Wednesday, August 14

Ethan and Grandpa Bill, July 1st

After an intermission of several months caused by sciatica and gardening, I am resuming my blog with a summer newsletter.

My first posting is about the weather. What a bore.... To sum it up, it rains, and rains and rains. Worse than a bad summer in England.....

Some much better news:

Two more grandchildren on the way!

Martin and his partner Jamie are expecting a little girl in November, and are pleased about it. They are living in Sudbury, Ontario and Martin is on a job-training program which he is very enthusiastic about. Bill is visiting them at present.

Aidan and his partner Nikki are expecting a baby in February and are both thrilled to bits. They are living in Pine Hill Quebec and Aidan, in addition to his music has a full-time job working for a large family-run maple syrup/dairy operation, which he enjoys very much. Nikki will be working on the creative part of her Masters Degree in Fibre Arts this year. Knitting is not one of her specialties, but she is going to start...

..... and I will have to get going, firstly finishing a complicated sweater for Ethan featuring a red International tractor on his tummy.

And Bill will get going on his real tractor, landscaping our grounds and working on his firewood business.

Monday, April 21

Few birds here today, apart from a tragedy which occurred at lunchtime. There was a loud crash, as if a truck had driven into the side of the house. Turned out to be Billy Partridge meeting his end, by hitting the office window and breaking his back.

Bill had him skinned and soaking in brine in no time, ready for the pot.

Sunday, April 20

Another pair of birds, and very beautiful ones at that. A white-throated sparrow, which has bright yellow stripes on his head, and his wife ate their fill at the feeder. It would be nice if they built a nest here, but expect they will move on.

Saturday, April 19

Today it was pine grosbeaks -- a truly beautiful bird, with a pale pink body.

And the distinctive cry of the Eastern phoebe woke us up early this morning:

Friday, April 18

The finches are leaving, heading up north to breed, and Spring is bringing new arrivals every day. Robins, Red-winged blackbirds, starlings and sparrows are all reappearing.

Insteead of flocks of birds, we seem to have couples instead. Today a male and female cowbird spent some time at the feeder. Now cowbirds prefer to put their fledglings up for adoption, rather like cukoos, -- and this is not voluntary on the part of the adoptive parents, in fact their own brood usually dies off -- or is pushed out of the nest by the intruder.

The couple at our feeder were not at all aggressive, as Bill pointed out they had obviously been taught good manners by the birds who brought them up. And close up they made a fine pair.

Saturday, April 12

Another nasty day, with rain to start and snow to follow. The Ottawa Citizen published a summary of this winter's extraordinary winter, entitled Winter: Misery from end to end. Apparently we are suffering from low energy, mild depression and anxiety created by the challenges of getting about without falling down and breaking something.

We are also approaching the record snowfall experienced in 1970-71 -- 444.1 cm of snow. All the more remarkable as recent winters have been milder, as expected due to climate change starting to have an impact. Apparently this blip is due to the lingering effects of La Nina, a weather phenomenen that creates lower than normal sea temperatures in the Pacific Ocean.

Some snowy data:
Snow fallen up to April 10 --436.3 cm
Average snowfall in the 1970s -- 266 cm
Average snowfall in the past ten years -- -216 cm
Snow removed by the City of Ottawa -- 4 million cubic metres
Budget for snow removal in 2008 -- $65 million
Revised budget including the rest of the year -- $88 million

Snowiest day in so far in 2008 -- March 8, when 33.6 cm fell -- and I was in England picking daffodills and enjoying the flowering almonds and magnolia blossoms as well as green grass!

Friday, April 11

Bill's birthday and he had the best of presents -- a clean bill of health from Doctor Turner. A happy day, in spite of icy relentless rain all day and all night. A pancake breakfast on the house at Temple's Sugar Camp Restaurant, and dinner at the Fall River Pub made the trips out into the elements worthwhile. And the snow is going fast -- filling up ditches, low-lying fields, and over-flowing river banks and lakes.

At the beginning of the week, the picnic table by the washing line was completely covered -- today it is on bare ground. Soon be able to hang out washing!







The birds are coming back from the South, and our feeders are attracting them. The redpolls are still here, but their colour is changing and the males are getting more aggressive -- diving at one another to knock the females off the perches on the feeder. Chickadees are as cheerful and busy as ever, and the nuthatches are still around. We can hear -- and see -- woodpeckers tapping away at the maple trees, and today a flock of juncoes arrived. They like to stay on the ground, pecking for food on the lawn, instead of at the feeder. They have, however, discovered the seeds knocked off the feeders by greedy birds and annoying squirrels, and are doing a good job of tidying up the deck.

All week, maple sap was boiling down to sweet syrup, but the warm spell stopped the flow. It is not flowing during the present cold snap -- but we do need it as the sap will now be able to flow again when it warms up again.