Friday's Hunt v 4.03

I can't believe it's Friday already!  Where did the week go?  Summer is just flying by.

I am not very prepared for this week's Friday Hunt.  The topics are:  Starts with C, Building, and Something I Wear.

Starts with C
Today, I was given a little gift by Mother Nature - the chance to rescue a chipmunk.  Unfortunately, I have an outdoor cat.  I'm not all that fond of cats, and I do not generally approve of outdoor cats. Izzy was my former barn cat and she is a very friendly cat, but she is terrible at litter box use, so she can't stay in the house, so I am stuck with keeping her outside.  As a result, she sometimes catches little creatures.  This really upsets me, but most of the time she is not very successful with hunting.

Anyway, I saw her outside today with a limp chipmunk hanging from her mouth and I was horrified. I've never seen her catch one and they are usually way too fast for her.  Anyway, I went running out to see if I could rescue it but I feared it was already dead.  She dropped it and it just lay on its side.  I picked it up immediately and cradled it and found that it was, remarkably, still alive, but not moving much.  I checked it over for wounds and found none.  So, I put it into a plastic jug that was handy, and took it inside to observe it to see if it needed to be taken to the Atlantic Wildlife Institute for treatment or rehab.  I offered it some sunflower seeds.

The chipmunk was still for a very long time and seemed a bit stunned, which I suppose is normal given the experience it had just been through.  I took it out to the back screened porch and put it in a larger plastic tote with some seeds and water for a while.  About 20 minutes later when I went to check on it, it was running around inside the porch and chirping in the way chipmunks do.  So, I knew it was most likely going to be OK.  I let it go, after getting a couple of cute pictures!  I am so glad I had the opportunity to save it, and it gave me a letter C for today!

Building
Marc has been doing a tremendous job on the renovation of the outbuilding that is becoming his motorcycle workshop.  As I've mentioned before, he is using pallet wood and barn boards to do the inside walls.  This week, the ceiling heater arrived that will keep it warm enough for him to work out there during the winter.  Here is the building from the outside - during the winter of course.

Here is how part of it looked last winter.

Here is how that same part looks now.  The upper boards are the pallet wood and the lower boards (horizontal) are the barn boards.

He also refinished a couple of vintage windows to use on the inside dividing wall - they look great! He hopes to have it all finished by the fall.

Something I Wear
Right now we're in the middle of summer, which is the hottest time of the year here.  That said, it's not THAT hot.  We don't have air conditioning though, because we really don't need it.  We very rarely hit 30 C (86 F) and generally we don't go over 26 C (79 F) but for me, that's still quite warm.  I wear a lot of lightweight sleeveless dresses in the summer to keep cool.  I especially like tie-dyed ones. Here I am today in one of those dresses.  I'm also wearing a very pretty turquoise glass pendant that my parents brought me as a gift from their recent trip to Bermuda - I love the colours!  It seems that I am almost always wearing something teal, green, or turquoise.

Friday's Hunt v 3.15

Today has been a vacation day for me - I decided not to work today, so I have enjoyed a somewhat relaxing day so far.  I was also able to think about my Friday's Hunt post a bit more than usual these days!  What a treat to have a day that I didn't do any work at all!

Our prompts from Eden Hills this week are:  Starts with O, Week's Favourite, and Blossom.

Starts with O
Last weekend I spent the weekend at the Maritime Fibre Arts Retreat, as I mentioned in my last blog. It was held at a hotel that looks out over the ocean.  I live near the ocean but we don't often make a special trip to see it.  There are not very many beaches here - it is a very rocky coast.  Here you can see that the ocean was very calm by the hotel grounds, but it is not always that way.

Sometimes, the ocean is very rough - here you can see that a lot of rocks have been thrown onto the land as a result of heavy surf in the winter storms.  These are along the front of the cabins at the hotel, which are separate from the main part of the hotel.  The groundskeepers will probably clear all the rocks and throw them back into the ocean because it will be hard to mow the grass with all those rocks there!

The hotel looks out over to Oak Island.  This island has many famous legends associated with it, mostly pertaining to buried treasure.  This is a picture of the island, just off the coast.  On the right side of the picture, you can see it is connected to the mainland with a small causeway.  You can also see it in the first picture I posted.  There is a recent television series - The Curse of Oak Island - created by the two brothers who now own the island.  I haven't seen it - I don't watch TV.  It is privately owned but there are tours on occasion in the summer.  I doubt there's any hidden treasure there, but I suppose you never know.  They have found some interesting artifacts there.

Week's Favourite
My favourite picture this week is my little chipmunk friend!  I haven't seen him (or her) since last fall, so I was ever so happy to see those stripes again this week.  I saw the squirrels all winter, but not a sign of the chipmunk.  Hooray for spring!

Blossom
Finally, the snow has melted away from one of my garden beds.  That was just this past week because we had quite a few days that were warmer than usual for this time of year.

I was thrilled to see my first actual blossoms in my yard today!  Here are some crocuses that have opened today.  I didn't plant these - they were already here.

We moved into the house last June, so by then, the crocuses were already finished for the year.  I wasn't sure what spring bulbs might already be in place, so my mom and I planted a whole load of tulip and daffodil bulbs last fall.  We didn't plant any crocus though.

I am so glad to see their happy little blossoms brightening my spring garden bed.  Soon the tulips will be pushing their way higher.  I can see a few emerging already.  I also saw these little green spikes emerging today.  I'm not sure what they are, but I thought it was interesting that the shoots have gone straight through the brown leaves from last year that had fallen into the bed.  They are very determined little shoots!

The bed on the other side of the house is still partially under snow.  I'll be looking forward to more blossoms in the coming weeks as the rest of the snow melts and things begin to grow in earnest.

