw what I thought was a leaf falling down on one of the plants. Got up to have a look and it was this moth. Looks something like a stealth bomber to me, lol. Only got the one picture before he flew off.

Nuthatch.


Lots of Bees still around. I just love their furry bodies.


Woodie



Lilies have started to bloom.


The chicory has been putting on a show for some time now.

Hot and sunny, what a weekend it's going to be. Temperature now 34 C in the sun. Just came back from the store, came through the gate and up ahead of me the chickens were wandering around on the freshly mowed grass in the shade of alder and aspen trees murmuring contentedly. My heart filled with joy that I've been able to give them a good life.

My daughter and grandson are coming tomorrow. Didn't think I'd get to see him while he's here but they decided they could make it out for a visit. Next weekend is the long Labour Day weekend. After that there won't be many people around as tourists and summer people will be heading home. Not much happening really other than wandering around the gardens seeing what has to be moved next month. Just have to find spots for plants that need to be put in better spots for them. I'm in a bit of a quandary as whether to move the rose trees to the new bed I have prepared in September or wait until spring.

I took this picture of a finch and as it has some red on it's breast, I'm wondering if it's a young male starting to get it's red feathers. I'm afraid I don't know a lot about birds, maybe someone will be able to tell me. Click on for better view.



There are six Blue Jays back and forth all day long.

We had a thunderstorm recently, something we don't experience very often. The rumbling of the heavens was awesome. I stood in the doorway looking up at the sky and realized that I had a big grin on my face. So energizing! We did have a bit of a cool spell but according to all reports the coming weekend the temperatures are suppose to be in the high 20's, and sunny. Can't ask for better than that.

Fall is no doubt not far away and I do enjoy that time of year. A scattered leaf here and there now turning colour. Yesterday I saw that two of the Angelica, the leaves, had turned yellow so cut them back. I should say sawed them down as the stems were so huge that no way would the clippers do the job. Had to get the bow saw and go to work on them.

This morning my mind is thinking of some of the things I have to do in the coming weeks. Cut back herbs and hang them to dry. The guest room will be blocked solid with them so will have to wait to make sure no guests are going to arrive. Have to re-do the plastic on the chickens greenhouse area before we start getting into winter. Been thinking of Yule and Christmas and may make gifts for friends and family this year. I've often done this over the years. I've made everything from jointed teddy bears, use to sell those, to dream catchers, to seasonal wreaths and more. Feeling in the mood at the moment but will be too busy for a while yet. Every year I make a hand made stocking for my parents and fill them with fun stuff. They always say how much fun they have going through them.

Grandson is flying into St. John's tonight. He only told his mother yesterday and she's over the moon. I'm excited myself though it's doubtful that I'll see him. He only has a week because he has to get back to prepare for university once again.

So, on to a few pictures. Found these two spiders. One has his dinner packaged up.



Squirrel still emptying feeders, lol.



An enormous amount of bees in the garden. People visiting are struck by how many there are.


A poppy, new to the garden this year.

Another busy weekend although I was feeling like crap for most of the week. I must have picked up some sort of bug I suppose, headache, nausea, and general malaise. As I promised a neighbour that I would help out with her yard sale on Saturday, I was hoping that I would feel better by then and luckily I was. The sale was suppose to start at 10:00am but as she has great stuff in her yard sales, people were starting to line up at 9:00am. It was decided to let them in and people kept coming and coming. As I was the one taking the money, the morning went very quickly. I had to laugh after it was over as I complain about Roger bringing home stuff from these things and here I was, lugging home stuff....a long wicker planter, storage box with drawers, a huge vase, a wonderful picture of a pig (love pigs), binoculars, and an assortment of other small stuff. Honestly, I must be mad.

Then Saturday night I had invited people here for a curry dinner. All went well and it was such a beautiful evening that we ate outside on the deck. Too much food and wine and the late hour getting to bed made yesterday kind of tired for me. Couldn't seem to get kick started. It poured rain all day so just lazed around really. Beautiful day today though. I see a scattered leaf has changed colour and some of the flowers are showing signs of their time being over for this year.

The Nuthatches have their young with them now. I was up on the ladder getting a feeder down to re-fill and there was one just a couple of inches from my hand. I could have put a finger out and tickled it's bum, lol. They are so friendly and don't mind being around me at all.

I took this short video, only 30 seconds long, of a male woodpecker feeding it's young. Too bad that the young one went behind the tree trunk and then they flew off. Still, the bit I got is cute.

On A Clear Day

You can see forever!

Some pictures around my area.

Busy, busy.

It's true enough that it never rains but it pours. I've had people coming and going all weekend. My brother and wife here on holiday from the states and their daughter and boyfriend from Australia showed up on Friday evening. They were at their cabin an hours drive from here and came by for a couple of hours. Great to see them. Saturday morning, daughter and friend arrived, then himself who had gone to a yard sales arrives back. Getting out of the car, he says, close your eyes, I got you a present. Noooooooo, what has he dragged home now I'm thinking. Close your eyes he says again, I do, and on opening them I see he has bought me a lovely wooden bird feeder with a roof and all. Well, says I, that's the best present you ever got me. I was delighted to say the least. Then other friends arrived. Afternoon comes, I'm just about to sit down for a read, knock on door, two more people. That put paid to my relaxing afternoon read. Sunday, a friend of Rogers shows up unexpectedly wanting to spend the night. While making supper, the boys went to the store and in the mean time three more arrived. I'll tell you, I'm beat! lol. Today I'm expecting niece and boyfriend but don't know if they'll get here as I believe they are flying out on Thursday so may have to go on to the city.

Now to back up a bit. Thursday, just after supper, we heard a racket outside. On running out we saw hen feathers from the front, going right up to the back with some going over near the stream. No hens to be seen. Something had come through and attacked them. Looked in the chicken house and one hen was in there tucked away. The other five were missing. I spent two hours going through the woods and bushes and plants all over the property. No sign of them. I was shattered. I was sitting on the back step trying to get my head around all of this when one came out of the woods, then another and another. Ended up with one gone. This was Thursday so Saturday morning Roger comes in and says how come there's two white chickens having a dust bath and there's one by the deck. Impossible I say! One of the white ones was taken off. Of course I had to go and look, lo and behold, the sixth hen was back. I just couldn't believe it. After two nights, she found her way back home. Surprisingly, they are all in good shape. My day was made.

One of the crows finally figured out how to get the suet feeder opened. I had a twist tie around it to secure it even more but he managed to get that off as well. So clever. I was watching all of this out the bathroom window and was so fascinated that I didn't want to interrupt him.

So many bees in the garden. I think every flower had a bee or two on it. Funny, people coming during the weekend, even next door neighbour, were saying "Not many bees around". Ha! This garden is full of them. Just goes to show that if you grow plants they like, they will come.

I did manage to get a few pictures even with all the company. Cheeky little squirrel is still at the feeder. Looks like he's smiling at me.


This plant has set up residence in one of the gardens. Some sort of thistle I think.