Friday's Hunt v 2.12

Again, it's Friday!  This week has gone super fast! But, regardless of speed, it's time for Friday's Hunt, hosted by Eden Hills. As usual, there are 3 topics for today: Starts with L, Week's Favourite, and Critter.

Starts with L

Here is a Lovely Landscape shot that I took today at the Sackville Waterfowl Park.  The trees are still mostly green but you can see hints of yellow.  The temperatures are getting lower at night these days, almost dipping to the freezing point.  Soon the fall foliage will be in its glory.  Also there is a Lake in the picture.

Because she is the herd queen, and demands her proper publicity level, and because her name starts with L, here is Lucky Nickel.  (By the way, she is also a Critter!)

Week's Favourite

My little chipmunk friend, having a rest in the sun.  (Yep, also a Critter!)

Critter

Usually I post cute, cuddly critters, like my goats and sheep, or birds (and I already posted two of those!).  For the critter category, I'm posting something a little different.  This critter is a shrew. There are quite a few shrew species in Canada and it's difficult to tell them apart unless you're an expert, which I'm not.  The only thing I can tell you for sure about this shrew is that it's dead.  I turned it over so that it would be more like it looks when it's alive.  It is most likely the Masked Shrew, or Cinereous Shrew (Sorex cinereus) simply because that is the most common species.

Unfortunately, our cats seem to kill shrews more than any other animal.  I have seen a few dead voles, and the odd dead mouse, and I've never seen them with a dead bird.  However, I have seen a LOT of dead shrews.  We try to keep both cats in at night - Izzy is an outdoor cat in general due to her problems with the concept of the litter box, but we try to keep her in the garage at night - but we aren't always successful.  You can identify a shrew by its very long, pointy nose and its lack of cute round ears, such as you see on mice.  They have very tiny eyes.

I don't know why the cats seem to favour shrews.  Are they easier to catch?  I have no idea.  Cats won't eat shrews because they emit an unpleasant smell that cats don't like. Poor little shrews.  I quite like shrews because they are insectivores and eat lots of bugs that might otherwise damage my plants. I wish that the cats would leave the shrews alone.

Friday's Hunt v 2.8

It's Friday, so that means it's time to join in Friday's Hunt, hosted by Eden Hills.  As usual, we have 3 topics for interpretation this week:  the letter H, week's favourite, and single.

The Letter H
I'm a little bit off the beaten track with my choice today, but bear with me.  I blogged a few days ago about my visit to the Campbell Carriage Factory Museum.  When the carriage business began to decline as cars began to be available, the carriage factory added the funeral business to their services. The woodworkers who built carriages were able to build caskets instead, and other workers provided services such as transporting the deceased.  So, for the letter H, I give you, a hearse!

There were two hearses on display at the museum.  The one pictured above was for fine weather use, and the other, pictured below, was for winter use.  As you can see, the winter hearse is a sled style, designed to be used in the snow, whereas the summer one has wheels.

Both would be drawn by horse (of course).  The museum had some helpful information about horse harnesses too!

Week's Favourite
I have to say that my favourite thing this week was the fact that I finally brought my 2 sheep home again after their 2 years and 8 months in "boarding" elsewhere.  I am really excited to have them with me again, and I suspect they'll be regular blog fodder!  However, since I just blogged about them yesterday, here's another favourite - my little chipmunk friend who often amuses me.  I watch him (or her) from my home office window.  I think that at some point, this little cutie had a tail injury, but that doesn't detract from the cuteness!  I've been getting better pictures of the chipmunk now that I have the zoom lens.  I really love both these pictures.

Single
For the letter E, a few weeks ago, I shared a photograph of my Echinops ritro.  At the time, it wasn't yet blooming, but has just started to do so.  So far, only a single one of the ball-shaped flower structures has started to bloom.  You can see it in the background of this shot - it has a purple hazy look to the top of it.  All the other "flower balls" are still waiting to open.

It's just starting out - the tiny blooms open from the top down.

When I was taking the picture, I noticed that somebody was trying to photobomb my shot!  A single tiny spider wanted to be part of the action.  Look closely and you'll see it - a lime green little spider towards the bottom of the photo.

My handsome, handy hubby, and a few other bits and pieces

Today Marc installed a GFI outlet on the outside wall where the electric fence charger will be plugged in.  He doesn't like having his photograph taken, but since Timber and Izzy were there to help him out, he didn't mind so much.  That's the new plug just on the left of the picture.  Thank you, my handsome hubby!  I am so appreciative of his work in helping me get ready to have my sheep and goats come home!  He also installed the fence charging unit inside a weatherproof metal box so it can be put up on a post next to the fence.  What a lucky gal I am!

Now we just have to wait for NB Power to install the new power line so we can hook up the electric fence.  I spent some time this afternoon ripping old, rusty barbed wire fence out of the ground, because it was entering into the fenced area, and I didn't want any animal injuries resulting from it.  I dislike barbed wire very much, and hauling it out of the ground when it's been buried for years is not my idea of a good time.

I had another new daylily open up this weekend and it's a gorgeous plummy burgundy colour with a greenish-yellow centre.  This one might be my favourite!

Here's one of my favourite little neighbours - the chipmunk!  I managed to photograph him (or her) earlier this week.

I picked some more of the wild blueberries today, as well as some raspberries from our yard.  The raspberries are a big brambly tangle, and I would like to get that sorted out into an organized raspberry patch so that they are easier to pick and prune.  I found what I think are blackberries.  They are green and very far behind the current raspberry crop.  Blackberries are usually a later crop, so that's what I think I've got.  I hope so!

Here's my favourite moth from the past week - Habrosyne scripta - the lettered habrosyne moth.  I love the detailed patterns in its wings.  One day I'd like to have a proper macro lens to take even better photographs of moths like these.